Babydoll Weddings is excited to introduce Alan and Adrian. We are delighted to provide hair and makeup services for their entire wedding party this coming January, 2018. We fell in love with them instantly and were beyond thrilled when they agreed to let us share their love story with you. Alan will be taking over our blog for a special series “Alan & Adrian Get Married” sharing their wedding planning experiences as a newly engaged couple planning a same-sex wedding. We hope you love them as much as we do!
Finding that perfect venue is a fun process, however it can be taxing on a couple when they don’t know what they are looking for in a venue. In a previous post, I mentioned that for our wedding we wanted to keep it in Arizona and to have it on January 14, 2018. Arizona has many beautiful venue options, all with different styles. We wanted to find a place with character that left people talking after the wedding, so for us that ruled out the various country clubs, hotels, and other generic locations. We also wanted to be very budget friendly too.
After browsing online at many possible venues and doing extensive research on each of the venues, we narrowed it down to 2 venues that we wanted to see in person: The Windmill Winery in Florence, Arizona and Aldea at Tlaquepaque in Phoenix, Arizona. What drew us to these venues was that they shared a lot of character in their décor, and they are both all-inclusive locations (I’ll discuss all-inclusive vs. hiring vendors separately in a future post).
Windmill Winery
The first place that we went to was The Windmill Winery. After being greeted in the parking lot by their resident goose, we were met by the venue manager and given a tour. They had two different options for the venue, their 100-year-old barn and their Hampton’s-styled Lake House dock. We first got to see the Lake House where the ceremony would be held on the dock over their lake that overlooks the Superstition Mountains, and the reception would be held inside the Lake House. Since our wedding is in January, we decided to go in the winter months to see what the scenery would look like outside at that time. Unfortunately, a lot of the bushes and grasses were brown and didn’t fit the aesthetic that we were going for outdoors.
The inside of the Lake House is very spacious and sets the mood perfectly for an evening reception. We also toured the barn which had a nice rustic feel to it and plenty of room for our guests. Despite this, we felt that the space would feel overwhelming if we didn’t have a wedding that would fill the space appropriately. This venue can also have multiple weddings going on at once with all the different areas they had to offer and that wasn’t very appealing to us. In the end, Adrian and I felt that the long drive from Phoenix to Florence along with the possibility of having multiple weddings at the same location didn’t make The Windmill Winery our choice of venue.
Aldea at Tlaquepaque
We next came across Aldea at Tlaquepaque and I was blown away as soon as I stepped foot into the venue. Aside from being a carbon copy of Tlaquepaque in Sedona, as soon as you left the parking lot you could barely hear the cars on the road. The venue only hosts one wedding per day, which was a huge plus for us. The grand tour showed the lovely courtyard where the ceremony would take place that also has a tree covered with lights all over it and a bubbling fountain. The reception is held indoors in a large enough space for eating and dancing, but not too large that you feel overpowered by the size of the room.
Adrian and I loved the Spanish décor and architecture. This venue is an all-inclusive venue where one flat amount (that includes tax and tip) includes music, catering, cake, decorations (yes, they provide their own decorations), photographer, and day of coordinator. After leaving that venue I couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful the venue was.
Only a week later is when we made the big decision to lock the date in and we were fortunate that we got the day that we wanted. We are very excited to move on to the tasting process!
Stay tuned for more about Alan and Adrian’s love story!
Babydoll Weddings is excited to introduce Alan and Adrian. We are delighted to provide hair and makeup services for their entire wedding party this coming January, 2018. We fell in love with them instantly and were beyond thrilled when they agreed to let us share their love story with you. Alan will be taking over our blog for a special series “Alan & Adrian Get Married” sharing their wedding planning experiences as a newly engaged couple planning a same-sex wedding. We hope you love them as much as we do!
Meet Alan & Adrian: The Proposal
Alan J. Tomasetti
A couple’s wedding is one of the many milestones in their life that not only symbolizes unity, but it’s a celebration of their love and sharing it with everyone special in their life. Finding that special someone who will share both the good and the bad times with you, who encourages you to be the best you can be, and who will love you beyond the end of time seems like an impossible task to some people, but as my mom would say “never say never” and with that I’ve always been a hopeless romantic hoping to find my someday prince. We’ve all heard of the phrase “trust your gut instinct”, and I can certainly say that I’m thankful that I trusted mine.
How We Met
I first met Adrian in the summer of 2014 on an online dating app. For someone who isn’t into the whole bar scene or having friends setting me up on a blind date, online dating was my option if I had any chance to find a date. Online dating has come a long way since it first started and it no longer carries with it such negative connotations. After talking on-line for a few weeks, he asked me if I wanted to go get some coffee with him. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I thought why not, Starbucks has tea and I need the points to keep me in the gold card club.
Our First Date
If there’s one way to impress me on a first date, it was to take me somewhere unique that I haven’t been to before that has a lot of character. Our first date was just that because to my surprise, he decided to take me to Gold Bar Espresso in Tempe. The coffee shop had a lot of personality and hometown charm, which certainly caught my attention. They also had a lot of tea flavors to choose from, which was also a plus in my book.
When I got there, I saw Adrian was wearing a black V-neck shirt and jeans and we sat outside and talked for what seemed like hours. I’m the kind of person that clock watches because my life runs on a schedule and I hate to be late to things, yet all that time I was with him I didn’t care where I had to be next. We laughed for hours and stayed there past closing time. After we said goodnight and shared our first kiss, I couldn’t wait to see Adrian again and what our future adventures could hold.
“THE” Trip
Fast forward to May 2016, after many adventures both in Arizona and all over the US, we decided to take our first international cruise to together along with some of our closest friends. We visited Ensenada, Mexico on a 3-day cruise and got to enjoy all the fun activities on the ship as well as the local culture and amazing seafood in Ensenada. On the last evening of the cruise, we were having dinner in the main dining room and were just finishing up our dessert when Adrian went back to the room to grab our jackets (I told him earlier in the day I wanted to take some pictures of the sunset and it was getting chilly out).
We made it to the very top deck of the ship and were huddled close to stay warm. We took some photos facing towards the sunset at first and then he wanted me to turn around for what I thought were going to be selfies. Adrian turned to me and said: “This has been the best trip ever, and I couldn’t imaging spending it or my life with anyone else. I’ve never been this happy with anyone else and I love you so much, and so Alan Tomasetti, Alan James Tomasetti, will you marry me”? Of course I said yes!!
The Ring
According to Adrian, he had gotten the ring earlier than he expected and knew the cruise would be going on a few weeks later and would be the perfect opportunity to propose. During dinner, he was able to hand off the ring to our friends at dinnertime to store in his friend’s purse. After we made it to the top deck and took some photos, they made the switch for the ring. After a few stumbling over words, he proposed and we celebrated the rest of the evening!
Being a type-A personality, I’m still shocked that Adrian was able to pull a fast one on me, but it was the best surprise I could ever ask for. I’ve found my better half, my companion in the journey will call life, my true soulmate. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.
Stay tuned for more about Alan and Adrian’s love story!
Back in September we teamed up with the talented Mandy from Mi Amore Photography to do a styled wedding photoshoot at Aldea at Tlaquepaque. We have anxiously been waiting to receive the pictures and we are now so thrilled to be sharing them! The concept for the photoshoot was that perfect mix of classic, holiday fun with a slight edge. The details fell into place perfectly, from the grooms sharp tux and red velvet bow tie to the brides tattoo sleeve and crimson red lips to the dramatic floral pieces amongst the romantic twinkle lights, this shoot felt like a festive, intimate wonderland! Trust us you’re going to want to pop a bottle of bubbly and put on your favorite tunes and soak in all this beauty!
Shoutout to our stylist Renee for pulling off this classic edgy bride look!
Also, be sure to bookBabydoll Weddings for any of your upcoming weddings or holiday parties!
Also thank you to all the amazing vendors that made the photoshoot come together!
Nicole and Abraham recently were married in June of this year, so safe to say we were excited to receive their wedding photos! With dark purples and light pinks incorporated so well into every detail of the wedding, truly made for a beautiful June wedding. The grooms’ cake made us all smile; we love seeing all aspects of the bride and groom’s personalities show through out their special day! Read more below to learn more about their special day!
We’re so pleased to introduce Erin! We did her wedding a couples months ago, and we have to say it was the perfect combination of simplicity and elegance. Can you believe her dress what actually made by her maid of honor! How sweet is that! You’re going to want to click below to see all the details.
