Romance Meets Urban Loft

Although we did partial planning on this wedding, and not full design, we had fun getting to know Paola and Steve and wanted to share their special day with you all, especially because it was shot by one of our favorite photographers, Jamie Hammond!

Paola's dress was incredible...you just wanted to touch it with all of it's amazing texture. She wanted to add something unique to her dress so she had this custom belt made just for her! It definitely made the dress pop and looked like it was meant to be!

The two married in a traditional Jewish ceremony at at a darling Temple here in San Diego. The temple is nestled amongst cobblestone pathways, colorful historic buildings and beautiful parks. It was definitely the perfect backdrop for this gorgeous couple :)

Paola is a graphic designer by trade and created all of the beautiful paper elements of the wedding. From these whimsical programs to the guest book and the table names, Paola designed them all, tying everything together perfectly!

The reception took place at Botanica, who also happened to do all of the amazing florals for the wedding as well. The couple wanted a european nightclub feel to the evening, and Botanica was the perfect fit!

Each table was named after their favorite flowers - Daisy for this lucky bunch. The beautiful arrangements of roses, lisianthus, succulents and hydrangea ran the length of the tables along with bottles of wine. Hundreds of candles floated above the guests in existing chandeliers, creating an intimate glow.

Botanica allowed us to play with all of their pre-existing structures and decor elements to add visual interest throughout the room. We fell in love with the hanging candle spheres, oversized moss balls and even this mounted bull.

Paola is Brazilian and her family all flew in from Brazil and got straight to work! Her mother made the amazing cake that was absolutely delicious, and her sister also helped to make homemade Brazilian sweets and candies for the guests to take home as favors. Paola also had this custom cake topper made of her, Steve and their adorable cat :)

The couple had a photobooth on site so guests could take their pictures and leave a fun message for the guest book!

Everyone had such a great time dancing the night away! They got to party all night long and really celebrate their day!

I love this picture of Paola and Steve getting a quiet moment together in the midst of all the festivities!

We had so much fun putting together all of the details that Paola and Steve had worked so hard on for so long :) It was such a fun night and all of the guests had a great time! Best of luck to you, Paola and Steve! We wish you guys a lifetime of love and happiness!!

Toby + Amy: Whooo Knew, Part 2

....The Reception

To incorporate the owl concept we played with the paper elements. Homemade lollipops by the bride's mom were tied with customized tags that read "Owl love you forever" by Courtney Scowby Designs.

one sat at each place setting.

I loved how fun Amy's accessories were. They brought a bright pop of color and her shoes...ahh..the shoes!

The lush and fabulous centerpieces made by Whimsy Florals were made up of celosia, roses, tulips, billy balls, mini calla lillies and kangaroo paw. They were wrapped in a light wood veneer that gave them a unique and upadated rustic look. By alternating these arrangements with the bricks of yellow mums that ceramic owls sat on we gave the event a little more interest. I am always a fan of mixing it up and making the tables a little different.

Okay...the CAKE. Remember, how I mentioned in the last post that one difficult thing kept happening ater the next this week? In all my years of planning...this is the 1st cake that I have almost lost. When the cake arrived, darling and nearly collapsed...we all moved quickly. Toby escorted Amy away, distracting her from all the happenings. 4 of us grabbed spatulas and lifted off the top 2 remaining tiers that were ready to slide off all together. We luckily had brought the spare cake stand and carefully positioned it on the pedastal. It was still in need of some TLC...and though I can't say enough good things about the Whimsy Floral team...I'm going to try to. They happened to have someone on their team that also had worked in a bakery shop. When there wasn't frosting....she actually went in the back and whipped some up and then re-piped the bottom tiers of the cake. AMAZING!! Talk about things coming together. It was a great team effort all-around.

This is really when your vendors are invaluable. There is always going to be hiccups at nearly every event...not always speedbumps like some of the ones we encountered this time around. However, some of the best teams of vendors should be able to take care of things without the guests so much as knowing about it. Big Sigh....I think the cake turned out Beautiful, as if it was meant to be that way all along.

I loved the girls in their yellow J.Crew dresses.

We hung lanterns and flower balls to add dimension and create more ambiance in the space.

Tea Towels that I found at Anthropologie added decor to the Cake Table and served as part of my gift to Amy and Toby

As a last minute idea I had, and by last minute, I mean two days prior ..... we had one of Amy's talented Bridesmaids create branches on two large canvases to mimick the branches on the tea towels I had gave her. We then placed these at the sign-in table and gave guests paint pens to sign their wishes to the couple. I loved how it turned out!

The end result was so fun and a work of art that they are able to hang in their home.

For the grand exit we filled a trunk of white feathers and handed them out to guests to toss at the couple as they left. It was a soft farewell and I loved the effect of the floating feathers.

Toby and Amy I wish you all the best that life can give you.

Many, many thanks to Jason McGrew Photography for these splendid images and for being so great to work with. For more of his work..be sure to head over to his blog.