San Diego Wedding: Charlene & Ron

Thanksgiving had just passed. Jury duty called the week after. Ron postponed going as long as he could; Charlene decided to not delay the original summons date to get her civic duty over with.

Charlene did not notice Ron was sitting a couple rows behind her.

As fate would have it, Ron and Charlene were called into the same case and were part of the first 12 jurors for a domestic case. Ron spotted Charlene, but she still didn’t notice him. With some persistence the next day, Ron broke the ice by asking her about working in development. When they were dismissed from the jury pool, figuring he’d never see her again, Ron asked for her number and offered to walk Charlene to her trolley stop.

Their first non-date was a visit to the historic Mission San Diego de Alcala, after which Charlene invited Ron to dinner, with her family. What seemed like her ENTIRE family, extended and all. And even though Ron was nervous, he didn’t back out. The rest, as they say, is history.

Because their first rendez-vous was at the Mission, they saw fit to have their wedding ceremony there as well.

Charlene is a dear friend of mine from college – we’ve seen our friendship through long distances (I went o France and she went to Kazakhstan for the Peace Corps!) and wrote letters back and forth. I’m so happy for Charlene and Ron! And to have met in such a random setting like jury duty.

And thank you for having me be a part of your special day! I hope you are staying warm in NYC!

Many thanks to my awesome second shooter and fellow UCSD alum, Daniel Galang for shooting with me!

I loved Charlene’s Badgley Mischka shoes. LOVED! I love it when brides wear fun, colorful wedding shoes.

Dianne, one of Charlene’s bridesmaids, is also a friend from UCSD. I love her face in this photo!

They had their First Look in the Mission San Diego de Alcala courtyard.

I see Charlene was already ready to fall into the wife role, she’s telling Ron something important.

A few more bride and groom portraits at Mission San Diego.

For table numbers, Charlene and Ron used postcards of places they want to visit together. This one is Mykonos, Greece. I want to go there too!

Along with their travel theme, Charlene used this vintage travel case as the card box, with boarding passes.

Dianne made the bunting that surrounded the gift table. Too cute!

Charlene and Ron had a super cute wedding cake! It had Lilo of Lilo & Stitch (I’d sometimes call Charlene Lilo in college!) and Russell from Up as the cake toppers.

The father daughter dance was so moving. Charlene’s dad was so sweet, and I started to tear! I think everyone did.

Charlene’s parents gettin’ down on the dancefloor!

Adorned with money.

Charlene’s parents were the life of the party! And you may spot me in this photo. Thanks to Daniel for capturing it!

Instead of a bouquet toss, Charlene gave her bouquet to her grandparents, who have been married for 63 years!

To see some more of their Mission Valley San Diego Wedding, click for a slideshow.