Being USD grads, gave Lindsay and Steven one of the coveted opportunities to be married in the Immaculada Church–something only available to graduates and faculty.  Check out the pictures below and you’ll see why it’s so coveted!  Lindsay and Steven started the day getting ready at the US Grant Hotel which was a perfect place for photos to begin.  The hotel even upgraded Lindsay to a 2-story Presidential Suite!

The Ceremony was a full Catholic Mass.  Since the drama of the church is magnificent in itself, we kept the floral decor simple, with beautiful florals tied to the pews going down the aisle and 2 large pieces on columns in the front.  We actually repurposed those focal point pieces in the reception and used them for centerpieces on two of the guest tables.  Steal this idea for sure!  The amazing Alex of Blush Botanicals did all of the decor.

Following the ceremony, Lindsay and Steven did a round of photos with bridesmaids and groomsmen at the Immaculada and then bordered their super fun party bus for transport to the Prado.

Lindsay’s vision for her wedding was a mixture of teal, ivory, and gold with a romantic and somewhat garden-like feel. At the cocktail hour in the Prado courtyard, we created an escort card display with vintage shutters in a teal tone and cards slid into the shutters themselves.  We also added pots of flowers at the base to add to the garden decor.  With a nod to the Mexican heritage in Lindsay’s family tree, guests were serenaded by mariachis during the cocktail hour.  We lined them along the upper balcony, in the archways, to keep the music at a lower decibel level and create a beautiful visual overhead.

The bridesmaid’s dresses were teal and we had teal elements in the cocktail hour area but the ballroom was all gold!  We used an amazing snake-skin gold linen, gold napkins, glass chargers with a gold rim, and a mixture of gold and glass bases for the floral centerpieces.  Blush created 3 different floral centerpieces that we dispersed among the tables.  We brought the teal into the decor only in our paper products, with the table numbers and menus being a combination of gold text and teal foil lettering (created by the always creative Nic Roc Designs)  And to bring in Lindsay’s philanthropic spirit, the family offered “Truffles for a Cause” favors with a chocolate at each place setting and a donation offered on behalf of each.

The evening rounded out with dancing to a full band and cutting a beautiful gold and ivory cake!  Funny story: when the cake showed up, the ribbon on it was actually light blue.  The pastry chef had mistakenly made the cake exactly according to the picture Lindsay had sent, which had a light blue ribbon on it, forgetting that the cake was supposed to be the exactly like the picture EXCEPT that the ribbon was supposed to be gold.  After we discovered the mistake, the pastry chef sent 2 worker bees over to paint the ribbon gold on site.  Since guests were supposed to be entering the ballroom shortly, an assistant and I jumped in to help so that there were now FOUR of us painting the cake.  We let guests in 5 minutes late and I didn’t tell the mother of the bride until the Tuesday AFTER the wedding!  But by the time guests came in, the cake was gold.  I was thinking I would just tell guests it was our “something blue” for the wedding, but an actual gold ribbon looked much better!!!

Thank you to Cole Joseph Photography for the amazing pictures!