Carie Ann and Louis wanted to celebrate their “I Dos” with their kids. “We decided to have all six of our grown children walk each of us in increments,” says Carie Ann. “One walking us from the top of stairs to center, then the next cutting in, [before] meeting the third at the bottom for all six to give us away. After the ceremony, we lit the unity candle together.”
The couple—who met 12 years ago at a dinner party—married in a spring wedding in the gazebo and garden at Pallazzo di Mangianella, a private estate in El Dorado Hills. Carie Ann says the wedding vows were a “beautiful mix of love, spirituality and prayer—blessed and delightful.” The groom—who’s the owner of The Mansour Company—was amazed by his bride. “The feeling I had was the same I felt 12 years ago when we first met,” he says. “I saw the most beautiful woman in the world walking toward me, staring into my eyes.”
As owner and event design specialist at El Dorado Hills Party Rentals, Carie Ann has an eye for details. For the color palette, she chose blush, ivory, silver and grey. The flowers were her favorite bloom: peonies. Still, being in the wedding industry was a challenge for Carie Ann. Two months before the big day, she realized she needed to make her own event a bigger priority. “I had set my own wedding plans on the shelf,” Carie Ann says, noting she woke up panicked at 3 a.m. Later that day, she called event planner Jordan Brushia, from J. Marie Events, a resource she calls “a lifesaver!”
“When you marry someone like Carie Ann you have a surprise at every turn,” says Louis, impressed with all the details she had coordinated. “Our boutonnières were fashioned from black shotgun shells to match our tuxes. She had put strong magnets on them to hold them on,” he says, explaining he loved that detail since he’s an avid outdoorsman who likes to hunt and fish.
The wedding favors doubled as table place cards. Carie Ann put together edible flower seed packets, featuring table numbers and name place cards for each guest, as well as white pots and white paper bags with soil. The self-described foodies served a variety of tasty cuisine, including three salads, seasonal fruit, beef tenderloin, wild-caught halibut, macaroni and cheese, and grilled veggies. One hundred of their 150 guests traveled to the wedding from out-of-state, including those from the Pacific Northwest and south Florida. “To see all of our special people chatting, dining and dancing together was wonderful,” Carie Ann says.
While the couple has been busy working, they’re eager to plan a honeymoon to “somewhere wonderful, like Italy,” says the bride.
—Kristen Castillo
