MAY 2020
Featured on the Anti-bride here
Rachel and Ryan live in Santa Monica. Ryan works in marketing at a beverage startup, and Rachel works in product at a tech startup. "Even though we are both originally from southern California, we met working together in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2015. We started dating shortly thereafter, moved cross-country in 2018 and got engaged in 2019 on the bluffs in Malibu."
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
We regularly escape to California’s central coast on weekends and had a vision early on of getting married at a vineyard. We were introduced to Cass Winery on one of our trips to Paso Robles, and when we visited they had just completed building a modern reception venue and hired a new executive chef. We love hosting and wanted our wedding to feel like a dinner party with our closest friends and family, so it was a perfect choice for us and our 75 guests - with Victoria Gold capturing our day at the winery so beautifully.
Tell us about your outfits.
We had so much fun planning our outfits for both the wedding and rehearsal! Rachel had been following bridal shops and designers for a while and loved the collections Christy Baird curated at LOHO Bride. She first noticed Savannah Miller’s Colette gown online and fell in love. It perfectly represented the bride’s style and what she was looking for in a gown - effortless, elegant, understated and contemporary. Rachel is so grateful to the teams at Savannah Miller and LOHO for sending both the Colette and Zoe gown (which Rachel wore to her rehearsal dinner) from London to Los Angeles during the pandemic. She also loved working with Daphne Newman and A.B. Ellie to pair the Colette gown with the veil of her dreams and earrings that stole the show.
Ryan loves any excuse to wear a tuxedo, so for the wedding he partnered with Suit Supply to develop a fully custom black tuxedo with a shawl collar, matching suspenders and bow tie. For shoes, he ditched the socks and went for patent leather black loafers from Baudoin + Lange. For the finishing touch, he wore the Montblanc cufflinks he got from Rachel as a 30th birthday present.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
We got engaged in September 2019 so by March 2020, most of our wedding had been planned. We made it a priority to enjoy being engaged and did our best to remain positive despite the uncertainty of Covid, which usually involved a lot of champagne.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
We wanted our guests to enjoy themselves and experience California wine country as many of them were visiting for the first time. To that end, we hosted a private wine tasting for our wedding party at Law Estate, rehearsal dinner at JUSTIN Vineyard & Winery, and hand-selected our favorite wines from Cass Winery for the wedding.
Any tips for couples getting married, particularly during Covid?
Celebrate with whomever can be there. We had several guests, including immediate family members, who could not attend on short notice due to Covid. Even though we would have loved for every single person to be there, we had the most incredible weekend of our lives with those who were able to attend. At the end of the day, it goes by really quickly so do everything you can to soak it up and enjoy the small moments with just the two of you!
Congrats lovelies!
xo
Sam
Photographer : Victoria Gold @victoriagoldphotography | Videographer : Shelby Harvey | Ceremony + Reception Location : Cass Winery @cass_winery | Celebrant : Arjun Singh (Friend) | Entertainment : JSH Music Productions @jshmusicproductions | Event Coordinator : Sam Nason @zestitup | Hire :All About Events @allaboutevents.co | Floral : Brooke Edelman @brookeedelmanfloral | HMUA : Veiled Vanity Artistry @veiledvanityartistry | Cake : Angela’s Pastries @angelaspastries | Stationery : Paper Paper Co paperpaper.co | Bride’s Gown : Savannah Miller (Collette Gown) @savannahmillerbridal from LOHO Bride @loho_bride | Groom's Tuxedo : Suit Supply @suitsupply | Rings : JK & Co. Jewelers @jkdiamondco | Bride's Shoes : Tory Burch@toryburch | Groom's Shoes : Baudoin + Lange @baudoinlange | Bride’s Earrings : A.B. Ellie@a.b.ellie | Bride’s Veil and Robe : Daphne Newman @daphnenewmandesign | Groom's Cuff Bracelet : Selva Jewerly @selvajewelry | Groom's Cuff Links :Montblanc @montblanc | Bridal Party Attire : BHLDN@bhldn, Shona Joy @shonajoy, Reformation@reformation, Lulus@lulus + Show Me Your Mumu@showmeyourmumu