Danielle & Jason

by Marybeth Bizjak | From Spring-Summer

Photos by Hilary Hopkins

For Danielle and Jason Corda, keeping their wedding budget on track was all in a day’s work.

The couple met in an investment class as UC Davis seniors, then went on to careers in the financial services industry. So they were uniquely prepared to oversee the dizzying details of planning—and paying for—their 2009 wedding.

“Budgeting is pretty much what I do for a living,” says Danielle, who works as a finance manager for a San Francisco investment firm. (Jason, a Sacramento native and Jesuit High alum, runs a branch for a competing firm.) To track wedding costs, Danielle created an Excel spreadsheet, using estimates from friends who’d recently gotten married. She updated the figures as the couple hired their own vendors.

To stick to their budget, the Cordas prioritized and compromised. Working with Delford West, a Livermore florist, they opted for splashy sprays of white phalaenopsis orchids for the reception. To keep costs down, orchids were used on only half the tables; less-expensive white roses were used on the other half.

Don’t think the couple neglected the romance of the occasion. On a cool June evening, the pair exchanged vows before 105 guests on a hillside overlooking a vineyard. After the ceremony, bright pink paper lanterns waved in the breeze as guests sipped cocktails in the courtyard. Later, the crowd danced as a DJ played “That’s Amore” in a nod
to the groom’s Italian-American heritage. By then, budgeting was a distant memory. It was time to celebrate. 

This article appears in the Spring-Summer 2010 issue of Our Wedding

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