Our vision for our wedding was for it to feel relaxing, authentic, intimate and fun.
Arlie —— Although we now live in Hermosa Beach, California, we’re both originally from the East Coast. I work in sales and Mike owns several businesses, including a real estate team. Although my family lives 30 minutes from where Mike grew up, our paths only crossed in Hermosa Beach, when we were randomly teamed up for a game of volleyball at a friend’s party. At the time, Mike was seeing someone, so neither of us thought too much of the meeting. We reconnected eight months later, after Mike’s relationship ended.
We’d planned a trip to Europe and originally Mike intended to propose in Amsterdam. But after a few romantic days spent wandering rainy Parisian streets lit up by Christmas lights, he changed his mind and proposed next to the Seine with his grandmother’s ring. We called his grandma, who used to live in Paris, and discovered that she’d been married in a church a few blocks away from where Mike proposed.
Our vision for our wedding was for it to feel relaxing, authentic, intimate and fun. We wanted to showcase the beauty of Provence and provide a unique, vacation-worthy experience for our guests. We embraced the European way of doing things: rather than rushing through events, we had a two-hour cocktail party, a long dinner, croquembouche cake and danced until 3:30am.
I was going for romantic, moody and vintage. I wanted our tables to resemble those of a cosy dinner party, with deep magenta ikebana-style floral arrangements, fresh fruit scattered along the table and candlelight. Our venue had a special 600+ year old oak tree behind the dinner reception table that was dripping in twinkly lights. The day after, we rented boats and spent the day out on the Lac de Sainte-Croix. Our vision for the day was ‘National Geographic meets Yacht Week’.
Our big wedding splurge was having saxophonist Dima Sax perform alongside the DJ during our cocktail party, dinner entrance, and start of the reception. He plays beach clubs in St. Tropez and added an incredible vibe to the party. It was the most talked-about part of the wedding. Finding my Tulip gown from Honor NYC was quite the journey.
I tried on so many dresses before finding it! I loved the off-white taffeta fabric and built-in, vintage-looking corset with offset hips and the big ruffles at the bottom. It made me feel classic, feminine and sexy. I had it altered slightly, taking it in a bit more at the hips to show the corset boning in the drop waist more.
One of my favourite parts of my outfit was my scarf, which I designed using the most exquisite lightweight charmeuse silk sourced from LA’s fashion district. I’d been looking for a scarf everywhere and couldn’t find what I wanted so I made it. I’ve since had the opportunity to make a couple of scarves for other brides which has been incredibly fulfilling.
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY Bubblerock, @bubblerock SECOND SHOOTER Tim Mirabaud, @timotheemirabaud VENUE Monastère de Ségriès, @monastere_de_segries DRESS Honor, @honornyc MAKEUP Ekaterina Mignery, @ekaterinamignery.bridal COCKTAILS Monsieur Cocktail, @monsieur_cocktail RECORDS BAR 33 Tours Dj, @33tours.dj FLORALS Elles Flowers Designer, @elles_floraldesigner SAXOPHONIST Dima Saxo, @dimasaxo
