A stunning Spanish Hills Country Club wedding that was full of joy & love! Amy & Chad not only had a timeless wedding design of neutral and pastel colors but some of the most beautiful words written in their words written down below. Truly a couple that knew how to make planning a wedding a fun experience full of celebration, even before the actual wedding day!
Amy & Chad’s romantic special day was filled with beautiful details. From their lush white floral designs, bible verse signage, cross at the altar, and delicate gold accents throughout their reception, the day came together to tell their love story! -Samantha Kin of To Be Loved Events
How did you two meet? What were your first impressions of one another? We first “met” back in 2016 on a dating app when Amy was living in Los Angeles for six months. Through the app we set up a date, time, and place for the following week. However, the weekend before our first date, Chad was going to counseling in San Diego and after some intensive soul searching realized he was not in a place to date. He regretfully had to tell Amy that he couldn’t meet her in person. She responded and ended the text by saying “God’s timing is perfect.” We never met up and we didn’t talk for almost four years.
Fast forward to June 2020 when Amy was visiting Los Angeles for a couple of weeks. Despite the odds, we matched again on a totally separate dating app, with small windows of crossover. Neither of us had had contact with each other and yet we just happened to match twice, four years apart. This time Chad wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. After putting Amy’s number in his phone to set up a date, all of the old texts from 2016 popped up on Chad’s phone. Baffled, he explained that we had actually previously matched four years ago and didn’t want to miss the opportunity to meet. She agreed, we finally met, and the rest is history! What’s so crazy is that we had spent those years visiting all the same places in LA and even attending two different concerts at the same time. God’s timing really was perfect!
Amy’s first impression of Chad was that he was really tall (he’s six foot four!) and she was impressed by how he knew so clearly who he was and what he was looking for. Chad says he thought Amy was stunning, brilliant, and timeless. The first thing he noticed was her eyes, because they both had masks on (COVID dating at its finest). They were so beautiful and he was hooked right then. Funny enough, we both discovered almost a year later that the night after our first date we had both texted our childhood best friends saying that we thought we had just met “the one.” We’re so glad we were right.
Tell us a funny story relating to your wedding day or relationship! We both love spy movies and one day we were talking about how much we loved walkie talkies as kids. Chad was set on not doing a first look and didn’t want to see Amy before the altar, so we thought it would be a great idea to give the best man and maid of honor walkie talkies while we were getting ready. We had heard of stories where the couple accidentally ran into each other and we thought it would be fun to have them communicate and share our location at any given time. This turned out to be a major hit and they had so much fun coming up with code words throughout our big day. It added so much laughter to the day as we got ready in separate locations, harkening back to our childhood memories.
Describe a hurdle you had to overcome in your relationship or during your wedding planning. The two major hurdles we faced during the wedding planning process were COVID and our short planning timeline. By the grace of God, we were able to navigate dating and planning a wedding throughout the pandemic. However, it wasn’t easy. With COVID we dealt with fluctuating numbers and vendor policies that made it difficult to commit to anything. We also found that many vendors were backlogged from the past year, so availability was sparse. Through all of these challenges, we were forced to be creative. We kept reminding ourselves that no matter what happened on the big day, the point of it all was our marriage and we were going to make it the best we could.
Chad’s father passed away when he was only twelve years old, so it was obviously difficult to not have him be a part of our big day. However, thanks to a recommendation from our amazing wedding planner Samantha, we decided it would be sweet to put a photo of his dad on an empty chair next to his family. It was a beautiful touch that honored Chad’s father and made the emotions of it all feel less daunting.
Any special ways you incorporated your family or family history into your wedding day? Chad’s father passed away when he was only twelve years old, so it was obviously difficult to not have him be a part of our big day. However, thanks to a recommendation from our amazing wedding planner, Samantha Kin from To Be Loved Events, we decided it would be sweet to put a photo of his dad on an empty chair next to his family. It was a beautiful touch that honored Chad’s father and made the emotions of it all feel less daunting.
What part of your wedding day was/is most important to you? When you’re planning a wedding it’s so easy to feel like everything should be a priority! We invested the most in photography, florals, and videography. Since Chad’s a filmmaker that was extra important to us! We also spent a lot of time thinking through our ceremony. Celebrating is so fun, but we also wanted to use the ceremony as an opportunity to bless and encourage friends and family by celebrating what God had done in our lives and the true meaning of marriage.
What is the best thing you’ve learned from one another? Amy: Chad teaches me generosity. He’s one of the most thoughtful and generous people I’ve ever met. He would literally give someone the shirt off his back if they needed it.
Chad: Amy is truly the sweetest soul I’ve ever encountered. She’s always five steps ahead of looking out for someone’s needs and she has an unmatched empathy to feel what you’re feeling.
What is your favorite thing about each other? Chad: I love how thoughtful Amy is. She’s always thinking through how someone else might feel, including myself, and I feel so loved by that. She’s also goofy and hilarious. We sometimes speak in accents when we’re joking around (actually quite often without realizing) and it always reminds me that marriage can and should be fun. It feels like we’re just two kids in the play box at recess and it’s a beautiful respite from the challenges of life.
Amy: I love how caring and intentional Chad is. When we were dating he planned the BEST dates and they were always so thought through. I’ll never forget how he brought my favorite Starbucks order when we picked me up on our second date, celebrated every month of dating with a fresh bouquet of roses and a sweet handwritten card, and planned the most beautiful proposal and vows during our ceremony. He always thinks of others and reminds me that he puts me and our marriage first. He’s truly the best partner and best friend I could have ever asked for and in answer to prayer in so many ways.
What was your favorite part about planning your wedding? There were a lot of fun moments! We really enjoyed taking dance lessons together (such a fun date idea!), cake tasting with our families, and Amy really enjoyed including parents in dress shopping.
If you had one piece of advice for other couples, what would it be? As much as you focus on wedding planning, spend as much or more time working to create building blocks for a healthy and thriving marriage. Block off set times to discuss planning each week (ex: two hours on a Saturday to talk through music playlists), and plan a great date afterwards so you don’t get burnt out from planning to-do’s. Find mentors and friends who are married to come alongside you and give you advice. Read books or listen to podcasts. Set dreams together for marriage and family life and always be each other’s biggest cheerleaders.
….And when you do plan, make it fun! We turned our cake tasting into a picnic in the park with our families and our first dance class into a date. We also switched things up by talking through wedding details at different fun coffee shops around LA. Tougher parts of planning, like budget discussions, are so much more enjoyable with some good coffee! 🙂
Finally, one other really important piece of advice we’d share: limit your time on social media. While apps like Pinterest and Instagram are so helpful when you’re creating vision boards at the beginning of the planning process, looking at them too much can lead to comparison or you second guessing your choices. Instead, look to them for inspiration about specific things like florals or décor and then turn back to focus on your own unique vision. Your wedding could be done in a million different ways, but your way is the best way!
What is the most honest thing you can say about love? On the night of our rehearsal dinner, a friend’s dad told us, “Don’t forget! The secret of marriage is that the grass is always greener where you water it.” He was so right – love is so beautiful, but in marriage love also requires daily grace, patience, and selflessness. True love is when you show grace to someone on their best day and on their worst day, and when you put others before yourself.
As Christians, we believe that “We loved because he (Jesus) first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and we try to live by the famous verse from 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” There’s a reason so many people use that verse in their ceremonies! Even when you don’t feel like loving someone, the better choice is to love anyway. Love isn’t a feeling, it’s a daily choice. Thankfully, we have the perfect model of that in our Savior. He loved us long before we loved Him and that brings us peace and strength to love each other through it all.
Photographer: Christine Skari Photography
Venue: Spanish Hills Country Club
Stylist / Planner / Designer: To Be Loved Events
Floral Designer: Primrose & Petals
Dress Boutique: Bella Bridal Couture
Cake Designer: Frost It Cakery
Makeup Artist: Liv Studios
Hair Stylist: Liv Studios
Men\’s Formalwear: The Black Tux
Rentals: MTB Event Rentals
Stationery & Signs: Pirouette Paper Company
DJ: Vox DJs
Wedding Car: Classy Chassis Rentals
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