Amy met George at a Memorial Day party he hosted at his home in Old Sacramento. “Neither he nor I would find out until weeks later that our mutual friends had invited me to the party with the sole purpose of us meeting each other,” says Amy. After a quick introduction, she remembered thinking, “Who was this crazy guy wearing multiple layers of Mardi Gras beads and singing at the top of his lungs?” She adds, “I knew that I had never met anyone like him.”

Two years later, the couple traveled to Cabo San Lucas for a vacation and enjoyed a private glass bottom boat that offered them a beautiful tour around the famous arch. “When we landed on Lover’s Beach, George took me to a secluded spot where we had Champagne while watching the sunset,” remembers Amy. “I was so mesmerized by the beauty around us that I didn’t notice George had slipped away. When I turned around to look for him, he was on one knee with a box in his outstretched hand. He started crying and asked me to marry him through the tears. I just remember screaming ‘Yes!’ with excitement and jumping around.”

Both Amy and George knew they wanted their wedding to be a true reflection of them. That meant Amy designing and creating many of the elements herself. “I had so much fun painting our wedding crest, which we used as a recurring element throughout the wedding and the reception,” she shares. “For our wedding crest animals we chose a cat to represent our sweet kitty Luna and a rooster because my nickname for George is Kakas, which is Hungarian for rooster. Our sweet little Luna died shortly after the wedding (after battling a long illness), so having her forever in our crest is even more special now.”

George walked Amy down the aisle at their ceremony where Reverend Timothy Mills would incorporate the perfect amount of love and humor. “He even seamlessly sprinkled in several Jewish elements to our non-traditional ceremony, including speaking Hebrew, which was greatly appreciated by many of George’s family,” says the bride. He also had Amy and George each compose a small story about how they met, reading both aloud during the ceremony. “It was the first time that George and I had heard each other’s stories, and they were almost completely identical!”

The reception continued at beautiful Park Winters. “There isn’t an area on the property that isn’t stunning, so we kept the outdoor décor simple to let the beauty of the grounds speak for itself,” Amy says. “My mother, bless her heart, did all of the stunning flower arrangements that tied the entire reception together, both inside and out.” Amy’s sister Emily created a “kids only” area complete with pillows, blankets, games and bubbles for the youngest guests, and each received a personalized pail full of games and sweets.

George most fondly remembers his first sight of Amy in her wedding dress walking toward him. “She was as beautiful as ever,” he beams. “It was such a special moment.”

— Darren Elms