July Wedding Recap - Cook & Valdez

So now that I’ve posted the bad vendor experience with this wedding, now on with the goods!

The wedding rehearsal went well (besides… oh, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.) The large bridal party was there, the coordinator was great, the future sister-in-law and also an Event Planner was wonderful, the minister was happy and informative, the B&G were happy… what else could I ask for?

I volunteered to go get the cake in the morning from Peter’s Bakery in San Jose as soon as they opened at 6 AM. But I needed the receipt in order to pick it up and it was at the B&G’s house in Campbell. To save me some time in the morning, I asked if I could go to their house now and pick up the receipt while they had their rehearsal dinner/BBQ. I was trusted with their key and to look through some paperwork looking for the wedding license. I found the receipt but no wedding license. Problematic? Nope, the bride found it. I dropped off their keys where they were having their rehearsal dinner. I found the bride was still smiling. Yay! Then it was home to pack my Bride/Wedding emergency bag of masking tape, extension chord, feminine products, pins, pens, Tylenol, bandages, etc.

I had to be up at 5 AM to get ready and drive to San Jose to pick up the cake. I arrived at Peter’s Bakery and picked up a large sheet cake, and three round cakes, all different diameters. It was the burnt almond cake and I had to have a second slice later that day. It was absolutely delicious. Soft, simple and darnit, it’s making my mouth water right now. While I was waiting for the counter person to bring out all the cakes, another person was loading up one of their refrigerators with a strawberry shortcake with donut layers on steroids. A small one was $7.95 and a large one was $13.95 or something. A couple walked in and all three of us were mesmerized by this stack of deliciousness. I turned to the lady behind me and joked “I’ll split one with you if you want.” She just gave me a small smile. When the strawberry stack locked in my attention again, I heard the lady say something in Spanish to her partner. While I was walking back and forth to my car to lay all four cakes in the trunk of my Civic Si (yes, they fit! Snuggly as well.), I noticed that they ordered one. Man! If I had time to eat one of those! But I pulled away towards the venue.

As I pulled away I noticed there was a Starbucks across the street. I texted my bride to see if she needed anything while I was out. She asked for water and crackers. There had to be a store closer to the venue so I checked Yelp once again. The closest store was 2.5 miles away. Though not that far away, but too far for water and crackers. I pulled into a Chevron station C-store and there they were! Saltine boxes and of course water in their coolers. CHECK! And to the venue!

I parked right in front of the venue and looked for my bride to give her heart’s desire. And there she was, in the large conference room with the bridesmaids, mother of the bride and flower girls. The bride was getting her hair done by Amp’d Up Creations and Melonie Pavlik.

Everyone was good and where they should be so I began unloading the cakes, setting up as much as I could, rearranging the tables and chairs slightly to avoid a big gap, laying out the place cards, advice cards, guestbook and pen, unity candle, microphone for the ceremony (cordless mic from the DJ was extra), and eventually moved my car, etc.

Besides the very friendly Make-Up Artist, Tiffany Dinh, the wonderful photographers also arrived, URLoved Photography.. The friendly team consists of Nang and Chris. Don’t be mislead by their youth or affordability, they’re photos come out beautiful and the duo is highly recommended by me. They made the hike out to have a pre-meeting, asked a lot of good questions, corresponded well and made everyone feel at ease on the wedding day. I cannot wait to see the rest of the photos. I would love to work with them again. Here is the teaser they provided:

It was approaching 10 AM and everyone had their Chucks on and dressed, ready to go… but we were missing a bridesmaid and a groomsman. And they were not traveling nor paired together.

They finally arrived, the ceremony was delayed 15 minutes and it didn’t look like 90 people were present, but we moved forward anyways.
As Man & Wife


Photos immediately followed for the bridal party and cocktail hour began for the guests.
The Bride and Her Bridesmaids


The reception was nice. The bridal party sat at the head table, the bride and groom had Ed Hardy wine glasses, there were speeches made the groomsmen and the Mother of the Bride read the speech for the Maid of Honor. There was a their first dance, Father/Daughter dance, Mother/Groom dance, the Money Dance, etc.
The groom crawled on his hands and knees to his bride to take her garter off. While on the floor, he broke out breakdancing.



It was then time for cake cutting. And boy did they have fun feeding each other. Then it was time for DANCING!

This was much more of relaxed wedding. The timeline was tight when it was created but the day of it was majorly altered and I was actually able to sit down and observe. It was wonderful to see everyone having a good time, dancing their heart out and smiles on the bride and groom’s faces. That is most important to me.

My Wedding Vendor Yelp Reviews

Peter's Bakery
3108 Alum Rock Ave
San Jose, CA 95127
(408) 258-3529

I had to be up at 5 AM to get ready and drive to San Jose for their 6 AM opening to pick up the wedding cake. I arrived at Peter's Bakery and picked up a large sheet cake, and three round cakes, all different diameters. It was the burnt almond cake and I had to have a second slice later that day. It was absolutely delicious. Soft, simple and darnit, it's making my mouth water right now. While I was waiting for the counter person to bring out all the cakes, another person was loading up one of their refrigerators with a strawberry shortcake with donut layers on steroids. A small one was $7.95 and a large one was $13.95 or something. A couple walked in and all three of us were mesmerized by this stack of deliciousness. I turned to the lady behind me and joked "I'll split one with you if you want." She just gave me a small smile. When the strawberry stack locked in my attention again, I heard the lady say something in Spanish to her partner. While I was walking back and forth to my car to lay all four cakes in the trunk of my Civic Si (yes, they fit! Snuggly as well.), I noticed that they ordered one. Man! If I had time to eat one of those! Or spoke Spanish!

UrLoved Photography
Tiburon, California

The friendly team consists of Nang and Chris. Don't be mislead by their youth or affordability, they're photos come out beautiful and the duo is highly recommended by me (an Event Planner & Coordinator). They made the hike out to have a pre-meeting, asked a lot of good questions, corresponded well and made everyone feel at ease on the wedding day. I cannot wait to see the rest of the photos. I would love to work with them again.

Comments

  1. Very cool. I love the Chucks! Oh and the breakdancing. Got a vid of it?

    ReplyDelete

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