1930s Ballroom Wedding

Last year I featured Lacey and Ben’s vintage-inspired engagement session, and have been patiently waiting to share their wedding day ever since. You can picture my excitement when Sarah Yates sent over their images. We have a huge two parter to share today, so I am going to let Lacey, the bride, take the stage:

Details are extremely important to my husband (as a biomedical engineer) and I (as a film preservationist), and we really sought to make every part of the ceremony and reception have meaning to us. We wanted to remember and savor every moment and by concentrating on details we were able to remember everything! We did our best to include the historical background on our venues (found on our website), musical selections for the ceremony, and cocktail menu for the reception.

I enabled the enlarge feature on the vertical photos so you can catch all the details (just click on them to enlarge).

My dress was an authentic 1930s wedding gown. The gown and matching veil were purchased from antiquedress.com It was altered beautifully (while keeping the integrity of the era) by Diana Ackerman “the Threadbender” who specializes in restoring vintage wedding gowns.

Our ceremony was performed by one of my best friends and written by my husband and I. We wanted our ceremony to be polished and elegant, so we chose to have our musicians a part of our rehearsal day. We took the 1928 version of the “Book of Common Prayer” and adapted it to reflect our own beliefs while still utilizing the historic language. We selected music from past family weddings or favorite romantic pieces and the blessing of our marriage culminated in my father reading the words to a song my grandfather wrote for my parent’s wedding. Since my grandfather was a violinist, we had our wonderful ceremony musician the Yee Duo (Thomas & Jieun Yee) play the music and at the conclusion of the song we were pronounced “man and wife.” In this way we felt that in a way, the past and history of love would marry us.

We chose to have our wedding in San Francisco, California since it is where we first met and where our own love story began. Our ceremony was held at a beautiful 1930s chapel on the Presidio National Park. It is one of the most gorgeous and dramatic settings possible, it is intimate and historic inside, with sweeping views of the pacific ocean, Alcatraz, and period buildings outside.

Art Nouveau Elopement At A Historic Bank Wedding Venue

Don’t be afraid of the details! Make your wedding unique to you and you will always cherish your memories as something personal and a reflection of your love.

Wedding Vendors (San Francisco, CA):

Venue: Julia Morgan Ballroom / Photographer: Sarah Yates / Flowers: Church Street Flowers / Wedding dress: Antique Dress / Shoes: custom by Al’s Attire / Makeup Artist: Makeup Mafia / Groom’s suit: eBay / Ceremony Musicians: Yee Duo / Cocktail Musician: Luke Franco / Reception Band: Royal Jazz Society Sextet / Catering: Julia Morgan Ballroom / Wedding Cake: Cake Coquette / Invitations: Ceci New York / Videography: IN Films / Transportation: Classic Cable Car Charters and Art Deco Limo / Wedding Website: Mara Taber