Bridal Tour: Hidden Gems for Brides in San Francisco

Kathryn Kalabokes, the founder of Dream A Little Dream Events, has a semi-annual Bridal Tour. Yesterday, I was one of the lucky girls to travel around San Francisco and learn about hidden gems that will surely help a bride plan her big day. It was a day packed full of amazing vendors, valuable information and great company.

The day started out with a delicious mimosa brunch at Circa. There were three options for brunch: eggs benedict, apple French toast or scrambled egg sliders. I ordered the eggs benedict and let me tell you, there was nothing left on my plate, that’s how good breakfast tasted. After brunch we then headed to Habit, a wax salon that plans a pre-wedding wax schedule for you. I never knew that existed. It’s a great salon that is located in a Victorian house in the upstairs. It feels like you’re right at home.

We then headed up to Union Street and walked into a very dangerous place for brides, Pacific Puffs! It’s just opened a month ago. It’s a family owned business that decided to use their Grandmother's family recipe to open up a store that is hopping. They’ve been selling out of cream puffs everyday and now I know why. They are delicious, but beware brides; you’ll want to eat all of them!

After tasting these delicious cream puffs we then dashed across the street to Nick Brown Photography and Bella Bridesmaid. This duo can be a one-stop shop for amazing photojournalistic wedding photographs and gorgeous bridesmaid dresses. Just being in the shop made me want to be a bridesmaid, even though I’m going to be a bride. It’s a great place to order bridesmaids dresses because they carry an incredible amount of designs in every color imaginable. I’ve been working with the girls a Bella and it’s been a great experience!

Our last stop on Union Street was Haute Bride. They’ve got great custom made jewelry, garters, hairpieces and even dresses. After all of the glitz and glamour we saw at Haute Bride we boarded the bus to head downtown to Hello Lucky’s head studio. When you walk into their tiny two-level studio you get to look at their letterpress. Walking upstairs to their display room and work area is like a kid in a candy store for brides that love paper. I was in heaven. Just getting to look at all the different designs they create from custom to letterpress to screen print was exciting. Everything Sabrina, a co-founder, showed us was truly inspiring.

I could have stayed at Hello Lucky for hours just looking through all of their stationary and invitations but we had to move on with our tour. We drove to one of my favorite parts of San Francisco, Hayes Valley. We arrived at Birch, a flower shop that’s owned by Torryne, who is one of the best florists in San Francisco. I love going into her shops, she has another shop a block from my house in Pac Heights. She always has the most beautiful flowers displayed in a simple but chic way.

Our final stop was back at Kathryn’s lovely abode where she had great vendors’ present more important information to the tour. We were able to have a cupcake from Cake Coquette (my favorite flavor was the red velvet), got some tips about photography from Andrew Weeks, and learned about a company that specializes in rehearsal dinners called Well-Rehearsed.

We ended the wonderful day with a glass of champagne. It was a toast to a great event that I would definitely consider going to again and recommend to any bride-to-be who lives in the Bay Area.

 

Thanks to Kathryn and all of the vendors for making the day so special.