Fate certainly has funny ways of working things out, and no one knows that better than Katie Sheffield and Chris Motika. The couple first met in Keystone, Colorado, while chaperoning separate high school ski trips. On the last day of their trip, Katie joined Chris and mutual friends on the slopes in order to take photos of their jumps. After the first person in the group fell from an icy jump and broke his elbow, Chris attempted to do a back flip, at the end of which he broke his back. Katie saved the day, escorting the two young men down the mountain where they received medical attention.

After four months of bed rest, and two years of fate working its magic, the two met once again after both of them grudgingly attended a concert where mutual friends were performing at Hermosa Beach. After recognizing one another, Katie and Chris learned that they were from rival South Bay high schools, lived only a few blocks away from each other, and were both working in the pharmaceutical industry. One day, Chris asked her for her phone number and, two years later, he proposed to Katie in the same Manhattan Beach restaurant where they had their first date.

Katie and Chris chose not to have a theme for their wedding, but kept it simple by using light pink, ivory, and black as the wedding colors. Blush and hot pink flowers adorned the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, where the ceremony was held, as well as the reception, held at a private country club. Katie glowed in an ivory gown, while the black tuxedos worn by the groom and wedding party tied the color scheme together.

Not only was this Katie and Chris’s big day, it was a day for a father to celebrate an important passage in his daughter’s life. Much of the evening was spent dancing to the vocal stylings of Katie’s dad, after he kidnapped the microphone during several Rolling Stones tunes. With Katie and her brothers backing him up on-stage, childhood memories of their father playing guitar and singing to them stirred up the sentimental tone of the event. In honor of the Rolling Stones concerts that Katie enjoyed with her dad as a child, she chose the song “Ruby Tuesday” for a most original Father/Daughter Dance.

From their own planning experience, Katie and Chris give other couples the following tip on sticking to a budget: spend money on the things that people can see, and save money on the parts that they can’t!