The Sun is Shining All Over: Philip & Maren

Couple: Philip & Maren

Philip and Maren met at work in 2012, but it was months before they said more than the casual hello to each other. They would pass each other in the hallway and secretly thought how cute the other was! The opportunity arrived when there was a company BBQ and Philip invited Maren to grab some drinks with some other coworkers afterwards. The drinks and the conversations flowed at Golden Road Brewery and Maren actually got Phil’s number! This was the start of their love story.

They dated for about 2 years when Philip popped the question. It didn’t take long for Philip to figure out that Maren likes to guess surprises. So when it came time to propose, he knew he had to throw her off the scent. He planned a weekend trip to Big Sur for the middle of October 2015, which then set off Maren’s super planning mode: she scheduled hair and nail appointments for the week of the trip. But, Philip had actually set up the proposal to be a week before the trip at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. He even made sure to label their dinner reservation as a “gym tour.” This was preceded by gym tours at 2 other locations! He planned to have the surprise proposal take place on the rooftop with a view of the city skyline. He secretly had his friends set up an easel with pictures of the couple. One of his friends hid with a bottle of chilled champagne, and the other hid in a corner to take photos of the proposal. Maren had no idea that this was all happening during their dinner, especially when he turned all of the conversations to their upcoming trip to Big Sur. He really milked it when he said he wanted their upcoming trip to be “especially memorable!!” All the planning paid off, because when they arrived at the rooftop, Maren was completely surprised when he got down on one knee and popped the question. And with happy tears and smiles, she said yes!!

Rain at the wedding:

At the rehearsal dinner, Philip (the Groom) quoted Maren’s (the Bride) favorite movie, “Singing in the Rain.” He said, “It may be raining outside, but from where I stand, the sun is shining all over the place. The quote was relevant, not just because of our love, but because it was supposed to rain on our wedding day. It’s never an outdoor wedding couple’s dream to have rain, but it happened to us. People kept telling us how lucky it was to have rain on your wedding day, but we just didn’t believe it in the moment. It felt like stumbling at the finish line for more than a year of planning. But rain was a silver lining to our day, and we are incredibly thankful that it did rain! Our photography was just beautiful, and the rain truly made the day unforgettable for us and our guests. Our friends and family literally stood with us, as we still had our ceremony outside. We tremendously felt the love and support of our dearest friends and family. Everyone, including our vendors, went above and beyond to buy umbrellas and set additional decorations, to have the reception pulled inside. It was as if we had planned for the rain all along!

Looking back, the rain really was good luck on our wedding day. As we exchanged our vows, the rain literally stopped and the sun shined on us and our wedding party, as if it was meant to be. Again, our photography was perfect and we were still able to have our ceremony outside with the added ambiance of the rain. Most of our guests and vendors had never seen a ceremony like ours and kept saying it was one of the most memorable weddings they had been to. We made everything work and we still had the wedding of our dreams. In the end, it didn’t matter that it rained because our love was shining all over the place.” – Philip & Maren