After almost 5 years of love, the two got married on June 23, 2018 at Althorp Estate in the English countryside.
Q: How did you guys first meet each other?
A: We met through my ex boyfriend who I was dating at the time. My boyfriend told me that he noticed this guy he knew named Brian playing my favorite iphone game Scramble with Friends. He put us in a group chat and told us to play each other. We played the game with each other for a couple months at which point we finally met and put a face to the name. After my ex and I broke up and Brian knew the coast was clear he started texting me and we hit it off!
Q: What was your first impression of Brian?
A: I wasn’t quite ready to date when he started reaching out to me, but he was very persistent. After months of Brian asking me out I finally agreed to a date and I had a great time!
Q: What was the most romantic memory that you had with your partner?
A: Brian proposing for sure. I had always hoped Brian would propose in a personal way that felt right and special to both of us. We had planned a trip to Hong Kong and Thailand to celebrate Brian’s birthday and New Years in December 2016. Our first stop was Hong Kong and when we checked into our hotel room we had the most amazing bathtub with huge windows looking over the city. One of my favorite things to do is take a bath. Brian was planning on popping the question on the beach in Thailand, but the ring was burning a hole in his pocket and he couldn’t wait. We woke up day two in Hong Kong to celebrate Brian’s birthday. That morning I went to take a bath as usual. Brian came over and sat at the side of the bathtub to chat with me, like he often does and before I knew it there was a ring in front of my face!
Q: What made you decide he was “the one”?
Everything just felt right. We get along really well and to this day I never tire of spending time with him.
Q: Siena, tell me how did you feel when you just got engaged? Were you overwhelmed/excited? What did you do right after?
Happy and overwhelmed all at the same time. I started wedding planning one hour after. Later that day the wedding date was already set and later that week my dress appointments were made! Suffice it to say I was really excited.
Q: We all know that planning a wedding involves endless details, deadlines, family drama, and far too often enough stress to make you want to just elope. What was your personal experience?
– Making a guest list: We have so many friends and family, but we were forced to widdle it down to 160 because of the location. We invited our very closest friends and immediate family. We sent out 175 invites and we were both shocked and thrilled to get so many attending replies considering that it was such a far destination.
– Wedding budgeting: I hated every minute of this, and we did exceed our original budget. Even though it was stressful I am grateful we did exceed our budget by a little because we were able to accomplish everything we wanted for our wedding and it is truly a weekend we will never forget.
– Logistics: Brian found the wedding planner through one of his clients. We used Jemma-Jade Events. Jemma-Jade was unbelievable. I was very nervous about planning a wedding in London all the way from LA, but she made it easy. She knew all the best florists, caterers, ceremony accessories and was an expert on all wedding details. We flew our favorite DJ in from LA because he is someone we love. We couldn’t see doing our wedding with out him and we wanted to make sure that all of our guests had fun on the dancefloor.
Q: What was your favorite part of the wedding planning process?
A: The creative design part and finding all of my outfits of course! I am a very creative person so I had the best time planning the flowers, tables and room design. I also love fashion so I had a lot of fun working on all of my wedding outfits.
Q: And most difficult part of the wedding planning process?
A: Seating arrangements! We did two long tables both nights.
Q: Siena, now tell me a little about your dress selection process
A: Selecting my dress turned out to be the easiest part. I had no idea going into the process of finding the dress how challenging it would be, but since I am very particular, I assumed it would be difficult. I had 4 appointments lined up and our first stop was Vera Wang. I walked in and saw this one dress on a screen on the wall that I had seen on Instagram eight months prior when I was helping my friend look for dresses. Wedding dresses were not on my mind at the time, so I had sent her the photo on Instagram thinking it would be beautiful on her. When I saw the dress on the screen in Vera I fell in love all over again. I asked to try it on, but it wasn’t out in stores yet, so much to my dismay, I was going to have to return the next month during a trunk show at the store.
I tried on a couple other Vera dresses and truly loved them all, but didn’t feel drawn to anyone in particular. Then right before I was about to leave the associate at Vera appeared with the dress that was on the screen and told me that she found one in back. It was straight off the runway and had been left behind at the store by mistake. I put it on and it fit perfectly. I had never envisioned myself in a dress with such a big skirt, but I was in love with it. As soon as I put on the dress it just felt right and I knew it was the one. It was so ethereal and just perfect for my venue. I was really drawn to the tulle, I loved how different and modern it was. I felt so strongly that this was my dress that I didn’t want to bother going to any of my other appointments. I was certain that no other dress could compare to mine.
My mom begged me to check out one more place so we did. I tried on a couple dresses, but nothing came close to my dress at Vera. I returned to Vera the next week to order my dress. At this point, it was 18 months before my wedding and I was aware that new styles would come out, but I didn’t care because I knew without a doubt that this was my dress.
Q: Lastly, do you have any advice for other couples on their big day?
A: Take a step back and take it all in as much as you can during your wedding weekend