Interview with the beautiful couple, Andrea + Drew:
HOW DID YOU MEET? We met in grad. school at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU THE MOST TO YOUR HUSBAND/WIFE?
Drew: The thing that attracted me most to my wife was her infectious laugh, beautiful smile and the fact that she is willing to put up with my bad jokes 🙂
Andrea: We were walking home from school one day and a dog crossed the street in front of us – Drew said, “wow, that’s a super cute puppy!” I knew that any man who could say the words “super,” “cute,” and “puppy” in the same sentence was definitely a keeper. But it was his kind and caring personality, and how he always puts others first, that made me know that he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
HOW DID HE PROPOSE? On the golf course. Drew comes from a big golf family, and I from a big ski/snowboard family, so we made a deal that I’d learn to golf if he learned to snowboard. So when we went to visit his parents in North Carolina a few summers ago, he suggested we try and golf a few holes. Of course he made it in a few swings, but as I was on shot number 11 (and counting) Drew finally decided he couldn’t wait any longer, so he took my club away and proposed right there on the putting green. The best part of the story though is after I called my mom to tell her the good news, she ran down the stairs to tell her husband, fell and broke her foot! At least it made for a good story, right?
WHAT INSPIRED YOUR VISION FOR YOUR WEDDING? Since we decided to get married in Florida (Drew’s home town) we knew that most everyone would be traveling in from out of town – we wanted to get everyone really excited about the trip and beach location. We decided to go with what we like to call a “beach chic” theme – in my opinion, beach-themed elements can get a bit cheesy really fast, so we wanted to weave in beach elements, while still keeping the overall vibe, look and feel clean and classy.
TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR VENUE: Once we narrowed down the city where we wanted to get married to Vero Beach, the venue search was easy! We evaluated a few different venues, but we ultimately came across John’s Island through Drew’s grandparents. They have lived in the JI community for more than 30 years, so Drew grew up visiting as a kid (in fact, Drew’s parents even honeymooned there after their wedding!) After talking to Monica and Linda, the wedding planners at JI, and browsing through photos of the venue and blog posts of past weddings, we knew that JI was the venue for us.
WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST PLANNING CHALLENGE? Planning a wedding long-distance. Trying to search for vendors and coordinate 6:30am (our time) calls from Seattle before work was tough!
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE DESIGN ELEMENT OF YOUR WEDDING? Our programs and menus – Andrea’s mom and a family friend made the weekend trip up to Seattle from Portland one weekend and we spent hours assembling them together. They were 100% hand-made (even the design!)
DID YOU HAVE ANY DIY DETAILS? Our ceremony programs, dinner menus and a few of our table numbers were DIY – we would have loved to do more, but fitting everything into one suitcase would have been really tough so we had to prioritize.
WHAT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF YOUR WEDDING DAY? Definitely our band, Gypsy Lane – they were great!
DESCRIBE YOUR CAKE:
Overall, I think I was a pretty easy bride. I told Monica and Linda that I wanted something white, three-tiered and somewhat handmade-looking and that I’d trust them to work their magic alongside our chef and florist. It turned out so much better than Drew and I could have ever imagined! (That’s why you trust the experts, right?)
A funny story, though – JI catering had 4 different cake flavors that couples can choose from (key lime, carrot, chocolate, and vanilla). We went into our initial meeting with the chef saying, “well, we don’t know yet which flavor we want, but we know we don’t want key lime!” The chef urged us to reconsider (key lime is cooling on a warm day and “very Florida,” he told us) – so we walked out of the meeting saying, “key lime it is!” But in the end the chef was right – our guests raved about our unique, “so Florida” cake!
HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER? They were great! Since we aren’t local to Florida, we were a little nervous hiring a photographer and not meeting them in person until a couple hours before our ceremony, but Sara and Jason really made us feel comfortable during our first Skype conversation, and their work spoke for itself. We couldn’t have been happier!
WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND AS A COUPLE? Finally getting settled in Seattle, perhaps buying a house or a dog (or both?) – who knows?
CAN YOU PLEASE LIST YOUR VENDORS:
• Venue and guest housing: John’s Island Resort
• Wedding Coordinators: Monica and Linda
• Food and Cake: John’s Island Catering
• Band: Gypsy Lane
• Flowers: Hutchinson’s Floral Artistry
• Hair and Make-up: White Orchid Salon and Spa
• Bride’s Dress: Sally Crew (a local Seattle designer)
• Bridesmaid Dresses: JCrew
• Groom and Groomsmen Attire: Brooks Brothers
• Groom’s bow tie: Etsy
• Bride’s Accessories and Shoes: BHldn by Anthropologie