If anyone was feeling a case of the blues this morning they are sure to just melt away when you catch a glimpse of this cheerful, sunshine-y Scottsdale wedding by Scott Clark Photography. Who wouldn’t smile at the fun mod and 60s-inspired decor. Somehow this adorable bride and groom managed to take a tiki-meets-mid-century modern theme, cut out the kitsch and leave in the cool. The result is bright and chic and I love every inch of it! Click here to see it all!
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From the Bride…The inspiration for our wedding was mid-century modern meets refined tiki at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona. We had a Jewish ketubah signing and chuppah ceremony performed outside at the hotel’s palm garden. Afterwards we hosted a sit-down dinner for our 23 guests at Trader Vic’s directly following the ceremony.
I’ve always loved the clean lines and simple, graphic shapes of mid-century modern design. When Aaron proposed with a hand-carved tiki statue that said “Sarah, Will You Marry Me?” we figured it would make a fun challenge to create a (and not too kitsch) tiki-meets-mid-century-modern wedding. Once we found the perfect location for our 25-person destination wedding, everything else flowed from there. The Hotel Valley Ho is a renovated historic hotel with its original mid-century modern buildings completely intact – perfect for the look we wanted. Better still was the adjacent Trader Vic’s restaurant. This classic tiki establishment had a lively crowd and a refined take on Hawaiian-Polynesian cuisine, not to mention the fabulous fruity cocktail concoctions!
Planning the celebration allowed us to dive into aspects of mid-century modern design like fashion, food, decor – even type fonts. Allowing the vibe of the hotel and restaurant to lead us, we created our invitations with a graphic designer and printer I found on Etsy, using a design I thought of based on Alexander Girard’s smiling suns at La Fonda del Sol. One of my girlfriends owns a cookie company and made custom treats for the welcome bags featuring similar Girard designs. Because our intimate wedding consisted of immediate family and one friend each, we were able to make unique small-batch favors for every guest (and ourselves) like handcrafted tiki mugs by a potter we found on Etsy and tiki-shaped organic hand soaps. We got into the spirit of the venue with dried palm leaf fans for the ceremony and a local ukulele player who serenaded us down the aisle.
We asked our florist to use Trader Vic’s famous tiki mugs in her design and to incorporate palm leaves as runners for the tables at the reception and to take inspiration from the cacti and desert foliage of Arizona for our chuppah. I worked with the florist to create a tight bouquet that would work with the simple shape of my dress, which was an off-the-rack Lily Pulitzer sheath that I customized with ivory ribbon at the empire waistline and my grandmother’s gold and pearl brooch. My family runs a shoe manufacturing company, so my brother (who is now the company’s president) worked with a reputable factory in China to make the design I sent him via email. As an added touch, he made the insoles blue (for my “something blue”) and the factory had my name and our wedding date printed on them! Our brilliant photographer Scott got that 60’s sun-washed look we wanted and instead of cramming all of our portrait shots into wedding day, we did a day-after photo session all around the hotel and at the incredible Desert Botanical Gardens nearby. Doing our portrait photos the next day allowed us to really relax at the reception and have fun with our guests. We alternated between taking silly pictures at the photo booth and sipping frozen pink lemonades.
Wedding Photography: Scott Clark Photography / Venue: Hotel Valley Ho + Trader Vic’s / Floral Design: Avant-Garde Studio / Hair Stylist: Lisa Fresa Palacios of Sachi Salon / Make-up Artist: Linda Wagner / Wedding Dress: Lily Pulitzer / Veil: VioletBells / Bride’s Shoes: VanEli / Invitations: Paper Ink Press / Calligraphy: Perch Paper Co. / Ketubah: Dutch Door Press / Tiki Mugs: Happy Rhino Pottery / Drink Umbrellas: AutumnJo / Tiki Soaps: Sweet Soap Treats / Cookies: PS Sweets – Swoon Cookie Crafters