Southern Weddings

This cowboy boot-wearing bride is a gal after our own heart!  In addition to loving Jennifer’s Ariat Legend riding boots, we are total suckers for brides who pair their boots with their wedding dresses.  Jennifer + Paris were married in an intimate ceremony at a private estate in California, and were photographed by Cooper Carras Photography.  The bride wore a dramatic, open-back Camille Lavie lace dress (and striped something-blue leggings!) to her rustic outdoor nuptials.  Do you love her wildflower bouquet from Mountain Laurel Florist as much as we do?

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  Our friend Ernie set up a New Year’s trip to Las Vegas in 2000 with his college friends, including me, and his work friends, including Paris.  We were a group of eight, meeting for the first time but we all ended up as great friends by the end of the trip. The next time Paris and I saw each other again, there was a definite spark between us. We didn’t act on it though, and another several months past before we saw each other again. The very next New Year’s, Ernie organized another trip. We saw each other again, and the attraction was still there.  We spent most of that trip together and at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s 2001, we finally kissed. We’ve been locking lips ever since. In many ways, we have our good friend Ernie to thank for getting together. In fact, we only thought it appropriate to have him perform the ceremony at our wedding.
Describe the proposal. I work for the Golden Gate Bridge District, which only allows tower tours of the Golden Gate Bridge for their employees.  I had tried a couple of times to arrange for a tower tour but had been unlucky due to bad timing and weather.  I had pretty much given up on the idea.  So when Paris pushed me to submit a request again, I wasn’t too hopeful but did it anyway.  This time, the request was approved, and we were scheduled to go up for a sunny day in January 2009.  An engineer took us up to the very top of the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, 746-feet above the water on a beautiful San Francisco day.  After 20 minutes of snapping photos and gawking at the magnificent view, Paris turns to me, kneels on one leg and pulls a small shiny object from his shirt pocket, tethered by a fishing wire to his pocket – a ring!  I sobbed out a “yes” and we both cried and held each other.  He worked with my boss behind my back to arrange the tower trip all along while making it seem like it was my idea.  It was such an amazing and surreal moment on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, looking over our beautiful city.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: whimsical, unbridled, jubilant.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: We included our most beloved dog, Pumpkin in our celebration.  She was the “best dog” and “ring bearer” at our wedding.  Our friend, Andra, adorned her harness with green and white ribbons.  Paris’s mom, Karen, made a beautiful satin pillow for the rings, which was also attached to the harness.  Another favorite of ours was our shoe selections.  I was born and raised in San Francisco, and Paris grew up in Sonora, CA, a rural city in the heart of California Gold Country.  We thought it would be appropriate if I wore cowboy boots as my wedding shoes and Paris wore his urban sneakers as a tribute to each other’s upbringings.