Joyful Weddings and Events » weddings

Kelsey and Carl’s Gorgeous Pink and Grey Wedding at a Private Estate, Part 1

courtney.toney — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:13:21 +0000

I just love Kelsey and Carl. It was an absolute joy to be a part of planning their beautiful wedding and they are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Kelsey and Carl chose to get married in her parent’s backyard in Orange County to give their wedding an intimate, personal feel. Kelsey wanted to include all things pink, lace, vintage and pearly. Carl requested that there be a romantic ambiance, with a “Great Gatsby” dreamy vibe.

The wedding was romantic, sweet and personal. It was featured on Style Me Pretty a while back. You can see the post here and I am excited to share all of the lovely details with you today. To make working a wedding for two amazing people even better, I had the privilege of working with some of my favorite vendors. Michael Norwood was on board to capture the day and his photos are absolutely stunning.

Meet the gorgeous Kelsey:

And the handsome Carl:

My friend Kristin from The Treasured Petal created the beautiful flowers. The feminine pink florals were lush and romantic, including garden roses, dinner plate dahlias, fragrant stock, and hydrangea.

The bridesmaids wore darling Melissa Sweet dresses.

Not a bad ceremony site (or backyard for that matter!):

Kelsey wanted to incorporate crystals, pearls and lush flowers on the ceremony arch and Kristin’s creation was gorgeous!

One really unique detail that Kelsey’s mom thought of was to have a mini version of the wailing wall of Jerusalem. She created this gorgeous mini wall and we had guests write prayers for the couple and then place them in between the rocks. Such a cool idea! The wall is now in the couple’s home.

I will be back will all of the reception details in my next post but, for now, I’ll leave you with a few killer photos of the couple:

By the way, how incredible is Kelsey’s Kenneth Pool gown?

Happy Friday everyone!

Marisa and Robert’s Wedding at the Hotel Bel Air

courtney.toney — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:22:24 +0000

A while back, I shared a sneak peak of the gorgeous wedding of Marisa and Robert at the Hotel Bel Air. I am finally going to share the full wedding with you today! (Yes, this wedding was in September and, yes, I am behind in blogging weddings!)

Some of you may have seen this wedding featured on The Wedding Chicks a couple of months ago as well. You can see the full post here- thanks so much Amy & Jocey! We love you guys!

Onto the stunning wedding, captured by the amazing Jasmine Star. Marisa and Robert were a dream to work with- great vision, fully trusting of their vendors and absolutely smitten with each other. They envisioned a clean, simple and stunning white wedding, which is right up our ally. You cannot go wrong with that decor scheme set against the timeless backdrop of the Hotel Bel Air.

I love this next sequence of photos from their first look. Aren’t they a gorgeous couple?

I loved the elegant bouquet that Carissa with JL Designs created. Simply stunning!

The bridesmaids bouquets of blush colored dahlias were gorgeous as well:

I also loved the bridesmaids dresses from Two Birds Bridesmaid- they can be wrapped in a ton of different ways.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been caught making awkward faces in photos while pinning boutonnieres on.

There ceremony took place at the hotel’s Swan Lake. Yes- they have a lake with real swans in it.

I used mirrors and vintage pieces throughout the decor for signage and little details:

Carissa did a great job with the ceremony decor- simple, striking and gorgeous.

Carissa placed fabric boxes filled with petals for guests to throw on the aisle, along with apothecary jars with floating gardenias.

For the cocktail hour, we used wood lounge furniture and accented with Carissa’s cute pillows.

I adored how Carissa nailed frames and flowers to a tree in the middle of the cocktail hour.

For the escort cards, Carissa lined up white lace and accented the table with a cluster of beautiful arrangements. I made a sign out of a vintage mirrored tray, saying “please find your seat”.

For the reception tables, Carissa grouped arrangements with candle sticks and the apothecary jars with floating gardenias from the ceremony. It looked gorgeous!

I grabbed a large empty frame from my office on a whim and I loved how it looked on a console with Carissa’s arrangements:

In the adjoining room, we set up a lounge, showcasing their cake and favors. White couches were set with mirrored tables, accented with a ton of candlelight.

The pretty cake, made by Cake Divas, was set on a custom made stand by JL Designs.

Guests received bags of cookies from Diddy Reese, a Westwood (and UCLA!) favorite.

I could live in this wedding everyday and be happy.

The amazing vendor team:

*Venue: April and team at the Hotel Bel Air

*Photo: Jasmine Star

*Florals: JL Designs

*Band: DeBois Productions, Entourage & Spanish Guitar Trio

*Rentals: Classic Party Rentals and Level 4

*Hair & Makeup: Sheree with Lips and Locks

*Bride’s Dress: Monique Lhuillier

*Cake: Cake Divas

*Favors: Cookies from Diddy Riese

A sneak peak of a Spanish Rancho Las Lomas Wedding

courtney.toney — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:27:01 +0000

One of my favorite weddings of the year thus far has been JJ and Jeanette’s wedding at Rancho Las Lomas. Inspired by sangria, Jeanette wanted a rich, gorgeous event, with touches of vintage charm and lots of papel picado. I cannot wait to share the professional photos by Tara Leigh, which I know will be incredible, but, in the mean time, the lovely Melody of Sweet and Saucy Shop sent over some great photos she snapped that day and I had to share them!

Melody created not one- but 7!- delicious and beautiful cakes. They were set on a wood table under a gorgeous bougainvillea arch that Carissa of JL Designs designed.

For the main cake, Melody mimicked the papel picado design from the couple’s invitation and paper goods and created an incredible fuchsia sugar flower:

In addition to the main wedding cake, Jeanette wanted a variety of smaller rustic style cakes in different flavors. For each of these, I crafted mini banners inspired by the papel picado we used in the decor. I loved how they turned out, especially next to the peonies that Carissa placed.

Melody also got some great shots of the table decor, so I can give you a sneak peak of the papel picado runners, lush arrangements in cut crystal glasses and wood boxes, vintage books, fruit and colored wine glasses.

I cannot wait to show you the full wedding- it was full of details and not only are JJ & Jeanette gorgeous, but they are one of the sweetest couples ever!

Thanks Melody for the photos!

Lakers Wedding Details

courtney.toney — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:46:46 +0000

In honor of the NBA championships, I thought I would share a few LA Lakers themed details from one of our past weddings. Megan and Jason’s wedding was absolutely gorgeous and was chalk full of personalized details. A few of those details were areas where Jason’s love of the LA Lakers made an appearance.

Most notably, Megan surprised Jason with a grooms cake that was a replica of the Staples Center and a Lakers jersey. It even had real lights around it and everything!

Some of you may recognize this cake- it was actually featured on the TV show “Amazing Wedding Cakes”.

In addition to the cake, Megan and Jason also included the Lakers into the escort cards. When each guest received their cute, personalized mini envelope, they found a sports trivia question inside. The answer to that question was actually the name of the table they were seated at. It was really fun! Some were about the Lakers and others were about some of Jason’s other favorite teams.

But my favorite way that they incorporated the Lakers into the wedding? Jason and his mom danced to “I Love LA” (The Lakers theme song) for their mother son dance!

I will be posting all of the details of Megan & Jason’s wedding soon (I am so behind with blogging!) but if you want to see more of their wedding, you can see their feature on Style Me Pretty.

Happy Lakers & World Cup watching weekend

*All photos by Ryan Phillips

Meg & Shawn’s Huntington Beach Vintage Barn Wedding, Part 2

courtney.toney — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:50:20 +0000

I’m back with more of the fun details from Meg & Shawn’s rustic wedding at The Newland Barn in Huntington Beach. If you missed the first post, you can check out the ceremony photos here.

After the ceremony, guests were invited to the front of the property where the historic Newland house, which is now a museum, sits.

Another fun old piece at the property is a horse cart- Kristin with The Treasured Petal threw a bouquet on it last minute and it looked so cute!

Guests were offered lemonade in a vintage galvanized igloo (borrowed from my sister in law) as well as sweet tea and normal iced tea, which we embellished with cute little doily lables. All beverages were served in mason jars.

We pinned escort cards onto a linen covered board with doily accents. Unfortunately, it was super windy at that time, so we could not get those little suckers to stay straight for photos.

During the cocktail hour, we turned over the ceremony site into the reception site. Let me tell you- I do not think that I have ever seen my team work so hard!

Tables were set with brown linens, ivory bone china and silverware wraps with a band of paisley fabric. The same fabric was also used on half of Kristin’s beautiful arrangements.

I made the table numbers using coffee-stained wood blocks and doily embellished circles.

To carry the doily theme even further, I created cute little mr & mrs cards to set at the placesettings of the bride and groom:

Kristin made their seats extra special with floral bouquets tied to the chairs:

For dinner, guests were treated to a delicious Southern-style BBQ, complete with ribs, mac n’ cheese & cornbread. Because of the mess that BBQ can bring, Meg and Shawn gave each guest a little brown bag containing a bib, wet nap & toothpicks. Guests loved wearing their big white bibs and it gave the dinner such a fun atmosphere.

There were many kids there, so we rented a mini children’s table and Meg made centerpieces full of games and arts & crafts activities:

We set up the cake in front of the ceremony gazebo and as it got dark, the hanging mason jars glowed beautifully, along with the extra jar-filled candles we placed all around the cake.

For favors, guests were treated to homemade popcorn balls, caramel apples and chocolate covered pretzel sticks. We arranged them in apple baskets and accented with a cute sign saying, “Delicious”:

Meg made these cute tags for each of the favors:

One thing that Shawn knew he wanted from the very beginning of the planning was a custom gobo light of their monogram (designed by Posh Paperie). The old water tower made a great backdrop for it and it glowed above the head table all night long:

It was quite a party, with guests dancing all night long while mason jar candles glowed from the trees and the fencing all around the venue and market lights hung overhead.

Their photographer, Brittany Keene, set up a photobooth inside the barn for guests to take photos during the night. We even jumped in for a little fun (nevermind the fact that we all look about 15!)

Meg & Shawn: You know what a joy it was for me to guide you through this process- getting to laugh together, almost cry together and getting to know each other better along the way. Thank you for trusting me with your vision and your wedding day. Love you two!

To hear more about Meg & Shawn’s wedding, including an interview with Meg, you can check out this post from the Southern Weddings blog, as they featured their wedding last week. Thanks guys!

The vendor team:

*Venue: Newland House and Barn

*Photography: Brittany Keene

*Floral Design: The Treasured Petal

*Event Design and Planning: Joyful Weddings & Events

*Rentals: Classic Party Rentals

*Caterer: Richard Jones Pit BBQ

*Invitations: Posh Paperie

*DJ: Sandeep Kumar

*All paper details we created can be ordered through our etsy shop: www.joyfuljoyful.etsy.com

*Officiant: Reverend Bruce Danzara

*Cake: French’s Bakery

Meg and Shawn’s Huntington Beach Rustic Barn Wedding: Part One

courtney.toney — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:59:03 +0000

When Meg and Shawn first started describing what they envisioned for their wedding, I knew the outcome would be charming. Meg had always loved the movie “Steel Magnolias” and wanted to pull from that for their wedding inspiration: an outdoor, comfortable wedding with rustic and vintage touches. She wanted it to feel like an elegant backyard party from a simpler time with 200 close friends. Another must that Meg and Shawn had their minds set on: delicious southern BBQ food.

We knew right away that the Newland House and Barn in Huntington Beach would be a perfect fit for their wedding. The city property has a historic house, a vintage water tower and a red barn- it definitely feels like it belongs outside of Southern California and in a different time period. All photos by Brittany Keene, unless otherwise noted.

One thing that made this wedding extra special is that Meg is my cousin. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Posh Paperie created the adorable invitations and then Meg made the inner envelopes out of doilies- how cute is that?

Kristin with The Treasured Petal did a beautiful job with the florals:

Meg created this sign to direct guests to the entrance. I love setting the tone of the wedding from the very first detail that guests see.

Guests wrote words of wisdom and encouragement for the couple upon arrival and were given bubbles to use for the couple’s exit from the ceremony.

photo above by The Treasured Petal

The ceremony took place in the gazebo on the property and was sweet and heartfelt. Reverend Bruce Danzara always does such a nice ceremony!

The two photos above by The Treasured Petal

The arch that Kristin created was beautiful! To give it a more country feel, we envisioned hanging mason jars with candles from the florals and it turned out beautifully!

Mason jar arrangements were hung on the chairs as well:

The photo above by The Treasured Petal

Check back tomorrow for photos from their reception!

Lisa Leonard Giveaway ends today!

courtney.toney — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:34:24 +0000

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

My day started off well, seeing that Megan & Jason’s wedding featured on Style Me Pretty. Swing by and take a look!

Also, don’t forget to enter our Lisa Leonard pewter heart giveaway. I will be randomly selecting the two winners at the end of the day.

A closer look at Megan & Dom’s San Clemente wedding

courtney.toney — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:10:05 +0000

A while back, I shared Megan & Dom’s cute green and black wedding, which Darcie coordinated at Ole Hansen Beach Club in San Clemente. Today their wedding is featured on Inspired By This, a great blog run by the ladies at Be Inspired Pr. Looking at the feature made me realize that there is a lot more cuteness to share with you, courtesy of Gabriel Ryan Photographers.

The vendor team:

*Venue: Ole Hansen Beach Club

*Florist: Megan’s Garden (Tara was also the mother of the bride!)

*Photo: Gabriel Ryan

*Catering: Jay’s & a Taco man

*Paper Goods: Dom Macaluso (the groom)

*Cake: The bride’s aunt

*Cupcakes: Frosted Cupcakery

*Ceremony benches: Available for rent through Megan’s Garden

*Lanterns: Purchased through us

Sneak peak of Jessica Claire’s Workshop

courtney.toney — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:51:13 +0000

On Tuesday, Carissa of JL Designs and I had the opportunity to design a wedding shoot for Jessica Claire’s workshop. It was so fun to see our ideas come to life and then to see the photographers capture it all. We had complete freedom to dream up whatever decor we wanted and our modern, graphic black, white and turquoise design scheme was fun, fresh and beautiful.

The pictures from the workshop attendees are starting to pop up and I cannot wait to share them all with you. In the meantime, here is a sneak peak from Jessica:

You may recognize the little guy… my son Isaiah had his first modeling job! Sean and Brianne Walker were our bride and groom models for the day- aren’t they gorgeous?

The ring bearer Yay! flag I made is now available for sale in my etsy shop. We can also make custom styles.

Stay tuned for all of the details from the workshop. We had an amazing team of vendors and etsy artists involved and I am excited to highlight them all for you.

Kelsey and Carl’s wedding featured on Style Me Pretty

courtney.toney — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:04:59 +0000

Happy Monday! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Exciting news today! Kelsey and Carl’s gorgeous wedding is featured today on Style Me Pretty. You can check it out here. I have not posted photos from the wedding yet, so hop on over and see all of the feminine loveliness. I will be posting more photos in the coming weeks.

In other exciting news, Carissa of JL Designs and I are styling Jessica Claire’s workshop, which takes place tomorrow. I am so excited to see our vision come to life. Here is a sneak peak at a little inspiration:

photo from Design*Sponge