On Thursday April 15th 2010 Sommer and Jake said "I do" and it was cause for much celebration from family, friends, and most of all me! We jumped through many hoops throughout the year while planning this wedding. Picking the perfect venue (out of the 13 we went to, they loved them all) and getting everyone to agree on, well, anything in a timely manner. Then there was the time they decided to drop all their San Diego plans and re-plan a much smaller scale wedding in Colorado, only to come back to SD.
The venue we chose was simply perfect. A blend of all the elements Sommer and Jake were looking for: tropical but not at the beach, lots of vegetation, and a lounge, downtown San Diego rooftop feel. Very different elements to put together! One site came to mind, the perfect place: The W Hotel's BEACH bar. Outside on the second story of this wonderful hotel holds a small bar covered in sand, lots of lounge furniture, and it is surrounded by the big city buildings. It was love at first site, and after meeting Jarrod (the W's amazing events manager) there was no question: this was it!
So fast forward through months and months of planning to end us at the biggest hoop of all; and it came 3 days before the wedding. What was supposed to be the final relaxing days leading up to the wedding turned into a frantic panic that no one could have foreseen. On Monday at 10am I received a call from our wonderful Jarrod at the W "Have you seen the news yet today?". "No" was my only response....silence.... (me starting to sweat).... "BEACH suffered a very bad fire last night, we won't be able to host Sommer and Jake's wedding there Thursday. We need a new plan. Call Sommer." Panic is running through my veins. I now have to call my bride, my friend, 3 days before her wedding and inform her she has no venue, on her last day of work before her vacation begins no less. I make the call, she's clearly upset. Game plan, wait for Sommer to get home from work, pick her up and drive as fast as possible to W to come up with new options.
We make it to the W in record time. We look at many alternate sites. I thank god for my blackberry about a million times that day, vendors are emailing me new site suggestions, offering their hands in any assistance they can, brides and friends are emailing me about hearing the news, it was a crazy time. The sites are a no go, not what Sommer and Jake are looking for. Once back at the W we go to see their indoor room; very swanky, very hip, and not at all a relaxed beach theme. Sommer starts to say no and I stop her. I begin to rattle off the top of my head how this room could work; tropical chic! I pitch them new floral arrangements, (thank god I was doing the flowers too) new setting, new themes, and YES this can work! They agree and we're back on track! A few days later we're ready to rock this wedding!
The day was perfect! The room looked amazing! The flowers were so cute thanks to our sister company, BRANCHES. The bride and groom were so happy, no one would have ever been able to tell what they went through that final week. The W's staff was phenomenal, on par with Disney's I'd say, by far the best staff I've ever had the chance to work with. Sean from Resolusean Photography captured everything in the most perfect way; I still can't stop looking at the images. Our pastor, Pastor Kreig, customized a ceremony just for Sommer and Jake, and even incorporated all their interests into it. My favorite line was regarding putting in effort every day into your relationships, he said "the grass is not greener on the other side. It's greener where it gets the most water." After the ceremony guests spent the evening eating and drinking the night away. There was lots of dancing with music by Positive Energy Productions, and the groom even did the splits! At the end of the night all the guests had the same thing to say, "Best wedding ever!" The next day a friend overhears the bride say "It was the happiest day of my life". Go team! We did it! That is the ultimate compliment right there!
Looking back now I can smile, and know with all certainty I can do anything!
