Renee and Tim - Admiral's Mansion, Mare Island, Vallejo

October, 2016. Photos: Wellshot Photo Co.

This was the second wedding Hitch Perfect coordinated at the Admiral's Mansion. What is so special about this venue is how much space there is - both inside the mansion and outside on the grounds - to make the day unique for each couple's individual vision. Since October is a particularly good month for weather in the Bay Area, Tim and Renee wanted to use the outdoor spaces as much as possible. They and their attendants got ready inside and as you can see below, the grand staircase made for some stunning photos. All other elements of the day were outside: ceremony, cocktail reception, dinner, toasts, and dancing. If you're looking for some cute ways to save money, check out the bouquets that the bride and bridesmaids had - they're all silk flowers and you truly can't tell! Renee and Tim also had the good fortune to have a baker friend who not only created a stunning cake, but all of the other desserts for the dessert bar. 

Katrina and Andrew - Presidio Log Cabin, San Francisco

August 2016. Photos: Millay and Young Photography / Flowers: Home Sweet Flowers

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The Presidio in August can turn from sunshine to fog in an instant, which is exactly what happened right before Katrina and Andrew's ceremony. Fortunately, the ceremony was short and the guests could move promptly to the warm and cozy confines of the Log Cabin for the cocktail hour and dinner. The inside is incredibly spacious with a gigantic fireplace at one end and plenty of room for all of the tables on the other, with a large dance floor in between. Katrina and Andrew had an inside joke about 'spirit animals,' which then led to some of the cutest escort cards I've ever seen. Katrina found tiny woodland animal figurines, spray-painted them gold, and then made a tiny notch in each of their backs for the card to sit in.The couple also decided to treat their guests to two amazing food trucks for dinner: Chairman Bao and Tacolicious. If you know anything about Chairman Bao, you know that the lines are normally 100-people deep, so it was a true treat to get exclusive access to the tastiest bao truck in San Francisco.

Ariana and Jonah - UC Botanical Garden and Berkeley City Club

August 2016. Photos - Nicole Blumberg Photography / Flowers - Dinner Bell Farms/ Dress: BHLDN

Ariana and Jonah came from two different cultures: she is Indonesian, he is Jewish. It was important to them that they find ways to incorporate elements of each into the ceremony and the wedding day in general. The ways that they found to celebrate this union ranged from expected (breaking of the glass, getting married under a chuppah, doing readings in Indonesian) to extremely special and unique to them (covering the chuppah in an Indonesian batik cloth and having gorgeous Indonesian puppets on each of the tables as part of the centerpieces). Celebrating nature and being eco-friendly was also very important to them, so the decoration in the Redwood Grove was extremely minimal - who needs flowers when you're surrounded by all those redwoods?! Molly from Dinner Bell Farms, a sustainable flower farm located near Tahoe, created stunning bouquets with lots of interesting textures, while the bridal headpiece and chuppah were lush with with jasmine. The table centerpieces were succulent gardens that Molly had grown in a wide range of planters that could be taken home by guests after the wedding. It was by far the most eco-friendly and beautiful use of centerpieces I've seen to date!