Timeless California Wedding in Shades of Pink
Shades of pink... that is our love language. And these bright, blushing centerpieces by Fujii Florist are speaking right to our classic loving souls. They are wrapped up in a day so timeless and perfect with a Bride in a Reem Acra gown worthy of a good old-fashioned swoonfest and photographs that only Tanja Lippert could capture so perfectly. Catch all the pink, all the sparkly, all the love right here.
From The Groom...Lauren and I met in high school in California when we were both sixteen – me at an all-boys Catholic prep and she at the all-girl sister school. We shared a love of the outdoors, politics, and dinners at Pasta Pomodoro. Four proms, a long-distance college relationship, and one cross-country move later, our taste in restaurants has improved but the interests, good times, and respect for one another that initially brought us together remains the same.
Although we now call Atlanta home, we’re both Californians at heart so we knew the wedding would be back in the Bay Area, near many of our friends and family. Neither Lauren nor I consider ourselves sentimental people, but we couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of choosing Stanford’s church as our ceremony venue – in addition to being Lauren’s alma mater (and home to my favorite college football team), her parents had gotten married there on the same date in August 37 years earlier.
The rest of our wedding planning followed naturally. We wanted the day to be beautiful and timeless, but also to really focus on the things that Lauren and I cared about most: friends and family, drinks and dancing, and amazing food! We were planning from afar so we made most of our decisions during a weeklong, whirlwind wedding trip during the winter holidays (and had lots of help from some amazing people). Our reception venue was a beautiful private home and garden, just minutes from the church, that had exactly the comfortable elegance we were looking for. Since we both seriously lack any artistic talent, we found other ways to add our own personal touches to the reception: a shuck-to order oyster bar (hands down my favorite food), personalized appetizers (fish n’ chips and crabcakes, reminiscent of our many trips to Barbara’s Fishtrap in nearby Half Moon Bay), a string quartet to play during the cocktail hours (one of our first dates was at the San Francisco Symphony), and his and her signature cocktails (Lauren’s classic French 75 and my dirty martini). Our flowers were done by a florist Lauren’s family has known since she was a child. We met with them six weeks before the wedding, described our color scheme and gave them free-reign with the design and were amazed at how perfectly everything turned out.
The wedding day itself was warm, sunny and like the past ten years we’d spent together (and hopefully the next 50 to come) was filled with more love and laughter than we ever could have dreamed. Lauren was stunningly beautiful and her smile and grace made me fall in love all over again. It was perfect.
Although we now call Atlanta home, we’re both Californians at heart so we knew the wedding would be back in the Bay Area, near many of our friends and family. Neither Lauren nor I consider ourselves sentimental people, but we couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of choosing Stanford’s church as our ceremony venue – in addition to being Lauren’s alma mater (and home to my favorite college football team), her parents had gotten married there on the same date in August 37 years earlier.
The rest of our wedding planning followed naturally. We wanted the day to be beautiful and timeless, but also to really focus on the things that Lauren and I cared about most: friends and family, drinks and dancing, and amazing food! We were planning from afar so we made most of our decisions during a weeklong, whirlwind wedding trip during the winter holidays (and had lots of help from some amazing people). Our reception venue was a beautiful private home and garden, just minutes from the church, that had exactly the comfortable elegance we were looking for. Since we both seriously lack any artistic talent, we found other ways to add our own personal touches to the reception: a shuck-to order oyster bar (hands down my favorite food), personalized appetizers (fish n’ chips and crabcakes, reminiscent of our many trips to Barbara’s Fishtrap in nearby Half Moon Bay), a string quartet to play during the cocktail hours (one of our first dates was at the San Francisco Symphony), and his and her signature cocktails (Lauren’s classic French 75 and my dirty martini). Our flowers were done by a florist Lauren’s family has known since she was a child. We met with them six weeks before the wedding, described our color scheme and gave them free-reign with the design and were amazed at how perfectly everything turned out.
The wedding day itself was warm, sunny and like the past ten years we’d spent together (and hopefully the next 50 to come) was filled with more love and laughter than we ever could have dreamed. Lauren was stunningly beautiful and her smile and grace made me fall in love all over again. It was perfect.