When planning their romantic California wedding, Alana and Kristopher knew exactly what they wanted to focus on: an intimate dinner party with a simple, timeless, romantic vibe. Having worked in the wedding industry, the bride knew that the most beautiful weddings to look at and be a part of are not those that follow ideas from the latest trends or mimic what other people are doing. Instead, the most wonderful celebrations are those that have a sense of authenticity to them. She says, “I’ve seen people make decisions based on current wedding trends, only to end up regretting it a few years later. We wanted each decision we made in the planning process to feel thoughtful and true to us.” Read on for more from Alana about their beautiful wedding day that checked off every important box on their list (plus, we love that this wedding features several of our Once Wed Preferred Vendors – the florist, stationer, and photographer can all be found on our Preferred Vendor list!).
From the Bride:
“Immediately after Kristopher and I got engaged, we started talking about what we wanted our wedding to feel and look like. The Cass House was our first choice as a venue, one reason being we wanted to treat our guests to the best meal the central coast has to offer (I think we did- our guests are still raving about Jensen’s fare)! The grounds of the historic home also created the perfect backdrop for our vision. Grace and Jensen Lorenzen at The Cass House were amazing hosts and made the weekend absolutely perfect. Our bridal party stayed at the inn all weekend, and it was a great way to spend time with our best friends before the wedding day. It was also special that our venue was located in the small town of Cayucos, across the street from the beach where Kristopher first asked me to be his girlfriend, and then proposed five years later.
I chose a color scheme that was neutral driven with bold, seasonally appropriate color in florals and bridesmaid dresses. Kristopher is a brilliant art director & designer, and he created the perfect monogram for us. He then designed all of our stationary around it, including invitations, table numbers, our seating chart and more. It perfectly suited us- minimal, classic, clean. A father-figure in my life who makes amazing wine provided all of the red wine for our wedding and a friend laser printed the bottles with our monogram in gold foil. One of my best friends was a bridesmaid as well as our florist (while seven months pregnant) and put life to my vision for the day. Instead of doing a guest book where people just sign their name, we had Krisotpher’s sister take photos of all of our guests with an instax polaroid camera, and the guests signed the white strip on the polaroid! It was so fun, and the photos are something we will cherish forever! A dear friend of ours played ‘Here Comes the Sun’ on the guitar while I walked down the aisle, and Kristopher’s best man sang and played guitar while we took communion together during the ceremony. Kristopher and I gave the first speech to welcome our guests and introduce our bridal party, and my father-in-law said a prayer for our meal. It was very sweet to see and hear these little touches throughout our wedding day that made the event so unique to us. One of my favorite memories was receiving a bottle of perfume on the morning of our wedding. Kristopher had my maid of honor deliver it to me while I was getting ready. He had picked out the scent himself, for me to wear that day, so we would always be reminded of our wedding day when I wear that scent in in the future. We are so thankful the O’Malley’s captured our event so perfectly, we will always remember the moments we shared with each other and with our loved ones on our wedding day.”
