We both absolutely wanted a spring wedding.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
I am a licensed attorney, I formerly practiced medical malpractice defense law, however I am now focusing on raising our 8-month old twins – Florence and Gordy. They were born 10 weeks early so they were actually almost 5 months old on our first wedding anniversary which was pretty mind-blowing and special. After the twins were born, we moved back home to Montecito to be close to our families and it was the best decision we could have made for our little family. We love being back home in Santa Barbara so much and feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. We both enjoy spending time outdoors, gardening and spending time with family and friends. Christian loves to surf, fish and hunt. He has a few old trucks and enjoys off roading and working on his vehicles. I am a member of the Garden Club. We live about a five minute walk from the beach so we frequently walk the babies by the beach or walk to breakfast on the weekends. Christian is in real estate investment, development and construction.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
We both grew up in Montecito and have known each other for many years. Our parents houses are about a two minute drive from one another. Christian and my brother grew up together playing sports and were actually close friends and attended middle school, high school and college together. We had not seen each other in about 5 years and were both living back in Santa Barbara temporarily during transition periods in our lives. We had a chance encounter and made a plan to hangout. That day, we ended up spending almost 12 hours together and have been together ever since. I was drawn to Christian’s confidence, adventurousness. He was always doing something interesting. I call him my desert-island husband because he is 10000% the person you would always choose if you could only pick one person to be stuck on a desert island with. He is passionate and the most naturally energetic person I know. I always loved the way I felt around Christian – a real natural magnetic energy and chemistry. He has the biggest, softest heart under his tough exterior. Christian of Maiya: There was always something special about Maiya to me and felt like we had a special connection from the beginning. Often thought about Maiya throughout the years even when I thought I didn’t have a chance.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).
Color palettes: greens, rose pink, baby blue, lilac, some small pops of orange such as in mallard feet and monarch butterfly. Inspired by nature – the dutch masters, vines, florals insects, birds as well as Old European regality mixed with California cool. We both absolutely wanted a spring wedding. It is both of our favorite season and we didn’t consider having our wedding at any other time of year because we wanted to embrace the blooms of the season and celebrate outdoors. Other inspirations were the Secret garden, Bridgerton and Alice in wonderland – my childhood favorite book and movie. The feel of the event was a whimsical black-tie garden party. We wanted to incorporate the flowers from our wedding crest, so the florist sourced wisteria, passion fruit vine (both of which also grew on property), roses and delphinium, among others. We also had hyacinth planted in china tureens. Antique Silver, crystal, china, and embroidered linens as details.
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).
We wanted to highlight the existing scenic beauty and design of the venues rather than transform them. The church is beautiful and quaint and the interior is constructed with beautiful wood. We added a flower arch outside of the church and then a couple of grand arrangements in urns next to the altar. It did not need much at all.For the reception venue, my mother-in-law is passionate about her garden and it is expertly maintained. She has hundreds/thousands? Of species of plants and it so lush. Intentionally had the wedding in spring as it is our favorite season, but also because that is when the beauty of the garden/estate really shines. We used what was already planted to our advantage. A few plants were moved around to accommodate the dinner tables, but not much needed to be changed. The estate has almost different garden “rooms” so we embraced that to create distinct moments for the guests throughout the event. For example, the guests arrived and were greeted at the entrance of an alle of olive trees with champagne, as they walked down they popped out onto the lawn behind a row of hedges where cocktail hour was, then the dinner was just steps above around a pond with a vista of the home and the mountains beyond and eucalyptus trees. Then for the dancing, we went down to another part of the estate where the tennis/basketball court had been transformed into a dancefloor and lounge.
What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?
I enjoy that you can be as global or detailed oriented as you want to make the planning. Having been in law school, it was an amazing outlet for creativity and I enjoyed tapping into that side of myself again. I loved watching our visions come to life. And finding creative ways to weave theme and details throughout different elements of the event.
Tips: Start earlier than you think you need to. We had a longer engagement, a year and a half, but it felt like the perfect length of time. I think being engaged is a very sweet, magical time. It is so fleeting. Full of hope and promise and eagerness of starting a family and life together. The longer engagement made it so that we could enjoy this period without only having to focus on wedding planning. Another advantage was that we had time to be really intentional with our wedding planning rather than feeling rushed to make decisions. I think that allowed us to be able to execute a very detail-focused event that guests could feel was personal and thought out.
Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?
We used mainly local vendors with the exception of our photographer, videographer and paper artist. Our photographer flew out from New Zealand. I had been a fan of her work for many years after discovering her on The Lane over a decade ago. Bek was incredible and really captured the essence our wedding and the emotion that was felt. Brittany Hawley of The Paper Betty was also fantastic to work with. She created our wedding crest that was used throughout our wedding. I love how personal it is and was the focal point for design inspiration for the rest of the wedding. She did our programs, invitations, matches, napkins, table numbers, escort cards, signage – all of the paper items throughout the wedding weekend. She was very patient with me and entertained all of my outlandish and crazy ideas.
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?
Christian: Christian wore a bespoke tuxedo created specifically for the wedding by John Meegan of Top Shelf in Minneapolis. He is a really old-school clothier and has one of the largest fabric libraries. Over my 29th birthday weekend, we flew to Minneapolis with my parents and brother and Christian and my brother went through the whole bespoke process with John. Christian is a hunter and has been duck hunting since he was 3 years old and he wanted to incorporate some kind of a camouflage into his outfit. I (obviously!) Would not let him do his entire tuxedo in that pattern, so we compromised on a tuxedo lining, which ended up being a special detail. John actually got licensing permission from RealTree to print their camouflage on a silk lining. It was about the classiest way you could incorporate camo. Christian’s dress shirt was also bespoke and had a really beautiful jacquard floral vine detail that was not visible unless you looked at the shirt up close.
Maiya: I worked with a bridal stylist which was a big investment, but one of the best decisions that I made. I worked with her for all of my bridal looks except for the bridal shower. She helped me to curate and customize my engagement party look, rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception outfits to create a cohesive wardrobe. I wanted distinct looks for each event, but for them to complement each other as a whole. She helped me to feel confident and decisive. She had amazing archival knowledge as well as of the next season’s collections, and great relationships with a lot of the designers, so we were able to customize my Reem Acra ceremony gown and also my Honor gown as well.
Initially, my vision was always a traditional lace gown: high neck, long sleeve. However, while I was in the process of trying dresses, I did not love the styles that I tried as much as I thought I would. There was an Honor trunk show and Sam had a dress in mind for me. It was strapless and one that I never would havepicked out for myself. It fit me perfectly and felt very regal and perfectly complemented some of our existing design elements, like our wedding crest. I loved the whimsical floral pattern. I knew that it was my dress, and for a minute thought that it might be both my ceremony and reception outfit, but I couldn’t get the high neck/long sleeve idea out of my head. Sam requested a dress from Reem Acra to be shipped out to LA to try on and I knew as soon as I had it on that it was perfect. Ultimately, I just bit the bullet and got both of them and I don’t regret it at all.
Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.
a. My engagement ring was designed by Christian’s families’ jeweler and inspired by an antique ring Christian and I saw on a trip to New Orleans at an antique store on Royal Street. That was the trip where we decided we wanted to marry each other. (This trip to New Orleans inspired the theme of our rehearsal dinner) The diamond is an Old European Cut set in a crown setting with filigree and pave diamonds along all three visible sides of the band, it is set in platinum. My wedding band is also old European cut diamonds in platinum.
b. I got Christian a Cartier yellow gold wedding band
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?)
Details. This is what made it feel distinctly like OUR wedding, personal, and interesting. I am an extremely detail-oriented person. My grandmother, mother and aunt throw incredible parties and have always created fun, surprising detailed elements for guests and I think doing so is what sets a really great party or event apart from the rest. I had a pretty clear vision for what I wanted our wedding to look like aesthetically, so shortly after we got engaged, I started brainstorming, curating and collecting items to incorporate. I sourced approximately 300 antique porcelain floral placecard holders for the escort cards. They were displayed beautifully and that was one of my favorite details. I also collected preserved butterflies and beetles to attach to the floral arrangements, echoing the insects on our paper details and crest. I also collected a lot of silver platters, silver and crystal ashtrays, toothpick and napkin holders, etc. These were placed on the bars (including the bud bar holding pre-rolled joints (the wedding was on 4/20 after all.) and the cigar bar. Another cool piece I found was a brass “offerings” tube salvaged from an English church – guests dropped little notes containing their handwritten marriage advice down the tube which was placed into a bush. The paper items were also important to me, and we spent a bit more to do more interesting paper items like die-cut menus, RSVP cards, escort cards and table numbers.
Was there a favorite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?
Christian: Surprising out guests by popping out of the windows above where our guests were seated for dinner. Our entrance to the reception and dance floor as Mr. And Mrs .Fowler. Apparently I really liked the announced entrances.
Maiya: My brother’s speech was really special. He really went out of his comfort zone but delivered the most beautiful, sweet speech with impeccable comedic timing. It was a real highlight. There is a photo of me teary-eyed watching him. My grandfather walking me down the aisle and dancing with my grandfather. And Christian and I saying our vows, ringing the church bell together and driving off after the ceremony.
BRIDE Maiya, @maiyaroddick CEREMONY LOCATION All Saints-by-the-Sea, Montecito, CA, USA, @allsaintsbythesea RECEPTION LOCATION Il Deodara (private estate of groom’s family), Montecito, CA, USA PHOTOGRAPHER Bek Smith, @beksmithimages VIDEOGRAPHER Grey Hat Films, @greyhatfilms STYLIST Samantha Levis, @theboldandbridal PLANNER Tonya Szele, @tonyaszeleevents FLORIST Tracey Morris, Ella + Louie Flowers, @ellaandlouieflowers CELEBRANT The Reverend Channing Smith CEREMONY ENTERTAINMENT All Saints-by-the-Sea, @allsaintsbythesea Choir and Organist, recessional Bagpipes by Bill Boetticher RECEPTION ENTERTAINMENT Orchid Quartet, @orchidquartet; DJ Darla Bea, @darlabea BAND Brett & Co, @BrettHunterMusic HIRE Bright Event Rentals, @brighteventrentals CATERING Duo Catering & Events CAKE Lele Patisserie, @lelepatisserie STATIONERY & SIGNAGE Brittany Hawley from the PAPER BETTY, @thepaperbetty ENGAGEMENT RING & WEDDING BAND Private jeweler, bride: old European cut ;groom: 18k yellow gold band OTHER SIGNIFICANT JEWELLERY Bride- borrowed diamond drop earrings for ceremony from bridesmaid’s mother, also borrowed diamond tennis bracelet and diamond tennis necklaces from same; for ceremony, borrowed antique diamond brooch from maid of honor’s mother (her great-great-great grandmother’s). Groom- grandfather of the bride’s cufflinks BRIDE’S MAIN SHOES Gianvito Rossi, @gianvitorossi BRIDE’S MAIN OUTFIT Reem Acra, @reemacrawedding purchased from NWLA Bridal, @nwlabridal BRIDE’S ACCESSORIES Cathedral Veil custom by Debra Shirley, @debrashirley1111 BRIDE’S MAKEUP Anahit Bogharyan, @makeupwithanahit HAIR Color by Tania Whittier, @taniawhittier; Styling by Sabrina Garcia, @garcia_l_a BRIDE’S FRAGRANCE Si by Giorgio Armani, @giorgioarmani (what I wore when we first started dating) BRIDE’S RECEPTION SHOES Rene Caovilla, @renecaovilla BRIDE’S RECEPTION DRESS Honor, @honornyc purchased from Loho Bride, @loho_bride BRIDE’S RECEPTION ACCESSORIES Bag made from dress fabric and hair ribbon from The Tailor, Brentwood GROOM’S MAIN SHOES Gucci, @gucci GROOM’S MAIN OUTFIT Custom tuxedo and dress shirt by John Meegan of Top Shelf Inc. Minneapolis BRIDAL PARTY’S OUTFITS Rixo, @rixo; Reformation, @reformation; Ulla Johnson, @ullajohnson; V. Chapman, @vchapmanstudio; Rachel Gilbert, @rachelgilbertau MOTHER OF THE BRIDE OUTFIT The Vampire’s Wife, @thevampireswife MOTHER OF THE GROOM OUTFIT Erdem, @erdem CAKE TOPPERS Tricia Lowenfield, @tricialowenfielddesign
