pursuing the picture perfect wedding
Eunice & Daniel’s wedding photographs are over on 100 Layer Cake today!! We love being on their very pretty blog! Hurray! Congrats to Eunice and Daniel, the whole Hello!Lucky crew, and all the other talented vendors who worked on this especially magical wedding.
Welcome to Eunice & Daniel’s wedding! Eunice and her sister Sabrina own Hello!Lucky, while Daniel designs video games at Three Rings, and frankly, I can’t think of a craftier, more inventive—or more exuberant!—crew to plan a wedding. Eunice designed pretty much everything and she and her friends, led by sister and maid-of-honor, Sabrina, worked tirelessly to make sure those designs became a reality. Much of the inspiration for the wedding’s design is from Tim Walker’s photographs. Walker’s work has always fascinated me, as it demonstrates, in intricate detail, how Britain was, is, and always will be a magical place, if improbably so. See his work, if you aren’t already familiar with it. You’ll know what I mean. The little stage Eunice and Daniel were married on and the whimsical parade to the ceremony site, led by Daniel with his white unicorn, are lifted straight from Walker’s (or … Eunice-and-Daniel’s) imagination.
Below: a few images from the ceremony. I love the flower girls dumping the confetti on each other!! The stage was lovingly made by the crew at Because We Can and painted by Eunice and friends. (The stage now has a home behind Eunice & Daniel’s bed, which is the perfect sort of re-purposing of wedding decor, I think). Eunice designed her dress and her friend and colleague, Hello!Lucky’s London office head, Iain Harris Bartlett, sewed it for her.
The day passed by at lightning speed, as it really always does at weddings. I was so happy to have a few moments with Eunice and Daniel along the winding dirt road and in the wide, grassy fields at {Wilbur Hot Springs}.
The details of this wedding were myriad, intricate, and marvelous. Nearly everything was made by hand, and much of it by Eunice, Daniel, and their friends. There was so much to look at (and photograph and share!) that I needed a dedicated post to do those details any sort of justice at all. Here are just a few, though. Sharla Flock designed the florals, which were rich and varied and added so much color and texture to the wedding. The cake topper is hilariously cute (worth clicking to enlarge!).
The guests were dressed to match the wedding perfectly, even the littlest ones. It gave me the feeling that we were all in a movie we couldn’t see being filmed.
As night fell, the party began in earnest. There was square-dancing and Eunice’s sister, Sabrina, sang a song. Their father accompanied the band on his mandolin for another song. And, yes, Eunice and Daniel really did cut the cake with a cleaver. I think Daniel might have a collection …
For fewer, larger photographs, please see {this gallery} on my main site. And satisfy your floral-detail-loving-cravings {here}. Hello!Lucky posted a great feature on their, site, too, complete with a gallery and diy wedding project instructionals, and it’s {here}.
photographs by Gia Canali; wedding design, Hello!Lucky; paper goods, Hello!Lucky and Joel Dewberry; wedding planning, Lisa Feldman Designs; Daniel’s dapper suit, Al’s Attire; bridesmaid’s dresses, Al’s Attire and Jessica Bobillot; Eunice’s fascinator, Jennifer Behr; cake topper, Publique Living; stage, wooden table “numbers,” and parade props, Because We Can and Hello!Lucky; lighting design, Jimmy Duhig, Creative Lighting Design; Eunice designed her dress and it was handsewn by her friend Iain Harris Bartlett. Go handmade!!
Merry Christmas, friends. I hope the holidays are dazzling and warm for you this year.
photo: Gia Canali
Nicole and Abram had a beautiful summer wedding in Malibu. And although they wanted to wed on the beach, both imagined having some photographs that were decidedly more woodsy and magical. I’m not sure how many times Abram went scouting by himself—at least twice!—but the afternoon the three of us visited this site (pictured above), we knew we’d found what we were all looking for. This brings up an important point about working with a photographer: communicating your vision can make all the difference in the world. While you’re at it, it’s good to let your imagination run a little wild. You don’t know, really, what is and isn’t possible.
The feeling I got from this place made me want to pull out all the toy cameras …
Megan Fickling-Pearson from {La Partie Events} did an outstanding job on the day-of wedding coordination. We love her boundless creativity and good spirits and cannot wait to photograph a wedding where she does the floral design, too. Her {blog} is always a good read—Meg knows where to find all the cool stuff! Below: a few photographs from the ceremony. Nicole and Abram were so sweet with each other. I love that!
Below: some of the details. Chalkboards can be really fun decor elements at weddings. Abram decorated these for the reception. DIY projects like this are great for weddings, as they are easy and memorable. We also liked the sweets table!
After the ceremony and just as the sun was setting, Nicole and Abram took a few more minutes to run around the beach. If you have an opportunity to take advantage of multiple setups or locations for portraits, do it! Your album will have lots more variety.
Nicole and Abram made a point of getting the portraits they wanted—and it really paid off. Photographers are always ready for a happy collaboration! We highlighted their good sense previously, but this tip from their wedding is definitely worth reiterating: take a walk! It’s nice to have some quiet time with your beloved and it makes for really good photographs.
photographs: Gia Canali Nicole’s gown: Edgardo Bonilla Florals: Michelle, Larchmont Village Florist, (323) 464-8146
We ♥ Dara & Dan—and their picture-perfect wedding, of course! So we couldn’t be happier to share it with the readers of {StyleMePretty} today! Click {here}, {here}, {here}, and {here} to see the posts.
photographs: Gia Canali
Some weddings are so marvelously right. Julia & Eli’s was one of them. The equation might have read: happy couple + beautiful yard + perfect day + perfect night + joyous guests + “fireflies” = magical. We’ve featured bits of their wedding all summer, partly because I think this blogging real weddings thing rushes me much too much—as I prefer to turn over my photographic fascinations slowly—but mostly because we loved their wedding. Even the intangible things, like Eli saying his {vows}. Above, one of several Polaroid 55s I took.
We loved the whimsical florals and decor by Krislyn. The groom’s boutonniere was fashioned from a single (tiny) perfect echeveria ‘afterglow’. I grow them in my garden, and in just the right light, the pinkish rims really do glow. Below: celebrity stylists Nina and Clare Hallworth help Julia into her gown. Sweetest up-do ever by Chris McMillan. Chris did Julia’s hair three or four times that morning before he came up with the final look, which made me realize how essential it is to allow all the vendors at a wedding time to give a top-notch performance. (More on that later.) I never would have guessed tulips would have been “just the thing,” but they were, and Chris’s hairdo inspired lots and lots of my photographs of Julia.
I spoke with Nina and Clare for a few moments before the reception, and asked if they had any advice for my blog readers. They said it was so important to take time (by which they meant quiet time) to get dressed. The way they spoke of dressing, it seemed like dressing oneself and composing oneself were the same act.
Some details from the ceremony. The huppah was one of a kind, with peonies, branches, and a quilt the groom’s mother made by hand. Yifat Oren & her gifted crew, led by Amy Cain, masterminded the design and production of the whole affair. Great job, Amy!
Nina and Clare reused Julia’s veil as a wrap during cocktails and dinner. It was not only a very inventive instantly “upcycled” accessory, but offered Julia a second glorious look for the evening. Bride’s gown, Carolina Herrera. Groom’s three-piece suit (♥!), Tom Ford.
Above: a few images from Julia and Eli’s hora. I love getting guests out on the dance floor (and before sundown if possible). It’s one of the few chances we ever have in a wedding day for truly energetic and totally camera unaware photographs of everyone who came out to celebrate your tying-the-knot.
Because it was so sunny and because so much was going on in both the front yard and back yard all day, we couldn’t do any outdoor portraits. So Julia and Eli agreed to sneak away for a quick walk after their first dances. So worth it!
Julia felt differently about the sunshiny day. She was thrilled to wake at six that morning and see the sun was out. Those of you who live in Southern California will know “June Gloom,” and Julia & Eli’s wedding day was the first day after our (particularly long) June Gloom ended this year. I laughed when she told me this: when I awoke on my own wedding day, I, too, jumped out of bed to see what the light was like, but was practically gleeful to discover a bright overcast morning!
Julia’s advice? She says to take a couple days to do relaxing things before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, she had no stress for the first time in the planning process!
The End.
photographs: Gia Canali
{Snippet & Ink} is one of my favorite blogs. I am dizzied by Kathryn’s genius (and unending!) inspiration boards. We love the Sunday Edition photos. And the real weddings are always perfectly lovely. So we are thrilled that she’s featuring Sharlyn & Jim’s wedding on her blog today! {Click here} to read the post.
There’s so much pressure these days to fit it all in—even in the face of the so called non-traditional wedding—folks are going for every possible potentially meaningful moment and kitschy tradition (and diy detail!) they can think of. It is like having an all-you-can-eat-buffet mentality to planning your wedding. I say: let’s take it easy. Do a few things well. Make your wedding one where you can enjoy good food and the company of good friends and family. After all, that’s why you’re having a wedding with people attending.
Congratulations, Tom & Kimberly!
