Despite the fact that for 9 years, we’ve run a completely Mac based business, for some reason we were “Late Adopters” of the iphone. I just got mine less than a year ago, Mayra’s came in last month… I think we just loved the length of those blackberry messages we could write!
I quickly fell in love with the camera, because while I don’t really like taking pictures of people, I DO love to take pictures of the things that I see that catch my eye and live in my brain. Plus, the truth is, sometimes things move so fast around here, it’s hard to share in writing all the weird/gorgeous/funny/amazing things that our job makes us privvy to. So, all of this is to say that while you can still get the insights, behind the scenes and opinions that you’ve come to expect from this blog, my new love affair is with Tumblr… because in two seconds I can upload and chronicle those tiny moments that inspire or amuse as Mayra and I wander the lands creating wedding magic… or something close to it. So, I invite you to visit/follow/laugh at my Tumblr. A sampling below:
As you can tell, I’ve also finally gotten on board with INSTAGRAM, about a year or after the world… or at least Rebecca. But, I love it! It’s like the modern day “hook a rug”: Anyone can be a talented photographer with their tools!
So, lest you think that Mayra is uninterested in Social Media, you should know that her obsession is Pinterest. She is like a hungry dog and Pinterest is her bone. Fascinating. There is a tool for every carpenter! To that end,we have finally started an official AaB Creates Pinterest, which we’re just getting started on here. and of course, you can follow Mayra’s stuff here and my things here.
Tomorrow, more content, more awesome behind the scenes of Mayra’s wedding. But for today, pictures of dogs, horses and other oddities.
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While helping couples plan their wedding day we are often asked, “Who would you hire?” The truth is that who you should hire depends on who your personal style, personality, and budget. However for me, the choices were simple. Let me tell you about who I hired and why…
1. Hair & Make-up- When it came to this, I knew that the choice for me was simple. The ladies at My Hair and Make-up have been a part of the A.a.B family since we started our business over 9 years ago. They have seen us through 3 offices, bad relationships, and career highlights. Because of this, having them do my hair is like having your cousin dolling you up. I knew that the most important thing for me was to look good, but also feel calm. So, the choice was simple. Also, they knew me well enough to know that “natural” meant Latina natural, which is not that natural at all:) So we spent the morning jamming to WBLS on the radio and laughing while we beautified. It was exactly the morning I had hoped for.
Mariachi- My family is REALLY Mexican. That means that they thought that 4 person mariachis were a joke. My mother wanted a 7 piece band to play for the ceremony and throughout cocktails and dinner. I thought 7 pieces were a bit much for a 35 person wedding. We settled on 5 players for ceremony and cocktails. A bit unsettled by the casual style of a few of the mariachis I spoke to, I knew I could turn to Gretchen at Elan Artists to find me the perfect (and reliable) mariachi. They showed up on time, learned all of my special requests, and sounded amazing!
Yummy Food! I am spoiled in that I get to live in a city AND work on weddings with amazing food and wine. I had a meal at a wedding (a hamachi sushi course) that made my heart sing and I declared then that Creative Edge was the best caterer in town! Through the years, they have been able to perfect my diverse clients special menus, while make them all equally awesome. So the choice was simple. Carla worked with us on creating a menu that was yummy, but simple enough for our some of our less adventurous family members palettes. Walker who works on so many weddings with us was as amazing as always and helped us get everything right. My family raved at the food…and here I thought they would be upset that it wasn’t Mexican food!
Dancing in the Streets (or at Creative Edge)- For years I have been singing the praises of DV JVC. We first met Jimmy years ago when we first started our business. We were working on a Day-of client at the time who had hired Jimmy. It was one of those days of work that didn’t feel like work. Xochitl and I danced and sang along to his fantastic music. Over the years he has worked on many weddings with us. No matter how specific the couple’s music tastes have been, he has always been able to nail it. So when it came time to choosing someone, there was really no choice. I have seen so many people micro-manage a DJ, but the truth is that you should give a little direction so that they understand what you want, and then let them do their thing! Xochitl had the music conversation for me and told him to play like it was a club…10 years ago. While not playing Rhianna or Katy Perry might not be for everyone, it was exactly what our crowd needed. Let me just say, HE HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK!! Guests came up to me DURING the party to rave. He gave us the perfect soundtrack for a great time! Amazing!!!
All photographs by Heather Waraksa Photography & Dave Robbins Photography In case you missed it, you can see the FULL wedding on Style Me Pretty here and here.
In an effort to not bore you I will follow up with Part 2 tomorrow!
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Anyone who knows me knows that I am an absolutely HORRIBLE secret keeper. In general, I like to live by the rule: “You’re secret is safe with me, as long as I can tell Mayra.” So, the fact that I have been sitting on Mayra’s amazing wedding images for the past month has been LITERALLY killing me. We wanted to share them, but, to be totally honest, I think it was one of the prettiest, most detailed and lovely events we’ve designed to date and so we wanted to share it with A LOT of people… so where better to showcase “The Pretty” and “The Fun” of the day with an audience of readers who crave The Pretty? Style Me Pretty of course! Today at Noon, 2 and 4 please visit SMP to see Mayra and Aja at their most gorgeous, check out all the details AND the stunning photos and video taken by Heather Waraksa, Dave Robbins and Leslie at Kiss the Bride Films. And of course, check back here for insights from Mayra and some behind the scenes of the big day.
As for me, I’m breathing a sigh of relief.! I haven’t tweeted, Tumbld, chatted or texted any of this… which is a minor miracle.
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Today is the big day! Actually, that day already happened (and it was magical!), but today is the day that we get to share it with everyone. If you know me personally, or read our blog enough, you know that I am usually not that keen on sharing my life or being photographed. I am taking a hiatus from that today:) Check out Style Me Pretty later today for photos, video, and a few DIY lessons from Xochitl!
I can tell you that I had the most amazing wedding day! It was also awesome to be on the other side and see the things that really matter to couples, and which things just haunt my dreams as a planner for no real good reason. So, I thought my first post of the day would be about all of the things that I noticed as a bride…and all of those that totally went unnoticed!
THINGS I ONLY FRET ABOUT AS A PLANNER!
1. Who cares about the weather when you are marrying the love of your life? I woke up on the morning of my wedding day to a cloudy day. After a long HOT week in the city, the chance of rain seemed like the most horrible luck. Both my husband and Xochitl had been trying to distract me from weather reports. But you know what? I did not care AT ALL. I hardly checked the weather reports. I just figured that I would use an umbrella right?
2. Apples to Oranges- My color scheme was selected to honor my favorite fruits. I know, I am such a Central Valley farm girl at heart! I grew up waiting for peach and nectarine season, and so I wanted to have them on my tables and throughout the room. Now, that’s great in theory, but the season for this in California is late July…and I was getting married in March. So despite Melanie and Xochitl scouring the earth for peaches, they ended up having to substitute them with oranges. Now, this is something that they were both upset about and the kind of thing that drives me crazy with anxiety as a planner. But you know what? Yep, you guessed it! I didn’t notice. I saw a nectarine on my table and another orange-y round thing and I did not even notice until Xochitl told me right now!
3. The entire day is “the moment”- Now, as a planner, the moments immediately before a ceremony procession are usually the most stressful of the day. Everyone is filled with nervous energy and ready for the show to get on the road. It is usually the part of the day that is most staffed, to ensure that a bride and grooms vision of the trip down the aisle is everything they ever dreamed it would be! Any hiccups during this time make me want to die. However, at my own wedding although the procession was perfect, once we got to the alter it was sort of a mess. Our priest, who gave a LOVELY sermon, was a little flustered by the plethora of cultural rituals that we threw at him. They were sort of done a little out of order, but again, I didn’t notice! I would have sat in the back and fretted that my bride’s father seemed a little confused as to where to sit, but when it was my own dad look frazzled it made me actually relax a bit. When I think back on the day, this is not necessarily the moment of the day that I remember most. It was seeing my husband for the first time from down a long aisle and waving at him…and having him wave back. It was exchanging vows and hearing my usually cold heart melt and my voice crack. It was seeing how happy everyone around us looked. There is no magic moment. It is just a magical day.
THINGS I DID NOTICE
Napkin-gate 2012: There is not a soul who entered my office in the month before my wedding that did not hear about my napkins. Xochitl had an an idea that every guest should have their name embroidered onto their dinner napkin. I thought it was genius. I decided to delegate the task to my mother. Since it was the only task I gave her, and in wanting it to be perfect, she had a lot of questions. Also, she thought that my ideas were bad. I am not the most patient person, so pretty soon I was just telling her things like, “Mom, this is all you! You make them look however you like!” My poor godmother/Aunt Linda who lives in Mexico got suckered into this project at some point (maybe because my mom wanted someone to fret with) and soon we were having international calls on the status of the napkins. So, when they arrived a week before the wedding and were wrong…I FLIPPED OUT. I am not ashamed to admit here that there were tears shed over this and screams in the middle of the street. Well, maybe I am a lot ashamed. Napkins? Really? So my lovely Aunt and mother rushed ordered what I really wanted and had them delivered on time. But they were the touch that people noticed when they walked into the room. It made everyone feel like they were special…and that was worth the drama!
Let there be wine!- I often have grooms ask for suggestions as to what they should gift their future wives on the wedding day. I love to suggest handwritten notes, flowers and champagne sent to the room, a piece of jewelery that reminds the bride of that day. Now, my husband is a lovely, lovely man (thus I married him!) but he is not always the best at small gestures like this, so I was not expecting anything. However, when we sat down to dinner I noticed that he had ordered (and coordinated with Xochitl and Creative Edge) wines from Maldonado Wines, a family that belongs to my extended family. I was blown away. We had spent an amazing day with them in Calistoga last summer and the wines made me think of that amazing day AND it put a smile on my parents faces. That beat a jewel!
3. Seamstress Xochitl- A week before the wedding I nixed a linen that Xochitl wanted to use on the bar and for the cake. I thought they were too expensive and unnecessary. She disagreed. She decided that they were so necessary that she would sew them herself rather than have to use the ones I was willing to pay for…and she was right. They made all of the difference in the room on the day. So I want to take back the eye rolls I gave her as she pulled out her sewing machine in the office. There is a reason why she is “Creative” at the AAB office!
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Last week, I did a post about how to achieve that effortless “not so matchy, matchy” look with your bridesmaids… But I realized that we maybe need a little bit more assistance in how to have your groomsmen look great and not like a bunch of guys heading to prom. I’ve found that sometimes the snag with groomsmen is that grooms feel less comfortable asking their friends to spend some money on attire specifically for their wedding, whereas it’s expected by Bridesmaids to shell out on an event specific ensemble. So, often, the answer is to simply default to a rented tux. But, if a groom can wrap his head around asking his groomsmen to participate in a “look”, the results can be quite dapper and unlike most bridesmaids’ dresses, the groomsmen CAN actually wear that suit/ vest/ tie, etc. again.
For weddings that are a little less formal, I love the idea of putting your groomsmen in suit vests without jackets. It’s stylish and more polished than forgoing just shirt and slacks. (Via Silverthorne Pavillion):
In the summertime or on the beach, I think a Khaki suit can look so handsome. Here, they paired fabulous suits with colorful ties for a festive and fun look. (via Silver Thorne Pavillion)
Obviously, THE GROOM should be the most stylish man in the wedding party, but remember, his look can inspire the groomsmen, but not necessarily be replicated EXACTLY. I thought this fabulous groom looked amazing in his bespoke suit, but his wedding party looked no less dapper in these great 3 piece grey suits that they will wear again and again. (via Abella Photography)
Sometimes, it’s great to let your groomsmen shine with their own personal looks- a great solution for a more CASUAL wedding. I loved this mismatched wedding party on Green Wedding Shoes and I got the sense that each of these men carried their own “everyday” style into their wedding look.
Of course, the easiest way to keep everyone “uniformed” but not without personality is to play with the best men’s accessory of all: the tie. I LOVE this coordinated, but mis-matched tie look! (Via Brides.com)
Curious: What are your groomsmen wearing?
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