Some may say that what we do on Style Me Pretty – obsess over flowers and gowns and pretty things – is insignificant. But that isn’t at all what we do. We celebrate. We celebrate love and family, tradition and ceremony. And on a day like today, where we have the honor of also celebrating the incredible people who have given their life for our country – we remember just how important those very pillars of our lives are to all of us. After all, it’s love that is at the very root of what we honor today. To all of the men and women who are or have served, we stand beside you as we remember the amazing people who have fallen.
Today’s wedding celebrates the amazing wedding of TWO Air Force Officers. Their beautiful story travelled the globe and thanks to the photos from Love Janet, we are able to tag right along beside them. Read on and click here for the full gallery!
From Kasey, the bride…I commissioned as a Second Lieutenant back in 2012 from the University of Southern California, and I met my husband while in ROTC. The two of us were two-thirds of our Air Force commisioning class, and we’ve been teammates since day one. It’s not always easy. With rotating deployment schedules we have spent a lot of time apart, however, we use that as fuel to enjoy the time we do have together. In typical military fashion, we got legally married in 2016 between deployments to ensure that we wouldn’t get stationed apart and then took our time planning our dream wedding for September 23, 2017. I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.
Our wedding was a long time in the planning and making. I actually planned a majority of it from my first deployment to Africa having had only one chance to visit venues and meet vendors prior to leaving. The framework for the day was planned long before. We are both from Southern California, so coming back to California for our families was a must.
Long before we got engaged, I had looked online at venues (because, you know what girl doesn’t?) and found a few I loved in close driving distance to my grandparents in Orange County, who were both in their late nineties. I had always wanted to get married at a beautiful church, and Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano became the dream ceremony location. Sadly, I lost both of my grandparents before the wedding and honoring those who couldn’t be there was very important to me in the details, one of the many reasons when the Mission was available, we chose to have our ceremony there.
One of the biggest elements we made sure were included were proper ranks and titles. So much of the wedding industry is focused on Mr. & Mrs. Type items. We are both Captains, and I kept my name. We had friends and guests who have titles they earned and own names they kept. In every opportunity, we did our best to honor that. The other fun element we included was the traditional sabre arch leaving the church. We were fortunate to have Los Angeles Air Force Base’s honor guard loan us the sabres and our groomsmen and friends participate in the arch.
[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/243703956 600 338]
Kasey & Evan from Monroe Films on Vimeo.
The most fun ideas to find while planning were the smaller details that we used to make the wedding truly our own. Evan and I are major Harry Potter nerds. We actually got engaged at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando on a green screen, while wearing Hogwarts robes. However, the goal was to keep the day as elegant as we could, so we carefully included small nods to our love of the series throughout the day.
I really wanted to make sure guests noticed the small touches, so we hosted a scavenger hunt at the reception for all the details with the winners taking home Harry Potter T-Shirts, ties, and glasses. Because we’d been together for so long, we included photos throughout the reception over the years, from embarrassing ones at 19, to our formal engagement photos. Of course, the most important for us was the memory setup for my three late grandparents. We placed that memorial in a quieter place where guests could (and did) spent some time to honor them.
Some of my fondest memories have to do with the overall fun of the day. If you look at the video, there is a segment where one of the groomsmen introduces the concept of the party shirts and we “start the party” that wasn’t planned or scripted, he got up and did that for us and it such a great memory for our guests one of my friend’s dad made his own party shirt for her wedding!
We didn’t do a first look with the photographer, we did a first touch prior to walking down the aisle. I just wish we’d had more time for that. I also wish we’d been able to make it to our own cocktail hour, but staying away until the grand entrance actually went really well in hindsight. Time was the biggest issue all day, but I’d say make sure to take a second and breathe and enjoy the day as best you can and when all the events are over, just have a blast and enjoy it.
To say our story has been an adventure is the understatement of a lifetime. Over eight years since our first date we are so excited to share our marriage with our family, friends, and loved ones. Not a lot of people know the story of our first date. Having been close friends for a few months, and both still in ROTC, we were hesitant to start something, worried we’d wreck the friendship we’d begun and complicating our careers. Thank God we took that leap. As I sit here trying to put the story of our love into words I realize it has been one long and, at times, complicated roller coaster, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Three states, four different bases, four deployments, and four fur-babies later, we’re more than ready for this next chapter together.
Thank you to the family and friends who will travel to spend this day with us. We know (for those of you not used to the military life) that this big wedding a year after we legally got married is a bit non-standard, but it doesn’t make it any less special to us. We’re getting to share the most important part with all of you as we truly take the plunge as Husband and Wife.
Photography: Love Janet Photography | Cinematography: Monroe Films | Florals: Bella Blooms | Wedding Gown: BHLDN | Cake: Simply Sweet Cakery | Ceremony Venue: Mission San Juan Capistrano | Reception Venue: The Ranch At Laguna Beach | Bridesmaids' Dresses: BHLDN | Beauty: Salon Maison | DJ / Photobooth: Honored Occasions | Paper Goods: Minted | Planning: Victoria Stephen Events