surprise! ok… i couldn’t just pick ONE.  i couldn’t stand it! we fell in love with Paola and Ryan and we’ve decided to create a little special spot for them in our Giving Back Wedding Photography as Runner up, winning wedding photography at 50% off!   When Paola first wrote in to us, she wasn’t even engaged- but with good reason.  she’s 100% columbian, born and raised in Bogota.  she happened to fall madly in love with Ryan (born and raised in the states!)  while living here, but he insisted on meeting her parents and asking them for her hand in marriage in person before they officially became ‘official’.   they just got engaged TWO nights ago, and we are so happy and excited for them!  They were hoping for a wedding in the coffee region of columbia, but lawyers and visa applications and other legal and immigration stuff makes it quite difficult to plan a marriage.  but, (just like we love!) paola and ryan know that it doesn’t really matter WHERE they get married- they just can’t wait to say their vows.  That being said- i absolutely HAVE to share with you some of the details they are planning for their wedding because it’s so incredible!

by now you’ve seen their inspiration board above- and how great is their color palette! They have impeccable taste!  here are just a couple of the details they are working on from Paola:

A lot, if not most, of our decor will be DIY projects – I am an artist and student in the process of opening an event design/coordination company, so this would be perfect practice to incorporate more of who we are, and our gratefulness for the people that have helped us get to that point. We want our wedding to be a symbol not only of our love for each other and God, but also a time to thank everyone for their impact on our lives.

Our theme will be “Story” as in the story of us, in a rustic/vintage way. We’re planning on doing our centerpieces with vintage books – accented with pops of flowers randomly arranged and some hourglasses- and inside of them, in a very stylish and creative way, incorporate pictures and stories of our lives up to the point of the wedding. After our wedding, it’lll be a good addition to our library of books we each already own, and a great reminder of where we both come from. Our ring bearer (Ryan’s nephew) will not carry a ring pillow, instead it’ll be a cute bundle of books that are put together with vintage-looking ribbons.

We wont be having our first dance the typical way. I will first dance with my dad, whom, in the middle of the song, will give me away to Ryan. Its a Colombian tradition. And then, we will have our first dance to our song. We will have both Spanish and American music to dance to.

My mom will be doing our wedding cake. She is a cake designer, and for as long as I can remember, that has been the one thing I’ve been 100% sure I want at my wedding.

We finally figured out what we want to do as our “unity ceremony.” Have you ever heard of a wine box? The idea is to have a box in which we will put a bottle of wine, two glasses (which I will engrave myself) and two sealed letters – we each write a letter to the other, expressing our love, what made us fall in love, our hopes for our future together, and our reason to commit to each other in marriage etc., we are not to read each other’s letter at all, but to seal them in two separate envelopes. During the ceremony, the letters, wine (and any additional items we may add, like pictures – its supposed to be sort of a time capsule) will be put in the box, and then locked. Its not to be opened until our 5th or 10th wedding anniversary, or if we run into a really really hard time in our marriage in which we need to be reminded where we both come from, why we love each other, and our commitment. There is a short message that the person marrying us will say during the wine box ceremony, explaining the purpose of it.

Also, we had thought of doing the “first look,” but we weren’t 100% sure. Until we read your blog. Now we know we are definitely doing it, so thank you!

we want to have snowballs as a snack sometime during the reception. There is an awesome snowball place near John’s pass, and part of our first date was there! They are amazing! Plus the couple that owns the place is super sweet, so we’re hoping we can bring them for a fun snack time!

Anyways, we have a lot of ideas, diy projects, and dreams of what our special day will be like. And we’re already in the process of turning these dreams into reality. But because of some complex timing situations we don’t have everything set in stone, however, we know this: The most important thing is that we’ll be marrying each other, and that our loved ones will be there to share this once in a lifetime event for us. We are so incredibly excited. It all seems so surreal!

of course, i have a soft spot in my heart for artists and DIY projects! we LOVE their vision of what they want their day to be like, and love how not only are they great design elements, but they are truly personal to both paola and ryan, celebrating their love.  i love her enthusiasm, making their day just what they want it to be, even through the trials and tribulations of not being able to have their ceremony in columbia for risk of having to start her Visa process all over again (a very long and expensive process!).

I can not wait to work with these two! i’m SOOOO looking forward to july!

ps- if you think that im done announcing big things… you’re very wrong!  i’m so secretive! we have some big announcements to make this month,  so stay tuned!