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Portfolio
Every wedding on this page began the same way. A conversation, and a couple willing to tell me who they really are.
Some couples want traditional. Others want something that could only be theirs.
Tell me which one you are, and we'll start there.
01
She wanted real flame
Mission Inn
"Everything outside. Ceremony, cocktails, dinner. And real candles, not the fake ones."
What that turned into:
It rained the morning of her wedding at Mission Inn, and the wind never let up. My team lit every candle in that courtyard, then lit them again, and again, through portraits, the room reveal, and guest arrival. She was stepping into her dress when her photo booth company called to say they weren't coming. I had a replacement booked, on site, set up and running before the first guest arrived, for three hundred and fifty dollars less than she'd already agreed to pay.
She got her candles. Every one of them, lit.
02
She wanted Wonderland. He wanted elegant.
Villa Tuscany
"Alice in Wonderland." "Something elegant."
What that turned into:
Two weddings in one room. I kept every element to threes so it never got noisy: three chairs, three napkins, three chargers. He had picked three purples that fought each other, so I replaced them with three that didn't and grounded the whole room in gold. Then I built Wonderland underneath the elegance. Nothing symmetrical. Tea service on every table. The looking glass in the corner with Alice standing under it, so guests knew where they were the moment they walked in. The pouring teapot on their sweetheart table as special feature I made specifically for them.
She gasped. He cried.
03
She wanted White.
Bella Cosa
"White. All of it. And it has to be chiffon."
What that turned into:
She sent me a photograph of the napkins and table runners and asked me to find it. Not something close, that exact chiffon, which almost nobody stocks. I spent weeks tracking it down. Then instruct the Florist that every table, every candle, every flower in that room had to be in white.
What a perfectly "white" day
04
We want two colors
HIghland Manor
"Green and purple. That's all we know."
What that turned into:
It took a lot of conversations to get to the rest. They own the costumes. They go to every Renaissance fair they can reach. His family came from Scotland, and he and his groomsmen would be in kilts. They each had a family crest. So, I built a wedding themed in Renaissance, not a Renaissance fair with a wedding thrown in it. I included eight-foot tall knights, fourteen-foot trees, eight foot trees on the tables and all the greenery as their "green" and their "purple" for the linens. Then I used black glassware, chargers, chairs and flatware to ground it. I included both their crests in the ceremony and again on the cake. I also had a bagpiper walk the groom down the aisle. I also added ten-foot seating chart that told the story of how they met.
The guests couldn't stop remarking how beautiful Renaissance could be.
05
She wanted wings
Garden Villa
"A fairy wedding. Real wings, not a costume."
What that turned into:
They walked out of their day-dream right into their reality, down to the ears some of their guests wore. Her dress and wings were made special just for her. And, her bridal party wore wings too. He wore a kilt. My job was to assist them in bringing their vision together in real time and run the day, so that the two people who had spent a year imagining it got to stand inside of it, instead of managing it.
They got to live in their vision for the whole day
06
She wanted Japan, quietly
Eola View
"A Japanese wedding, but not too Japanese. And lanterns. The lanterns matter most."
What that turned into:
Getting engaged in Japan made this wedding come to life with hints instead of a theme. Trees, an arch, white blossoms instead of cherry pink because she didn't care for pink. He liked blue, so blue ran through the room and into his tux, which met the silver-blue of her gown. The venue's lighting couldn't hold the ceremony, so I had the DJ bring in extra uplights. And the ladder on site wasn't tall enough to hang the lanterns. The electrician who'd come to fix the ceremony lights climbed up and hung them for us.
Everything she asked for was in that room, including the lanterns.
07
She wanted purple.
He wanted teal.
Historic Venue 1902
"Purple and rose gold for her, and teal to match my ascot."
What that turned into:
It was his first wedding and her second, so she stepped back and let him plan most of it. She asked for purple and a little rose gold. I found the one piece that could carry the purple without clashing with the teal and rose gold elements; a velvet sweetheart loveseat, and put it on the stage where he wanted their table. Then, an "emergency call" three days out from their wedding he said: "the Mr. and Mrs. panda cake topper they'd ordered wasn't going to arrive in time". So, I went looking. No pandas anywhere. But, I found sloths instead, so I made a new topper by hand, and gave it to them as a gift, with no obligation to use it.
The loveseat was perfect, and the new cake topper went on the cake.
