Olivia and Andrew got married on Sunday, October 11, 2009. Their theme: "classy country with a touch of Shakespeare" resonated perfectly with the Upper Las Virgines Ranch in the hills of Calabasas, CA; the theme actually was born while strolling through the cozy property. The ranch was saved from big development in 2003. Over 1000 mature California oak trees were saved along with habitat for threatened California red-legged frogs, endangered Least Bell's vireos, endangered Southwestern willow flycatchers, and San Fernando Valley spineflower (once thought to be extinct). Money spent on the venue goes back to protecting nature, how much greener can you get?
We kept it eclectic with integrating the couple's lineages, the bag piper for Olivia, Persian music for Andrew, and their life style: wild flowers in vintage vases, Olivia and I patrolled dozens of thrift stores for six months, serving an all vegetarian menu with mostly organic and local ingredients presented family style and Argentinian Dulce de Leche cookies as they will live in Buenos Aires for half a year.
We tried our vintage vases on many designs and fell in love with the "garden toile" linen. Buying it in Downtown LA and without having it hemmed saves some cash but the best is: it's reusable for a long time. It turned out to be even more beautiful than we imagined under ancient oak trees and with our overhead retro lighting and bare light bulbs on Shepard hooks. (Olivia saved as I am the bargain hunter and got some bride share reduction for this one)
Guests lived the Provencale life accentuated by the delicious Croque en Bouche, called "Piece Monte" in France.
DJ Tony from "Good Times" brought his Congas and rocked the party until midnight.
Photographer Jared Iorio was complimented by everybody as being everywhere but felt like a friend not a stranger doing his job. Tip: use an up and coming photographer who gives you a deal as he wants to fill his portfolio. (
Jared's photos )
I am so happy to have chosen the perfect crew as not only Jared but Tony from Good Times and the Barrista from Intelligencia got to swing with this amazing community of life loving people. When the drums touched people's souls, Mary, Olivia's mom pulled me onto the dance floor .... Thanks to the embracing spirit of the Ranch's director Joan Pankratz and Maritza, her guard in uniform, even the supervision felt like part of the party.
There's always that sports fan who can't do without the ball and the beer...
The local food was market fresh, the Martini mashed potato bar deliciously organic and the fish was sustainable.
The wine wasn't organic but local and brought in by the couple's parents.
Stephanie and her mom made the escort cards, orange paper flowers on long stems holding the cards. Guests hurried to take bunches of them home, they were too cool.
Uptown supplied their shiny metal bathrooms, it was powered by a bio diesel generator which was also used for the DJ and lighting by ELM Concierge.
From happy sunlight to saturated sunset colors into the star spangled night... the lighting was spectacular, nature is the best show, Elm's swirly out side effect were pretty cool too.
200 guests partied with one of the Nature Preserve's best DJ's, Gil Goren.
