Another wedding wisdom coming your way!! So enjoy this interview I had with Melissa – she is a gem and had so many great things to share!

Question #1: What did you love about planning your wedding?

That’s definitely kind of hard to answer, but I do think the exciting part was just the fact that I had all these things I had always dreamed about my whole life and had envisioned for a wedding, and then being able to collaborate with my fiance to bring them to life was just the best. I think we wanted to make sure it was memorable for both us, and so creating something that really expressed who we were as a couple was super important to us. So I think that was the best part about wedding planning was coming together and creating something that expressed each other and that we both loved. Kevin was really about the food – he loves it haha and he wanted to do BBQ, but I mean even with that we love pizza, we love mexican food, we love bbq we love in n out haha so we were like “What should we do?” And bbq just really fit the rustic outdoor wedding that we wanted. And then also the getaway car was also really important to Kevin and so I encouraged him to get it!

Question #2: What were some not so fun parts?

I think for me, I definitely agreed with your live last week where you guys talked about the hand-written invitations, because I did hand-write mine and I don’t have great handwriting so I don’t really know why I did that haha I just really wished I would have paid to have that done or printed them somehow because we sent out like 400 invites! So if there’s an easier way to do it, I would definitely say go that route. And then another thing I would say that I mentioned to Kevin and he was like “Oh man – spot on!” was I’m definitely a people-pleaser, so I kept worrying about what other people would want or think about our wedding, like my mom or mother in law, and I think that I had to remind myself that this is OUR wedding – myself and my fiance – we had to remember what’s important for US. So ladies remember – you can be assertive, you can pick what you want. I think I was so concerned about being a “bridezilla” even though Kevin told me I never would be haha, but it was just finding that balance of doing what I wanted and being good with it and not worrying about what other people think.

Question #3: What was important to you when planning your wedding? Style, experience, time, etc.

I would say it was style and experience for us. We really wanted to make it as simple as possible, we tried to pick a location that was easy for everyone to travel to. It ended up working out great too because we thought that we were going to stay in California for the wedding, but we actually ended up moving to Oregon before the wedding – which… I don’t recommend moving to another state while you’re engaged haha it’s just nuts – but we wanted the experience to be easy for everyone. Most of our friends were from California so that worked out wonderfully for them and then people were able to fly in pretty easily so that worked out too. So just the whole experience from the get go, having family pictures beforehand, having people arrive when they did, the music that was playing when they arrived, I just wanted the whole setting to feel natural going into the ceremony and then afterwards during the reception and then through-out the night, I just wanted everyone to genuinely enjoy themselves and for it to not feel “scripted” I just wanted them to enjoy the whole experience. Even down to the sparklers we had at the exit because it’s so hard to have those because of all the fire stuff in SoCal haha. So really just all those little details were so important to me to make everything flow so well and have everyone experience it and enjoy themselves.

Question #4: What was something you wished you spent LESS time stressing about or working on?

I feel like because we got ready so early and had plenty of time for that, that ended up working out so great because that was the one area where I was stressed because if that goes late then that throws everything off. But I don’t know, I think I overthought way too much with that, but aside from that I definitely spent wayyyy too much time stressing about what other people thought. Overall though, I think I lucked out with everything else!

Question #5: What was your favorite part of your wedding day?

For me, it was the first look and after the ceremony. So with the first look, it was so emotional for me as you’re taking photos and I’m looking out the window seeing him on the dock, and I’m wanting to cry and then I’m just thinking like “This is the day! We are actually getting married!” We’ve been together for 6 years, but no matter how long you’ve been with someone when wedding day comes it’s so surreal, and so I was just so excited to see him for the first time. It was just such a butterfly feeling of excitement. It was seriously the best feeling and after that I could’t stop smiling and it was seriously the best to have that moment with just the two of us and be able to share that moment. And then I have to say too, that after the ceremony (I didn’t put this in the timeline but I wish I had thought about it!) when we went to take photos after the ceremony, it was such a special time taking photos as husband and wife. One of the things that we did feel strongly about was the fact that we didn’t want to waste too much time between the ceremony and reception as much as possible, but you pulled us away and I love that you did that because those photos turned out amazing and we were on such a cloud 9 high – we were so excited feeling the rings on each other’s fingers and looking at each other like “WE’RE MARRIED!” – there was no better feeling and I’m so grateful that you did that. And Kevin said that his favorite part was when we got to drive off in the corvette at the end of the night because I got to look over at you and you were my wife and we were married and I was so happy in that moment!

Question #6 & #7: What was your thought process for choosing a photographer? And what stood out to you the most about Kate Garcia Weddings?

I creeped so hard on Instagram haha but my vision was that I really wanted to find a photographer that really captured the moments as a whole and was able to capture the people around us with their faces and emotions and the nature around us and the details – that was all just so important to me because I wanted to feel all those emotions through the pictures and I didn’t want it to feel posed obviously, and I wanted to just feel as natural as possible with all these memorable moments – almost as if you weren’t there. I was just so in love with your colors, and the way that the couples caught your attention immediately, and I went through SO many photos from others where they were blurry or just others that were not well done. So it was just so obvious the way that you did it, and the angles, and the thought process behind every photo. A few of our images were set up to where a cactus was behind us, or the palm trees were behind us, and I loved that because you were able to take so many scenery photos with us and give us that spotlight through them. And when I look at those photos, I feel like how I felt that day and takes me back to that moment, and it’s just so amazing that you can capture that. Like.. you’re SO talented. You even caught the little details of my flower girl and ring bearer and their smiles and see family members and friends – and genuinely it was really so well done and I’m so thankful. Kevin had to say a big thing too was that you were so diligent and on top of staying on the timeline without coming off as “We need to be here.” Or “Do this! Do that” like you’re really really great. You were wonderful and kept us in line and I mean hey, it’s really hard when we have big families and a lot of friends – I mean it’s hard to keep us on time! But you were really great about it. The poses never felt like we were ‘posed’ and you really did just do an amazing job – I could go on and on. We look back and feel like you captured every moment so perfectly. The wedding photos turned out incredible. You were able to capture moments that I couldn’t be there for! The day really does fly by, and so being able to look back at the photos and see moments that I wasn’t there for was just so fun!

One of the crazy things too was that we hadn’t met before the wedding – I really wanted to do engagement photos with you but we had to move up to Oregon and couldn’t get back down until the wedding day. But as soon as you showed up on the day of the wedding I just automatically felt so comfortable with you which was such a sigh of relief because a lot of people don’t get that their first try! And Kevin said the same thing, we both felt like we could trust you and that you knew what you were doing. I just felt so connected to you and like we had been friends for forever, to the point of we were dancing together at the end of the night haha I had people come up to me and say like “Oh my gosh, is your friend your photographer??” And I was like “No! But we feel like we’ve known each other forever!” You were just so easy going and you made us feel so comfortable and I just really appreciated that about you because I didn’t have to worry about anything.

AND the fact that you remembered my maid of honor at another wedding and came up to her and said hi, I mean it just shows that you have a great character about you and that it’s really easy to love you – so I don’t know who wouldn’t pick you for their wedding day!

Question #8: Did you feel like you booked an adequate amount of time?

Yeah! I feel like that was such a helpful factor too in creating the timeline with you beforehand, because it gave me a good idea of what to expect the day of, so I did feel like the 8 hours I booked was perfect. For reference, we had about 150 guests, and a wedding party of 7 bridesmaids and 7 groomsmen and then we did have a second shooter with you as well!

Question #9: Was there any other vendor that you couldn’t imagine not being there?

Yes definitely! You were number one, and that’s so hard because genuinely everyone was amazing, but I would say the videographers were super important too. It’s so cool to see that they are officially working together with Narrow Roads Film House and that you hired them for your wedding!! That’s seriously so great, yeah they are amazing. I think photo + video is so important because you keep those for life. I remember being slightly judged by family who thought that having both was a little “extra” but they were used to the old days where things were more traditional you know? Like nowadays things are so different from back then. They tried to tell me like save your money don’t do it, but now all those family members are like “Oh my gosh! That is so amazing!!” And so yeah, I just knew it was so worth it.

Question #10: If you could give advice to all the newly engaged couples out there, what would it be?

I think it would be the whole idea of even though the whole experience is important for everyone involved, it’s important that you two take time for yourselves too. I know you want to be with everyone else and share that moment with family and friends and like you will get that chance for sure, but having a first look – which I debated about whether or not I wanted to do that or having that surprise factor coming down the aisle – but I’m so glad we went for a first look because it gave us our moment beforehand, we got to pray, we got to take photos, and we were just so genuinely happy and so excited to get married and there’s just no other way to put that into words to have that moment together before everyone showed up and the whole thing started because it really does fly by. So I think having that moment was really important and then after the ceremony too, to have a chance to take a breathe and be like “OMG we’re married!” and it’s okay to take your time. and take that moment away from everybody because you WILL be the center of attention the whole time afterwards, but it’s good to just take your moment just the two of you! Cuz it’s the best day of your life!

Once again, I am so happy and so thankful that Melissa was able to take the time to go live with me on Instagram. If you want to tune in to the next interview with a past bride, follow me on instagram @kategarciaweddings – I go live every Wednesday evening at 6pm PST with one of my past brides. All live videos can be accessed for 24 hours after the live happens.

Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below, and I cannot wait to share next week’s interview!

Kate