Shelly was living in Sacramento in 2015 when she visited a friend in Los Angeles who happened to be friends with Saular. Those trips became more frequent as did time spent between Shelly and Saular. Flirty texts turned into everyday chatting and getting to know each other, and by the new year, Saular had asked Shelly to be his long-distance girlfriend. A few months later, she moved in with him and their dog, Nike, soon joined the family.
Shelly and Saular got engaged in the summer of 2018 during a sunset proposal along the Venice Canals in Los Angeles. They married 13 months later at Orchard Creek Lodge. “We booked all of our vendors and planned the wedding ourselves. We did have a fabulous day-of timeline that our amazing photographer did for us,” shares Shelly.
The couple knew they wanted amazing photos and they hired Mackenzie Roberts with Chuck Roberts Photography. “At the end of the day, that’s all you have left so we wanted to hire someone with experience who would be sure to capture as many moments as possible,” says Shelly. “Mackenzie was phenomenal to work with—she knows how to make you feel at ease, and is so fun and enjoyable to be around!” The bride says that Mackenzie also helped them figure out the pros and cons of doing pictures before or after the ceremony, “We did a first look so that we would have time to take pictures before the ceremony and have more time during the reception to mingle with our guests.”
Their wedding was filled with many personal touches, including a custom cake topper featuring “SM2” since their initials have always been the same. Shelly had custom Nike (a nod to their dog) running shoes made with the date engraved on them. Their guest book was a map of the Los Angeles area with a heart printed in the location of their first apartment in Santa Monica, and they shared Milk Bar cookies with their guests as it’s one of their favorite desserts.
The couple and their guests enjoyed the relaxed vibe during the reception in the ballroom at the Orchard Creek Lodge. “It was a fun reception where we had a DJ and were able to dance as well as hangout and talk with a lot of our out-of-town guests,” she says.
One special moment occurred toward the end of the reception when the couple’s DJ, Mike Anderson from Creative Memories Entertainment surprised the couple by playing clips of their wedding vows and the speeches mixed in with the music. “It made me sob uncontrollably,” the bride exclaims.
The celebration didn’t stop once the wedding ended, however. “Our favorite part of the day was going to In-N-Out after the reception,” she says. “Just the two of us in our suit and dress.”
—Kristen Castillo
