Tess & Peter | Luxurious Garden Wedding in Los Angeles

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February 6, 2012
Written by: Kathryn
Real Weddings

One of the most popular weddings I’ve ever featured was photographed by Amy & Stuart, so I’m thrilled to have them back on Snippet & Ink today. Tons of beautiful details, and an exceedingly happy bride and groom – and of course beautiful photos by Amy & Stuart…

The couple on their venue choice:  As soon as we saw the house, we were in love with it. We watched a VHS tape of the owner’s daughter’s wedding, held in the backyard, and could feel how much their home meant to them – we’re so appreciative that they let us have our wedding there, and we hope that it adds to the history of the house. It will always be a very special place to us. We loved the view, but didn’t know how spectacular that would end up being: completely coincidentally, fireworks started going off on the skyline while we were having our first dance! Something about that place just seemed magical.

Advice from the bride and groom, “Both our photographers and wedding planners told us to take a few minutes by ourselves after the vows, and I’m so happy we did that. It’s nice to have a glass of champagne with the person who you just married before you have to go back downstairs. Or two glasses. Definitely two glasses.”

The menu included regional favorites from New Orleans, the groom’s hometown, such as chicken and andouille gumbo, oyster po’ boys, fried buttermilk chicken and waffles with maple syrup, and crawfish étouffée.

What inspired you when you were planning your wedding?  Peter is from New Orleans and Tess’s family is from New England, so we wanted to represent our families and hometowns (luckily, New Orleans and New England have awesome food, so that part was easy). We’re both bookworms, and Tess is a writer, so we had a vintage typewriter for our guests to tap out messages and slipped our table assignments in used books. We wanted a vintage, unfussy atmosphere so that our guests could relax and be themselves: no uniform white tablecloths, no super-formal dress code. We were going for “unique” over “fancy,” and I think our guests appreciated that.

What was your favorite moment or part of the day?  Besides the surprise fireworks? Definitely running under sparklers held by our guests and getting into our ride to the after party. There’s a photo of us with glasses of champagne, sitting in the car with our friends and families cheering us on – it was such a touching and wonderful thing to be supported by the most important people in our lives, and that was the moment where I think everything hit us. It’s a tough call, though, because the whole day (and night!) was filled with so much love. We felt really, really lucky.

Did you include any traditions in your wedding?  Instead of traditions, we included our dog. I forgot to wear a blue garter, so that rhyming tradition was out the window. I also forgot to throw my bouquet, and carried it around with me all night (I was happy to have it later, it sat in a Mason jar on my desk for a week). I did wear the earrings my mother wore on her wedding day, and since both of our sets of parents were married on Labor Day weekend, that was when Peter proposed.

What was the best advice you received as a bride? What advice do you have for other brides?   Another good piece of advice given to me was to chill out, which is almost always good advice: nothing was going to ruin the day. My only advice: if you’re on the fence about getting a wedding planner, get one (ours will be friends for life – they were amazing). Also: ditch your shoes before you hit the dance floor.

Is there anything else that helps tell the story of the day?  We high-fived a lot: with parents, guests in the under-six age range, each other, the dog, everybody. I think I walked around for most of the event with my right hand positioned to take or dole out fives. We may not have figured out how to cue for toasts or remembered the garter, but we had a truly awesome wedding because everyone was having such a good time. I think we just got lucky: the people who worked on our wedding day, really cared about us and gave us something very special. Our families and friends couldn’t have been more supportive, or better people to clink glasses with. It just makes your hand float into the high-five position, that kind of stuff.

 

Vendor Credits

Photography: Amy & Stuart / Venue: private estate in Los Angeles (available through The Location Connection) / Event planning and design: Beth Helmstetter Events / Hair, makeup: Fiore Beauty / Flowers: Flowerwild / Stationery: Momental Designs / Catering: The Food Matters / Cakes: Vanilla Bake Shop / String quartet: Supernova / Rentals: Found Vintage Rentals and Classic Party Rental

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