For those of you who are still obsessing over the royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William or those that indulged in last night’s Gossip Girl where Blaire Waldorf and Prince Louis of Monaco said “I Do” in their own version of the royal wedding, you’re not going to want to miss this post. We’ve got our own royal wedding right here in San Francisco, or at least our story of Laura and Lee tie the knot.
From the Bride…The first thing I asked Lee after he proposed was, “Do you want to just run away to Vegas?” He said, “Absolutely not.” So then I, the girl who never pictured her wedding, never cut out pictures from magazines, didn’t have my nuptial power point presentation all ready, had to plan a wedding. Well, I’m a firm believer in go big or go home.
I had remembered going to eat at The Slanted Door one night and I’d heard a party going on up on the 2nd floor. I had made a comment like, “that would be a cool place for a wedding.” Remembering that, I called up the Ferry Building after getting engaged and was connected to Paula le Duc catering who runs the space. Perfecto! In one swoop I had the top caterer in the city and, what I think is, one of the best venues. From there, the rest fell into place. Paula le Duc recommended Stacy McCain (wedding planner;) who recommended Atelier Joya (flowers,) Cakeworks (cake,) and Innovative Entertainment (where I got the band from.) EVERY one of those vendors proved to be top notch, super helpful, and on top of their game. And, luckily, one of my good friends is Ashley Garmon who is a phenomenal photographer. So, that decision was easy.
I have crazy taste in some things but for a wedding I feel like you can never go wrong with classic, clean, and simple. The best decision I made was to purchase my bridesmaids matching shoes and let them wear whatever black dress they wanted to. They all looked like themselves and all looked beautiful. The flowers were all white with the exception of the anenomies that have a black center. We took the time to make sure the Ferry Building was lit up beautifully inside and had tons of candles on the tables. I think the lighting and flowers were in perfect balance. Not too overdone on either. And the place card display ended up to be a big focal point. We covered a table between the room we had cocktails in and the large open room and did a beautiful display with orchids, candles, mirrors, and black rocks. People loved it. They took more pictures of that than they did other guests.
A few other details. . .well, we tried to “San Francisco” it up for all those traveling. So, the church we chose was Grace Cathedral. Talk about a venue that needs NOTHING else. The church speaks volumes for itself. The bridal party rode on trolleys. Both the wedding reception venue and the rehearsal dinner venue had bridge views. All of the guests stayed on the Embarcadero. And, amazing enough, we had perfectly clear, sunny, blue days the whole time. Food was also EXTREMELY important to us. Luckily, we had PLD and the use mainly all fresh and organic ingredients from the farmers market at the Ferry Building. Everyone agreed it was the best wedding food ever (it tasted EXACTLY how it did at the tasting.
The other big thing that was important to me was music. We had Ever play the cocktails after the ceremony, dinner, and the cake cutting (wonderful.) And for our party band we had Big City Revue. They were ridiculous! They rocked it out. My request was a “classic wedding band that can belt out all the tunes everyone wants to dance to.” That’s JUST what I got. They were so fun. And they dealt very well with my whole family who has a penchant of getting on stage and singing.
Now to integrate Vegas. . .we had a last dance. We danced to Elvis’ song “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.” The band announced it was our last dance. So, everyone made their way onto the dance floor. As the song was ending we had an Elvis Impersonator (Rick Torres) come out and ham up the Elvis thing. We handed out Elvis glasses to everyone and Elvis directed the guests to the door and told them to go out there and wave goodbye (and then to meet us at the Vitale bar after!) Then, Elvis whisked us away in his pink Caddy. It was classic. Everyone was so surprised. Hysterical.
There are so many details and things I’m sure I’m forgetting. But, to me, it was perfect. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Wedding Photography: Ashley Garmon Photographers / Wedding Coordinator: Stacy McCain Event Planning / Church: Grace Cathedral / Ferry Building & Caterer: Paula LeDuc Fine Catering / Flowers: Atelier Joya / Cake: Cakework / Cream Puffs: Pacific Puffs / Ceremony Music: Gabriel’s Trio / Cocktail Music: Ever Music Group / Band: Big City Revue / Lighting & Sound: Got Light / Make-up: Nellie Muganda / Linens & Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Transportation: Bauer’s Transportation / Getaway Car: Elvis & Pink Caddy
Stacy McCain Event Planning 