Kissed by a Rose - Our Wedding
Color Palette: Black and Deep Reds
I cannot believe it has already been a month since our wedding. It’s so true when I have clients tell me that being married really feels no different. Maybe that is a healthy response, because being married should just feel right. Nothing should really change other than the fact that you now write taxes together and one (or both) spouses have to get used to their name being different from how it’s been their entire lives. I had so many expectations leading up to the wedding about how it would go and how I would feel and for the most part I was spot on, then again I have been through this dozens of times with clients, the difference is I was on the other side of things.
Date: Saturday, January 15th, 2022
Location: 2051 Cucina Italiana (Carlsbad, CA)
Guest Count: Invited 130, Attendance 85
Theme/Vibe: Modern, Sultry Romance… with a shit ton of red roses
Vendors:
Photographer: @kamiolavarria
Videographer: @shaunfrederickson
Officiant: Aunty + Uncle
Florist: @events_by_bd
Planning: @that_bliss
Design: @that_bliss
Coordination: @that_bliss staff- Adam + Joanna
Rentals: @that_bliss
Catering: @2051cucinaitaliana
Baker: @twintreats
Venue: @2051cucinaitaliana
DJ: @rayonthemic
Bar: @2051cucinaitaliana
HMUA: @jessiemars.creates @waveonwavesalon @drawleigh @carbon_aesthetics
Stationary: @canva
Dress: @miabellacouture
Tux: @friartux
Recapping on this entire process is crazy. I cannot believe it has already come and gone. There are so many things that I learned throughout our planning time that I wouldn’t have necessarily had insight on to share with my clients before getting married myself. Hopefully, that makes it so I can offer a fully well rounded experience to my couples moving forward, even more so than before.
Starting from the beginning, Ty proposed in Colorado after flying us there to see my two best friends and hiring a horse drawn carriage to bring us around the city. It pulled off at a lit up water fountain and we got out. I honestly have no idea what he even said because we were both too busy crying buckets (which if you know me, you know I am far from emotional). After I said yes, my two friends came running out of the bushes and that was the cherry on top. He thought of everything.
The planning process began pretty much the very next morning. I immediately texted Kami because I knew there was no one else that I could possibly have shoot our wedding than her. She was there for one of my first real weddings (I say real in terms of fully paid and healthy budget wedding) and I knew she had to be there for ours. We checked in with her on her dates available and with our families. Ultimately, we decided to get married in January for a few key reasons. The first being that my Papa was supposed to come out to CA already and he has a series of medical concerns including Parkinson’s. I never thought I’d get to have him included on our wedding day. While he wasn’t able to end up coming after being hospitalized, he was able to call in and do a toast and that was so special. The other two main reasons we chose January is because we are both business owners and January was the best time for our businesses and for future anniversaries. We wouldn’t really have to worry about whether or not we could take the time off we wanted to, in order to fully experience this huge life change together.
After that everything just kind of fell into place. A common question I got from family, friends, and clients was “who’s your planner going to be?!”. That was an easy answer for me. ME. Why would I hire someone else when I know exactly what I want, how to do it, and what vendors I am hiring. I 100% see the value in having a planner, obviously, I am one. BUT for us, there would be little to no research needed, vendors I would hire are my close friends, and design is my specialty. Beyond that, I have an amazing team of coordinators working with me and I knew that I wanted them to be able to coordinate so that I could 1) see them work from the couple’s perspective and 2) give them the trust in our wedding day the way I trust them with my clients.
There wasn’t a whole lot of planning that needed to take place. Literally the only vendors I was unsure on were venue, dress, and HMUA. Beyond that, I knew from day 1 who would be working our wedding. The venue was up in the air largely because we initially wanted a very small and intimate wedding and my parents have a beautiful backyard. However, as our list grew, so did the vision, and our venue needs. We know the owners of 2051 and knew that the industrial vibe was exactly what we needed. Pair that with the authentic Italian food and imported wines and we were sold. Unfortunately, my dress shopping experience was not a great one. I tried on 17 dresses before figuring out that what I wanted wasn’t going to come from just one dress, but instead 2. I say it wasn’t a great experience, because I began to feel very frustrated as the day went on and pressured to find the one dress that everyone says brings them to tears. I didn’t feel that. Why? because I did not go to the right types of boutiques. All the dresses I tried on had too much lace, were too girly, and were dresses I had seen on clients- they just were not the right places for my style. I wanted something that was MINE. Something that felt different and didn’t feel like a dress up day at work.
We made an unplanned stop at Mia Bella Couture and the style of the dresses were EXACTLY what I wanted. Sleek, elegant, and modern. No sparkles, no tulle, no lace. From there, I fell in love with two very affordable dresses and decided I would roll with a ball gown for the ceremony and pictures, then change into a reception dress where I could feel light and comfy to dance. I found my dressES.
After the dress hump, planning slowed down while we finished up our wedding season and went into the holidays. There honestly was not much left to figure out other than design. The building was literally a blank canvas and I got to bring my design vision to life. The tricky part was I wanted red roses and they are priiiicy. Florals in general are crazy high right now. We had to scale back a bit, but only with the extra decor we wanted to have hanging from the ceiling. Everything else was perfect. We had a sheer black backdrop, floral stands, and tons of candles/single stem rose bud vases for the ceremony. The reception decor consisted of a split for the round tables versus the farms. We had floral chandeliers above rounds and heavy candlelight and bud vases for farms.
Bethany approached me about baby’s breath… Initially I thought she was insane. No offense to baby’s breath but it wasn’t exactly the vibe we were going for. Then she clarified. Spray paint the baby’s breath BLACK. YES. A million times yes. We added it with deep greens to the tables and arrangements and it really topped things off. My other favorite design piece was our escort cards. If you haven't figured out by now, roses were the theme because Ty’s last name is Rose. Yup. I am now Victoria Rose. Stripper’s name? Maybe lol. We really played on that and our escort cards were individual rose stems for each guest with their table number and name tied with black ribbon to the stem.
The wedding day itself was nearly perfect. Other than the fact that I went against what I tell my clients everytime and waited until the day of to write my vows… while I was getting my hair done… it went by so freaking fast. I am so glad we didn’t plan an after party though. Instead, one of my favorite parts of the night was that we went back to our hotel room and there was a huge soaking tub. My feet were KILLING me and we were so hungry by that point. We barely got to eat our dinner because we were making rounds and greeting guests. So, we skipped the impromptu after party at one of his groomsmen’s houses and soaked in the tub with a plate of pasta (so grateful that we got leftovers to take home). Perfect way to end the night.
Things we opted against:
Hard alcohol (we had locally brewed beers and Italian imported wines)
Grand exit (we were exhausted and people trickled off towards the last hour)
Hiring an outside planner/coordinator
Guest book (we did wine bottle anniversary notes instead)
First look (I convinced Ty that I wanted one and he was so confused, I had one of his groomsmen put a dress and veil on instead- great pics)
Open mic (please never ever do an open mic… just don’t)
Plus ones… (that’s right, we did NOT give a plus one to anyone that was not in a serious relationship or married)
Things we added in:
Fully customized playlist (we spent an 8 hour car ride compiling a list of only 90’s/00’s R&B/Hip Hop throwbacks and said no to any current artists/hits)
Our pups (they were our ring bearer/flower girls and we are so glad they were there)
Individual songs for each bridal party member (for the grand entrance we picked songs for each person that described them- LOVED)
Fully choreographed dance (such a fun and special thing we did together- HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
Worship Song (my Aunty sang my favorite worship song before the blessing of the meal, so so special)
Neon sign (not a huge add on but we have it forever and I am so glad we did it)
Immediate honeymoon (this is one of the biggest things we are happy we did- we left for our honeymoon the Monday after the wedding and got to spend our first married week together exploring Oahu- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
