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Real #Azazie Wedding | Rachel + Andrew

Can you say breathtaking? We fell in love with this wedding as much as we love the view! Rachel & Andrew chose to say I Do at a location that held sentimental value to them and their families. Rachel & Andrew, both beer bloggers, incorporated their favorite beverage into their perfect wedding day! Congratulations to the beautiful couple!

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Q: What location did you pick to have your wedding and why did you choose this place?

“Andrew and I got married at Convict Lake, which is located in the Mammoth Lakes area of California near Yosemite National Park. Andrew’s family has been going up to Mammoth every summer since he was born, and my mom lives across the mountains on the other side of Yosemite, so this area has always been special to us. You can’t beat the gorgeous scenery and fresh mountain air.”

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Q: Did you have a particular theme or color scheme? Is there a story behind this color theme and why you chose it?

“Our theme could best be described as “beer and country.” Andrew and I met at a country music concert in line for beer, and that moment has kind of defined our relationship. We go to many, many country concerts each year, so of course our ceremony music was all country and the bridal party wore cowboy boots. And we’re avid beer lovers (we even have our own beer blog) so we worked that into the wedding quite a lot: the bouquets and boutonnieres had hops, our centerpieces were made of growlers and beer bottles, and our ceremony ended with a beer toast.”

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Q: What was the best/most memorable part of the day?

“Oh gosh. This is hard to pick! Leading up to it, the whole getting ready process with all of my girls was awesome. I ordered everyone matching monogrammed denim shirts for doing hair and makeup, and I wanted to take one of those cute champagne-spraying photos in them. Well given my group of friends I should have expected this, but we ran out of champagne early on and had to use a beer instead to take the photo–but it worked! And then during the wedding itself, well the whole thing was amazing, but something really special was the mother’s dance. My dad passed away a few years ago, so I couldn’t do a father-daughter dance, but instead we decided that Andrew and I would dance with our moms together at the same time. The four of us were laughing and joking around the whole time, and we swapped moms halfway through, but it was a perfect few minutes spent with the most important ladies in our lives.”

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Q: Why did you choose Azazie for your bridesmaids?

” I am a very budget-conscious person and I knew my friends were already making a huge financial commitment with my weekend destination wedding, bridal shower, and bachelorette party. Finding affordable and flattering dresses that I thought they would wear again was a priority for me. I knew they were going to wear short dresses to showcase their cowboy boots, and luckily Azazie had many options, so I picked eight dress styles that I liked. Each bridesmaid ordered a sample size or two, then they all came over to my apartment one Sunday morning with the samples and we had a big dress try-on party. After that they voted on their favorite styles. I would have been fine if they each liked a different one, but they all ended up liking the Adriana and the Sonia, so three bridesmaids wore the Adriana and four wore the Sonia.”

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Q:Any tips or advice for anyone getting married soon?

“This is your wedding–don’t hesitate to make it exactly the way you want it. You’ll never have another chance to do things like this again. If you hate a certain type of flower, tell the florist. If there’s a song your girlfriends will go crazy for at the reception, make it a must-play for the DJ. If you can’t imagine your menu without mac and cheese, ask the chef. I did all of those things (amongst many others) and I am delighted looking back on the photos, realizing that our wedding day was entirely US in every sip, bite, sound, and smile.”

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Q: Did you enjoy the wedding planning process? Why or why not?

“For the most part, I enjoyed it. The inevitable family/guest list drama I could have done without, of course. But on the plus side, I’m lucky that my mom is extremely creative and into DIY, so she helped make a lot of my ideas a reality. She sewed my flower girl’s dress (I wanted it to have paisley print to match with the country theme) and she made the table numbers for the centerpieces, for example. We were also very fortunate to have an excellent wedding coordinator who worked for the venue. She was extremely responsive and attentive to deal, and was willing to get creative with our ideas and help us totally customize the wedding.”

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Q: Where did you find/hear about Azazie?

“I did an online search to see what kind of affordable, customizable bridesmaids dresses were out there.”

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Q:Describe your wedding in one word.

“Rowdy.”

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Photos courtesy of Minaret Photography

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