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Modern Photo Studio Wedding in Los Angeles, California – Ellen and Terence

October 4, 2011 | editorial team

Modern LA wedding at Helms Daylight Photo Studio, succulent wedding floral decor and designs, wedding photos by Posada Photography

Modern wedding style lovers, this one’s for you! Couple Ellen and Terence chose to host their LA wedding at the Helms Daylight Photo Studio in Culver City, and it’s only fitting – the groom Terence is a talented photographer himself! They had fun using the freedom that this open and airy creative space provided, and incorporated all kinds of personal touches and custom built design elements. Photographer Juan Posada was on hand to document all of the day’s amazing moments, and I love the way he used the photo studio backdrop to capture creative group portraits and photo booth images!

Modern LA wedding at Helms Daylight Photo Studio, succulent wedding floral decor and designs, wedding photos by Posada Photography

From the bride and groom: We found a lot of inspiration for the wedding from the great dining adventures we’ve had together. We wanted the atmosphere to be a little like le Comptoir in Paris, a bit like Beast in Portland, and a lot like hosting friends for dinner in our home: meaning it had to be refined yet rustic and communal yet intimate. Once we settled on our venue, which was essentially a blank canvas, our event planning team went to work in bringing to life our ideas. Michael Kay and Vartan Thekmedyian really took our vision and ran with it so that we didn’t just have literal interpretations of our mood board, but a unique rendering that felt like it was just for us. For instance, Michael’s team custom built the five 32-feet long tables after we showed him a photograph of a salvaged wood table that we loved. Vartan took our request for market lights and instead strung up bare bulbs one at a time, each positioned directly above the head of every-other seated guest and also custom built the chandeliers that were above the dance floor and ceremony area. For party favors, we wanted something practical and usable. We both love to cook with fresh herbs from our garden, so Ellen purchased various herbs, and we packaged them in little tins with jute twine for guests to take home and grow. Instead of using cut flowers, which would die within a few days, we chose succulents for centerpieces, boutonnieres, and as decorations, most of which were snipped from our front yard. We wanted plants that guests could take home and replant in pots. Ellen specifically wanted the plants to be put in vessels of mixed textiles, such as wood, glass, tin, etc., to keep things interesting, so many of the vessels were purchased from thrift stores or flea markets. But the best part was the food. The sweet breads with heirloom tomato bur blanc and beef short ribs with red wine and black figs were such perfect highlights to the meal and really hit the mark in terms of our goal for the dinner service.

Modern LA wedding at Helms Daylight Photo Studio, succulent wedding floral decor and designs, wedding photos by Posada Photography

Modern LA wedding at Helms Daylight Photo Studio, succulent wedding floral decor and designs, wedding photos by Posada Photography

Modern LA wedding at Helms Daylight Photo Studio, succulent wedding floral decor and designs, wedding photos by Posada Photography

The Wedding Team:
Photographer: Juan Posada
Ceremony and Reception Venue: Helms Daylight Studio
Catering and Event Planning: Kitchen 12000
Lighting and Sound: Vartan Thekmedyian
Music: DJ Russian Bear of Scratch Weddings
Floral: Kate Osgood
Graphic Design: Dylan Ho
Wedding Invitations: Aardvark Letterpress
Wedding Dress: Ralph Lauren
Brides Shoes: Ivanka Trump
Brides Veil: Self made with fascinator from Etsy.com
Bridesmaids Dresses: Elie Tahari
Grooms Suit and Tie: Theory
Grooms Shirt: BOSS Black
Grooms Shoes: To Boot New York

Thank you so much Ellen and Terence!

Readers, you can see more of this wedding on the Posada Photography blog!

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Giveaway! 150 Free Save the Dates from Magnet Street Weddings!

October 3, 2011 | editorial team

wedding save the dates by Magnet Street Weddings

Happy Monday everybody, it’s giveaway day! To welcome October in we’re partnering up with wedding invitation experts Magnet Street Weddings to give away a special treat.

Magnet Street Weddings specializes in all kinds of wedding stationery, from invitations and save the dates to other fun extras like magnets, escort cards, table numbers, menus, favor tags, thank you notes and more. We’ve loved working with them as a sponsor of What Junebug Loves for the past few years, and are so excited to announce that we get to award one lucky Junebug reader 150 free wedding save the dates! You can choose any version you like, and customize your colors, photos, fonts and wording to create the design that best represents you. To enter to win, simply visit MagnetStreet.com/Weddings and then leave us a comment here letting us know which designs are your favorites. We’ll accept entries all week long and randomly choose our winner next Monday, October 10th.

Thank you Magnet Street! And good luck everyone!

wedding save the dates by Magnet Street Weddings

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Magical Swan Lake Inspired Wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe – Mireille and Patrick

September 30, 2011 | editorial team

Swan Lake and Out of Africa inspired wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe, ivory, cream, sepia and brown wedding colors and decor, wedding photos by Shanna Jones Photography

In all the years I’ve been photographing and blogging about weddings, I’ve never seen an event quite as unique, spirited and positively magical as this one! Mireille and Patrick’s garden wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe was inspired by their love of vintage glamour, and the African bush, and included so many dramatic surprises I simply can’t imagine how fun it must have been to be in attendance watching their vision come to life! Photographer Shanna Jones beautifully captured all the dramatic visual and emotional details – how lucky we are to get to see them all!

Swan Lake and Out of Africa inspired wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe, ivory, cream, sepia and brown wedding colors and decor, wedding photos by Shanna Jones Photography

The Goals: In order to create an intimate wedding with a feeling of romance all around, Mireille and Patrick chose to hold their wedding in the gardens of their home in Zimbabwe, Africa. To be surrounded by friends and family and to host party that was FUN from beginning to end were the main goals of the day, and a whimsical theme of vintage glamour was chosen to create this one-of-a-kind atmosphere.

Swan Lake and Out of Africa inspired wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe, ivory, cream, sepia and brown wedding colors and decor, wedding photos by Shanna Jones Photography

The Design: Where do we even begin to describe the design of this wedding? Mireille and Patrick’s inspirations were taken from Swan Lake and Out of Africa, which created an incredible mixture of African spirit and ethereal beauty. Wedding colors of sepia, soft browns, creams, ivory and vanilla were chosen because they were the palette of their African surroundings at that time of year and they are also Mireille’s favorite colors. During the spiritual and heartfelt wedding ceremony’s processional, Mireille and her father were preceded down the aisle by two spectacular cheetahs (seriously!) and afterwards the couple was whisked away in a horse drawn carriage.

Decor at the reception was all about drama – an abundance of gauzy white fabric was draped throughout the tenting, lush cream, coral and champagne floral arrangements filled the vintage style table tops, and amazing extras like white swans wandering the premises and delicate wooden fans for the female guests added to the event’s serious wow factor. Not only that, but around every corner were surprises. Mireille arranged for a belly dancer as a surprise for Patrick, and then Mireille’s mother arranged for the band Mango Groove and the South African National Ballet to perform “Swan Lake” as a surprise to both of them. WOW!

The Look: Mireille’s voluminous wedding dress, and her bridesmaid’s full length neutral colored gowns, were designed by Gert Van Der Merwe. Mireille’s dress made her feel like an absolute princess. Who wouldn’t have fallen for that stunning ruffled skirt? Patrick and his groomsmen looked dashing in their sophisticated white dinner jackets and black bow ties. I never get tired of that James Bond-esque look!

Swan Lake and Out of Africa inspired wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe, ivory, cream, sepia and brown wedding colors and decor, wedding photos by Shanna Jones Photography

The Moments: When asked if there were any other “extras” we should know about the wedding, Mireille replied, “I dont think we could do any more – from cheetahs, to white swans, to The Soweto String Quartet, Mango Groove, a belly dancer, The South African National Ballet, DJ Rene and The Wedding DJs and lots of French champagne – we could not have asked for more!!”

The Pros: To learn about all of Mireille and Patrick’s team of talented wedding professionals, be sure to visit the page in our Real Wedding Library!

Swan Lake and Out of Africa inspired wedding in Harare, Zimbabwe, ivory, cream, sepia and brown wedding colors and decor, wedding photos by Shanna Jones Photography

Thank you for sharing your wedding with us Mireille and Patrick! I couldn’t love it more!

Readers, to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists, and to find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

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