Photography by Viera Photographics
Q. What was the best part of your wedding day?
A. Our vows. We picked the language out together, but something about saying them on a bluff overlooking the ocean, under an arch with beautiful yellow poms hanging, before all of our friends and family, in front of an officiant and to each other aloud made it so special, sweet and sentimental. I started tearing up when he read his, and I’ll never forget how sincerely and lovingly Travis was looking at me when I read mine.
Q. What do you feel was totally unnecessary?
A. Parasols & heat lamps (but this was only because we lucked out with the weather).
Q. What would you change, if anything?
A. I would have held my bouquet in more of my photos. I left it upstairs after the ceremony and didn’t have it with me for a number of formal family photos and during our first dance. Travis would have drank a little less. He had so much fun at the wedding, but has a hard time remembering a lot of details towards the end of the evening ;).
Q. What was unexpected that you loved?
A. The weather. We were warned all year that it was going to be a very hot day, and during our rehearsal the day before it was really windy and a little chilly even. Also, there was overcast the morning of, so we were so delighted to have perfect weather. Not too hot and not chilly at all. What a pleasant surprise!
Also, we didn’t expect our ceremony to be as special and sentimental as it was and to have as much fun as we did during our reception. Seriously, it was the most fun we’ve ever had at a party.
Q. What are your fondest memories of your wedding day?
A. There are so many! I’ll just list a few though:
See vows above.
The kids in our wedding party- the youngest of our flower girls was reluctant to walk out, the other flower gals and our ring bearer were tugging at her, and finally when the 2 realized they were late they ran our to their respective places (so cute!); and when our reverend asked for the rings, our ring bearer started walking up and when his dad pulled him back he whispered “but I have the ring pillow” (how adorable is that).
After cutting the cake and just as sunset I pulled Travis aside and said, lets take it all in. We walked over the flat dirt bluff area, looked out at the view and look around at our guests having a great time and we kissed. It was so special. I think the 10 minutes immediately after the ceremony was still a little too early for us to realize that we were married and that this would be the best day of our lives.
Seeing all of our friends have a blast and hearing all about how much fun they had even days/weeks after the wedding. There was a lot of drinking, a lot of dancing, a lot of heart to heart moments, a lot of hugging and a lot of loving. Plus, all of our friends really got along and found new friends in each other. Our wedding party and a couple of other close friends stayed with us for a couple of days after the wedding and we’re so glad they did. We had so much fun rehashing good wedding party memories and they filled us in on a lot of hysterically awesome details we missed.
Our wedding guest book. We had a mini Polaroid camera for people to include photos of themselves next to their wedding wishes. It’s fun to see how presentable and polite everyone looks during the daytime, and to read the much more messy messages from the heart attached to those photos taken later in the evening (for example, one friend simply wrote “happy life forever!” and scribbled her name, it’s hysterical, at least to us it is).
Looking back and thinking, that wedding was sooooo “us”. =)
Q. Is there anything you wish you had spent more time or money on?
A. Not really, but if I had to say… maybe a videographer (especially considering how surprisingly sentimental the vows were to us). My uncle captured it on his flip-cam, so we have the footage, thank goodness.
Q. Is there anything you wish you had spent less time or money on?
A. Just a couple of minor things:
-Professional hair& makeup for my bridesmaids (this was pricey, and given the more fun than fancy nature of our wedding, I might have just had a friend help curl hair if I had to do it all over again).
-A cheaper cake (the cake was delicious and the flavors were exactly what we wanted, but I don’t think people (including us) would’ve noticed any difference had we gone with a less expensive bakery (for example, a cake that was included in our catering package).
Q. Were there any unexpected surprises or issues?
A. We anticipated the traffic and set our invitation time 1 hour in advance of our actual ceremony start time, but did not anticipate the shuttles being delayed in picking up our guests from the hotel.
Q. What’s your number #1 tip for future engaged couples?
A. Listen to Amber. She’s got great insight into how weddings work, awesome vendor recommendations, and super creative suggestions. Also, think about the things you really care about (for us it was the guest list, photographer and venue), prioritize, and don’t sweat the small stuff (which there is a lot of in planning any wedding).
How did you feel after the wedding?
A. So lucky! We felt lucky to have each other, lucky to have so many family and friends who love us and lucky to have had the wedding of our dreams.
Thank you, Travis & Salina, for allowing me to be a part of your day! Love, Amber
And because I can’t resist showing off how cute these two are, below are some of the photos of them that make me smile. Aren’t they adorable?!
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