Lily Rose Photography

Bride Groom Napa St Helena Wedding Photographers

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WEDDING DAY

From the couple:

Our inspiration changed so many times it's hard to say but the one that stayed constant is wanting it to be elegant and timeless, and enjoyable for all. We stuck with a black-tie dress code even in our small group and it made for really nice photos, but we kept other details laid back to have a really relaxed atmosphere too! The theme was timeless elegance.

Colors:
Black, variety of neutrals and GREEN greenery, (sounds obvious but lots of greenery used in florals has blue tones and our florist worked with us to keep everything really green)!

THE LOVE STORY

What makes you unique as a couple?

We absolutely love going on adventures together but can have fun doing absolutely anything really. We have traveled together a lot, and hope to always do so, especially in the next few years while we are based in France! We don't need that excitement to have a great day though. We love sitting home together playing board games, making dinner, or watching TV, and just being together is always the best. We especially love to have at-home dance parties, just the two of us, for fun! Since the wedding a couple of times we have put on the playlist and just had a night making good food and drinks and reliving the fun.

How did you meet, fall in love, and decide to get hitched?

We met online in the summer of 2014. We fell in love pretty quickly and spent a lot of time together going on adventures in our first year. We felt pretty early on that what we had was something special but also felt no need to rush and really enjoyed a few years of dating and eventually living together before getting married! We got engaged in September 2018 and married in November 2020. LONG engagement but the original plan was a destination wedding which we wanted to give everyone time to prepare for. Once the pandemic hit and things changed, we were just so grateful to keep our date and finally get married!

What was the best part of the wedding day?

We both agreed our favorite part of the day was the walk back up the aisle, right after saying I do. Knowing we were finally married, the ceremony jitters were gone and we got to spend the rest of the day as husband and wife just enjoying everything we had planned and time with our friends and families was amazing!

Which one moment will last forever?

This is a tough one. We have so many great memories from that day! it would probably have to be seeing each other as I walked down the aisle and realizing the moment was finally here, it was so exciting!

How did you tame your wedding day nerves?

The wedding day surprised me. Anxiety can sometimes get the best of me so I was worried about the wedding day, but when it came I was just in such a state of calm bliss, I couldn't believe it but absolutely loved it. Such credit to all my friends, family, and vendors who made the day so seamless and enjoyable! The most nerve-wracking part of the day for both of us was the moments leading up to the ceremony. I think we all have a fear of saying something wrong, etc. but you realize when you get to the moment it just doesn't matter!

What was the biggest surprise of your wedding day?

I think we (oddly) have the pandemic to thank for this but because we had such a reduced guest count and list of traditions we were executing on our wedding day we really got to enjoy every moment! We had heard so many stories of couples trying to make their rounds, not getting to eat, not being done with photos before the cocktail hour was over, and so on. We were so present and got to talk to everyone multiple times and enjoy all the food!

What did you love most about working with Lily Rose Photography?

I loved how much direction Lily Rose Photography provided. As the bride and groom, you spend lots of money on your photos and want them to be fantastic! It is harder than it seems though and photos can so often look awkward. Lily Rose gave us quick guidance with every pose on what to do with our head to our toes, quite literally and I am so grateful because everyone looks great in all of our photos! They also made us feel very comfortable and able to enjoy the moment which was nice.

What was your favorite photo moment?

We love SO many of our photos, but a favorite is definitely us walking back up the aisle together, looking at each other with big smiles. It was such a happy moment captured so well.

What's Next? New home? Children? Just enjoying each other's company? What do you see for the future?

We just moved to France! We are living downtown Montpellier, FR now and absolutely loving our new adventure so far. We're planning to get settled, enjoy a little bit of European traveling together and then start a family. We have so much to look forward to together and can't wait for what each day brings us.

DIY? Were there any special labors of love? We love hearing about those personal touches that make every wedding unique.

My mom owns a furniture rental company for weddings (lucky us)! I had a vision for a particular champagne wall and our barback to display drink options set up and she built both pieces for us from scratch! They turned out beautiful and will now be rented to future brides!

WORDS OF WISDOM

Now that the wedding day has passed, what advice would you give to other couples?

Talk about what is really important to each of you for the day of, right off the bat, that way if there's anything that's really important to one of you, it gets taken into account in the planning process and there's no disappointment later when it gets missed or wasn't your vision. Also, really space out your planning. It is a lot of fun but can become more stressful than needed when there's a lot last minute. Even if it's just planning or saving ideas so when you're ready to work on something you have a base. I'm not one to Pinterest, but saving ideas on Etsy for small vendors which I love to support and can be money-saving was great. We ended up getting almost every small detail through Etsy!

Location: St. Helena, CA.