Literally, the day I'm hauling the moving truck and all merchandise out of the store, she comes in to meet with me and lay out all these ideas. Thankfully she saw past the craziness that surrounded us and the fact my 7 month old and 5 year old were at my feet...I knew she believed in me! Right off the bat, we gel and go OFF on ideas and because of that, her and her soon to be Mother in Law, Kaaren asked about my coordinating packages. It was a careful thought process I had to weigh out because their wedding date, October 31, 2009 was my daughter Antonella's first birthday. With a heavy heart, I declined.
A few weeks had passed and Kaaren had come by to purchase some of my Nature's Leaf as they decided on that as their guest favors and at that time she had asked me to reconsider and offered for my family to be in attendance for the weekend as well on location in Copperoppolis. How could I resist!!! I'm fully on board now.
In the next several meetings and mock ups we are piecing together details of programs, a leaf motif, the brides love for pumpkins and yes the wedding is on Halloween but we don't want an orange and black Halloween wedding but the most rich and elegant fall pallette. Fall was in the crisp air so we decided on rustic boxes filled with black fleece blankets tied with copper ribbons, antique rustic dough bowl filled with white pumpkins for the buffet, chocolate glittered pumpkins lining the isle with hurricanes with a pillar candle sitting on a bed of fresh cranberries. Ahhh! All perfect! So much deep, dark lush colors were going on we had to go as far as pulling in the rice paper votives from Luna Bazaar in chocolate brown.
All vendors were set, timeline coming to some final details for our itineraries for the wedding party to be printed, even had a make up trial session complete. It is now the week of the wedding. Suddenly, I had a crazy gut feeling come over me in a panic. There is something that isn't clicking with the photographer. Each time I had spoke with him in the weeks leading up to the event, he had a hard time with recalling the client, contiually stated they still owe him when he had been paid for months, had contracted for a 2nd shooter and kept making reference to not being able to find anyone because it was Halloween and most importantly their package included "all day coverage" and according to him, that meant if the ceremony was starting at 4:30, he would begin at 2:30 and have all detail shots, bridal party, grooms party, etc done in that time??? I was sick over it and had to act on it. I called Kaaren (Mother of Groom) and explained these deep nerves I was experiencing. All I could think of is how disappointed I felt Harmony and Jacob would be with the end result. If anything, I had to at least say my peace. However.....they all understood where I was coming from and listened to my experiences, we all united and jumped on board to scope out Plan B with it already being Monday evening!!! Who ever needs to find a photographer 4 days prior??
My first reaction was to call my sister, Bridget, whom is a photographer in Southern Californa. I had already been chatting with her about the shock and lack of profession this photographer was presenting to me and immediately, she offered to do it. It was a big decision on her behalf because she is a mother of 4 and Halloween is a big deal to most kids but she had that taken care of and was in it with us. Bridget, her husband and 14 month old made the 6 hour trip up and jumped right in.
The weekend is now here and I load up and head to Saddlecreek Resort in Copperoppolis. What a gorgeous city and venue! It truly is the "gold country." We spent the day friday getting unloaded and began attacking all the floral creations begining with our manzanita arch formation. By that evening, the wedding party was in place for rehearsal and then moved over to enjoy a gourmet pizzas and oyster bar while enjoying martini's around the fire pit.
Below is such a quick re-cap of the day. It took so long for me to weed through hundreds of images to try to display the day and I hope you all enjoy viewing them as much as I still do! Harmony, Jacob, Kaaren and Chris, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your day, believing in me to make all of the days wishes come true, for your continued support of my art, and most importantly... for your lifelong friendships!
This photo has pure love and passion in it!
Harmony's bouquet was deisgned with Black Magic Roses, Orange Roses, Flame Calla Lilies, Orange Vanda Orchids, Fern Shoots, Coffee Berries, Cone Flowers, Ruscus and Oak Leaves.
Such a gorgeous broach she found to give that extra special detail to the finish. There's also a little fishing lure that was her something old. It was a special token given to her by her special dad.
Getting some finishing touches on before she moves onto hair!
I always love the work that goes into the bridesmaids helping get the bride into the dress. These are Harmony's two sisters. Haylee on the right had just had her baby 2 weeks before! Both mommy and baby were champions and we had a slight ceremony hold up while they baby had a feeding.
Both Harmony and Kaaren both know how special this photo is to me. I have all enlarged color prints around my design studio from numerous events. This is the one black and white photo I have framed and hung next to the front door. I stare at it often. It is my constant inspiration and reminder on why I do what I do and why I love what I do. The priceless expression on Kaarens face says it all. 
The bridesmaids were all in Chocolate brown dresses and their bouquets were designed with orange roses, flame calla lilies, orange vanda orchids, orange ranuculus, fern shoots, and my favorite...orange pin cushions, then clusters of oak leaves encircled them. All finished with a chocolate satin.
This was the officiant's boutonniere, a flame calla lily with a cluster of coffee berries.
This was one of the best group of guys to work with. Obviously you can see how close they all are. 
Details of the Manzanita ceremony arch trees. Clusters of flowers, bittersweet berries woven throughout, amber and clear crystals hung with orange glass lanterns with candle light
The ceremony was framed with the two large manzanita arrangements and on both sides were my dark brown wooden candle holders with cylinders and pillar candles sitting on the bed of fresh cranberries. In the center was a cocktail table covered in Classic Party Rentals Copper Dazzle linen and they had the unity candle.
The chocolate glittered pumpkins with the hurricanes with candles and cranberries and the basic scatter of red and orange rose petals
The back row was lined with the champagne and espresso satin ribbons.
The parasols were a last minute addition and I LOVE them! So cute for the photos.
The entire wedding party and immediate family did a private champagne toast following the ceremony.
Fruitwood Chivari Chairs, Dazzle Copper Linen, Ivory with gold band china, espresso bengaline napkins, fruitwood chargers, copper footed urns with the wedding flowers flowing out
Harmony had the idea of displaying dresses from Jacob's mother and grandmother's gowns. We had four different gowns, each on a mannequin. In between two dresses was a cocktail table with a specilaty linen and a photo of the bride in that wedding dress from their wedding day and a card with their name, wedding date and location of their wedding. The absolute sweetest touch I've ever seen to any wedding! It displays more than a dress but the years and memories we share with our loved ones.
Each event has an "ah ha" moment for me that I will never forget. Seeing them during the reception sneek outside and re-walk the isle to the ceremony site when no one was around so they can hold on to their moment was amazing! 
This is one the best cake's I've seen. Love the personality and difference in design for each tier and the monochromatic flowers in between each tier. I used a tree stump from an ash tree for the cake base, a rumba chocolate specialty linen and then the chocolate brown paper candle holders clustered in three's. We sprayed her monogramed "M" from silver to copper so it completed the look.
It wouldn't be Halloween if we didn't throw a touch of fun and costume into it so these fun masks were from Pier 1. A cat and a bat...now I can write a Sandra Boyton book.
Floral Design, Coordinating and Makeup - Natalie Galasso Designs
Photography - Bridget Photo
Venue - Saddlecreek Resort
DJ - Sound Extreme
Rentals and Linens - Classic Party Rentals
Votives, Parasols, and Lanterns - Luna Bazaar
3 comments:
Love your designs! Amazing job as usual!!
Natalie~
I have sat down several times to write a comment about this beautiful blog you wrote and each time I have to stop because I can't seem to find the right words to truely express to you how much it means to me. The words you wrote abo...ut our wedding brought me to tears... the pictures you chose tell a beautiful story. After sitting down with you a few times and repeating the word "rich" over and over you were able to visualize exactly what we wanted. You had amazing ideas each time we met and never seemed to get frazzled over last minute changes. You were always so together and made me feel so comfortable. When our day was finally upon us I felt like I was in a dream. I could have never imagined everything being so perfect. You are so very talented and I am honored you were the one to bring together such an incredible day. I love you very much and I feel blessed to have found a lifelong friend.
Harmony~*
This by far was one of my favorite weddings. I am happy you convinced Harmony and Jacob to hire me at the last minute! They are phenomenal people and will have a fabulous life together! I am happy to be able to capture their day!
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