My sister’s ceremony was held at the Richmond-upon-Thames registry office. A small room in a historic house, the ceremony had just 40 guests in attendance. The service is very simple, bridesmaids and groomsmen sit with guests. The bride and groom also sit at the registrar’s desk. During the ceremony the license is signed  by the best man and maid of honor. After that, the couple and all the guests stand as the wording before the kiss is said. And afterwards, the couple gets showered with confetti as they leave the office. I love, love this tradition!

Post-ceremony we took portraits, some more traditional, some less so (we had to bring some westside style to this shindig).

Tracy & Mark continued with photos while we headed to the reception. I’m absolutely in love with their wedding portrait by the Thames by Kirsten of Beaux Arts. My mom had brought wellies from the US and they just happened to match her wedding dress perfectly. Mark, of course, wore a traditional morning suit.

My sister, like me, opted to go with a short wedding dress. She paired it with a classic birdcage veil and some Badgley Mischka heels. You can see more of the wedding right here on Snippet & Ink!

More Inspiration:

I can’t believe its been almost a year since my sister Tracy got married… I traveled to England two weeks prior to the big day to help her with all the last minute details and to gather all the decor for the wedding. My sister wanted something that felt appropriate to the reception space and we talked about a color palette of soft blues, bits of lavender, and cream. I threw out the ideal of Toile which is that perfect shade of blue/grey and definitely had that old world elegance. Once we had that piece decided on, I ordered fabric and had my linen vendor make a runner for the head table and napkins for all the guests.

I brought the menus, linens & napkins, and a suitcase full of floral supplies with me (TSA was a big fan I’m sure). Tracy and I bought containers ranging from old tea sets, to old trophies, to vintage biscuit tins from flea markets and antique stores. I sourced flowers from the London Flower Market (I used Alagar, who were easy to work with and delivered the flowers directly to my sister’s house) and I ordered  garden roses from David Austin.

For seating cards, we found a vintage letterpress drawer to tuck the cards into. My mom was kind enough to write them all out, since I elected her as having the prettiest hand writing. The menus are from Wedding Paper Divas. I accented them with Italian paper from Paper Source and a “R” seal for Ryan (the groom’s last name). I got the seal and the wax from Letter Seals. My sister made the majority of the seals which we dubbed “Ryan money” since they looked like copper pennies.

Of course, what would an English wedding be without many proper pints? My dad, up top making friends with the groom’s family, and myself, after finishing setup.

There was much laughter and love that night, the two families with extremely different backgrounds came together and crushed many a pint. Above, my sister with my dad, below Tracy and I with the two bridesmaids, Lisa, my sister’s BF, and our cousin Jocelyn sharing a moment right after toasts.

My sister’s first dance was adorable… She chose “At Last” by Etta James which was fitting. They met in Australia while both were back packing and working… Mark is from England (though ethnically Irish) and she was an American… After much world trotting back and forth and going through the immigration process to get into the UK, it was nice to simply celebrate their new lives together.

I was absolutely in love with the adorable cake my sister designed with Georgina’s Cakes. The bride and groom figurines are sitting on a rucksack with a map and book saying Australia in reference to how they met. It was so much fun to get to spend time hanging out with my sister and her husband and seeing how happy they are. Congrats you too!!!

*And where is ceremony you might ask? It’s up on Snippet & Ink right here. Go look, the bride & groom photos are adorable! And I’m a big, big fan of the UK tradition’s of a confetti toss.

**And a very special thank you to the amazing Kirsten at Beaux Arts Photographie for coming all the way to London to shoot my sister’s wedding!

*** You can see more about my adventures in London right here, here, here and here.

More Inspiration:

For the reception, we used a khaki linen (a nice neutral to pop all the colors off of) and red napkins. I tied red gingham around the napkins and tucked in cornflowers and nigella.

Doesn’t nigella look like fireworks?

For centerpieces I used mini watering cans, quilted mason jars and terra cotta pots. Flowers included dahlias in red, white, and yellow, daisies, yarrow, blue thistle, and cornflower. Alisa’s mom made the quilting squares for the tables which she later turned into a wedding quilt.

For table numbers, I spray painted the terra cotta with chalk board paint and wrote the number in red chalk.

At Alisa’s and Tim’s seats I placed petite blue bottles and tucked in a red lollipop dahlia. I got the bottles from the Pasadena flea, I think they originally held bitters.

A few oversized ballooms marked the sparkler table and kept the little ones entertained.

For dessert, Enjoy Cupcakes came and brought their delicious and adorable treats.

Seriously, the prettiest and tastiest cupcakes know to man.

And of course, it all ended with a heart! Congratulations again to Alisa and Tim!

Special thanks to all the vendors:

Photography: Beaux Arts Photographie by Kirsten Ellis

Venue: McCormick Home Ranch in Camarillo, California

Month-of coordination: Cynthia Beard for Kelly Oshiro Design

Bride’s dress / shoes: Paloma Blanca / Angela Nuran

Bridesmaid dresses: J.Crew

Suit rentals: Friar Tux

Flowers: Kelly Oshiro Design

Officiant: Rabbi Rochelle Robins

Catering: DJ’s California Catering

Cupcakes: Enjoy Cupcakes

DJ: Ian Gotler for Red Shoe LA

Sparklers: Sparkle

More Inspiration:

The wedding was held at McCormick Ranch which is an adorable location with lovely gardens and a pretty white house.

See what, I mean? Adorable.

Ceremony programs were tucked into an old suitcase and filled with lemons (I actually picked them from a friend’s tree because I wanted the leaves on the lemons).

A traditional huppa was carried in for the bride and groom to stand under. I brought in birch poles just because I love their soft, natural look.

I love a traditional Jewish ceremony!

This is the getting ready area of the couple, pretty nice, no?

I love this group photo with the couple’s dog Daphne.

Daphne was the ring bearer and Alisa’s mom made a special pillow for her to wear. Daphne also wore a locket which had pictures of the couple’s two cats.

Next up the reception! Photos by Kirsten Ellis of Beaux Arts Photographie.

More Inspiration:

I had so much fun doing this Americana themed Fourth of July Wedding. I used loads of red gingham ribbon for decor, along with pops of blue, white and yellow. It was such a cheery palette and perfect for a summer wedding.

For Alisa’s bouquet she knew she wanted red, but she also wanted daisys for sure. So I mixed peonies, dahlias, daisys and blue thistle for her all american look. Around the base, I wrapped her grandmother’s locket.

For the bridesmaids bouquets, I used buttons Alisa made from left over fabric from her table linens/quilting squares.

When I met with her she brought a bunch and wasn’t certain how to incorporate them, so I suggested using them on the bouquets/bouts and seating cards.

For the groomsmen I made boutonnieres that were all slightly different from each other. This one is nigella wrapped in burlap with a light blue button. Next up the ceremony and more details… Photos by the darling Kirsten Ellis of Beaux Arts Photographie.

More Inspiration:

The art deco meets Japanse style continued at the Granada reception. Gorgeous structured flowers in 3 different styles decorated the tables.

I love the mix of kiwi branches and copper in these arrangements.

For linens, I had custom copper crush drapes made by Wildflower Linen.Napkins were a deep eggplant color and topped with a menu the bride calligraphed herself.

Also, dark purple callas lilies wrapped with copper were placed at each guest seat.

For candles I mixed blue, green, and purple, votives on each table to bring in more jewel tone touches.

For the setup, I did a u-shape around the dance floor of 20′ long tables.

For music, The Johnny Crawford Band played authentic 30′s big band tunes. I pined a purple orchid to each of their lapels to add a pop of color to their white dinner jackets.

And of course Johnny, wore a top hat while he sang with the band.

All photos by Megan Sorel. Full wedding planning and event design by Kelly Oshiro Design.

More Inspiration:

I planned this real wedding in just 6 short months. The ceremony was held at the bride’s parent’s home in the hills of Montecito. The bride really wanted an art deco meets Japanese floral design (aka ikebana) in lush jewel tones with hints of peacock feathers.Bobbe Viggel created the amazing florals and totally got the look we’re going for.

Copper wire was twisted around yucca branches and formed an organic heart shape. The wire was a nod to the groom’s love of metal working and also added an unexpected texture to the ceremony arch.

The pathway to ceremony…

The bride loved cobalt glass which we used throughout the floral design.

Guests enjoyed cocktail hour and the view up at the house, and then Santa Barbara Trolley took them to the reception at the Granada.

The bride and groom’s arrival at the reception– I love the praise the choose to put on the marquee! Up next, the reception.

All photos by Megan Sorel. Full wedding planning and event design by Kelly Oshiro Design.

More Inspiration: