Elk Grove Wedding | Helen + Bruce

This flower-filled Elk Grove wedding was held at the Falls Event Center, shortly before it changed ownership and became Evergreen Springs by Wedgewood Weddings. Both the bride and groom had been married before, but the groom had never had a big wedding and wanted the experience. The bride had no interest in dealing with the minutia of planning a large wedding, so she hired me to design and plan the day for them. The kicker: they hired me in February 2019 and had nothing but a wedding date: June 29, 2019—four and a half months away!

I spent a lot of quality time with Helen & Bruce that summer! Fortunately, they were both already retired, so we were able to meet regularly to bring their vision to life. We started with a color palette: black, white, and red. Helen loves flowers (as do I!), and roses and peonies are her favorites. Lucky for her, a June wedding is the perfect time for roses and peonies, and I knew just the right florist, Kelly of LeLe Floral.

But our first order of business was finding a venue. The couple live near Elk Grove, and many of their friends are local to the area, so they didn’t want to stray too far. Every single venue I contacted was already booked for that date—unsurprisingly, because it was a Saturday in June! Lucky for us, the Falls had the date available. When we went to tour the venue, I whispered to Helen & Bruce, “I hope you like it, because it’s literally our only option.” It turned out to be a great option!

There’s a large bridal suite on-site where Helen and her bridesmaids could have hair and makeup done. There’s also a game room at the back of the venue with a pool table, TVs, and lounge area. It was the perfect spot for Bruce and his groomsmen to relax before the ceremony. Helen & Bruce opted not to have a first-look photo session, so I just had to make sure they didn’t accidentally see each other before it was time!

The Falls/Evergreen has a reasonably large reception ballroom, with a lovely outdoor patio. The patio has a large arbor and two waterfall features that add ambiance. Because June is already scorchingly hot in Sacramento, the fields that were green when we saw them in February were going to be brown by June. So I rented large boxwood hedges from Celebrations to form a green wall behind the couple during the ceremony. And of course, Kelly did a fantastic job with the arbor decor.

With the venue secured, we next focused on filling out the rest of our vendor team. The preferred vendor list for the venue was helpful because I knew we needed vendors who were familiar with the space, since we didn’t have a lot of time for multiple site visits. Helen had worked with Hannibal’s Catering for corporate events at her former job, so that was an easy role to fill.

I happened to attend an open house at another Sacramento-area venue and met Doug Levine from Music on the Move DJ’s. I remembered that they were on the venue’s preferred vendors list, so I chatted him up, confirmed that he was available, and scheduled a meeting for us to sit down with Helen and Bruce. They loved him and his partner-in-crime Dara, so we were well on our way to a complete vendor team. Music on the Move also does lighting and photo booth services, so they are a one-stop-shop for entertainment.

As for the cake, my first choice was Above & Beyond Cakes. Not only did I already know they would create a beautiful and tasty cake, but they are located around the corner from the venue, so I figured even if they were already busy with orders for our date, they could fit us in. (And honestly, it helps that I knew them from working with them on previous weddings. This is one of the best reasons to hire a full-service wedding planner—we have relationships that we can leverage on your behalf.)

Helen already had a photographer she wanted to work with. He’s a friend of her daughter’s and had been taking their family portraits for years. She also had her friend Jacob come up from Los Angeles to do her makeup. I connected her with Tessa Joy of Alchemy Salon in Sacramento for hair, and our beauty team was all set.

We found the perfect invitation suite on Minted. Helen wanted black and white, and Bruce wanted something floral/tropical feeling. I think we did pretty well! I enlisted my good friend and frequent collaborator, the insanely talented calligrapher Anahit Khachatourian of Khalligraphy to create all of the signage we needed and to address the envelopes. Nothing says “fancy wedding” like hand calligraphed invitations!

For the final few details, I relied on the internet: California olive oil favors from Luna Olivo in Santa Barbara, live butterflies for a ceremony butterfly release, and sparklers for the send-off. Etsy was also a huge resource for us. We ordered her card box, guest book supplies, tiaras and baskets for her flower girls, a ring pillow, an engraved cake cutting set, and a garter from various Etsy shops.

Butterflies hold a special place in Helen & Bruce’s relationship. They met at a time when both of them were still recovering from difficult prior marriages as well as health crises. The poem pictured below played a role in their courtship, and they wanted to incorporate butterflies into their wedding.

Each guest signed a paper butterfly with a note to the couple that they collected and displayed later as their guest book. Their officiant read the poem just before the live butterfly release at the ceremony. And the ring pillow had a silk butterfly attached to it. During the butterfly release, we played a pre-recorded version of Ave Maria sung by Helen’s dear childhood friend, who passed away a few months before the wedding. It was truly special and emotional.

Helen & Bruce wanted to incorporate their adult children and their small grandchildren as much as possible. Bruce was escorted down the aisle by his two daughters, while Helen’s brother had the honor of escorting her. Helen’s eldest granddaughter was one of her bridesmaids, and three of their younger grandchildren served as flower girls and ring bearer.

In addition to the butterfly release, Helen & Bruce had a unity sand ceremony, which has eclipsed the unity candle to become the most popular unity tradition among my clients. After the ceremony, the couple posed for their portraits and family photos under the beautiful ceremony arbor.

The reception was a fun party! Bruce & Helen did all the traditional wedding things: cake cutting, first dance, bouquet & garter toss. We also made sure to schedule a dance for Bruce with each of his daughters. Fun fact: the best man gave the world’s longest toast at this wedding, lol. Thankfully, the maid of honor kept hers to a more reasonable length.

At the end of the night, we planned a grand exit for Bruce & Helen, complete with sparklers and a white getaway limousine, which whisked them off to Bodega Bay for a mini-moon. They smartly changed into casual clothes for the two-hour ride out to the coast!

Vendor Team

Photography: Dustin Penman
Design, planning & coordination: Risa James Events
Venue: The Falls Event Center, Elk Grove (now Evergreen Springs)
Catering: Hannibal’s Catering & Events
Bakery: Above & Beyond Cakes
DJ/MC, lighting, photo booth: Music on the Move
Florals: LeLe Floral
Calligraphy & signage: Khalligraphy
Invitations, table numbers & escort cards: Minted
Rentals: Celebrations Party Rentals
Officiant: Erin Summ, As You Wish Weddings
Makeup artist: Jacob del Rosario
Hair stylist: Tessa Joy, Alchemy Salon
Favors: Luna Olivo
Bride’s and bridesmaids’ attire: David’s Bridal
Groom’s and groomsmen’s attire: Men’s Wearhouse

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