CalJax's biography
My parents are like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, together forever but never married. Maybe my wedding inspired them, but they decided to take the plunge and asked for my help.
They are getting married April 16, 2010. I am so excited for them!!
PHOTOGRAPHER:http://www.studio222photography.com/
LOCATION: Walt Disney World at the Wedding Pavilion.
And then the party at the Grand Floridian.
When I asked them what they wanted I got this back: Lounge/club feeling -- and I was thinking they'd say garden...waaay off.
So I using these images as my inspiration for colors and decor (thanks KelzBelz)
Ketubah Signing
Ceremony
Bride and Groom
Bridal Party
Our wedding planner - the best!
Venue: Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, Fl
Florist: Ritz-Carlton
Band: Last2Leave
Ceremony Musician: Charlie Walker
Paper Materials: Ali-g Design
Hair: Grazyna Mercado (Salon D'Orsay)
Makeup: Gemma B Makeup
Photographer: Agnes Lopez
Videographer: Turner Classic Weddings
The day was amazing! And it went by so fast, there are so many things I couldn't remember. During our first dance I said to Andy "wait, did we do a kiss the bride?"...duh...thank god for the videographer!
Here are some NON-PRO
pics from the day!
We had so much fun! We had about 100 come celebrate with us...great music, great location and I got to meet all the guests I didn't know. My sister-in-law and MIL did all the decor.
The Rehearsal...its was hectic..lol. I also took some pics of the grounds...so pretty. At the end of the night we all ended up by the fire pit...so much fun!
Andy and I are getting married May 2, 2009 in Amelia Island. I can't believe how fast it is approaching!
We met in beautiful San Francisco...at a bar on a Sunday...and not long after (3 months) we were packing our things and moving to Jacksonville, FL. It was a crazy move but ultimately brought us closer together, if that is possible....Poor guy had just passed the California bar and then had to study for Florida's...now that is LOVE :)
I am looking forward to our outdoor wedding (praying for nice weather) and our honeymoon to Jamaica!
Here is "Andra" as our friends like to call us
Andy and I bought a house together in 2007, so I knew a proposal would most likely come the next year..I was thinking Christmas time since our birthdays are around then and it seemed Andy-like.
So one week in September on a Tuesday Andy starts telling me about this big party one of the well known lawyers is throwing...since Andy was a "new lawyer" in town I was just happy he was invited! So then on Friday he sends me this fairly long email about the party...catered, free drinks all night, he throws it every year on a big college football weekend...I mean supposedly this was "the best party to be at" and the best part it was at the guys beach house. I was thinking oh man this is going to be fun!
At the end of the email he suggested we go to this brand new hotel that opened at the beach for some drinks and to watch the day games for college football...and then we can walk to the guys house. I thought it was a great idea, especially since I heard great things about the hotel.
So Saturday from like 1 to about 4 we had some martinis, watched some games and I was ready to hit up this party so I suggested we get going. He agreed and as we were walking out the front of the hotel he says "well let's go up the big staircase and see what's on that floor". I follow, why not...and then he says "well let's go see if we can sneak a peek in one of the rooms"....I thought whatever.
Next thing I know he is sticking a key in the door to a room and I start flipping, like "what are you doing!" And when I look in I see flowers all over the room, bottle of champagne and a bag on the floor...I'm thinking WHAT IS GOING ON..OMG...is it happening!
He takes me to the balcony overlooking the ocean and says the sweetest things, half I can't remember b/c I was crying...I did say YES! YES! YES!
And then I say, "well wait...what about the party?"..lol...and he says "there is no party but we will have our own here" and he took me to a romantic dinner and well...it was the best night of my life...completely random and completely awesome!!
Andy and I chose the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island for the atmosphere and beauty. The sea oats, sand dunes and awesome ocean views solidified the decision for us. Also, after attending many Northern California weddings I wanted to get married on a lawn overlooking the ocean. I thought this would be tough to find in Jacksonville and even considered renting out a mansion on the beach. Luckily the Ritz had everything I was looking for.
The ballroom went with my colors (cornflower blue, peach and brown) so lucked out there. Even the usually ugly air wall is a nice peach color.
Since most all of our guests are from out of town we really wanted to make the weekend a "destination vacation" for them. And wouldn't you know the BIGGEST event on the island is happening the same weekend as my wedding...the Shrimp festival. At first I hated this...I mean Shrimp over-running my wedding! :) But now I have embraced the shrimp...it does seem to be like a fun time and we gave our guests plenty of warning to book their hotels early!
Here are some photos of the site:
And here is how I would like the room to look when all is said and done but without the big tress. We are opting for smaller curly willow centerpieces. We want to bring a little of the outside in...
I knew exactly what I wanted when I started to shop for my dress. It had to be lace...no poof...just straight down. Here in Jacksonville there aren't a lot of choices and I only had 2 weeks to look in order to have the dress in time for the wedding. Dress shops here are either to pricey and not enough selection or a ton of dresses but not in my style...and I did try on a lot of styles just to be sure!!
When I started my dress shopping..this was the picture I brought in...I LOVED this...never found it but as dress shopping goes I fell in love equally with mine and this faded into an inspiration :)
Here were some of my top choices I tried on (sadly no pics of me..I'll try to get them off my broken camera):
David's Bridal - didn't do much for me Galina - David's Bridal - simple and comfy
Melissa Sweet -loved this but
didn't Monique Lhuillier - This looked horrible on me
scream beach wedding to me
And then there were 2....Romona Keveza (left) vs. Augusta Jones (right)
When I tried them on..neither had the sleeves...so both strapless...both lace...one more lacey than the other..but it was so hard for me to chose! So it came down to my mom and sister giving me their thoughts..the
biggest issue was the bust....I am not a busty gal!!! Even though it's see through the lace across the top on the Romona dress flattened me out..so the winner was...AUGUSTA JONES, style Catalina - perfect for a beach side wedding!
Final fitting - Had the dress altered to be more of a mermaid style
Thank goodness I chose this dress because 2 months ago one of my bridesmaids became preggo! All the girls loved the dress so it was an easy choice..
Vineyard Style 1414 in the Cornflower blue color (shown in different style)
I found the Kate Spade Mattie shoes online and decided to see if a local shoe boutique store would have them...sure enough they did.
Online, myglasslipper.com, they were selling for $275. In the store they were on sale for $100, but as I was trying them on the saleswoman said, "actually those are on clearance for $30." $30!!! I was sold.
I am going to dye them a french blue color..
Here are the shoes -
This was all new to me! I am currently in the process of converting to Judaism. Growing up in a mixed-religion household made this decision easy for me. So much learn!! One thing that I had to suddenly think about was the chuppah. My inspiration is the following, but with a covering on top:
And our actual Chuppah
We also had to get a marriage contract called a Ketubah. We
went with something that could double as a piece of art. My Fiance actually picked it out..
And we can't forget the Kippot's..I had a sign made since many of our guests had never been to a Jewish Wedding that said "Please take one of these, put it on your head and Kippah it there for the ceremony" hehehe
Mazel Tov!
I am so stoked about my musician! I knew I wanted a solo guitarist who sounded a bit like Jack Johnson (my favorite).I searched every city from Central Florida to Charleston...and there were so many great choices. Luckily I found Charlie Walker right down the street at a local bar. He rocks!! I can't wait to treat my guests to his magnificence...
Check him out...become a fan :) http://charliewalkerband.com/
I just had to add a picture of Jack..
I was so nervous about doing this! I mean it can be so awkward :) I had the BEST photographer though...I think she captured Andy and I perfectly..lots of laughing :) I have so many favs so here are a few...
Photos by Agnes
Lopez
Here are the STDs (Everytime I see that I think of some venerial disease). Of course ours has a picture of us!! It's a magnet. It came with an info card so we could inform guests about hotels.
And here is a mockup of the invites. My girl is awesome...I decided to have them custom made. She used a blue metallic paper that matched my bridesmaids dresses (color totally different)...the cover of the invite is not shown...had our names and a design of sea oats...my wedding planner teases me about my obsession with sea oats, but if you saw the hotel you'd see the inspiration :)
This was our rehearsal dinner invite from VistaPrint. We are throwing a
BBQ/low country boil at a yacht club that has the best coastal views, i.e. "sunset celebration"..lol...we didn't know what to call it! Andy came up with this one. Very casual!!
http://www.ali-gdesign.com/wedding.html
Got my ring bearer pillows today off Etsy. They came out great!
As my FI and I were discussing what we wanted to do for favors nothing seemed to fit "us". Most weddings I have been to they have almost seemed like an afterthought.
Then I saw a commercial for the ASPCA and it hit me...let's donate instead of favors. I have heard of this idea and loved it and now I had my perfect charity. I am a crazy animal lover so I hope our "favors" help some doggie, kitty, bird, horse, etc. and keep them safe!
So I decided to go a little green for this and use Whole Foods reusable bags for my gift bags. Inside we put
California Wine - to represent where we met
Some snack food - chex mix, chewy granola bars
Ghiradelli Chocolate - for san francisco
Bottled Water
Welcome Packet of some of our fav things to do and also info on the Shrimp Festival that will be going on.
Had to make 75 of these...time consuming!
One of the best parts of this whole wedding planning experience was running my first and second marathon. Because Disney is one of my favorite places I knew it had to be where I'd run my first 26.2 miles. I began training in July of 08 with the
Galloway Group here in Jax.
The
Disney Marathon was January 11th and it was SO much fun!! They have characters throughout the race and you run through all the parks. Of course at mile 23 I was thinking.."UGH, how am I going to finish!!!" It was so great seeing my family with signs and
even strangers cheering me on. It's such a great feeling!
A month later we ran the 26.2 with Donna here in Jacksonville...all for a good cause...Breast Cancer! It was such a tough run. Andy and I leaned on each other like never before...but holy moly be made it! :)
