Brigette + Alex by Cait Photo

We decided to lean into the vintage, mid-century tropical vibes for our décor.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

Brigette: We live in Playa Del Rey, California, with our wonderful dog Heidi, who is a bundle of energy and demands a lot of our attention and time. Alex is a full-time musician and plays bass guitar in the band Third Eye Blind. He loves hockey (a lifelong LA Kings fan), nature, and coffee. I work in the medical field, but I’m an artist at heart, coming from a family of musicians and creators. I dance ballet and paint as my hobbies.

We both love music so much, and it is initially what brought us together-even though we often have different tastes! One of our goals is to make music with each other because we both play instruments, and I am learning to sing.

We love walking down to our local beach with our dog and exploring Los Angeles, which truly has infinite things to offer. We enjoy good food and travelling to try out new restaurants- especially if sushi is involved. Though we may seem adventurous from the description, we often prefer a cozy night in with our dog, watching Forensic Files or repeats of some of our other favourite comfort shows.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

Brigette: In 2017, I received an email that Third Eye Blind was playing a charity benefit show at my favourite tiny venue in Hermosa Beach, St. Rocke. I couldn’t believe that they were playing such a small venue so close by; getting tickets was a no-brainer. When the show started, I saw Alex on stage, and it was love at first sight. I initially thought he was so handsome and cool, but when we met after the show, I realised that he was also sweet, smart, and kind. It seems silly, but I knew in my heart that we would get married the night we met- even if our path to getting there wasn’t linear.

Alex: After the show, at the bar across the street, I saw Brigette and approached her – we had an instant connection. I thought she was fun, energetic, and so beautiful, and I knew that I wanted to get to know her. Life took us in different directions at first, and we lived in different cities, but when I moved to LA in 2020, we reconnected and have been together ever since.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

Brigette: We toured venues across SoCal for months, and nothing felt quite right until we landed on Valentine. A tropical greenhouse oasis in the heart of Downtown LA, it was unexpected and full of character.

We decided to lean into the vintage, mid-century tropical vibes for our décor. While the venue was gorgeous on its own and needed little enhancement, we chose a tropical flower theme to complement the space. Our florist, Kate, was excited to do a bright, colourful wedding, and her excitement was evident in the way that the flowers turned out. I loved them so much that I asked our photographer, Cait, to spend extra time immortalising them.

The venue has a large projector in the dining area, which provided us with a significant challenge- what image or video to project on the wall behind us for the entire evening?

After deciding against a slideshow or movie vignette of ourselves, we landed on projecting the movie “The Endless Summer” (1966), because it fit our tropical, mid-century aesthetic. However, we didn’t want awkward clips to show up in the photos, so I decided to create my own edit of the movie. I had never edited videos before, but I was determined to select only the most aesthetically appealing clips from the film so that every photo with the projection in the background would look nice. After hours of labour, I created a 12-minute montage with beautiful clips from the film that looped throughout the night. Guests absolutely loved it, and every single photo had a beautiful frame of the film in the background.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

Brigette: One of my favourite parts of the process was sitting at home listening to music with my husband and curating a vibe for all of our playlists. We kept it 100% oldies and mostly 60s/70s vibes. We had so much fun listening to and picking apart each song to see if it made the cut, and we were ruthless with our choices. The end result was a blend of music that we both loved and that represented our love.

My number one tip for any couple planning a wedding of any size would be to get a wedding planner, or at the very least a day-of coordinator. Taylor, at Level Events, was fantastic and made me feel so secure throughout the planning process. With her handling many of the boring administrative things during planning, I was free to focus on the ”fun stuff” and not have to worry about giving the caterer the proper venue arrival info or making sure the coffee vendor had enough space to set up. She was so organised, and her team even provided a bridal assistant for me for the entire day. I was told by everyone not to expect perfection and that things may go wrong or be out of our control, but I can proudly say that the day went by absolutely perfectly without a hitch. I attribute much of that to Taylor and her team at Level Events!

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

Brigette: We feel so fortunate to have loved every single one of our vendors and would honestly hire them all again if we could do it all over.

Our favourite standout vendor was Kelly Maryanski, the fashion illustrator. This was a special feature that I really wanted for my guests since the beginning of planning, and I honestly think she was the highlight of the night. She takes a quick picture of the guests and then gets to work creating a custom illustration in a high-fashion style. I had the choice between having her do live watercolour painting or digital illustration, and though it was tempting to offer live watercolour, I ultimately decided that the digital illustration would be the best option because I wanted to keep all of the files of the drawings. I also thought that a physical watercolour could get lost among the dancing and drinking and be a burden to carry throughout the night. With all the digital files, I had a coffee table book made of all the illustrations, which we cherish.

Multiple guests from our wedding reached out to Kelly for more custom portraits. It was awesome supporting an artist and I can’t wait to have another event where I can hire her again.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

Brigette: I always had an idea of what I wanted for a wedding dress: long sleeves, an open back, and a high neck. That particular combination is difficult to find, and when I saw my dress online from an older collection, I knew it was perfect for me. I called Pronovias to see if they could have it made, and they said it may not be possible, but to schedule a fitting to see if there were other gowns I might like.

On the day of my fitting, they called me and told me that they could indeed special order the dress for me. They had me try on a similar look to get sizing, and I ordered the dress without ever actually trying it on. When it came, it barely needed alteration- it fit like a glove. My husband was absolutely in love when he saw it for the first time at first glance- he had never even seen a picture of it. Though we tried to keep the overall event theme mid-century, my dress was decidedly Old-Hollywood, which was a nod to the storied history of the venue, which was built in the 1920s.

Alex kept it simple and sleek with a traditional black tux, and all his groomsmen wore the same suit.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Brigette: When it came to our wedding jewellery, we got incredibly lucky because Alex’s bandmate’s wife and our close friend, Jaime Hargreaves, is a fine jewellery designer. She actually gave him the nudge that he needed to start working on a ring, and we credit her with getting the ball rolling on our engagement – Thanks, Jaime!

Alex proposed while we were out sailing on my brother’s boat, and I was completely caught off guard. I genuinely believed that our engagement was at least a year away, and I was so pleasantly surprised. He proposed with an oval diamond with a simple band and a hidden halo, and to this day, I look at my ring with the same amount of joy that I did on the day that we got engaged.

Alex: Jaime (Forever Fine Jewelry) told me to stop dragging my feet on proposing, and offered to help me with the ring. I gave her an idea of what Brigette was looking for, and she came back to me with 3 or 4 different diamond shapes. Jaime insisted on adding a hidden halo to the design, which Brigette ended up loving.

Brigette: For our wedding bands, we wanted mostly simple. Alex got a clean white gold band, and I got a thin white gold band with diamonds around it. I love my engagement ring so much that I didn’t want the band to steal any of its thunder, so the band is lovely but subtle.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

Brigette: From the beginning of wedding planning, Alex’s number one request was that he wanted a specialty coffee vendor to cap off the night. Alex is a coffee enthusiast, and a large portion of our wedding registry included specialty coffee gear (espresso machine, grinder, scale, etc.). We landed on Cappuccino Man, a specialty event coffee vendor with an espresso bar. We worked with them to source the beans from our favourite local roastery in LA, Alana’s Coffee. As a finishing touch, they created a custom coffee stencil of our dog, Heidi. Our guests loved the added detail, especially because she couldn’t celebrate with us on that day.

Another aspect that we did not want to cut corners on was our wedding weekend hotel. We actually toured hotels in DTLA, similarly to how we toured venues. When we saw Soho House and how well it aligned with our vision of our weekend, we decided to get the best room that they had. The getting-ready vibes were great, and it felt so luxurious and spacious. Cait, our photographer, was able to capture so many special moments and details from the hotel. We are already planning our next staycation there!

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

Brigette: My favourite moment, by far, was walking down the aisle. The energy was so high at the venue that instead of the normal silence for the bridal procession, the guests cheered. I was completely caught by surprise- but overjoyed, it was truly one of the happiest moments of my life. I also think that our song choice, “There She Goes” by The La’s, contributed to the energy and created an upbeat and fun vibe instead of a quiet and romantic one. One of my favourite songs of all time!

Alex: I remember how happy I was when she walked down the aisle. We played “There She Goes” on guitar together the night that we met. Brigette didn’t tell me the song that she chose to walk down the aisle to, and I was very surprised when it came on-I had to fight back tears.

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

Brigette: Being married brings the feeling of being at peace, knowing that I am with my forever partner and that he will always be by my side through thick and thin.

Alex: For me, it means that we have shared goals and that we are building a life together as a team.