DIY Wedding at the Smog Shoppe
Oh, do I have a pretty DIY wedding to show you. Aimee and Jerry blended their family history delightfully by incorporating vintage elements and heirlooms that decorated their reception at the Smog Shoppe. The gorgeous details don’t stop there. No. The flower arrangements, which were made by Aimee’s mom and aunts were little masterpieces of love. I can’t decide if am more obsessed about the flower ties on the back of the chairs, or about how gorgeous her vintage wedding dress was (it was her grandmother’s, no less!), but you might want to devour these stunning images for yourself. Many thanks to Jonas Peterson for sharing this beautiful wedding with us today!
From the bride, Aimee: Our wedding was held in Los Angeles, which was a “destination wedding” for many of our family and friends, and it was held on a Thursday, so we knew we wanted to keep it fun and simple to maximize the time we had with our loved ones, and minimize stress levels. We just wanted everyone to have a great time celebrating life and love. One of my bridesmaids told me that you only get this many people together during weddings and funerals, so we really wanted to make it an enjoyable time for all.
From the bride, Aimee: Most of our wedding was DIY. I really wanted to include modern and vintage pieces, and many of the decorations were family heirlooms. My great grandfather was a dairy farmer, so I used his old milk bottles and mason jars for the centerpieces. We used an old suitcase that came from my mom’s side of the family, and old lace that was hand crocheted by my great great grandmother. My color scheme was citrus inspired, with mint as an accent color. We used mostly pinks, corals, peaches, yellows and mint.
I had a very difficult time finding a dress that I liked, so I ended up using my grandmother’s wedding dress. She had her 50th wedding anniversary within a few days of my wedding, and the dress was in perfect condition. I did not have it altered or cleaned, I only had a seamstress reinforce some of the buttons.
Surprisingly I feel that our wedding turned out to be perfect, not that everything happened the way we had planned or intended, but we were able to let the little things go, and enjoy our day. I attribute this to my husband, who came to me a few weeks before the wedding, after a couple seemingly major “wedding debacles”, and suggested that we aim to have everything 70% perfect on our wedding day, and the rest, we would let go. This turned out to be the best advice I received.
Wedding Vendors (Los Angeles, CA):
Ceremony and reception location(s): LDS Temple, Smog Shoppe / Photographer: Jonas Peterson / Wedding Dress: Vintage (her grandmother’s) / Groom’s suit: Zenga. / Ties: Hermes / DJ/Band: SOS Entertainment / Florist: DIY, purchased at the LA Flower Market
Oh! I just love her bouquet! And those lace tablecloths! Such a beautiful wedding with fantastic vintage details!
I love the family feel of this wedding, cant believe she could wear her granma’s wedding dress without alterations 50 years later, sooo sweet!
Great dress! The place settings are very neat, and the place card board is lovely!
Aw her grandmothers dress? That is so darn cool!
Everything about this wedding was lovely and perfect. Aimee did a wonderful job showing who she and Jerry are throughout the whole day from the vintage romantic little details, to the hip hop music while we all got down on the dance floor.
This wedding was truly an honor to be a part of.
beautiful wedding! 🙂 love the details and her DRESS!
I adore it. It’s perfect. i love the subdued colors and I am always game for a temple wedding. I would love to know where that stand alone dress shot was done– was that at the temple too? you dont often see stark white buildings like that in real life!
I love that all of the little details were actually pulled from her family’s “closets” rather than purchased. It makes it so much more personal and special. I really, REALLY like that touch. It should be an inspiration to each of us to look to our own histories!
Lovely wedding! Can you tell me where the bride purchased her headband and veil?
so freaking amazing!! i love her gown!
Very beautiful. I would love to know where the bride’s headpiece is from?
Her dress is amazing! And those Louboutins!! A very lucky girl to wear Louboutins on her wedding day! (Though I have to admit I was a little surprised to see Mormons drinking alcohol…)
How stunning!!! Love, love, loooove the little suitcase card box.
Ooooh that dress! I love the venue too…
Love the glitter letters! Can you tell me where you bought those?
Hi everyone, I’m the lucky groom in these pictures. Just wanted to answer some of the questions — the headpiece/headband/veil was something that Aimee actually made herself. I was really amazed. If you are interested in it, please e-mail me and I will pass it along to her. My e-mail address is [email protected]. Also, the glitter letters were purchased from Michael’s. Lastly, side note, she’s drinking non-alcoholic apple beer from our soda bar. 🙂 Thank you for all of your kind words!
One more — the standalone shot was taken in the alley just behind the SmogShoppe in Culver City, CA. Our photographer, Jonas Peterson, was just absolutely brilliant and fun/relaxed to work with.
I love all the details in this. The vintage dress is great.
I love all the details in this. I love the shot with their head’s in the tree.
so sweet:) and the dress is awesome! I loooove this blog so much 🙂
Aimee’s headband was purchased from Nordstrom and the brand is ‘Tasha’, and the veil she made herself.
Love your Grandmothers wedding dress you looked beautiful.It makes it that much more special that it belonged to her. I thought the vintage family suitcase was a romantic and whimsical way to collect and keep the cards. I love the color theme you chose too, it is very soft & pretty and works well with the whole look of your wedding and not something every other bride is doing.
I’m not a big fan of vintage, so none of this really looks good to me.
What the stunning photos! They are very professional! Thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous dress!
Nothing I love more than an LDS wedding done right!
Gorgeous wedding and photos!
This is so absolutely amazing & truly inspiring! My dream wedding has always been a Cinderella wedding, spending more money than I would make in a year, etc. but this is great! You captured everything thing that actually meant something. Simplicity can sometimes be what stands out most, & you have done exactly that. You’re beautiful!
Oh & the dress! I couldn’t imagine the way you felt in it! That’s an honor to wear your grandmother’s wedding dress. She had good taste, even 50 years later! 🙂
–21 yr. old who still wants a Cinderella wedding, but who knows! 🙂
Loving this LDS wedding what with all of the sweet details and love captured…
Gorgeous wedding and details! Love the bride and grooms custom chairs and the “card box” suitcase!