Blog

Facebook Real Wedding Contest Winners | Victoria & Shawn

We asked our past brides via Facebook to upload their favorite portrait from their wedding and other Bella brides and fans would vote for their favorite. Congratulations to Victoria and Shawn who are our December winners. Their beautiful wedding is featured below!

The Story of Victoria & Shawn

How they met: They met on a social networking site!  "Shawn saw my profile and sent me a note with a fantastic, observant compliment about my balance of femininity and a firefighter's can do attitude. He asked me if I'd like to get a drink sometime. I accepted. We went to a local pub for trivia night and we have been together ever since."

The proposal:   "Shawn took me out to a wonderful dinner at Morton's, a notoriously fine restaurant in Sacramento. When we were finished, we walked over to the State Capitol and sat on the front steps and watched the end of the sunset setting over the Tower Bridge. We were standing up to call it a night when he said 'the night isn't over quite yet', got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was surprised and elated, and said yes, of course. I asked who else might know about this, and he said 'there may be a couple of our closest friends on the other side of the building waiting with champagne..'. We walked over to the east side steps and 3 of our closest friends were there. We all had champagne and then went back to Morton's for a celebration."

The Wedding: Victoria married Shawn in a non-traditional wedding dress by White House/ Black Market. One hundred and twenty of their closest friends and family gathered for their ceremony at the California State Capitol Rose Garden! "Shawn and I both work for the State of California and liked the idea of getting married at the Capitol. We were going to get married on the steps, but it was election week and the permit requirements allowed for cancellation of our permit at any time. It was a safer bet to get married in the garden away from the building should there be a rally or a press conference that day. The Capitol is a special place for us: we sat on the steps of the front of the building on our second date and talked for hours. He proposed on the front steps as well. We used to walk through the Rose Garden and grounds on our way to many shows downtown."

On Bella Pictures: "Working with Bella Pictures was great! The price was very reasonable and for what we received for the money, it couldn't be beat. Our photographer was very creative and accommodating with our requests and the style that we were looking for in our pictures. We are very happy with how they turned out. " 

Funny story about the wedding day: "Obviously, there was a fire engine involved. The bride and the bridesmaids rode to the wedding site in it. We kept it a secret from all of the guests and even part of the wedding party until they saw it pulling up with the lights and the siren going. There was a roar of surprise, laughter, and clapping when they saw it! We walked down the eisle to the Red Hot Chili Pepper's " Rollercoaster of Love" and our recession was to "We go together" from Grease. It was a lighthearted and fun day that we planned as something we would enjoy. I shyed away from many of the "traditional" elements because that is not really my, or our, style!Compliments are still rolling in on how it was the best wedding many of our guests had been to!"