Okay friends, here it is! I have a hard enough time editing real wedding features when I’m not the bride, so you can imagine how hard it was to narrow down photos from my own wedding. It was also tough trying to write the text for this post – I didn’t want to leave out a single detail! Which is why I’m doing more posts next week, so I can share even more pics and details and stories. First, though, I wanted to give you a “Real Wedding: Kathryn & Ryan” post…
Since I’m from San Francisco, and since it would be my home with Ryan by the time of our wedding, it seemed like the best place to get married – plus we thought it would be a fun city for our out-of-town guests to visit. Because I look at wedding photos all day everyday, I had moments of serious wedding planning confusion, but once we decided on a date (December 4) and venues, the details started to fall into place.
Cavallo Point is a beautiful hotel that overlooks the San Francisco Bay, and it was the perfect place for all of the girls to get ready, as well as for portraits before the ceremony.
The bouquet my godmother made for me was pretty much my dream bouquet. She incorporated all of the things I asked for and that she knows I love: peonies (in December!), lily-of-the-valley, paper whites, dusty miller, gardenia and passion vine. She tied it with two kinds of silver ribbon from Britex.
I’m totally in love with my wedding dress – the pale dove gray was so perfect for a winter wedding, it had just the right amount of sparkle, and I felt like Grace Kelly when I put it on (especially after Jim Avila worked his hair and makeup magic on me!).
For our invitations, I wanted a look that was classic and elegant, as well as playful – it was so much fun working with Jill at PS Paper, and seeing my ideas come to life.
The Swedenborgian Church is such a perfect venue for a winter wedding – it’s intimate and cozy, all dark wood and candlelight. And it’s one of those magical little places that you’d probably drive right past if you didn’t know it was there. Also, how cute are those valet guys out front with their white dinner jackets? And I don’t even need to ask how adorable our flower girl is…
So many brides have told me that the ceremony was their favorite part of the day, and I totally know why. Aside from the obvious (the marrying my best friend part), every moment I could feel the love of our friends and family like a hug. It was also wonderful to have one of our dearest friends officiate – she did such an amazing job, and gave us the most wonderful gift of a beautiful and personal address. And as though it wasn’t all perfect enough, Jenna Lam (one of our incredible wedding planners) surprised us with a boys’ choir singing Christmas carols as we walked out of the church!
One of the few details that I was certain I wanted from the get-go was button escort cards – I’ve loved this idea ever since I saw it in an issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, and together with calligrapher Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls, Jill from PS Paper made it happen. And our guests loved them!
The Presidio Social Club is just a short drive from the church, it happens to be one of our favorite restaurants in the city, and was all around a great pick for our reception. It has a retro vibe, delicious food, and since it’s in the Presidio, it feels very “San Francisco.” When guests arrived, they were greeted with Poinsettia cocktails served in retro champagne coupes, which I thought were pretty festive.
Is it weird that one of my favorite details from our wedding was the napkins? Kathleen Deery had them custom made for our wedding, and somehow those little pom-poms added so much to the tables! They also fit so perfectly with the elegantly playful mood that we hoped to create for the party. Oh, and a few of you asked about my crystal hair piece yesterday – it was a gift from the wonderful Jennifer Behr.
At the bottom of their menus, guests were reminded to save room for dessert: Noci Gelato brought their party bike (in lieu of a groom’s cake, since my groom is an ice cream man), waiters passed around beignets filled with chocolate, and Perfect Endings created a gorgeous (and delicious!) cake and dessert buffet for us.
This is probably one of my favorite photos from our entire wedding – how cute are these kids! They probably enjoyed the photo booth more than anyone, except maybe for all the grown ups. The booth printed duplicate copies of everything, so our guests could leave one in an album for us along with a note. It was so much fun looking through the album/guest book later that night.
The dessert buffet included some of our favorite flavors, including seasonal treats like eggnog (with donuts), gingerbread cookies and peppermint bark.
My mom (I love you mom!) made more than 100 Christmas crackers, which our guests had fun with – we have some great pics of people popping them open and wearing the paper crowns. My godmother found the cute silver holly that decorated them.
Whoever says wedding cake is overrated has never tasted one from Perfect Endings – not only was our cake beautiful, decorated with sugar cyclamen to match the centerpieces, but it’s quite possibly the best cake I’ve ever eaten. Two tiers of lemon sponge cake with lemon curd and two tiers of their Mahogany cake (chocolate layer cake with chocolate hazelnut truffle cream). I’m drooling just thinking about it…
I truly loved every part of our wedding, but next to the ceremony, I’d say our first dance was a favorite moment. Crystal Monee Hall has such an incredible voice, and having her sing You’re All I Need to Get By (our song!) was such a treat.
Oh my goodness – there is so much more I want to share with you! Tomorrow I thought I’d share some of the planning process, and then next week I’ll go more in-depth about the details and moments and stories and vendors. We were so lucky to have friends and family there to celebrate with us, and to have some of the most amazing wedding vendors anyone could hope for. I can honestly say that our wedding was one of the most wonderful and special days I’ve ever experienced, and I know Ryan would say the same thing – thank you for letting me revisit it here by sharing it with you!
Vendors
Planning, coordination: Laurie Arons Boutique Events, directed by Jenna Lam
Photography: Elizabeth Messina
Videography: Sandbox Love
Venues
Getting ready, portraits: Cavallo Point in Sausalito, California
Ceremony: The Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco
Reception: Presidio Social Club in San Francisco
My attire
Dress: Angel Sanchez purchased at Jin Wang
Veil: purchased at Jin Wang
Hair clip: Jennifer Behr
White bridal shoes: Kate Spade
Sparkly flats: Steve Madden
Hair and makeup: Jim Avila and Darlene Carlson (415-381-5609)
Wedding bands: Stephan-Hill
Ryan’s attire
Suit, shirt, tie: Ralph Lauren
Shoes: Bally purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue
Suspenders: Brooks Brothers
Other attire
Flower girl, Junior bridesmaid dresses: Lula Kate purchased at Bella Bridesmaid
Flower girl, Junior bridesmaid shoes: Payless
Maid of Honor dresses: Amsale purchased at Bella Bridesmaid
Ring bearer suit: Janie & Jack
Ring bearer bow tie: BuyYourTies.com
Stationery
Invitation suite, save-the-dates: PS Paper
Letterpress: Alan Hillesheim
Envelope calligraphy: Betsy Dunlap
Vintage stamps: The Paper Nickel
Day-of details (menus, buttons, coasters, etc.): PS Paper
Day-of calligraphy: Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls
Decor
Personal flowers: Michaele Thunen
Ceremony, reception flowers: Kathleen Deery Design
Tent, Chiavari chairs: Classic Party Rentals
Linens: LaTavola Linen
Lounge furniture:Â Kathleen Deery Design
Catering
Dinner: Presidio Social Club
Cake: Perfect Endings
Dessert buffet: Perfect Endings
Dessert buffet details: PS Paper
Gelato bike: Noci Gelato
Music
String trio: Lawrence Strings
Boys’ choir: Golden Gate Boys’ Choir and Bell Ringers
Band: Jazz Mafia
Vocals: Crystal Monee Hall
Professional sound: Delicate Productions
Photo booth: Magnolia Photo Booth
Custom booth curtain, guest book: PS Paper
Transportation
Valet: Soiree Valet
Shuttle: Bauer’s Transportation
Vintage cab: Marin Checker Taxi, 415-789-5356
See all of my posts about our wedding right here!
Bauer’s Transportation, Bella Bridesmaid, Classic Party Rentals, Kathleen Deery Design, Kiss the Groom, Laurie Arons Special Events, Lawrence Strings, Magnolia Photo Booth, Noci Gelato, The Paper Nickel, Perfect Endings, PS Paper, Sandbox Love and Soiree Valet are sponsors of Snippet & Ink. Thank you to Betsy Dunlap for the wedding gift of envelope calligraphy, to Cavallo Point for extending the media room rate for our stay, and to Jennifer Behr for the gift of the beautiful crystal head piece.
