Does anyone believe in love at first sight anymore? Alexandra and Grant do. It happened to them, and in the most unexpected of locations.
Alexandra, a senior at UC Davis, was indulging in her final year of an annual sorority tradition: a Memorial Day trip to Lake Shasta. And Grant, a student at Cal Poly in Southern California, and his friends had heard about the party up north and decided on a whim to join the fun and rent a houseboat.
For both Alexandra and Grant, the weekend was supposed to be just about friends, fun, and good-old-fashioned college partying. Little did they know it was about to become much more.
While boat hopping with her friends along the dock, Alexandra found herself on Grant’s houseboat. After dancing with one of his friends for a few minutes, Alexandra excused herself to go outside and wait for her friends. That’s when she ran into Grant. “We actually credit our meeting and getting married to my friend’s terrible dancing,” Grant jokes. “We thanked him at the wedding for creeping Alexandra out. Otherwise I wouldn’t have run into her.”
Immediately, the two hit it off. They began talking and laughing and hanging out. Toward the end of the evening, Alexandra asked Grant to walk her back to her boat on the other side of the island. The two ended up talking into the wee hours. By the time Grant decided to try and head back home for some sleep, it was too late. The surrounding boats had turned off their lights and it was too dark to try and navigate the shoreline.
Unable to travel back, Grant ended up spending the night on Alexandra’s boat. But when morning rolled around, the conversation picked right back up and he ended up staying the rest of the weekend. “Basically, I took him captive,” Alexandra jokes.
By the end of the weekend, neither Alexandra nor Grant was ready to say goodbye. They discussed how they might keep in touch and ultimately decided to try for a long distance relationship.
It was a big jump, from a weekend on the lake to a long-distance relationship, but the two didn’t see it that way. “We just really liked each other,” Alexandra explains. “I mean, it wasn’t like we met under the ideal dating conditions. When you’re on a boat you can’t shower and get dressed up; it’s pretty rough and real. But we had a great time and never once got tired of each other. We just didn’t want to let that go.”
Grant agrees. “Honestly, from the moment we saw each other, it was love at first sight,” he admits. “We just clicked. Even our friends could see it.”
For the next year, the couple kept things going with frequent visits. Alexandra had graduated and was beginning her career, and working on graduate school applications, while Grant was completing his final year in school. It was tough for the couple to be apart, but they never struggled. “I think that time allowed us to focus on what we needed to do,” Alexandra says. “He needed to finish school and I was so busy with working two jobs and figuring out graduate school. It was hard not to be with him all the time, but it gave us a chance to get our lives together.”
As soon as Grant graduated, they couldn’t wait to be together. Grant found work in Sacramento and the couple rented a house together in Land Park. While some might find it a big adjustment to go from long distance relationship to romantic roommates overnight, Alexandra and Grant took it in stride. “It was easy; it was just natural for us to be together,” Alexandra says. “We didn’t think twice.”
And it wasn’t long before the couple began discussing getting married. After all, since their first night on the lake they’d known that they’d be together forever. It was never a question of if they’d get married, just when. Now, with school behind them, their careers on track, and finally living together in the same city, the time was right to take the next step.
Grant planned a trip to Las Vegas, one of their favorite destinations, in honor of their second anniversary. He told Alexandra to get dressed up for a special night out. After a romantic gondola ride through the Venetian hotel, he surprised Alexandra with dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. He’d called six months in advance to request a special table at sunset, with a dozen roses waiting upon their arrival.
“I saw the roses and thought, ‘this is it,’” Alexandra smiles. And with that, Grant asked Alexandra to marry him and slipped a dazzling diamond ring on her finger.
While the happy couple had the rest of their Las Vegas vacation to celebrate their engagement, that didn’t stop Alexandra from jumping into bride mode. “I swear she was on the laptop that same night researching places to have the wedding,” Grant recalls. “She’s a planner!”
When they returned from their vacation, the bride and groom began planning in earnest. Alexandra had her heart set on a church wedding at St. John’s in downtown Sacramento, but the reception location was undecided. The couple visited a variety of venues, ending with the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria. “As soon as I walked in, I was like ‘this is it,’” says Grant. “I loved the high ceilings, all the glass, and I could imagine a big dance floor. It looked like a great place to have a party.”
With their location set, Alexandra and Grant brought in a wedding planner to bring their vision of a Midsummer Night’s Dream to life. For their colors, the couple selected their favorite hue – purple – and accented it with green.
To give the reception a lush and romantic feel, Alexandra and Grant worked with their florist to design low centerpieces bursting with spring blooms in shades of purple and white. Plenty of rich greenery added texture and organic appeal. The flowers were set in candelabras, which sent a sparkle across green silk tablecloths and purple silk napkins. Around the dance floor, Ficus trees strung with fairy lights sparkled, completing the romantic look.
On the afternoon of May 26th, Alexandra walked down the aisle to meet her groom. The traditional ceremony included plenty of personal, sentimental touches. Alexandra’s grandmother did a special Bible reading, including the same verse to which Alexandra had been confirmed as a young girl. And Grant’s brother, a talented musician, played during the ceremony – a special surprise for the groom, as it was the first time that Grant had heard him perform.
After pledging their vows, the couple sealed their union by taking Holy Communion. Then, they were pronounced husband and wife and the celebration was ready to begin!
Because Alexandra and Grant had opted not to see one another before the ceremony, they stole away for some romantic post-wedding photographs while their guests headed to the Library Galleria for the reception. There, they were greeted with a signature purple cocktail, Lover’s Lemonade, which guests sipped with custom purple striped straws.
Next, the newlyweds and their guests enjoyed a lavish Italian-inspired feast. A beautiful buffet of rosemary chicken, lasagna, smashed baby potatoes, and grilled vegetables gave everyone the energy for dancing the night away under the sparkling lights. In between toasts, dancing, and lots of celebratory drinking, guests took pictures in a photo booth. The images were placed into the couple’s guest book, while a second set printed out as a guest favor.
Before the night was over, Alexandra and Grant cut their wedding cake. Handmade by a friend, the little purple cake sat atop a tower of vanilla, red velvet, and carrot cake cupcakes that the guests later enjoyed.
When it was all said and done, Alexandra and Grant’s wedding was exactly what they wanted: a fun and beautiful evening with family and friends.
“It was so much fun,” the bride recalls. “It’s not every day that your friends and family all come together in one place; we wanted to really enjoy that.”
“I think it’s important to let loose and have a good time,” Grant adds. “Not only for your sake, but for your guests’. We were given the advice to have more fun than anyone else at your wedding, because if you’re at a party for someone and they’re stressed, you can’t relax and have a good time. But if you relax and enjoy yourself, everyone else will, too…I think we did that.”
With a night of happy memories they’ll never forget, Alexandra and Grant are ready to face forever. The young couple realizes how rare their kind of love story is, and they don’t take it for granted.
“Getting married young, my friends teased me a bit,” Grant adds. “But they all love Alexandra and they knew she was right for me. There was never a doubt.”
Alexandra agrees.
“Before, I didn’t know if I’d ever get married. But then I met Grant,” she says. “I never once questioned marrying Grant. As soon as I met him, I knew he was the one…I’d kissed enough frogs to know what I had with him.”
PHOTOS: Bella Studios
