WEDDING BLOG

Gorgeous Coastal California Wedding from Mike Larson – Tatum and Dane

January 30, 2013 | editorial team

Mike Larson has a dream job…not only does he photograph beautiful weddings, but he specializes in weddings held at spectacular private estates and vineyards. Mike particularly loves these historic venues filled with character, history, and rustic elegance. I suspect it might also have to do with that glowing light (it always seems golden in his images)! Tatum and Dane’s wedding is the perfect example of a Mike Larson wedding, and I’m thrilled to share it with you today!

The Couple: Tatum & Dane

The Wedding: 10.13.12 – Montecito Country Club – Montecito, CA

What three adjectives best describe your wedding? Cape Cod, comfort, beauty

What was your wedding color palette? Navy, charcoal, and neutrals.

What inspired your personal wedding style, and how did you incorporate your style and personalities into your big day? My (now) husband and I both have a very classically understated cape cod style. We love blues, neutrals, and clean colors. It was important to us that our wedding reflected our personality as a unit. We love the ocean and we wanted to stick to colors a decor that made us feel comfortable and at home. It was kind of like how we imagined designing our dream living room. With that, we chose lots of woods, dark navy’s, greys, and beautiful creams. The subtle hint to our cape cod taste was seamlessly carried out by our vendors.

Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? The best decision I made while planning our wedding was to really remind others (and myself at times) that we were getting married to be married. We were excited about the marriage, about the thirty years down the road, experiencing life together, serving people together, and having each other’s backs, forever. The wedding was a celebration of that commitment, and nothing more. That reality-check for me was huge because it made the wedding what it was supposed to be. This concept may sound boring or unglamorous, but the focus we had on making it about our loved ones, preparing for our life together, and loving others made it the most beautiful wedding we could have ever dreamed of.

The best memory I have of the wedding was looking at my husband while we said our vows to one another. It felt like time froze and there was a feeling of love from our supporters. It definitely felt like a holy moment.

What piece of advice would you give to a bride planning her wedding today? My biggest piece of advice is going to relate to your wedding theme or style, because that was in my opinion the most fun part of wedding planning. Im a strong believer that your wedding should reflect how you love to dress and how you love (or would love) to decorate your home. Whether this means feminine and lacy, or modern with straight lines – choose whatever kind of style really speaks to your heart and avoid getting sucked into other wedding trends. Once you decide on a style, stick to it because the end results will truly blow you away. This for me, was one of the reasons why the aesthetic beauty of our wedding was so rewarding to us.

The Wedding Team:

Photographer: Mike Larson
Event Planner: Amber Weir
Ceremony & Reception Venue: Montecito Country Club
Officiant: Paolo Cembraon, Reality Church
Invitation Designer: Bella Figura
Florist/Rentals: A Beautiful Day Productions
Cake: Janas Creative Cakes
Wedding Dress: Lazaro
Bridesmaids Apparel & Accessories: J.Crew
Hair & Make-up: Emily Majzoub
DJ: Scott Topper Productions
Lighting: Ideal Lighting and Sound
Rings: Van Gundy

Thank you, Tatum and Dane, for letting us experience the beauty of such a personalized wedding!

Wedding Dresses and Evening Gowns by Rachel Gilbert

January 29, 2013 | editorial team

To brighten your day with a bit of sparkling fashion eye candy, I thought I’d share some amazing wedding dresses from Australian designer Rachel Gilbert. I adore the details and embellishments that she lavishes on her designs, and how her evening gowns are so glamorous and feminine they could easily double as wedding dresses. Check out a few of my favorites below, and keep your eyes peeled for her dresses on Net-a-Porter.com and BHLDN.com!

Love wedding fashion as much as we do? Jump over to our Fashion Report section to see more!

Breckenridge Colorado Wedding at Ten Mile Station by Kira Horvath Photography – Leslie and Andrew

January 29, 2013 | editorial team

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Leslie and Andrew chose a stunningly beautiful spot to celebrate their new life together, but they didn’t choose it just because it had breathtaking views. Or brilliant fall foliage. Or awesome wildlife. But they chose it because Ten Mile Station in Breckenridge, Colorado is deeply meaningful to their relationship…the best reason of all! Kira Horvath shared her gorgeous images of the day that captured it all!

The Couple: Leslie and Andrew

The Wedding: 9.08.12 – Ten Mile Station – Breckenridge, CO

From bride Leslie: We wanted to show our guests the beauty and majesty of Colorados Mountains that cannot be found anywhere else in America. For that reason, we decided that our ceremony and reception would be hosted at Ten Mile Station, located mid-mountain on Peak 9 in Breckenridge, Colorado. We held our wedding in a location that had a significant meaning to us – Andrew and I both moved to Colorado because of the mountains and all that they offer. To us, Ten Mile Station represents fun, beauty, great skiing memories, and it’s turned out to be a wonderful piece of our relationship-turned-love story.

Our ceremony was held in an opening among the tall pines and aspen trees overlooking the Ten Mile Mountain Range and the quaint mountain town of Breckenridge. It was the kind of slightly overcast day where the sky radiates light evenly, and the sun infuses the clouds rather then being shrouded by them. A wonderful woman, Christine Turner, officiated the ceremony with ease and composure, and with just the perfect balance of humor and love.

Andrew and I put so much time and effort into the little details of our wedding because we had a specific vision and feeling we were hoping to achieve for ourselves and our guests. “Rustic-Mountain-Fall-Chic” – that’s what we called it. We wanted everyone to see the beauty of the mountains and the grandness of Ten Mile Station, so we wanted to make sure that all decorations, flowers and details didn’t overshadow these things – we wanted them only to enhance. We also wanted everything that day to represent us, what we love and our relationship. Instead of having people sign a guest book, we had them sign one of Andrew’s old snowboards that he refinished. It now hangs on our wall for us to enjoy and re-read all the comments, quotes, and and a few cute drawings. Sticking with the personal touches, we wanted pie instead of cake. Neither of us are huge cake people and since we both love pie – and it’s very fall – we decided on five different flavors, including Andrew’s grandma’s homemade chocolate pie recipe. Our signature cocktail was Hot Spiked Caramel Apple Cider – again, very fall, and something we like to enjoy.

We also wanted our tables to look rustic, organic and western, with a touch of ski-flare. After all, we were on one of the most popular ski mountains in the country! So our table names were our favorite ski runs at Breck. Our seating cards were wooden gondolas that people kept as Christmas ornaments, and we made “placemats” to be a fun pop of color under each plate. We didn’t want the typical, very formal look of table and chair linens, so we asked that the venue leave them off and display the amazing rustic wooden tables and chairs that looked like cross sections of trees with the bark still intact.

We were so excited all day long, and completely loved every moment – from hair and makeup, to football in the streets of Breck, to having all my bridesmaids and mom help me get into my dress. I honestly do remember our whole ceremony – I remember our first kiss as husband and wife, I remember the funny moments while taking pictures, and how we couldn’t figure out how to bustle my dress. It was a wonderful day, and I would go back and relive it over and over if I could.