Congratulations Jeannette and Shinichi!

I have so many wonderful things to say about Jeannette and Shinichi - a bride (who lived in Oregon) and met her groom (who lived in Japan) while they both happened to be doing one semester of university abroad  (as a school in the Midwest) and fell in love in a drama class. If that's not serendipity I don't know what is.

They maintained an international long-distance relationship for 4 YEARS and we had the incredible honor of coordinating their wedding at the gorgeous AT&T Center in Downtown LA this past July. They booked a full service package almost a year ago and I have had a blast bringing their wedding to life with them via email, phone, and only 2 in-person visits. I am so happy that this adorable and unbelievably sweet couple found each other, allowed us to be part of their story, and will now be united for a lifetime as Jeannette joins Shinichi to live in Japan.

What a story. What a couple.

Their very small and intimate wedding wasabsolutely lovely. 25 of their closest family and friends flew in to join them and they couldn't have chosen a prettier day. There were clear skies in downtown LA (allowing for a perfect view of the skyline) and followed by a dramatic sunset. We moved the cake cutting up a bit so the incredible sunset would serve as the perfect backdrop. Here are a few sneak peaks from their lovely photographer, Amanda McKinnon Photography. Thank you Amanda for your beautiful work! I'll post the rest of the photos as well as their video as soon as they're ready.

FEATURED ON STYLE ME PRETTY!

We were delighted to receive an email from Style Me Pretty yesterday to let us know that another of our weddings we're being featured. We think Style Me Pretty is among the very best of the very best and we are always honored to be included on their beautiful blog.

A big congratulations go out to Ashley, who's beautiful ideas for a rustic/vintage wedding paired perfectly with her incredible sense of style and resulted in this absolutely breathtaking wedding. Hey, when you got it, you got it! Ashley definitely has it.. and Style Me Pretty agrees :) We had a blast working with Ashley and bringing it all to life with her and we're so grateful for the experience! Check out the post here.

Congratulations Ashley and Robert

Ashley and Robert's wedding at BOXeight Studios earlier this month was the hoe down of the century!!! For two years, Ashley put her incredible creative talents to use when she designed a wedding which would be the perfect mergence and reflection of her Arizona roots and her fiance Robert "Memphis' " Tenessee roots. Ashley and Robert are classy, intelligent, professionals at the top of their games and that was clearly reflected by their Dom Perignon Champagne, their Southern menu with a modern flair, the gorgeous attire worn by the bride, groom, & their wedding parties, their soft and sophisticated wedding cake and dessert buffet, their vintage luggage and typewriter, the wall of the dancefloor projecting footage from classic moves, their impeccable attention to EVERY detail, and I could clearly go on. But their wild side also came out in a huge way and these ultimate party planners made sure there was not one dull moment - with a confetti blaster, a pinata, a paint-by-numbers art station inspired by one of their engagement shots, a photo booth with some of the funniest props we've ever seen, mini pies with recipe cards for guests to take home, a midnight BBQ, quilts on the lawn for an impromptu picnic, and a sparklers send off in their vintage hot rod convertible. It was a rootin tootin good time and an incredible honor to be part of. We LOVE Ashley and Robert and were so pleased to see the huge smiles plastered on their faces from beginning to end. Congratulations you two. What a blast!!!

P.S - In case you were wondering, yes that's Memphis from Big Brother :)

Words from the bride:

The most important thing for us was having this wedding stay true to who we are.The second most important thing for us was to make the entire weekend an experience rather then just a one day event, we wanted our guests to get the most out of their trip and to experience LA to the fullest and show them why we love it here so much. We had events planned every night starting from Thursday leading up to Sunday.  

I think the hardest part about planning a wedding is finding a theme and an inspiration for the event that truly defines you as a couple. It takes time to really think about what brought you together and who you are as a couple and still incorporate who you are as individuals. I think once you figure this out the rest of the process is so fun and falls into place naturally. 

Memphis and I were engaged for over two years and had a good year to really think about what we wanted to do for our wedding. We had gone back and forth about where to actually have the wedding since all of our family and friends are scattered throughout the United States-Arizona, Tennessee, Florida, New York. We were really set on a destination wedding for awhile but that didn't end up working out for the family because of travel arrangements etc. So we thought about what city do we really feel is our home- and it was here in LA. So I started searching for venues!

I came across Boxeight through some friends who have held fashion events there, which I thought was cool because of my background in fashion and I was excited to put that sort of twist on a wedding. We wanted it to almost feel like a fashion week event, cocktails and passed h'orderves. Very informal and hip. The space was the perfect mixture between rustic and modern I knew it would be perfect. It also is a new up and coming venue so the price was very reasonable compared to similar venues like Marvimon and Smogg Shop. The only thing with having a wedding at event spaces like these is that it is a completely blank canvas for you to work with- which I loved- but it was challenging. 

With Memphis being from the south we really wanted to incorporate a southern twist with a rustic feel. That's where the inspiration for all the mason jars, burlap, lace, lavender and cotton came from. The food and bar was Memphis's part of the event since that is what he does for a living. We had a true southern menu with a modern flair. The specialty cocktails were southern inspired as well. See both menus attached. Working with SBE as caterers was such an amazing experience. What I loved the most was that we were able to sit down with Nicki and explain to her our inspiration and a little bit about ourselves and then we got to create a menu based on that. We also were able to put a fun twist on the late night snake and have a BBQ with hamburgers and hotdogs. 

Memphis and I love vintage shopping- Fairfax market is our favorite place to go on Sundays. This is what inspired us to use the vintage luggage, typewriter props etc. 

Beauty is in the details- While planning I also wanted to really concentrate on the details. I feel this can really take any event to the next level. No matter how much you spend on a wedding you can make it such a magical event with some love and time spent within the details. 

Stores I couldn't live without:
Homedepot, Save-on-Crafts, Oriental Trading Company, Smart and Final, Joanns Fabrics.

Venue: Boxeight- Tabitha is the contact person. Tabitha Erhardt <tabitha@boxeight.com>

Wedding Coordinator: Wish Wonder Dream- It was such a pleasure working with Whitney as a day of coordinator. Her team really went above and beyond. Whitney Drake. Whitney Wing Drake <whitneywdrake@wishwonderdream.com>

Hair and Makeup: Lauren and Lauren- These girls did an incredible job and are a lot of fun! They were with me all day and night doing touch ups and a new hairdo midway through. They are very reasonable priced. I definitly reccomend getting a team for hair and makeup that can stay throughout the night because your hair and makeup will not last the entire time, no matter what you do. Email them for pricing. laurenaashlei@yahoo.com, lharden88@yahoo.com

Videographers: Pentatonic Productions- Such a cool set of guys. Ben and Alex. Not typical wedding videographers, but that's what we loved about them. 

Rentals: Town and Country- Jennifer Perez- Jennifer Perez <jennifer@tacer.biz>

Cake: Sweet and Saucy- (562) 598-8340

Mini Pies and Cookies: Homemade by Sally Memphis Mom

Photobooth: What a Blast- Irene. What A Blast <whatablastphotos@gmail.com>

Catering: SBE Off Premise Catering- Nicki. nicki@sbe.com

Flowers: LA Flower Mart. My Mom, Sister and I put together the arrangements.

Boutonniers and Bouquet: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FayeMarie 

Dress: Wtoo

Memphis' Suit: John Varvatos

Memphis' Shoes: BESPOKEN

Groomsmen Suits: They wore their own

Memphis' and Groomsmens Shirts: BESPOKEN

Ties: HandM

Bridesmaids Dresses: Picked their own.

Paperproducts: Rachel Gauchman- Rachel Gauchman <rgauchman@gmail.com>

Photography: Closer to Love Photography < http://www.closertolovephotography.com >

Thank you to Closer to Love Photography for these GORGEOUS photos. Amazing!!! See the full portfolio here.

Gorgeous Engagement Photos of Our B&G Janice and Almon

We love Heidi Ryder Photography and we were absolutely thrilled when she sent the amazing Janice and Almon our way to coordinate their upcoming wedding. We hit it off with them right from the start and knew that we'd LOVE the process of working together on their special day. They're booked for a Month Of coordination package so we unfortunately haven't spent much time with them but we were thrilled to see them and touched by their support when they came to our Grand Opening Party at our studio on January. We love the settings they chose for their adorable engagement session and we think Heidi shot it perfectly. Thank you all for sharing these wonderful photos and we are waiting on pins and needles for the wedding this October - it's gonna be a blast!

 

The images above are a few of our favorite from a rather large collection. See the others HERE

A Conversation with Owner Whitney Wing Drake

Good afternoon everyone! We recently shot a new series with Wish Wonder Dream's Owner Whitney Wing Drake. In this segment (the first of 6) Whitney introduces our new studio and shares a bit about us. We hope these videos help you get to know us better - as people and as a company :)