Southern Weddings

There may be no better accent color than a rich, jewel-tone purple.   From the bride’s shoes to her bridesmaids’ swanky, self-selected dresses and textured bouquets (designed by the lovely and talented planner Jesi Haack), purple definitely reigns supreme in this California wedding from super-star Sarah K. Chen.  Of course, Emily would tell you her very favorite part about this wedding is the bride’s chic birdcage veil, but I’m still hung up on the lovely purple details dotting Jessica + Curt’s California nuptials.  Check out those purple ostrich pumps from Michael Kors!  More (much more!) to come!

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  We met in high school!  We took a lot of “smart kid” classes together, but always had very different groups of friends.  It wasn’t until our senior year that we figured out we’d been harboring secret crushes on each other, and everything just sort of clicked into place.  We’ve been together ever since!
Describe the proposal: Throughout high school and college, I was always involved in musical theatre and busy rehearsing for one show or another. During our last year at UC San Diego, a few of my closest friends and I put together a production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. It’s a really sweet show about all the different stages of relationships: dating, marriage, kids, etc. and love in general. Curt came to the Friday night show and, by the final bows, he had decided that he wanted to ask me to marry him. With both of our families coming into town the next day to see the show, he had to move pretty quickly. He called his parents at 2:00 am and told them his plan. Early the next morning, he got my parents’ blessing and then set out to scour San Diego for the perfect ring. He picked one, got it sized, and purchased it all in the span of a couple hours! My friends, family, and cast-mates were all in on the surprise, and I was completely oblivious. Closing night went perfectly, and after the curtain call, the other 3 actors suddenly walked offstage, leaving me standing there alone. Curt walked up on the stage, took my hands, and told me that he was absolutely certain that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was in complete shock. He got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and said, “I love you, you’re perfect, will you marry me?” Of course I said yes!!
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Unique, DIY and Delicious!
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? My amazing coordinator, Jesi Haack, really helped me figure this one out. We had tons of elements we wanted to incorporate and lots of crazy ideas, but no idea how to make them all work together. I didn’t want the wedding to be “theme-y” but we needed some kind of unifying concept. So we focused a lot on the juxtaposition of old/new, natural/man-made, and even ugly/pretty (like flowers made out of newspaper). We mixed eclectic, vintage glassware with modern succulent arrangements, and took a big fallen tree branch and covered it with pearls and paper leaves. The vintage modern aesthetic was a perfect fit for the venue, which had a great mix of old and new. We were so thrilled with how everything came together!
What was your favorite design element of your big day? The florals and the succulent arrangements.  Since I had an all-succulent bouquet, we planted then in a pot after the wedding so I could keep them forever!  How many brides get to say that?