Newport Beach Wedding from Park Place Planning + Amy & Stuart Photography

May 22
by Erin
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Newport is one of the prettiest beachside spots in all the land. With a mix of glamor and Pacific Ocean views, it takes a seaside affair to a whole new level of pretty. Of course, that level couldn’t be reached all on its own. It took a team of crafty vendors like Park Place Planning, FlowerWild and Amy & Stuart Photography to bring it all to fruition. And it’s a mighty fine view. See it right here.

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Spring Summer

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Beach Resort

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Traditional Elegance

From the Bride…We wanted a wedding that truly “us” – a thoughtful, traditional ceremony followed by an absolutely rockin’ party on the beach. We chose to hold the festivities on Balboa Island, a location that held a lot of memories for our families and us – with the ceremony taking place at St. John Vianney Chapel on Balboa Island and the reception at the fabulous Balboa Bay Club. Decked out with romantic florals from FlowerWild and lit up by cafe lights and lanterns, the BBC’s lawn provided the perfect backdrop of the bay, boats and even some visiting dolphins for the “beach elegant” reception. Having worked at ShoeDazzle, the stylists at the company designed custom ivory wedges for me and blush ones for all of my ladies to complement their dresses. Later in the night, I switched to flip flops while the groom sported sharp black Sperry boat shoes. Having known me for her entire life, Stephanie from Park Place Planning worked with us all the way from Minnesota to plan our dream wedding on the beaches of California. Together, we created a day full of thoughtful, personal touches. We provided pashminas and flip flops to keep guests comfortable. The cocktail tables showed off framed photos of us and our families enjoying Balboa Island through the years and guests relaxed at the beach lounge areas that were made cozy with custom pillows and accessed by a lantern-lit boardwalk. At the bar, guests enjoyed “his and hers” signature cocktails – the “Olive You” Martini, and a “Old Fashioned” Gentleman. For dinner, guests dined on delicious filets provided by my family who own Brandt Beef and finished with a slice from the impressive four-tier flower-adorned traditional wedding cake. To take with home, each guests received homemade toffee made by the mother-in-law of my sister, Anneke. After toasts, we danced the night away with our guests under the stars…

Amy and Stuart Photogrpahy and Park Place Planning & Events are members of our Little Black Book, Love what you see? Take a look at their portfolios.

Amy and Stuart Photogrpahy

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Park Place Planning & Events

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For more information on how Little Black Book Members are chosen click here.

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Philippines Wedding from Foreveryday Photography

May 22
by Erin
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This affair is answering all of my light-filled wedding fantasies. Dreamy is another adjective that comes to mind and it’s woven into everything, from the adorable DIY elements incorporated into the day to the images by Foreveryday Photography. It’s a happy collaboration of color, smiles and a rainbow of heels. See so much more in the full gallery!

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Spring Summer

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Estate

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Casual DIY

From the Bride…After Nev and I got engaged in November 2012, I didn’t jump on the wedding planning mode immediately like most brides-to-be. Though we knew we wanted to get married the following year, we didn’t have any planned dates yet; we just wanted to enjoy the engagement bliss. But months went by so fast, and the next thing we know, we’ve been engaged for 8 months and had 6 months left before the year ends. So we finally decided to get married under the cool breeze of December and that’s the only time planning started.

We wanted to have a relaxed and cozy wedding with a handful of people we dearly love. This was the focal point of our whole planning, so everything we did was centered on making our guests feel our love and gratitude to them. We chose a small Catholic church for our ceremony, and found a big house with a bare garden and a great view of the famous and scenic Taal Volcano. The bare garden was perfect for all the DIY styling I had in mind; and the natural breeze, the hilly surround, and the laid-back and dainty feel of the place was the right fit for our countryside theme.

With the help of friends and family, we planned our wedding and gathered everything we needed. Weekends and lazy weekday afternoons were spent doing DIY décor, from the makeshift chandeliers to the wooden panels to the hanging lights to the pompoms; and even the invite, which I worked on w/ Nev’s brother, who also luckily happens to be a freelance graphic artist! Some weekends, Nev and I will go to flea markets and buy small decorative items, while our families went on a mission to collect recycled bottles and jars, as well as create hundreds of paper flowers. She also took me to her grandma’s place, which was just filled w/ amazing furniture perfect for our theme, and she happily let us borrow them. We also talked about our ideas to our suppliers, and even had a DIY dry run of the reception setup at home for our caterer to see! I would buy flowers, arrange them, take photos and send them to our caterer, who did a great job in translating our vision into reality. We, together w/ a couple of our siblings, were at our reception venue three days before our wedding to make sure my vision becomes a reality, and up to the night before the wedding, we were setting up and making sure the place looked pretty.

We had a very short program, something atypical in a Filipino wedding. After a couple of speeches the first dance, we spent the rest of the time just chatting with guests and letting everybody have a good time. The setup of the venue definitely helped put everybody at ease. We placed cocktail tables on one area, a bench on another, and tables under a tent under the night sky. We think it’s safe to assume our guests really had a great time. When we left the venue, our guests stayed to enjoy the breeze, the hand-picked bottles of wines, and the company. In fact, when we went back to the venue the next day, our friends and family were still there cooking breakfast!

We love our wedding to bits! All of the details we incorporated enhanced the overall feel and mood of the occasion. Now I have a bunch of mason jars and photo frames at home, and the beautiful photos by Foreveryday Photography, which all remind me of the day when I married the man of my dreams.

Baked Donuts with Cinnamon & Sugar

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Palm Springs Wedding from Docuvitae Photography

May 22
by Stephanie
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Palm Springs is where pretty weddings come to life. Somewhere between the desert skies and lush palm trees is a happy place that makes nearly every wedding there perfection. And this pretty little number captured by Docuvitae Photography represents everything a modern wedding should be. Fun, laid back, and oozing with that nontraditional, eclectic elegance. With the help of Artisan Event Floral Decor and The Bride and I, this couple was able to write their own rules and craft a day true to “them” inside and out. Get caught up in all the gorgeousness right here.

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Spring Summer

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Hotel

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Destination Modern

From the Bride… Ryan and I live in Chicago, but from the minute we got engaged knew we wanted to have a small, intimate destination wedding with our closest friends and family. Of everywhere we looked – the Palm Springs vibe seemed the most like us – laid back, fun and a place we thought all our friends and family would enjoy a warm weather trip to. I work at a hotel (The James in Chicago – a SMP Little Black Book vendor, so was very particular when it came to choosing the venue. The Parker was exactly what we were looking for – unique design, great service, great food and an all in one destination. Pulling up to the huge orange doors when we first arrived was a definite highlight of the week and I just can’t say enough nice things about the staff there.

Since we were planning from afar, we selected vendors whose overall aesthetic and philosophy fit into what we were envisioning for the day – a funky but elegant (think Dorothy Draper meets Martha Stewart) event that was above all fun for those in attendance. Joey from Artisan and April from The Bride and I were amazing to work with. I had an idea of what I wanted each component of the wedding to look/feel like and they were instrumental in really bringing it to life. Gennia from Docuvitae Photography (who was also in the midst of planning her wedding at The Parker!) shot the day perfectly – very documentary-style and capturing the real moments as they occurred which was very important to us.

Dress shopping was one of my favorite parts of the planning process – though I was very singular in knowing that I didn’t want a white dress upfront, just as I didn’t want a diamond engagement ring when we got engaged. (Mine is a sapphire.) So that narrowed down the options quite a bit. My style leans towards a little bit more eclectic and I was worried I would regret not getting something more traditional. But, I think looking back, the nontraditional color and big, sparkly vintage earrings will always feel more like me than a white ballgown ever would. In keeping with the nontraditional – Ryan and I decided we didn’t want to require anyone in our bridal parties to wear the same thing. We just wanted everyone to look and feel like themselves that day – and to be there with us to celebrate.

No bride ever wants to be upstaged – but I’m pretty sure Ryan upstaged me on our wedding day. His very stylish friend helped him pick out his suit at a store in Chicago called Suit Supply. And his friend also has a great tie company called Artfully Disheveled – which is where he got the awesome bow tie The Spark – with little spark plugs all over it. I highly recommend it for a unique take on classic wedding wear.

My favorite part of the day was when Ryan’s sister read The Lovely Other Dinosaur during our ceremony. Nothing about any of the traditional wedding readings resonated with us as we were planning. The Lovely Other Dinosaur is an illustrated book about two dinosaurs that was one of the first presents I got for Ryan when we first started dating. (My mom actually found it and pointed it out to me since she said it seemed like us.) When Ryan proposed to me, he wrote his own version of the book that told our story of how we met and got engaged. Everyone always said to me that you have to take all the traditional wedding elements and examine each one as you’re planning to see if it feels like “you.” This was an interpretation of a traditional wedding element that I’m really glad we did in our own way instead of just discarding.