pursuing the picture perfect wedding
Love this wedding, with perfectly quirky design and myriad personal touches, including a ring of succulents (prominently featuring one of my most favorite varieties – the echeveria afterglow!). It’s over on Once Wed today {here}. Some of you know I’m packing and moving right now, but I have my (probably over-ambitious) fingers crossed that I can post a bunch more of my favorite images here … soon.
photo: Gia Canali
I don’t know if anything will ever be better than seven of them, but even just one is pretty spectacular. Kids can take to their wedding duties with such very adult seriousness. Or not.
photo: Gia Canali
We have our zillion favorites from these weddings and we’ll be sprinkling them into upcoming blog posts, but to see the images all together all at once, and to hear their real-wedding stories, view the back-to-back features on Style Me Pretty today {here} and {here}.
photos: Gia Canali
S & E’s wedding embodied all the most elegant and magical things about wine country and we were thrilled that it was featured in this year’s C Weddings. So we thought we should offer a closer look at the wedding in its intricate and well-designed detail. Below: the bride’s ceremony-ready updo; bouquet of peonies and garden roses by Sharla Flock (complete with mint and dusty miller Sharla plucked from her own garden!); ceremony set in the ruins of an old winery. During the recessional, the bride and groom were followed out by a New Orlean’s style jazz band (!).
A ceremony design note: wide aisles are wonderful, and afford excellent vantage points for photographers and guests alike. If you have the space, make a wide aisle.
During cocktails, Stacy McCain and her crew oversaw the transformation of the ruins area into a dining area. We love the centerpiece design by Sharla Flock. (I also worked with her on this inventive wedding last spring). Meanwhile, the bride was transforming her look, too. The bride and groom had a busy schedule, but we were happy to catch them here and there, in between the various parts of the day.
Dessert, dancing, and self-portrait-taking in the barn followed dinner. If you look closely above and below, you’ll see some of the many musical ensembles that contributed to the festive mood of the wedding from beginning to end. One thing we loved about the wedding was how very different each part of the day looked and felt. Musical cues were as important as visual ones. We also loved how personal the food felt. The groom’s family contributed produce from their farm, including almonds for badam kheer, a traditional Indian dessert drink (that I am now mildly obsessed with … and have started making regularly on my own!). The couple departed the reception in a vintage Packard. I love the grand exit as a photo op (even if I am, as I was here, the only one there to witness it).
photos: Gia Canali; planning & design: Stacy McCain Events; floral design: Sharla Flock; music (!!): Ed Ivey, Bay Area Booking; bride’s gown, Vera Wang; stationery, Hello!Lucky; lighting, Got Light; venue: Annadel Estate; catering: Paula LeDuc Fine Catering
After I photo-edited {this} post earlier in the week about planning for a picture perfect first dance, I remembered a few more absolute favorite first dances, and among those was this one. It was a sweltering hot day in Healdsburg, and the sun was just beginning to set behind the hills, affording the first bit of (exhilarating!) relief we’d felt all day. We wanted to fit the first dance in before we lost the light and the lanterns were just beginning to glow in the oak trees above a meandering serpentine dinner table. It really felt like the set of a movie, with the glowing light and live music from a country band. Plus, there’s nothing like seeing your own beloved friends go through these moments …
photo: Gia Canali
We’ve been busy in the studio, printing and making things (one of my favorite things about my job!). Here is detail on one pair of handmade encaustic prints.
photos & prints: Gia Canali
Two looks are better than one! This bride had her hair redone during the cocktail hour. I love how something so simple as letting one’s hair down really makes for an entirely different look (and a relatively budget-friendly one, compared with buying two frocks, for instance).
photos: Gia Canali; hair, Dano Abriol
Well, you don’t have to be adventurous. But you will be rewarded richly for your efforts. It might look like this couple naturally appeared on the boughs of an enchanted tree, but in reality, getting this photo was decidedly rigorous. The bride climbed down a steep creek bank in four inch platform heels (her idea, not mine—but I’m thrilled she did). The recipe is below – and I’ll share more of their enchanted forest photos soon!
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