Meet my dear friends Carrie & Ryan. They're a tremendously sweet and fun couple that I've known for a few years now. I wish I had the photo from when I first met Ryan on Halloween night in 2007(?). He was dressed as a gladiator!
Read on about the details of their sweet spring wedding. All photos in this post are credited to Craig Wolfrom photography.
What was important to you when it came to planning your wedding?
Read on about the details of their sweet spring wedding. All photos in this post are credited to Craig Wolfrom photography.
Our philosophy in
spending money on our wedding was- we want to put our money into things
that our guests will truly find enjoyable. That's what dictated each
choice we made. Will they remember the color of the linen? (we had
uplighting anyway which made the room pink and all the tables) Nope.
Will they remember what kinda china they ate off or glasses they drank
from? Probably not. Will they remember dancing to Pop Rocks having
the Warriors Franco Finn as the MC? You betcha!
Did you have an idea of a tone for the event? What were some of your inspirations?
We wanted to be fun and modern and not stuffy at all. You can definitely be elegant and not stuffy.
We got engaged in NY and the city was filled with pink and yellow
tulips (they were in season.) So picking the colors and flowers for the
wedding was a no brainer. 
What was the hardest part about the planning process?
Once you find a site everything falls into place because by
finding a site you lock in a date, a time, etc. The thing that was
important for us was a site that could go late (ending your wedding at
10:30pm is so sad!) and be loud (our site hosts concerts so our little wedding
wasn't going to be a problem). We're not wine people but it just so
happened that a winery could make that happen! Details are like herding cats! There are so many details- it's
like you check something off the list and then 3 other things pop up.
Deciding to spend extra on a tent (because our wedding was on a lawn)
was a tough call but we were glad we did.
How well were you able to stick to your budget?
We started a joint wedding savings account right after getting
engaged (which eventually became our joint life savings account). We
went over a bit, I think most people do. We had one rule- pay for it
all in cash. Going into debt for a wedding is bad bad bad way to start a
marriage. By the way, paying in cash up front is a great way to save with
most vendors.
Was
there a "must-have" from your wedding that you couldn't do without?
The
photobooth, while getting to be cliche at weddings, is so fun. Seeing
your grandpa pile in and snap pics with your family is priceless. Ryan
insisted on having the cover band and it was a hit! We kept it pretty
basic otherwise and are happy with our choices.
Was there something that you felt was missing from your wedding?
Our wedding went from like 6pm-2am. And even that felt too short!
What was your favorite thing from your wedding?
The band, hands down!
What was your favorite moment from your wedding?
I think
being able to watch the same day edit was pretty awesome. It provided a
moment for everything to stop and for all of us to just soak it in and our
guests thoroughly enjoyed watching it.
Do you have any advice for future brides?
Hire a good videographer. They're just as expensive as photographers
these days, so be sure to budget that in. Wedding planning can be
stressful, so pick your battles. Lastly, factor more than enough time
for pictures with your family/wedding party. Stuff will come up
through out the day, so you want to ensure you have plenty of time for
photo ops.
What are you feelings on hiring a wedding planner?
from Ryan: Being
a detail-oriented person, Carrie was actually looking forward to
rolling up her sleeves and knocking that stuff out. If you're too busy I
think it's a great way, but Carrie was only gonna get one wedding so
she wanted to be in the driver's seat.
from Carrie:
I perceive wedding planners to be very expensive, but I see why some
brides choose to hire one. I met our "day of" wedding coordinator the
day before, and definitely felt rushed to explain how I wanted the wedding
day to go down and worried that she didn't get it all. In the end it
worked out.
Where are they now?
"It's been 2 years since we tied the knot
and the time has blown by. We celebrated our first anniversary in
Seattle and will celebrate our 2nd in SLO. We've moved to a bigger home
that has a 2nd bedroom in case we might need it one day in the future.
We've enjoyed using our experience to help our friends and family plan
their wedding. Seeing as we're both into fashion and style, we've also
launched a husband and wife fashion/lifestyle blog called The Bird and the Beast. Like us on Facebook!"
Vendors
- Photography- Craig Wolfrom Photography
- Videography- Major Diamond Productions
- Site: Wente Vineyards, Livermore CA
- Photobooth: Partybooths.com
- MC: Franco Finn (Golden State Warriors announcer)
- Cover Band: Pop Rocks
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