[section title=”The Planning”]
[field title=”Wedding Colors”]Erin and Marco’s wedding leaned on the neutral colors of the venue and chose a palette that complimented the natural landscape. “I wanted there to be lots of neutrals, and wood accents to have a small coastal touch, and wanted to keep the decor polished and minimal to keep the aesthetic welcoming without sacrificing sophistication,” Erin explains. [/field]
[field title=”Design / Vibe / Vision”]In the bride’s words, “Much of my inspiration came from the wedding movie I grew up watching as a kid “Father of the Bride”. I wanted our day to feel like a Nancy Meyer’s movie. When you watch a Nancy Meyer’s movie there are lots of sweet, heart warming moments, lots of bright and fresh colors, and the audience always feels a sense of home and connection. I wanted our wedding to feel intimate and welcoming as if we were having it in our own backyard.” [/field]
[field title=”Proposal Story”]
“ In April 2022 Marco and I went to brunch at Panxa Cocina in Long Beach, one of our favorite restaurants. As we walked out of the restaurant he wrapped a blind fold around me and we drove to Rosie’s Dog Beach. I remember walking out of the car and feeling the sand under my feet, and hearing people around me “shushing” each other. At that moment I knew what was happening. When he untied the blind fold I opened my eyes to an aisle of white roses with our photos lining the way, and a sign at the end that read “Marry Me”. Our rough collie, Charlie, ran up to us wearing a bandana that said “Will you marry my dad?”. A violinist played in the background, while a photographer captured the special moment. I was speechless, and couldn’t do anything but cry with overwhelming happiness and shock. It was an incredibly emotional moment for us. Marco and I had gone through a family tragedy several months prior, when my mother was struck by a vehicle. By sheer miracle, she survived the accident, but lost much of her memory and cognition as a result. After I said yes to Marco’s proposal, he revealed to me that he asked my mother’s permission weeks before the accident. To find out my mother was able to give her blessing as herself, before she was forever changed meant the world to me.” – Erin
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[board_carousel title=”Getting Ready”]
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[board_carousel title=”Bridal Portraits”]
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[board_carousel title=”Flat Lays”]
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[board_carousel title=”First Look”]
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[section title=”The Fashion”]
[field title=”Wedding Gown”]
“My dress is by Elli-Nicole and is a strapless A-line silhouette with detachable sleeves. The strapless neckline and accentuated waist was a must for me when trying on dresses, but I really wanted the option of wearing sleeves to add a touch of romance and interest. During my fittings, we agreed to shorten the sleeves and add snaps so I could wear them after the ceremony. Two days before the wedding, at my final alterations appointment, the sleeves had been completed. The moment I was able to add the sleeves to the entire dress and see the completed look I was brought to tears. The sleeves are my favorite part of my dress and I absolutely loved the classic, but romantic feel it had while wearing it.” – Erin
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[field title=”Bridesmaid Dresses”]
“Bridesmaid dresses were a really tough choice. Having been in so many weddings myself, I wanted to give my friends the option of picking out their own dress in their own price range. The hardest part was coming up with a color scheme. To compliment our venue’s beautiful landscaping we decided to have some of the girls wear floral prints. Creme and/or Sage green colors were the parameters set with a strong preference on a floral pattern. In the end, the dresses paired so well together, and really created an interesting contrast that you don’t see in traditional bridesmaid dresses.“ – Erin
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[field title=”Groomsman Attire”]
“Marco chose to wear a tuxedo for our wedding day. To him the tuxedo is not only classic and timeless, but has an old world gentlemanly charm that made our day feel memorable. Marco had his tuxedo shirt custom made by Suit Supply and purchased Cole Haan black patten leather shoes. He put considerable thought into the details of his suit, adding special accents such as personalized cuff links that read “MV”, and accessorizing with suspenders and a bow tie. His suit jacket and tuxedo pants were both rented from Friar Tux.” – Erin
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[board_carousel title=”Wedding Party”]
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[board_carousel title=”Ceremony”]
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[board_carousel title=”Cocktail Hour”]
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[section title=”The Details”]
[field title=”Food & Drink”]
“Like most groom’s Marco was not interested in the design of the wedding, however when it came to the food and drinks this was his moment to shine! After a long search for the perfect bartender, we found Liquid Courage on Instagram. Ernie Vela and his team had recently worked a wedding at McCormick Home Ranch, and after seeing the quality of his signature cocktails, and detailed attention to each curated drink we knew our search was over. It was important to Marco that we had quality mixed cocktails and a good old fashion. Because the bar was a focus for us, we opted for a drink tasting a few months prior to the wedding, selecting 4 signature cocktails to sample in our home. We invited a select number of friends and family to join us and it is still one of our favorite wedding planning memories. We selected a guava margarita, raspberry mint mule, mango mojito, and an Oaxcan old fashion. Our friends and family all night long were commenting on how much they enjoyed the drinks, which just made the long search and detailed planning of our menu worth it. Food was another crowd favorite. From the beginning we knew we did not want to go traditional. Marco and I wanted delicious food that everyone would enjoy, and for us this meant wood fired pizza. Olive Wood Pizza came highly recommended by the venue, and was extremely easy to work with. All pizza’s are wood fired and made onsite. We chose a 5 course family style meal in which our guests received a caesar salad to start, and new flavor of pizza in each following course. The food came out fresh and piping hot. For cocktail hour, we chose to have charcuterie and crudité boards out for guests to help themselves, while 4 different hot appetizers pass around on trays. Once again, food was important for Marco and I. We attended too many weddings where we stood at cocktail hour hungry, praying for a waiter to come by with an appetizer. Allowing our guests to help themselves to food right away was a non-negotiable and I know our guests were grateful.“ – Erin
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[field title=”Florals & Decor”]
“Dulce Floral Design provided garden inspired florals with lots of whimsy and delicacy to compliment our sweet day. After sharing a few inspiration photos with lots of cremes, whites, and greens the owner of Dulce Floral Design, Kelsey Sweet Van Eyck, designed beautiful arrangements that captured the comfy garden-like wildness we wanted, but with style and sophistication. My favorite arrangements were the ceremony aisle markers. Kelsey listened to our requirements on not only design, but budget. She suggested these beautiful aisle arrangements that alternated either side of the aisle. She explained that having them alternate either side would help cut down on the quantity, for budgetary purposes, but would also create an interest to the eye. These arrangements were lush, and voluminous and brought lots of greenery to our aisle, softening the brick walking path and tying in with our beautiful garden style venue. After the ceremony these arrangements were relocated to accent the front of our bar, which allowed us to repurpose the florals and became a whole design moment. It was gorgeous!” – Erin
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[field title=”Wedding Cake”]
“If you live in Los Angeles then you are no stranger to Portos Bakery. A cuban style bakery famous for their cakes and pastries, Porto’s is always a crowd favorite at our family parties. To keep the homestyle feel, we ordered a variety of whole cakes just like what you would see at a birthday party or at your Thanksgiving dessert table. Marco’s secret (not-so-secret) weakness is a traditional style cheesecake, and Porto’s makes the best! Our family style cake table included New York cheesecake, fruit tart, milk n’ berries cake, tiramisu, strawberry cheesecake, and chocolate raspberry cake. My maid of honor also handmade sugar cookies that she hand piped herself, and flew all the way from Texas with them carefully packed in her carry-on. That was such a special detail that completed our ultimate dessert table.” – Erin
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[field title=”Readings, Ceremony Music, Reception Songs”]
“I listened to hours and hours of songs and playlists trying to find the right songs for our wedding. On my compute to work and back, I would sit in my car and listen to song after song, trying to picture how it would be to play each song. Did the music capture Marco and I as a couple and the day we envisioned? I said from the beginning I wanted the day to feel like a Nancy Meyer’s movie, so why not use a Nancy Meyer’s soundtrack? For our ceremony, we selected Hans Zimmer’s “Maestro” and “Zero” from The Holiday movie soundtrack. The music is so sweet and lovely, and there is so much hope and joy in the melody. It captured everything we were feeling as we walked down the aisle, ready to start our lives together. When the officiant announced us man and wife, our DJ played the ever classic “This Will Be” by Natalie Cole. What is more Nancy Meyer’s than that?” – Erin
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[field title=”Special Detail #1″]We wanted to have a cigar lounge for our male guests to enjoy. However, cigar rollers were not in the budget for us. Instead, our venue provided a vintage dark wood dresser and matching chairs for us to have our own DIY cigar lounge. A groomsmen provided a 17 year old bottle of Glenmorangie and the Groom’s brother in-law provided a case of cigars. One of our favorite photos is a moment of Marco and his father enjoying a cigar and scotch.[/field]
[field title=”Special Detail #2″]For signage, one of my oldest friends offered to help me make our escort sign. She used her expert cricket skills to print out the lettering “Our Favorite People”. Marco and I were up late the week of our wedding carefully placing the letters on our wood sign, and it fit flawlessly. We saved lots of money on a DIY sign thanks to her![/field]
[field title=”Special Detail #3″]
Our rough collie, Charlie is the center of our universe. Marco and I made sure we fit him into the wedding by ordering custom cocktail napkins off of Etsy with his face on them. That is my absolute favorite detail. I also loved my mother-daughter dance with my mom. My father passed away from cancer in 2013, so ever since that tragic day I have thought a great deal about the father-daughter dance. I have seen so many great ideas of daughters memorializing their fathers memory, but I knew if I did a slow song with my mom to remember him, her and I would be overwhelmed in grief, and after the hard 18 months she and I had gone through with her own struggles, all I wanted to do was celebrate the good. Right before we opened the dance floor for the reception, the DJ announced the mother-daughter dance, a dance I had not prepared my mother for. When she began walking to the dance floor “Let’s Get Loud” by Jennifer Lopez began to play and my mother’s face lit up. Despite all the medical challenges she was facing, her muscle memory and love of music flooded back to her, and she and I danced our way around the dance floor. After a minute or so I started grabbing other women in my family up to join us and all of a sudden everyone was dancing, and it was the best way to celebrate and party with all of our family and friends. It felt exhilarating and we proceeded to dance the night away!
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[board_carousel title=”Couple Portraits”]
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[board_carousel title=”Reception”]
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