Montecito, California Wedding from Stone Crandall
Here at SMP, there's truly nothing that touches are hearts deeper than the stories. The heart behind the pretty weddings, and the meaning tucked between every detail. So when we heard this Montecito bride held her Big Day at the same venue her late best friend once worked for, it made us love this gorgeous wedding even more. She brought on top notch vendors like Stone Crandall, James Tull and XOXO Bride to help bring her dream day to life and the gallery is waiting with so much more.
From the Bride... I decided to share the best day of my life with SMP for one reason – my amazing vendors deserve the recognition. They were the most hard-working, caring, wonderful people and I hope many of the readers choose to use them! Adam and I met during a beach volleyball tournament in Rosarito, Mexico at a romantic little establishment called Papas and Beer. Right next to the mechanical bull, we took tequila shots, danced to George Benson, and fell for each other.
For two years Adam and I long distance dated between Santa Barbara and San Diego. During that time I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease called Alopecia Areata and for the next 2 years Adam stood by me as all of the hair on my head (including my eyebrows and eyelashes) fell out. He was the most supportive, loving, amazing boyfriend I could have ever dreamed of and no matter how many times I tried to push him away, he never gave up on me or on us.
Adam proposed on a sunny, winter day in February at the Santa Barbara Mission, where we had one of our first dates. We laughed, we cried, and on a blanket under that beautiful Spanish church, decided Santa Barbara was where we wanted to get married.
In the fall of 2007, my roommate and one of my best friends, Annie, was crossing the street in Santa Barbara when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver. She was the wedding coordinator at the Montecito Country Club so having our reception there was an easy decision. As we walked across the grounds and watched the sunset after the ceremony, Adam and I knew she was smiling down on us.
Saralee Franchi from XOXO Bride is a machine. Our wedding day went so smoothly, you would think she had a team of 10 working with her. Saralee really helped pull my vision of “1920’s Spanish meets clean and modern” together, and she also recommended most of my vendors, who I loved and saved us tons of money!
Adam and my number one priority was the music. We wanted to make sure everyone danced and had as much fun as we were planning to. My good friend Micah from the band Iration sang “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison for our first dance and then the Kevin Miso Band took over, which lucky for us, is THE BEST WEDDING BAND OF ALL TIME. They went so above and beyond our expectations in every aspect – from cocktail hour to “Don’t Stop Believing” bringing the house down at the end. Seriously – hire this band!
I met Patti Joyce when I finally lost all my hair to Alopecia. She has been my mentor, my inspiration, my guardian angel, and like a mother to me ever since. She chose, custom cut, and styled the wig for me that you see in the pictures. She is amazing!! My makeup artist Romina is just that – an artist. My makeup was flawless and Romina even stayed until after the ceremony to touch up my makeup before photos at MCC.
Flowers were one of the lowest priorities on my list and boy, did Cathy Bardos change my opinion on flower power. I gave her almost no budget and she created the most stunning centerpieces I could have hoped for. I think I got more compliments on the flowers than anything else. You can truly tell she loves what she does and it shows in her work.
Jennifer from Sweet Time Desserts blew me away with how delicious and inexpensive her cakes were. The gourmet funfetti and peanut butter chocolate cakes were so good, we ran out! No cake for us on our one-year anniversary, we will be drinking the giant bottle of wine that you see in the wedding video instead.
Our videographer and photographer are geniuses. Hands down.
My one piece of advice to all of you brides out there is to make sure and take lots of deep breaths, step back, and try to take as much in as you can… the day goes by so fast and every minute is magic!
For two years Adam and I long distance dated between Santa Barbara and San Diego. During that time I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease called Alopecia Areata and for the next 2 years Adam stood by me as all of the hair on my head (including my eyebrows and eyelashes) fell out. He was the most supportive, loving, amazing boyfriend I could have ever dreamed of and no matter how many times I tried to push him away, he never gave up on me or on us.
Adam proposed on a sunny, winter day in February at the Santa Barbara Mission, where we had one of our first dates. We laughed, we cried, and on a blanket under that beautiful Spanish church, decided Santa Barbara was where we wanted to get married.
In the fall of 2007, my roommate and one of my best friends, Annie, was crossing the street in Santa Barbara when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver. She was the wedding coordinator at the Montecito Country Club so having our reception there was an easy decision. As we walked across the grounds and watched the sunset after the ceremony, Adam and I knew she was smiling down on us.
Saralee Franchi from XOXO Bride is a machine. Our wedding day went so smoothly, you would think she had a team of 10 working with her. Saralee really helped pull my vision of “1920’s Spanish meets clean and modern” together, and she also recommended most of my vendors, who I loved and saved us tons of money!
Adam and my number one priority was the music. We wanted to make sure everyone danced and had as much fun as we were planning to. My good friend Micah from the band Iration sang “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison for our first dance and then the Kevin Miso Band took over, which lucky for us, is THE BEST WEDDING BAND OF ALL TIME. They went so above and beyond our expectations in every aspect – from cocktail hour to “Don’t Stop Believing” bringing the house down at the end. Seriously – hire this band!
I met Patti Joyce when I finally lost all my hair to Alopecia. She has been my mentor, my inspiration, my guardian angel, and like a mother to me ever since. She chose, custom cut, and styled the wig for me that you see in the pictures. She is amazing!! My makeup artist Romina is just that – an artist. My makeup was flawless and Romina even stayed until after the ceremony to touch up my makeup before photos at MCC.
Flowers were one of the lowest priorities on my list and boy, did Cathy Bardos change my opinion on flower power. I gave her almost no budget and she created the most stunning centerpieces I could have hoped for. I think I got more compliments on the flowers than anything else. You can truly tell she loves what she does and it shows in her work.
Jennifer from Sweet Time Desserts blew me away with how delicious and inexpensive her cakes were. The gourmet funfetti and peanut butter chocolate cakes were so good, we ran out! No cake for us on our one-year anniversary, we will be drinking the giant bottle of wine that you see in the wedding video instead.
Our videographer and photographer are geniuses. Hands down.
My one piece of advice to all of you brides out there is to make sure and take lots of deep breaths, step back, and try to take as much in as you can… the day goes by so fast and every minute is magic!