And now for something totally different… a brunch wedding! In honor of their favorite meal, Lindsey, a registered dietitian, and Justin, a CPA, held their Jewish wedding in the early afternoon, welcoming guests with frozen mimosas and Bloody Marys during a pre-ceremony cocktail hour – where the bride and groom mingled with their guests, followed by the ceremony and then a family-style lunch.
The laid-back couple wanted their day to feel “like we were all just getting together and it happened to be a wedding,” and weren’t afraid to do things a little differently to make it happen. They also kept their planning low key by wisely choosing to delegate things that weren’t so important to them. Lindsey’s mom took charge of invitation design, and the couple left the chuppah design to their florist.
Photographer Kelsey Albright captured all the details of this fun-filled day – for instance, dietitian Lindsey opted to include vegetables in her bouquet, and the couple sourced their gorgeous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Ketubah.com – so wonderfully. Now over to the bride, who looked luminous in her bridal separates from BHLDN…
How we met
Lindsey, the bride: We met through mutual friends (Evan and Erica). Evan was Justin’s frat brother at UC Davis and Erica was my friend from elementary school. Evan and Erica were dating (and are now married). Evan was starting law school at the time and had a party at his place, so Erica invited me. Justin had approached me and we hit it off back in 2010!
An Intimate Wedding
We got married at Madera Kitchen. We selected this venue because we knew that we wanted to have a small intimate wedding. We were looking for different restaurant options in Los Angeles and Madera seemed to be perfect since it had enough space to hold the ceremony and reception. It was also important to me to not overcomplicate the whole wedding planning and Madera felt like a one-stop shop where Jen helped take care of everything!
Brunch Wedding
The way we made our wedding about us was by selecting things that we liked and not worrying about what was normal/traditional. The theme/color scheme initially came from the shoes I found and then my mom worked with the florist.
From the very beginning I wanted a laid back wedding and I wanted it to be a brunch wedding since that was our favorite meal. We used Jen Laskey of Red Light Special Events as our coordinator and she was great and very understanding of the vision that we had.
I think the most unique thing we did was having the cocktail hour first and also having a brunch/day time wedding. We served frozen mimosas and Bloody Marys just as the guests arrived, so I think that it set the tone for a different type of wedding. I wanted the day to feel like we were all just getting together and it happened to be a wedding.
Invitation
Honestly, the invitation was a total surprise to us. My mom was very excited about specific design elements of the wedding, one being the invitation, so I gave her the freedom to select the design. Before completing the order, she sent us the proof for approval and we agreed!
Hair + Makeup
Rachel Pagan (CoLab Beauty Group) did my makeup. She was a family friend who was invited to the wedding. I gave her free rein to do whatever she wanted. The overall goal was for me to look natural and feel comfortable. Amanda Ryan (CoLab Beauty Group) did my hair and the style came from a Pinterest post. She nailed it!
A BHLDN Dress
My dress was actually 3 different pieces (skirt, cami, and lace topper) and all pieces were from BHLDN. The lace topper had a cap sleeve which is what immediately drew me to the entire look. Also, since this was a day wedding, I didn’t want anything too over the top, so it was fairly simple, which is why I felt so comfortable in it.
Accessories
I wore some stud earrings that I got from BHLDN and wore a bracelet that I borrowed from one of my good friends. Other then that I had no hair accessories or a veil. Having a veil or tiara felt very formal to me, and again I was looking for something laid back for the day time.
Colorful Shoes
I found short blue/grey heels online that I ordered. I was mainly looking for comfort and a small pop of color for my shoes. I actually think finding them inspired the colors for the flowers.
The handsome groom
Justin’s suit and shirt came from Bonobos and I can’t remember where his shoes and tie came from. He selected blue since it worked well with the blue/grey shoes I had selected.
No bridesmaids
I had 2 of my closest friends with me while I was getting ready and then had close family walk down the aisle during the ceremony.
A Simple Chuppah
In speaking with the rabbi we knew that we wanted to include our tallits from our bar/bat mitzvahs. Other than that, I let our florist do whatever she wanted.
Ceremony
At the top of the chuppah we had both of our tallits from our bar/bat mitzvahs. We also used Justin’s grandfathers tallit to have our parents wrap us in. This tallit was significant because Justin’s grandfather received this at his bar mitzvah and then passed it along to Justin at his bar mitzvah.
Ketubah
Our ketubah was one we selected because we both agreed on the design and the colors worked well with our color theme. The original artwork was Michelle Rummel.
Our music choice
We had all different types of music, oldies, classic wedding songs and more contemporary music. Processional song was ‘Heartbeats’ – Jose Gonzalez, recessional song was ‘Just the Way You Are’ – Bruno Mars, first dance song was ‘Stay With You’ – John Legend.
Veggie Bouquet
Our florist was Going Steady Studios and she was amazing!!! We selected her because we loved her unique designs. For work, I am a dietitian and a huge foodie, so I really liked the idea of putting vegetables into my bouquet. I requested artichoke, kale, and cotton to be in my bouquet. I found a bouquet on Pinterest with a similar color scheme and other than that I allowed the florist to do whatever she wanted. My mom selected specific vases that she liked and I believe the blooms that she chose were basically things that were in season at that time.
Photographer
My photographer was Kelsey Albright and she was also amazing!!! A friend of mine used her at her wedding venue that had a similar look to Madera’s where there was a lot of green hanging plants and it was inside/outside feel. I thought she did a great job on her pictures so I chose her. Justin and I also felt super comfortable around her which made it so much easier to be in front of the camera.
No cake!
I actually don’t like cake, so I loved the idea of doing churros at Madera since it was something different and unique.
Entertainment
The wedding was small and I wanted to do something a little different so we had our cocktail hour first where Justin and I mingled with our guests before the ceremony. Everyone had a few drinks in them and then we had the ceremony. After the ceremony we all mingled a little bit more and sat down for family style lunch. We didn’t have a rehearsal dinner so we had 5 speeches, a first dance and then dessert.
Honoring Justin’s mom
Justin’s mom passed away before I had met him so we really wanted to honor her throughout the wedding. We chose to include her name on our invitation, as well as have a memorial table for her, and she was mentioned in our ceremony.
Speeches
We had our dads, siblings, and 2 of my good friends give speeches. Our immediate family walked down the aisle as the bridal party. Justin’s 2 nephews walked down the aisle as well with signs that said “Uncle Justin”,”Your bride is coming.”
Justin and I met through our mutual friends, who all went to UC Davis, so it seemed fitting that our rabbi was a fraternity brother of Justin’s at UC Davis. We included our mutual friends (who are now married) in different parts of our wedding, one signed the ketubah and another said a speech.
Honeymoon in Hawaii
After our wedding we went on a honeymoon to Maui and stayed at the Andaz. We both wanted a relaxing honeymoon, and neither of us had ever been to Hawaii so it was a perfect destination. Our friends recommended the Andaz which was absolutely amazing! It was super easy to book the hotel, rental car, and flight through Costco!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My advice would be to only do the things that you really want to do. Just because everyone else is doing things and it seems to be the norm, that doesn’t mean you HAVE TO do them. At the end of the day, this is supposed to be about you and your significant other and you should only do the things that make you guys comfortable.
Lindsey & Justin’s little white book
Photography – Kelsey Albright
Ketubah – Michelle Rummel purchased at Ketubah.com {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Planner – Red Light Special Events
Venue – Madera Kitchen
Bride’s dress and accessories – BHLDN
Groom’s attire – Bonobos
Hair + Makeup – CoLab Beauty Group
Flowers – Going Steady Studios
Honeymoon – at Andaz
Thank you so much for featuring our beautiful couple! We loved being a part of their magical day!
We are beyond thrilled to see our client, Madera Kitchen featured for this gorgeous celebration! Bravo!