Our Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

It was on this day last year that Zac and I headed out to Wolf Lakes Park with our families and bridal party for our wedding rehearsal. We were both very excited that the time had finally come to get this show on the road.

The rehearsal went very smoothly and ended pretty quickly. After the it was over, Zac and I had invited our clan back to our home for a backyard fiesta themed rehearsal dinner.

Zac had worked hard to get the back dock completed over the last few months. The cement had been poured, the pond was finished, and the seating had been built. On their last visit, Zac's parents had brought up this amazing sign as a gift for the area. The "Zac & Cristina's Cantina" sign went perfectly in the space!

We had set up a few tables and chairs in the backyard with bright yellow linen, sombrero centerpieces, and bright multi-colored floral arrangements.

All of the decorations, including the multi-colored lanterns that were hung from the awning, doubled as decor for the post wedding day brunch on Saturday. As Saturday was Cinco de Mayo we thought that it would only be fitting to have a fiesta theme for the event. Making the rehearsal dinner the same theme we were able to get all of the decor and set up complete the day before the wedding and it was all still in place and looking great for the brunch two days later. We knew that we might be a little tired after the wedding so keeping set up minimal for the brunch was fantastic!

At the dinner we all had time to relax a little and enjoy some food and margaritas. Zac and I also gave out some gifts to our bridal party, officiant, and parents.It meant so much to have all of these people participate in our day. All but two people from our bridal party live out of town so we felt pretty lucky that they could all make it to the rehearsal.

For my girls, I had large men's button down white shirts embroidered on the pocket with their initials. They wore these shirts while getting ready the next day along with a pair of boxer shorts that I included in their gift bags.

They also received personalized wooden hangers that I made for their dresses. The hangers went pretty well with the "Mrs. Chapman" hanger I had ordered from Etsy for my own dress.

The parents received frames. Zac is the last one in his family to get married. We thought that his parents would love a frame filled with photos from all of the weddings in their family. The first photo was from their wedding, followed by a photo of his sister Sarah's wedding, a photo from his brother Eric's wedding, and a blank spot ready for a photo from our wedding. From their faces when the gift was opened, we think they liked it.

I am the first one in my family to get married and my parents don't have any photos from their wedding so our gift to them was a little different. My mom is quite the picture lady and we knew that she would want to display a bunch of pictures from our wedding as soon as possible. We left 3 of the 4 spots open for her to fill as she desired. In the first spot we placed a printed saying: "Today a bride, tomorrow a wife, always your little girl."

The rehearsal evening was a fun night and made Zac and I both pretty excited for the next day. We're so glad that everyone from our bridal party and both of our families were able to make it out that evening to share in the rehearsal and enjoy some yummy fiesta food. We were also super grateful that our videographers from Ahwahnee Films, were able to capture the whole night.

Once the sun set and the night came to an end I said goodbye to Zac as he headed to the hotel with his groomsmen since the girls and I had a bridesmaid slumber party planned at the house. I had a difficult time sleeping that evening. I was far too excited for the next day.

Our Wedding Video

Hello to all of my readers out there...the ones that are still left! I haven't forgotten about you or this wonderful blog of mine that kept me sane throughout the whole wedding planning process. Things have been crazy these first three months of marriage and I have been moving non-stop. Don't worry, its's all been an exciting, good, crazy....nothing bad. There are some fun things happening in the Chapman household which I'll reveal a little later. (No, it's not a baby.)

In the meantime, I am excited to say that in addition to some beautfiul pictures captured by our amazing photographers over at Van's Studio of Photography (featured in a little sneak peek in this post), we have also received the highlights reel of our wedding day from our videographer, Ahwahnee Films!

You might remember from a previous post (here) that we were looking around for a videographer. Then last summer we discovered work from Ahwahnee Films (read in this post) and in November we decided to hire them to film our big day (read about it here).

From the first time Zac and I met Aaron at Starbuck's we became excited about our choice to hire a videographer. Aaron seemed laid back but professional. He was clearly passionate about his work and really wanted to get to know the two of us as a couple before showing up the venue on the our wedding day.

In addition to filming our wedding, Aaron and his filming partner Kevin were also able to capture our rehearsal at our venue, Wolf Lakes Park, and our fiesta themed rehearsal dinner at our home the night before the wedding.

The next day they arrived bright and early and filmed all the fun until Zac and I left the wedding reception late that night. They were with my girls and me as we rode to the venue in a gorgeous Jaguar Limo from Royal Coach Limousine (read in this post), spent the afternoon with Zac and his groomsmen at a local brewhouse and restaurant and of course caught all of the beautiful moments of our ceremony and fun times during our reception.

I have watched this highlights reel more times than I can count and I tear up every time. (Yes, there may have been an ugly cry here and there on days that I was extra emotional.) We couldn't be happier with this 10 minute and 48 second summary of the day that we became husband and wife.

I hope you all enjoy! (Be sure to buffer before watching!)


Cristina+Zac Highlights from Aaron Mendez (Ahwahnee Films) on Vimeo.

Wolf Lakes Open House

Saturday, March 10th was the open house event at our wedding venue, Wolf Lakes Park. Zac and I were excited to see the venue again, walk around the grounds, and perhaps get some decorating ideas for the ceremony. Zac was mostly excited to eat the food. (We were going to have an opportunity to try a sample of our food options so that we could pick out our menu.)

The weather was pretty perfect and the day turned out to be really fun. My parents were happy that they went with us since my dad had only seen photos of the Wolf Lakes on the venue's website. After walking around and seeing the place in person, he said he thought it was absolutely beautiful.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Zac and I arriving at the venue. They had all of the couples take a photograph as soon as we walked in.

The linen options were displayed on a table by the entrance. Zac and I have selected the brighter shade of yellow for our table napkins. At the wedding, these napkins will be displayed on the tables in the glasses just as they are seen here.

We chose Barb's Cakery to make out wedding cake. Here is their cake display:

One great thing about the open house was that we were able to see what the ceremony area looks like with the seating set up. The Lakeside venue, which is where our ceremony will be held, has angled seating rather than straight rows. We have decided not to have the seat covers and sashes as you can see in the picture below. (It was an additional expense that we couldn't justify.) So our seating at the ceremony will look a little different. 

The alter had some beautiful decorations set up by our florist, Brown Bunny Flowers. We love the vases on either side filled with baby's breath. The decorations gave us an idea of what we could do for the alter on our wedding day.

This is the aisle that I will be walking down. In May, the plants will be full and the walkway will be covered in greenary. I'm a little nervous about the steep walk down in my wedding shoes, but thankfully I'll have my dad to lean on during that walk.

The buffet line during the reception should go very quickly. The venue has a newly built double sided buffet that should allow for our guests to get their food without a long wait.

Throughout the open house, there were a few presentations by Doves Away. The releasing of the does was pretty amazing. 

One bride and groom couple were asked to help with the demonstration.

Though we won't be releasing doves at our own wedding, Zac and I thought that it was quite the sight from the audience.

This is the fountain on the English Garden side of the venue.

It's a beautiful spot for photos.

We loved the decor that was set up at the English Gardens altar. The yellow flowers hanging from mason jars covered in lace...amazing!

One thing for our guests to look forward to on the wedding day are boat rides around the lake.

After walking the grounds of the whole venue, Zac and I headed back to the Lakeside altar to see if we could incorporate the decor that we had seen on the English Gardens side. Don't we look puzzled? :P

The whole day was wonderful! We successfully picked out our menu and got a bunch of ideas for decor. In addition we were also able to talk to a few of our vendors who were at the event. We will be meeting with our photographer in just a few weeks to take care of some final details. Just 7 more weeks until the big day!

In 6 Months....

Zac and I will be getting married!

I'll be getting ready with my girls in this room.

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Though I'm sure I'll be running around setting things up too. :P

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I'll be walking down this aisle with my dad.

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Zac will be arriving at the altar with his guys on this boat.

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Our guests will watch us say 'I do' from these seats.

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We'll dance under these stars....

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...Dine at this head table...

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...And maybe catch a few private moments under this gazebo.

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I can't wait!

Our Vendors

In efforts of getting the majority of our wedding planning done as soon as possible (both to give us a sense of where our budget stands as well as to make things easier on us in the long run) Zac and I have been working to book all of our major vendors. For the last few weeks we have called several vendors, compared prices, and set up appointments. Attending the Premier Bridal Showplace Bridal Fair last Sunday was a great opportunity for us to meet vendors, see sample work, and get price listings. As of Friday, we now have all of our major vendors booked and can now focus on the smaller details of the wedding, like table decorations, ceremony programs, etc.

So here's a little roundup of the vendors we've booked. We're happy with our selections and we're excited to be working with all of these amazing people.

Venue: Wolf Lakes Park

Earlier this year Zac and I picked our date and chose a venue. Wolf Lakes Park is a beautiful venue with a view of the lake and well manicured landscaping. In addition to the atmosphere, the location also takes care of the set up and clean up, offers catering, and provides help with questions and planning as well as a coordinator the day of the event. After we reserved our date, Wolf Lakes provided us with a list of vendors that proved to be helpful in our planning process.

Photographer: Van's Photography

Before we selected a venue, we had decided on our photographer. Van's photography does amazing work, and having been in two weddings in which Van and Tess have taken photos, we felt comfortable with our decision to book them for our own big day. After seeing our engagement photos we're excited to see what images these two photographers will capture at our wedding.

 

DJ: Haro's Entertainment

As I mentioned just recently in this post, we hired Haro Entertainment to dj at our wedding. Adam Haro has great reviews and having worked with our venue on many occassions we are confident that he will help keep our wedding running smoothly and make the night a fun one for our guests. Planning the music for the evening has been fun and we look forward to dancing the night away after saying 'I do'.

Florist: Brown Bunny Flowers

Originally we weren't planning on having a florist take care of our flowers. For Sarah and Donnie's fall wedding we got sunflowers from the grocery store and created some beautiful bouquets with black ribbon and pearl pins. Since our wedding is in the spring we were sure that we could find some flowers in our color scheme and make bouquets for all the girls. My mom was less than enthusiastic about the idea. She was a little worried that we were leaving this detail to chance too close to the wedding and we wouldn't be able to find the right flowers in time. We started looking around for florists and Brown Bunny Flowers came highly recommended. After talking with the owner, Amy, we could see why. She is such a sweet lady. We emailed back and forth for a little while before meeting in person at the Premier Bride Showplace. After going over our color scheme, and our favorite flowers, Amy came up with a few different bouquets. I'm looking forward to see how they turn out.

Bakery: Barb's Cakery

 Zac and I really want to have variety for our guests when it comes to cake and dessert. We thought that the perfect way to have this would be to create a dessert table with several flavors of cupcakes, brownies, cookies, etc. We found a place that would be able to create a dessert table for our guests with the variety we were looking for but unfortunately not for the price we were hoping for. So, we're planning on creating the table ourselves with help from family and friends. In addition to the dessert buffet, we wanted to have a little something for the traditional cake cutting. At first we were thinking that we would pick up a 7" Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory and call it a day. We both love that cake, I get an employee discount, and our guests will have plenty of other dessert options with the table of treats. According to some people however, "a wedding cake is not a wedding cake unless it has more than one tier". So, Zac and I started looking for a bakery to get ourselves a "wedding cake". We didn't have to look far. Both Sarah and Donnie as well as Scott and Amy used Barb's Cakery for their weddings and we loved the way their cakes looked (Sarah and Donnie's cake is pictured on the left, Scott and Amy's on the right), and even more importantly how they tasted. I started looking at pictures of wedding cake designs with our color scheme and found something that I really liked. On Friday, my mom and I went to Barb's Cakery to talk details and put a deposit down on the cake.

Hair and Makeup: Hair and Makeup By Emily Johnson

The Premier Bridal Showplace was a great way of seeing what hair and makup artists are out there. Our vendor list from Wolf Lakes included a few hair and makeup artists on it's list, but nothing like what we saw on the vendor list for the bridal show. After walking around and picking up fliers here and there, we came across Emily Johnson's hair and makeup booth. After looking over her price listing and checking out photos of her work via her Facebook page, we booked Emily to do my hair and makeup the day of the wedding.

Transportation: Royal Coach Limos

Back in April, Zac and I went to check out a car to take us from the wedding to our hotel at the end of the night. We found a 1961 Jaguar at Royal Coach Limos that we loved. I'm planning on having a bridesmaid sleepover at my house the night before the wedding. In the morning, the car will come to pick me and my bridesmaids up and take us to the venue to begin setting up and get ready. At the end of the night the car will return and Zac and I will have a few pictures with the car before taking off to our hotel.

So there you have it! We are relieved to have our major vendors decided on and booked. It's nice to know that these details are taken care of and we can focus our attention on the smaller details. The next project will be working on our save the dates. I just received a reminder from Project Wedding (the host of our wedding website) saying that the save the dates should be going out by the beginning of October. I already have a design in mind for these announcements so hopefully it won't be too difficult to create. More details later...