Archive for the ‘The Citizen Hotel’ Category

Another Featured Real Wedding from the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of Real Weddings Magazine loaded to the Real Weddings Magazine Web site…presenting Featured Real Wedding Couple Susan & Mark Nguyen.

Congratulations to Featured Real Wedding Couple Susan & Mark Nguyen who were married on July 29, 2011 at The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament with a reception that followed at The Citizen Hotel.

Selected vendors include:

Photographer:  The Memory Journalists

Ceremony Music:  The Camellia String Quartet

Videographer:  XSiGHT Photography & Video

Wedding Planner:  2Chic Events & Design

Reception Site and Catering:  The Citizen Hotel

Flowers:  Botanica Floral & Event Design

Cake:  Sweet Cakes by Rebecca

Linens:  Mimi & Co.

Click here to read their story, see their slideshow of photos from The Memory Journalists, meet their entire wedding dream team and more!

Blog post by Real Weddings Magazine’s Editor/Publisher Wendy Sipple.

Photos courtesy of The Memory Journalists.

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

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

Here at Real Weddings Magazine we see our share of style blogs rooted in the wedding industry. From wedding dresses to beautiful blooms to design and décor, there’s no shortage of inventive inspiration for our gals! So when we found a wedding venue that posts a special blog tailored for its bridal clientele, we had to share.

The Citizen Hotel in Downtown Sacramento is a popular venue for brides both near and not so near our area. Elegant, sophisticated and centrally located, The Citizen offers everything from catered indoor weddings, to dramatic outdoor events on the roof with spectacular views. All the wedding packages are broken down in detail on the blog.

We absolutely love that the hotel provides albums of images from past brides and grooms who have exchanged vows at this signature property. Scroll through their “spotlight” weddings and get a taste for the wedding experience that awaits you at The Citizen!

Check it out at here! And, be sure to like them on Facebook at facebook.com/thecitizenhotel.

Blog Post by Always a Bridesmaid Columnist Darren Elms.

Photo courtesy of The Citizen Hotel.

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

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

The Couple:  Morgan and Michael Motia

Wedding Date:  July 2, 2011

Photography by The Goodness Photo & Design

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  Morgan and I are both trying to become doctors. Morgan wants to be one of those doctors who helps people, so she is in medical school. I am in a doctoral program in religion, so I can ramble on about fourth century church councils or French philosophy, but if you’ve got the flu, I’d go to Morgan.

We met though Morgan’s roommate who was a classmate of mine, and became friends when a group of us started watching that romantic show, 24. Morgan and I found ourselves doing everyone’s dishes. We didn’t mind. In fact, that was our style.

A few months went by and after a facial hair experiment (i.e. fasting from the razor for the 40 days of lent)—I shaved on Easter Sunday, asked her out on Monday, we went on our first date on Tuesday… and we haven’t looked back.

We’ve road tripped across the country and have had our fair share of other adventures, but you’d be most likely to find us sitting on a couch, watching TV, talking about life, or, well, studying. Truth be told, we’re probably at our best sitting in a coffee shop reading material full of words that the average person has never heard (khôratic pyelonephritis), enjoying great coffee (we’ve been all over the country exploring coffee shops), and looking up a little too often to tell a story, to make a joke, or to just say hi.

After a little more than a year of dating, we were engaged June 22, 2010 and were married July 2, 2011 at The Citizen Hotel in Sacramento.

What was the most amazing part of your day?  Morgan will tell you that nothing will ever compare to walking down the aisle with her mom and dad to me and the people we love most (the bridesmaids and groomsmen). Walking into a room full of all the most important people in our lives wasn’t bad either—it is the only time we’ve ever been able to have that many people in our lives in a room for a night.

For me the five minuets or so between the “you may kiss the bride” and when the room cleared out and we started pictures was incredible. It was chaotic, everyone was happy (it was a short ceremony, so people didn’t get bored), people were trying to congratulate us, we were bouncing up and down with excitement. And then pictures started—which was great because we were taking pictures when we were as happy as we had ever been.

What else would you like to share about your big day?  Just as we were about to walk into the reception, Morgan peeked into the room, got a look at our cake and screamed. She was crying walking down the aisle; she was glowing after seeing the cake.

Ceremony Site & Reception Venue:  The Citizen Hotel

Photographer:  The Goodness Photo & Design (Lisa and Geoff were incredible before, during and after the reception)

Caterer:  The Grange

Cake:  Freeport Bakery

Flowers:  Blooms by Martha Andrews

Favors:  DIY. Each table had a “theme” based on something about us (coffee, med school, etc.) And each guest got a favor in line with the theme (coffee beans from our favorite coffee shop, a first aid kit for med school)

Road Trip – CD of music

Pizza Night (our Friday night tradition) – Homemade pizza sauce

Coffee – Coffee beans from our favorite shop

Sushi (every Tuesday for the first year we were dating) – Chopsticks

Vegetarians – Mini tomato plants

Dishwashing (how we met) – Dish soap

Baseball (Mike) – Crackerjacks, baseball score card

Harvard Divinity School (Mike) – Moleskin notebooks

Medical School (Morgan) – First-aid kit

Running (Morgan) – Shoe laces

California – Rainbow sandal keychains

Wedding Dress:  David’s Bridal. Altered/detachable black straps at Alterations by Melody.

Bridesmaid Dresses:  We had them get any black cocktail dress, necklaces were from Etsy.

Hair & Makeup:  Ashley Alice Artistry

Invitations:  The Goodness Photo & Design (They were amazing! They did our place cards, logo and thank you cards as well)

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  Extreme Productions Entertainment

Photo Booth:  The Goodness Photo & Design

Honeymoon location:  We flew to Paris, then got on a cruise in Copenhagen (Denmark, Norway, Germany, Russia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden), then finished in Geneva, Switzerland.

First Dance Song:  ”Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by Ingrid Michaelson

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  Do personal things. Our favors took a lot of time, but our guests loved them, and (more importantly) they were a reminder of why we were getting married. Or to say that another way, have fun planning. The year of our engagement Morgan was a first year medical student in Scranton, PA, and I was finishing my master’s degree in Boston, and we were planning a wedding that was going to be in California. It was a lot of work and logistics but we made it stress free by having fun with it.

Making our day special meant doing something special for the people we love. We put a lot of thought into the food, candy bar, cake, DJ, photobook and favors because these were the things that our guest were going to enjoy. We didn’t want people to feel like we took them coming (especially across the country) for granted.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  We choose to have a served dinner, which I think worked great at the wedding because everyone got to eat at the same time. We hate the waiting in line for buffet food. But it was really difficult the week before trying to make sure we have everyone’s meal correct and it made doing the seating chart that much more difficult.

Photos courtesy of The Goodness Photo & Design.

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

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

Another Featured Real Wedding from the Winter/Spring 2012 issue of Real Weddings Magazine loaded to the Real Weddings Magazine Web site…presenting Featured Real Wedding Couple Kristen & Jonathan Dickinson.

Congratulations to Featured Real Wedding couple Kristen & Jonathan Dickinson who were married on March 5, 2011 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with a reception at The Citizen Hotel.

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

Blog post by Real Weddings Magazine’s Editor/Publisher Wendy Sipple.

Photos courtesy of Travis Hoehne Photography.

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

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

Another Featured Real Wedding from the Winter/Spring 2012 issue of Real Weddings Magazine loaded to the Real Weddings Magazine Web site…presenting Featured Real Wedding Couple Gayatri & Ethan Horowitz!

Congratulations to Featured Real Wedding couple Gayatri & Ethan Horowitz who were married on May 29, 2010 at The Citizen Hotel with a reception at Tsakapoulos Library Galleria.

Click here to read their story, see their slideshow of photos from Love at First Click Photography, meet their wedding dream team and more!

Blog post by Real Weddings Magazine’s Editor/Publisher Wendy Sipple.

Photos courtesy of Love at First Click Photography.

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

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!