Our Wedding Day

We recently received our wedding photos from my lovely photographer and dear friend Alysha Miller and I am absolutely in love! That day was one of the most special days of our lives and I'm so glad she was able to capture it all so beautifully. Heart eyes for days, seriously.

We got married at our dream venue at McCormick Home Ranch in Camarillo, CA. We had actually attended one of our friend's wedding there and we never forgot how stunning it was. I loved how everything was outdoors and it had so many beautiful greeneries so we had to come back when we got engaged. This was the first and only venue we visited and we knew it was the one right away. McCormick has a variety of different scenery so we had the ceremony in their private garden, cocktail in the outdoor patio and reception in the front yard. I loved the convenience of having everything at one place! There is also a green barn, avocado groves, and a wide open field for LOTS of photo ops ;)

Getting ready was so much fun because I finally got to see the planning being executed in real life! I remember walking around the venue and just feeling so grateful for all the helping hands we had. We had some amazing and talented friends from church do all of the set up for the reception area and they styled the tables beautifully. For florals, my good friend Julia of Rekindle Creative did all of the bridal bouquets, ceremony backdrop and reception greeneries and it was beyond what I could've dream of. Seeing all of the details made me feel at ease and I was able to enjoy my time getting ready with my bridesmaids.

Everything that day was done by friends and I could not have been happier with the results. My best friend and maid of honor Katie did my makeup the day of and my friend and hairdresser Jessica did my hair. I felt at ease knowing that they know me so well and they both totally nailed it.

My wedding dress was custom made by Pat's family friend Kathi, who is seriously a mastermind! I always wanted a low back dress with long sleeves but couldn't find the perfect one so Kathi and I brainstormed together, went fabric shopping at Mood and in three short months, this dress was created! I remember walking around at Mood and falling in love with this beautiful leafy lace and Kathi urged me to try it out. I'm so glad she did and through her amazing gift, I got to wear a one-of-a-kind dress that was made for me :) On top of that, Patrick's suit was gifted to him by one of his customers! I can't believe the generosity and talent all these lovely people poured out to us. We are so crazy blessed.

We had anticipated a sunny day so we were a little bit nervous how the ceremony will be for our guests. Luckily, the trees shaded most of the garden and it worked out perfectly! For the processional, I walked down to Paper Moons by my favorite band, Explosions In The Sky. It's been a dream for me to walk down the aisle with one of their songs and I fell in love with this track. The moon is sentimental for me so it was extra special.

We had our pastor, Ken be our officient and his son as the ring bearer. Our flower girl was Emma, who is the cutest baby of my good friend Sunny! My dad walked me down the aisle and we began the ceremony with worship. I loved that the ceremony was sandwiched by live music; we had worship leaders Mitch & Kristen open with praise songs then my maid of honor Katie sing "I Choose You" by Sara Bareilles, which we braided our marriage knot. At the end, we walked out to the Star Wars theme song!

Being in the wedding industry, I wanted to include some of my favorite friendors on our special day. For our cake, we had the head baker of Black Market Bakery (our favorite!), Vicky make this ridiculously delicious naked cake with peach mousse and blueberries. For decoration, we had a sign made by Happily Ever Etched, which was displayed with photos from our adventures together. Finally, we had my good friend Sara's beautiful paper flowers hanging in mason jars during the cocktail hour and as the centerpiece of our sweetheart table. Having their stunning handcrafted pieces added a unique touch to our wedding details. We also had a lot of crafty people on our team that assisted in all of the decoration. My in-laws cut all the cutting boards that we used for our charcuterie table and my sister-in-law stained and painted all of our table numbers. My bridesmaids and I cut and sewed the fabric backdrop for the ceremony and the stand was built by my father-in-law. All of our desserts were homemade by our lovely neighbor Laura who seriously needs to start a bakery right now! She is amazing and made all of our 400 dessert bits from her kitchen. For our party favors, Patrick and I made our own homemade strawberry jam, which we called "patnuhberry jam" with the help of Sharon and Kelly. Even my wedding band was weld and hammered by my handy friend, Eshie of Mantle Shoppe. Almost everything was either built, made or borrowed and I truly owe it to my friends and family for making all of this happen.

Before our reception, we did our first dance as a married couple and a combined father/daughter mother/son dance. We began off with a classic Nat King Cole song then spontaneously broke out into the whip and nae nae~ This dance was originally my mother-in-law's idea and we just did it for fun but to my surprise, this dance became the highlight of the wedding! Our parents were awesome and totally stole the show. You can see all of our dance moves [here]

Before cake cutting, I changed into my second attire, which was this loose, bat winged dress from Free People. It's actually supposed to be a swimsuit coverup so I killed two birds with one stone when I took it to the honeymoon with me ;) My lovely headpiece was made by friend Handmade by Sara Kim and I felt like a goddess in this number. It completed my outfit and made it look more formal than what it actually was. In reality, it's the most comfortable dress that I own that allowed me dance all night!