The Victorian sits abroad Santa Monica’s ever trendy Main Street and was the perfect wedding venue choice for Jessica and Ben’s wedding. The brick walkway takes you into the hardwood floor 2-story mansion that has such a classic and vintage vibe. It’s overly romantic and a perfect setting for an indoor southern california wedding.
This wedding was filled with emotion. Lots of smiles, laughter and tears. Jessica’s sister, Julie was there to help Jessica get into her wedding gown; I could see the emotion from both girls and documented the tender moments. The minute their father walked in and saw his stunning daughter, that was it. His face went from being in awe to utter happiness in a matter of seconds. Julie was nearby to share in the moment and to share a few tears with her sister Jessica. These are the moments I live for…. beautiful and priceless moments that are documented and kept forever.
Jessica is quite the green girl… very eco friendly, so her very green shoes were…oh, so perfect. Loved them! Once she was dressed, it was time to do the first look; her soon to be husband, Ben waited calmly outside to see his beautiful bride. You can just see the happiness and joy in both of their faces as they first saw each other. Just lovely. They decided to exchange their vows upstairs in the library of The Victorian, surrounded with a collection of books, flickering candlelight and a room full of friends and family. The ceremony was precious and again, filled with emotion. As Jessica said her wedding vows, her tender voice and words of love opened up the flood gates and the tears started to flow. It’s a good thing her bridal party came prepared with hankies, because the tears were a coming! It was beautiful. Jessica’s mother was unable to attend, so in her absence, Jessica decided to put a beautiful boutique of purple flowers on the first chair to symbolize her presence. I looked at those flowers and knew her mom was there in spirit and thinking about her daughter’s big day.
Once the ceremony was complete, everyone headed downstairs and partied the night away with help from Lee Dyson from Hey Mister DJ. Rockin’ DJ… just love him! :-). The reception/dining area had the finishing touches of Abby LaDuke from Something Blue, a Los Angeles Wedding Planning Company. Instead of name place cards, Jessica chose a name place “tree” and guest names were printed on leaves and hung from the tree at the entrance. So fitting for Jessica. Cute little gift bags awaited all guests at each table with a beautiful saying:
Life is partly what we make of it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose. – Tennessee Williams
It was such an beautiful quote and it was obvious they have chosen a great life with amazing friends and loved ones. They had guests from Arizona, Utah, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, London and more. It’s always wonderful to see many people travel from all over the world to watch two people begin their lives as one. It was another great wedding for a great couple. Many thanks to the Stefan and Wibberley family for choosing me to document your special day. Much love to you all. xoxo
Here are the wedding vendors:
Enjoy the wedding photos below and be sure to catch the slideshow at the end for more!
Here is the special bouquet of flowers for Jessica’s mom, who was unable to attend the wedding…
Jessica surprised Ben with a special soccer groomsman cake from Jamaica’s Cakes!
Click the play button below to view the entire slideshow…
Jessica & Ben | The Victorian | Wedding Photography from Gayla Elizabeth on Vimeo.
After we ate, we took a stroll through my neighborhood and walked amongst the trick or treaters on our festive streets. My neighborhood is a great halloween area, lots of people drive in and flood the streets. One house in my neighborhood setup a grave yard; Barker’s Graveyard was filled with movie set lights, tombstones, skeletons, sound effects and all. Trick or treaters lined up around the block to walk through the graveyard and caused quite the backup. The local Police Dept actually had to block off the street to allow for the crowd, since it was flooded with people. We walked around for over and hour and came back to eat dessert. My friends came witha guava, lilikoi, passion fruit chiffon cake from 
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my disaster was ( I said “I Do”)