OUR WEDDING STORY
A little over 4 years ago, Josh and I sat in a hotel room in Palo Alto, California during Valentine’s Day weekend. We had been engaged for nearly a year while in a long-distance relationship – he was living in Texas and I was in California. We were discussing our plans for our next visit the following month because we would each potentially have a week off – he would be in between training locations for flight school and I would be on spring break. We talked about a big trip, Hawaii maybe, but I wanted to save that for our honeymoon. Josh suggested we just get married and then go to Hawaii. We laughed because it was less than a month away but after some discussion we decided that maybe it could work so we kept the conversation open.
By the time we could commit to the wedding date, we were only two weeks out. We had previously decided we wanted to get married at City Hall in San Francisco, not only is it beautiful (and affordable) but we had our first date in San Francisco. It was also where I had been living during our long-distance relationship so it held a lot of meaning to us both. We booked a ceremony for a Thursday afternoon and everything else fell into place. I ordered 4 white dresses online and prayed that one of them would fit. Our photographer was on board for the date and I reached out to a friend from high school who had become a florist to see if she could put together some flowers for us. I remember asking my boss if I could leave early from work to go buy wedding shoes less than a week before the wedding. It was all so casual and we laughed about it later.
The day was simple. I got up early to go get coffee and run to the bank. My sister came over and we got ready together before meeting up with Josh to take some pictures before the ceremony. I was so nervous before the ceremony but it went by so fast and before I knew it, Josh and I were married and driving our car down to Half Moon Bay for dinner. We brought along a simple cake from our favorite dessert shop that Josh had picked up that morning. The woman ringing it up laughed when she read what we had requested be written out in icing “This is happening.” It became our motto those two weeks when we tried to push things along or came up on roadblocks and in moments when we couldn’t believe we were actually planning our wedding in two weeks.
After a beautiful dinner with our families, we made our way to our hotel, walking down the dark streets of downtown Palo Alto in our wedding attire. People were sitting outside of restaurants eating dinner and having drinks, staring, smiling and yelling congratulations to us from afar. It felt like a dream – just two years earlier I met Josh at a bar down the street, we had gone on dates, picked out wedding rings and decided on our wedding date all within a few blocks of where we were standing in that moment.
I wanted something simple, beautiful and memorable and that’s exactly what it was. I felt like I was married to Josh long before I actually was, the ceremony just made it official. Maybe it would have been nice for him to wear an expensive tux and for me to have a fancy wedding dress but the important part of the day was just that, the day. It didn’t matter what we wore or how much money we spent or how many people were there or what we had for dinner. The day marked the beginning of this journey that we have been on together for the past 4 years.
Our wedding is a day I will always remember. Not because of how it looked or how much money we spent but because it was the day that I started this incredible journey that I am so thankful for every single day.
Forever grateful to the talented women who helped make this day happen
Pictures: Emily Scott //Flowers: Michelle Lywood //Hair & Makeup: Camille Monique //Dress: Alice & Olivia
