The Real Wedding of Lorraine and CJ Orrantia: A Timeless South Bend Wedding

Lorraine and CJ met in the classic, movie type of way - at a bar. After exchanging phone numbers, they started dating and the rest is history. When it came to the proposal, Lorraine says that they kept it personal. She says, “He wanted it to be just us and very simple. We had planned to go out to dinner for Valentine's Day. He got one of my very best friends from grad school to take me out to lunch and convince me to get my nails done. I went up to his apartment at the appointed time and walked into a beautiful bouquet of my favorite flowers. He had our favorite band, The 1975, playing in the background and simply got on one knee right there in what is now our shared downtown Chicago apartment. I said yes right away!”
 

After the perfect proposal, the couple started planning right away. Lorraine began by honing in on the bigger vendors and then deciding on the details. It was important to the couple to have a wedding in South Bend - where they met but to still incorporate important elements about themselves. She says, “We really wanted to incorporate Ecuador to honor my husband’s heritage. So, I did a lot of research on the country as well. I looked at magazines and I also looked all over social media to see what my friends had done.” After gaining some inspiration, Lorraine and CJ planned for a timeless, gold and blue wedding with edgy elements to bring a modern vibe.
 

“There is not another single dress in this world exactly like mine,” says Lorraine. Finding the right dress was no easy task for this bride. Being a size 00, desiring a classic look (which many brides are not going for these days) and searching for a delicate lace - it was hard to find the right one. Luckily, during a visit to Miami, Lorraine found a shop that could custom order her ideal dress. She says, “I felt so incredibly blessed to be able to have a dress like that. Of course, the price point is a bit higher and I did have to fly down to Miami a few times for fittings, but in the end, I got exactly the dress I wanted and it fit like a glove. I will cherish it forever. Also, amazingly, the dress was hand-sewn by a woman from my husband’s hometown in Ecuador. That’s amazing!”
 

What we love

We adore the tropical-inspired florals used in the wedding. Lorraine says, “We had the majority of our flowers flown in from his home town of Guayaquil. My in-laws are friends with the owners of The Bouqs Company, so they had the flowers flown in. The flowers were then arranged by MichaelAngelos Events of South Bend. And they turned out spectacular!”

Advice from the bride

Lorraine offers advice on something that many brides do not think about. She says, “I would make sure you make a plan for what happens to your wedding dress after the wedding. I didn’t have anything planned for it after the wedding. It sat on a bed in my parent’s house for a few weeks until I finally got around to taking it to a cleaners to have it preserved.”
 

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