They say that love is all you need, and that couldn’t be more true when planning your wedding. With a little bit of love, and a lot of planning, you can have the most beautiful, sustainable, and chic wedding that will not only wow your guests, but also make Mother Nature proud. With a little creativity, you can have a romantic, sustainable, and chic wedding that will leave a lasting impression on both you and your guests!
After their first meeting was at a mutual friend’s wedding, Aggie and Robert knew what was important to them for their own wedding- having their loved ones serve as witness, celebrating being together, making their guests feel comfortable and welcomed, and hosting a fun party. They went for anything that refocused the narrative from having “one perfect day” and tried to move attention away from the traditional bride at the center of a highly-orchestrated production. This meant choosing small, local businesses owned and run by women, choosing more sustainable options when possible (like donating to carbonfund.org instead of guest gifts and having amazing vegan food choices), and cutting out anything that didn’t speak to those values. For the decor, they let their amazing LA venue shine and their florist design whatever she wanted that resulted in an event that was effortlessly chic, but still kept the focus on the meaning of the day.
How did you meet?
We met at our mutual friends’ wedding in Des Moines, Iowa, then he asked to come visit me in Denver (he was already living in LA at the time).
What is your proposal story?
We got engaged on vacation. It turns out I do not like surprises but he reworked my lack of compliance and poor reaction into a funny story.
Tell us a little a bit about your wedding
We went for anything that refocused the narrative from having “one perfect day” and tried to move attention away from the bride at the center of some highly-orchestrated production. We talked about what was important to us – having our loved ones serve as witness, celebrating being together, making our guests feel comfortable and welcomed, hosting a fun party – rather than allowing an industry define what was important. This meant choosing small, local businesses owned and run by women (not too difficult given what is available in LA!), choosing more sustainable options when possible (e.g., donating to carbonfund.org instead of guest gifts, having really good vegan food options), and cutting out anything that didn’t speak to those values. The event didn’t stylistically suffer, we still took cues from the incredible setting and it turned out more visually beautiful than I could’ve imagined. The intentionality just meant that it felt relaxed while being special to us.
Tell us about your attire choices.
I got my Jay Godfrey dress off the rack and on sale from Saks (I think it was about $260). I just couldn’t handle the bridal boutique tone and didn’t find the quality to be 20-fold better than ready-to-wear gowns, so the price wasn’t justified. But I still wanted to look good! So I found steeply discounted Jimmy Choo heels and some killer statement earrings which felt more exciting or bridal to me. My husband wore a suit, tie, and shoes (I have been given no further details there). Everything was picked out by our stylist friend, Lillian Olive. These professionally curated outfits just sat in our closet during the pandemic waiting to be worn, it was so sad.
What was the most important to the two of you while planning?
Our wedding planner, Morgan, totally got our approach. She supported us when we nixed different traditional elements and would swoop in with excellent advice when we realized we needed random things like chargers. I had no plan for the dinner tables and they turned out so well. Also the cocktails were bomb.
What were your favorite parts of the day?
Getting to see our family and friends, especially when walking down these big stairs into cocktail hour. Just being near people in general was like coming up for air. We happened to get married in the short span of time when California was reopening – the reopen date was June 15, we were married on the 18, and the Delta variant turned everything around again almost immediately. It was especially crazy timing when you consider that our original wedding day was March 21, 2020 (the first weekend of lock down). It made us so appreciative of the time together!
Tell us about your wedding flowers.
The flowers were unreal. Schentell is an artist, we basically gave no direction so she could do her thing.
Please describe any DIY, handmade, or personal details.
For the place cards, we needed some way to designate meal choice. Instead of ordering place cards, I bought a box of Avery punch-out tags, designed and printed them myself, then we looped in tassels that corresponded to meal choice (e.g., blue for fish, gold for vegan). I also designed and drew the invitations, then ordered them from an eco-friendly print shop.
Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?
The pandemic dramatically changed social expectations around weddings. Use that to your advantage and do what feels right to you and your partner. People said “you do you” before the pandemic, but I didn’t really buy that (especially when you have a close or large family). Now I think it’s actually true!