While planning our Fashion Report photo shoot that took place last Friday (and that we’ll have up on the site soon!) I’ve had men’s wear for weddings on my mind, so when I learned about the online shop The Grunion Run I was excited to see another great resource for fun men’s fashion. Based in L.A. and run by husband and wife team Kevin and Yun, The Grunion Run offer grooms and groomsmen “a convenient and affordable way to find unique, stylish, non-traditional groomsmen apparel that would be great both for and after the wedding.” If you’re looking for apparel or accessories for your groom or groomsmen, check out their website to see for yourself!
Today’s beachy, tropical wedding was a dream for couple Leigh and Brian! A dream they had long held of a romantic destination wedding, and a dream to plan because the incredible team from Tropical Occasions – Aimee Monihan and Alessandra Silveira – were there to help with all of the long-distance planning. The day ended up being everything they’d hoped, and was beautifully captured by Julie Comfort of Comfort Studio. Enjoy this little vacation!
The Couple: Leigh and Brian
The Wedding: 3.10.12 – Cala Luna Point – Guanacaste, Costa Rica
What were the top three priorities for you in planning your wedding? Having everyone we love in one place together; getting the entire hotel to ourselves for the weekend; and enjoying good food and delicious cocktails!
What wedding traditions or cultural traditions did you incorporated into your wedding and what did they mean to you?Even though we dont consider ourselves to be traditional there were definitely some wedding traditions that were very important to us. One, in particular, meant a lot to me. I did not want Brian to see me at all before he saw me in my gown walking with my dad down the aisle. Ive thought of that moment for so long; the look on his face when he would see me for the first time. That is always one of my favorite moments in a wedding, so I was really intent on not seeing each other until the ceremony. We also really wanted to do a first dance and have father/daughter and mother/son dances.
Were there any places where you broke the rules in your wedding planning? Why and how did you do that?Not really, although, when we first explained our “destination” wedding idea to our parents, they were less than thrilled. We went back and forth a lot between doing a small backyard wedding at home or doing a wedding in Costa Rica. From the very beginning, we knew a destination wedding was what we really wanted. But, we also knew that we wanted our parents to be happy as well. In the end, we followed our hearts and actually heard, You guys were right! from both sets of parents! Even now, months later, they continue to tell us how happy they are that we stuck to what we truly wanted all along.
What was your biggest wedding planning success?Trusting the people we were working with! Planning a destination wedding can be especially tricky because we werent able to be in the places to visualize where the tables would be, where the flowers would go, how the ceremony would be set up, etc. For example, we were supposed to take a trip to Costa Rica in November to check out the hotel where our guests were staying and where our reception would take place. Unfortunately, we had a passport issue and had to wait until January to go, which seemed so close to our March 10 wedding! Needless to say, we were really concerned about not having enough time to finish everything that needed to get done while in Costa Rica. Our wedding planners – Tropical Occasions – were so fantastic and eased our minds, ensuring us that everything would work out. All the people we worked with, from the planners to the hotel staff were simply the best. We definitely would not have had such an amazing wedding without all of their hard work.
What was the most important thing that you learned through the wedding planning process and what would you tell other brides-to-be?Dont stress! The planning process is supposed to be fun, so do all that you can to enjoy every moment because it will go fast! Take one thing at a time and really look at the big picture. Getting married is about more than just that day, it is truly about merging two lives into one. Even if things dont go just as you might have liked, in the end you married the love of your life!
If you follow wedding design, or have a sweet tooth of any sort, there’s a good chance you know of dessert table guru, Amy Atlas, and her incredible dessert table creations. Amy has dreamed up and created countless inventive, delightful and delicious dessert tables for weddings, parties and events of all kinds, and now she’s compiled hundreds of her unique ideas, recipes and DIY projects in a new book, Sweet Designs: Bake It, Craft It, Style It.
To help you, our dear readers, make your wedding dessert dreams come true, we’re thrilled to be giving away a copy of Amy’s new book along with a $100 gift certificate to one of her favorite sources for candy, CandyWarehouse.com! Candy Warehouse offers a huge assortment of candy that is perfect for creating beautiful candy and dessert displays – they even allow you to shop for candy by color, and they give tips in a series of how-to videos! To enter to win this fabulous prize combination, simply leave us a comment here letting us know what you’re excited to have as the “sweets” for your wedding day, and we’ll randomly choose a winner on Monday, May 14th, 2012.
I can’t wait to hear all the sweetness you’re dreaming up. Yum! Big, big thanks to Amy Atlas and candywarehouse.com for their generosity!
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