WEDDING BLOG

To have a tropical getaway in January is a dream come true for most people, and couple Rachel and Adam took it to a whole other level inviting their very closest family and friends to Waikiki Beach for an chic, intimate, destination wedding last winter. Talented photographer Derek Wong was on hand to capture every special moment! 

The Goals: With only 33 guests in attendance, including the bride and groom, Rachel and Adam were able to truly enjoy time with each and every person throughout their stay at the Westin Moana Surfrider Resort. Their main goal was to be able to share this experience with their loved ones, so planning a destination wedding turned out to be their very best decision. “Going to Hawaii, the stresses of a ‘traditional’ wedding were non-existent, allowing the entire party who traveled in from around the world to enjoy not only the wedding day, but the week before and after as well.”

The Design: Rachel’s personal style is simple and clean, so they opted for a color palette of black and white with pink accents, and kept the look of the whole wedding classic with a modern, streamlined aesthetic. The island’s beach, palm trees and ocean view created the ideal backdrop for their modern Christian ceremony, and the hotel’s Beachhouse Restaurant was home to their elegant dinner reception.

The Look: The whole wedding party looked classic and sleek – Rachel in a mermaid shaped wedding gown from ETHOS Bridal Group and accessories from Tiffany & Co. (the bracelet was a gift from Adam on the morning of the wedding!) and Adam in a sophisticated black suit. To keep everyone in the wedding party feeling fabulous and ultra confident, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were asked to choose their own black cocktail dresses and suits, which created just enough uniformity balanced with individual style.

The Moments: Unfortunately because of illness, Rachel’s father couldn’t make the wedding so on the morning of the big day, Adam surprised her with a sweet video message from him.

During the ceremony, Rachel favorite moment was waiting to walk down the aisle, and as a couple they loved their first dance. It was under a banyan tree to a live version of the “Hawaiian wedding song”. Perfect!

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who worked on this wonderful wedding day please visit Rachel and Adam’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

Thank you for sharing your wedding with us Rachel and Adam!

Readers, don’t miss more real weddings all week long here on What Junebug Loves, and to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists. To find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

It’s day two of our Real Wedding week here on What Junebug Loves, and we’re off to beautiful Southern California! Lindsay and Ryan were married at the one-of-a-kind location Rancho Las Lomas (a Junebug member business and one that we’ve loved getting to see in person!) and as you can see from these images by Taryn Kent Photography it was simply the perfect venue for this sweet, family-oriented celebration.

The Goals: Lindsay and Ryan wanted to find a wedding location that felt like home, where everyone in attendance would feel comfortable and could easily move around the grounds. When they discovered Rancho Las Lomas right next to the Cleveland National Forest where these two avid hikers love to spend time they knew it was the one. Making it even more perfect was the huge California Sycamore tree that drapes over the entire ceremony site. “It sounds silly, but I always wanted to be married under a California Sycamore (it’s my favorite tree). I was already sold on the site before I saw the tree, then when I saw it I immediately said, ‘When can we book our wedding date?'” Meant to be!

The Design: To compliment the fall look of this Spanish-inspired venue, Lindsay and Ryan chose an earthy color palette of black, white, brown, silver and sage. Each of the ten dining tables were decorated with photos of the couple from the ten years that they have been dating, and there were elements of nature all around. Delicious food from 24 Carrots was served, favors of small glass jars filled with chocolate were given out, and a 4 tired wedding cake from Savoie’s Fare had different flavors in each layer.

The Look: Lindsay really wanted a wedding dress that was vintage-inspired and that she would be comfortable wearing all day long, so her choice of a gown by Claire Pettibone was ideal. “I fell in love with the dress I chose because the lace on the back was gorgeous and the jewel design on the front was so stunning. Plus, I didn’t feel self-conscious in it and I could move around without feeling like I was carrying 50 pounds of extra fabric.”  Following tradition, Lindsay had something old, new and borrowed taken care of, but when she couldn’t find anything blue, she ended up drawing blue dots on the bottoms of her shoes. Very resourceful!

The Moments: Lindsay and Ryan have been together for ten years, so being away from each other the night before the wedding just didn’t feel right. “We didn’t like the idea of spending a night away from each other on the eve of one of the most important days of our life, so we stayed home and packed for the honeymoon and talked about how nervous/excited we were. We wound up staying up really late because we couldn’t go to sleep.” 

On the day of the wedding, the most romantic moments for the couple came after the ceremony when they were alone with their photographer taking pictures, and later at the end of the night when the finally climbed into their limo to head to their hotel and then off to their relaxing honeymoon! It was an intimate wedding filed with family, friends and meaningful moments, and looking back Lindsay and Ryan wouldn’t change a thing about it!

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who worked on this wonderful wedding day please visit Lindsay and Ryan’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

Thank you Lindsay and Ryan!

Readers, don’t miss more real weddings all week long here on What Junebug Loves, and to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists. To find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

We can never get enough of Real Weddings here at Junebug – they show off the crux of why we do what we do. It’s all about the couples who are celebrating the uniqueness of their love and lives, and the wedding professionals who give of their creativity to make dream wedding days come to life.

We’ve had so many wonderful weddings to show lately, that we decided to make this week Real Weddings Week! Every day here on What Junebug Loves we’ll be showing off a fantastic real wedding, sure to spark lots of inspirational ideas of your own, so stay tuned! Today we’re starting with the amazing fall Seattle wedding of couple Eun and Isaac, photographed by the one and only Jenny J. Enjoy!

The Goals: Eun and Isaac invited 270 guests to join them at the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown Seattle for their elegant fall wedding and although not everyone knew each other, they hoped that their friends and family would mingle, dance and have an amazing time celebrationg together. Photographer Jenny Jiminez set up a photo booth that really broke the ice for people, and it was just one of the reasons that Eun and Isaac felt that working with Jenny was the best decision they made for their wedding. Your wedding day goes by so fast, you hardly remember it. Jenny captured every fun, genuine and emotional moment and didn’t make us feel unnatural or staged while she was taking our pictures. The photos are all we have for our memories from our wedding, so definitely going with the BEST quality photographer is the best decision we made for our wedding. We couldn’t ask for more!

The Design: The Four Seasons provided a backdrop with the warm, earthy, fall tones of ivory, brown, and champagne that Eun and Isaac wanted to use throughout the wedding. Invitations by Sarah McNally of Constellation & Co. featured more of the couples fall-inspired vision with an ornate tree surrounded by leaves blowing in the wind. To add sweetness, an extraordinarily beautiful floral wedding cake from the Four Seasons was made of white cake with strawberry filling, and the wedding favors were mini jars of honey.

The Look: Eun had always imagined her dream dress would be elegant and timeless. The gown she from Marisa Bridals, a trumpet-style dress graced with a sweetheart neckline and delicate lace details, had both the elegance factor and also the fun factor that she hoped for. The wedding party’s look was elegant and chic with the bridesmaids wearing dresses from I do Bridal in Seattle and the groom and groomsmen in suits from The Tux Shop in Lynwood.

The Moments: During their traditional Christian ceremony, officiated by Eun’s childhood and college pastor, the bride and groom shared a sentimental moment when they gave thanks to and exchanged hugs with their parents. Isaac and I became very emotional in that split moment, because we were looking back over the years and thinking about everything they had done for us.

The reception that followed took on a fun, lighthearted feel and the party continued long into the night. Says Eun, There was nonstop dancing! Family friends and guests danced so much that I had to take a break and eventually take my shoes off and wear flip-flops.

Now that sounds like the perfect way to celebrate!

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who worked on this wonderful wedding day please visit Eun and Isaac’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

And a wonderful extra – the same-day-edit video from MIND|Castle Studios!

Thank you for sharing your wedding with us Eun and Isaac! We love it!

Readers, don’t miss more real weddings all week long here on What Junebug Loves, and to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists. To find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!