Casey and Tyler brought together the best of Southern California elegance at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel

We knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together when

Tyler and I were friends for about a year before we pursued anything romantic. Once we began dating, we both knew fairly early on we wanted to be together forever. We dated for five years before we got engaged and have now been together almost seven!

Our approach to planning the wedding was

VERY hands on (well, I was!). I have been dreaming of my wedding since I was young, and I was beyond excited to finally have a wedding to plan. We were two months into planning before the pandemic hit, and that obviously made things a bit more challenging. Despite a year of unknowns, our wedding planners made the process incredibly enjoyable, and -- luckily -- the only pandemic-related change we needed to make was moving the reception outdoors (which ended up being even better than imagined!). Because Tyler left all the planning to me, he was completely surprised and blown away on our wedding day when he saw the full design come to life!

My wedding dress journey felt like

I knew before I got engaged that I wanted a Galia Lahav gown. I had set up a number of wedding dress appointments, with my first at the Galia Lahav flagship store in LA. As fate would have it, I fell in love with the very first dress I tried on at that very first appointment. My dress featured a satin high collar I'd never seen on any other dress, and it gave the classic look a modern feel; totally my style!

Looking back on the day we are so glad that we…
took the time to be truly present with each other and with our guests. I made a point to ignore all texts and phone calls that day, and to leave my phone in the hotel room. It was so nice to just soak in the love from all of our favorite people. And we were SO glad we hired the videographer! I hear of so many couples forgoing the video to save budget, and I am so, so glad we did not. The day flies by and having all of that footage to relive over and over is priceless.

The styling details that I loved were

EVERYTHING. I wanted a chic, modern affair that complimented our beautiful setting (I called it a "California Black Tie"). While I absolutely loved every design detail of our wedding, some of my favorites included: our surfboard seating charts, the variety of table designs (including mirrored King's tables that sat our wedding party), the cocktail napkins featuring our dog, my bridesmaids' bouquets of differing flowers and our incredibly chic custom logo (everyone received baseball caps with the logo, as well!).

The most unexpected part of the day was

Gosh, I don't think there were really any unexpected moments during our wedding weekend (which was a good thing!). We planned everything perfectly, so anything unexpected would've thrown this Type-A bride for a loop!

My inspiration for my hair and make up…
I wanted a classic look that I can look back on in 10,20,30 years and recognize myself. I see so many brides with extravagant updos, braids or looks that feel a little dated. I wanted to look and feel like myself with a little bit more "pizazz." Because I wore a cathedral-length veil, I wore my hair back in a sleek low bun for the ceremony, but took my hair down for the reception.

When I look back on the day now I feeL

So much love and gratitude; not just love for my husband but for our families. While our wedding was everything we could've ever imagined, what made the weekend so incredibly special was seeing our favorite 128 people in the world come together (especially after a year of a global pandemic!). New friendships were made, new families were formed; having everyone we love in the same place at the same time was absolutely perfect.

The stand out vendors were

We had a team of absolutely amazing vendors. Our planning team at Pure Lavish Events (@purelavishevents) was truly the best, and we could not have had our dream wedding without them. We were so happy we chose the venue because..
Before we even got engaged, we knew we wanted the Pacific Ocean to serve as the backdrop to our vows. The Ritz Carlton in Laguna Beach has the most beautiful ceremony spaces, and we happened to get married on the clearest of blue sky days. We have family and friends from all over the county, so it was extra special to have everyone come from across the country to be with us in Southern California -- especially coming out of a pandemic.

A word of advice to new brides would be

ENJOY IT!

My Homebodii moment was special because

I felt Homebodii was the only brand who had exactly what I was looking for in "getting ready" attire. I wanted my bridesmaids to wear pajamas they would actually wear again; that were comfortable, fit all their different body types and that fit my vision for the morning. The MOB and MOG wore matching Homebodii robes, as well. And I didn't know I needed monogrammed slippers until I saw them on Homebodii's website. To this day, I get so many compliments on them!

My core vendor team below, including their handles:
Pure Lavish Events (planning & design) -- @purelavishevents
The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Beach (venue) -- @ritzcarltonlagunaniguel
Three Petals (florals & rentals) -- @threepetalsdesign
Valorie Darling (photography) -- @valoriedarling
Galia Lahav (gown) -- @galialahav