Antlers, and pom poms, and xerographica! Oh my!

You guys, I'm posting more details than usual on this one because GAAAAAAAAH. 

Here's what Kelly had to say about her cool-ass California wedding:

Mike and I are both very untraditional, so from the beginning we knew we wanted our wedding to be unique, whimsical, and just a freaking good time. We were both so excited to be able to have all of our family and friends in one room for the first time ever. Being both midwest transplants, Mike and I wanted to give our family and friends a true California experience to show them why we fell so in love with it out here. 

After months of searching for the perfect outdoor venue, we stumbled upon the Carondelet House. When we walked in, there was no discussion, we knew this was the place. It had history (was actually the old Otis building), amazing architecture, and also had amazing outdoor areas. The space itself was so beautiful that we did not have to do much to it. Once we found the venue, everything else just fell into place.

Mike and I wanted the decor to reflect the fact that this was a celebration and we wanted to bring the fun. We knew we wanted things to be festive and modern since the venue was really rustic. Gold was a must. We worked with Jihan Zencirli from Gironomo Balloons as well as Confetti System for the rest of the gold decorations. All of my friends helped with the planting, making of terrariums, and setting up the day of. 

I designed my dress myself and had it made by an amazing dressmaker in Koreatown. [Dets to follow in a separate post.] My best friend, Jeff Millbern of Banner Year, made a wood, crystal, and pyrite brooch for my dress as well as wood bracelets and pins for each of the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Mike and I chose wood to go along with our wooden wedding rings which were made by Gustav Reyes of Simply Wood Rings. 

With my background in visual merchandising and costume design, and Mike's background in graphic design, we were able to do pretty much everything ourselves...no wedding planner needed! Had we not have had 125 people, I would have wanted to do the food as well! [Kelly has a food blog on the side.] For food, we ended up using Tres LA to do the catering. We kept the menu simple with a cheese and cocktail reception, tacos for the main event, and late night appetizers that included sliders, burrata grilled cheese, fried mac and cheese balls, buffalo style cauliflower, and most importantly, a full bar. 

Our cake was a gift from Mike's employer, the LA Weekly, and was from Rosebud Bakery. We also served red velvet cupcakes from Lark Cake Shop and Earl Grey Macarons from Bottega Louie for dessert. We ordered the invitations from 2 Be U Design on Etsy, and Mike was able to make the programs and menus to correspond with them. The ex-cheerleader in me had to have pom poms and I found some from Spiritline that we used as favors. 

Neither Mike and I are big fans of flowers, so we decided to use airplants and lots of potted succulents as at home, we love to be surrounded by plants. Each bridesmaid held a large xerographica. We purchased everything from the flower market downtown and because we used so many plants, we were able to prep everything weeks earlier. 

Our amazing photographers, Rad and In Love, helped us to set up our photo booth and I can say that was definitely a crowd pleaser. We were married by one of our best friends and walked down the aisle to Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. My favorite part was the swaying of my bridesmaids to this song as I came down the aisle. Our DJ was the amazing Bennett Schmid from Ameoba and he played all old school 80s, 90s, and hip hop.  People are still talking about how great the music was.

Overall, the day was absolutely perfect, but everything went by so quickly... wish we could do it all again! We could not have made it so perfect without all of our amazing friends and family who helped us put it all together. It was definitely a collaboration and celebration of love. We will remember it always.

Photos by Rad + In Love. Check out tons more from Kelly + Mike's wedding over on the Rad + In Love blog!

Taxidermy Arctic Fox Kissing Coyote Bra Top

Just to get you over the hump.

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Inter-continental wedding woes: FOLLOW-UP

Dear ESB,

Just an update... I was this girl, who was asking your advice on how to plan a wedding for two families from opposite sides of the pond who aren't loaded.

In the end, for many many reasons, we decided to have a ceremony in both lands. The first was a civil ceremony in my Grandma's backyard in Michigan. While the location was originally chosen as she was housebound (and I wanted her to attend my wedding more than anyone in the world beside myself and my fiance), she passed away 2 months before the wedding. The ceremony went ahead, the last family event to take place in her home, after nearly 60 years and 5 generations celebrating all major events there. As you can probably guess, it was a very emotional day, but it was everything I've ever wanted in a wedding. We ate BEFORE the ceremony (a barbeque catered by my former boss), I wearing a burgundy dress that my grandmother wore as her "going away dress" the day after her wedding in 1941.

My family did everything for the wedding for us: decorating the backyard, hiring a tent and chairs, and covering everything with flowers, on a budget of literally 600 dollars. Right before the ceremony, I changed into a light blue 1950's dress. My cousin played Beatles songs on his guitar as my hub walked in with his parents and me with mine. We then danced the night away to an iPod in the pouring rain on the back deck.

On the Irish side, we rented out a boutique hotel in the country, a shabby chic Georgian stately home.  We had a small marquee on the front lawn, and my Uncle Mike, a minister, performed the blessing under a giant willow tree on the property. The music was a small bluegrass band, whom I'd found busking on the streets of Dublin. I wore a dress by Maria Lluisa Rabell, this Spanish designer who only uses unbleached natural fabrics (bought it at a trunk sale and had it altered). Our guests danced the night away to an 80's cover band, and then our friend DJ'ed into the wee hours.

This is all to say, thanks to you and those who commented, it was nice to have some moral support.  And while my Irish wedding was more "weddingy" than my Michigan one, I really preferred the civil ceremony, and in my heart it was my "real" wedding.

Love,
Midwestern Girl

p.s. The first set of photos (the backyard bbq) are by a family friend called Hugh Plummer. Second set (the Irish country celebration): my amazing friend and professional photographer Karina Finegan. 

*****

SO. GREAT.

♥

Trying not to be an asshat....

Dear ESB-

I hadn't talked with my college roommate since we graduated a couple years ago (she's rather shy, and I'm rather bad at keeping in touch). Anyways, she asked if I would be interested in attending her wedding and if I would mind if she used a drawing I drew of her plus the fiance back before they were engaged. I said of course, that I would love to be there and it'd be awesome if she used my artwork for their wedding playbill/program. I gave her my email address, and we emailed off and on for a bit. 

It's now two months later, and I haven't received my invitation. Is it inappropriate to ask the bride-to-be if the invite got lost in the mail?

I'm really trying not to be an asshat. Thanks.

- Guest To Be

*****

Dear GTB (aka Not An Asshat),

Nope. That is not at all inappropriate.

Those monster envelopes actually do get lost in the mail -- or returned-to-sender for lack of postage, which can take weeks -- and you wouldn't want your old roomie to think you were blowing her off by not responding to the invitation.

xoxo,
ESB

(Image via deviantART via Mouse)

custom wedding invitations by Jezebel

Wild/playful/uber-chic-but-in-a-low-key-made-in-Brooklyn-kind-of-way....

Peruse ilovejezebel for inspiration and then feel free to email her directly.

p.s. hello...ANTLERS!!

branches are the new antlers

I fucking love this. How did I miss this??

Pls don't be offended if I haven't read your blog lately. Apparently I haven't read anyone's blog.

Photography and styling by our lady of A Desert Fete. Obv.

p.s. We have a gorg branch hook from OK that I love to death that seems not to be for sale online. Too bad for you.

*BREAKING NEWS: The branch fell down on Ben's head and Jamie has not put it back up. WTF?!*

planning my outfit for the christmas party

The leopard boots are overkill (obviously), but otherwise I pretty much dig all of this. Thoughts?

Via auburn & ivory

streamlining

This morning the mechanic told H-town that his 96 Chrysler, affectionately known as The Cruiser, needs $2,000 worth of work. $2,000 we don't have that is frankly not worth pouring into the poor beast.

We've been talking theoretically about sharing a car for more than a year, but now that we're faced with it I have this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. We both work from home (ish). We have a supermarket in walking distance. Not to mention Little Joy, Mohawk General Store, and the Friday night farmer's market. (As if I ever leave the house.)

So what's the big deal?

I thought maybe it would help me to make a list of pros and cons. If you have any suggestions to add, I'd love to hear em.

PROS:
1. We'll save money on car insurance. Obv.

2. We'll only have to worry about ONE CAR getting dinged on our crazy narrow street.

3. We'll only have to guerrilla park ONE CAR when we leave town for christmas.

4. H-town will have the perfect excuse not to keep a schedule.

5. I won't have to feel sheepish about making my friends pick me up on the way to the bar.

CONS:
1. I WON'T HAVE MY OWN CAR.

Meh. When did I turn into such an Angelino?

(King of the road by Jenny Nordberg via woolgathering & miscellany)

antler wedding decor

I had to post these. I am officially obsessed with antlers for fall.* And bird's nests will never go out of style. (Just ask Martha.)

Photos by Lacie Hansen via 100 Layer Cake

*Yes, my tip arrived, thanks for asking. And it is GORGEOUS. Anxiously awaiting the brass chain I ordered from etsy, and then mabs I'll post a photo of the "finished" necklace if I can manage it.

the real LA: dire wolf skulls, petrichor antlers and the Kibitz Room

Cevd and I took Monday off to do some touristy/fabulous LA things. We packed an outdated copy of LA Bizarro, but I must say we did pretty well on our own.

After a trip to Pink's for lunch, we spent a good part of the afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum, where they have the most amazing collection of dire wolf skulls. We also quite enjoyed the display of eagle toe bones.

And then purely by accident, we parked in front of Cavern. (Yes, on our way to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, got a problem with that?) We went in, obv, and can attest that these antlery feathery items are even sexier in person. Srsly.

Petrichor antler*/wood/chain necklace handmade in Los Angeles by Molly Steele.

Cavern Collection handmade seed bead & dip-dyed feather necklace.

This piece is gone but I couldn't resist posting it. (Yes, partly because the model is rocking a mustache. We've gone too long without a good mustache.)

I've subscribed to the Cavern blog so I can obsess about new pieces as they come in. And I had a lovely chat with Adam, one of the store's proprietors. I think I freaked him out a little when I referenced Keith Richards and his bone earring circa Gimme Shelter (freaked him out as in, man this "blogger" lady is old). But anyhoo. ADAM WAS WEARING A BONE AROUND HIS NECK. Or an antler, or whatever. It seemed relevant.

There was dinner and blah blah blah. But obviously cevd, H-town and I closed the night at Canter's Kibitz Room. We may not have see Slash, but we did see some true Hollywood rockers. And man did I wish I was wearing an antler.

*I believe this means the antler has been shed. Ie. the beast was not killed to give us this necklace. But I don't have a lot to go on here.

Okay, I'm closing the comments on this one. For some reason the spammers won't leave it alone. (?!)

Woodsy Chic New Brunswick Wedding

I'm thrilled to share these details from the wedding of Stephen Kopp & Monica Adair, a pair of badass architects based in Saint John. As Monica and I wrote back and forth over the past few months, I became convinced that we're kindred spirits.

We got married on the new moon, on August 30, 2008. I think we were on a wedding high for a full month after the wedding.

The theme of the wedding was ‘woods chic’ with our own familial twist. My mother, who was born in Mexico, is the oldest of 18 children and is used to entertaining large crowds. We embraced some of those traditions to really inspire the day. My mother and father were also married in the woods, on a volcano outside of Mexico City. I absolutely adore her photos and was inspired to create something as authentic as they had.





It was a wedding of embodied energy – the energy of friends and family coming together to build the day that we have been thinking about ever since. Everyone got involved. Some learned how to drive tractors to build the dance floor, some helped build altars, while others laid the hundred glow sticks that created the path in the dark woods to and from the dance floor. A local farmer provided the hay bales for the ceremony seating that found their way to insulating the cabins on the site after the wedding. My mother sewed yards of table runners made from two textured tweed fabrics tied together with a red silk ribbon, my father, who owns a furniture company, searched for the richly coloured fuchsia seats for the dinner, my uncle spent weeks splitting wood for the head table and altar.

The papel picado, personalized white streamers hand cut in Mexico, were an amazing gift from the family in Mexico. We just recently spent our honeymoon in Mexico City and connected with our distant family. The wedding really brought us closer together.

And no Mexican wedding is complete without piñatas. Forget coffee as a wake-me up after a long dinner and speeches, piñatas helped set the tone for a long night of dancing. A light rain drizzle set the mood and some blindfolded dangerous swinging was a great lead-in to a long night of dancing and late-night swimming. The piñatas were filled with Mexican treats, carefully chosen from markets around Mexico City by my aunt Margarita and cousin Laura.


Buffalo plaid & a feathered cap >> Over 10 years ago, I fell in love with a photo of a woman in a wooden canoe paddling in a plaid dress. It has stuck with me ever since. I spent a great deal of time in the trenches of the Garment District of NY looking for buffalo plaid in wool – surely one would think that the fabric store for ‘Project Runway’ would have buffalo plaid in red and black – sadly no. After another, literally 50 store visits, I returned to the first fabric store and a man in there suggested I try one more store – sure enough – buffalo plaid – the last 4 yards – my future dress.

Julie Culberson, a local seamstress who happened to have done design for a theatre company’s production of Caesar, seemed like a perfect person to execute my small fantasy. The plaid shawl was cinched together over a taffeta J. Crew dress with a belt I found in a great little store. I was torn between wearing a white dress and the plaid dress from my memory; this was a way to manage the pull in all directions. I also loved wearing cowboy boots on my wedding day – I love boots and dresses.


I spent the rest of the day trying to find the perfect feathers – only in new York would I be so lucky to find a place where they were making the hats for the fall collection of Ralph Lauren and the costumes for carnival – whose hats were absolutely incredible – I was in pheasant heaven as I spent the afternoon handpicking each feather that adorned the centerpieces, table settings and finally the spectacular hat that milliner and designer Frennel Morris from Still Life helped me create.



The food>> My brother and chef, Jose, put together a beautiful menu of local appetizers, and he and my mother, a natural born food lover and maker, put together a meal for 150 that people are still talking about today. The menu consisted of a mix of local and Mexican treats: Mole chicken, achiote pork, plantains, tortillas, and a feast of other Mexican-inspired foods. We had a vegetarian friend that night who couldn’t resist and tried the chicken and hasn’t looked back since.


3am brought scavengers back to the tent in search of those last licks of probably the best cake we have ever had. If you ever come east, head to the Happy Baker where you will find this prized Baker – Holger Mammen. When we told him we wanted to make a 42” cake he talked us down to something that would fit through a door, but he was willing to take on a challenge. He beautifully rendered our family crest in gold icing and it was a slice of heaven.


Flowers>> My bridesmaid Katie's mother Gillian Wallace was our florist, and we knew she hit the theme spot-on when she showed up with a car full of cat tails, pussy willows and wild flowers galore. I do think they were the most inspired arrangements I had ever seen and I loved the trailing bouquet that was put in my arms just hours before the wedding.

The lens>> While many of our friends have showered us with great photographs of the wedding week, we were pretty damn lucky to have friend and photographer Karl Redding as our official 'third wheel' for our wedding – he made it feel easy and kept it all quite real. His thoughtfulness carried past his photographs and into all his help from climbing trees to folding napkins in the wee hours of the morning.

The lodge & cabins >> I spent many a weekend at my aunt and uncle’s lodge and cabins on the Kingston Peninsula in New Brunswick. It was exactly the place that best fit our wedding. Adair’s Lodge & Cabins is a wonderful place for an escape into quiet rustic country along the Saint John River.



Our friends made it happen.

We tried our best to design as many things as we could for the wedding and when we could we wanted to showcase our friends' talents: Our wedding favors were beautiful fishing flies designed by our friend Rich Cassidy. Meghan Barton, a talented artist friend of ours silk-screened our crest for the floating candles. Darren Emineau’s (MNO) pottery housed the flowers and served the head table. The ring-bearing dog's plaid outfit was made by Darren’s partner Alex, and Sam delivered the ring with perfect timing and elegance, heading straight to the pond for a dip upon completion of his task in true dog style. As for ‘les bijoux,' we asked local jewelry designer Jeneca Klausen to design our bridesmaids’ jewelry for the wedding, a commission she was perfect for: asymmetrical antlers, lava rocks and twig-like silver branches are just some of the one-of-a-kind gems that she designed for the ladies. John Wallace cut our serving-trays out of an 18” tree trunk. My maid of honour Charlotte Macdonell was like a full time logistics coordinator for the hundreds of details that were being fabricated up to the last minute of the wedding; she also got stuck making floating lantern bases out of left over tile we ripped up from an old reno.

Our farewell party was at happinez wine bar, where stephen and I had designed the little wine patio ‘hapito’ for our friend and owner of the bar. It was fun to have a party in something we actually designed.


As if I haven’t gone on enough, a few of my favorite moments>>

My brother Manuel wadding in water with a post-ceremony canoe full of Moosehead Beer for our guests>>Stephen’s vows>>Pre-wedding swimming for the boys in the pond >>the skinny dip that ended the dance and the hours of laughing at the camp-fire>>realizing we had nowhere to sleep and ending up in our tent…no better way to end a night of stars and lights.

I absolutely loved, loved our wedding. I can’t thank everyone enough for making it so real.