Gina and Bryan

Gina and Bryan have maintained a long distance romance for the last 5 years, as they both completed medical school and began internships, on opposite sides of the country!
After this past Saturday's wedding, they will now finally be living in the same state, Maryland, and they will BOTH be working at the same hospital! This was a long awaited event, celebrating the beginning of their married life, and the end of a their years apart from each other!

Taylor Pham, owner of Thi Cosmetics, arrived at Gina's home at 7:15am, to begin hair and makeup for Gina, and her mother.

Gene Higa, our wonderful photographer, and his assistants arrived in time to take some great shots of the finishing touches by Taylor Pham, as well as a few shots of Gina in her garden. Immediately after this photo, Gene left for Stanford, and I whisked Gina out to the waiting limo, which drove her to the Stanford campus to meet Bryan near the Memorial Chapel. Justin and Georgina, of Weddings on Film, was also meeting at the Chapel, to capture footage of Gina and Bryan's first meeting.

This location meant a great deal to Gina and Bryan, because they had spent many hours there praying together, and individually, about their relationship, and where it would lead them... they wanted to be there at the beginning of the day, which was the answer to their prayers.

Meanwhile, up at Fogarty, my staff and I were working with the staff of Thomas John Events, and Susan Groves, In Full Bloom Florals, to prepare for the ceremony and reception, which would begin very soon after Gina, Bryan, Gene, Georgina and Justin arrived...did you notice how many "J/G" sounds we had for this wedding? It was crazy at times!

Beth Ann Goldberg, of Studio Cake, created this lovely cake for Gina, but the one she made as a surprise from Gina to Bryan, a University of Texas football fanatic, was totally amazing...I will save it for the end of my entry.


Before moving up to check on the ceremony set up, I looked in at the reception dinner as the caterers and Susan were completing the preparations. The decorative paper items, including the menus, programs, escort cards, and table numbers, were designed and produced by
Rachel Hanson; she did an excellent job, choosing colors which matched Susan Groves' floral designs perfectly.

The ceremony site was ready in plenty of time for the guests' arrival, but we didn't put out the flower petals until the very last minute...the temperature approached 95 during the day, so we were not putting anything in the sun until it was absolutely necessary...including the guests! Guests arriving on the shuttles from Palo Alto hotels, were welcomed with iced fruit drinks and water, and invited to wait in the shade until the ceremony was beginning.

Gerbera Daisies can last well in the sun, and looked fresh throughout the ceremony.

After the ceremony, the guests would be invited down to the deck, where we set up the escort cards under an umbrella, once again, avoiding that sun whenever possible!




I had no more time to take photos until cake cutting! As at every wedding, my assistants and I were in constant motion, assisting the bride, groom, wedding party, guests and vendors as needed, setting up the candy buffet, loading the bride and groom's Honeymoon luggage into their waiting limo, and of course, keeping the events of the day moving along as planned.

In the usual reception scenario, after Bryan and Gina shared the first piece of cake, toasted their guests, it would be time to return to dancing, but...



... as Gina was closing her thank you remarks to the guests, she referred to a surprise she had for her new husband, who is an intense Texas Longhorn's Football fan...and to the sound of the University of Texas fight song, out came BEVO, the longhorn mascot who travels with the football team wherever they play...well it was a cake in the shape of BEVO, resting on a re-creation of the AstroTurf rug he always travels with, but he was quite similar in a lot of ways!



What can I say...BEVO stole the show! The yard line marks are 05-16-09, the date of the wedding, Texas Longhorns adorn each end of the the AstroTurf, and nobody, least of all Bryan, was willing to make the first cut into BEVO's chocolate cake body. Bevo had to be taken to the kitchen, so Tom's staff could serve the cake, out of Bryan's view!

By the end of the evening, the weather had cooled off, and being outdoors was delightful...Woody Miraglia, the DJ, and I had all of the guests form a double line up the drive way to the the waiting limo, so Gina and Bryan could run through the cheers and waves of their friends, savoring the last moments of a thoroughly memorable and love-filled wedding day.