Ashley & Samantha

HOW WE MET

We’ve been together for about five and a half years and met due to a GLITCH! The best glitch ever! Ashley was on Tinder to make new friends in the area. Meanwhile, Sam was on Tinder to look for a new guy to date! Yes, a guy. Sam had never dated a woman before! After being on the app for a little while, her app starting glitching, and women started popping up. So Sam, being the open and loving person she is, said, “screw it…why should I hold myself back?” And here we are!

THE WEDDING DAY

Our wedding day was better than anything we ever possibly dreamed of, and more. Although there were a couple of minor hiccups like Ashley’s makeup artists arrived an hour later than expected and the winds being so strong that family pictures had to relocate inside the venue instead of outside on the beach. It’s safe to say we were extremely thankful and felt very lucky that our day ran so smoothly.

Finding the perfect outfits was a lot of fun. Sam has dreamed of trying on wedding dresses since she was [basically] born, and Ash wanted absolutely nothing to do with ever trying on a dress! It was also essential to us that our outfits were cohesive and the same shade of white. Many appointments later, we stuck to our true selves, and it turned out perfectly.

Sam looked absolutely beautiful in a truly stunning gown by Martina Liana, and Ashley looked incredibly sharp in an exquisite suit designed by BCBG.

More than just about everything else (outside of friends and family), Sam is absolutely obsessed with sunsets, especially at the beach. We decided we wanted to base our décor to timing around the sunset. Using muted but warm sunset hues and tones in our florals, rentals, and even in our desserts. The term “beachy chic” was used to explain the aesthetic of our wedding.

We are both Jewish, but we are very reform. We were not bat mitzvah’d and don’t know much Hebrew. To us, the most important thing is the many traditions we have with our families and continue to honor them. Sharing them as a family when we have children. We didn’t want our ceremony to feel overly religious, as that wouldn’t reflect us as a couple, but we did want to incorporate Judaism into the ceremony somehow. Our Rabbi, Zoe Klein, did this perfectly. She had the exact balance of storytelling and tradition we were looking for and gave an absolutely captivating ceremony, along with her co-officiant, Cristina Thomopoulos, Ashley’s God Mom.

We are so glad that we decided to hire a videographer. We were on the fence for a while, but after hearing several of our friends say that not having one was their biggest regret, we pulled the trigger. And let us tell you, it may have been the best decision we made throughout the entire process.

Sammie, from SJ Videography, produced the most beautiful video capturing our special day. Once she let us know she sent it our way, we may have sat and watched it on repeat about twelve times, followed by an additional twenty-eight times. We couldn’t believe how well she captured all of the emotions and feelings we had on our wedding day. It was as if we were right back on the beach in Malibu again, saying I do, surrounded by so much love and happiness. She is truly a creative genius, and we are so grateful for her.

No matter how crazy the planning becomes, make sure to set aside time to sit down and regroup with your significant other. It is so easy to get lost and caught up in all the thousands of details. But if you stick together and support each other the entire way. Remembering what is most important at the end of the day, you will get through it.