Real Weddings: Maria + Oscar

 Want to know the best part of a secret? Finally getting to share it with those you love! When we first heard Maria and Oscar's story and how they had wed in secret 5 years ago all the while keeping it from their family and loved ones, even after having a baby together... We were beyond thrilled that they came to us to help them with the big reveal. The two dated briefly in high school, but 10 years later fate brought them back together. After dating for seven months they knew they couldn't spend another day without one another so they decided to secretly elope.

Fast forward to when they came to us with the desire to honor and share the love they had found. Their ceremony was to be the first time that they would share with their guests that they actually were already married. For Maria and Oscar's we pulled inspiration from Maria's personal style and combined bohemian and romantic elements to create a day that felt intimate, elegant, and full of romance. Their wedding took place at the La Quinta Resort located in Palm Springs, California and set a beautiful desert backdrop for their day. For their color palette we paid homage to the Palm Springs desert with boho neutrals and shades of wine, plum, and mauve. The groomsmen (many of them police men and colleagues to the groom) appropriately wore suits in a deep shade of blue, while the bridesmaids wore flowy white dresses. Guests were greeted by an escort wall built by Back Up Backdrops that read "You're My Best Kept Secret" and were favored with diaries hand painted and calligraphed by Betlem Calligraphy that held their names and table assignments. Guests were asked to sign in with "the secret to happily ever after" all as a tribute to our couple's love story. Floral arrangements by Oak and the Owl that mimicked the surrounding desert landscape sat on top of Moroccan inspired runners from hostess haven with tables and chairs from Folklore. Gold flatware was placed alongside crisp white plates with intricate details, and glassware that resembled the blue dessert sky.

When it came to designing Maria and Oscar's dessert table we wanted to keep it playful. Maria is a nurse and Oscar is a police officer, so naturally dessert began with coffee (a nurse's go-to beverage) and an array of donuts by Home Bakeshop (because what police officer doesn't love a good donut?!). Hey There Cupcake! Designed a cake inspired by the intricate detailing of Maria's wedding gown. Friends and family spent the rest of the evening dancing under strings of market lights, sipping on a boysenblue (boysenberry and blackberry cocktail) and another nod to Oscar's career, as well as "a hush hush", a ll the while watching Maria and Oscar's darling 3 year old bust a move on the dance floor. It was a night to celebrate family and the unveiling of Maria and Oscar's secret - because some secrets again are best when they're shared with those we love most!

Want to see more from the road to Maria and Oscar's wedding day?  Check out the Style Me Pretty feature here or our previous post "What's In Our File" where we share more about our inspiration behind their wedding day and then head over to our Engaging post and prepare to swoon over snaps from their engagement shoot!   Many thanks to our talented friend Ashley Kelemen for all the gorgeous photos!

What's In Our File: Maria + Oscar

You may have caught a couple of snaps on our Instagram of our couple Maria and Oscar's wedding day in Palm Springs, but before we share a little more from their wedding we thought it might be fun to take you behind the scenes!  

One of our favorite ways to get the design process started after we've met with our couple is to create a vision board.  Vision boards help us develop our concept and share with our couples the key elements that we would suggest using to really create a one of kind personalized unique design for their story.  Each couple gets their own board, and like snowflakes - no two are alike! 

Maria and Oscar's love story is one for the books.  Ten years after dating briefly in high school they reconnected, dated for seven months and knew they didn't want to spend any more time apart so they secretly eloped!  They kept this secret for five whole years before finally sharing it with their friends and family.  We really wanted to capture that romance on their wedding day, so we decided to mix elements that played to Maria's love for both her whimsical and bohemian side while also giving a nod to the desert landscape where their wedding would take place.  To bring the romance, we loved the idea of mixing moody deep shades of burgundy and wine watercolors with earthy tones and textures layered upon clean creamy whites.  Adding just the right amount of elegance to their table settings, we were inspired by gold metallic elements such as goblets and flatware and suggested custom Moroccan fabric runners that could add an additional depth to the design!  For our dessert loving duo, we had big plans for this course at their wedding that gave a nod to their love of sweets and Oscar's career as a police officer.  Can you guess where that took us?  

We can't wait to share how we incorporated even more personal elements from Maria and Oscar's love story into their wedding day.  Be sure to check back soon!

Outside the Lines with Exquisite Weddings Magazine

What's black and white and pretty all over? Give up?!  Our Exquisite Weddings Magazine cover shoot!! We haven't stopped pouring though the gorgeous images from Ashley Kelemen and thought we would share a little more of our behind the scenes inspo of what went into this fun day before taking things to print! 

Feeling so honored to have been asked by the Magazine to collaborate on their main feature, we really wanted to create something special for them and their readers that felt elevated yet modern and unlike anything they had done before.   For us, our design usually begins with a concept or some type of golden nugget of inspiration!  That inspiration can come from anywhere and sometimes it can be the smallest of things that can grow into varying levels of interest.  For this shoot in particular we were Inspired by a simple clean grid pattern that would lend itself to all the nitty griddy details and makings for a beautiful editorial spread!  We teamed up with some of our favorite vendors in the industry to help pull our vision together and began by pairing stark, modern black and white contrast with soft romantic elements of spring! The invitation suite was designed by Miss Multee and was the perfect compliment to the overall design with hand lettering and modern calligraphy. Veering from the traditional, we pulled gowns with texture and clean lines from both The Dress Theory and BHLDN as well as accesories from Marrow Fine Jewelry, Trumpet and Horn and Melinda Rose that would play against the custom grid backdrop we had Back Up create for us .  Layered Vintage did her thing and spread flower love over the backdrop and onto the table top and the results were gorgeous!  Stunning hair and make-up was done on our model by KC Witcamp with Hello Birdie Nail Salon accenting her finger nails in none other than a grid pattern, taking our look from head to tips! :) 

  We also asked Hey They Cupcake! to create a showpiece designed around our concept and she offered up the perfect blush geometric inspired cake that incorporated our playful use of lines.    Our unique tabletop pieces were pulled from Hostess Haven's extensive collection, with drinks by Baron.  To keep up with the mix between modern and romantic, we pulled furniture pieces from Adore Folklore that had a little bit of both and designed a lounge area that was just begging to be enjoyed!    

All of our images from this amazing creative adventure were captured by Ashely Kelemen.   Can't thank our team enough for all of their beautiful efforts to bring this one together with us!