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From the Bride...Dominic and I met and began dating in college at Chico State. After seven years of being together, Dominic proposed and we began to plan our wedding. With his huge Italian family and my smaller (in comparison) Polish family, we knew we wanted it to be filled with all of the most important people in our lives and make sure everything had meaning to us. Somehow we ended up with a 100 person guest count, which was the perfect size for us. Dominic grew up in the Bay Area and I moved to San Francisco soon after college. When I was looking to move to SF and began my job search, my current employer organized for me to stay at the Clift Hotel during my interview process. I immediately fell in love with the hotel as the modern aesthetic with amazing décor created the perfect setting to experience San Francisco. After I moved to the city, I began classes to be baptized Catholic, as I had promised my grandmother that I would do so before she passed away. The church that I began classes at and was baptized at was St. Dominic’s Catholic Church (yep, same name as my now husband) and knew that was where I wanted to get married. The Church that holds so much meaning to me along with the Clift Hotel created the perfect setting to showcase the city to our family and out of town guests at our wedding.
When I first began to plan my wedding, I found Style Me Pretty and soon found an inspiration shoot that I based many of the details of my wedding off of. I knew I wanted a black and white wedding with a little bit of color to balance it all, and the inspiration shoot by Azar at Principal Planner made my jaw drop. The centerpieces were exactly what I was looking for and when I met Yasmin of Floral Theory (who I found through a featured wedding on SMP), she made everything I had envisioned come to life as she began to sketch what I was explaining to her, even drawing out my bouquet adorned with my grandmothers rosary. I wanted to incorporate something of my grandmothers as she had passed away in March of 2010. With the help of Style Me Pretty and Etsy, my wedding day was everything we could have imagined. Jason and Anna Photography captured it all so that I can relive our amazing day over and over again.
We were married on March 5, 2011, which would have been my great-grandparents 80th wedding anniversary. DIY projects were limited but consisted of the table seating chart which I bought a huge framed picture from Home Goods, spray painted the frame white, covered the picture with black fabric and had 10 pages printed in calligraphy font with each tables seating arrangement. I cut out each page in a different shape and organized them on the black fabric in the layout of the dinner reception room. I also bought table numbers on Etsy and spray painted them black to fit the aesthetic of the wedding. I wrapped all of the candles with black lace to incorporate more of the ideas from the inspiration shoot that I loved. The best man’s grandmother made two rosette chair covers for me and my husband’s chairs. I also bought Styrofoam cones and spray painted them, then wrapped ribbon around and pinned the ribbon in place to make lollipop stands for the candy buffet.
Wedding Photography: Jason + Anna Photography / Flowers: Floral Theory / Wedding Cake: Cake Coquette / Wedding Ceremony Location: St. Dominic's Catholic Church / Wedding Reception Location: Clift Hotel / Wedding Invitations: Aerialist Press / Bride's Shoes: Stuart Weitzman / Wedding Dress: Marina Morrison / Bride's Veil: The Unique Bride / Various Items: Etsy / Hair & Makeup: Jenn Acierto of Renaissance Salon / DJ: DJ Vadim of DJ Jeremy Productions / Flower Girl Attire: Baby Gap