Modern Los Angeles Wedding at SmogShoppe

There’s no doubt about it, modern weddings truly shine at LA’s SmogShoppe. Add in a “kick of style” as the bride says, and you’ve got this whopper of an event from Chaz Cruz Photographer, So Happi Together, and Bloom Box. With a black, white, and gold color palette, the geometric accents truly shine through!

From the bride, Tiffany: Len and I met during our last year at the University of California, Irvine (zot! zot!) through a mutual friend who was one of our groomsmen. We were together for 6 awesome years before Len proposed in Central Park, a place where we spent a lot of time during our years living in New York City. After the proposal, we moved back to Los Angeles to start our new life. Our wedding was the BEST. DAY. EVER. (thus far, of course). We know it’s cliché to say so, but it really was! It was everything we imagined it to be, plus more. Ultimately, we wanted the day to reflect us: modern and elegant with a kick of style. But we also wanted the day to be very personal.

In keeping with tradition, we were married in the same church my parents were married in 30 years ago, I used my mother’s veil and added a few extra details, and we used my grandmother’s wedding dress skirt as our veil during the traditional Filipino ceremony. These all added to the sentiment of the day and meant a lot to us and our family.Our journey began after meeting our wedding planner Nancy Park of So Happi Together and our photographer Chaz Cruz of Chaz Cruz Photography. Both have to be two of the most talented people in the wedding industry, hands down! Just take a look at the photos – they speak for themselves! Also, the most important thing to us was being able to relate to all our vendors on a more personal level, even after the wedding was over. All we had to do was tell them what we wanted and like the magicians they are, they made all our wishes come true. We loved Chaz’s work so much we printed all our engagement photos on canvas and displayed them on a bookshelf at the reception. We enlarged our favorite shot which ended up being the backdrop to our dessert table at the wedding.

Everything was pretty much seamless after Nancy joined the picture. She was always there for us, reliable, responsive, honest, and went above and beyond in every project. She is really everything you could want from a wedding planner. She was truly there for me the way a good girlfriend would be there for you on your wedding day. After signing with her, we now had time to create and DIY some of the details. We gold dipped crystals to go with the place cards, and my mother, grandmother and I made all of our detailed napkins from scratch. I really have to hand the credit to Fayaz at Bloombox Designs who really just took our floral and decor ideas to another level that left us breathless the second we walked into our reception venue. We sincerely love all of our vendors and appreciate everything they did to make our day special.

See Also

An Epic Dance Party in Napa, California

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? First, hire a wedding planner. I know this may seem daunting, but they really know what they’re doing and will save your sanity. They will allow you to enjoy your day, and the process of planning. Trust me, you won’t regret it. Secondly, I would ask to prioritize the aspects of your wedding that mean most to you and go from there (aka splurge!). For us, the three most important things to us were photography, food and invitations. Urban Palate, our caterer, blew our minds on the day of the wedding, just as they did during our tasting. We’re planning on scheduling another tasting to celebrate our 1 year anniversary! Our cake was from Sweet and Saucy and was delicious! I wish I could go back in time to eat more of it. They executed our design inspiration perfectly! Our invitation suite was from Lucky Penny Paperie, a letterpress stationery vendor I found on Etsy. The calligraphy on our envelopes and place cards were done by Tammy Mendoza with Letters to You. Her handwriting is so unique and beautiful and we’ll cherish them forever. We got so many wonderful comments on them! Last but not least, I would ask you to savor every moment and have fun! Don’t just go through the motions because before you know it, your gorgeous day will be over! Also, remember to SMILE!