Classic & Whimsical Santa Lucia Preserve Wedding in Carmel-by-the-Sea
At this point, I've got a pretty good knack for spotting our most-loved vendors in wedding features. In today's classic-meets-whimsical-with-a-side-of-rustic-vintage California celebration planned by Alison Events, I spotted several of those crazy talented peeps before even peering at the credit list. Found Rentals was easy to identify with all those gorgeous rentals, Casa de Perrin and La Tavola graced the tabletops with their goods, while Zephyr Tents housed created a classic atmosphere and Ariella Chezar splashed the day in colorful blooms. It all came together for the most charming day of love held at Santa Lucia Preserve—see it all below, captured by Tec Petaja and Max Cutrone.
From Jesse Tombs of Alison Events... Lauren & Galen's wedding day was all about color, texture and personality. One word Laura used when describing what she likes was eclectic. While I wanted the look to feel collected over time and worldly, I also wanted it to feel authentic to the place, and cohesive. We made the look constant with the use of color. I like starting the day our with a more mild, muted version of the color story.
For the ceremony we wanted to keep the look very natural, but eclectic with the mismatched benches, church pews and chairs we used for seating. We worked with Ariella Chezar to create a living garden that flowered out of the ground down the aisle towards the alter at the based of redwood trees said to be hundreds of years old. Dart Collective from LA used a 25 piece band to perform a song from a Philip Glass opera with a choir of singers. As the song had a spoken word portion, Laura’s uncle learned the piece and recited the part perfectly for the ceremony as Laura was walked down the aisle by her father.
For the cocktail hour, I design a beautiful custom Turkish Rug wrapped bar that Jeni and Jewel from Found Vintage Rentals created for me. It turned out so perfect, and I just loved how it incorporated our colors, and also added texture and depth to the design. It was inspired by a bar I saw at the Nomad hotel in LA. I love finding inspiration for wedding design in unexpected places. We also worked with Found to create many lounge vignettes throughout the cocktail hour lawn to provide beautiful place for guests to lounge and take in the stunning views of the Preserve.
The Preserve catering team set up an amazing Gin and Tonic bar, where guests could select from a wonderful array of Gins and Tonics along with different garnishes. This was inspired by a cocktail bar in London that Laura and Galen love. We wanted to try something really sculptural and different for the escort card display. Laura and Galen love art and museums, so we wanted the escort card display to feel like an interactive art installation where guests could interact with the flowing silk fabric panels. We worked with Yonder design to bring the instal to life. Ariella worked with the Green Vase in New York to make the custom paper flowers that adorned the installation.
The Preserve catering team set up an amazing Gin and Tonic bar, where guests could select from a wonderful array of Gins and Tonics along with different garnishes. This was inspired by a cocktail bar in London that Laura and Galen love. We wanted to try something really sculptural and different for the escort card display. Laura and Galen love art and museums, so we wanted the escort card display to feel like an interactive art installation where guests could interact with the flowing silk fabric panels. We worked with Yonder design to bring the instal to life. Ariella worked with the Green Vase in New York to make the custom paper flowers that adorned the installation.
The escort card set up was also a peek at what was to come in terms of color and materials for the dinner tent. In the dinner tent, I wanted to keep it super fresh and bright. Laura loved the colors orange, red and yellow. We thought the ice blue linens from la Tavola almost acted as a neutral here. The beautiful chairs from Theoni collection kept the look fresh and casual, but also really sleek and modern. I was obsessed with the dinner plates. Casa de Perrin actually purchased these especially for our event. I found them online and asked Diana if they could source them for us. When I first showed them to Laura, she told me they were the plates she wanted to register for and that she was obsessed with them too. We were totally on the same wave length when it came to design, which is also so fun. I just love collaborating with clients that I click with from an design point of view.
The big reveal was after dinner, moving into the barn. The neon lights (each one had a special meaning the the clients and their closest family members and friends) were inspired by an art instal Laura and Galen saw at a museum. I loved the idea and thought, why not do 30 neon signs above the stage in the barn? After the wedding, we shipped all the neon signs to the guests that they correlated to; so when guests got home, they were surprised to find a neon sign all boxed up on their front steps. I just loved collaborating with Laura and Galen and can not wait to work with them and their families again. A true honor and privilege to work also work with such professional, creative and talented vendors to help us bring our vision to life.
The Welcome Party
Thursday’s welcome party was a chance to really welcome guests to the beauty that is Pebble Beach and the Carmel coast. We chose to host the event on the dock at the Pebble Beach and Tennis Club. We took over the whole dock, and transformed it into a seaside cocktail reception with a wonderful creative team.
While I wanted the look to feel nautical and sophisticated, I also didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously. We came up with the mantra “Nautical by Nature.” We wanted the elements that we brought in, furnishings, decor, accessories, and floral to feel as if it had always existed there. I partnered with Kathleen Deery Design on the overall decor and design, her Urban Parlor company provided the beautiful rattan and cane furniture. Kathleen and her team also created the beautiful sea grass inspired floral designs. We also worked with Jewel from Found Vintage Rentals for additional furniture and decor items. Found provided the boards, seaside props and lifeguard chairs for the event; these items really made the look feel layered and give a lot of depth to the design.
We worked with Dart Collective from LA for the entertainment. They provided this incredible band that was inspired by the Yacht Rock. We wanted the music to feel fun and be filled with personality. Yonder Design partnered with us on signage and paper products. I came up with idea to print a menu on a sail. Yonder translated this into a model sailboat that was white washed to hold the printed sail as a bar menu. We also had custom lifesavers made their the couples names on them to adorn food stations. Cocktail napkins and stir sticks featured navy nautical icons created by the Yonder team. As the sunset, lights we placed under the dock lit up the water below.
The Rehearsal Dinner
Friday night, Laura and Galen wanted the event to feel a bit more elevated, while still allowing the wedding to really shine as the focal point of the weekend. I was truly inspired by the venue for the design, The Monterey Peninsula Country Club. The Club, originally built on 1926 is a traditional Spanish Colonial. The color for the event was inspired by the terra cotta tile roof of the club, it’s brick patios and stucco exteriors.
The pops of lemony yellow were a request of the bride and Kathleen Derry and I were happy to oblige. I love yellow and was so excited to incorporate it into this somewhat masculine color palette. I think the yellow added just the right touch of femininity.
We worked with Yonder Design on the paper elements which again were inspired by the tones of the building and the Spanish Colonial style of the club. We worked with Casa De Perrin to find the perfect tabletop to accent the dinning area. Theoni collection special ordered these amazing white leather and wooden Sayulita chairs for our event which added a specialty, custom look to the decor.
Found Vintage brought in beautiful lounge seating, which was accented by furnishings from Urban Parlor. Together the furnishings looked as thought they always belonged in the club. All the pieces we selected looked as if they were just part of the club’s decor on a daily basis, which was my intention. The event rooms at the club are usually not furnished, so this was an exciting project to dream up.