Bri & Ben's chill-but-gorgeous LA wedding

Because you know I love a good follow-up............... How could I not feature Bri & Ben's wedding, featuring THAT MARA HOFFMAN DRESS in the wild?

Also, this is just the kind of wedding that makes me love weddings. (Though it brings back those old why-did-I-grow-out-my-bangs-for-my-wedding?! regrets.)

Anyhoo.

Here are a few words from Bri:

When Ben and I planned our wedding we really wanted to be kind of chill and laid back about it. That's easy for him, but not as easy for me since I struggle with a need to always be in control. But we focused really hard on remembering that it was just like our small house parties, only huge. 

We consulted each other on our wedding attire (no secrecy here -- he's my most influential fashion adviser), and relaxed on nitpicking the wedding party attire. I asked the bridesmaids to wear bright colors as if they were flowers in the spring garden and they totally nailed it. The groomsmen wore springy suits and colorful plaid ties to fit with the theme.

Writing vows was so much harder than I expected! It's not that I have trouble expressing my feelings for Ben, but that it was a public declaration. It was really hard deciding what all those friends and family should hear or would want to hear. In the end we coordinated our vows by agreeing on a general length and rhythm and they turned out lovely. Even now friends and family continue to bring up how much they were moved by our very personal vows, and it feels like the best compliment you can get on your wedding.

Ben sings in The Silver Lake Chorus and plays fiddle and mandolin, and has also played music in his hometown of Charleston, SC. We both have a lot of musically talented friends, and several of them provided the sweet sounds - a personalized processional song was performed for us by the songwriter, an a capella female trio (friends we met through the chorus) sang "The Book of Love" mid-ceremony, and two of Ben's friends and former bandmates from Charleston performed a first dance version of "The Luckiest." My sister Genevieve and another friend co-DJ'd the after-dinner dance party.

The projects I decided to labor over were ones that I truly enjoyed putting together. My tin can succulent centerpieces were my pride and joy (and took forever), and designing my own invitations was really fun (and cheap!). 

The scariest moment of the day happened to Genevieve who was my maid of honor. I asked her to hold onto my vows until the moment I would read them. During the ceremony, she realized she didn't have them with her. Panicked, she quietly left the ceremony to frantically search the bridal suite. She didn't find them, and came back certain that everything was about to implode with her failure. When it came time to read them... I pulled them out from the inside of my palm, and she was of course completely relieved. (Before the ceremony began, I was feeling overwhelmed and wanted to reflect for 5 minutes. She didn't realize that I had taken the vows back to look them over alone in my bridal suite. Then when it was time to go, I tucked them into the bouquet and carried them out with me.) Little did I know what a scare I gave to her -- Ha! We laugh about it now, but I still have pangs of guilt for putting her through that.

The best part of the day was taking a moment alone with Ben after the ceremony where we breathed a sigh of relief and drank some champagne before heading out for photos and reception. We just looked at each other like "We just did it! We just got married!" We took some terrible selfies and posted them to instagram. Finally I got to stop worrying about everything.

The wedding was just a party, and yet so much more. I never wanted to be a "bride" in the pinterest sense, but looking back, I was and it was fucking fun.

♥

Photos by the lovelies of Rad & In Love (as always, there are lots more over on their blog)

speaking of women in suits....

I know I said I was bored with weddings, but when I saw these photos……… I MEAN COME ON

I had to post a few.

Claire + Leslie recently founded O'Harrow Clothiers, based in Silver Lake, and are already kicking ass with their Pocket Squares for Well-Mannered Rebels and button-downs for both women and men.

And, from Claire, re their suits: 

I got mine from Theory and Leslie got hers made by Requisite Clothing, highly recommend them. 

(Photos by Rad + In Love -- check out more from this rad Palm Springs wedding over on their blog)

Weird, Wonderful Holiday Mix from Dart DJ

I meant to get up bright and early to post this for you all..... But I went to the Dart DJ holiday party last night and then to Footsie's and drank waaaaaaay too much whiskey and also some really grody stuff I don't remember the name of that Elizabeth claims is the new Jagermeister.

Now my head hurts.

Anyhoo.


Click here for your weird, wonderful holiday mix from the Dart DJ boys. Which is actually not very holiday. It's mostly just a great, weird collection of covers and lesser-known versions of popular songs. (Even if Elvis's "Crawfish" drives you nuts, stay tuned for Hot Chip covering Joy Division!)

BONUS: If you're cheaping out on the dj for your wedding, Dart has a bunch more mixes over here. The Flashdance also mixes a mean mix.


Photo from last night by Michelle of Rad + In Love

Pioneertown Weddin'

This is the just kind of wedding that makes me want to get married again.... Sweet and simple, with a really sexy backdrop.

Here are a few words from the lovely bride:

We always knew that we wanted a semi-elopement, handmade, un-cookie-cutter-style wedding and after getting engaged in Joshua Tree last year, knew it was the perfect location and we would never find anything similar in the UK. We never had a wedding style/theme/scheme in mind but the desert encapsulates everything we love -- country, psychedelic weirdness, good BBQ and Californian hospitality, with not an English country garden in sight. 

We had the most surreal and magical day with our closest friends and family, as well as the amazing people who helped bring the day together.

(Photos by Rad + In Love. See more images + get all the dets over on their blog)

George + Lysa's Rad San Diego wedding

If you look closely, this whole shebang is PERFECTLY COLOR COORDINATED. And yet it's totally Brooklyn-meets-San-Diego cool and supremely unfussy....

George and I been together for 10 years and when we finally decided to make it official, we knew that we wanted 3 things: Mexican food, to have it be a fun & casual affair and for it to take place in San Diego, California (where I grew up and where we met).

With that said, the important things for this bride were:

Wedding Photography

Luckily, it was through a recommendation that we found Rad + In Love. I loved Jamie and Michelle’s photojournalistic approach and the command they had of the medium. They were on the ball in getting our "must have" photos as well as sneaking us away to snap us in the perfect light.

Wedding Invitations

My talented friend, Shiva King is the one who is responsible for these insanely beautiful invites. Since our venue had elements of mid century architecture, Shiva used Illustrator to impart a clean look that is characteristic of mid century design while adding a feminine touch with the bold florals and/or color. She designed the map, flowers, our caricatures and screen printed our cat Gustave Minda onto tote bags.

[Ahem, please note how beautifully Lysa's bouquet matches the save-the-dates.]

Wedding Dress + Shoes

I saw an image of a 1930s Nina Ricci dress and automatically knew that was going to be my wedding dress if I could help it. I scoured ebay, etsy, all the vintage stores in SD, LA and NY for similar styles if not the exact one but to no avail. So with the help of a friend, I decided to design my own dress, using design elements from the vintage one and giving it a modern spin.

I design shoes as a profession and am starting my own line called Aralêzano (stay tuned!) so it’s a no brainer to design my own pair. I collaborated with my friend Juniper Rose on the embellishment, and one of the factories I worked with was kind enough to make my wedding shoes.

And so after our must-haves were squared away, everything else fell into place. We got married at the San Diego Rowing Club on a summer solstice evening. It overlooked Mission Bay, which made for an interesting backdrop with bikini-clad kayakers, a John Mayer blaring boater and a jet packer aerialist.

I walked down the aisle to Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks and we walked out as a couple to Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, all performed instrumentally by Red Pony Clock. After the ceremony, the band continued playing during cocktail hour and we recorded the entire set list as a keepsake. The recording is our most favorite thing from the wedding. This party friendly 8-piece band is awesome and if you are getting married in the LA/SD area, book them!!

After cocktails, the wedding party gave their toasts and this was also another great memory. It was funny, sweet and emotional. No matter how many times I told myself not to cry, I did. Dinner was catered by Ortega’s -- delicious vegetarian enchiladas, fish tacos, chicken tacos, beans, rice, etc; and to cut down on costs, we ditched the wedding cake and bought Julian apple pies instead for dessert.

And from the dance floor, here are three of my favorite moments:

1st dance to The Killing Moon by Echo & the Bunnymen. We were opposed to first dances, but my mother insisted and she knows best. My uncle was kind enough to choreograph and teach us the moves the day before.

The same uncle surprised us with a flash mob Gangnam Style dance, which had my cousins, my mom and George’s parents on the dance floor.

And thanks to Red Pony Clock, they got me on a chair to do the hora and I’m not even Jewish. I told you RPC is party friendly!!

Some advice: the day will go by fast, you will be pulled for every free moment you have for photo ops, you will not get to spend enough time with everyone at the wedding, and you will suffer some sort of post-wedding depression after all is said and done.

Planning a California wedding from Brooklyn wouldn’t have been possible without help and advice from our friends. Everything came recommended to us and every recommendation was perfect.

Especially, thank you to our friend Chris Wojdak, who was our coordinator & florist. She made sure we were on budget, DIYed a few things to do so, and created the most beautiful bouquet I have ever seen. She is truly Wonder Woman (It’s true! She planned the wedding while pregnant and on the day of the wedding, was running around with little Jack strapped to her).

So it’s really our friends that made this wedding all the more awesome, besides marrying my best friend.

Xx
Lysa

Your uncle is RAD.

So is that dress.

And the shoes!!! look even better on.

Basically you killed it, lady.

(Photos by Rad + In Love. Go see more over on their blog!)