From the Bride… We married on 09/10/11 in NYC and had another reception on 11/11/11 in Taipei, Taiwan for family and friends who weren’t be able to come to New York to celebrate with us. We wanted our wedding to be a blend of everyone and everything we love from New York and Taiwan, and of course, to ensure everyone would have a great time. We fell in love with The Foundry, a metal foundry in the 19th century, as soon as we saw it on their website because of its old brick walls and beautiful ivy. The space aligned perfectly with our vision: historic yet contemporary, industrial yet organic, urban yet romantic, simple yet glamorous. It was the ideal venue for what we had in mind. We selected our colors: purple, lilac, gray, gold and bronze. This color scheme was infused through everything used in the event. We wanted to put as much effort as we could to make this event special, so we designed all our invitations, programs, menus, photo booth logos and favors by ourselves with a drawing of Brooklyn Bridge as our wedding logo on them. I also made all the wreaths for the flower girls. We knew we wanted some special details in the space to make it unique, so we asked the florist to create a structural yet organic piece using drift wood and flowers to hang in the main space, and we used fresh leaves as escort carts. We also used drawings of landmarks in NYC instead of table numbers. We picked ghost chairs to give the space a modern vibe while incorporating drift wood into the centerpieces to give a soft and organic feel. Our favors in New York were candles with different traditional Chinese symbols to represent our roots.

For our second reception venue in Taiwan, we fell in love with the ballroom in the Palais de Chine Hotel. With the neo-classical design concept, the ballroom has copper draping ceiling with 18 chandeliers. For colors, we used royal purple as the main hue and mixed with the deep blue and red of Taiwan. Everything was very classic and glamorous.

The most amazing and fun experience was with our cinematographer, Mr. Jose Ortiz, who flew all the way to Asia to shoot our reception in Taiwan. We went to different places that represent Taiwan for shooting the day before the event. It was raining, but we all had a good time. Through the lenses, Jose can see the world differently in an artistic way. The best part was Jose not only edited all the images from our wedding day in New York and the shooting we did in Taiwan, but also did a same day edit video using images from our Taiwan reception to make a trailer! All of our guests were wowed by the trailer and asked for more! We were very glad to have this special experience working with Jose in two different countries. We had many people coming from all over the world in both events to celebrate with us. With the loving support of our family and friends, our wedding was a magical experience!

NYC Vendors — Cinematography: Jose Ortiz Films / Wedding Photography: Xavier Munguia Photography / Floral Design: Petal Design Studio / Venue: The Foundry / Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Bride’s Shoes: Christian Dior / Groom’s Tuxedo: Gucci / Bridesmaid Dresses: Alfred Angelo / Wedding Cake: Black Hound New York / Caterer: Thomas Preti / Rentals: Party Rental Ltd. + Taylor Creative Inc. / Photo Booth: IncrediBooths

Taiwan Vendors — Wedding Cinematography: Jose Ortiz Films / Wedding Photography: Oscarshoots / Floral Design: CN Flower / Venue: Palais de Chine Hotel / Reception Dresses: Tadashi Shoji + LinLi / Wedding Favors: Baggu

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Post tags: Alfred Angelo, Baggu, Black Hound New York, Christian Dior, CN Flower, Gucci, Jose Ortiz Films, Linli, Monique Lhuillier, New York, New York City, Oscarshoots, Palais de Chine Hotel, Party Rental Ltd., Petal Design Studio, Tadashi Shoji, Taipei, Taiwan, Taylor Creative Inc, The Foundry, Thomas Preti, Wedding Video, Xavier Munguia Photography
Post categories: Destination Weddings, Wedding Cinematography

From the Bride… We married on 09/10/11 in NYC and had another reception on 11/11/11 in Taipei, Taiwan for family and friends who weren’t be able to come to New York to celebrate with us. We wanted our wedding to be a blend of everyone and everything we love from New York and Taiwan, and of course, to ensure everyone would have a great time. We fell in love with The Foundry, a metal foundry in the 19th century, as soon as we saw it on their website because of its old brick walls and beautiful ivy. The space aligned perfectly with our vision: historic yet contemporary, industrial yet organic, urban yet romantic, simple yet glamorous. It was the ideal venue for what we had in mind. We selected our colors: purple, lilac, gray, gold and bronze. This color scheme was infused through everything used in the event. We wanted to put as much effort as we could to make this event special, so we designed all our invitations, programs, menus, photo booth logos and favors by ourselves with a drawing of Brooklyn Bridge as our wedding logo on them. I also made all the wreaths for the flower girls. We knew we wanted some special details in the space to make it unique, so we asked the florist to create a structural yet organic piece using drift wood and flowers to hang in the main space, and we used fresh leaves as escort carts. We also used drawings of landmarks in NYC instead of table numbers. We picked ghost chairs to give the space a modern vibe while incorporating drift wood into the centerpieces to give a soft and organic feel. Our favors in New York were candles with different traditional Chinese symbols to represent our roots.

For our second reception venue in Taiwan, we fell in love with the ballroom in the Palais de Chine Hotel. With the neo-classical design concept, the ballroom has copper draping ceiling with 18 chandeliers. For colors, we used royal purple as the main hue and mixed with the deep blue and red of Taiwan. Everything was very classic and glamorous.

The most amazing and fun experience was with our cinematographer, Mr. Jose Ortiz, who flew all the way to Asia to shoot our reception in Taiwan. We went to different places that represent Taiwan for shooting the day before the event. It was raining, but we all had a good time. Through the lenses, Jose can see the world differently in an artistic way. The best part was Jose not only edited all the images from our wedding day in New York and the shooting we did in Taiwan, but also did a same day edit video using images from our Taiwan reception to make a trailer! All of our guests were wowed by the trailer and asked for more! We were very glad to have this special experience working with Jose in two different countries. We had many people coming from all over the world in both events to celebrate with us. With the loving support of our family and friends, our wedding was a magical experience!

NYC Vendors — Cinematography: Jose Ortiz Films / Wedding Photography: Xavier Munguia Photography / Floral Design: Petal Design Studio / Venue: The Foundry / Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Bride’s Shoes: Christian Dior / Groom’s Tuxedo: Gucci / Bridesmaid Dresses: Alfred Angelo / Wedding Cake: Black Hound New York / Caterer: Thomas Preti / Rentals: Party Rental Ltd. + Taylor Creative Inc. / Photo Booth: IncrediBooths

Taiwan Vendors — Wedding Cinematography: Jose Ortiz Films / Wedding Photography: Oscarshoots / Floral Design: CN Flower / Venue: Palais de Chine Hotel / Reception Dresses: Tadashi Shoji + LinLi / Wedding Favors: Baggu

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Post tags: Alfred Angelo, Baggu, Black Hound New York, Christian Dior, CN Flower, Gucci, Incredibooths, Jose Ortiz Films, Linli, Monique Lhuillier, New York, New York City, Oscarshoots, Palais de Chine Hotel, Party Rental Ltd., Petal Design Studio, Tadashi Shoji, Taipei, Taiwan, Taylor Creative Inc, The Foundry, Thomas Preti, Wedding Video, Xavier Munguia Photography
Post categories: New York City Weddings, New York Weddings, Wedding Cinematography

Click here for the FULL wedding!

We are so thrilled to be able to share the film from Bella Pictures too…

From the bride… Both Peter and I are of Greek descent, so we immediately knew that our wedding was going to be large, filled with family and friends. The ceremony took place at our childhood church, Saint Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Palatine, Illinois, and keeping up with Orthodox tradition, our wedding crowns were bought in Greece and had the shape of an olive branch wreath.

After the ceremony, we celebrated in the beautiful main ballroom of the Concorde Banquets in Kildeer, Illinois. Although our wedding took place in the suburbs of Chicago, we still wanted a touch of Greece. Guests first caught a glimpse of the theme when the cloth-covered book invites arrived several weeks before the wedding. Filled with silver pages and a yellow satin bookmark, the theme of an olive branch was found on each page. The olive theme continued in the hall as guests found their table numbers with three large opened books surrounded by old photographs of our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings in olive branch frames.

Guests entered the ballroom and were greeted by 10 olive trees, each over three feet, that were created by our florist and placed on the outer tables. The banquet-style table layout kept conversations going and were a nice reminder of Greek summer celebrations. The tables were filled with plenty of candles that created a nice glow in the room. Mercury glass vases of various shapes and sizes filled with butter yellow roses, white hydrangeas and a pop of lemon and eucalyptus leaves  created a very romantic and vintage feeling. Alongside the candles and flowers were grey, cloth-covered books that added height and depth to the floral arrangements. This was the same cloth used for the wedding invites.

Our love of books carried over to the dessert area where we had three white bookcases filled with homemade desserts and vintage books. Between the two dessert bookcases we had a Jordan almond bar. Jordan almonds called koufeta in Greek are a traditional candy for Greek weddings. The koufeta bar was a play on the classic candy bar and was filled with sweet flavors such as lemon, honey, chocolate and strawberry. Placed on top of the bookcases were some items that represent both the bride and the groom. Each guest also received a small natural burlap bag filled with Jordan almonds, which are given for good luck. The burlap bags reminded us of the large burlap sacks used during the olive harvest. Some of our highlights from that day included the church service, which was steeped in tradition, and dancing with our guests until late in the night. We loved having family come in from Greece and other parts of the country to celebrate with us that day, and we couldn’t get enough of our eight flower girls who almost stole the show.

First Photographer: Joseph Kang from Bella Pictures / Second Photographer: Dave Suarez from Bella Pictures / Videographer: Valdas Sinkevicius from Bella Pictures / Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Custom Removable Skirt for Wedding Dress: Kaylee Zastrow Designs / Bride’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin / Bride’s Jewelry: Earrings borrowed from Patty Kopitas, cousin of the groom / Wedding Bands: Karla Lewis / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Bari Jay via House of Brides / Flower Girls’ Dresses: Crewcuts from J.Crew / Flower Girls’ Shoes: Next / Groom’s + Groomsmen’s Suits: J.Crew / Ties: Burberry via Bloomingdales / Ring Bearers’ Suits: Crewcuts from J.Crew / Ties: Gucci / Flowers: Northern Greenhouses / Church Decor: Soula Iliopoulos, friend of the bride’s mother / Ceremony Venue: Saint Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church / Reception Venue: Concorde Banquets / Event Planning: Limani Designs, owned by bride / Wedding Day Coordinator: Brian Figueroa of Limani Designs / Hair: Nikki Bappert, friend of the bride / Makeup: Esther Sifuentes (esther.sifuentes@gmail.com)

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Post tags: Bari Jay, Bella Pictures, Bloomingdales, Brian Figueroa, burberry, Chicago, Christian Louboutin, Concorde Banquets, Dave Suarez, Esther Sifuentes, Greek, Greek Orthodox, Gucci, Illinois, J. Crew, Joseph Kang, Karla Lewis, Kaylee Zastrow Designs, Limani Designs, Monique Lhuillier, Next, Nikka Bappert, Northern Greenhouses, Soula Iliopoulos, St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church, Valdas Sinkevicus
Post categories: Chicago Weddings, Illinois Weddings

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From the Bride…Most of all, we wanted an evening that reflected who we are. Among many other things, we are book nerds (we met in a literature class in grad school), and as we made various decisions along the way, the book thing became something of a theme– our flowers were made of book pages, our coasters had books stamped on them, our first dance was “The Book of Love” by The Magnetic Fields and our favors were books we’d hand picked for our guests.

We’re also big on eating and traveling, so we wanted our food to reflect our favorite things to eat, both at home and abroad. This resulted in a somewhat eclectic menu of small bites (many featuring our favorite ingredient: pork!), including green curry rice noodles in takeout containers, bacon and pork chop hand pies and a late-night taco truck. We also passed on traditional cake in favor of a donut tower. Finally, we wanted it to be a really fun party– the kind that we’d be excited to attend ourselves– and something a little different than other weddings we’d been to. We felt strongly about not doing a traditional entrance (we did an opening dance together instead of a bride-and-father aisle walk), not doing a seated meal (all the food was passed and there were various tables, chairs, couches and stairs to sit on) and having lots of our friends and family contribute their words to the ceremony and toasts. We wanted everyone to have a great time, and leave feeling like they knew us just a little bit better.

We wanted to get married in San Francisco, because we met here, we live here and the city is very much a part of who we are. We were looking for places that were a little off-beat, would be able to handle a big ol’ cocktail party for around a hundred and fifty people and were excited about our not-quite-traditional wedding vision (i.e., “of course you can pull up a taco truck!”). When we walked in to Ambiance Antiques, our first thought was “do they really let people have parties here?” It is a funky and stunning space, with old furniture everywhere, multiple staircases and hidden nooks and crannies all over. It felt like visiting a rich, eccentric uncle’s house, full of warmth and intrigue and undiscovered surprises. Plus, they were incredibly sweet and easy-going to work with– it was like being invited into their home, and we could actually use all of their gorgeous furniture!

Our ceremony was centered on why we were there, and in our vows we gave each other the reasons we wanted to get married. We had six friends each give a little talk on why they were there, but then our officiant surprised us by reading testimonials from many of our other guests– he had secretly contacted dozens of our other friends to gather their thoughts. It was lovely, and very touching. And then there was when the donut tower came out, the wonderful toasts by our families, my cousin coming up to me  and screaming “Holy (expletive), there’s a taco truck outside!”…and on and on. Our favors ended up being a really wonderful surprise all around. We picked out a used book for each attendee (or attending couple) and inscribed them all. Our guests were really surprised and excited about having a personal and personalized gift. What surprised us was that we’d thought that people would take their books on their way out, but almost everybody grabbed them early on and carried them around the party. People ended up striking up conversations with other folks they didn’t know by asking about their books, so many of our friends got to meet each other that way. It was really cool to watch that unfold.

Jennifer Lynch was our caterer, and her food was whimsical and damn tasty. She really got our vision, was a great help in planning and her waitstaff was thoughtful, smooth and professional. She also makes a mean tower of donuts (which we got from Dynamo Donuts, here in San Francisco). Christopher Lee was our event planner/coordinator/director of all things awesome. Without him we would have been really, really stressed. During the party, we wanted for nothing, and everything went smoothly. He was somehow everywhere at once. Totally amazing. Alison Bank of First Comes Love Photo was our photographer, and she could not have been better. She’s warm, funny and a delightful person to have with you as you’re being prettified. We had so much fun with her, and she really understood the kind of things we were trying to do. She also made us look really good– her pictures are top-notch. Lastly, a special shout-out to Monte’s Tacos and Rudy, the owner. Having carnitas tacos at the end of the reception was a pretty amazing treat, and people are still talking about it!

Venue: Ambiance Antiques / Wedding Photography: First Comes Love Photo / Doughnuts: Dynamo Donuts / Catering: Jennifer Lynch / Late-night Tacos: Monte’s Tacos (also known as Rudy’s Taco Truck) / Wedding Dress: Nicole Miller via Lilac Dress Boutique / Bride’s Shoes: Vintage Hush Puppies via Bordeaux Boutique / Suit: Gucci via Sui Generis / Paper Flowers: PoshStudiosWedding / Coordination: Christopher Lee of Leftwich Event Specialists Inc

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Post tags: Ambiance Antiques, Bordeaux Boutique, California Weddings, Dynamo Donuts, First Comes Love Photo, Gucci, Jennifer Lynch, Lilas Dress Boutique, Nicole Miller, PoshStudios, San Francisco, Sui Generis
Post categories: The Blog, Whimsical

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From the Bride-To-Be…We met in Jurmala, Latvia at a music festival called New Wave. (Something similar to Eurovision maybe). We were not performing, we were guests. My best friend introduced us to each other. We spent 4 days in Jurmala, then we didn’t see each other for a year. Ilya says it was love at first sight for him. The following year we met there again and then started dating. Had a long distance relationship for a while (I lived in Moscow, Ilya in NY). Then we moved to London together. When I graduated from fashion school in London we decided to move to NY to work and move in together. That was 2 years ago.

On November 6th 2010 he proposed. This was the day of both of our parents anniversary. It was unexpected, very romantic and at  home…The hurricane in the Carribean ruined his plans to propose on Turks and Caicos so we had an amazing weekend after the proposal. It was like a mini honeymoon.

The wedding is in Venice, Italy. Venice was my idea. It’s a destination wedding. We don’t have relatives there or anything. We just spent a lot of vacations there since we were kids and know the country well and love it too. Italians have good taste for beautiful things, food and wine. And know how to party and enjoy life! It’s going to be totally crazy, 350 guests for 3 days. We are building a huge tent on the island of San Clemente. There will be fireworks, artists and our best friends from all over the world! And family of course. Our parents love us a lot and are very excited for us and helpful too.

As for the photo shoot, we hired Allan Zepeda from NYC and for our engagement and wedding photos. We love his style and knew it was a perfect fit for our love and passion. He was so easy to work with. We wanted a studio space so he proposed the idea to have our engagement photos at Skylight West.

Skylight West perfectly fuses the industrial with the glamorous to create a wedding venue that is quintessentially NYC. With views of sunset on the Hudson, the Empire State Building, and a finely finished loft interior, Skylight West customizes each wedding to reflect the inherent aspects of both the couple and the city.

Photography: Allan Zepeda / Event Space: Skylight West / Her Shoes: Christian Louboutin + YSL / HER ATTIRE: Dress: Victoria Beckham / Top: Zara / Jeans: Rag & Bone / HIS ATTIRE: Polo: Ralph Lauren / Vest: Loro Piana / Shirt: Gucci / Jeans: Dolce Gabbana

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Post tags: Allan Zepeda, Christian Louboutin, Dolce & Gabbana, Engagement Sessions, Gucci, Loro Piana, New York Weddings, Rag & Bone, Ralph Lauren, Skylight West, Victoria Beckham, YSL, Zara
Post categories: New York City Weddings, New York Weddings

I have always been a true believer that everything happens for a reason and timing is everything.  Jason’s mother informally introduced us in 2006 while I was working as a buyer and personal stylist for a clothing boutique.  He had recently moved to California from NYC. Instantly when I heard this, the California native in me felt the need to be his official welcoming party committee, and like that we became instant friends.  We were both going through a time in our lives when we first met, friendship was all that we needed and for the next five years that was purely what it was.  Both being workaholics we hardly ever saw each other but for some reason we always stayed connected.

The idea of transitioning from friends to dating came about one night when I introduced Jason to my friend Jennifer. I remember, like it was yesterday. She literally grabbed both my arms and shook some sense into me.  With her head tilted to one side and a confused look in her eyes the words came out… “Girl, are you serious, the guy you should have been with all along is right in front of you!”  She continued bantering on lists of all the wonderful qualities she found in Jason after only one night of introduction, I couldn’t have agreed more.   It was like a light had finally turned on in my head…  But how would we transition from friends to dating, did he feel the same for me, and how would I even know?

I decided to make more time in my life for Jason because I cared to find out the answers to all my questions.  The answers came quick from small things like a helping hand through a crowd of people that held on a little longer, to an invitation of a home cooked meal when we had always grabbed meals out.  I knew when I looked in his sink after he cooked me pasta and saw that a huge label sticker was still affixed to his strainer, that Jason had probably never cooked a meal and he was trying to impress me. Confirmed by my mother in-law now, my theory was correct!

After five years of friendship Jason proposed after only five short months of dating, following in the footsteps of his father. From a journal that he had spent time cutting a perfect square out of the center of 400 pages, he placed the ring in.  Written down were all the reasons he loved being with me. Then there they were the ultimate words… “We have an exceptional life together will you marry me?”  “Yes, I cried!”  That is when all the wedding planning began…

Our wedding day went so smoothly; it felt as if we were attending someone else’s.  Jason and I knew that we wanted a non-traditional, very intimate, mostly family wedding.  Realistically we knew between the both of us we could easily have had over 300 people if we didn’t keep to our formula.

Our wedding planning journey all started with our visit to the stunning Isari Flower Studio of Tam Ashworth. She is true talent with her incredible eye for detail and art of floral styling.  Being in her studio environment just makes you smile and feel like the options are the skies the limit to what she can create. Tam’s services did not stop there.  She gave us endless literature of other vendors and even helped in suggesting wedding sites by showing us beautiful photographs.  There was never any pressure just description of what was out there for us to choose from. She helped us paint a picture of what we envisioned and then the reins were released to let her work her magic; that is how much we trusted her skills.

Jason and I wanted to walk into our wedding and have it be a wonderful visual surprise and that it was.  Missoni inspired, bright colors like chartreuse green, bright orange tones, bold magentas, a modern twist with an organic blend was what we decided on. On my wedding day Tam walked in with my bouquets and it literally brought tears to my mom’s eyes and mine.  They were the talk of the wedding and even after the wedding!

The venue we picked was the number one pick for both our families and us.  There was no comparison to the beauty of the grounds and options that they offered. Ironically Tam had been the resident florist prior to opening her own studio, this fact made our decision that much easier.  The gorgeous Park Hyatt Aviara (formally the Four Seasons) is still the best hands down hotel service we have ever experienced in all of our travels.   Peter Ho, Kelly Smorzewski and the staff of Park Hyatt went above and beyond what was expected in a big day like this.  Jason and I could not believe how much they were willing to work with us on every aspect to make sure we were more than satisfied.  No matter when I looked around I could always spot Peter or Ryan White ready and able to help us with any requests small or large.  They honestly blew away any expectations that we had and more.  Thank you Peter for getting the baby wipes out of our car for cleaning the mud of my dress!

Chelsea Anne Photography was highly recommended by numerous ladies while I was getting my hair done with my dear friend/hair designer Angela from Bella Villa Del Mar.  Everyone just seemed to know Chelsea’s work and all in unison said “She is just SO sweet and easy to work with.”  Jason and I could not have agreed more after working with her.  We both feel in love with her photo style.  What set Chelsea’s style away from others is that she captures personality and the pictures looked real not over shot or over posed. She also has an eye in capturing those all too perfect moments.  Jason and I expressed how much we were not from the “picture takers”, and she really took our words into play.  With her everlasting smiles and giggles she kept us distracted while snapping away at rapid speed.  Before we knew it the photos were done and delivered. We are still sorting through them because there are too many ones we love!  Chelsea has a caring heart, no pressure personality that we appreciated so much.  Without Chelsea and artistic talent of Natalie Medoff, my makeup magician, I believe our wedding photos would have been a good laugh instead of awes!

Our wedding day Angel came about after numerous conversations with everyone saying, “No matter how big or small you MUST have a coordinator”!  Thank you to all of you for that important detail!  Tricia Bruni seriously was like Glinda the good witch and a guardian angel all wrapped into one.  Without her soothing calm spirit, professionalism, and impeccable organizational skills who knows what would have come about that day.  She always showed up to every meeting way before us, pen in hand, and ready to go.  Her opinions on numerous wedding details were so helpful and honest, while still letting Jason and I ultimately decide.  She never let a moment ruffle any of our feathers, even when my train got stuck before my walk down the isle and she had to undo it!  Tricia is a true expert in the field of event planning and we were so lucky to have her by our sides prior to and on our big day.

Our favorite parts of the wedding were our ceremony and cake!  Jason’s Grandfathers performed the ceremony.  All we did was write a wedding outline and told each one which part was theirs; the rest was up to them.  The ceremony, like the flowers, was another surprise factor.  We did not want to know what they were going to say, and it made the day that much more special.  Words cannot express how perfect in every which way the ceremony intimately turned out.

The two cakes one for Jason and one for all, which my mother made with love, were AMAZING!  Not only the beauty but also the taste blew everyone away.   For two months my mom had been making sugar roses everyday by hand to decorate the cake.  I did not know my request of a cake adorned in roses would be so much work, if I were to have known I would have never made such a grand request.  Honestly the red velvet cake probably weighed more than my tiny mom and we were so grateful for all the heart that was put into making it.

I must slip in one more favorite, my Elie Saab dress from Provence Bride.  They were so helpful and kind when I pretty much begged to buy the sample size 12 dress off their rack.  I think the designer-to-designer sympathy in Allyson Simone could feel the desperation in me.  With time running out to design my own dress, I purchased the dress knowing I would have to redesign it to a size 2 to make it work.  After removing 30 yards in fabrics and redesigning the entire top it was perfectly made for me and it was instant love!

As we looked out at our close friends and family while we danced to our band “Kicks” goose bumps version of “At Last”; Jason and I smiled knowing that our wedding day went just as planned and without a hitch!

Wedding Coordination: Tricia Bruni / Wedding Photography: Chelsea Anne Photography / Location + Catering: Park Hyatt Aviara / Officiates: Grandfathers / Floral Design: Isari Flower Studio / Wedding Cake: Mother of the Bride / Invitations: Sweet Paper, Bella Figura / Calligraphy: Jessica Ford Beltran, Moira Events & Design / Music: “Kicks” Band / Hair: Angela Carlson, Bella Villa Del Mar / Make-up:  Natalie Medoff / Wedding Dress:  Elie Saab, Provence Bride / Bride’s Wedding ring: Cartier / Engagement ring: custom design by Melvin Krumholz of Wedding Rings Original NYC / Bride’s Necklace: Morgan Jean Jewelry / Bride’s Earrings & Bracelet: Bloomingdales Fine Jewelry / Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Bridesmaid Dress: Bloomingdales (pink) & Shopbop (blue) / Groom’s Suit: Hugo Boss / Tie: Louis Vuitton / Groom’s Shirt: Gucci / Groom’s Shoes:  Gucci / Grooms Ring: Cartier / Groom’s Watch: Jacob the Jeweler

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Post tags: Bella Figura, Bella Villa Del Mar, Bloomingdales, Bouquets, California, Candles, Carlsbad, Cartier, Chelsea Anne Photography, Custom Jewelry, DIY Cake, Elie Saab, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Isari Flower Studio, Jacob the Jeweler, Jimmy Choo, Kicks Band, Louis Vuitton, MElvin Krumholz, Moira Events & Design, Morgan Jean Jewelry, Natalie Medoff, Outdoor Wedding, Palm Trees, Park Hyatt Aviara, Provence Bride, Shopbob, Traditional Elegance, Tricia Bruni, Wedding Flowers, Wedding Rings Original NYC, Wedding Stationery
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Traditional Elegance

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From the Bride…I had no idea where to begin when it came to planning a wedding.  We knew we wanted something different than the norm, something small and intimate, something very special with lots of attention to detail.  We loved the idea of an elegant dinner party…with my family coming all the way from Texas, and my husbands family in California, we wanted a very relaxed yet very memorable experience for all.  I wanted the focus mainly on the food, but I also wanted a beautiful, natural setting.  I have always loved the Santa Barbara area for its small town feel and romantic appeal.  As soon as we checked in to the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California for a romantic getaway, the signs were everywhere…the lush gardens, the green mountain tops and ocean air…the antiques in every room, the old Hollywood mystique.. you can’t help but be relaxed as soon as you arrive!  This was the place for a perfect wedding.

Kelly Clark Leonard  of the Event of the Season was the first and ONLY wedding coordinator I considered.  As soon as we spoke on the phone six months before our August 20th wedding date, I knew she was perfect person to guide us along the wedding planning journey.  She just makes everything SO easy.  I have no idea how she does it, but I would never have done it without her!  She helped create the elegance I wanted, with a touch of whimsy and lots of glamour.  The colors we used were gold and ivory, and Laura Sangas of Cody Floral Design added to the whimsy with some blush touches in the amazing table florals and rose petal carpet.

The next important detail for our wedding was the gown.  I had been eyeing the Jenny Packham 2011 Collection and just knew that her sexy yet ethereal approach to design was right for me.  Getting my hands on the Persephone gown was no easy feat!  My husband, Zach, embarked on a mission to get it for me!!  He wrote an email after we were told that the gown was stuck at customs,  which got forwarded to Jenny and company and without his amazing words, I wouldn’t have seen my dreamy Persephone gown at all. I was absolutely thrilled and felt so lucky to have that exact gown!  It meant everything to me.

With the help of Sharyl Smith of  Presence Studio City, we were able to set the tone for the day with beautiful letter pressed invitations, and used calligraphy on everything from the invitations to the butterfly place cards to the escort cards.  Our guests seemed to really appreciate that personalized touch. I am so glad we did it.  We kept the romance going with beautiful Spanish guitar by Anthony Ybarra during the dinner.  Because my name is Joy, Kelly came up with the very cute idea to have “Enjoy” in calligraphy on our favor boxes, which were placed at each guest’s seat at the table.  Inside, our guests found delicious mini- bread puddings in dulce de leche and white chocolate blueberry  from Sweet Arleen’s Bakery.  It was an homage to my Southern upbringing.  Those were a definite hit!

Jessica Lewis Photography captured the magical feeling of the day so beautifully!  Her photos expressed exactly what we felt.  There was love and beauty everywhere we looked!  I got so emotional just seeing her photos for the first time..it was exactly the way I felt that day..in addition to all of the fun we had!!! On the day of the wedding, I felt very at ease and surrounded by love from every direction.  It was important to us that our guests enjoyed amazing cuisine, a gorgeous environment, and the feeling of a family style dinner party.  We even had family style macaroni and cheese!  The entire event was pure magic.

Wedding Photography: Jessica Lewis / Wedding Coordinator: Kelly of Event of the Season / Floral Design: Cody Floral Design / Linens: La Tavola Linen / Wedding Dress: Jenny Packham (One of a Kind) / Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Venue: San Ysidro Ranch / Music: Tony Ybarra / Make-up: Avril Lipsky / Groom’s Attire: Gucci / Officiant: Nancy Little Moon / Hair: Page Berse of About Face Makeup Artistry / Invitations: Crane & Co. via Presence Studio City

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 44 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: About Face Makeup Artistry, Avril Lipsky, California Weddings, Cody Floral Design, Crane, Event of the Season, Gucci, Jenny Packham, Jessica Lewis Photography, Jimmy Choo, Montecito, Nancy Little Moon, Presence Studio City, San Ysidro Ranch, Tony Ybarra
Post categories: The Blog

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From the Bride… Brian and I had our first date my freshman (his sophomore) year of high school and spent the next decade not really knowing what we wanted. When we managed to get our lives in order, we realized we could have everything together. It’s because of this that we’ve essentially always treated each other like best friends. When faced with planning the wedding, an overtly over-the-top romantic event, I felt really overwhelmed with the expectations. We decided as a result of this and a myriad of other reasons, to have an intimate destination wedding. Once we discovered that via the Renaissance Aruba Resort a private island could be rented for events, we were all set. From there, we just tried to fill our wedding with things we both love.

My sister and I have a small paper goods business, Ralph’s Grocery, so we took on the task of designing + creating all of the paper paraphernalia for the wedding, as well doing the overall event design. The earliest step of the process, our save the dates, basically set the tone for the weekend in Aruba. We decided it would be simple, with an M+B logo, letterpressed, and subtly nautical. We carried this theme through to all of the weekend information, welcome bags (which we screen-printed on my dining table) and to the Friday night welcome party itself. For the wedding invites, I chose a classic ivory + gold color palette, which was then infused into the wedding. For the reception, we really wanted the natural beauty to be played up, so we went with an intense amount of candles in gold mercury glass + lots of tiki torches. The saintly wedding planner on site, Juney Jones, advised that the trees are permanently wrapped in twinkle lights in order to provide lighting to the dinner + dance floor, which worked perfectly with our planned decor. In retrospect, I know the details pulled the event together: the individually wrapped metallic favor boxes at every place setting, the 120 glass votives, the glitter monogram chair hangers, the handmade program booklets. It was definitely added stress however, knowing we somehow needed to transport these items. We made it work in the end by distributing items amongst friends and carrying seven suitcases ourselves.

In addition to the visual details, Brian and I had a long list of things that were important to us. For our welcome party, held Friday night after our civil ceremony + rehearsal, we tried to incorporate things that couldn’t be included the next day. I wore green (an Italian tradition), Brian crafted an expert playlist of our favorite old songs and we had amazing speeches by my father, B’s best man Matt, his Uncle Mark + even his childhood pal, Teddy. On Saturday while we were getting ready, I had some surprises planned for Brian. I had procured a hanger from the incredible PR team at the Ace Hotel New York where Brian proposed. His suit was set on this, so he was faced with the words, “You look good in that” the morning of the wedding. I also handmade his card to fold out into a giant poster of my affection, a surprise that Alexandra assured me caused some happy tears.

For the ceremony we wanted it as personal as possible, while staying relatively lighthearted to feel like “us.” Brian’s ultra talented twin brothers recorded our music at home on the piano + viola. While guests arrived, they were able to listen to the boys’ rendition of other family members’ past wedding songs. They also performed the song that my parents walked me down to: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.  We also had Uncle Mark read the lyrics to Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” and my cousin Jaclyn perform the Cole Porter song “True Love”.  With my bouquet I carried items from both my grandmothers, a white handkerchief + blue rosary beads, as well as Brian’s great grandmother’s wedding ring.  After we were announced man + wife, Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” played.

As music was clearly a priority, we had a steel drum player at cocktail hour + opened our reception to “It Takes Two” by Rob Base. One of the highlights of the night had to be lining up to walk in behind Brian’s groomsman Phil and my bridesmaid Nicole, as the two of them accompanied us on that first date twelve years ago. The food at the Renaissance was fantastic, and we heard rave reviews from everyone, but honestly when I think of the night, all I can think of is the fifty or so closest people in our lives, out on the dance floor for hours. I know that was the part Brian enjoyed as well, looking around seeing the smiles on our guests’ faces, smoking Aruban cigars and dancing in the middle of a sandy beach. We had such a magical time, I was even able to make light of some of the (predicted) mishaps, most notably our melting rock candy cake! All in all, the craziness of making + packing everything, the complications of planning a wedding from another country, it all felt minor in exchange for what we got: married!

Wedding Photography: Alexandra Meseke Photography / Wedding Venue: Renaissance Aruba Resort / Event Coordinator: Juney Jones / Event Design + Stationery: Ralph’s Grocery by The Ripo Sisters / Civil Ceremony Dress + Accessories: Cynthia Vincent + Coach (clutch) + Seychelles (shoes) / Welcome Party Dress + Accessories: J.Crew + Charriol + Hermés (bracelets) + Roberta Chiarella (earrings) / Wedding Dress: Pronovias / Wedding Shoes: Gucci / Earrings: Swarovski / Bracelets: Charriol / Ring: Tiffany & Co. / Groom’s Attire: Hugo Boss / Bridesmaid Dresses: BCBG / Officiant: Reverend Geoffrey Banfield / DJ: Tino Daal of Cyclone Promotion / Cigar Rollers: Aruhiba Cigars / Rum: Rum Palmera / Cake Toppers: Jonathan Adler / Cake Forks: BHLDN

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Post tags: Alexandra Meseke Photography, Aruba, Aruhiba Cigars, BCBG, BHLDN, Charriol, Coach, Cyclone Promotion, Cynthia Vincent, Destination Wedding, Gucci, Hermes, Hugo Boss, J. Crew, Jonathan Adler, Juney Jones, Pronovias, Ralph's Grocery by The Ripo Sisters, Renaissance Aruba Resort, Roberta Chiarella, Seychelles, Swarovski, Tiffany & Co.
Post categories: Destination, Destination Weddings