Style Me Pretty: Wedding Blog for the Style-Obsessed Bride

The Most Stunning Al Fresco Wedding by the Sea

The combination of modern and bohemian romance is a style we can so get behind. Think ghost chairs and cascading flowers by Burst And Bloom, lucite seating cards and antique tableware. It’s the kind of wedding that will inspire you to party under the twinkle lights and stars. Add to that the loveliest moments captured by Jose Villa , and this collection of photographs is officially dream status.

Colors

Seasons

Fall

Settings

Al Fresco

Styles

Romantic

From the Bride…When Choosing the perfect setting for our special day without hesitation it was Carmel. I grew up Visiting Carmel as a little girl because my parents would experience the romance and it was a short drive from Los Angeles for us to do weekend get-a-ways as a family. I knew When I met Benjamin I had to share the magic of that city with him. One day we Took a coastal road trip From British Columbia (Where Ben was born and raised) all the way to Orange County… he was absolutely floored by its charm and romance. This city will always be “our place”. It doesn’t hurt just how dog friendly it is, because our two rescue fur babies Lula and Sailor are everything to us.

On Our wedding Day we asked the guests to all wear black and white because it’s so classic and calming. The acrylic ghost chairs were chosen as we were framed by two mirrored flower pedestals to make the seamless setting all about the ocean and nothing else.

After Being Pronounced husband and wife, we popped prosecco and were carted off in a beautiful vintage car . That was actually our favorite moment of the day because it was only us. It felt like we were the only two people in the world, blasting Etta James with wind blowing in our faces and the gorgeous beach backdrop.

Ben and I chose a mixture of vintage and new furniture mixing shabby chic and glamorous elements sticking to our clear and white palette because its what makes us happiest. Sticking to acrylics, marbles, velvets, silks, and glass. Our home is even decorated like a mini version of our wedding. It was important to us to be framed in a floating tented light fixture to feel as tho we were always under the stars.

I chose to wear a Claire Pettibone gown and veil because of her victorian bohemian elements and attention to butterfly details which always remind me of my Grandmother when I see them. Tess Harris built me these heels from scratch in designing custom with me as I am a vegan fashion blogger and it was important to me the sourcing of the shoes with no animal product, with thee most beautiful sparkly butterfly atop.
Ben chose one of his favorite brands Ralph Lauren as a no brainer because as Ben is an actor and He is such a fan wearing Ralph for any of his movie premieres or press junkets.

We did all of the wedding planning ourselves and I was so proud of Ben’s involvement throughout the process. He has such good taste and our tastes are very similar! I thrifted all of our antique tabletop items because I didn’t want anything to be too “matchy” we paid attention to sourcing squatty etched glasses for The Grooms recommended cocktail: “The Sailor” which was a bourbon old fashioned and finding thin stemmed detailed Marie Antoinette type wide brimmed champagne glasses for The Brides recommended cocktail: “The Lula” which was Baileys Almande over ice.

Burst and Bloom delivered our dream flowers from a combination of garden roses, eucalyptus, and gardenia. And a magnificent cascading floral garden floating on our bridal party table felt like we were dining in an outdoor vintage bohemian garden party.

Amongst our friends and family we danced our first dance which was by Feist “Lovers Spit” We are forever grateful to our favorite photographer in the world Jose Villa for capturing the best day of our lives so beautifully so we may relive it over and over forever.

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Photography

Jose Villa Photography

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Vintage Treasures

Found Vintage Rentals

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How To Have a Tuscany-Inspired Wedding in California

There’s nothing quite as charming as fall in Tuscany. But when you can’t make the trip all the way to your dream destination? You make your dream destination a reality where you are. That’s exactly what Judy and Steven did with the help of Charmed Events Group, in beautiful California. Layered with dusty blues and oranges, and scenes like this, they nailed it. Jen Huang was there to document it all and I promise, you’ll get sucked into the gallery for far too long—a totally good thing, friends.

From Charmed Events Group… Judy and Steven had a beautiful Fall Wedding at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, California. They wanted their design to be clean and elegant to reflect the venue that they chose. They liked bright pops of color but didn’t want it to be overpowering so we chose bright pops of oranges paired with light blues for their event design, paired with elements in whites and golds.

Their ceremony took place in the beautiful gardens of the estate which was reminiscent of Tuscany. Since the setting was already naturally so beautiful, we didn’t want to add too much to take away from what was in place, but we did add beautiful vines that climbed up the white pillars of the ceremony space and for whimsy, added floral crowns to the statues in place. We also had beautiful garlands draped on the ceremony chairs with pretty orange blooms to make the garlands pop.

Steven has a deep love of music so we incorporated their love of music and old records into the event design. Guests were seated at tables named after their favorite records and their names were displayed on old records that the couple has collected over the years that we sprayed white. Each record was adorned with orange blooms. Their table settings were so beautiful with pale blue linens with bright orange flowers paired with gold place settings and white chairs. Each guest had a custom menu that was also adorned in various orange blooms to make their settings pop.

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Party Rentals

La Tavola Fine Linen Rental

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Event Styling And Decor

Charmed Events Group, LLC

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The Perfect Wedding That Almost Didn’t Happen

For starters, this gorgeous wedding…well, it almost didn’t happen. Just 8 days before they were set to tie the knot, Becca and Seth got word their venue couldn’t accommodate them due to unforeseen weather issues. Becca’s response? “As long as I get to marry Seth, I’ll be happy.” They quickly pulled together a plan B with their planner Lindsey Zamora and the result is the perfect outdoor celebration captured by Kristen Kilpatrick.

Colors

Seasons

Spring

Settings

Field Outdoor

Styles

Al Fresco Romantic

From Lindsey Zamora, the wedding designer… Becca and Seth are one of the sweetest couples I have had the pleasure of working with. I have known Becca for several years from the wedding industry and was so honored when she hired me to design her destination wedding! Becca and Seth settled on the Texas Hill Country and wanted a day that was timelessly romantic with an organic feel. Our team was so graciously welcomed by Pilot Knob Vineyards when we were unable to have the wedding at a private residence as originally planned due to weather. It was such a great reminder of what a wedding really is- “As long as I get to marry Seth, I’ll be happy” were Becca’s words over and over as we pulled together to come up with new floor plans, worked through new logistics and let the guests know of the new location.

The vineyard overlooked the native Texas agriculture’s rolling hills, cacti and wildflowers which ended up being the perfect backdrop for the wedding. One of my favorite memories was the thank you speech given by the couple under the Texas sunset and then later dancing their first dance under festoon lights as their family and friends gazed upon them. Everyone involved was so gracious, welcoming and hardworking to pull off a beautiful day. It was such a beautiful evening and we were lucky to be part of it!

From the Bride… Our day almost didn’t happen. We received a call eight days before the wedding that the original location we wanted to use had been rained out and couldn’t accommodate a wedding due to wet soil. I think I panicked more inwardly than outwardly, but a part of me thought we would have to cancel our wedding. Luckily, a dear friend posted to social media about the dilemma and our vineyard venue was found and booked!

Seth and I are high school sweethearts and dated for seven years before he proposed, in one of our favorite parks where we used to have anniversary picnics. I don’t remember a thing he said, because the whole moment was there and gone in the blink of an eye, but I do remember knowing, without a doubt, that he was my person and I couldn’t say anything but a tearful and joyful “yes!”

When it came to the wedding, we knew we wanted an intimate, romantic, outdoor wedding, with amazing food, great music, and our closest friends and loved ones to feel relaxed enough to enjoy themselves. We chose a color palette of blush, gold, ivory, and touches of green through greenery. I decided on a custom dyed, blush Leanne Marshall gown. I was inspired by the pink and rose gold tones in my engagement ring and I also knew that didn’t see myself in a white or ivory gown. Lindsey fully understood and executed our vision for the day beautifully. With understated florals, soft touches of ivory fabric, and romantic and elegant touches of candlelight in our beautiful tablescape.

Aside from how beautiful our day was, my favorite parts were our first look, ceremony and vows. Seth and I both grew up very close with our grandparents. His grandfather, whom I never met, but I know Seth adored, passed away suddenly several years ago. Seth was given a shirt of his to keep, but he never knew what to do with it. One day, while cleaning the garage, I saw it sitting in plastic and I knew exactly what to do. I secretly took the shirt to my seamstress and had her create a pocket square out of it.

During our first look, I gave it to Seth as a way to have his grandfather close to him on the wedding day. He knew exactly what it was and proudly wore his pocket square. Even writing this makes me cry all over again, but that moment was priceless on our day. Seth and I chose to send our officiant 10 things we loved about one another, for her to read and us to hear for the first time during the ceremony. We also wrote and read our own vows, which meant the world to hear and know that our love was so much stronger eight years later.

After the ceremony, we ate with friends and family, danced our first dance to “You Make it Real” by James Morrison, and had the time of our lives. Reliving our wedding day through photos and reading our vows, which now hang on our living room wall, will never get old!

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Bridesmaid

Jenny Yoo

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Classic American-Mexican Affair with To-Die-For Bridal Portraits

I think you’ll agree that among all of the breathtaking captures of this day by Ben Q Photography, the bridal portraits shine through the brightest. See? Eliza and Dan, you are striking—from the first look and leaving the ceremony to the first dance and the cake cutting (oh hey, Sugar Bee Sweets!), their love glows. Pin-worthy gallery? To say the least.

From the Bride… Dan and I met in New York City in the summer of 2013, while working together in the fashion industry. He proposed in January 2015 in Monterrey, Mexico, the city where I was born and raised. We decided to have a long engagement and take our time to plan our wedding since we could not decide on a location: beach or city in Mexico, New York City? We saw several options but none of them fully convinced us. A few months later, life took us to Dallas. We fell in love with the city and decided to have our wedding in our new hometown.

Since day one we knew we wanted to embrace both of our cultures and have a wedding with the best of Mexican and American traditions, resulting in a classic yet modern wedding. The traditional Mexican ceremony took place at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and our reception was held at Arlington Hall at Lee Park. We loved these locations because of their architecture, views and that elegant, timeless vibe they both exude. Working with our wedding planners, Elizabeth and Amanda at After Yes, Dan and I were solely involved in every aspect of the planning and decision making, which made it so much fun and made our wedding day truly ours. We decided on a day wedding and chose light colors: mostly white, ivory and shades of light peach, as well as lots of greenery and marble accents for floral and decor.

We both agree that our favorite moment of the day was when I walked down the aisle. It was an indescribable moment when so many emotions met. After so many months of waiting, I was nervous to see him and had butterflies in my stomach, just like I did on our first date.

Our advice for future brides and grooms: Make it a point and remind each other to enjoy each second of your wedding day. We will forever cherish and are so grateful for the moments we got to share with our families and closest loved ones, in what will always be one of the most special days of our lives.