What perfect interiors you have Boyd Baker House!

Melissa on her timeless look: I initially based the design of my gown on a shorter version I had seen in a magazine, but over time and thanks to the amazing bridal couturier that I worked with it evolved into something very different. I love lace and knew that I always wanted to wear it on my wedding day, so I ended up selecting a beautiful piece of French chantilly lace and went with a simple A-line gown that would show it off. Like any girl I love shoes and found the perfect pair – Jimmy Choo champagne glitter heels. AMAZING! I also opted for a simple pair of rose gold earrings with two small champagne diamonds in each earring – a birthday present from my mum.

Knowing that Melissa wanted to marry the beautiful bush setting with the delicateness of her wedding dress, Wunderplant created a bouquet of white bougainvillaeas, white sweet peas, white hydrangeas, alba wax flower, pussy willow, Queen Anne’s lace, koala fern, native Australian grasses.

Great tip for a summer wedding: Melissa had started collecting assorted glass jars to use as vases at her wedding – ending up with more than one hundred. Given that their reception was outdoors in the summer, she knew mosquitos would be a problem. With the extra jars not being used as vases, she sourced a candlemaker to make citronella candles with them. Guests left happy and without any annoying bites!

If in need of amazing food for your Australian wedding or event, go with Blakes Feast Catering. Melissa could not recommend them enough!

We’ve definitely got to plan a stay at the Boyd Baker House. These two made it look oh so perfect!

Congratulations Melissa + Guy!

Photography: Louisa Bailey / Florist: Wunderplant / Catering: Blakes Feast / Bride’s dress: Andrea Gorrie / Groom’s suit: boutique in Melbourne / Bridesmaid dresses: custom / Groomsmen: J.Crew

Fun guestbook alternative? A giant canvas painted pink, patterned washi tape, and an Instax Mini Instant Camera for guests to snap cute pics of each other and tape them up with little messages. After realizing how cool the large “LOVE” gold spray painted stencil (bought from Stencil Ease) would come out, Tara added it to the décor by mirroring the napkins with their own little “LOVE” stencils!

So many of our favorite things in this set of photos: A bouquet made of large bloomed peonies wrapped in gold sequin, sequin wands, a feisty French Bulldog ring bearer, and a sparkly Jenny Packham.

Great tip: We chose our music with fun in mind  - skipping down the aisle to Prince’s “Kiss” after we tied the knot! And, in general, we just tried to make decisions based on who we are as people and who we are as a couple. Every decision was based on instinct – and it worked!

These two took their paper goods serious. They wanted to make sure it set the tone for the wedding and gave a little wink of what was to come to all their guests. They also “wanted everything from the Save-the-Dates to the invites to the website to the day-of paper products to carry the theme and blend together seamlessly without being too matchy-matchy. Enter Andres Montano. It was a true collaboration – a mix of our ideas and Andres’ imagination. From the initial meeting, he totally understood our vision and then took it to the next level at each and every step of the way. Our color scheme was navy with whites, pinks, peaches and of course sparkle and shimmer – the colors of our Santa Monica sunset…we knew we wanted the design to be big and bold, a bit vintage with an old school beach vibe and it had to have a bit of texture and a whole lot of personality.”

Some added fringe detail for escort cards, oh yes!

Check out that sweet headband… that Tara can get away with wearing well after the wedding! It was a custom piece she created with Erin Cole made of a belt + a brooch.

On loving the Smog Shoppe: I personally knew I wanted our wedding to be at the Smog Shoppe before we even got engaged and it wasn’t hard to convince Ben once he saw the venue. It’s magical! We wanted somewhere where we could have both the ceremony and reception and a venue that instantly set the tone for our F U N wedding – the Smog Shoppe is second to none in this arena. You have no idea when standing outside on the sidewalk what kind of urban oasis lies within – industrial, eclectic, organic, vintage all mixed together in the perfect party atmosphere.

The music: for the processional, Billy Bragg & Wilco’s, California Stars, then Tara walked to Paul McCartney’s, Maybe I’m Amazed. The recessional song, Prince’s Kiss, was cued up to play the second they smooched (I mean, you can’t compete with that beat and we really wanted it to kick off the rest of the night and let our guests know – if they didn’t already – this was going to be a party!). The first dance was to, U2′s Magnificent, and the father/daughter/mother/son dance went to The Beatles, In My Life – sweet and to the point.

These two are definitely a couple we’d love to know and dance with – they’re incredibly adorable and their personalities pop!

Congratulations Tara + Ben!!!

Event planning + coordination + florals: Sitting in a Tree / Photography: EP Love / Venue: Smog Shoppe / Caterers & Cake & Desserts – Whoa Nelly Catering / Save the dates, thanks you cards, invitation design: Andres Montano / Hair & Make up:  Nyrie Aitken of Symmetry Beauty / Extra dessert: Maple Bacon Donuts from Semi Sweet Bakery / Videographer: Jeff Fletcher Videography / Rentals: B.T.B. Events / DJ: Ian Gotler of Red Shoe  /  Bride’s dress: Jenny Packham / Veil: Erin Cole / Earrings: Erin Cole / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Bridesmaids: Ann Taylor + J.Crew / Maid of Honor: Twelth St by Cynthia Vincent via Piperlime.com / Man of Honor: Brooks Brothers’ shirt, his own vest, Bonobos pants and a Forage bow tie  / Groom’s suit: Bonobos / Shoes: John Varvatos / Tie: Penguin

Laura on their gorgeous invitation suite: I designed our invitations and took them to a local printer, Corinna Beau, to have them letterpressed & digitally printed. I had the idea to use a Michelle Armas painting as a backer because I was absolutely smitten with her work (and I wanted our invitation to be something that our guests could use as a small print in their homes later on). Michelle was so sweet to allow me to use one of her paintings, and we’re planning on commissioning a piece from her soon to commemorate our special day! To save on costs, I had just the main invite letterpressed and everything else was digitally printed. I also combined our information and RSVP card into one piece of paper, which I perforated and had guests tear off and return.

Gorgeous bouquet alert!

Balloons just aren’t going out of style. Especially gold ones.

This idea of adding quotes to your centerpieces is so clever, and adds a little conversation to the table. Too cute!

Is that a white striped burlap runner? It looks gold. STUNNING! FYI, we’ll be selling gold & white stripped paper in our pop-up shop the week of May 22nd. Just incase you’re looking for a good source, wink wink! Also diggin’ those gold napkins. Don’t think we see many of those beauties around.

Laura kept costs down by opting to book their venue for a Sunday brunch instead of a Saturday evening and brought in the help of friends and family to make it a total DIY wedding. Where she did splurge was on on their photographer. “I don’t regret it for a second. Ryan Ray is immensely talented and he captured our day in a way no one else could have. I know everyone says this, but don’t skimp on your photographer!”

And because we all love to see how brides curate their wedding Pinterest boards, make sure to check out Laura’s board here, and her lifestyle blog, here.

Congratulations Laura + Eric!

Photography: Ryan Ray Photography / Venue: The Filter Building / Catering + rentals: Culinary Art Catering / Flowers: Lindy Floral / Invitations: designed by bride, printed by Corinna Beau and painting backing from Michelle Armas / Cake: Layered Bake Shop / Jazz Band: The Texas Gypsies / Bride’s dress: Ulla Maija Couture / Earrings: Kendra Scott Jewelry / Shoes: Badgley Miscka (“Kiss Kiss”) / Groom’s suit: J.Crew Ludlow, uniform: c/o the U.S. Navy

All of the little details seemed to be falling into place for our wedding, except I didn’t have my dress. I had searched high and low with one style of dress  I had in mind and never quite found it. It was a Nicole Miller dress I had seen my best friend wear for a dinner party. When talking with her about where to find similar dress she stopped for a second and said, “What if you just wore my dress?”.  I hadn’t even thought of that but…why not?  My best friend who would of been in the wedding couldn’t actually make it to the wedding so the thought of wearing the dress didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all. In fact it now carried a bit of sentiment. I tried on the champagne silk gown and knew… that was the dress.  

Such an adorable entrance for Silvia’s daughter!

Some music from the wedding: I walked down the aisle as our friend played Tyrone Wells, Happy as the Sun. We exited the ceremony to  It’s Beautiful Day by U2 and were introduced at the reception to Is This Love by Bob Marley! I loved the laid back acoustic vibe during the first part of our reception. Our First Dance was also by Tyrone Wells, Seabrezze. My husband and daughter danced to Rascal Flatts, My Wish, and I danced with my Dad to Richie Valens’ Sleepwalker…. I’ve always love that song.     

We kinda want to live here, now.

Check out their 8mm moving picture also shot by The Why We Love:

Silvia explains why they chose to have their wedding here instead of on the beach. Good tips if you’re thinking about a beach wedding!

Originally my husband and I wanted to get married on the beach in Laguna, Corona Del Mar or Huntington but we realized that we weren’t up for jumping through hoops, paperwork, additional costs for bringing outside vendors in, and the list goes on. Leo Carrillo was perfect for so many reasons. First and foremost it was very important that my grandparents be able to attend, and Leo Carrillo is handicap accessible, a beach not so much. I wanted to keep the reception on site for the ease of being. I wanted enough space for all the kids in attendance to have space to run and explore and have fun. My friend Skye brought in hula hoops, jump ropes,  Twister, yo yo’s and games for the kids enjoy, if that wasn’t enough they were able to chase peacocks and play in the sand, which the site calls the beach along the reflection pool. What a fun day. They have a cantina worn and rugged at is, that we used for our bar area. Did I mention this site allows you to bring in outside caterers and alcohol at no additional price?

Congratulations Mike + Silvia!!

Photography + videography: The Why We Love / Venue: Leo Carrillo Ranch /  Florist: Natalee Schoettler / Sweets: Elizabeth Desserts / Brides dress: Nicole Miller / Groom’s suit: Marc Jacobs / Tie: JZ Collection / Flower girl dress: Catering: 220 Catering / Guitarist: Eric Berdon / Party rentals: Anar Party Rental / DJ: Premier Entertainment / Hair & makeup: Fuse Hair & Beauty (Chelsea B.)

We wanted our wedding to reflect our personalities; so we were looking for details that would be fun, humorous, and non traditional all within a  budget.   I didn’t have a crazy huge budget for a sit down dinner downtown Chicago for 150 guests, so a lot of areas I had to get creative. I tried to choose materials that were inexpensive while still creating huge impact. My design taste is pretty dramatic and bold, so flagging tape and balloons became a central part of my wedding. We were also lucky enough to have a venue that allowed us to bring our own liquor (which saved us huge bucks and we were able to drink exactly what we like, score!).

Alecia and Kate Arends of the infamous blog, Wit + Delight designed these fun fold out wedding invitations.

From Alecia: I wanted bright bold colors, gold accents paired with funky/fun pattern (i.e my cow hide/chevron). My venue played such a key role in being able to show off my bold color choices with pattern. I wanted an all white loft  space where Jesi Haack and I could literally create the room from scratch and not have any competing color palettes/patterns.

From Jesi Haack: Alecia is a designer at heart. So once we started going, it was ridiculously unstoppable. We knew we wanted a slick, clean palette. Then add crazy, unexpected pops of color. I wanted to add something else. I wasn’t sure what it was. But then I thought, cowhide?  There is no way she is going to go for it. Um, she was THRILLED. So we added in cowhide for the aisle runner and the table runners. It gave us the anchor we so needed with all of the craziness we were about to do!

This unbelievably awesome balloon ceremony installation was inspired by photographer Jenny Van Sommers.

Music: The groomsmen walked in to Grizzly Bear’s, The Foreground, Alecia’s walked in with her mom to the beautiful instrumental version of Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros, A + J exited to Raphael Saadiq’s, Go To Hell, their first dance was Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Acoustic version of Maps, and they cut the cake to Beirut’s, Postcards from Italy.

Guests found their seats by finding their triangle on a colorful triangle board, then were instructed to flip it over and write a cute note to the couple.  It turned into their guest book!

With so much bold design already going on in the space, we love that Alecia decided to go monochromatic with her flowers and just do simple raspberry colored carnations and pink garden roses in the center of each table.

Using balloons as table numbers just screams FUN!

Don’t you just want to live in this wedding for just a little while? Just pin it all, and you can! And while you’re at it, check out Alecia’s wedding inspiration Pinterest board to see where she was keeping all her decor ideas.

Alecia + Jon, if we had balloons to spell out congratulations, we’d wave them in the air for you right now. Congrats!

Event Design + Planning: Jesi Haack Design / Photography: Avery House / Personal Florals: Dilly Lily / Centerpieces: Bride’s friend Laura Wagner / Cake + Desserts: Bittersweet Chicago / Catering: Pure Kitchen Catering / Venue: Room 1520 / Paper Products: Escort Cards, Place Cards, Guest book, Ring Bearer signs, menus, stir sticks: Pitbulls and Posies / Invitations: Kate Arends of Wit & Delight / Makeup: Rommy Najor / Photobooth: Smilebooth / Ceremony Installation Inspiration: Jenny Van Sommers / Bride’s dress: Reem Acra dress from Belle Vie Bridal Couture / Shoes: Kate Spade / Jewelry: rented from the runway / Bridesmaid dresses: each picked their own / Junior bridesmaid dresses: Neiman Marcus, sweaters from Gap Kids