Cari and Stephen live in Chicago, but they planned a destination wedding in Southern California to give their friends and family a taste of the Pacific Coast. Their wedding was held at the Montage – Laguna Beach, a stunning oceanfront resort and spa (and one of our new Southern California member businesses)! The grounds at Montage are beautiful all on their own so Cari and Stephen chose a spring color palette of celery green and aqua blue to compliment the season and the ocean view. Wedding coordinator Jeannie Savage and her team at Details Details Wedding and Event Planning made the event look straight out of a storybook, and photographer extraordinaire Ira Lippke captured every delightful moment.
The ceremony lawn was decorated with flowering trees and the color palette was brought in with blue and green pashminas hanging on the backs of the chairs and flowing fabric on the huppah. The ceremony itself was what Cari calls “modern Jewish” incorporating traditional elements with personal extras that felt a bit more contemporary, like vows they wrote themselves and spoke to each other for the first time during the ceremony.
A cocktail hour followed the ceremony, and Cari’s mom had arranged for an image of Cari’s beloved dog Linus (who couldn’t make the cross country trip!) to be carved into an ice sculpture as a fun surprise. How cute! After cocktails everyone moved inside to the ballroom which had also been decorated with blossoming trees, and lush flower arrangements from Fiori Fresco Special Events. Creative blue and green lighting lit up the room and pewter accents on the tabletops, menus and place cards added an elegant touch. The band, West Coast Music, got everybody in the celebratory spirit which the happy couple was thrilled about. “They were better than any wedding band I could ever imagine!” Since this was a weekend long destination wedding, Cari and Stephen had already greeted most of their guests as they arrived the night before, so at their reception they weren’t worried about missing anyone. Instead they were able to relax, eat, dance and enjoy every minute of the party!
Thank you Cari and Stephen for sharing your wedding with us! Be sure to check out our Real Weddings section to learn about all the vendors who helped create this dream event!
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