• Was choosing your venue difficult or did you have the perfect place in mind before becoming engaged?

Since we are originally from NY, we didn’t really have any specific venue in San Diego in mind. However, what we did know was that we wanted the space itself to be interesting and not your traditional square box catering venue. That is why Sharon took us to places like the Diamond View Tower and El Cortez, where we ultimately wound up having our wedding. The one requirement we had was that the venue be able to accommodate both the ceremony and reception since we were not getting married in a church. 

• How involved was your fiancé during the planning of the wedding?

My fiancé was completely involved in the planning process. We made every decision together, which made the process a lot more manageable since we both have crazy work schedules. The only part of the process he wasn’t involved in was picking out my dress…my parents helped me out with that one. He saw elements of my outfit for the wedding day, like jewelry and possible hair styles, but he did not see my dress until the day of our wedding. Needless to say, he loved my dress and this made our reveal that much more special.

• Did you go above or below your estimated budget? Which family members were involved with contributions?

We went above our original estimated budget. However, part of that had to do with the change in scope of our event. We went from wanting a small 30 person event to what ultimately happened on our wedding day with a 100 guest event. Still not too large of a party but certainly more than we originally thought we wanted. We revised our budget a few times but that was at our own request because we were adding extra elements to the wedding, i.e. shuttle transportation for our guests to and from the wedding, videography. We didn’t want these elements originally but later changed our minds.

At the expense of adding some additional elements, we changed our minds about other things to save costs. For example, we decided to go with a DJ instead of a live band, which saved on costs.

Also, we had several family members contribute to our wedding costs. The following were some of the things our family members paid for:

1. Bride’s parents: Bride’s dress, wedding shuttle, alcohol for reception, bridal shower
2. Groom’s parents: Rehearsal dinner, hotel room, bridal shower, bridal accessories
3. Brothers-in-law & their wives/girlfriends: Bachelor & bachelorette parties, welcome baskets for out-of-town guests, bridal shower, bridal accessories

• What was the one element of your wedding that you felt, no matter the cost, really enhanced your wedding?

Hiring our wedding coordinator, Sharon Cole. She helped us out considerably throughout the wedding planning process as well as made our wedding day run so smoothly. We are so grateful we decided to hire Sharon because she not only saved us a heck of a lot of time and headaches, but costs on several fronts, including bridal gown, jewelry, DJ, photography, etc. Therefore, even though this is an additional cost to the wedding budget, we ultimately wound up saving elsewhere which makes up for the cost, with the added benefit of not having to worry about each and every element of the wedding. Sharon had it all covered!

• Looking back, what element of your wedding would you have changed or deleted?

We probably would have changed the caterer we used (Ranch Events). Sharon had warned us in the beginning that although this caterer is the more cost conscious option, they could be difficult to work with at times. This caterer was a one-stop shop in a sense – in other words, they provided us with our cocktail or d’oevres, catering, linens, flowers, and cake. Ultimately, they failed to deliver on flowers and cake, two elements that are definitely important to a wedding.

• Was there one moment during the day that was exactly as you had dreamed it would be?

That would probably be when my fiance and I did our reveal. We were completely overcome with emotion and could barely hold back the tears. We have been dating for a very long time, but I had a feeling that the reveal would be a beautiful moment in our day…and it sure was.

• What unique touches did you add to your wedding that made it personal to you and your fiancé?

My fiance and I are both very personable people, so we wanted our guests to feel that. Below are a few of the unique touches we added:

1. We did our reveal at the hotel prior to our ceremony. Right after, we invited all our guests that were staying at the same hotel to come by for photos. This gave everyone a chance to see us before the party, which made for a nice and relaxing ceremony and reception afterwards. Also, it gave us a chance to actually hang out with our guests at cocktail hour instead of rushing to take photos.
2. The El Cortez is a great space because it’s so self-contained. There is plenty of room to have both a ceremony and reception there, which is what we did. It’s just so warm and inviting, which completely reflects who we are as people. That’s the feeling we wanted to give our guests
3. Our wedding favors were bags of our favorite candies. They were all set so beautifully by Sharon in a candy bar with everything displayed. Our guests could then customize how much they wanted of each type of candy to take home only the things they liked. We had like 5 types of candy and our monogram printed on the bags.

• If money were no object, would you have changed the guest list to a more intimate affair or invited everyone you knew to attend?

Still would have invited everyone I knew to attend. In fact, if money were no object, I would offer to pay for certain guests as I know they are financially strapped and that was probably the primary reason they couldn’t come. 

• What song did you chose for your First Dance, and why?

These Arms of Mine by Otis Redding. This is such a soulful song that gives us goose bumps every time we listen to it. We both like Otis Redding a lot as well as other music from that genre. Plus, we both grew up with Dirty Dancing and that is one of the songs that bring Baby and Johnny together for the first time in the movie. I know, cheesy but romantic for us.

A close second and a song that we almost picked was Adele’s Make You Feel My Love. We loved that song just about as much. Instead, we chose to make this one of our last dances because we liked it so much.   

• Where was your Honeymoon destination?

Actually, we have not yet taken our honeymoon. We will probably do a snowboarding trip in February because we both love the outdoors and enjoy our time on the mountain. We also didn’t want to just jet off while our guests were still in town because most of them were from out of town. We just wanted to maximize the time we spent with everyone since we don’t know when the next time will be that we will see them. Our primary concern throughout the whole wedding weekend was our guests, making sure they feel comfortable and welcomed, and that they were having a good time. We enjoyed having them all out here and felt like they too had a good time taking a mini-vacation of some sorts.