B2 Thursday, February 14, 2019
Coastal View News • Carpinteria, California
Katie & Julian Lopez
Nov. 2, 2017
Katie’s notes on the day Is there a moment from your wedding that stands out from all the others? Our reception! My father married us. He got ordained for our wedding and wrote the ceremony script. We wanted the ceremony to be a celebration and a unique, fun and exciting part of the day—not stiff, slow and boring, as some ceremonies can be. As Julian walked into the ceremony and towards the alter, everyone started cheering and yelli ng, and that high energy continued throughout the ceremony. It was just as I had hoped, a celebration and our favorite part of the day. What did your guests say was their favorite facet of the event? So many people said our ceremony was also their favorite part. But the food and signature drinks also seemed to be crowd favorites. We had tortillas being made from scratch on the spot, churros being made fresh for dessert, and spicy guava margaritas. My family made Kalua-pig, a Hawaiian-style dish, and we offered Kalua pork tacos, as well as pollo and arrachera. We also had one of our favorite bands play, One-Two-Tree; and that was very special. Did your wedding include special details that reflected your individual personalities? The decorations, food, music and style were all us. We wanted to have a combination of the two of us. It was kind of a Hawaiian/Mexican/Bohemian mix that came together so perfectly. What was most stressful leading up to the wedding? How did you cope with that stress? I think the most stressful thing had to be the planning and coordinating with the vendors. We didn’t have a wedding planner or coordinator, just a day-of coordinator and a team of people we hired for set up and break down. We didn’t know if it was all going to come together as we planned since we wouldn’t be there to help set up, but we just had to step back and cross our fingers. Did you have to put out fires during the event? Looking back, could those have been prevented? Apparently, the band was too loud, and the venue coordinator came up complaining. My dad talked to her and agreed to turn the speakers around, so they faced in the opposite direction and the day-of coordinator had to hold a sound decibel monitor to make sure it wasn’t too loud. We had no idea this even occurred until the next day. We also had not reali zed that there were no li ghts set up by our bar and churro stand, but we managed, and it was actually nice because it deterred guests from hanging out at the bar instead of the dance floor. Why did you choose your ceremony and reception venues? Did they work well with your vision? Our number one requirement was a place where we could have both the ceremony and reception, so our guests didn’t have to travel from one to the other, but we also didn’t want to be looking at the reception area while getting married. Godric Grove at Eli ngs park was perfect. It has three separate areas within the area. There is a theatre type area where we had the ceremony, a large wooden deck area where we had the cocktail hour, and a large grass area for the reception. Plus, they have private parking, bathrooms and beautiful views. We met in Santa Barbara in 2007, and spent a lot of time on the mesa, so it was special to us as well. What part of the meal did people enjoy most? Was there anything on the menu that you would skip if you had a redo? We had tacos, shrimp and cheese-stuffed chilies, rice, beans and salad plus appetizers. My only regret is not eating more. The fresh tortillas and the Kalua pig made for the tastiest tacos and that seemed to be the crowd favorite. Plus, the hot churros. Weddings can end up feeling like they’re for the guests instead of the bride and groom. What did you do to ensure that the day was wonderful for you? We did our first-looks and got most of our photos out of the way before we went to the venue. We feel this was key to us enjoying every minute of the wedding and not missing the fun while off taking a milli on photos. It also gave us a private time to connect before the ceremony and took away a lot of those nerves of seeing each other for the first time. We completely stuck to ourselves and planned everything for a party that we wanted to be at. We used palm leaf plates and wooden utensils and cups made from recycled plastic. We didn’t want to bother with anything we felt was unnecessary like glass wear and fancy plates. What is your top piece of advice for couples planning a wedding? Stay true to what makes you unique as a couple. Don’t be persuaded by others, stick to what you envisioned and don’t over think it. When you see something you like, go with it. We also highly recommend doing a first-look and pre-wedding photos. This was something we debated, but wedding photos take a long time and you don’t want to miss your wedding or have your guests waiting for you during those lengthy wedding photoshoots. Get to celebrating!