David and Aaron communicate with each other with honesty, openness and emojis. These qualities also guided how everyone decision related to their wedding was made. The venue was The Garland, a retro-chic hotel in Hollywood that still retains it’s 1970’s glamour. Besides the delicious in-house catering, the venue provides a beautiful courtyard which set the scene for the garden ceremony. The groomsmen wore blue polo shirts and white sneakers. Four of them wore collars. Besides having the space adorned by Diana’s Flowers, the grooms stood out by wearing matching blue suits with white polo shirts.
On display at cocktail hour were the escort cards designating tables by emoji. The guests had a blast discovering that David and Aaron has assigned them to the eggplant or peach to name a few. Once everyone took their seats at these symbolic settings, the grooms made an entrance revealing their reception look. The blazers had been taken off to reveal the custom leather harnesses that were made special for their wedding.
Their first dance was a new song performed by friend Jai Rodriguez. The dance floor was packed with guests only taking a break a to hit the photo booth. There was joke about the cake. The note by Hansen’s had been misread. The one shade of the blue they did not want was that signature to Tiffany’s. But it was delivered as a perfect match. For clients like these, it became something to laugh about rather than complain.
I met so many of their guests who told me “this is SO David & Aaron.” I knew this would be achievable from the first night I met them when they interviewed me to be their wedding planner. They are open books about who they are and who they love. Aaron had been married before, and after divorce, he didn’t think it was going to happen again. The last time David’s family was all together was in a hospital. They had gathered to begin saying their farewell to him. He was very sick with complications brought on my a disease that was once a death sentence for our community. But he turned a corner and rebuilt his health. Along the way he met Aaron. The wedding would be more than making their union legal. It was to honor the incredible breakthroughs that have been made in science and health care. It was to change the reason that all of David’s family was together again. It was to celebrate that marriages look different.
These powerful messages to communicate were sometimes hard to put into words. ⚡️♥️🐶
#thunderlovesdigger
View the full gallery here
Photographer: Siouxzen Kang
Videographer: Norbert Szeman
Flowers: Diana’s Flowers
Stationery: Minted
Cake: Hansen Cakes
DJ: Scott Norris
Photo Booth: Shutterbox