1. How did you two meet or how did he propose?: It was a classic office romance - we met while we were both working at Tough Mudder HQ in Brooklyn, NY in 2016. Four years later, Jeff proposed on the beach, one of my favorite places, while visiting my family in Florida.
2. Were you happy with the venue?: The moment we stepped foot on the Andaz in the summer of 2021, we knew it was the place, and now we can't imagine getting married anywhere else. We definitely took advantage of all the beautiful lawns and spaces that the Andaz has to offer. For someone who strongly dislikes ballrooms, the Foundry ballroom was a great compromise to escape the 10pm noise ordinance after maximizing our time outside on the Chollo and Albers Lawns.
3. Describe the theme or color scheme of your wedding, and what you chose for your table setting at the reception: Attire for the wedding was formal desert chic - unsurprisingly, we received many questions about what that meant. Our explanation was suits & ties and long dresses with colors and florals encouraged. This translated to the general design vibe for the weekend - happy colors, wild flowers, and simple but meaningful accents. The florals were all wild flowers in a variety of blue, purple, pink, yellow, and cream pastels, colorblocked down the aisle. Table top elements fed from this theme, with ivory linens and mismatched pink water goblets down long farm tables. Name cards and table numbers were custom made with my late grandfather's handwriting.
4. What piece of advice would you give other brides planning their big day?: My biggest piece of advice would be to make a cognizant decision to cut off any additional planning or decision making before it all begins - I know, easier said than done. We're not local to Arizona and having a local planner - especially one as phenomenal as Evin from Laki Events - was definitely key. We traveled to Arizona a week before the wedding began in order to take care of any and all last minute details. Once Thursday morning hit (our events spanned Thursday through Saturday), I decided to just be present and have fun, and not worry about any other decisions or issues that may arise. For someone who is extremely type-A this was not an easy feat, but I'm so grateful for the team that we had in place who took care of everything throughout the weekend so that I was able to just be with our family and friends.
