A California Wedding Filled with Vintage Charm: Candace + Jerry

Sometimes the wingman gets the girl. At least, that’s what happened in the case of newlyweds Candace and Jerry Payne. The two happened to be at the same bar for First Friday in Oakland back in 2012, and after playing the sideline until Candace made it clear she wasn’t interested in his friend, Jerry made his move and the two quickly hit it off. As fate would have it, they danced the night away and have been inseparable ever since.

A year later Jerry proposed to Candace on Christmas day. They went on to celebrate their nuptials amongst close family and friend in an intimate outdoor ceremony last September – ironically on yet another First Friday – filled with joy and vintage charm. Take a look at their special day through the lens of Rosaura Sandoval Photography and learn more about the story behind their wedding.

                        

The Proposal:
Jerry proposed almost a year after we met on Christmas Day 2013. I knew it was coming but didn’t think it would be Christmas, because even though I thought it was romantic to get engaged on Christmas, he spent the weeks leading up to Christmas convincing me that it wasn’t going to happen on that day (it was all a diversion of course, he’s a wily one). The ring was the last gift I opened, and I was so oblivious that I didn’t realize he was on one knee when he presented it to me until I opened it and saw what was inside. I also didn’t realize until later that the darn ring had been wrapped and sitting on the fireplace mantle in the house for a week before Christmas. I had walked past it everyday not concerned with what it was, because he had done such a bang up job of convincing me that there was no way he was going to propose to me on Christmas.

Wedding Style:
I originally wanted a slim fitting sheath or trumpet dress, but when I tried on my first ballgown it was over, I had to have one. I am not the “pretty pretty princess” type, but I figured I was only going to be able to wear a ridiculous, fluffy tulle filled ballgown once in my life, so I went for it. I ended up picking the gorgeous (and comfortable) Maggie Sottero dress Cosette in ivory. It had a corset and was embroidered with delicate lace flowers and sequins all over the bodice and down the skirt so that it shimmered in just the right way, and the train was gorgeous. I felt like a princess!

My favorite two wedding accessories were the “old” double string bracelet of freshwater pearls that my mother bought on a trip to Thailand over 20 years ago and passed on to me on that day, and the “borrowed” ruby and diamond ring my mother-in-law gave me to wear. It had belonged to her mother, who passed away a few months before the wedding, so it was incredibly special to me that she let me wear it. The red Valentinos I wore were pretty sick too, but I changed into my favorite pair of combat boots for reception so that I could dance!

Culture:
Not culture so much (unless doing The Wobble at the reception counts) but definitely religion. Since we don’t have a home church in the Bay Area where we live, we decided to not have the ceremony at a church but we wanted it to reflect our beliefs. So we had a friend who had recently become ordained officiate the ceremony and we took communion to represent our commitment to each other and to God

Memories:
Candace: The whole day was really the most amazing thing ever, but my favorite memories were the ones with my father. Having him walk me down the aisle and seeing all of our loved ones there and how beautiful everything was with Jerry waiting for me at the end was very overwhelming. Also the father/daughter dance. My father is usually quite reserved and I had no idea he was going to bust out and really dance. He stole the show! It was so much fun.

Jerry: Seeing her in her dress for the first time when we took the first look photos, closely tied with putting the ring on her finger.

Help a Bride-to-be Out:
Candace: Figure out up front what is important to each of you. We had a day of (really month of, which I highly recommend) planner but not the full shebang so we planned and designed the whole event ourselves. There were a lot of decisions to make, and I wanted to make sure Jerry had input on the things that really mattered to him. Don’t forget to have fun!

Jerry: Be patient with each other. This was the biggest thing we had done together and we learned a lot about each other during the process.

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