Southern Weddings

After seeing the photos from Elizabeth and Brian’s California wedding shot by Jennifer Dery and planned by Jennifer Molloy of Amore Events, I’m reminded of how truly the romantic the color red is! The rich scarlet accents on everything from the rose-strewn aisle and pails of freshly-cut roses by Jennifer Cole Florals to the hand-tied programs and petal-topped cake from Jodee’s Bakery really pop against the clean white and contemporary black color scheme. Isn’t the bride’s sweeping Melissa Sweet gown the perfect choice for a swanky Southcoast Winery affair? 

 How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We first met by email and phone while working on a project for which our two firms co-consulted. We met in person shortly after at my office when Brian was dropping off exhibits. Although there was an immediate connection, neither of us was bold enough to act on it right away. A few months later, Brian asked me out on a date and I happily accepted. We met for drinks after work and got to know each other. Halfway through our first beer, the entire block went black from a power outage. We both were having too much fun to call it a night so we agreed to move our date to a restaurant down the street. We clicked right away and even learned we both had grown up only twenty minutes apart and had attended rival high schools.
Describe the proposal: Brian popped the question the night before my birthday at a bed and breakfast in Cardiff by the Sea. We walked up to the B&B’s roof deck to watch the sunset and Brian cracked open a bottle of our favorite wine for a so-called birthday toast. Just after the sun disappeared into the ocean, Brian dropped to one knee and proposed.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? Contemporary classic: black, white, silver and red.
Describe your wedding flowers: Roses, roses and more roses!
Funniest moment? Our honeymoon to Cabo was nearly cancelled due to the Swine Flue scare! But just days before the wedding, we decided we would go no matter what! As part of his toast at the wedding, the best man gave us face masks, complete with built-in straws, for our trip. It was hilarious!
Hardest decision you made in planning? The dress was the hardest decision, especially for a girl who loves her jeans as much as I do!
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Romantic, personal and fun!

Any DIY items? We created a web site, which was a great resource for our guests. We also put together a slideshow of baby pictures and couple pictures that we shared with everyone at the reception. It was a huge hit!
What’s next for you as a couple? We hope to get settled in our new house and to add to our family very soon: a chocolate Lab first and then maybe a kid or two!

Congratulations, Elizabeth + Brian! Enjoy your new home and this special time together.

August must be my lucky month! Heather + Freddie’s gorgeous wedding captured by John Partridge at a private estate in Laguna Beach proves that classic black and white is anything but basic.  From the bride’s hip Chuck Taylor high-tops and the black and white swans swimming in a nearby pool to the authentic photo booth and s’mores station, this wedding was a fun, creative and vibrant affair!  Planning and design by Fleur de Lis Events.  We’re really liking this trend of couples choosing personal and original alternatives to the traditional wedding cake.  What do you think about Heather and Freddie’s homemade cupcakes (made by the bride’s mother!) that inspired the couple’s California B&W wedding?

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Believe it or not, we met at church. Freddie had been a lifelong member at this church and had been invited to the church by a friend.  We caught each other’s eye early during the service, but neither of us had the courage to say anything to the other.  Freddie had approached my friends and asked them to give him my number but I told them to let him know that if he was interested than he would have to come ask me for my number himself!  One Sunday evening after church, Freddie followed me to my car and asked me for my phone number.  The next morning, he called and invited me on a date.  Although I was excited to join him, especially since it was Valentine’s Day and I was without a proper date, I already had made a commitment to babysit for my next-door neighbors.  As God would have it, I got off work early with an entire night’s pay!  I immediately called Freddie and we planned a last minute double date with our mutual friends.  We have been together ever since!

What was the design inspiration for your wedding? My mom’s cookies and cream cupcakes.  After Freddie and I got engaged, I was having trouble coming up with ideas for what my dream wedding would be like.  My biggest worry was the cake, because I am not a cake-eater.  Since my mom had recently opened her own bakery in Ireland and has always made the best cookies and cream cupcakes, I decided that the cupcakes would be a perfect substitute for a cake, which meant that our color scheme would necessarily have to be black and white!

Favorite design element of your big day: Our favorite design element was the black and white swans.  They were a surprise from my mom; we had no idea there would be swans at our wedding!  As our original goal was to push the envelope on innovative design ideas, I think that swans in a swimming pool were a perfect fit!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: When I started looking for dresses I had no idea what I wanted, but I knew exactly what I didn’t want: NO POUF!  My mom flew in from Ireland for a few days to accompany me to local bridal salons. We went to 5 places, tried on about 20 dresses, narrowed it down to 3 and ended up with a POUF dress from Monique Lhuillier!  The dress really was a no-brainer, though, as I could wear my favorite Chuck Taylor shoes with it.  I couldn’t have been happier!

Describe your wedding flowers: We are not really into flowers and didn’t want anything too put together or too matchy-matchy. Instead, we opted for a more casual garden feel.  To be honest, we could have done without flowers all together.  The designs were inspired by the flower arrangements my mom put together for my bridal shower.  They looked so fresh and original that we replicated the look at the wedding as well.

Describe your wedding cake: We decided on cookies and cream cupcakes instead of a cake.  My mother flew in two days before the wedding and baked 150 cupcakes from scratch, then had to decorate them all.  In the meantime, she decided to bake a small three tiered cookies-and-cream cake so that we had something to cut for the cake-cutting ceremony.  She kept it clean with plain white frosting.  On the top of the cake, she stenciled a fleur-de-lis emblem filled with cookie crumbs.  Everything was delicious!

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The photo booth was definitely our favorite detail of the wedding.  It made for an excellent social piece and even better memories.  When we started planning the wedding, we had two things that we had to have on our special day: a photo booth and a s’mores station.  Both were big hits!

Three adjectives that describe the day are: Beautiful, romantic and breathtaking.

What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Make sure you get an amazing photographer. We used John Partridge.  He is so talented!  His work is original, creative and definitely the real thing.  We don’t have enough nice things to say about him.  He captured the day so well.  We can’t stop looking at the pictures.  It takes us back to that exact moment.  He made us look our best and, even more importantly, he made us feel comfortable.

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We have recently moved into our first apartment together.  We are looking forward to buying our own home and starting a family within the next few years.  We are enjoying each other’s company and the feeling of being one.

Any DIY items? We made our own party favors.  An important theme to our relationship has been an umbrella, so my mom baked homemade sugar cookies in the shape of an umbrella and we decorated them and wrapped them individually.  We also added a tag with a quote about why umbrellas are a good metaphor for life.

We loved your modern spin on traditional black and white, Heather + Freddie! Best of luck on your new home and life together!

We’re so thrilled to have the chance to feature Jane + David’s wedding from Jonilyn Photography!  The couple selected the First Congregational Church of Long Beach as the venue for their nuptials for its Italian-inspired architecture, a particularly appropriate choice considering the newlyweds met just before Jane began studying in Italy.  While their wedding ceremony was elegant and breathtakingly romantic, doesn’t the reception at The Reef Restaurant just scream FUN?  Like Jane + David, we’re crazy about the photo booth they set up for guests to dress up and taking funny pictures with, and the bright orange heels Jane paired with her ultra-flattering Marisa gown not only added just the right splash of color and pizzazz but also matched the couple’s orange and olive wedding theme perfectly.  Don’t you just wish you could try a piece of that lemon and raspberry favored cake from Rossmoor Pastries?

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. A friend I have known since the 6th grade was David’s college roommate.  David and I didn’t know of each other until I asked my friend to help move equipment with me from my studio at school.  As luck would have it, my friend asked David to come along for the move as well.  While I immediately thought David was someone I wanted to get to know better, David, unfortunately, didn’t yet feel the same way.  Later that summer, I decided to study at an art school in Florence.  Before I left for Italy, David and I met again for our friend’s birthday party.  It was then that we finally exchange phone numbers.  Our first date was a month before I left for Italy.  Just two weeks before I left the country, we made, what most people likely would consider a rash decision and decided to become a couple.  It’s been six years now and we’ve made it through the best and worst times in our lives.  We’ve shared so much together already and I know we always will be there for one another.

What was the design inspiration for your wedding? I had lived in Italy for the first year David and I were together, so I wanted to incorporate at least one thing that had to do with Italy.  The church where we held our ceremony was perfect because it was built in the style of the Italian Florentine Renaissance.  The inside of the church was beautiful and had a dim, romantic feeling to it.  When I found the church, I based my wedding colors and design elements off it.  Our main inspiration, however, was FUN!  We wanted everyone (including ourselves!) to have fun at our wedding.

Favorite design element of your big day: My favorite detail was the warm glow I wanted throughout the ceremony and reception.  We had a lot of people at the wedding but wanted to make sure it was still a warm and intimate affair.  To create a soft, welcoming feeling, we incorporated candles into the aisle flowers at the ceremony site.

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I didn’t want to go to too many places and see too many dresses because I knew that I would have been overwhelmed and ultimately indecisive.  While I wasn’t particularly picky regarding the style of the dress (so long as it didn’t make me look like a cupcake!), the one thing I knew I wanted for sure was for the dress to be ivory rather than paper white.  In the end, I chose a Marisa dress in a mermaid style.  It was a dress I never thought I would wear, but it was gorgeous and the price was just within our budget!

Describe your wedding flowers: For our flowers, we stuck with the orange and olive colors I love so much.  I had wanted to incorporate branches somewhere in the floral arrangements because David and I love to hike.  Our florist made two different centerpieces with all different shades of oranges and greens. 

Describe your wedding cake: We wanted something really simple so we found an ivory three-tier rounded square with Swiss dots.  Our florist then decorated the cake with flowers and even added branches to the very top.  Of course, the best part about the cake was that it was lemon and raspberry flavored!

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Our photo booth!  Our photographer set up a backdrop and lights for guests to take photos.  I bought feather boas, big clown glasses, different hats and other props for people to use during their photo shoots.  Even our grandparents got dressed up and took pictures!

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Continuing our growing business together and looking forward to a having a baby!

The SW girls wish Jane + David all the best with their growing business and expanding family!