William (Billy) and Krystle

04/01/2017

Los Angeles, CA, United States

Billy and I got married on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at USC Our Savior Parish Church (ceremony) and celebrated our reception at Town & Gown Ballroom on USC's campus. It was a beautiful spring day and very special for us as it was also our 12 year anniversary. Yes, Billy asked me to be his girlfriend when we were 15 and 16 years old on April Fool's Day, just in case I said no.

We chose our wedding venue—USC Our Savior Parish for the ceremony and USC Town & Gown Ballroom for our reception—because Billy and I both attended USC for college. USC holds a special place in our hearts and we are HUGE football fans (us along with both of our families are season ticket holders every year). Billy also played football at USC, so it only felt right to have it at a place that was meaningful to us on so many levels. It feels like our second home.

Since our wedding was at USC, I felt that we needed to have a style and color scheme that would complement the cardinal and gold colors throughout the ballroom and campus. I chose a color palette of dusty rose, rose gold (inspired by my wedding dress), gold, ivory and pops of Marsala. I didn’t want everything to match too much, so our florals were a beautiful romantic mix of the entire palette. Our style was a mix of elegance, romance and glam with playful personal touches that made it our own. I wanted our wedding day to feel personal and fun, so there were accenting gold and metallic details throughout. Our Golden doodle pup, Leo, wasn’t able to take part in our wedding day so we made sure to incorporate him as part of our guestbook poster, cake topper and prop for the photo booth. He was a big hit!

I had always loved Hayley Paige’s designs even before Billy and I got engaged. I booked my first dress appointment at JLM Couture Boutique in West Hollywood for the Hayley Paige trunk show. Her new line had just been unveiled the week prior during New York Bridal Fashion Week and I saw a dress that I fell in love with. I took my parents with me to my appointment and as we chose dresses to try on, we spotted the Marni gown that I loved in an exclusive color—ivory with rose gold and crystal embellishments. I was in heaven! After trying on the first dress, I knew I had to try on the Marni gown and of course, the moment I put it on I knew it was the one. I just felt like I radiated in that gown and there were definitely tears from each one of us. I even got to meet Hayley Paige and she helped me pick my veil and asked the infamous “Are you saying yes to the dress?” question. It was the perfect moment topped off with champagne.
Fun fact about the dress: there is “Love” written in the embellishments all around the dress. Also, since it was an exclusive color, it had to be approved by the designer. Luckily, Hayley was there to approve and I ended up being one of the first to wear the Hayley Paige Marni gown. I felt like I glowed the entire day of my wedding and I sparkled my way down the aisle and on to the dance floor.

The bridesmaids wore dusty rose and the groomsmen were in tune with their traditional black tuxedos. My mom wore rose gold to complement my wedding dress which had rose gold and crystal embellishments. Many of our family members and guests wore colors within the palette as well.

There were so many memorable parts of our wedding day. Some of my favorites include: getting ready in the bridal suite in the morning with the bridal party, my mom and new mother-in-law. I really wanted everyone to be relaxed and feel pampered. With the help of my dad and brother, we set up a mimosa bar with breakfast and it was so fun listening to music, chatting and getting ready together. It helped calm my nerves leading up to the big day. Also that morning, I gave my parents and brother a gift from me. We are a super close family and had really been looking forward to this day. We were all so emotional, but it was such a special, quiet moment before the whirlwind of the day ahead.

Walking down the aisle was probably one of my most favorite memories. I didn’t know how Billy was going to react since he isn’t always emotional. He even joked to me days before the wedding and said he would cry if I wanted him to. We decided against doing a first look as we wanted to keep it traditional before our Catholic ceremony. My dad walked me down the aisle and I wasn’t able to see Billy’s face until I got about halfway. Billy was sobbing. It was completely unexpected and was such a genuine emotion. I am normally the more emotional type and I tried so hard to hold back the tears. It was a moment we had been waiting for; twelve years in the making, as we got married on our twelve year anniversary to the day. It was such an overwhelming feeling being surrounded by everyone that we love to celebrate the day we became husband and wife. In that moment, it felt like this is where we were supposed to be and it was always each other.

When the ceremony was over and we exited the church, we had planned for a mariachi band to start playing when the church doors opened. Since we were the first to exit, the music started and it was so much fun seeing our entire family and friends exit and greet us as we listened to the music playing. It was such a whirlwind of hugs and congratulations and a great start to the exciting night ahead.

Our grand entrance was one of my most favorite parts of the reception. Billy and I had been planning to surprise everyone with the world famous USC Trojan Marching Band. We had reached out to the coordinator over a year in advance and were not able to get a definite answer that the band could play until a few months before the wedding. As many of our family and friends are big USC fans, we knew it was going to be such a treat to have them play. The band hid on the other side of the venue until it was time for our grand entrance and when they announced “Mr. and Mrs. William and Krystle Rojas” we were followed into the ballroom with the music of the band. Everyone erupted into cheers, taking photos and throwing up their “V for Victory” sign. The band played the USC alma mater, Fight Song, Tusk and many of their famous songs you hear whenever you attend a game. Billy and I stood on the dance floor in awe that this was our wedding day and this moment was actually happening. It still feels like a dream looking back on it.

The dances were also very special moments. Our first dance song was “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran. This was a last minute song change for us as we initially picked another song to dance to. My maid of honor told me to listen to this song as it had just come out a couple weeks before the wedding. When we first listened to it, we both knew it was perfect for us. We are high school sweethearts. Billy was 15 years old and I was 16 years old when we first met. He literally ran me over trying to catch a football and I knocked into me during a school retreat (February 14, 2005) — and that was how we met. We have grown up together, been through so many highs and lows and this song just spoke to us. As we started our first dance, again we were just so overcome with the moment and cried tears of happiness because we knew it all made sense. We were always meant to be.

My dad and I did a surprise performance for the father/daughter dance. We had a few practice days and he was such a good sport about it leading up to the wedding. When I was younger I used to always love choreographing school performances and dancing so it was so fun to do this with my dad. Our DJ put together a mix of our songs for us to practice to. For our dance, we started with “Over the Rainbow” by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole which has always been one of our favorites. We made it seem as though there was a technical difficulty in the middle of the song, my dad flung off his tuxedo jacket and we put on sunglasses to continue our dance to “Jump On It”, “It’s Not Unusual”, “Can’t Touch This”, “Tootsie Roll” and ended with “My Girl." It was so sweet to share this fun moment with my dad and it really broke the ice from all of the emotion from the speeches and first dance. After that, our dance floor was full and overflowing on the carpet for the rest of the night.

We had asked our DJ to play “Sweet Caroline” as the last song of the night. It’s a throwback to our college days at our old college bar—the 901—whenever the night was ending. Organically, everyone made a huge circle around Billy and me on the dance floor. Everyone from our parents, grandparents, cousins and friends sang at the top of their lungs and danced. We truly felt the love the entire day and this last song spoke volumes to how much everyone loved and supported us.

All in all, our wedding went by in a flash but it was a true testament to our love surrounded by those most important to us. It was completely unforgettable.