Archive for the ‘D. Elaine Photography’ Category

Another real wedding from the Summer/Fall 2011 issue of Real Weddings Magazine loaded to our Real Weddings Magazine Web site!

Congratulations to Online Exclusive Real Wedding couple Sadhna & Thomas Kroom who were married on October 10, 2010 at Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa.

Click here to read their story, see their slideshow of photos from D. Elaine Photography, meet their wedding dream team and more!

Photo courtesy of D. Elaine Photography.

Check out the Real Weddings Contest Page! Great bridal loot for real Sacramento-area brides!

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The Couple:   Jenny and Eric

Wedding Date:  November 20, 2010

Photography by D. Elaine Photography

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  Eric and I live in Sacramento, California. We met about three years ago on the Internet! We love the outdoors and visit Mendocino often. We love the outdoors so much we decided to have our wedding on the coast in Mendocino. It seemed very appropriate for our personalities. We found having a small wedding on the coast was more reasonable and more magical than anything we could plan locally.

What was the most amazing part of your day?   The most amazing part of our day was getting married by one of our close friends, outdoor, overlooking the ocean in front of our closest friends and family, even if it was in the rain! It is a dream come true and could not have been more perfect. Eric and I were able to spend time together prior to the wedding which helped put my nerves at ease. The food in Mendocino was fantastic, as was the view in every direction. Our room at the Brewery Gulch Inn was lovely to get ready for the ceremony and to take pre-photographs. Our photographer Diana was amazing!

What else would you like to share about your big day?  Our guests seemed to get a huge kick out of us getting married on the beach in the rain in a cypress, grove away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Everyone treated it as an adventure and had a wonderful time. Eric and I were so happy to have a small ceremony with our closest family and friends. We were really happy to be able to provide them with a mini vacation. In doing so, it made our wedding perfect!

Ceremony Site:  Cypress Grove near Mendocino Village

Reception Venue:  955 Ukiah Street Restaurant. The reception was perfect. We closed down a gorgeous little restaurant just for our party. Peggy and Jamie were awesome, and we look forward to visiting every time we are in Mendocino for many years to come.

Photographer:   D. Elaine Photography. Diana is a wonderful person will a lovely spirit and gorgeous soul. Her photographs are artistic, and she makes you feel like family. She managed to make all of the photos look gorgeous even if they were in the rain!

Caterer:  955 Ukiah Street Restaurant

Cake:  Sharon Robinson

Flowers:  My good friend Leena Brown

Favors: We bought wine keys for everyone and had personalized chap sticks including our names and wedding date!

Wedding Dress:  Diamond Bridal Gallery

Bridesmaid Dresses:  We decided against having a wedding party. We encouraged our friends and family to wear whatever made them comfortable and happy.

Hair:  Mendocino Beauty

Makeup:Amy Wall with Mendocino Beauty

Invitations:  Wedding Paper Divas

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  My trusty iPod. (I chose a mix of music Eric and I love and listen to often. I also mixed in some favorite songs of my friends and family to personalize the music experience for my guests.) Even the catering staff was rocking out to our eclectic mix of music while cooking in the back!

Photo Booth:  D. Elaine Photography

Honeymoon location:  Mendocino was practically a honeymoon location! We have a trip to France and Spain scheduled for later in the year! We can’t wait.

Any other of your wedding vendor(s) you’d like to call out? Cafe Beaujolais was the location for our pre-wedding dinner the night before. The staff was wonderful and the food was amazing.

The Hill House Inn in Mendocino Village is where we reserved rooms for all of our guests. The staff could not have been more accommodating.

First Dance Song:  We ended up not having a first dance and are just choosing to dance through life instead.

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  I could not recommend Mendocino any higher as a wedding location. It was a wonderful and magical place to get married full of nice people, phenomenally beautiful spots everywhere you look, and fantastic high qualify food. It was a wonderful destination wedding that did not feel far away. It was effortless to plan, even remotely. Eric and I chose to have a short engagement which meant an abbreviated planning period which was stressful at times. However, I would not have done it differently. We were able to make decisions quickly and move forward with planning. It was perfect for us and the planning was fun.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  I would have bribed Mother Nature into holding off the rain!

Photos courtesy of D. Elaine Photography.

Check out the Real Weddings Contest Page! Great bridal loot for real Sacramento-area brides!

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

The Couple:  Melissa Brown and Sergio Calvillo

Wedding Date:  June 26, 2010

Photography by D. Elaine Photography

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  We met at work and were friends for a while before we started dating. We had been together (dating) for ten years before we got engaged. The proposal was on the beach in Cayucos, CA on October 24, 2009. It was just the two of us and our dog Peanut. We were looking for shells and he was in the sand on his knees. He told me to come and look what he found and had the ring. It was perfect!

What was the most amazing part of your day?   The father/daughter dance. My D.J. recorded my voice reminding my Dad of some of my childhood memories with him and telling him I love him. It was played at the beginning of the song Daddy’s Hands by Holly Dunn. I looked around and everybody was crying, even the teenagers.

What else would you like to share about your big day?  Our wedding day was close to perfect as it could get. Everybody was relaxed and really enjoyed themselves. It went by really quickly though. I am glad we have pictures to remind us how great it was. It was a long time coming but well worth it. Also we had Harpist (Peggy Brown) play an hour before the wedding. She played Only Time by Enya when I was walking down the Aisle. I didn’t want to have the traditional wedding march.

Ceremony Site:  Wilson Vineyards

Reception Venue:  Wilson Vineyards

Photographer:  D. Elaine Photography

Caterer:  TLC Catering

Cake:  Village Cake Shop

Flowers:  1-800-flowers. We used canning jars for vases and put a light peach ribbon.

Favors:  Tiny salt and pepper shakers for each person. We also had M&M’s with our picture on it, some with the date and some with our names.

Wedding Dress:  Maggie Sotero (Adelaide) from Bella Donna Bridal.

Hair: Pink Glamour Salon by Angela

Makeup:  Shana Beals

Invitations:  Walmart Online 

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  It’s time Entertainment

Honeymoon location:  Cambria, California (close to the proposal site).

Any other of your wedding vendor(s) you’d like to call out?  Sandy from Wilson Vineyards stayed on site most of the day made sure everything went right and coordinated our wedding, she was great.

First Dance Song:  We had two songs, the first one was Blessed the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts (bride’s choice) and How do you keep the music playing by James Ingram.

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  Plan ahead and don’t wait until last minute to get things done. Try not to stress out, everything will be fine. Also, have a back up plan so if anything goes wrong, it can be fixed.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  We probably would have hired a videographer. I would love to have had a video. I can’t complain about anything else.

Photos courtesy of D. Elaine Photography

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