Wedding Invitations Set The Stage For A Malibu Wedding
When Tifany at Gourmet Invitations sent us today’s wedding feature, she was SO excited. Not only was the couple a dream to design for … but the finished invitation suite was just so darn clever!
Jennifer and Aamer’s Malibu wedding took place at the Adamson House this past May.
from Jennifer …
The inspiration for our wedding style was modern, fresh, and FUN! My fiancé and I didn’t want anything to feel too formal, and we wanted a wedding that really reflected us. Growing up in Southern California, my one requirement was that we HAD to get married by the beach.
Aamer and I are huge music fans, and we wanted to find a way to incorporate our love for music into our wedding. It all started with our invitations that were designed by Tifany at Gourmet Invitations. She came up with the fabulous idea of our invite actually being a CD! She also incorporated a sound wave design, which we carried over into other aspects of our wedding.
invitation suite photography courtesy of The Shooting Gallery
CEREMONY
We were very fortunate in finding the Adamson House in Malibu! It is a beautiful historical house right on the beach, with a gorgeous sycamore tree and garden. Our pre-ceremony music was songs that we loved by bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, and The Smiths ~ performed by a string quartet. I chose to walk down the isle to Teardrop by Massive Attack, which had personal meaning to my groom and me.
The wedding ceremony was performed by a dear friend of ours under the beautiful sycamore tree. He did an excellent job of keeping it light and entertaining, while not detracting from the intimate and meaningful moments. We wrote our own vows, which really personalized the ceremony. At the end, we released doves in honor of my mother, who had recently passed away. It was a very touching moment that we will never forget.
COLOR PALETTE
Our main color was burgundy, which we highlighted with a light pink. Burgundy has always been my favorite color, and even though we had a spring wedding, I insisted that we still use a dark color. It turned out that the burgundy really popped against the greenery at the Adamson House, which was an unexpected bonus!
FLOWERS
Our flowers were designed by Floral Art. I carried a burgundy bouquet made from maroon cymbidium orchids, black calla lilies, baccara roses, and burgundy peonies. I love the way the flowers looked with my white wedding dress. The bridesmaids carried pink bouquets made from pink lisianthus, roses, and pink cymbidium orchids. Aamer wore a miniature black calla lily, and the groomsmen wore miniature pink cymbidium orchids to match the bridesmaids bouquets.
Our cake was designed by Vanilla Bake Shop and was actually tiers of baby cupcakes, with a small cake on top. To keep things fun, we used Batman and Wonder Woman to top it off!
My dress was designed by Rivini and available exclusively at Lili’s Bridal in Tarzana. When the sales person showed it to me, I didn’t even want to try it on. I had a completely different idea of the kind of dress that I wanted to wear. However, once I reluctantly put it on, I never wanted to take it off!
We wanted a very clean and simple look to our centerpieces. It took some time, but with the help of our fabulous wedding coordinator, Stephanie Lairson, we came up with the idea of submerging flowers in water. The centerpieces consisted of 3 cylindrical glass hurricane vases in varying heights filled with submerged flowers, that alternated between black calla lilies pink cymbidium orchids, and burgundy cymbidium orchids. They were all placed on a round dark wood tray and surrounded by votive candles
Our table numbers were actually names of our favorite bands. One side had the band name written out with the sound wave design and the other side had a CD cover from that band. The menus were done in our color palette with a burgundy back plate to help them pop against the white table linens.
We absolutely LOVED all of our vendors, but one key person in pulling everything together was Stephanie, our wedding consultant. Our wedding day was flawless because of her help, ideas, and support. We can not thank her enough for keeping things running so smoothly!
In addition, our photographers, Mark and Candice from Mark Brooke Photography, were absolutely fabulous! They take fun and funky images, and are incredibly easy to work with. They did an amazing job making us and our day look flawless.
invitation suite photography courtesy of The Shooting Gallery
MUSIC
Our music was of course a key factor. We had a fantastic DJ, Richard Blade, who also served as our MC. Together, we made sure the dance floor was full throughout the evening!
ADVICE
The one piece of advise that I have to give to brides planning their wedding, is to find ways to incorporate little things that reflect you as a couple. Personalizing your wedding is what will make you and your guests really remember your special day. Don’t feel like you have to follow any particular set of rules. Just do what feels right to you, and remember to have fun!
Congratulations Jennifer and Aamer! We thank you so much for sharing your lovely day with us!!
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For more fantastic weddings from today’s featured Little Black Book members, here are some links to their websites and blogs …
Gourmet Invitations … Blog and Website
Stephanie Lairson … Website and Gallery
Vanilla Bake Shop … Website and Cake Gallery
Beautiful, elegant, classy! Love the soft warm light in the portraits.
This is definitely one of my all-time SMP faves! It's formal and relaxed at the same time. Love the unexpected details, bands as table numbers, the string quartet playing Coldplay, etc. Especially love the maroon orchids - and the hair! Perfection!
LOVEEE this wedding - bride and groom are gorgeous!! Few questions - Jennifer, where did you get your veil, its exactly what I am looking for? Where the manolos worth the splurge, I want the exact pair...are they comfortable!?!!
I absolutely LOVE malibu - great venue, love the band names for tables...so cool! Congrats to a beautiful couple and beautiful day!
The groom used to do a morning TV show here in Vancouver, BC many years ago. Small world that he turns up on SMP! I really enjoyed watching him, & his then co-host, Linda Freeman. They got me out the door to work each morning with a smile, and a little bit more knowledge :)
Many warm congratulations to the lovely couple!
I love the shoes!! Where did you find them??
Hey Everyone!
Thank you all for your very kind comments! I just wanted to answer a few of your questions....
I bought my veil from Lili's Bridal in Tarzana, CA, but it is by Toni Federici, so I am sure you can always order it. It is fingertip length and has a small amount of beadwork around the edges.
The shoes are Manolo Blahniks and I got them at Barneys. I am a HUGE Sex in the City fan, so I had to have some Carrie Bradshaw shoes for my wedding. I also had a nice gift cert to Barneys which helped with the sticker shock. =)
Are they comfortable? Well, I suppose they are as comfortable as 3 inch heels can be. I admit that I did take my shoes off towards the end of the night while dancing. I would say that the shoes are worth it as long as you plan on wearing them again. I have already worn them several times since the wedding!
I loved Jennifer's advice to upcoming brides-to-be!! I am definitely looking forward to my day, but have a hint of nervousness...but it seemed like things ran smoothly and there were no worries! :)
Thanks Jennifer!! Congratulations !( I am huge SOTC fan too, I have always dreamed of wearing manolos!!)
Also - did you glue those blue gems on or are they gem stickers - going to snag that idea for my something blue, I LOVE IT! You are so creative ;)
I loved the personal style coming out of this wedding! Enjoyed this very much.
Where did you find your fur stole?
Wedding Consultant
La Vie Le Gage/The Life Pledge
Thanks!
What a great idea to have a music theme for your wedding. The invitations are probably the most unique invitations I've seen. Beautiful, musical wedding!
Vaneesha - The blue beads I used for our initials were just stick-ons (I got them at paper source), and they have held up unbelievably well. And yes, I did use it for my something blue!!! =)
Joyce - The stole was my grandmother's, as was the beaded purse. She passed away quite awhile ago, so it was great to be able to have something from her with me on such a special day!
Awwww... love the beaded purse and fur stole. Jennifer, this is a gorgeous wedding. Congratulations!
Honestly, I flipped when I saw this wedding. My boyfriend and I are huge music nerds, and it's really what brought us together. I always wanted to have a mix CD and use it as a favor on all the guests' tables at the reception, and literally JUMPED when I saw you named your tables after your favorite bands (another idea I also thought I was ssoooo original for). I must say, you have good taste!:) I love the wedding, your dress, your shoes, your style - everything! Though it made me feel a little less creative and original, I am glad to see it executed here!
Where did you find your earrings and necklace? I am having such a hard time figuring out what to do and your combination worked so well and they are beautiful!! Thanks :)
Thank you to everyone again for the kind words!
Darcy - I actually got my earrings and necklace from Macys. I looked in so many boutique stores and wedding shops, and I just didn't think anything that I found was worth the price. My best friend told me that she got her wedding jewelry at Macys, and sure enough, I found exactly what I was looking for without having to spend a ton of money!
The diving board shots are too cute!
hi there, is your wedding video still posted here? I want to show it to my videographer (and my fiance)
You had a wonderful wedding, so stylish and full of personality. Brilliant! A real inspiration.
I love the music idea, and massive attack is my all time favourite!
Would you mind sharing your playlist? It would be a great starting point for my wedding, which is overseas, and we will be using the trusty i-pod.
Lovely wedding!
Thanks again for the compliments! It really means a lot!
Amanda - We didn't have a wedding video that was posted. Not sure if you are thinking of someone else. Sorry!
Dominika - I have our playlist in a word doc, and it is quite extensive. It you want me to email it to you, just send me your email address!
me too for the music playlist, if you can... we're just pulling that together for our destination wedding ipod!
amaleah@aol.com
Thnx!
hi again jennifer, would you consider selling your wedding dress? An out-there question I know but I really like it!!
my email is mandyireland333@yahoo.com.au
Can you send me the info on the string quartet you hired. Love the idea of them playing your favorite bands. Thanks!
Cathy - We looked into hiring a string quartet, but because indie music is considered "specialty music" the price jumps up quite quickly. Instead, we downloaded a ton of songs by the Vitamin String Quartet (they cover Radiohead, Coldplay, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, and many others) and had our DJ play them. This way we were able to play all the songs we wanted (not just the ones that the quartet had on their list) at a fraction of the price.