Venue: Stanford Court Renaissance Hotel, San Francisco, California
Leo and I met in medical school when I was a first-year medical student and he was in his second year. We are now in the same pediatric residency program in San Antonio, TX.
We chose San Francisco for our wedding location because I was born and spent much of my childhood there, while Leo was raised in Los Angeles, so it was a convenient location for most of our family. Of course, I also have very fond memories of the city and have always thought it to be a beautiful place with lots to see and do.
Our ceremony was at the magnificent St. Anne of the Sunset Church, which I had actually attended while I lived in San Francisco. It's also the place where my parents were married, so it was wonderful to be able to carry on the tradition.
After the ceremony, the wedding party hopped into the limo and headed first to the windmill in Golden Gate Park and then to the Legion of Honor for some gorgeous outdoor photography.
After the pictures, we headed to Stanford Court Renaissance Hotel for the reception. We had some fabulous food and wine and danced the whole night away. Leo and I never realized how much both of our families enjoyed dancing, or how good they were! The dance floor was occupied the entire night. At one point, my mother and father-in-law took over the dance floor. We all formed a circle around them and cheered them on as they showed off hip dance moves we never knew they had! Then my cousin and Leo's cousin faced off, displaying amazing break-dancing moves. It seemed like both had met their match as they took turns wowing the crowd with their spins and back flips.
A really memorable, but initially horrific, moment was when one of my favorite dance songs came on, and as I took one last sip of red wine before rushing to the dance floor, I spillled the red wine all down the front of my ivory wedding dress! I was in shock and disbelief as I realized the night was long from over, and here I was, the bride, with a long red wine stain down the front of my dress. Of course, my maid-of-honor and bridesmaids, with club soda and napkins in hand, came to my rescue. They blotted down the front of my dress for quite a long time, and much to my surprise and relief, most of the red stain came right off (at least enough for me to enjoy the rest of my wedding night without an embarrassing stain down the front of my dress). Unfortunately, I had missed one of my favorite songs, but thanks to my girls, a bridal nightmare had been averted!
In general, we were very pleased with how smoothly everything went, especially since a majority of the planning was done long-distance. Our wedding day was definitely a beautiful, memorable day never to be forgotten. And we are glad we chose Bella to help us record those memories in hundreds of fun, creative photographs.
