1 12, 2010

Featured on Style Me Pretty Again!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-12-01T10:00:17-07:00December 1st, 2010|Featured|

Los Angeles Wedding by Meg Perotti

November 30th. 2010 by Emilia Jane | 20 comments

I smell a new trend coming on and it smells like freshly cut grass in the city. Meg Perotti is the talented shutterbug behind the lens of this nature-infused, modern wedding that is just overflowing with style and romance. A green, white and gray palette with oodles of soft, romantic touches plays perfectly against the urban backdrop of downtown Los Angeles. For more organic meets metropolitan inspiration check out the full gallery!

Downtown LA Wedding I

Downtown LA Wedding VIII

Downtown LA Wedding III

Check out the full wedding gallery for even more inspiration!

Very shortly after Adam and I were engaged, we started scouting out wedding venues in Los Angeles. From the moment we first saw Cafe Pinot, we knew it was the perfect place for our wedding. We both wanted to be married outside, ideally in an urban setting ( but one that was not cold). This venue offered a beautiful park and garden setting surrounded by tall buildings on almost every side. This became a big part of the inspiration for our wedding decor. Our colors a rich green, white, and gray were inspired by the colors that we fell in love with at the venue — the green of the trees and grass and the gray of the concrete buildings and sidewalks. As the planning evolved, we decided to add hints of blush pink for a feminine touch.

The taller centerpieces on each table featured white and blush colored garden roses (for their soft ruffle effect) and poufs of white hydrangea, contrasted against the shorter centerpieces which contained succulents perched atop gray river rocks. Our escort card holders were hand cut birch branches which displayed the names of our guests in calligraphy done by the amazing Grace Edmands. For our cake stand we used a 6″ thick wood slice from an actual tree. The cake was decorated simply with olive leaves and garden roses. We had our table numbers made using white paper embossed with a wood grain pattern.

Since Adam and I both love candy, we thought that candied apples would be the perfect treat to send our guests home with. I came up with the idea to only partially dip the apples so that they looked more organic and rustic (and so the green would show). We had them dipped in caramel and then in white chocolate to match our wedding colors. The amazing staff at Generations of Lee Gelfond Chocolate did such a wonderful job of painstakingly preparing the apples and wrapping each one in a beautiful clear box with a bow and favor tag we provided.

Our wedding day was so special and absolutely wonderful — not only because of the incredible that love Adam and I felt for each other, but because of all of the love and warmth that we were so lucky to be surrounded by. Although it rained on the morning of our wedding, looking back on the day this only added to the romantic and dreamy quality of the day (and the photos!). In the end, our organic romantic wedding (as we like to call it) turned out to be even lovelier than we could have imagined thanks to all of the amazing time and energy our vendors put in to help our vision become a reality.

Wedding Photographer: Meg Perotti Photographer / Wedding Venue: Cafe Pinot / Wedding Coordinator:Chic Ambiance Events / Wedding Cake: Fantasy Frosting / Entertainment: Rossi Music / Florist: The Hidden Garden / Hair and Make-up: T.E.A.M. Hair & Makeup

30 11, 2010

Featured on: Style Me Pretty!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-11-30T22:44:23-07:00November 30th, 2010|Featured|

Santa Ynez Wedding by Duet Weddings

November 30th. 2010 by Abby Larson | 17 comments

Aside from being insanely beautiful, the reason that I fell so hard for this next little number is that the couple did what we preach over and over on SMP…they created a wedding brand. A perfect detail that was threaded through each and every element of the day. Actually, they created two brands which is even better. The gorgeous monogram crest and the amazing use of herbs. For me, a wedding brand is that key ingredient that will take your wedding style to another level. It brings a sense of cohesion, of beauty, of defined style to your look in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the design. And if ever there was a glimpse into crafting the perfect branded affair…this wedding, designed by Rebecca Stone at Duet Weddings, would be it. Click here to see even more!

santa ynez wedding

click here to see the full wedding gallery!

When David proposed to me on the beach at my parent’s summer cottage on Lake Michigan, we immediately started to think about where we wanted to get married. David grew up in the Village in NYC, but has been a California boy since he was 19. I grew up in a myriad of places: Chicago, Boston, Boca Raton, etc…but have been happily settled in Los Angeles for 7 years now. So it made sense to us to celebrate the place where we found each other, instead of where we grew up and Santa Barbara was at the top of the list, both of us being big wine-lovers.

We knew we wanted to plan something outside and laid back, yet with a classy feel to it. We had spent many weekends up in Santa Barbara while dating and while we knew the area quite well, when we started looking, we found it challenging to find the perfect venue. Enter – Roblar Winery. The moment we walked in the door of this fairly new Santa Ynez winery, we were instantly in love! It was absolutely what we had been looking for. Once we had picked our venue, the rest was a fun creative process that we gladly shared with Rebecca from Duet Weddings. She helped us shape our wedding into an entire weekend of events that just felt like us. We started by designing our own monogram that we used throughout the year. Not only did it go on all of our wedding stationary and thank you cards, but we also ended up putting it on the market bags we filled for the hotel rooms and on the cover of the cd we made for everyone.

Both David and I love to cook, and at home, we are dedicated to eating locally from the various LA Farmer’s Markets. This ended up being a kind of theme for our wedding, as we decided to get herbs from our friend’s Agoura Hills Farm (Maggie’s Farm) and dry them and make our own herb mix to give out as favors. This went in our welcome market bag along with the cd, vineyard maps, itinerary, welcome letter, snacks, etc….

We didn’t have a very large budget for flowers and I knew I wanted to use flowers that grew locally and that were in season. So, when I met with Juniper to discuss ideas, we talked about using white and blue hygrangeas, along with simple white and green flowers, so as not to compete with the natural beauty of the vineyard. We also discussed adding the herb theme in that area as well, so we placed pots of herbs in various places. An idea I got from looking at countless Style Me Pretty posts over the last year!

We lucked out when my husband’s sister, Susan, offered to bake our wedding cake for us as a gift. She is an accomplished baker and had made a few others in the past and we gladly accepted. It turned out AMAZING. Definitely one of the tastier wedding cakes we had ever eaten and it was so special that she was able to make it for us.

Our wedding day was unbelievable…and very peaceful. At the winery, we served a red sangria for pre-ceremony enjoyment. There was also an atrium room adjacent to the cocktails where guests could, keeping with the herb theme, fill paper cones with rose petals, sage leaves,rosemary, lavendar, etc…to throw at us at the end of the ceremony. We also had a table of vintage handkerchiefs laid out for “tears of joy” and Rebecca had brought lots of snuggly brown pashminas to display by the fireplace for later in the evening. Rebecca and her team placed hand-painted wooden signs all over the property, so as guests walked in to the wedding, they passed sentiments such as “To have and to hold” and “From this day forward” which added to the romantic rustic feel we were going for.

Chef Ryan at Roblar catered our wedding and we decided to do a huge cheese and charcuterie station for the cocktail hour (he smokes his own prosciutto!) and then a heavy pass of hors d’oeuvres and a few stations. The whole menu was dedicated to fresh local ingredients and the kind of food preparation that David and I enjoy at home. Simple, fresh and seasonal. Local rock shrimp, baby lamp chops, grilled filet mignon, risotto, etc.. And after discovering that Roblar had an outdoor pizza oven, we decided to have 3 kinds of gourmet pizzas passed as well. We kept with our rustic theme using Roblar’s wooden tables and forgoing the white linens (another great money saver!).

Instead of a guest book, Rebecca had guests write little notes to us and drop them in large vases throughout the night. At the end of the wedding, we were presented with a beautifully wrapped box of notes to open on our 1-year anniversary!

One very special picture that I will cherish forever is the one of my mom putting my veil on me. She wore that veil 42 years ago at her own wedding and time had failed to alter it in the slightest way. Jenny Lee ( who made my dress) was nice enough to alter it to fit me, and also told me that the lace in her veil was from the exact same place as the lace in my wedding dress!

All in all, it was a beautiful night at a beautiful venue with our favorite people in the world. There was a lot of laughter, music, delicious food and wine…and I married my best friend. What more could you possibly ask for? I can truly say that if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn’t change one thing. And I’m a perfectionist, so that’s pretty huge! It’s an amazing feeling….

Coordinator: Rebecca Stone, Duet Weddings / Flowers: Juniper Designs / Photography: Amy Nave at MaryJane Photography / Venue & Catering: Roblar Winery / Band – The Martini Kings / Calligraphy:Little Miss Press / Strings – Diane Siminski’s Festival Strings / Hair & Make-up – TEAM Hair & Makeup / Dress: Jenny Lee / Tux: Hugo Boss / Bridesmaid’s Dress: Priscilla of Boston / Groomsmen’s Tux: Calvin Klein / Cake – Susan Sheinkopf

{duet} Weddings and TEAM Hair and Makeup are members of our Little Black Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.

November 30th. 2010 by Abby Larson | 17 comment

4 11, 2010

Wedding Day Makeover Premiere Party at The Savoy

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-11-04T10:14:26-06:00November 4th, 2010|Featured|

Last Monday we kicked up our heels and celebrated at downtown Santa Barbara’s newest lounge The Savoy. We invited a few hundred of our closest industry friends to join the fun! With a red carpet entrance & pink champagne at the door, good times were sure to be had! There were tray passed appetizers & amazing specialty drinks created by The Savoy, lots of dancing, a few tears as Mar stepped on stage to introduce her TEAM and an amazing sultry entertainment act. Check out the pics below!

To see more pics check out Santa Barbara Wedding Blog who posted a featured on the premiere earlier today!

Mar Creative Director & Owner of TEAM Hair & Makeup

Mar & her TEAM

Brian of BB-Photo

Jill La Fleur of La Fleur Weddings & Host of the Party!

Mar with Richard Photo Lab Crew

Mar & Lacie Hansen

Armando of Alegria by Design

To see more pics check out Santa Barbara Wedding Blog who posted a featured on the premiere earlier today!

Don’t miss Wedding Day Makeover daily on TLC

Event Sponsors: Joel Serrato Films, Jose Villa Photography, Richard Photo Labs, La Fleur Weddings

Photographers covering event included: Carlos Alfaro, Megan Dods, Tiffany Israel, & Tracy Clarke

25 10, 2010

TEAM Celebrates their TV Debut Today!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-10-25T08:45:13-06:00October 25th, 2010|Featured|

Get ready for a new wedding docu-series that will be sure to get you instantly hooked!! Your’s Truly will be featured on TLC’s new reality series, Wedding Day Makeover premiere today at 2:30 PST (on HD) and 5:30 PST (regular)

Wedding Day Makeover documents as TEAM combines their expertise along with the brides own ideas for her hair and makeup. At the trial, we create two completely different wedding day looks for our bride. Then, come wedding day, the bride chooses which look she wants Mar and her TEAM to create for her to walk down the aisle. As Mar Romero, creative director of TEAM states, “The brides could ask us to pair blue eye shadow with pink lipstick and it’s our job to make them look good.”

With a slew of wedding reality shows on TV these days it’s hard to know which one to watch. For TEAM Hair and Makeup, they approach this highly publicized topic with a twist. Not only is this a series about the bride, her love story, and her wedding day look; but ultimately it’s about the bride finding her self-confidence. “For me,” Romero states, “Confidence is the purest form of beauty. If the bride feels confident about herself, her beauty will naturally reflect how she feels inside. This show has given us a national platform to showcase the importance of this confidence. It’s about infusing women with poise and self-assurance as they walk down the aisle while introducing them to a more glamorous version of themselves.”

TEAM Hair and Makeup has been filming nearly a dozen episodes of Wedding Day Makeover since TLC originally approached us over one year ago. Below are a few sneak peek pics from behind the scences.

Don’t forget to watch US on the Season Premiere of Wedding Day Makeover on TLC today at 2:30 (HD) or 5:30 (regular cable)

1 10, 2010

Celebrity Wedding at the Bacara Resort and Spa

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-10-01T21:14:48-06:00October 1st, 2010|Featured, Real Wedding|

We had the best time doing hair and makeup for Casandra Estevez, Charlie Sheen’s oldest daughter, and her bridal party last weekend at the Bacara Resort and Spa!Check out the People Magazine post below to read more!

Photos by Elizabeth Messina

Cassandra Estevez and Casey Huffman

Charlie Sheen Has A New Role: Father Of The Bride. The Two and a Half Men star beamed and snapped photos as his daughter, Cassandra Estevez, exchanged vows with childhood sweetheart Casey Huffman at Santa Barbara’s Bacara Resort and Spa on Sept. 25. “He was clearly very proud of her,” says wedding planner Jill La Fleur of La Fleur Weddings & Events, who created the lavish day inspired by a mix of nature and old Hollywood glamour. “He had a big smile on his face.” The bride, 25, who met Huffman in junior high, walked down the aisle with her dad to the tune of “Flightless Bird” from the Twilightsoundtrack, carrying a bouquet of roses and calla lilies. The couple said their non-denominational vows under a four-post altar made of birch branches and decorated with white organza, florals and crystals.

Proud Dad Charlie Sheen Walks Daughter Down the Aisle| Weddings, Charlie Sheen

photos by Elizabeth Messina

Family photo, including Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez

After the ceremony, the 165 guests, including Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, gathered for a reception in the hotel’s Rotunda Room. The decor included butterflies hanging from the ceiling, mercury glass votives and deep red roses for centerpieces. The newlyweds performed their first dance to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”
During the five-course meal, which included filet and shrimp, Sheen toasted his daughter and new son-in-law. “He told her how happy he was for her,” says La Fleur, “and then he teased the groom and made everyone laugh.”

—————-

Here’s a few more pics from Cassandra’s Wedding from Elizabeth Messina’s blog Kiss The Groom

the entire celebration was beautifully designed by jill la fleur….it was a truly lovely day….cassandra is the eldest daughter of charlie sheen….he was so sweet & doting, he even kneeled down during the ceremony to film the lovely couple saying their vows….the entire day was full of love & tenderness.

there is nothing quite like marrying the love of your life…xoxo

25 09, 2010

Featured on Style Me Pretty!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-09-25T00:56:36-06:00September 25th, 2010|Featured|

French Inspired Photo Shoot

September 24th. 2010 by Abby Larson | 15 comments

If ever there was a match made in wedding heaven, it just might be between Jill La Fleur and Jose Villa. With Jill’s insanely stylish approach to design and Jose’s flawless approach to photography, we simply can’t imagine it getting any better than this. Oh wait. Add to that duo a little bit of Joel Serrato’s cinema magic and voila…perfection defined. This next shoot that Jill crafted just for you guys, is all about the chic. French, couture, totally sophisticated chic. It’s exactly what I envision my dream French inspired wedding to look like with burlap details paired next to a ridiculously gorgeous black and white gown. Love, love, loooove. Click here to see even more.

french wedding

french wedding 3

french wedding

see more of this French inspired shoot here!

http://joelserratoblog.com/frenchinspired_lafleurweddings_600x480.mov

It’s pretty obvious why I would want to do a French-inspired shoot…my last name La Fleur is French for The Flower and I have always felt a strong connection to all things French all of my life. This was a very personal shoot for me as I felt it was a representation of me. I have always loved Audrey Hepburn and was inspired a bit by the movies Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I also adore French flower market stands! But I wanted to add touches of the stylish Paris runways with the black lace gloves, the black and white stripes, the black net hairpieces and the Chanel-inspired jewels. I wanted to pull all of these elements together but have them in a French-Provencal setting. Sunstone Winery and Clairmont Lavender Farm were the perfect spots to capture the romance of the French countryside (especially since I live in an area that looks so much like it-Santa Ynez Valley, CA) with touches of Paris thrown in!

I also wanted to add some art to the shoot, as I always think of my favorite French artists when I think of France, and so I contacted the talented Karina Puente to do some pieces for me and added the feather masks as a theatrical touch. We also wanted true romance to come through in these photos, so we found a couple that was engaged and obviously in love to model for us. Regarding a couple of the details, I wanted to use burlap mixed with French blues and black and white toile (my office is filled with it!) So, I created chair covers out of burlap fabric and tied them with the black and white wide striped ribbon…loved this DIY touch. The black and white toile napkins were the touch I wanted to give the table a French feel and created a burlap and cameo napkin ring for them. I found some amazing fleur-de-lis black glasses that worked perfectly with the table. The “Love Notes” were an idea I had…guests could write a little love note on one of these darling French gift tags and place them in a terrarium filled with flowers. I found toile and striped tissue paper and used it to wrap my baguettes tied off with some raffia.

I also used it to wrap Camilla’s beautiful bouquets for the guests to take away at my “flower-market” stand. One of my favorite touches was the La Fleur Winery wine crate from the real place in France! Camilla had the beautiful sofa and vanity that we thought would be perfect placed in a lavender field! And I just had to have a black and white striped umbrella in here somehow! I felt like this shoot was a true reflection of my style, my personality, my love of all things French and, of course, my name!

Design: La Fleur Weddings / Photography: Jose Villa / Video: Joel Serrato / Locations: Sunstone Wineryand Clairmont Farms / Floral Design: Camilla Svensson Burns / Invitation Suite: Ceci New York/ Linens: La Tavola Linens / Rentals: Table:Elite Party Rentals and Place Settings: Classic Party Rentals& La Fleur Weddings / Black Chairs: Picket Fences Solvang, CA / Dresses: Vera Wang from B Hughes Bridal Formal / Hair Pieces: Lo Boheme / Croquembouche: Decadence Wedding Cakes / Jewelry: Bib Necklace by Stella Dot / Hair & Makeup: TEAM Hair and Makeup / Vintage Umbrella: Bella Umbrella / Art and Sculpture Pieces: Karina Puente / Wedding Gown: B. Hughes Bridal

La Fleur Weddings & Events, Jose Villa Photography, Joel Serrato Films, Camilla Svensson Burns Couture Floral and Event Design, b.Hughes Bridal and TEAM Hair and Makeup are members of our Little Black Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.
Lo Boheme is a member of our Look Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.

September 24th. 2010 by Abby Larson | 15 comments

Marshmallow Inspired Shoot by Jill La Fleur + SimplyBloom

September 24th. 2010 by Erin | 11 comments

Jill La Fleur is a name synonymous with drop dead beautiful weddings and anything she has a hand in is so perfectly executed down to the very last detail. We are talking majorly spectacular. She recently teamed up with some rock star vendors including Camilla Svensson Burns, florist extraordinaire, andJoel Serrato, the end-all-be-all of wedding filmmakers, to produce a series of inspiration shoots and today they are going to make their debut on Style Me Pretty. Each one is so unique, so gorgeous, so full of that La Fleur touch and will provide endless amounts of inspiration for all of your fetes. We are absolutely sure of it.

We are going to get the ball rolling with Jill’s first shoot inspired by all things marshmallow. Think beautiful billowy fabric, soft neutral colors and tons of marshmallow treats. AH-MAZ-ING. The lovely ladies of SimplyBloom Photography joined the team to capture all of the beauty and man-oh-man their photography is spot-on gorgeous. To see the full shoot, click right here.

Marshmallow Shoot 4

see all of the fluffy, marshmallowy goodness here!

and as an extra super duper special bonus the GORGEOUS film from Joel Serrato…

http://joelserratoblog.com/marshmallow_inspiration_600x480.mov

From Jill La Fleur… With all of the inspiration to reality shoots that have been happening lately, I decided I wanted to put my creative talents to the test and jump on board. However, I had so many creative visions I didn’t know where I wanted to start so the thought came about to do a series of shoots with the same floral designer, Camilla Svensson Burns, showcasing how diverse our designs together can be. We also thought it would add a unique touch to do a film of each of the shoots as they were created and added Joel Serrato to our creative team for each shoot. I was so thrilled with what we created together and hope that everyone agrees! And as you will see in the following inspirational shoots, I am so lucky to work with such an amazingly talented and fun group of vendors in this wedding and event industry! I still can’t believe looking at the original inspiration boards I created months ago and seeing the images and films of the final product, how perfectly they all came together! They were exactly what I had envisioned and I just want to thank everyone involved for helping me create these beautiful shoots and bring them all to life!

I have been admiring the beautiful work of SimplyBloom Photography for a while now and thought it would be wonderful to meet them and create something together. They had a trip planned to California and contacted me to see if we could set up a shoot together. To give me an idea of their style, they sent me a few images of what they had in mind and many of them included marshmallows! I was immediately intrigued and my head filled with visions of soft, billowy fabric, fluffy lamp shades, pillows and rugs, hot chocolate and s’mores and the tones of toasted marshmallows with touches of blush thrown in. I felt like this was the perfect palette for SimplyBloom’s romantic and airy photographic style and I just love everything about these colors, tones and details!

Design: La Fleur Weddings / Photography: SimplyBloom Photography / Video: Joel Serrato Films/ Location: Roblar Winery / Floral and Decor: Camilla Svensson Burns / Rental Table: Elite Party Rentals / Linens: La Tavola Linens / Lighting and Draping: Bella Vista Designs / Dress: Maggie Sottero Dress by Mary Linn / Hair Pieces: Lo Boheme / Cake and Cupcakes: Enjoy Cupcakes / Invitation Suite:CEVD / Place Settings: La Fleur Weddings / Jewelry: Stella Dot / Hair & Makeup: TEAM Hair and Makeup

September 24th. 2010 by Erin | 11 comments

6 09, 2010

Feautured on Cake & Pictures!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-09-06T00:14:25-06:00September 6th, 2010|Featured|

This week we were featured on Cake & Picture’s blog! Photography by Jessica Lewis. Check out the post below! Enjoy:)

Engagement Twosday – Los Angeles with Jessica Lewis

Christine & George

Christine and George work in the film industry, and they met by chance on a movie set. Since movies are such an important part of the couple’s life together, they wanted to incorporate that theme into their engagement photos.

Photographer Jessica Lewis worked with the assistance of Mar from Team Hair and Make-up to recreate each scene. The movie shots used for inspiration were The Hangover, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 movie Rear Window, and the 1984 classic Sixteen Candles; below, we’ve featured the Rear Window set. Mar even gave George a spray tan to make him look more like James Stewart. After the playful movie shots, Jessica took pictures of the couple with Christine’s daughter.

24 08, 2010

More Mara & Matthew Photos Featured on Jose Villa's Blog!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-08-24T07:30:46-06:00August 24th, 2010|Featured|

To check out more beautiul images from Mara & Matthew’s Photo Shoot check out Jose Villa’s blog!

19 08, 2010

Featured on: Once Wed!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-08-19T19:30:22-06:00August 19th, 2010|Featured|

We were so Excited to be featured on Once Wed earlier this week! We had a blast working with Jose Villa, Joel Serrato & Joy Thigpen on this beautiful shoot with Matthew and Mara. Check out below to see the post! and click here to view Joel’s video

Love Is In The Air II

How adorable are Matthew and Mara? It was such a pleasure working alongside Jose Villa, Joel Serrato, Mar, and Joy Thigpen as they captured the sweet and tender love between this precious couple. Mara is actually a blogger herself and curates a great fashion blog appropriately called M Loves M.

6 08, 2010

Featured on: Style Me Pretty!

By Teamhairandmakeup|2010-08-06T17:10:05-06:00August 6th, 2010|Featured|

A few months ago we were featured on Style Me Pretty. It was an awesome DIY Wedding at Larner Vineyard in Santa Barbara. Sylvia was a beautiful bride & Mary Jane Photograpy did a wonderful job capturing the day! Check out below to see the Style Me Pretty postings!

A Santa Barbara Wedding with DIY Details

Ok, seriously? This is a DIY party right here. And we’re all invited to drool over it. I’m not exactly sure what I love most about this Santa Barbara wedding? There’s a lot to love! I guess if I have to choose it has to be the little tree accents here and there (I am a lover of all things forest+weddings). And um, hello – they have TREES on their TIES! Like…what?! So cool.

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 1

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 2

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 3

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 4

There’s just something completely charming about all the DIY elements of this wedding. I think that’s why some of us really love DIY weddings, isn’t it? We’re addicted to the personalized touches and creativity. It reads through as endearing, quaint and familiar. Which in this case, is brought to life by the magnificent camera stylings of Mary Jane Photography. These pictures are like my mom’s apple pie – warm and inviting (and you can ask her, I just can’t stop eating the stuff).

Sylvia gives us the 411 on her day:

Throughout the planning process, Dave and I felt it was very important that all elements of our wedding really reflect us as a couple. We wanted a beautiful setting, a weekend where everyone could spend some real time together, moving music, delicious food, and lots of dancing. We were keen on doing as much DIY as we could. Not only to save money, but because we enjoy being hands-on. We sought out vendors that really clicked with us and our philosophy and were blessed to find people like Mary Jane, Joy Proctor, Sidney at SBBBQ, and, Christina and Michael Larner. They were all instrumental to the success of our day and were a pleasure to work with. We also wanted our wedding to be about community, so we involved friends and family with the planning as much as possible. We had two crafting parties at our house in the weeks leading up to the wedding, where we had a team of friends help us construct the wooden directional signs, the chalkboards, the framed seating chart, the bags of lavender, and much more. My mom made the runners for the tables with fabric I found in downtown LA and Michigan. She and my dad made the gooseberry and blueberry jam favors as well and drove them in from Michigan. Dave’s mom was in charge of the bar and bought all of the liquor, in addition to throwing us an amazing fiesta rehearsal dinner.

The day before the wedding we had an army of people to help set up the barn at Larner Vineyard for the wedding and reception. In just a few hours, the place was transformed. As I looked around, watching all these people we love, from so many parts of our lives, working together to do something beautiful for us, I was overcome with joy.

More to come from this amazing DIY wedding!

A Santa Barbara Wedding with DIY Details, II

Now THIS is what I call a tablescape! I really do have an appreciation for a well decorated table and this delightful setting from Sylvia and Dave’s Santa Barbara wedding is sure hitting the spot right now. It’s just the perfect combination of rustic charm meets clean elegance. I dig it.

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 5

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 6

Santa Barbara DIY Wedding 7

I just had to include the last photo from this post. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing a bride get down. And Sylvia, girl, you are getting down in this photo. We all salute you! I have been known to cut a rug or two (albeit somewhat uncoordinated) and it really is one of my favorite aspects of the wedding reception. I like a bride that can boogie.

Sylvia continues about her day:

Friends and family were involved with all elements of the ceremony and reception as well. Dave’s aunt, Reverend Bonnie Rose, was our officiant and a friend played guitar at the ceremony. A big moment at the ceremony was when Dave and I turned to face the entire group gathered and sang a favorite hymn of mine, “I am so blessed,” together. It was incredibly moving to look at all these people gathered to support us and sing about how blessed and grateful we were in that moment.
For the reception, we asked five different musically-inclined friends to DJ throughout the night and one to be our emcee. We kicked off the reception with a choreographed hip-hop dance we did with our wedding party (including our flower girl). It was probably the biggest hit of the night and one of the most fun moments of my life.

Instead of hiring a baker to make us a wedding cake, which neither of us is a big fan of, we asked friends to make pies and cookies for a dessert table. Dave’s friend Janice made us a symbolic wedding cake so we would have something to cut. Our planner, Joy Proctor, put the table together beautifully.

Dave and I paid for the entire wedding ourselves and so asking friends and family to help out started out as a necessity. However, looking back, I don’t think we would have done it any differently. One of my favorite parts of our wedding day was looking around and knowing that every part of it had been created by someone we love.

The Vendors:

Wedding Coordinator and décor : Joy de Vivre Wedding & Event Coordination / Venue: Larner Vineyard / Wedding Dress: Nicole Miller / Shoes: Nine West / Wedding Hair and Makeup: TEAM Hair & Makeup/Bridesmaid Dress: J. Crew, Shawls from Nimli / Menswear: Ties from Cyberoptix Tie Lab / Caterer:SBB Gourmet Catering / Invitations: Hello Lucky / Bridal Earrings: Veronica Ladjili / Photography: Mary Jane Photography

For the reception, we asked five different musically-inclined friends to DJ throughout the night and one to be our emcee.We kicked off the reception with a choreographed hip-hop dance we did with our wedding party (including our flower girl).It was probably the biggest hit of the night and one of the most fun moments of my life.

Instead of hiring a baker to make us a wedding cake, which neither of us is a big fan of, we asked friends to make pies and cookies for a dessert table. Dave’s friend Janice made us a symbolic wedding cake so we would have something to cut.Our planner, Joy Proctor, put the table together beautifully.

Dave and I paid for the entire wedding ourselves and so asking friends and family to help out started out as a necessity.However, looking back, I don’t think we would have done it any differently.One of my favorite parts of our wedding day was looking around and knowing that every part of it had been created by someone we love.

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