A more gorgeous couple there never was (the bride is beyond stunning and the groom seriously makes me blush), and the wedding uniting this love was more than as beautiful as the sum. With Fancy That! Event Design & Coordination behind the scenes helping play out such a stunning couple’s dream day, I couldn’t imagine it being anymore unbelievably amazing. Captured by Duke Photography, the wedding is sitting SO pretty right here in a gallery that will keep you busy for hours.
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Hryer and I met at the gym and remained friends for a long while before we actually started dating. Because we were friends for so long, the transition to dating was seamless. The foundation of our relationship today is our friendship because we were friends first.
During our dating process, Hryer was living in San Francisco and I was attending graduate school in San Francisco as well. Most of our courtship happened in the “city of lights” where we left footprints on some of our favorite places we often still visit. I had just finished graduate school and Hryer wanted to take me on a trip to Europe and the Middle East. After much planning on Hryer’s part, the first night we arrived in Venice, Italy, Hryer proposed to me on the terrace of our hotel followed by a fairytale dinner at the Cipriani Hotel overlooking the water and dining under the stars. Our engagement set the tone for our trip and it was one of the best trips of my life (after our honeymoon of course).
After two years of engagement bliss, Hryer and I got married on June 23rd, 2012. Our ceremony was at St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles and our cocktail hour and reception was at the Montage in Beverly Hills. We moved to Beverly Hills after our first year of engagement to further our careers and of course to have some fun in the “city of angels.” With initial intentions of moving back to San Francisco we decided to make our home in Beverly Hills. We chose St. Sophia Cathedral as our ceremony location because we both wanted to get married in a church and a beautiful church at that! We have both seen and been in a lot of churches but St. Sophia Cathedral reminded us very much of cathedrals we have seen in Europe and this very much reflected our taste.
Living where we live in Beverly Hills, we walk everywhere. We live five minutes walking distance to the Montage and after exhausting our options in terms of reception venues we decided to consider the Montage as we fell in love with the location of the venue. We both knew in a matter of seconds of walking in to the Montage hotel let alone the Marquesa ballroom, that this was “US” and that we would be getting married here. Everything about the hotel reflected our taste, from the muted color themes, to die for chandeliers and the “old Hollywood glamour” that meets modern-day luxury décor. I felt like I could take anything from their décor and put it in my home and it would match our taste and vice versa.
My inspiration for the wedding was very much old Hollywood vintage vibes and the color scheme I wanted to keep was a very classic palette of whites, crèmes, matte gold’s, and browns.
As for some of the details: Hryer and I have saved every single wine cork from every single wine bottle we have opened up since the day we have been together so I wanted to incorporate this into our wedding theme. We were able to do that by purchasing wedding corks online which could be used as place card holders. Furthermore, we had a Bible verse customized on the back (1 Corinthians 13:4-8), which reflects our faith.
I absolutely love the timeless elegance of French lace and that’s why I chose my wedding dress. Needless to say, I wanted to incorporate lace into my bouquet and with the help of my bridal salon they were able to salvage lace from my wedding dress from all of my fittings. My mom had gifted me a beautiful pearl rosary a couple years back and I asked my florist to wrap it around my bouquet. Because this rosary was so special to me, I decided to keep my accessories all pearls as well as to tie in the significance of my mom’s gift to me but also the timelessness of pearls and old Hollywood.
I am obsessed with calligraphy and my stationer and calligrapher was able to provide both services to me. We kept all of the stationary details in very fine calligraphy. I think calligraphy is a form of amazing art but also reflective of the olden glamour days.
We had such an international group of family and friends from all over the world. This made our celebration that much more special. The room was full of love and laughter with people who were there to sincerely celebrate us. I hadn’t seen some of my family from Iran, Austria and Canada in over a decade. Hryer’s side of family and friends made it as far as from Armenia, London, Syria, and Lebanon to name a few places. It was truly a day I wish I could repeat over and over again.
Our honeymoon was in the South of France. We started off in St. Tropez then headed to Cannes, Antibes, and Monaco. We had many highlights on our honeymoon. Just to name a few: one of them was our stay at Hotel Byblos in St. Tropez where we danced the night away at Les Caves and had brunch at Club 55 the next day. We absolutely died and went to heaven at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes and we were treated like royalty during our stay at Hotel de Paris. I must say the French are quite superb hosts and have inspired me to learn French one day! If I can’t learn, our children will.
Photographer: Duke Photography / Cake: Rafi’s Pastry / Ceremony Venue: St. Sophia / Reception Venue & Caterer: Montage Beverly Hills / DJ: DJ Heartbeat / Florist: Tic Tock Couture Florals / Brides Shoes: Yves Saint Laurent, Neiman Marcus / Bride’s Dress: Alvina Valenta, Lovella Bridal / Bride’s Earrings: Vintage from mother / Bride’s Jewelry: Derco Diamonds / Groom’s Tuxedo: Emporio Armani / Groom’s Shoes: Emporio Armani / Groom’s Shirt: Tom Ford / Groom’s Bow Tie: Tom Ford / Groom’s Cuff Links: Groom’s Fathers / Groom’s Ring: Bulgari / Bride’s Makeup: Kira Nasrat / Bride and Groom Hair: Jeffrey Jagged from Christophe Salon / Invites and Programs: Calligraphy Katrina • Maison du Papier / Lighting and Chairs: White Night Design / Planner: Christine Zohrabians of Fancy That! Event Design & Coordination / Limo: MLS Limo / Cinematography: Video Keepsakes / Venue: Taglyan Arts and Cultural Complex