from the event planner… “The bride and groom, Natalie and Rob, were planning a Los Angeles wedding all the way from Chicago! The venue, Hummingbird Nest Ranch, was the perfect setting for their fresh, citrus inspired wedding. Natalie, so wonderfully creative, put together all of her own centerpieces along with her family members, despite having flown in from Chicago only a few days before her wedding! Fresh tangerines and clementines were used on the guest tables, along with potted citrus plants around the estate.”
from the bride, Natalie… “All we wanted for our wedding was to host one heck of a party for our family and friends. There were three things we said we needed for a great party: an incredible location, amazing food, and an abundance of booze. And of course, excellent music! We made sure to have all of the above for our wedding, and the other items were less of a priority. Our families and friends traveled a long way from Hong Kong, Rhode Island and Chicago to celebrate with us and we wanted to make sure they had lots of great memories to take back with them. How we allocated our budget also matched our priority areas. For the other items that were less important to us, we were able to find DIY or discounted solutions that helped us save money. For example, I purchased a second-hand wedding dress, bought my shoes at TJ Maxx and found an inexpensive custom suit for Rob. We also bought our wedding cake from Whole Foods and had my family help put together all the flower arrangements and décor. It definitely took a lot more effort and work to take on all the additional projects, but Rob and I were so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family to help out and make the wedding day run so smoothly for us.”
“I’ve always heard the advice of not stressing about the details, but realistically, I had a year to plan my wedding day – 355 days of a runway to be exact! So being a person that’s obsessed with details to begin with, there was no question that I would plan, and overplan, to make sure that everything was just right. I made multiple trips out to California from Chicago to meet with vendors, sketched out each table setting and display, made several samples of the flower arrangements I envisioned and spent endless weeks shopping online for the perfect candle votives, keychains, frames, and countless other items. Rob would say it was excessive. And I would wholeheartedly agree in hindsight. But hey, I had the vision and I had the time! Despite wanting full control of how everything looked, it was funny how quickly I was able to let it all go on the day of the wedding and wasn’t even aware of the things that didn’t go as planned. For instance, Rob forgot to buy grapefruit soda for our signature cocktail, so we ended up with grapefruit juice as a substitute. Of course, the cocktail was still delicious and no one noticed the little snafu – not even me! Allowing myself to let go of the details helped me to be completely present in the moment and enjoy the entire experience. I’d like to think that I set the GPS, gave the keys to our very capable wedding planners, and got in the passenger seat so I could enjoy all the scenery without having to worry about navigating the road!”
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