Inspired by early California style and a drive to make everything wholeheartedly them, this Bride teamed up with Hustle and Bustle Events to craft what can only be described as pure Spanish awesomeness. Think bougainvillea, the brightest blooms by The Little Branch and an open air reception at The La Canada Thursday Club. The only thing better then that little mash-up is the addition of pretty, pretty pictures by onelove photography. See them right here!
From the Bride… It was important to us that our wedding be personal, reflect who we are, and make our guests feel welcome. We wanted the decor to reflect early Southern California, since our venue, The La Canada Thursday Club, was a 1930’s Spanish-style building. To me this meant bougainvillea, oranges, and bright colors like you find in old Spanish tiles. I do props for tv and film for a living, so it was easy for me to get carried away with this part, but for my husband, it was the ceremony that held the most meaning and it was a good gut-check to me to realize what the most important part of this whole process was, and that was to commit ourselves to one another in marriage. So we spent a lot of time crafting a ceremony that was both meaningful and personal to us. A big part of that became asking Andy’s 93-year-old grandmother, Omi, to be our officiant. She said yes, on the condition we get married “officially” first and we were both thrilled to have her be involved. It made the ceremony ten times as special. Andy is a professional clarinetist so music, and the fun of making music needed to play a role, so we had our friends and family sing “Sing” from Sesame Street:) We also asked two of our friends to read that ‘oft quoted passage from “The Velveteen Rabbit.” I warned Andy that every time I heard it I collapsed into tears, but he decided that was his favorite and made me practice reading it out loud every night before the wedding. I’m proud to say that none of us cried during the reading that day! “Sing” was another matter.
We were lucky to have found Meg and Annie at The Little Branch early on in the planning process and we trusted them to take our idea and run with it, which they did and the whole place looked amazing and just what I had in mind. As much as I wanted to make a bunch of DIY decorations, I knew that with work and everything else we needed to do to pull the wedding off, we really couldn’t take a lot on. Andy and I both vowed that we would not be up until 2 am every night before the wedding making craft projects, so we did not. We did make the escort cards, with the help of friends, and were really pleased with how they came out (we used blank cards and a paper punch from Paper Source). We also found several great Etsy stores, including YellowBrick Graphics, who did our save-the-dates, invitations, programs, menu, and thank you cards. It was nice to have one consistent (and lovely) design integrated throughout the whole wedding. My mom really came through with the frames and the lanterns, and the M & A letters on the mantel. They were actually from my bridal shower on Thursday but I loved that we reused them. Andy’s parents and brothers put together the photo booth and all of the props. The photos from that are priceless! Lastly, the paper cake topper, while humble to look at, came from Clementine, the cafe we went to with our families after our civil ceremony on Thursday. They were so excited to hear we had just gotten married that they came out with a little frosted banana cake and that topper, which they made, while singing “Happy Wedding Day to You.” It was the perfect way to celebrate!
We only gave ourselves 6 months to plan, since neither one of us could understand why you’d want to wait a year. We wanted to get married, darn it! Looking back, I kind of understand why having some more time would be nice, but doing it this way forced us to make decisions quickly and stick with them early on. Not to say that I didn’t second guess myself a lot, but in the end it all worked out better than I could have hoped. We also hired a wedding coordinator for the day-of, but she was invaluable waaay before that. Theresa Shlimanoff from Hustle and Bustle Events was a life saver. She became the contact for all of our vendors and ran the day, so we didn’t have to. She was happy to handle any issue, big or small, and even though I thought I could handle it all, I didn’t anticipate how overwhelmed I would feel leading up to our wedding. I would highly recommend hiring a coordinator for your big day for that reason alone. With Theresa steering the ship, I could focus on what we were all there for, which was to get married!
Seeing my gorgeous bridesmaids all dressed up in the hotel room. Having the “first look” with Andy. I was SO nervous, I don’t know why, and as soon as I saw him looking so handsome all of that melted away and I was just ridiculously happy. Seeing faces as I walked down the aisle with my dad and realizing I recognized every single one. Seeing Andy at the end of the aisle, next to Omi. Hearing Andy read his vows to me (and totally working the crowd). Singing and crying and singing with our loved ones. My dad’s epic toast. Watching everyone have a crazy-good time on the dance floor the entire night–everyone was smiling, everyone looked happy. Many of our friends had all hit it off at the rehearsal dinner (apparently a lot of them were out until dawn) so there was just a great energy going from the beginning. I think for Andy and me, seeing everyone have so much fun was one of the best parts of the whole weekend.
Photography: onelove photography | Flowers: THE LITTLE BRANCH | Dress: David's Bridal | Cake: Auntie Em's Catering | Stationery: YellowBrick Graphics | Shoes: J.Crew | Jewelry: 31 Bits | Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew | Caterer: Auntie Em's Catering | Makeup: Maggie Fung and Laurene Alvarado | Hair: Coif Salon | Lighting: Dress My Party | DJ: Dart DJ | Wedding Venue: The La Canada Thursday Club | Bridesmaid Necklaces: 31 Bits | Event Design and Coordination: Hustle and Bustle | Hair Comb: Erica Koesler | Rentals: Town And Country | Table Numbers: Mason Rabbits Paperie