Friday, November 6, 2009

Southern California Wedding Chic (complete with ostrich)



I could not be more stoked to feature the wedding of the lovely and hilarious Celia, of life according to celia. Here's what she had to say:

First off, I'd like to give a big fat thank you to ESB for getting what the whole wedding planning process is really about and, of course, for featuring our wedding. I thought we were kind of cool before, but now my head is swelling at a phenomenal rate... jokes.

OK, where to start? After 10 months of planning, some serious nail biting, a good amount of tears, and a few fits of rage, we got married in front of 113 of our nearest and dearest on October 10th at the Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse in Los Olivos. We rented the house for two nights and invited our families and close friends to spend that time with us. To say it was the best time of my life, would be the absolute grossest understatement. I guess there really are no words to describe how incredibly perfect that weekend was.




The day of the wedding was the most beautiful day I had seen in months. Living in Southern California can be pretty grueling during the Summer, so a 77ยบ day is always more than welcome. I know tons of little details go so wrong at so many weddings, but I must admit that ours ran pretty smoothly. The ceremony started at 4:30 and we were married by a very close friend of ours... an idea I highly recommend if you are planning on having a nondenominational wedding. He made us laugh, then cry, and laugh again. It was so sweet and so personal. My mom walked me down the aisle and I remember feeling like I was a little kid again.


The ceremony was very short (maybe 15 minutes) and we proceeded to have a huge blowout party. I was not interested in a lot of the traditions, i.e. throwing the bouquet/tossing the garter/etc., mainly because I didn't want to feel like I was on a schedule at my wedding, and also because I really didn't feel the need to have Joseph's hands or face up my dress in front of our families. Maybe that's just me, though.


We both work in the food industry, so the food was a really big deal to us. We didn't want anything fancy, so we felt family style would be our best option. The menu consisted of Roasted Fennel and Orange Salad, White Mushroom Lasagna, and Paella from The Chef's Touch in Solvang and I don't think we could have been happier with how it all turned out. Joseph works as a Sommelier and decided to buy all different bottles of wine from Silver Lake Wine, so that no two were alike. Everyone was excited to see what bottles would be at their table. We also served three signature cocktails; a spicy whiskey one, a sweet tequila one, and a rusty nail for my dad. There was a mariachi and we gave out Mexican tin ornaments for favors as a nod to my heritage. We used terrariums as centerpieces because Joe's highly allergic to quite a variety of flowers.

Dinner turned into a big dance fest and we were so delighted to hear everyone tell us that they were having the best time. I had never in my life felt so happy or full of love. It was almost surreal. The night came to an end, although I wished it could have lasted forever, and I could not believe how blessed we were to have such a beautiful and heartfelt wedding. Totally worth all those fits of rage...



Tune in tomorrow for Celia's advice on how to get a badass wedding dress without ever having to leave the house.

And, yes, that is a ban.do headpiece. Celia visited the studio to try em on. She's fancy like that.

(Photos by Cathryn Farnsworth)

20 comments:

  1. yes. completely love these pictures. her wedding was really beautiful and that headpiece is ridiculous! i love it. i really want some lasagna now.

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  2. OMG you werent kidding!? how awesome is this!? i love her headpiece and dress too and have an unhealthy obsession with ostriges! i loove it

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  3. everything looks just right!
    (the two of them, the light, the dress the ostrich...)

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  4. how about the headpieces of her people.. love.
    and that first pic... he likes her.. a lot.

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  5. celia is a goddess! i am obsessed with her... she does everything right & i think this is my favorite wedding i've ever seen. she is perfection!

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  6. you are so cool. this is fantastic, thanks again!

    oh, and joy, i made my "people's" headpieces. i went to a millinery shop downtown that sells deadstock and found the straw flowers, leaves and ribbon and glued them onto headbands. :)

    xoxxx

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  7. Hurrah! I love Celia. Best wedding I ever saw!!!

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  8. yay celia. excited for part 2 since i was just going to ask about the dress!

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  9. short ceremony, no traditions?!?! no schedule?!? incredible. take notes you guys. THIS is the way to do it.

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  10. yay for such a wonderful wedding! i was married in los angeles on 10/10 and wore a ban.do headband too! i also went to their studio - and jen and jamie are the absolute shit - two of the most awesome girls ever!! and SLW rocks - their wine tastings are the best - always have ridiculous good food trucks outside. celia - does your hubs work as a sommelier at a local restaurant?

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  11. Awesome! That's the way weddings should be....loved reading about this and seeing the photos! :)

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  12. I was waiting for the rest of these pictures - her headpiece is outstanding. I loved reading her comments - what a fabulous wedding

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  13. While I have been mostly envy-of-other-weddings-free thus far ... damn, I wish mine had an ostrich!

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  14. wow.. such pretty colors and such a sweet dress!

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  15. Who made your dress?

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