A Laid Back Intimate Millwick Wedding in Los Angeles /
Christine + Phil

FAVORITE MEMORY OF THE DAY The ceremony. Phil and I wrote our vows true to ourselves and our relationship. We’re not very public with our affection, so it’s rare for others to experience those raw, emotional moments with us. Our dear friend Blake served as our officiant and was so thoughtful about the role. He ran with it and made everything so personal, interviewing each of us separately along with close family and friends, and incorporated elements into the ceremony. He took so much time and energy to make it very personal.

A SPECIAL MOMENT THAT WAS INCORPORATED INTO THEIR WEDDING DAY  I lost my mom to cancer nearly two years ago, yet even in her physical absence, she has remained very present in our lives. We wanted to honor that in a celebratory way, but it was hard to find great examples when researching online, so we landed on a few things that felt right to us. A family tribute area that included wedding portraits of our parents, grandparents, and aunts/uncles from both sides of our families. A cousin who is like a sister provided an incredibly beautiful reading in honor of my mom. We worked with Inessa Nichols to incorporate my mom’s favorite flowers – tulips and roses – throughout the event. And most importantly for me, I had really special items with me on the day of: portraits of my mom that my aunt and cousin created, the last birthday card she gave me, and indulgent scents that reminded me of her – Chanel Eau Tendre and a Diptyque Roses.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS. The projection of movie dance clips – When we met with Anthony at RedShoe and talked about the remarkable screen at The Millwick, the idea came to have a reel of dance clips from movies playing in the background during dancing. Our best friend Kosha helped us find someone who put together the reel in a week!
Polaroid escort card display – GATHER Events gave us the idea and executed it beautifully, and Phil took the majority of those polaroids when we came to LA the week leading into our wedding. It was a ton of work but it was fun having something personalized for each guest.
Cake – made by a family friend who put so much love into it for us. We trusted he would create something delicious, but everyone could not stop talking about the cake that night!

ADVICE FOR BRIDES

Choose great partners – We considered everyone we worked with to be our partners. It was important that we could trust our production team to know what was important to us and do what they did best. There will also be things you can’t predict – we were extremely lucky to have a team who handled unexpected family emergencies on our day so gracefully.

Take the help – Even if you’re a planner for a living, weddings are a completely different beast! We were fortunate to have family and friends who wanted to be involved and thought a lot in advance about what they would naturally enjoy doing rather than assigning last minute. The day of was a complete breeze for us.

Be true to yourselves – You do not have to follow every rule. We did not have a traditional wedding party but my close girlfriends ended up matching anyway. We didn’t care for engagement photos since we’re terrible photo takers. And we prioritized serving late night bites over providing favors.

Let go and enjoy – Absolutely most importantly, be in the moment. The time flies by faster than you could ever imagine and you’ll never have such a special gathering of your most loved ones again. 

FROM THEIR PLANNER. A top priority for Christine and Phil was to create a laid back, intimate environment for their guests that felt authentic to their casual style. They loved the unique industrial vibe of Millwick and wanted to play up its modern aesthetic by keeping the spaces minimal and understated. We decided on a high contrast white and black color palette with pops of peach throughout.

They chose an ombre invitation suite from Minted because it was reminiscent of a SoCal sunset.

We worked with our in-house floral expert, Inessa Nichols to create minimal, refined floral arrangements and greenery. We love the beautifully understated display of white tulips at the ceremony site and the simple but impactful bud vase clusters of peaches, pinks and whites down the long communal dinner tables.

Festive balloons, oversized piñata initials, a polaroid escort display and a video backdrop of famous movie dance scenes were playful elements that represented Christine and Phil’s lighted-hearted side and added a fun, unconventional feel to the evening.