A "One Night Only" Rock Concert Vibe Inspired This Wedding at BLDG 177 in San Diego, California

Jessica Hattersley and Jaime Preciado celebrated their marriage with a rock concert-inspired wedding at BLDG 177 in San Diego, California. Since Jamie is a member of the band Pierce the Veil, they decided on a "For One Night Only" theme for their musical wedding celebration. "Our wedding was so much fun! Going into planning, we knew we wanted elegance with a modern edge and subtle rock'n'roll feel," recalls Jessica. "Our color palette was soft and moody tones of merlot, dusty mauve, deep plum, and earthy hues of grays and sand with black and gold accents. The theme for our wedding was 'For One Night Only,' reminiscent of the many bands and music festivals we've seen in the past."

When guests entered the BLDG 177 venue, a festival-like sign the read "For One Night Only" suspended from the ceiling greeted them and got everyone excited for the rock'n'roll evening. Then, guests found their tables at an escort card display made up of calligraphed lighters, as a nod to the couple's fun tradition of giving each other gifts from the gas station for Valentine's Day. The escort card display even showcased the lyric "I'll follow you into the dark" as a nod to one of the couple's favorite songs. Those lighters came in handy later in the evening when Jamie surprised Jessica with the lead singer from The Rocket Summer who played their first dance song. During the song, guests used their lighters to light up the room around the dancing happy couple." The surprise first dance performance was actually one of Jessica's favorite moments from the entire wedding. "Aside from finally being able to call each other husband and wife, one of the most special moments from our wedding day (and probably most anticipated for Jaime) was the surprise first dance performance he planned for us," says Jessica. "We had gone back and forth for quite some time deciding what would be our first dance and had agreed on a Jason Mraz song. Little did I know that Jaime had hired The Rocket Summer (my favorite band when I was in high school) to sing the first song we ever considered to be 'ours' back then. So at the reception, we had what I thought was our first dance to Jason Mraz, and then before we could sit down, Jaime announced the surprise, and out came Bryce Avery (singer of The Rocket Summer) to serenade us for an encore dance. I was truly surprised, as were our guests, and it was an absolutely magical moment."

Jessica's father-daughter dance was also a special moment of the evening. "I was fortunate enough to have a beautiful recording of my grandfather singing 'Pure Imagination,' from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. My dad recorded and produced the song, shortly before my grandfather passed away the year before. It was an incredibly special moment," recalls Jessica. 

While the couple's rock'n'roll style informed much of their wedding aesthetic, Jessica and Jaime also added other non-musical personalized notes through. "Beyond the rock inspiration, we also celebrated our culture and included nods to our favorite things with a mariachi band leading to cocktail hour and hidden Mickey Mouses throughout the reception," explains the couple. Notably, Jaime "added flair to his wedding outfit with some gorgeous golden Mickey Mouse cuffs and a Nixon watch sporting Mickey's gloves for hands." It's no wonder Disney details were threaded throughout the wedding—Disneyland is the couple's favorite place on earth and played a role in their proposal in 2018.  "While we were getting ready to leave the Disneyland Hotel and head to the park, Jaime stopped me and asked if I would listen to a song with him in the room," recalls Jessica. "He pressed play and an acoustic version of my favorite Dashboard Confessional song began to play, a song he recorded himself secretly the week before. He asked me to dance and I noticed rose petals were on the floor. We were dancing and then Jaime got down on one knee and pulled out the ring box. When he opened it and asked me to marry him, the ring was facing upside down, and we laughed and cried as I said yes and he put the ring on my finger. The next two days at Disneyland were the most fun we have ever had there to date."

Jessica goes on to explain that "almost every element of the wedding was personal and special in some way. We had a ceviche bar during cocktail hour (one of our favorite snacks!) and we had his and hers cocktails. For me, my cocktail was a Cadillac Margarita called 'Golden Hour' as a nod to my favorite Kacey Musgraves song. My husband's cocktail was an Old Fashioned called 'Flying J' reminiscent of his passion for flying airplanes. The cocktail menu was hand-painted in watercolors and we loved it so much we framed it in our home." Another detail Jessica loved so much from the wedding that she wanted to memorialize it was her wedding bouquet. "My bouquet was so beautiful that a few months after our wedding, I used it as inspo for a tattoo I got on my arm." 

The personalized focus of the wedding, from nods to both music and Disney, was something Jessica and Jaime were very intentional about. Jessica recalls that "a mantra my mom had us repeating during the planning process was, 'Your wedding, your way. There's absolutely no way you're going to please everyone. Just remember that you and your spouse are the most important part of the day. The other advice we got before we started planning our wedding was, 'Whatever you are doing, make it fun!' That was truly excellent advice. Even when you are working with experts, the number of decisions and tasks to complete can be stressful. We tried to keep it light and fun at every stage, and just keep in mind that it was our day. We've tried to carry that idea into our marriage. As long as we are having fun, everything else is easy."