Sophia + Bobby by Kayla Turpin

I chose the orchid to be a recurring motif in design.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We are high school sweethearts, we love being entrepreneurs, and love our all-black German Shepard mix, Java (featured in our Java (espresso) martini, and on our cake topper). I am a designer, I upcycle and customise vintage clothing and homewares. Bobby is from a large family and is a big family guy. He works with his family now as well.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We first met in high school, freshman year Spanish class. I may have created a highly curated group for our group project, and Bobby was in it. Sophia was known as the girl who made her own shorts, entering private school from public school (dip-dyed, studded, distressed, high-waisted, and selling them to all his cool upperclassmen cousins). Bobby was the cute, quiet hockey player, one of the many (like 40) cousins in the hockey family dynasty – all at our prep school in the Chicago suburbs.

Even going to college across the country couldn’t keep us apart (Sophia was in New York at New York University for fashion & Bobby at University of Illinois for playing hockey). We ended up both moving back to the suburbs of Chicago together.

We got engaged in the rose garden at Vizcaya. We love Miami because Bobby’s grandpa lives in Sunny Isles (very close), and Sophia grew up with lots of Colombian family here.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

DIY menus. Menus were placed at each table setting, and I made them myself. We love food, and so does our group; we wanted them to feel taken care of the entire evening. I chose the orchid to be a recurring motif in design. The colour chartreuse was inspired by the lily pads at the lake near our home.

Getting ready outfits. Customised vintage shirts – white button-ups with the subtle secret message “We’ll always have Miami” on the sleeve. Designed by me from my vintage and upcycling business, sophiacorin.com. Nothing like getting ready in a crisp white button-up.

I made my own veil to walk down the aisle. Bobby is from a big Disney family, so it was only fitting that I walked down a live Violinist string version of Lana del Rey’s Once Upon A Dream from Maleficent. I sourced Italian tulle at the same place I bought my prom dress fabrics from in Miami. I eyeballed how much tulle to source. I kept telling the woman, another yard, another yard, it was more than 7 yards, longer than
Cathedral length.

To give florals a longer life, reuse the florals from the altar at the ends of the head table and by the DJ booth. And I wore my purse bouquet all night. My florist, Helen, tied a blue ribbon on my bouquet. This “something blue” was in memory of my younger brother. Remember when we used to put storks in front of the house when a baby was born? The ribbon was from a plaque on his stork. This is exceptionally special because our wedding date, 2/13, was on his birthday. For us, Friday the 13th was a lucky day!

The one trend I followed was the serpentine aisle, lined with ombre flowers.

I sourced Miu Miu pink satin ballet flats. So many people told me I would regret wearing them for my wedding and getting them dirty. This was not the case. I was so glad I did not listen to anyone on this. I wore my flats from the second the ceremony was over (7 p.m. – 3 a.m.), and they are completely unscathed, in perfect condition. As you would have heard in all the toasts, I truly know exactly the best way for things to be for our family and me! We beat to our own drum.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

From a creative perspective, I loved designing the wedding. The most important part is to think about how you want the event to feel. I wanted it to feel like a whimsical, modern fairytale that my guests were being carried through all night. From there, I decided on dramatic colours, textures, and motifs, and decided where to allocate the most budget. As you are in the weeds of wedding planning, you will get distracted by the details, but that is okay if you have a strong foundation that it is all based on. From a sentimental perspective, I loved reflecting on our love story to work with the officiant on our personalised ceremony. And from a DIY perspective, I made sure to solicit the help of each person in my bridal party for special moments like fittings, choosing stationary colors, cutting my veil, and sourcing vintage accessories for my look.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

Kayla Turpin, our photographer, has perfectly captured every moment of our love story – from our engagement photos, to the engagement party, and finally the most important day of our lives. She perfectly captured the emotion and importance of every moment and detail. We were drawn to her documentary style, film photography, and art. We have since become friends and we look forward to working with her for branding and milestone photos.

My planning team, Karma Goddess, handled everything all day long. I did not worry about anything the day of. They anticipated my needs – from changing my shoes earlier than I planned to finding small moments of quiet for me to reflect and decompress throughout the day.

Helen from Ever After is my amazing florist whose creative vision and execution went above and beyond my vision. She even let us head over to the ceremony early to take photos while it was still light.

We were told by at least 50 people that Style Catering was the best wedding food they’d ever had. Our guests are still raving about the passed lotus cracker short rib. Our personal waiter, Fernando, took care of us all night. And Michelle was a pleasure to work with. She helped bring to life a special late-night dessert, passed on by servers, to honour my brother.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

My dress is vintage haute couture Vera Wang. It was on the runway in 2008. It is one of the dresses Carrie Bradshaw tries on during her Vogue photo shoot in the movie. My friend found it at Goodwill for $20. She posted it, and it went viral, but she only let one bride-to-be try it on. When it fit perfectly, I knew it was the one. I took it home the very same day (before I was even engaged). We did not have a garment bag, so I had to bring it home with me in a black garbage bag and run it out of an apartment, through the snow, and into the back of my car! I apologise to the vintage couture gods for that one. When I paid for the dress, the seller shared that she needed to use the money to fund her divorce fees. Obviously, I am not superstitious. Maybe taboo, but I believe it was a blessing for both of us!

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

My engagement ring is a natural, radiant cut diamond. It was a high cathedral set, platinum prongs, and a thick, 3mm 14K gold band. The high
setting ensured lots of freedom in designing the wedding band. We worked with Bobby’s family jeweller on my rings. P Martin in Lisle, Illinois. I
always wear mixed metals, so I went with a 2mm platinum wedding band. My band has family heirloom diamonds bezel set into the band. Our
jeweller made sure to make both of my rings the same size so they sat flush, and with the same curved edges, so they were a matching set. I
have never seen a stack like it. Bobby’s ring is from Blue Nile and mixes both polished and brushed metals. Both of our wedding bands are
matching silver-tones.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

We splurged on food and alcohol. It was important for us to upgrade to have Casamigos and ensure our guests were fed throughout the entire evening. We also splurged on the venue, as when you choose a historic, whimsical site like Vizcaya, it brings the ambiance and you don’t really need any decor – other than flowers, you can never have too many flowers.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

We opted for a private cake cutting – so we could get everyone on the dance floor sooner. We had a giant 4-tiered cheesecake because it is our favourite dessert. During our cake cutting inside the villa, our view out of the windows was the dance floor. We could see our guests and all our favourite people dancing to house music, having the time of their lives. We were saying it looked like more fun than the best club we’d ever been to. We could not wait to get on that dance floor.

Seeing each other during our first look allowed us to have the one and only intimate moment, the two of us together, for the entire day. It was the only way we could calm the nerves – so much adrenaline and excitement, but it all subsided to be more manageable. I’ll never forget that he did, in fact, shed a tear.

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

We left each other notes that we took a moment alone (separately) to read before getting ready for the big day. It was so special. Bobby printed out photos from us over the past 10 years, and wrote on 10 pages. His letter (or more like a book) made me sob! I had to re-ice my face from crying! I had literally just iced it, hehe. For my note to Bobby – I used paper from Il Papiro, a paper store I lived above in Florence when we did long distance.

Marriage is the beginning of forever. We feel honoured to take the best family traditions, values, and faith that we grew up with, and bring them to our new life together. We can’t wait to evolve together and create our own memories, traditions, and values.