Notes From: Wedding No. 1

And what a wedding it was! These two love birds are the kindest and most humble couple you'll meet, completely unaware of the amount of talent they both possess. A Jack House wedding fit for a photo shoot, it was homespun and refined, a 1920's picnic-meets-modern fete with details like a croquet set, handmade flags, handpainted tapestries and a hand-built wooden pallet bar holding tart margaritas and jars of sweet tea. Congrats to the now proper Vita Navarro-Boyes (pictured with her dad) on the nuptials of her parents!

Swell Sip: Boyes-enberry Bliss

I concocted this sparkly and sweet SWELL SIP in honor of one of my favorite duos, Justin and Monica, or as we will soon know them: Mr. and Mrs. Boyes. Simple pour a glass of sparkling white wine or your favorite bubbly, add a bit of muddled boysenberries, a splash of blackberry liqueur, top with a fun straw and serve. Cheers to many years of good fortune and good fun! See you Monday, my dears. 

5. Dolce & Gabbana Check Shirt  6. J. Crew Men's Socks 7. Allsaints Spitalfields Fuse Bowtie 8. Iacoli & McAllister Necklace No. 3 9. Dieppa Restrepo Shoes 10. Day Birger et Mikkelsen Dress

Monkey Style: Obus

Now if your post-wedding destination is a bit more tropical and you're in need of vibrant and travel-appropriate threads, may I recommend finding inspiration from Obus? A Melbourne-based company, they globally source fabrics and textiles to locally create pieces that are made with the chic eco-explorer in mind. They had me at the Frida braids this season, but I'm pretty keen on the cheeky patterns, comfortable cuts, and darling details, too.

Space Monkey: Leti 360°

Now if I could offer advice to the aforementioned soon-to-be-blissfully-wedded friends of mine, I would recommend that they skip thinking of the honeymoon as a one time occasion and start planning for manymoons. Celebrate each year you survived this funny tradition (marvelous though it can be), I say! First stop with Mr. Ian would be (pocketbook aside) Leti 360°, an eco-friendly hermitage in the Himalayas, complete with stone walls, evening dinner by candlelight, and only the sound of the sweet little birds in the air. Though a grueling seven hour trek through the mountains from Dehli, isn't it worth it to spend time with your better half enjoying the epic views and the bucolic surroundings?

Reading List: Handmade

Eagerly awaiting the thoughtful and interesting picnic-inspired wedding of our dear friends Monica and Justin, I've been perusing the pages of books on all things handmade. Isn't everything sweeter with a dose of DIY put in?

Black & White

Only 18 and such a talent. Marvelous things to come. . .

Thank you photographer brother!

You can see more of his work and watch his lens capture

the light at A Camera and His Boy.

The Wedding

After many days of baking, folding, stamping, and painting, we had our wedding. . . and it was wonderful! We learned much about having a thoughtful and unique celebration on a shoestring and I can't wait to share some tips. . .

From top:

Hahn Park, chalkboard "guest book", hanging votives, champagne flutes with name tags, Oregon Chai Cookies (from Ian's home state) and New Mexico Piñon Coffee (from my home state), Mexican Chocolate and Applesauce Spice cupcakes, luminarias, tissue pom poms, wedding pumpkin, the newlyweds

Back soon...

I was hoping to blog this week, but alas, between baking pumpkin brown butter

cupcakes, folding tissue pom poms and painting our dining room gray,

there is no time. . . .I'll see you in a few days!

Cheers,

Eva

Orangespiration

When the anti-wedding me decided to get married, I wanted it to be a festive cocktail party with autumn colors and a twist of yellow. After all, Halloween and October are my favorite! Call me crazy to take inspiration from All Hallows' Eve, but there is something about the day, sans the silly ghouls and spiders, that makes me happy. I suspect it's the lovely glow of pumpkins or the smell of apple cider...

Luckily, the groom is all for it.

Love in the Air

Even a small wedding takes a lot of planning! I will be back to writing tomorrow and if I don't see you, have a grand October weekend! This is the time when I wish Los Angeles had more seasons.

*Photo from KnitStorm

Wait, me?

The one who just posts before said she couldn't understand it? Well, we're doing it. Getting married.

On a shoestring. With a giant bucket of love. Bliss!

Girl Interrupted

It is safe to say that there are girls out there who fill with bliss and delight when they think about their wedding (whether planned or unplanned). The tulle! The colors! The first dance to. . . Etta James! Well, pardon me while I hide under this cookbook, but the idea of a traditional wedding just isn't my cup of anything. Nothing against Etta, of course, but an affair where family comes out to swallow my hard-earned money with one gulp of champagne followed by the chicken dance makes me cringe. And this is coming from a usually happy hostess who loves soirees AND shindigs.

I think this genetic wedding chip I'm missing perhaps got lost after the first five I went to. Somewhere in the melee of number cinco I think I realized that many weddings turn out well...the same: mediocre food, terrible music, and usually a few ill-fitting suits next to equally awful bridesmaid dresses. Whose idea was this? And why did the couple and their story get lost in the mix? And so, I became resolved to not think about my own wedding except for the moments when it fell into the possibly-maybe-if-I-have-to-let's-go-to-the-courthouse-followed-by-wine category. Until today. Gasp!

Today, I came across Once Wed, Emily Newman's solution for the clever, resourceful or unusual bride. What began as a site to sell her wedding dress is now a wonderful collection of imagination and ideas for how to have a perfect célébration de l'amour . Not a cookie cutter wedding, but the perfect wedding for you, oh rebellious one.

Take Paige and Kevin. These two didn't bow to At Last to celebrate their love. Nope, they took their "first dance" to a big field (with sweet moves, I might add). And on the big day? Organic foods and wine, a borrowed and beautiful dress, flowers that could be replanted and three of the best guests they could find--their lovely kids (who I'm sure didn't gulp down champagne)-- all under the eucalyptus and lantern canopy of their backyard. And the most brilliant part? They took their own talents and put them to work. Paige, "ambassador of fun", blogger and owner of Los Angeles' own Bash Eco Events, used her earth-friendly genius to design the invitations and decorations while her husband Kevin, artist and handyman extraordinaire, painted and hammered the rest. Together they planned a menu and even squeezed 10 lbs of lemons for their cocktails! So much for Jordan almonds and pink chiffon. These two are heroes.

While it still may be a few years (hello grad school!) before I take my own feet down any aisle, I won't hesitate to peruse the lovely sites of Emily, Paige and others in search of au courant and do-it-yourself wedding inspiration. Whether you're looking for modern or vintage or even circus-themed (in an uncheesy way!), you will find good ideas that will make your guests and your love happy. Even if you're the most reluctant bride.

I'm still not certain that my wedding chip is back, but I am starting to think it will find its way. . .

*photos from Found Photos and Charley Star