So, I know that literally ev.e.ry.one warned us ahead of time that the day would go by quickly, but holy cow even with all of that warning I was astounded by how quickly the day went. I kept asking my husband and my mom the next day, "Was it too rushed? It felt rushed to me. Did it feel rushed to everyone?" and having them say, "No, it just went incredibly fast for you." We definitely had a few hiccups, mostly minor (although my MIL and SFIL did leave immediately after the ceremony due to her Parkinson's acting up, which left me with a very disappointed DH - but that's a topic for another time). The best thing that "went wrong" was that my dad's pants fell down when he stood up to give his toast! Luckily, he's laughed it off and isn't embarrassing anymore - we can't wait to see the video!
All of our vendors were fabulous, and we're so happy we spent extra money where we did, and did some things non-traditionally (book page bouquets, for example).
One main HUGE piece of advice I have for California couples: ignore all the people telling you that you can return unopened bottles of wine to Costco/BevMo/etc. We found out the hard way that that's actually illegal in California/stores won't do it. So we wound up with a *lot* of extra wine (we also bought before we had our final headcount, which also led to us having too much leftover). Not the worst problem in the world (we have hostess gifts for parties for the next year, lol), but something I wanted to let other folks know about.
Vendors:
Catering/Day of Coordinator - Carrie Dove Catering and Events
Venue - Brazilian Room, Tilden Regional Park
Photographer - James Brian Studios
Officiant - I Do x Two (Saundra Anderson)
Videographer - Final Frame Studios
DJ - Quantum Party Productions
Bouquets - withloveandpetals on Etsy
HMUA - Hazel Skye
Cake - Katrina Rozelle
Dress - made custom for me by JRA Designs in Santa Barbara, using lace from my mom's wedding dress
Tuxes - Men's Wearhouse
Centerpieces - books I collected at a used book sale I volunteer for, film reels DH bought on ebay, flowers from Trader Joe's
Wine and beer - Costco
First lookThe whole wedding party
My fave pic of me and my mom
My favorite movie has been The Wizard of Oz almost my whole life. I walked down the aisle to "Over the Rainbow." This picture is everything.
I *loved* the bouquets!
Centerpieces
Sweetheart table centerpiece with our favorite books
Floppy disk place cards in an old library card catalog drawer (I'm a book nerd, he's a movie and computer nerd)
During the ceremony
Seriously - best bouquets ever
First kiss!
Delicious cake, fabulously nerdy topper
The moment my dad's pants fell down
First of many dances as husband and wife