What happens when a girly bride marries a brewery guy in California?

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I may be alone in this, but I am so attracted to the scent of hops. Our Northwest home was covered in the vines and as a kid I still vividly remember the wafts of hoppy goodness that would come from the brew bubbling in our pantry.

Today’s real couple put on such a fun, cheery party in California, with help of those fragrant hops and craft brews. Julie, a girly bride who spent years in the bridal world, and Eric, who works at Lagunitas Brewery married their styles with hop florals throughout the decor, on the classic white tiered cake, and in their “I Do IPA”s.

The guests continued to be spoiled by a variety of California wines and homemade blueberry jam. We’ll take a spare, please!

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Our Love Story

We met in the dorms our freshman year of college. We were both involved in the Greek community and I took him to my very first sorority formal ever. We stayed close friends for the next four years and parted ways after graduation. He then moved to my home town about two years later and as he puts it “wasn’t going to mess it up this time”.

When I talk about our engagement, I have to laugh because I had no idea what was going on (even after he brushed his teeth for the 3rd time). We had moved to Santa Cruz (his home town) about 6 months earlier and would often walk into Capitola Village… It was my 27th birthday and it’s true what everybody says, your first thought is “why are you acting so weird?” He got down on one knee and I cried my little eyeballs out. There is nobody else I would want to spend the rest of my life with!

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The Style

I worked in bridal for about three years prior to getting engaged. Girly is an understatement when it comes to me. When my now husband asked me what the colors of our wedding were (because his mom asked) I said glitter, I think he actually fell over.

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The Photography

I had worked with Bree and knew Luke very well. My husband isn’t the most comfortable about being in front of a camera so it was really important to me that he felt comfortable on our wedding day. I knew that having a friendly face would put him at ease. After our engagement session and getting our first round back he was stoked. Luke and Bree surpassed our expectations and we would be beyond blessed to have them do all future sessions!

The Ceremony

The most special thing to both of us was one of our close friends actually married us. It made the ceremony so amazing to hear how he had witnessed us falling in love.

Advice to Other Couples

Don’t sweat the small stuff, something is going to go wrong and chances are nobody will notice other then you. If somebody is helping you out with paying for the wedding, pick your battles, and remember to involve them. And as far as the day of, it is what it is, just enjoy it and remember to relax! You hire professionals for a reason.

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Photo by 1985 Luke Photography via Bridal Musings

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The Design

Being in the wedding industry and being as girly as I am it was really important to me that this wasn’t the Julie show. My husband works for Lagunitas brewing company so after hours on Pinterest I came up with the idea of mixing in fresh hops to our flowers. They are so beautiful it’s was easy decision to make. We also had custom I “do” PA beer bottles made that was a fun addition.

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The Honeymoon

We originally wanted to go to Thailand but then we found out it was an 18hr flight…no thank you! We thought the Dominican Republic, then we found out my sister was due with her first baby 2 weeks after our wedding. He looked at me and said you can’t leave me on our honeymoon, I think my exact words were “that’s cute that you think that”.

We ended up doing a week in Cabo and it was perfect! We were able to relax and just be together. My advice is take a day in between the wedding and travel. We were lucky enough to get married so close to home but still by the time you say your good byes it’s nice to have a minute to breath before you are on the go again.