And if you simply can’t wait to pick up your copy of MSW, you can check out the sneak peeks on Green Wedding Shoes, 100 Layer Cake, Jose’s blog, Joel’s blog and Elizabeth’s blog. Here is just one of the jaw droopingly beautiful images that made us go a little wedding crazy. A leather bound, hand calligraphed napkin wrap dreamed up by who else? Lisa Vorce. Wedding magician, Beauty Inventor and all around great girl.

Location: Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse / Event Design & Production: Lisa Vorce of Oh, How Charming! / Event Design and Flowers: Mindy Rice Floral Design / Catering: New West Catering / Stationery: Tiny Pine Press; and Papel Paper & Press / Calligraphy: Anne Jones / Cake: Sweet & Saucy Shop / Lighting: Bella Vista Design / Photography: Elizabeth Messina / Cinematography: Joe Simon Films / Ceremony & Cocktail Music: Bolero Soul / Reception Music: Michael Antonia of Flashdance / Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Specialty Decor: Barker Decor Service

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anne Jones, Barker Decor Service, Bella Vista Design, Bolero Soul, Classic Party Rentals, Elizabeth Messina, Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse, Joe Simon Wedding Films, Joel Serrato, Jose Villa, Lisa Vorce, Mindy Rice Floral Design, New West Catering, Oh How Charming, Papel Paper and Press, Sweet & Saucy Shop, The FlashDance, Tiny Pine Press
Post categories: Casual Elegance, The Blog

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From the Bride…Jono and I first met when I was on a job interview at UC Santa Barbara. I was interviewing to be the ticket manager and he was currently an assistant basketball coach for the men’s basketball team. I was being shown around the office and introduced to staff and coaches when I was introduced to him. He asked where I was from, and I said Spokane, Washington. His response was, “I hate you.” I was slightly taken aback but laughed, and he explained that he had been there a few months earlier and had a horrible case of food poisoning, so he didn’t have the best memories. We always joke about the fact that the first thing he said to me was “I hate you.”

I accepted the job and moved to Santa Barbara. We became friends and hung out with a group of young, single co-workers often. We started working out together and hanging out just the two of us at times. I thought he might like me but I shrugged it off because I didn’t want to date a co-worker. But eventually after being set up on a date with someone else, I realized I was thinking about Jono the entire time and I should probably give it a shot (no basketball pun intended!). That was November of 2008 and we’ve been together since!

We looked at two other locations for the wedding. But I think we knew once we visited Bacara that it was the spot for us. We worked very close to Bacara and went on walks nearby often. We loved that our ceremony site had a garden like feel, but with views of the cliffs, beach, ocean and islands. We didn’t have to worry about the challenges of getting married on the beach (sand and wind issues). It was also important for us to be able to take some photos after the ceremony on the beach. We both agree that those beach photos are our favorite and we’ll hold the memories of taking those photos very dearly.
I had part of my baby blanket sewn in to my dress. I have loved my baby blanket my entire life and my great-aunt gave me a hard time since I was little that I should have it sewn in to my wedding dress, so I did! My baby blanket is blue and white gingham, and she actually hosted a bridal shower for me with a blue and white gingham theme!

Our place cards were designed to look like tickets to a game. I was the ticket manager at UCSB and sold tickets to the games Jono coached… tickets and games have played a significant role in our lives for sure! They were situated at the cocktail hour in green lentil beans, which is also significant as I grew up in Eastern Washington, which is the lentil capital of the world. Our save the date, invitation, place cards and menu’s were all from a hand drawn design specially created for us by Wendy Ware. She did an amazing job! She also hand-glued 10 crystals on each of our wedding invitations! In addition, the Bacara took the design from the invitations and created it for our cake.

From Tanja Lippert Photography…This was a beautiful, intimate wedding that I was asked to shoot for an amazing online inspirational show for photographers called the [Framed] show.  The wedding was gorgeous and the bride outdid herself with gorgeous details, amazing venue and everything was picture perfect!!!  The cool thing about this wedding is that is was filmed for an episode of the [Framed] Show and there is a very cool behind the scenes inspirational video that highlights Tanja Lippert Photography.

Venue: Bacara Resort & Spa / Florist + Design: Adorations Botanical Artistry / Invitations, Placecards, Menu’s, etc.: Wendy Ware / Linens: Concept Design / Wedding Photography: Tanja Lippert Photography / Assistant Photographer: Melissa Niu Photography + [Framed] / Dance Floor: Barker Décor Service / DJ: Gavin Roy / Ceremony Music: AMS Entertainment / Officiant: Rev. Miriam Lindbeck / Wedding Coordinator: Tracy Apodaca / Wedding Cake: Bacara Resort & Spa / Hair: Angel Puente of Mishay Salon & Spa / Make-up: Tomiko Taft + Romina Murillo / Wedding Dress: Modern Trousseau / Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Tuxedos: Men’s Wearhouse / Flower Girls Attire: Children’s Place + Kalinascopes

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Adorations Botanical Artistry, AMS Entertainment, Bacara Resort & Spa, Barker Decor Service, California Weddings, Concept Design, Gavin Roy, Jimmy Choo, Kalinascopes, Melissa Niu Photography, Men's Wearhouse, Mishay Salon, Modern Trousseau, Rev. Miriam Lindbeck, Romina Murillo, Santa Barbara, Tanja Lippert Photography, The Children's Place, Tomiko Taft, Tracy Apodaca, Wendy Ware
Post categories: Traditional Elegance

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From Lisa Vorce… Bailey and Pete wanted a “Willy-Wonka-meets-Alice-in-Wonderland” vibe. How’s that for a theme? A blast for us! Barker Decor put in almost 2000 square feet of high gloss white flooring and built two 12 foot candy walls. We flew in 3000 bedazzled bonbons, an entire van small truck full of candy, and over 1500 macaroons. Pure heaven. Behind the main bar we had a 12′ high gloss lime manzanita tree that Mindy treated with oversized colorful florals. Mindy also created playful “forest” vignettes throughout the room with oversized colorful mushrooms, grass squirrel topiaries, and flats of grass. The entire tent was draped in a vibrant apple green color, and then we color blocked the 4 corners of the tent, so each corner had its own color themed lounge.

We truly had a blast on this event, and adore Bailey and Pete (and their amazing families!). We’re looking forward to creating an extraordinary vow renewal party for them in a a few years…(hint, hint…Bailey and Pete!).

Wedding Photography: Aaron Delesie / Event Production & Design: Lisa Vorce – Oh, How Charming! / Floral & Event Design: Mindy Rice / Event Lighting + Set Design + Flooring + Furniture + Specialty Dance Floors + Draping: Barker Decor Service / Catering: The Little Nell / Wedding Cake: d’Elissious / Event Rentals: Event Rents / Wedding Cinematography: Paper Tape / Welcome Reception Music: The Spazmatics / Ceremony & Cocktail Music: Supernova / Dinner Reception Music: Impulse / After Party Music: DJ Ig of RedShoe LA / Photobooth: Colorado Photo Booth / Celebrant: Reverend Bruce McNab / Makeup: Fiore Beauty / Hair: Marilee Albin / Wedding Dress: Amsale / Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale / Wedding Venue: Private Residence / Paper: Papel Paper & Press and Yellow Owl Workshop

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 34 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aaron Delesie, After Party, Alice in Wonderland, Amsale, Aspen, Barker Decor Service, Candy Walls, Colorado, Colorado Photo Booth, d'Elissious, DJ Ig, Event Rents, Fiore Beauty, Green, Impulse, Lisa Vorce, Lounge, Marilee Albin, Mindy Rice, Oh How Charming, Orange, Paper Tape, Pink, Red, RedShoe LA, Reverend Bruce McNab, Supernova, Tent, The Little Nell, The Spazmatics, Willy Wonka, Yellow
Post categories: Real Parties

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From the Bride… From the beginning we had a pretty clear view of what we wanted for our wedding day. We knew we wanted to get married outdoors in the fall by the pond at my family’s place in Aspen. We knew we wanted the event to feel natural- but not necessarily rustic. We aren’t exactly woodspeople so we wanted more of a refined, natural vibe that would enhance the incredible surroundings without competing with it. I wanted our wedding day to feel reverent but not overly stuffy or formal. My wedding dress was a custom Amsale, who I chose because I felt like all of the sample dresses I tried on of theirs really fit and she understood my body. Like the decor I didn’t want it to feel overly fussed about- and the antique lace bottom and swiss dot top came together perfectly.

After working with Lisa for nearly 20 months planning the wedding it is hard to know where my ideas stopped and hers began. I think that is part of what makes Lisa such an incredible wedding planner – she doesn’t try to impose her vision or agenda on your wedding. She really listens and sort of adopts your taste and perspective so that even all of her amazing ideas feel like they could have been your own. Which is also a huge ego boost because who doesn’t want to feel like they created something so beautiful!

When I met with Lisa I had a binder full of ideas on specific aesthetic details I had been saving for years. She really took that direction into account but i think what we came up with was still entirely its own unique thing. One of the details that stands out to me still 6 months later is the music and readings we chose for our ceremony. We knew from the beginning that I would walk down the aisle to Til Kingdom Comes by Coldplay- a bonus track they originally wrote for Johnny Cash. Lisa reccomended the most incredible string quartet who played at the ceremony and cocktail hour and that was really special. We also spent a lot of time making our ceremony personal while still working within the traditional Christian marriage rite. Our readings, from a childrens book called I Like You and from the Bible about the importance of sacred space really reflected what we wanted our ceremony to be about- and our priest completed that with an amazing lesson on the importance of a childlike joy in love- which would really come into play at the reception and after party. My vision for the reception tent was that it feel like you were dining in the woods on a magical moonlit night. I wanted it to feel like you were under a tree canopy with the moon flickering through the leaves.  I think Lisa took that idea and made it a hair less cheesy, and a bit more modern and sophisticated.

The whole night was full of special moments. I loved the way my bridesmaids and house party looked. Each one picked their style of dress from Amsale’s bridesmaid line and their color, and the flowers Mindy did for their hair were incredible. Truly everyone never looked better. I loved seeing how the tent came togethet, and we actually had a blast dancing to Ray LaMontagne You Are The Best Thing for our first dance. I mean- the dancing in general was hilarious and out of control. The band was on our flight out the next day and even they said they had never seen people boogie like our people boogied. Word.

By far the most incredible part of the night was the after party tent. I told Lisa I wanted a Willy Wonka/Alice In Wonderland, main tent magical forest on acid and for the love of Britney Spears, did we ever get one. But really everything was incredible- I still cant believe we pulled it off, and we are so blessed that we got to start off our marriage with such a lovefest- because that is really what the whole weekend felt like!

Wedding Photography: Aaron Delesie / Event Production & Design: Lisa Vorce – Oh, How Charming! / Floral & Event Design: Mindy Rice / Event Lighting + Set Design + Flooring + Furniture + Specialty Dance Floors + Draping: Barker Decor Service / Catering: The Little Nell / Wedding Cake: d’Elissious / Event Rentals: Event Rents / Wedding Cinematography: Paper Tape / Welcome Reception Music: The Spazmatics / Ceremony & Cocktail Music: Supernova / Dinner Reception Music: Impulse / After Party Music: DJ Ig of RedShoe LA / Photobooth: Colorado Photo Booth / Celebrant: Reverend Bruce McNab / Makeup: Fiore Beauty / Hair: Marilee Albin / Wedding Dress: Amsale / Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale / Wedding Venue: Private Residence / Paper: Papel Paper & Press and Yellow Owl Workshop

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aaron Delesie, Amsale, Aspen, Barker Decor Service, Colorado, Colorado Photo Booth, d'Elissious, DJ Ig, Event Rents, Fiore Beauty, Forest Inspired Wedding, Impulse, Lisa Vorce, Marilee Albin, Midsummer Night's Dream, Mindy Rice, Moss, Oh How Charming, Orange, owls, Paper Tape, Red, RedShoe LA, Reverend Bruce McNab, Supernova, Tabletop Trees, The Little Nell, The Spazmatics
Post categories: Whimsical

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From Lisa Vorce… Our Aspen event wins the prize for THE most fun event ever! Bailey and Pete were the most fantastically sweet and trusting clients…and by far the funniest. There was not one email from Bailey that didn’t have the entire office laughing out loud. She writes exactly as she speaks and she is full of life. You must read her blog (Peppermint Bliss) and you’ll see what I mean….

When Bailey came to us, she definitely had a clear vision for her wedding. She allowed us however, to take her vision and put our spin on it which was pure delight for us. For the welcome reception — it was cowboy kitsch at its best! Highlights included Barker Decor’s stunning high gloss red dance floor, Mindy’s amazing tablescapes of cotton centerpieces, charcoal glazed pottery and red ranunculus,  and my personal favorite…our high gloss red cardboard “taxidermy” that we hung throughout the room…complete with thought bubbles. Mindy created two gigantic cowboy hat chandeliers, and an escort card wall that displayed cowboy hats with table numbers on them. An adorable, interactive, and thematic escort card wall all in one. It was incredible.

Wedding Photography: Aaron Delesie / Event Production & Design: Lisa Vorce – Oh, How Charming! / Floral & Event Design: Mindy Rice / Event Lighting + Set Design + Flooring + Furniture + Specialty Dance Floors + Draping: Barker Decor Service / Catering: The Little Nell / Wedding Cake: d’Elissious / Event Rentals: Event Rents / Wedding Cinematography: Paper Tape / Welcome Reception Music: The Spazmatics / Ceremony & Cocktail Music: Supernova / Dinner Reception Music: Impulse / After Party Music: DJ Ig of RedShoe LA / Photobooth: Colorado Photo Booth / Celebrant: Reverend Bruce McNab / Makeup: Fiore Beauty / Hair: Marilee Albin / Wedding Dress: Amsale / Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale / Wedding Venue: Private Residence / Paper: Papel Paper & Press and Tiny Pine Press

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aaron Delesie, Amsale, Aspen, Barker Decor Service, Colorado, Colorado Photo Booth, Cotton, Cowboy Hats, d'Elissious, DJ Ig, Event Rents, Fiore, Impulse, Lisa Vorce, Mindy Rice, Natural, Oh How Charming, Paper Tape, Red, RedShoe LA, Reverend Bruce McNab, Rustic, Supernova, The Little Nell, The Spazmatics, Welcome Party, White
Post categories: Real Parties

The dream team that helped us create this inspiration board, was none other than Lisa Vorce at Oh How Charming! and photographer, Elizabeth Messina. Have you ever seen anything like this? The vibrant colors paired with crisp whites, the simplicity but sheer extravagance, the sophistication but complete whimsy. I love it. Love it.

Lisa has been sweet enough to share a few more details about this gorgeous wedding…

This wedding was held at Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu. Betty and Josh were a delight to work with and both had an extremely clean and simple aesthetic. They originally came to me with a pink and brown color scheme. Josh wanted to add a little pop to the standard pink and brown combo – and came up with the turquoise “twist”. I loved the idea and ran with it.

We implemented a few key turquoise statements that really made a wonderful impact on the overall look of the event. Dodie from Brassavolas Floral Design had custom turquoise wax candles poured for us which added a great blast of color to the tables. For smaller accents, we brought it turquoise Hanah silk ribbon (my absolutely favorite ribbon…it comes in the most extraordinary colors). As the main statement, I found amazing vintage turquoise vases that my dear friend Lewis at Barker Decor Service helped me rig above the dance floor to create an insane glass jar “chandelier”. We hung a hundred or so jars with fishing line and placed LED lights in them. During the day the jars had a magnificent glimmer in the sun — then as the sun went down…the LEDs came to life. Under the four oaks at Saddlerock, it was simply gorgeous.

I wish I could take credit for bringing the zebra in…but that is just one of the built-in benefits of getting married at Saddlerock! For the tables, we did a mix of rectangular rustic wood tables (a nod to the outdoorsy nature of Saddlerock) and simple round tables as well as square tables. On the wood tables, we did a runner of pink taffeta. On the squares and rounds, we used full length brown taffeta linens and full length pink taffeta linens (from my favorite Tabella Design, of course). The florals and decor on the tables were intentionally minimal. We made choices that were low profile, but high impact. The girls at Wiley Valentine helped finish the tables with beautiful sleek menu designs with pink, brown, and turquoise ink.

We all loved the simple yet elegant vibe of the event and the fantastic color combination just made us smile!

Thank you so much, Lisa, for taking the time to share all of these great ideas with us! This wedding sounds completely amazing…I only wish I could have seen it in person!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2007. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Barker Decor Service, Brassavolas Floral Design, Elizabeth Messina, Los Angeles, Oh How Charming, Saddlerock, Tabella Design, Wiley Valentine
Post categories: All Real Weddings, Contemporary, Real Weddings