“Everything happens for a reason” has always been a personal motto for me when it comes to life, and meeting Ryan—at least in my opinion—was very much a matter of destiny and fate. There were several occasions when Ryan and I had nearly “met” during my four years of going to college with his high-school friends, but since he was attending a different college that was well over 700 miles away from me, we are now very realistic in conceding that it probably wouldn’t have worked out for either of us. So, you can imagine that after four years of being told by mutual friends that we’d be perfect for each other, it seemed a little surreal that I would ever actually see this man face-to-face, much less spend the rest of my life with him.
When I finally met the fabled “Ryan” at a bar—ironically the very first day I moved home from college and we were finally living in the same city, AND completely by chance—my awe was a little more than love at first sight and probably a little influenced by the legend that had preceded him. Not only was he extremely handsome, intelligent, and clever, but he was kind and extremely chivalrous--the Prince Charming I had always dreamed about as a girl worshipping Sleeping Beauty had actually come to life! Two years later, our fairy tale romance continued when he swept me off to Italy for two weeks and proposed at sunset in our hotel room that overlooked the Italian Riviera, followed by renting our own private villa in Tuscany with (surprise!) our families. It was more romantic than anything I could have ever imagined or even dreamed of!
It will come as no surprise, given our story, that the general theme I envisioned for our wedding was a romantic, overgrown forrest. I believe my exact instructions to our florists at The Hidden Garden were “like something out of a fairy tale”—and boy did they deliver it! Calamigos Ranch in Malibu provided our venue (beneath a beautiful oak tree) and catered the reception. Our 12 member band, Entourage (from DeBois Entertainment) kept the party going all night, and of course, the finishing touch was our beautiful—and quite delicious—4 tiered cake from The Bread Basket. All of the events were captured by our favorite photographer, Drew B and immortalized by Elysium.
Leading up to the big day, the one piece of wisdom that every wedding veteran had given us was, “Try to enjoy and remember as much as you can—it all goes by so fast!” But hearing it and actually experiencing it are two totally different things, and as hard as I tried, much of the day was a blur. There is so much excitement and anticipation on the day of—and any one of my bridesmaids will tell you that I was an extremely calm and carefree bride-to-be—the moment I started walking down the aisle with my father a tidal wave of emotion swept over me and I became part bride, part zombie. I mean, I DID remember all of the big details—like seeing every single person who was meaningful to me in my entire life sitting in the audience and smiling, and the look on Ryan’s face as he said his vows—but all of those tiny details I had spent an entire year agonizing over to get just perfect, they all just became part of the background. And that is why I am so grateful that we decided to hire a videographer to capture all of those special little details that all of the guests got to enjoy, but you barely have time to even glance at. Ryan had fought the idea at first saying, “but we’re having a photographer. Why do we need a video, too?” That is, of course, until he discovered that they could film in HD, and the idea of having any moment of his life commemorated specifically for his precious flat screen became very appealing. Elysium, you may be getting a call about our first born child in the future...
My advice to other brides-to-be is: don’t skimp on the details. I know planning a wedding can be really expensive and there are certainly ways to cut back, but don’t forsake the only piece of the entire celebration that will last for years to come. By the time you get back from your honeymoon your flowers will have wilted, your cake will be eaten, you may not even be able to fit into your dress anymore (I know. It’s frightening, isn’t it?), but you will always have your wedding video to watch—perfect and timeless, and just as you hoped to remember it!
And now, it’s my turn: enjoy every single moment of your engagement, planning, and the wedding itself—it really does go by SO fast!
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!! Congrats Bianca & Matt!! http://ow.ly/i/3GtI (follow me)
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