one sunny day a while back carolyn was perusing wedding blogs to find a photographer for her and her man jeff. enter ohana photographers on off beat bride.
perusing ended.
zoom forward, pass their awesome engagement session at petco park, and here we are on the day of their sudsy san diego wedding at stone brewing world bistro and gardens.
we started at the doubletree hotel in downtown san diego. nice hotel but man do their elevators lag. after waiting like a kabillion years for an elevator, a door finally opened and we rushed in. once inside, we noticed a weddingy (yes, that’s a word, but don’t challenge me) dressed girl. she looked at us and said, “hey, i think we’re going to the same place!” she then introduced herself as liz, carolyn’s maid of honor. (we later re-classified her as carolyn’s “super sweet & bubbly” maid of honor.) on the insanely long, stopping-at-literally-every-floor-even-though-no-one-else-could-get-on-because-it-was-so-packed trip to carolyn’s suite, liz told us how much she loved carolyn and jeff’s engagement photos and almost started to cry just talking about them. not gonna lie, that made us feel really fuzzy inside. i think the pictures had more to do with how rad carolyn and jeff are, but we’ll take it. *smile*
when we finally got to the room carolyn, her bridesmaids, and her brides-man were all smiles. (just what we love to see on your wedding day.) there were surprise prizes, stripey socks, wee little boots, and something blue that definitely said carolyn. the laughter started early and continued throughout the day.
if you don’t know carolyn and jeff, we can sum them up by saying they are just all around ridiculously sweet, funny, and kind people. not only did they make this day special for each other, they made it special for everyone. you should have seen everyones faces when carolyn brought out her bag o gifts. wait, actually you will see them when you scroll through this post. never mind.
without going on and on even more, which i promise i can easily do with these two, lets get to it and show you their wedding while i’m talking about it.
carolyn and jeff, thank you both for being the most chill, beautiful, and fun people on the planet to spend a day with.
( after you see all of episode 1, scroll back up and click here to see part 2 of Carolyn and Jeff’s awesome wedding! )
let’s start things off with a…
SLUG BUG!
lipstick and luster were wrapping up as we arrived. they did an amazing job and helped all the girls look their best.
we were in love with all of carolyn and jeff’s details, starting with their super rad steampunk wedding invitations from royal steamline, complete with quotes from some of their favorite movies and books (like star wars and spaceballs).
carolyn wore her grandma’s mikimoto pearls to put a check in the something old and something borrowed boxes. her grandpa bought them for her grandma in japan in 1972.
loved carolyn’s dress!
here is surprise prize number one. custom mi adidas samba for michael, and all the groomsmen, so they would be comfy and matchy matchy with the wedding. notice the wedding date embroidered on the side. remember that.
i’m not totally sure, but i think michael liked them.
next came gifts for all the girls. you know i love me some tiffany colored boxes.
love liz’s laugh!
ignoring carolyn’s warning that her cards may cause uncontrollable sobbing, michael read his in front of everyone. eyes getting glassy.
our friends at murasaki media probably got some awesome footage during this whole scene. (we loved working with you guys!)
speaking of eyes, here’s that something blue i was telling you about. classic carolyn.
it was pretty awesome how carolyn made everyone at her wedding feel special. she let her junior bridesmaids, grace and alice, pick which of her favorite socks she would wear. mismatched stripey socks rule!
honoring the time she spent in texas, carolyn wore these special super comfy cowboy boots with her wedding dress. heels shmeels.
so fun!
any question as to how funny carolyn is will be answered with the next image. friggin hilarious! the funniest thing is none of us can even remember what was happening at this point. all i know is we nearly peed ourselves laughing.
all the girls chipped in to help put on the veil.
these are carolyn’s notes from spring 2010.
april 24th 2010 – upon hearing that jeff was moving here and wanted to be roommates with her she wrote:
“i win at life.”
less than a month later, on may 18th (our anniversary!), he visited her in texas and officially moved out on july 14th (bastille day!)
one may later they said “i do!”
the flowers from ashley elizabeth were so beautiful and i love the hand-made boutonnieres that carolyn and jeff’s friend ryan roots fabricated from vintage silverware.
carolyn has already shown you her funny side, so it must be time to break out the sizzle. you know that’s right.
who’s ready to see jeff? we are! how’s about that first look?
this is my favorite part!
a quick pre-brewery brew. let’s see, he started with 10… minus 2… now jeff just has an 8 pack.
not to be outdone, jeff showed us what he brings to the set. for fear of causing all women within a 2 block radius to instantly lose their minds, he kept his shirt on.
double hotness!
i think this is one of my favorites from the day. they both just look so good.
i have to tell you that carolyn put in a crazy amount of work on her wedding. using her event organizing skills and her craftitude she made a ton of diy decorations for the reception and called on our friends brenda and ania from swann soirees to help set everything up at stone brewing world bistro and gardens. our heads were spinning trying to look at all the detail goodness. if you’re looking for someone to help your wedding get to the next level give the girls at swann soirees a call.
all the tables were named after breweries from the various places jeff and carolyn have lived and each table had centerpieces with beer growlers (and guests) from that specific area of the country. sadly the growlers no longer contained beer, but the flowers ashley elizabeth arranged in them were pretty.
let’s check out all the other diy awesomeness!
carolyn personalized every detail, like this happily ever after card box. it had musical notes on it because jeff is a musician.
“give me a woman who truly loves beer and i will conquer the world.” check out the wedding libs cards that carolyn came up with.
i gotta admit, when i read “the force, and these thoughtful words, will be with you always” i geeked out a little. ok, a lot.
like us, jeff is a huge star wars fan, so they had just the right amount of little hidden gems like this throughout the wedding. jeff had a darth vader and/or storm trooper ring for every guest. also, notice the crystal bowl the rings are in. that’s no moon, i mean bowl. it’s actually one of jeff’s tennis trophies. just another personal touch that made this wedding perfect.
some of the other diy decorations were cigar boxes and stacks of old books tied with twine (made by ashley elizabeth). carolyn, liz, and emily made the paper flowers from pages of old books.
this is my absolute favorite! as a surprise for jeff, carolyn bought a legit replica mini lightsaber and had their friend tom at vesco metal craft fabricate a one of a kind wedding cake knife out of it. how sweet is that!? i want one!
carolyn and liz worked at the same coffee shop back in high school/college so another personalized detail were these little burlap bags that carolyn filled with coffee beans, tied up with old keys, and had placed at every table setting.
these cards completely blew me away. jeff actually hand wrote every card with the guests name on one side and a personal note to them on the other. who hand writes stuff anymore? awesome people like jeff, that’s who!
all the rustic details went perfectly with the wood, stone, and concrete decor at stone brewing co.
carolyn and jeff’s toasting glasses were star wars themed. one had a jedi emblem and read “there is no emotion only peace.” the other had a sith emblem on it and read “peace is a lie there is only passion.”
solemates save the day!
carolyn and jeff both separately wrote their own vows and unknowingly included one crucial piece, the same crucial piece.
when they first started dating they were on a bus headed to the iwrf world wheelchair rugby championships in vancouver. on that bus they both had sodas and were playing with the ring tops. jeff jokingly put his on carolyn’s ring finger. for some reason carolyn kept it and put it in her jewelry box when she got back home.
they both remembered that moment as they were writing their vows, but carolyn got to the ring before jeff did. as he was getting ready that morning for the wedding he was panicking thinking the ring was gone and his vows would need some quick revisions. carolyn put his mind at ease when she pulled the ring top out to talk about it in her vows. when she finished jeff told her what he had written. they had everyone in tears.
one quick side note. carolyn and jeff’s officiant is a friend of theirs from birmingham alabama, and a retired divorce judge (ha). both knew him separately before they met each other so when it came time to choose a minister for their wedding he was the obvious choice.
continuing with the non-traditional awesomeness, morey, the best assistance dog on the planet, was the ring bearer…
or was he? stay tuned for episode 2. to be continued…
thanks to all the family, friends, and vendors that helped make carolyn and jeff’s wedding day awesome!
coordinator / planner – swann soirees
flowers – ashley elizabeth floral design
hair and makeup – lipstick & luster
photography – ohana photographers
videography – murasaki media
venue / catering – stone brewing world bistro & gardens
galactic inspiration – george lucas
******************************************************************************************************************************************************
if you missed it or just want to see it again, click here to see carolyn and jeff’s engagement session at petco park and balboa park
******************************************************************************************************************************************************
thank you for visiting our wedding photography blog
check out our portfolio.
contact us by phone at 858-663-3283 or email david@ohanaphotographers.com
ohana photographers | ohana photographers blog | san diego wedding photographers | hawaii wedding photographers | orange county wedding photographers | los angeles wedding photographers| new york wedding photographers
This is the BEST blog post eva! LOVE LOVE LOVE – you all R O C K!