100 Layer Cake

The BIG DAY is here, YES!! You’ve seen our proposal story, our engagement photos in Italy and Palm Desert, my wedding dress hunt, my wild bachelorette party, tiki bridal shower, and planning bits and bobs. And now it’s time to share part 1 of the most beautiful day of our lives, as captured by the visionary Max Wanger, a talent who I have known would be there photographing us since I first discovered his breathtaking work four years ago.

Tim and I hadn’t really collaborated on many creative projects, but during the planning process we found ourselves bouncing ideas back and forth about our wedding style, location and vibe. Everything seemed to flow so easily… yet another sign I was marrying the perfect guy for me. We both love mid-century design, the style and colors of the early 60′s, so we knew we had to incorporate that vibe into our wedding.

Our first kiss happened after a James Bond party a friend threw (as told here), so we thought it would be fun to give a nod to those early movies. Our first project was a save the date. Inspired by the opening credits to From Russia with Love, we collaborated with Scott Clark on a quirky video to announce our wedding and give our guests a bit of intrigue. The song in the video is Lujon, by Henry Mancini, and pretty much sums up the feeling we wanted our big day to portray. Here is a screen from our wedding website Tim and I created..

Come and walk with me through our fairy tale..

Tim and I arrived in San Clemente a few days before the wedding to relax and focus on each other. The months and weeks leading up to the wedding were full of excitement, trying to get everything done and ready to celebrate our love in front of our family and friends. The planning process was a blast, extremely hard and time-consuming, overwhelming at times, but downright amazing. With the help of our wonderful planners, Bash, Please, we had a celebration of the century. There is no way we could have pulled this off without them.. they were a pleasure to work with, had a creative solution for everything and kept us sane throughout the process.

The Fiore Beauty team arrived to get me and my ‘maids all fixed up! Jaimi gave me the prettiest glitter French mani..

My wedding dress hunt was a long one.. filled with full tulle gowns, pretty blush colors, lace and many different dress shapes. I had an idea of what I wanted, but when I tried on many of the gowns in my research folder they just didn’t feel perfect on me. When I saw this Jorge Manuel gown on a mannequin at The White Dress, I was instantly drawn to it.. with its sparkly beaded details and body-hugging mermaid shape. The moment I put it on, I felt like a million bucks. Like a movie star. Like an silver-screen siren. It wasn’t what I had planned to wear all along, but sometimes the dress finds you.

To compliment the dress, Twigs and Honey made me an ethereal custom blusher veil. Paula from Ila Handbags designed two amazing clutches to go with each gown, which are some of my prettiest treasures. And I couldn’t resist these Nicholas Kirkwood heels to pair with my reception gown. Here is one of his similar styles.