Greg and Alicia's Wedding

Wedding seven of eight this year, was in San Jan Capistrano. Two of The Husband's good friend's from school married each other in a beautiful mission wedding. The day was a celebration of old California in every detail. The bride's family has been in California for 7 generations, her late father was the Mayor of Capistrano and she has a parkway named after her (it used to be just a little road and then...parkway). Alicia and Greg (the bride and groom) are two of the coolest people you will ever meet. See for yourself in Greg's new blog. They are also two founding members of the Conquistadors, and have visited each and every single mission. They are both one step away from becoming Huel Howser himself. What I find most compelling about these two, is that they adore California and appreciate it's history without a trace of irony. This wedding reflected that. It was sincere homage to the golden state in every detail.

It rained on our way down to San Juan Capistrano and then...double rainbow.

The sky cleared when we got near the Mission.

And it ended up being a beautiful day.

The ceremony was held in Father Serra's Chapel (the original Mission at San Juan Capistrano). Only a select few can be married in this chapel. Alicia is one of the few because she can track her family lineage in San Juan so far back.






Alicia wore her grandmother's Spanish comb as part of her veil.

Our friend Scott (fellow Conquistador) spray painted a stencil onto his suit jacket. Now that is real commitment.

For some wonderful reason, they both have street signs with their last names on them. Alicia's is literally named after her family. Their guest book had pictures of them visiting each California Mission together.

Their gift envelope box was covered with California fruit labels. I thought this was super cool.

They had a simple cake with their birthday year and wedding date on it. There were churro sundaes to go with it!

Every table on their seating chart was named after a different Mission.

They got custom made papel picado flags that decorated the reception courtyard.

The bride's shoes!!! She had these custom made to look like their street signs. They were covered with California poppies.

The Husband and The Groom. The white suit jacket...right?

Empanadas. Not kidding, I had six of these.


This was not our table, but it was my favorite one because I grew up four blocks from this mission.

The Bride's niece. I think she may be an actual angel.

The favors were California poppy seeds (our state flower).

During the first dance, the roof of the reception hall opened.

Dinner. Oh, I wish I had some of that right now.

And then, the yummiest churro sundae. It was seriously one of the most delicious things, so fresh and crispy!

We danced and danced until we could dance no more.

The bride closed the party down in style.

Then we all walked across the street to The Swallows (an iconic Capistrano dive bar).

Yes, even the bride and groom came with us (it was thier idea). And as a matter of fact, there were two brides at The Swallows that night.
But only one was this awesome. Congratulations Greg and Alicia, your wedding was just amazing. A little dose of "California's gold!" (Sorry, I had to)