It’s 9 a.m. on Monday morning and I’ve already fallen head over heels in love with this beyond elegant Phoenix wedding. I literally can’t stop smiling at the drop dead gorgeous photos from Elyse Hall! From the beautifully scripted invitations by Bella Figura to the gorgeous displays of flowers, this wedding is a lesson in top notch taste. See each and every beautiful detail here!
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When Chris and I first met, he was a Captain in the U.S. Army and about to be deployed to Iraq three months later. We certainly didn’t plan it, but something blossomed in that short time, and we spent the first year of our relationship communicating via email and intermittent phone calls from a war zone. It was certainly a surreal experience, one that made us extremely appreciative of being together once he finally returned home. Chris is from New Hampshire, went to school in New York and spent four years stationed in Kansas. I was born and raised in Arizona and spent four years in Washington, DC before we both moved to Laguna Beach, CA. Needless to say we had friends and family coming from all over the place. With our families being on opposite ends of the country, they didn’t actually meet each other until our wedding weekend. With that in mind, we both really wanted our wedding to be a great celebration for our families and friends with good food, great music and dancing! Originally, I had envisioned a romantic outdoor “garden party” theme for the reception, complete with a tent structure and al fresco lighting to set the mood. To our great fortune, the Arizona Biltmore had perfect outdoor spaces and was able to accommodate both our outdoor ceremony and reception requests. Usually, April weather in Arizona is pretty reliable, with warm temperatures and sunny skies. The weather gods had a different plan for us, however, as it decided to pour the day of our wedding and was freezing cold (ok, it was in the 40s, but that’s freezing for us Arizonans!)We made the decision to move everything indoors the morning of the wedding and I was a little concerned that our Plan B back-up space would end up looking like a generic ballroom. However, through sheer determination and incredibly hard work, our design team, Avant-Garde Studio, and our event planner, Rhonda Rush, were able to “recreate” my garden party theme indoors. Avant-Garde even built the entire tent structure inside the ballroom and draped all of the walls. They made the ballroom incredibly unique looking and beautiful. We moved the ceremony into the architecturally stunning Aztec Ballroom and it turned out better than we could have ever imagined. Despite the rain, the day was perfect, and the ceremony and reception went off without a hitch. The sun even made an appearance long enough for our wonderful photographer, Elyse Hall, to snap some beautiful outdoor shots before the festivities began. The food was delicious, the music was lively and the dancing seemed to last all night, just like we wanted.
Photography: Elyse Hall / Event Coordinator: Rhonda Rush with Impact Events / Design, décor and flowers: Avant-Garde Studios / Band: The Hamptons Band / After-Party DJ: Steven Skoze / Invitations: Bella Figura / Save the dates: Wedding Paper Divas / Calligraphy: Jennifer Schmidt / Photo Booth: Self-Portrait Station / Dress: Monique Lhuillier / String Trio: String Serenade / Catering and Venue: The Arizona Biltmore / Bride’s hair: Mandy Samford / Bride’s makeup: Maureen Cosovich
