Ojai Wedding from XOXO BRIDE + Michael & Anna Costa Photography

Stephanie Weers
April 3, 2013
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, The Blog, Vintage Chic

Dreamy doesn’t even begin to describe this Ojai soiree. In fact, finding the right words at all has proved to be pretty much impossible. From the crazy romantic design by XOXO BRIDE to the feminine touches woven throughout, it’s one of those weddings that simply speaks for itself. Michael & Anna Costa Photography caught it all behind the camera and you can join me for a swoon-fest in the full right here!

But before you hurry off to the full gallery, take a moment to fall in love with the wedding day film from Lola Video!

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From the Bride: Brett and I have known each other most of our lives. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, and remained distant friends until reconnecting in San Francisco 12 years later. Both single and once again living within a mile of one another, our friendship soon developed into something much more! Brett proposed one year later on the pier in front of my Lake Tahoe family vacation home where we first fell in love. Brett and I come from very similar backgrounds. We are both 6th generation Californians, the youngest of three children and each of our married siblings have three children. We also have many mutual friends; therefore family and friends play a very important role in our lives and we wanted our wedding to reflect that familial atmosphere. We wanted to plan a wedding weekend where we could celebrate with everyone we loved in the same place for as long as possible. The beautiful Ojai Valley Inn and Spa seemed like the perfect place — a spot we both had loved to visit in the past and only a 1/2 days drive from San Francisco with 3 airports close by.

The idea of a wedding as a joining of families with lots of meaning and symbolism played very strong in our minds as we started to envision our day. The ceremony was held at the beautiful old mission style Ojai Presbyterian Church. We asked all of our siblings and their spouses to be bridesmaids and groomsmen with my sister as Maid of Honor and Brett’s brother as Best Man. We also incorporated their children — 10 of the them under the age of 10!-into the ceremony. All the little girls wore antique Victorian wax flower bridal wreaths in their hair to be kept as momentos of the day. I asked eight of my girlfriends to be my “Bouquet of Friends” – each placing a nosegay of flowers at the alter around an 18th century French Wedding Chair Mom found at a wonderful antique store in Carmel. Brett’s close friends were ushers and music was sung and played by two other close friends. In a Loving Cup ceremony our moms poured wine at the alter into silver wine cups given to my parents as a wedding gift. Brett and I then poured the wine in each cup into an antique silver wedding chalice and drank from it together symbolizing the joining of our families. I wore my sister’s Belgian lace veil and her crystal beaded lace bolero for the ceremony, and pinned on my bridal bouquet was a brooch given to my maternal grandmother by my grandfather when they were married.

I come from a very creative family — I am a graphic designer and my mom is a “woman of all trades” when it comes to anything visual. We had such a blast working side by side, playing off each other’s ideas and inspirations. On a whim my mom began collecting antique china plates and from there was born our vision of an old world/victorian wedding set in the beautiful gardens of the Ojai Valley Inn. My mom made the wonderful crown centerpieces with pleated silk ribbons, vintage glass glitter and antique brooches. At the tented reception the long family style tables featured placesettings of the antique china from our collection combined with mismatched flatware. Each placesetting at the bride and groom table was set with a napkin embroidered with each name to be used at future family gatherings in our dining room. My mom surprised us with our wedding china at our place setting and we were seated on a Victorian loveseat that had belonged to by great, great aunt! My artistic contribution centered around the wedding collateral. I designed the letter pressed save the date booklets, wedding invitation suite and, inspired by the idea of a “family crest”, designed one with our initials to be used throughout our collateral. Bill Kemp did an amazing job with all the calligraphy throughout. The guests were greeted in their rooms upon arrival with a gift of local wine, crown-shaped chocolates I handmade, and a welcome packed I had designed. The wedding favors were a smaller version of the centerpiece crowns made by my mom and left in the rooms for the guests to find on their return after the reception.

We were very fortunate to find an amazing team of vendors who immediately supported and enhanced our vision and were incredibly fun to work with! They included our wedding coordinator, Sonia Hopkins, florist Camilla Svensson-Burns, lighting by Images by Lighting, draping by BAM . The rentals came from Classic Rentals in Santa Barbara and the cake from Star Bakery. I adored our makeup/hair team from the Studio Agency, Cathryn Van Breen and Sheila. Our wedding day was captured beautifully and perfectly by Michael and Anna Costa Photography and Lolo Video. And of course, all the staff at the Ojai Valley Inn were incredible to work with and couldn’t have done any more to help make our wedding a dream come true! Our wedding was more special and memorable than Brett and I could have every hoped for. All of the thought and effort we put into even the tiniest details made for a truly amazing day that we will never forget.

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