Lily & Gabriel

      The morning of Lily and Gabriel’s wedding started off relaxing and peaceful. Lily and the bridesmaids began getting ready at 8:00 AM with hair styling at Dry Bar and 10:00 AM makeup with Stephanie (of Stephanie Nault Makeup). Gabriel and the groomsmen played a lovely round of golf that Saturday morning and then began getting ready at Gabriel’s apartment. The Bash team visited with Lily and the bridesmaids at the getting ready airbnb before starting to make the journey to the venue. Once the Bash team knew Lily and the bridesmaids were in good hands and makeup was well underway, the team headed to the venue to start venue preparations. 

      April can be a very deceiving month and weather. It could either be 90 and sunny or 80 and beautiful- there’s really no in between. The bash team lucked out, and it ended up being somewhere between 85 and 87° and windy during the 12 to 3 o’clock hour. Although, the sun was not very forgiving, and on wedding day we wear black during set up and also when we are guest facing. 

     With the wind and scorching sun, it made it hard to set candles and bud vases. On hot days like this, the Bash team likes to prioritize what we set up first. With that being said, we set up everything that was away from the elements which included the welcome table and the remembrance table. The one thing that our team wants to avoid is setting out items too soon and the elements damaging or ruining what we have already set out. With reception details underway, one of the Bash team members stayed put at the venue, while I headed to the church to begin ceremony preparation. 

      The ceremony was at Paradise Valley Methodist Church, nestled between Piestewa Peak and Camelback Mountain. Jaidyn (of Jaidyn Michele Photo) and Tina (of Tina Andrea Weddings) were moving the gears with the groom and groomsmen when the Bash team arrived onsite for ceremony. Due to the couple choosing to forego a first look, it was all about perfect timing and coordination on where the photos before ceremony were going to be taken. Getting ready photos were taken at the church with the parents of the couple as well.

     1/2 of the Bash team was on stand by with the groom and groomsmen and the other with the bride and bridesmaids. The Bash team made sure everyone was ready to go, restroom breaks out of the way, and that everyone was looking dapper. Guests started to arrive, and at this point, some of the groomsmen offered to usher in guests, while the groom stayed hidden. 

     As 5:00 PM neared, the Bash team was in final ceremony preparation mode. I had given the all clear to the groom and groomsmen to make their way to the church entrance to begin lining up. With most of the guests seated and ready for ceremony to start, the Bash team grabbed the bridesmaids and lined them up behind the groomsmen. The Bash team went over final reminders with the wedding party – making sure wallets/keys/phones were out of the gentleman’s pockets, discussed how the groomsmen would be situating their hands through the duration of the ceremony, and reviewed with the bridesmaids how to hold the bouquet going down the aisle and also when standing at the altar. 

     Just after 5:00 PM, the ceremony begun. First to walk was Gabriel, then the Mother of the Bride escorted by the Brother of the Bride, then the Mother and Father of the Groom. The groomsmen entered the aisle one by one, followed by the Best Man, then the bridesmaids one by one, followed by the Matron of Honor.

      Once the Maid of Honor had started her walk down the aisle, I had called Lily and her Father to the “load in” spot (still hidden but on standby to walk). During this time, I prep the bride on what I will be doing once her processional song plays – which is walking her to the entrance of the aisle, pausing – for dramatic effect, and have her wait for me to fix her veil and train, and then proceeding down the aisle. 

      Lily and her father made their way down the aisle and they were greeted by Gabriel. After Lily’s father had given Lily away, Gabriel and Lily approached the Pastor at the altar arm in arm. The Pastor said a few welcoming notes and began the service. The Pastor asked for both bride and grooms parents to join them at the altar for a blessing over the marriage.

      Once the blessing was made, Lily and Gabriel joined their wedding party at the top of the altar with the Pastor. Many readings and sermons were made by the Pastor. It came time for Lily and Gabriel to exchange rings and vows to one another. Once that portion of the ceremony concluded, the Pastor welcomed all of the wedding guests up to the altar to stand with them for a final prayer and when they were pronounced husband and wife.

       Moments after, we were introduced to the new Mr. and Mrs.! All of the wedding guests cheered and smiled with so much joy. 

      Once the newlyweds recessed down the aisle, the wedding party followed and everyone made their way to the University Club of Phoenix. The couple signed the marriage license with their Matron of Honor and Best man. Family photos were taken shortly thereafter, followed by bridal portraits. The Bash team at the venue and the venue staff were ready for guest arrival. Guests began to arrive at the venue between 6:00 PM – 6:15 PM.

     The Bash team took one more walk through of the bridal suite to ensure all personal items had been collected. Our newlyweds were taking sunset photos at the church and I was right there with them to ensure we could keep them on track to head to the venue by 6:40 PM. Jaidyn captured these stunning portraits above, which we are still some of our favorite photos of the night.

      It was time to say farewell and head to the venue. One last shot of our newlyweds in their red hot rod getaway car for the night – heading to the venue.

      Once our newlyweds arrived to the venue, the DJ asked all guests to find their seats in anticipation for the Grand Entrance. The DJ announced Lily and Gabriel and they walked out so glamorously to Paper Rings by Taylor Swift. They went straight to the dance floor and gave a brief welcome, blessing and thank you speech.

     After the speech by the bride and groom, the couple sat down to enjoy dinner. The Bash team prioritizes the couple and ensures they eat – so with that, once they were seated, they had a plate ready for them to enjoy coupled with their drink of choice. A short time after, it was time for speeches. The Bash team prepped each speaker by tapping them on the shoulder and letting them know they would be speaking after the current speaker. Once speeches and dinner was wrapped up, it was time for our newlyweds to hit the dance floor.

      The dancing portion of the evening started off with the first dances, first with our Mr. and Mrs., then Lily with her father, followed by Gabriel and his mother. To welcome everyone to the dance floor, Lily and Gabriel invited up guests reverse anniversary style – with the longest married couples reaching the dance floor first. The night got pretty rowdy with traditional throwback pop and Taylor Swift songs.

     Lily, owner of Rebloom Nonprofit, decided to utilize the extra blooms she DIY’d to create a bloom bar and guests were so hyped to build their own bouquet! Such a cute way to send your guests home with a special gift. Another notable mention, the custom matchbox boxes as wedding favors were another personal favorite of ours.

     The newlyweds snuck away to cut their cake, to Lover, by Taylor Swift (if you can’t tell, our bride is a Swifty!). The cake was made by no other than Kennadi (known as Cake by Kenna) and it was a lemon blueberry cake. In the content we captured, you can hear Lily say “That is delicious! That is very good!” and Gabriel say “You’re going to want some of that!”. I still cannot get over how good Kenna’s cake was that night – her cakes are the best!

      The night was quickly coming to an end. The wedding guests joined the couple for the last song of the night, Love Story by Taylor Swift. 

     As the wedding guests lined up for the grand exit, Lily and Gabriel danced a private last dance to Daylight by Taylor Swift. Once the song was over, our couple headed to their grand exit, where wedding guests threw rose petals for the couple to walk through. The couple finally reached their hot rod corvette and exited – engines revved. Wedding guests cheered and that marked the end of Lily and Gabriel’s wedding day.

Lily and Gabriel’s Wedding Vendors Instagram handles:

Coordinator: @bashboulevard

Venue: PV United Methodist Church & @uclubphoenix

Florals: Bride + @rebloomnonprofit

Photographer: @jaidynmichelephoto 

Videographer: @tinaandrea.weddings 

DJ: @dja4az 

HMUA: @stephanienaultmakeup

Cake: @cakebykenna