brooke and jay: a glam coastal affair

i am so excited to showcase this wedding for you guys!  i sifted through every last one of the wedding pictures yesterday and there are just so many good ones to show y'all.  i love featuring weddings i attended, because it brings back all of the good memories...and this one had a lot.

i'll start at the beginning - the very beginning.  when i was in high school, i couldn't wait to turn 16 and get a "real job" other than babysitting.  i know, i know - if i only knew then what i know now, right?  in perfect timing, a new french restaurant called la madeleine was opening up around the corner from our house in east cobb (a suburb of atlanta if you're not from these parts) right before i turned 16...so i drove down there (i guess with my mom in the passenger seat with my big learner's permit) and applied for a job, got hired, and ended up working there until i went to college a couple of years later.  brooke, who attended the rival high school to mine, worked there as well and knew a lot of folks i went to school with, so we became friends.  i'll have you know that we both had to wear a white chef's apron....and a white chef's hat.  yes, like the one chef boyardee wears.  that kind.

fast forward to athens, circa may 2002 - brooke and i both went on to attend the university of georgia, but lost touch a little bit just because of running with different crowds, and uga is a big place.  our class was graduating, and everyone was abuzz with their post-college plans...some more concrete than others.  i had already planned to move to san diego with three girlfriends, and we all were headed out there mid-may to 1) actually GO THERE, as none of us had ever been... and 2) find a place to live when we moved at the end of the summer.  all assuming we liked it, but who wouldn't like san diego?  so those were the plans.

the last oh, year and 1/2 or so of college, i worked at city salon & spa at the front desk.  let me tell you, if that job paid anywhere near something i could live off of, i would still be doing it today.  best gig ever...it was a job requirement to dress well (um, justified shopping?  heck yeah!) and you could get essentially free services - highlights, facials, manicures, massages....i got my highlights touched up every 4 to 5 weeks, which if you have highlights, you know how ridiculous that is.  in the summertime, the bikini wax appointments are a hot ticket - everyone is, well, wearing a bathing suit and taking the appropriate measures to look their best.  the salon always had a cancellation list going so that we could accomodate as many of our clients before their beach trips as possible...and one day, we had a cancellation.  i took a gander at the cancellation list and saw a name i recognized - brooke migdall?  i'll give the appointment to her!  i called her, and she rushed right in.  we got to chatting as she was checking out, and she asked what my plans were, i told her about the move to san diego and who i was going with...and through some avenue or another, she knew all of the girls that i was moving with. then told me that her aunt in san diego had offered to have her come and live with her family, but she just didn't know a soul out there...but now she knew a few.  so we added another one to our flock, and all five of us moved out west in september 2002.

dating was tough in san diego.  at 22 years old and all having 9-5 office jobs, we found ourselves seemingly in the minority of our age group...plus the west coast attitude of guys was much more casual than us southerners were used to.  for instance - no, paying for our beers on quarter night at bub's dive bar doesn't really qualify as a date.  there was one bar in PB (what everyone called the neighborhood of pacific beach; the 20-something area of town) called the silver fox that we frequented a lot because of their awesome jukebox, cold and cheap drinks, spotted leopard carpet and abundance of guys wearing button-down collared shirts - a sure sign the male in question was from the east coast.  oh, and there was a great hot dog man in the front of the bar - you didn't even have to leave to get street food!  it was awesome.  after i moved back to atlanta, brooke was at the silver fox one night with some of our friends, and asked a guy who looked like a trustworthy east coaster to watch her drink while she went to the little girl's room.  well, he did...and they ended up talking....and dating....and getting engaged and married!  his name was (is...) jay.

a few words about jay - he is, in fact, from the east coast as brooke suspected.  he is a die hard syracuse fan.  i love when i asked him how syracuse was doing in their football season at their engagement party (this was around thanksgiving...so seasons were virtually over) and he said, "oh - we're having a really good season, you know - we've won like six games.  NO wait, five - but that's really good."  he was seriously proud of his team.

i was thrilled to work with the two of them on their wedding invitations - it was such fun realizing their vision and helping it come to life on paper.  we also did programs, thank you cards, place cards, table cards and (phew!) favor bag stickers.  their wedding had a very chic feel to it - black and white, with punches of turquoise and purple.  it was held at a gorgeous bayfront resort in san diego, and the ceremony was outside...i think san diego is one of the only places where a bride can plan a stress-free outdoor wedding, seeing as how it only rains 4 days a year!  i'll let the pictures do the talking, but brooke did an amazing job with the details and literally thought of everything!

first up, the invitation.  two color thermography mounted on black cardstock.  the invitation, rsvp postcard and rehearsal dinner/day after brunch cards were all placed into a black envelope lined with turquoise paper and affixed with custom wrap-around address labels.

i don't have pictures of the thank you notes or the programs, but everything followed suit with the damask print and the fun script font...

now for the wedding photos!  get a load of these.  amazing.

some of my favorite san diego peeps...can you tell i'm smiling so hard it hurts?  love these folks.  pete & autumn and heidi!

more of my people...anne & 1/2 of mike, heidi, me, kristy, giovanna & 1/2 of jesse...

like i said...she thought of everything!

giovanna is my twin, and we used to get asked if we were all the time.  i always do a double take when i see her in a picture and don't remember "my" outfit - like in this picture (beige dress in the middle of frame)

"and for god's sake, just keep your legs together." - anthony marantino

it was such a fun and beautiful day.  brooke and jay, congratulations!!  and please, please make your way back to this side of the country before too long...

xoxo