Rolecosplay: real weddings

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Bianca and Ernesto share a love of books, libraries, reading, and incredible old buildings with the perfect amount of romantic decay, so when they found Alder Manor, just minutes from downtown New York City, they knew it was the perfect place to write their own love story! Their day was filled with family, friends, music, food, and inspired touches that reflected their shared passion for all things literary in the most beautiful of ways. Bianca and Dave Robbins Photography generously shared every chapter of their day with us!

The Goals: When we first started looking for a wedding venue all we knew is that we wanted our guests to feel like they were being taken away to a different place and time. When we happened upon the beautiful Alder Manor, in disrepair and filled with romance, we knew this was the place. I did the planning myself because I love the details and wanted to really choose things that we love and represented us. For me, the biggest things were aesthetics and food, and for Ernesto, it was the music and food.

We are big foodies and took a lot of time putting together the menu. We decided on a multi-course meal that had smaller plates and more variety rather than just one big main course, because this is the way we like to eat- a little bit of everything! We also wanted it to feel like a big dinner party so we used long tables instead of rounds for a communal feel. In terms of music we knew from the beginning that a really good band was a must!

The Design: The inspiration for the style of the wedding grew out of the venue itself – the first thing we fell in love with was the library! We both dream of building a beautiful dark wood library one day, the walls covered in shelves filled with stories we have read. From the library came the idea to make our save-the-dates into a little book, entitled “A Love Story”, that told our story. My brother and I worked on it tirelessly (he did all the illustrations) until it was perfect. All of guests loved it and it set the tone for the whole wedding. Our tag line for the event, printed on the invitations was “The best love stories never end.” We continued this theme throughout the decor and the leather bookmarks we gave guests as one of the favors. On several occasions I have seen the bookmarks in use at my friends’ houses, which always makes me happy! Our invitations were created by Paperfinger , and incorporated the work of Ice Cream Social Shoppe . We had them design a monogram that included a cupcake to represent me, a crown to represent Ernesto, and a bumble bee to represent our daughter Bianca Sophia, who we call B. Each of these made their way on to the invitation pieces.

We used a palette of purple and gold because purple is my favorite color, and gold just seemed to fit with the venue and create a vintage, glamorous feel. The colors were of course in our invitations, and also my bouquet and other flowers, bridesmaids attire and shoes, groom and groomsmen attire, programs, favors, signs and welcome bags.

The Look: I wanted something romantic, sexy, and elegant with a somewhat vintage/old world feel to it. More than anything, I wanted something that looked like me. This was the main reason I wore my hair down, because I love wearing my hair down and more importantly, Ernesto loves it too!! For my veil I knew I wanted a mantilla, because I love the old world Spanish look, and I knew I wanted a long one! I am not one of those brides who dreamed about my dress and wedding my whole life, but the one things that did stick with me from childhood was Julie Andrew’s long dramatic veil from “The Sound of Music.” I didn’t take it quite that far, but that was the inspiration for my long veil! The dress I finally decided on was all lace and felt vintage (even thought it wasn’t).

For my bridesmaids, I wanted the look to be soft and romantic and for the dresses to have some movement as they glided down the aisle. My two sisters and two best friends are all beautiful, so it didn’t take much effort on my part to make them look good. I wanted the groomsmen to look sharp (which they did effortlessly) and they had to have suspenders because I absolutely love them!

The Moments: The moments that stand out the most are when I began walking down the aisle on my father’s arm to Coldplay’s “Yellow,” (which my husband picked for me!) and finally saw him standing there waiting for me. We had insisted that we did not want to see each other that day until I walked down the aisle, and it was absolutely worth the wait. I cannot describe the feeling of seeing him and it finally hitting me that we were really getting married! After that, the next best moment was our daughter breaking it down on the dance floor. She had just turned two and loves to dance. She stole the hearts of all our guests. Exchanging our vows was definitely unforgettable. We had chosen vows that included everything we wanted to say to each other, and the moment when we finally said those words was really beautiful. And I have to mention our private first dance! We had a fun first dance planned for the reception, but I wanted to share a private moment with my new husband before going to meet all our guests. I surprised him with a couple members of the band playing Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight (the first song on the playlist he played for me the night he proposed!) under the trees in the garden. It was so amazing to take those few minutes to be together dancing close, all alone.

The Pros: Visit Bianca and Ernesto’s page in our Real Wedding Library for more information about the talented professionals that contributed to the wedding.

Thank you for sharing your spectacular romantic wedding day with us Bianca and Ernesto! Our best wishes for your new life together!

Readers, you can find more real wedding stories in our Real Wedding Library , along with more details from Bianca and Ernesto’s big day.

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This is one of those weddings that the more I learn about it the more in love with it I become! Creative couple JoAnn and Jonathan deeply infused their personal styles into their wedding, but with such ease that the celebration looks like it must have been an absolute joy to attend. An ultra-imaginative and ultra-fun affair, photographed by the equally inventive photography team of Junebug members Paco and Betty !

The Goals: JoAnn and Jonathan chose the beautiful private estate of Nestldown in the Santa Cruz Mountains to create a wedding that was relaxed, creative and fun for everyone in attendance. Their main inspiration was simply to represent their relationship and personalities in the many aspects of their wedding day. “From the music played at the ceremony and reception to the food being served, we wanted our guests to feel as if they were spending time with us in our own home for a night.”

The Design: The overall aesthetic of JoAnn and Jonathan’s wedding had a vintage flair to it, inspired by the couple’s love of fashion from the 1920s-50s, as well as details that celebrated their love for cooking, food, music and spirituality. With help from wedding planners Details by Design Events they created such an incredible atmosphere!

The wedding invitations were designed to represent the letters they sent to each other at the beginning of their relationship. “We used to mail each other letters all the time, even though we lived pretty close by, so the design was an air mail theme. Our intention was to make the recipient feel like they were looking through a box of keepsakes, like the boxes we kept our letters in. Inside they found custom made movie ticket stubs, post cards, photo booth pictures, and a personal “handwritten” letter.”

At the wedding they used a rich wedding color palette of ivory, charcoal gray, eggplant purple, mustard yellow, teal and navy blue. The centerpiece flower arrangements were made with the help of their aunts and mothers and were displayed in vintage cans and homemade log vases decorated with customized cooking inspired labels. Their wedding favors were place cards that included recipes from their kitchen, and to make it a perfect outdoor meal the menu was picnic inspired. “Guests passed around platters of fried chicken, bowls of mac and cheese, corn on the cob, and coleslaw while being served glasses of sangria, frothy Belgian beers, along side the bottles of wine and champagne being poured at the table.”

The Look: Both JoAnn and Jonathan wanted their fashion looks to be classic, so JoAnn wore a stunning lace sheath wedding dress from Monique Lhuillier and Jonathan wore a three piece suit with signature Converse , of course. JoAnn accentuated her vintage inspired style with an amazing hairstyle that included finger waves and fresh flowers – so gorgeous!

The Moments: JoAnne and Jonathan created a non-traditional wedding ceremony that was very personalized, honored all who have supported and influenced their lives, and truly represented their spiritual beliefs. The ceremony was officiated by Father Josh Favaolora of the White Robed Monks and included many meaningful readings – an excerpt from “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, “Parting” a poem translated by Bruce Lee, “Evening” a poem by Pablo Neruda; and the special songs Rise by Eddie Vedder and (Nice Dream) by Radiohead.

At the reception, the Gypsy Jazz band Gaucho serenaded the guests, fun games were included at each table, an ice cream truck arrived to serve sweet treats as an alternative to wedding cake, and their cousin, a professional Chocolatier, made a table of chocolates and goodies for dessert that was so amazing nothing survived before dinner time!

JoAnn and Jonathan loved so many parts of the day, like having all of their loved ones together in one place, speaking their wedding vows to eachother and dancing their first dance to Shiny & New by Mayer Hawthorne, but looking back they each had favorite moments. For JoAnn it was right after the ceremony when they finally had the time to sit alone together, sipping champagne while watching their guests head to the reception. For Jonathan it was seeing JoAnn in her dress for the first time. Very sweet indeed.

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who helped create this wedding day please visit JoAnn and Jonathan’s page in our Real Wedding Library .

Thank you for sharing your amazing wedding with us JoAnn and Jonathan !

To plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists , and to find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist !