a fiesta engagement session - orange county

this post is actually an engagement session i styled and designed for two of my dearest and most loyal friends, krystal and harris...i CANNOT wait for their wedding in 3 1/2 weeks but for now, here is a fun little fiesta themed e-sesh, shot by the lovely sarah yates!

krystal is half mexican so we went with a fun little setup of papel picado, cacti, succulents, tissue flowers, "el pato" tin cans, "jarritos" sodas and a pinata...

this next little vignette was a tribute to their professions...they both work for an architecture firm in orange county and their personal aesthetics are modern and masculine...so we wanted to bring in a bit of a clean, architectural feel while sticking to the fiesta vibe...thus, the glass orbs from cb2 filled with dried pinto beans and succulents! we hung them off a tree branch, creating a "wall" of orbs...such a cool statement piece!

this is my FAVORITE shot of the day - just so dang cute :)

then sarah took them out into the golden fields for some sunset shots...the light was so beautiful!

congrats to K+H!!! your wedding is gonna be out of control "sustainable swank" and i can't wait to see it come together - love you both...mwah! :)

kerri and geoff - shade hotel, manhattan beach

style file: sleek, modern, glamorous

color scheme: loads of white with hints of gray, lime green and fuschia

design elements: mirrored tables, white candlesticks, ruffly peonies, acrylic podiums, floating chuppah with orchid "poles", modern white ceramic vases, lounge furniture

venue: shade hotel, manhattan beach

photography: brandon at couture foto

desserts: sweet and saucy shop

lounge furniture and lighting: level 4 international

band: west coast music

photo booth: photo booth love

for the ceremony, we created a "floating chuppah" and in lieu of traditional poles we strung green cymbidium orchids onto fishing line to give the illusion of poles...it was airy and fresh and a cool take on a traditional canopy...

we flanked each side of the chuppah with 2 tall sand blasted manzanita trees, accented with green orchids and set in white bases which were then filled with curled green ti leaves, lime green hydrangea and fuschia peonies...

glass vases filled with white rocks, sand blasted manzanita and green orchids made for a simple aisle treatment...

the bridesmaids carried petite bouquets of fuschia peonies...

the father of the bride was hilarious and had everyone laughing as he walked his daughter down the aisle...

how stunning was the back of the bride's jenny packham gown?!?! it was so sexy, so chic and just fit the vibe of the hotel so perfectly!

kerri's bouquet was made entirely of ruffly, vanilla colored peonies...

mirrored cocktail tables were given a kick of color by a single fuschia peony in a small white bud vase...

sleek white vases were filled with themed colored florals and clear glass votive candles were set on white candlesticks for a touch of glamour...

we brought in tons of white lounge furniture for guests to sit on, in addition to seated tables draped in custom white dupioni silk linens...

melody knocked it out of the park with her yummy desserts!! guests couldn't stop talking about the display we created...

instead of a table, we brought in 2 acrylic podiums and a glass top and created our own unique dessert display...our tall white candlesticks with florals on top coordinated perfectly with melody's white footed dessert stands...

i also used a clear acrylic cake base, filled with white rocks, fuschia peonies, green orchids and pieces of sand blasted manzanita...

a sweet moment during the reception...

it was a fabulous party!!

a special thanks to jen from green wedding shoes for featuring this wedding last week! to see the full feature, click here...