Badass California Mountain Wedding

Jamie asked me if I would do the honor of featuring one of Rad + In Love's very first wedding shoots, and when I saw that there was a HORSE MASK involved, I was like, "Yeah, okay. Twist my arm."

Here's what the adorable Katie had to say about her wedding:

Jeremy and I got married on a grey November day in our hometown of Santa Ynez, California. We rented out the Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse for several days before the wedding and had our wedding party stay with us. In the evenings we drank wine and our friends played music while the wind whipped through the mountain range and the rain pelted the window panes. During the days, it was a circus of planning, cooking, crafting, and, in general, TCB-ing.

We already felt pretty damn lucky having such talented friends helping us out but then when we won the awesome Rad + In Love ladies, well, we felt like our wedding was totally charmed.

As our guests arrived, a friend strolled around the farmhouse, playing songs on his banjo, which set the mood perfectly. Moments before the ceremony, when there was an issue with the sound equipment and we couldn’t play our processional song, he stepped in and provided some sweet music as we all headed down the aisle. It turned out way better than we ever could have planned.

Jeremy’s friend (and his best man’s father) was our officiator and I think you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a more bad-ass looking Reverend.  After presenting us as husband and wife, he picked up a guitar and sang Darlin’ Companion by The Lovin’ Spoonful while we walked back down the aisle.

My dress was made by my incredibly talented friend Nichole Lumpkin who – I should add- created my dream dress in just two weeks leading up the wedding date after I, in true procrastinator fashion, freaked out about not finding anything I liked. 

My bridesmaid Molly, from Ballard Canyon Farms, began growing the flowers pretty much as soon as I told her Jeremy had proposed. She used plants native to Figueroa Mountain and created the bouquets, gorgeous floral arrangements, and my flower crown (and a teeny tiny crown for our cake topper girl). I called upon my stylist friends for makeup and hair, asking for a 60’s country vibe, and they knocked it out of the park.

We didn’t want a super matchy-matchy look for our wedding party so Jeremy’s boys all wore different Rockmount shirts and my girls ran with the suggestion of something, “floral and folky.” 

When Jeremy and I booked the farmhouse 8-months prior we knew there might be a chance of rain but we basically lived in denial of it until a week before when every weather website said, “It is going to rain on your wedding day,” and our friends texted us, “It is going to rain on your wedding day,” and our day-of-planner emailed us, “It is going to rain on your wedding day. Get. A. Tent.” We tried to fight it and I’d be lying if I said we weren’t bummed but you know what? It was totally fine. Nobody cares if you’re in a tent or in a field surrounded by horses grazing on grass while a movie is projected on a wall behind you. It’s not a wedding without some hiccups and you just roll with it.

Danny Douglas catered, serving grilled Tri-Tip, Chicken, and a veggie risotto that made me wish he was my personal chef. Our friend, Graham Palmer, from Sforzando, made the incredible wines and Jeremy selected all of the craft beers from his store, The Oaks Gourmet. We had a couple cakes – one from Flore and one from the Madonna Inn (as a nod to the place where we got engaged). Jeremy’s friend, Genevieve, from Delilah Bakery made us an incredible bourbon banana bread pudding.

We wanted a stagecoach-stop/roadside-dive-bar feel for the reception and our pals that dj’d and played live music really pulled it off. We weren’t going to do a first dance or a bouquet toss BUT as 2AM rolled around, we were dancing to I’m Your Man by Richard Hell and I found myself tossing the bouquet out to the 10+ ladies that were in it for the long haul.

It’s no surprise that when you get married to your best friend, you’re feeling pretty much head over heels in love but, after all was said and done, I think Jeremy and I both had major crushes on all of our friends and family that helped create this incredible day for us.

Editor's Note: Is it inappropriate that I sort of have a crush on the guy with the mohawk? Okay, inappropriate.

Check out the Rad + In Love blog for tons more photos of the magical mayhem. And.... Special bonus.... Jamie + Michelle have another wedding up on 100 Layer Cake today. It's ALL RAD, ALL DAY LONG.

if i were to get married now...................

from elizabeth of the littlest

ever wonder what the wife of one of the coolest wedding people around -- a pretty fucking cool lady herself -- has to say about weddings?

ME TOO.

michael and i were engaged way back in 2005 (married 2006) when the knot and martha stewart were the stewards of all things wedding. the new york mag wedding issue was the only thing close to decent at the time and even that was a bit posh and removed from what i envisioned for my big day. i remember buying a couple of those magazines and literally getting tight in the chest at the thought of chocolate fountains and proper etiquette. somehow i am the girl who has NEVER been a bridesmaid (my closest friends are either not married and the ones who are just happened to get married in jordan, greece, india, australia and new zealand) and since i grew up LDS everyone around me married in the temple. so no frame of reference. zip. zero. i never dreamt of my wedding day and didn't see the point of bridesmaids or bridal showers which leads me to how over the top crazy this whole wedding thing has become! shots of cute feet and all.

that's not to say i didn't have the mason jars full of wild flowers on the vintage tablecloths or the tin buckets overflowing with icy drinks. i did. i had a pretty white dress, something old, something new. i poured over our invitations and had them printed at the legendary soho letterpress. i spent months tearing up on the subway listening to the songs i was going to walk down the aisle to and have for my first dance. i obsessed over finding the right shoes (i didn't!) i dreamt of our first night married and where we would have our honeymoon (costa rica.) i also had my closest family and friends there and not a person more. i seem to remember thinking that was all that really mattered. i still do.

so what would i change?

now that i see the possibilities, i can't help but think i could fit a couple things into my perfect memory of that day (the good thing about memory is that you can erase all of the things that seemed annoying at the time!)

i would probably have taken a chance and worn my hair up in a cute messy bun instead of down like i always have it. i love joanna's tutorials for simpletons such as myself. although it did look a bit like the elfin princess anne hathaway as a matter of fact.

i would have asked for fewer favors and just coughed up the dough - case in point:

i don't have the best photos from that day which i really regret. my gay fashion photographer friend from nyc shoot was supposed to shoot the family portraits and reception while he was busy trying to chase down a drink. we literally have never spoken since but i blame myself as i should have known he wasn't cut out for it. oh well. what i have learned from this is shooting weddings is hard work. hats off to wedding photographers. such an emotion laden day and you have the responsibility of capturing it, even if the bride accidentally took too much xanax or it's raining sideways. so long story short, i would have hired my photographers and given them a shot list of images i absolutely wanted (cake cutting, family portraits, more shots with michael, etc.)

i had a very well known, celebrity makeup artist (best friends with the gay fashion photographer so i no longer talk to her either - ha!) do my makeup as a favor but since she was doing me a favor, we didn't do a makeup test. i never wear makeup so didn't feel super comfortable and as great as she is, if you aren't comfortable in your own skin, it doesn't matter who is doing your makeup. so have a test. i had a tear of michelle williams hair and makeup at the oscars 2006 and kick myself for not doing it.

i would also have definitely hired a videographer to shoot the ceremony, my sweet stepmom bought a video camera and shoved it in the hands of my unwitting stepbrother. poor thing. sharkpig wasn't available then - but i look at almost every single thing he does and it makes me just so happy for the couples who have videos by him (and a little bit jealous.)

now that i have my daughter, i would have spent more time picking items that i could hand down to her. my dress closed the spring 2007 Nicole Miller runway show and is pretty beautiful but i think i could have done better (is that awful?) i chose wedges so that i could walk up the hill (we married at a beautiful, remote location that you had to hike to get to) if i could do it again, i'd say balance be damned and picked the coolest shoes.

and pie in the sky, i would have taken this old farmhouse that was shipped from appalachia to california and plunked it down where we had the ceremony (san juan islands) for the reception. i went to a wedding there recently and it was a truly magical venue.

last but not least, everyone told me and somehow i still didn't listen - i would have spent more time with michael instead of worrying about making everyone else happy. that day was for us. it's easy to lose sight of that.

1. jamie beck for cup of jo, 2. miu miu, 3. michelle williams courtesy of fairchild archive via brides, 4. miu miu by jak & jil for style.com via the cherry blossom girl, 5. figueroa farmhouse by kevin charlie

(catch up with the rest of the "if i were to get married now..................." series here.)

EXCUSE ME

Celia totally held out on us. Not only is there more ostrich action up on her blog, there are photos of the dance fest, the signature cocktails,* the most rad Celia necklace, and the elusive mariachi.

Sneaky sneaker blogger.

*That's right, Mr. Human Jukebox, I said signature cocktails. These people know a little something about mixing drinks.

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 77º 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)