Don’t get suckered! I am not buying a crazy ass-priced wedding dress because
a) labor is not worth the $$$
b) materials of dress is not worth $$$
c) BOTH A and B
d) I’m not delusional and think I’m a princess
e) All of the above.
Don’t get suckered! I am not buying a crazy ass-priced wedding dress because
a) labor is not worth the $$$
b) materials of dress is not worth $$$
c) BOTH A and B
d) I’m not delusional and think I’m a princess
e) All of the above.
Saturday was a scorcher in L.A.! AJ and I decided that we take a day off from work and wedding planning to spend the day outdoors, so we said “to the beach!” But we had a late start and I was not in the mood to deal with L.A. west siders and westside traffic, so we opted for something local: the L.A. Arboretum. Lots of trees, obvs, pretty flowers, a waterfall, and peacocks! It was too hot to make the climb uphill to see all of 127 acres of this place the so we hitched a ride on the tram tour to catch some breezes while listening to some L.A. history and learned names of trees and plants. Not the beach, but hey, it’s still nature! It was a good day.
xo, Lisa
As the summer approaches, AJ and I, with the help of my man of honor, Long are all hard at work designing the save the date postcards and the main invitation suite. The wedding colors have evolved the last few months and finally I have decided on shades of plums, fuchsias and grays, all of which will be part of the invitation suite. Long has designed a custom print, graphic and monogram for us that will be used throughout for all the wedding stationary including the programs and escort cards later. His design is an homage to the peacock feather, our original color inspiration, and based on a mixture of Asian and Middle Eastern tile prints that I have a great love for. Another inspiration of mine is the most amazing letter press invitation suite from Dauphine Press, the Larkspur. It’s so gorgeous and when I could not stop staring at it, I knew I had to have something that was similar. I can’t wait how this all turns out and when we finally assemble them, I will post pictures of what will surely be an interesting DIY experience.
A.J., the amazing artist that he is, will be combining his love of art and graphic novels in his design for our super fun save-the-dates. He is making custom comic strip art as the main graphic, and on the back he will hand-stamp our images with the use of a wood cut that he is carving himself. We will incorporate the monogram that Long designed to complete the look. I’m excited to see what is sure to be adorable save-the-dates that are completely representative of A.J. and I but also one-of-a-kind. Look out for them in your mailboxes this summer!
I hope your Spring is shaping up to be one for the books!
xo, Lisa
The Larkspur invitation via Dauphine Press
Hi folks!
The last month has brought a flurry of wedding-related activities and I’m super excited to share with you all what A.J. and I have been doing. First thing’s first, we booked our venue! After much deliberation and consideration, we decided to have our wedding very close to home, my first L.A. home actually, at Occidental College! At first I was quite resistant to this idea, to be honest. While I had an amazing time at Oxy as an undergrad, when I think romantic and amazing, the Oxy cafeteria doesn’t come to mind. Not even close. But the more we weighed the pros—-the location in our neighborhood that we love, the beautiful landscaping on campus, the amazing Herrick Chapel (with its alumni discount might I add), the high-ceilinged Gresham dining hall, which with proper decor and lighting can actually be stunning AND the BYO alcohol, which will allow us to have an open bar all night—-I was finally convinced. So, yes, we are having an Oxy wedding!
Photographs are one of the only things that live on after the actual wedding day and A.J. and I really want amazing photos, especially of the details and moments that we might miss due to the flurry on wedding day activities. Knowing this, I searched high and low on the interwebs for photogs that matched the style I want (sweet, not cheesy) that worked with our budget. The problem is, mama’s gots expensive taste and well many of the photogs I liked also cost a pretty penny. Until finally, I found the one: Laurel Isle Photography! I found them on Wedding Wire (from their Bride’s Choice list of winners) and they are a team of 2 sisters, Lindsey and Lauren. I love, love, love their images and I can’t wait to do our engagement session with them in downtown Los Angeles. I’m a sucker for amazing architecture and I just know that our pics in front of the Disney Concert Hall designed by one of my faves, Frank Gehry will be amazing through Laurel Isle’s lenses. Yay!
We also found our videographer. Double yay! More info on them when we finalize our contract and put some scrill down to secure them for our day.
Which leads me to the date: April 6, 2013 is the day. Yes, it’s really happening and truly, I cannot wait to marry the best person that I know in the whole world. Yeessh, talk about cheese!
xoxo, Lisa
Herrick Chapel at Oxy: our ceremony site.
Happy Saturday! It’s our anniversary today and we are in Temecula on a wine tasting tour. My fingers are supposed to indicate our 3rd tasting. 3 too many for me, I guess. Cheers!
In a word: Aria. Thanks to one of my favorite wedding blogs, I have discovered dresses by Aria and I am super excited! Their wedding gowns are affordable (between 500-1600 according to The Knot) without skimping on the details and touches of luxurious fabrics, sweet and modern at the same time and since they specialize in customizable frocks you can count on getting dresses that fit for you and your bridesmaids. Oh, and they apparently pride themselves in ethical dress productions with all their clothes made in the U.S.A. For the budget and poly-conscious bride like me (no blood diamonds and slave labor please) Aria is almost too good to be true. But not only is it all so true, Aria’s main showroom is in the L.A. area (Pasadena to be exact) so when it comes time for me to try on dresses, this will be my first stop. (UPDATE: Only bridesmaid’s dresses are available at the showroom. I’d have to find a retailer to try Aria dresses on, which is okay, I guess.)
But wait there’s more! For those looking for bridesmaid dresses, they have the Try-On Program where you can order a sample dress, have it delivered to your home so that you can be sure this is what you and your girls want before purchasing on line. OMG, bet invention since the Post-it!
I am giddy with excitement from this treasure trove of a dress store find. And I promise, they’re not paying me for this write-up. In fact, I can’t wait to pay them for an awesome dress.
Here are just a few of my favorite Aria gowns. Hello gorgeous indeed!
Hello lovers! If AJ and I were getting hitched on the most romantic and consumerist holiday of the year, I would be tickled pink for any one of these palettes (especially #1). Enjoy hearts day everyone, and may you love as fervently tomorrow!
xo, L
We went for another meeting today with our top venue choice and while we have yet to sign and seal the deal, it’s really only a matter of time, especially since the venue owner (who just happens to be one of my great friends since high school!) has been so amazing with helping us get the best deals and biggest bang for the buck. As we await the final proposal, I allow myself to dream about tablescapes. We are still doing succulents but I want to add some simple white candles, grouped in threes to add dimension and interest to the table. And who doesn’t look good by candlelight? No one, for sure. We were talking about possible linens and lace table cloths were suggested to added some romance. I liked but what I LOVE is the idea of burlap with lace overlay. I like the rustic, casual look of the burlap but softened and refined by lace—-so amazing. So here my tablescape (incoporating suggestions from friends Cathy and Long): burlap table runner, trimmed with lace ribbon (or with lace overlay), monogrammed with our initials at each hanging tail end; the main succulent centerpiece, white candles and various sized yarn pomanders in tones of plums and fuchsias for added color. Ooohh! I can’t wait to do a table mock-up!
For now, here are some inspiration pics of burlap tablescapes. Enjoy!
I have all these ambitious DIY projects that I want to do for the wedding, which may or may not pan out depending on whether I manage to successfully not glue all my fingers together. I’ve always thought of myself as crafty, despite having produced no actual crafts to show for. But whatevs, minor details. Today is a new day though, and I have successfully made my DIY flower pin. With the help of this tutorial, a brand new glue gun, my sewing skills and AJ’s help (he made perfectly singed petals with the candle), what started as as 1/2 yard of organza, cut and singed:
became this:
The picture doesn’t do justice to how cute this actually turned out for a first try. Eventually, I want to maybe make an ivory version of this flower pin with some feathers and add antique brooch as the center. Super simple, cheap and with more practice I think I can make an amazing hair clip or bird cage veil for the wedding. If I decide to have a cathedral veil, I will try to make something similar to this Vera Wang for David’s Bridal sash, in a different color, of course. I love how the scale of this flower/bow can modernize a romantic lacy gown—-which is want I think I want—-and give it some edge. Next up: yarn pomanders!
Love these for aisle decor for the ceremony at the church instead of flowers. I would clump 3 smaller yarn ballons in our color scheme and tie them together with a pretty ribbon.
Wrap yarn around balloon. Dip balloon in watered down glue. Let dry, pop balloon.
I, like many brides-to-be of late, am a bit obsessed with wedding blogs. Blogs are a great way to get ideas about everything from venues, to decor to dresses. I have found them to be extra helpful for budget saving tips and DIY projects that can not only make a wedding more personal (who wants a blah hotel wedding, right?), but can also help make the process more fun and memorable. Apart from the actual day-of, I am most looking forward to flower/flea market trips with A.J. for unique blooms and quirky decorative touches and craft parties with my girls. The memories made through these experiences cannot be bought even by the biggest of budgets.
One thing that I will not be doing are these obnoxious moustache decor/favor/thingamajig. I don’t really know what to call them or why every single (and I mean that for real) wedding-related blog has one to a few of these featured. I don’t know where this came from but I blame Etsy for its proliferation and wedding sites are complicit to this crime against good taste. Perhaps my dislike is irrational or perhaps it’s from my (founded) disdain of hipster culture. Whatevs. Just please, to every indie/bohemian/hipster couple out there, I appeal to you: just stop. Unless your moustache is actually attached to your face, meaning you grew it yourself, there will be none of this at our wedding. #Rantover.
Men are often left out of wedding styling, which is unfortunate because, well I am marrying one (ha!) and A.J. and his groomsmen MUST look as good as my hot bridesmaids. Enter my boutonniere obsession. In fact bridal bouquets take the backseat for me, at least for now. These days these Craspedia (or Billy Button) bouts are all the rage. I can totally understand why since they make a bold statement in both color and form. If we were to go with a yellow/slate gray color scheme, I would adorn everything with these floral wonders.
But yellow isn’t one of my favorite colors and our color scheme revolves around rich jewel tones of fuschias and plums (more on that later) so no Craspedia for us. These bouts, though, are more my style. Yes, we are DIY-ing these too. Fun, non?
xo, L.
Images via Bridal Musings, Ruby Bloom and Lady Bird Poppy.
…or perhaps torture, but that’s how it feels when looking at the $$$$ (around $10,000, give or take) Vera Wang Genevieve dress. Ahhh, but isn’t it exquisite?
If I had all the time, I would do this DIY “flower” arrangement. Maybe for the bouquets? Add some feathers and I think this might be another flower alternative. Because, you know, flowers are soooo over.
xo, L.
(via ajandlisagettinhitched)
