Thursday, March 7, 2013

As seen on Brides.Com 

A Garden Wedding at California's Montecito Country Club

Kinsey and Charles' love story is like something out of a movie, which is no surprise, considering this Los Angeles couple works as actors. Their romantic relationship began on Valentine's with a unexpectedly passionate kiss against the wall of the Stone Rose Lounge at the Sofitel Hotel. Years later, as the couple planned their summer wedding in Santa Barbara, they engraved the memory in Charles' ring with the words The Stone Rose Kiss.
A shared love of Spanish architecture led the couple to Montecito Country Club, which mixes "old-world Spanish charm and contemporary class and style," Kinsey says. Here, they knew they could host the wedding they'd always imagined: One that was "intimate, with only our most beloved family and friends, but also a good party," the bride says.
Kinsey was confident she'd fall for a lace Monique Lhuillier gown—but when she set her eyes on a Pronovias dress with a beaded-bodice applique and asymmetrical skirt, "it was love at first sight," she says.
The bride added vintage crystal brooches to a French tulle birdcage veil.
Fluffy garden roses, gardenias, Phalaenopsis orchids and cymbidiums made up Kinsey's all-white bouquet, which was tied with pearls and white satin ribbon.
Charles added drama to his Hugo Boss tuxedo with a velvet bow tie by Tom Ford.
Kinsey's bridesmaids wore charcoal-colored Jim Hjelm floor-length sheaths, and carried white roses and orchids tied in gray satin ribbon.
Three flower girls—Charles' two-year-old niece and namesake, Charly, and her cousins Josie and Lilah—donned sleeveless satin dresses and hair wreathes made of white roses.
Kinsey's father constructed the wood arbor under which the couple exchanged their vows, using beams from a favorite family campground. Around the wood, Nico Cervantes wrapped jasmine and honeysuckle vines adorned with roses, hydrangea, orchids, lisianthus and lilies.
As the elder girls led the way down the aisle, tossing pink rose petals from birch baskets, Charly tottered down the aisle until a wayward glance from the couple's cameraman stopped her in her tracks. "She glanced at the cameraman suspiciously and then headed the opposite direction in tears," Kinsey recalls. "It was sweet, beyond innocent and sent a roar of appreciative and understanding laughter through the guests."
A family friend and pastor officiated the couple's ceremony. Kinsey and Charles wrote their own vows.
The couple asked each of their parents to participate in the service. Kinsey's mother read a poem she wrote for the occasion, while Charles' mother and father read Scripture.
When guests went indoors for the reception, they found a distressed vintage vanity topped with escort and wish cards, and stuffed with cream-colored roses.
Escort cards were placed in wooden boxes with horseshoes for handles.
Each card—handpainted in hues of green and brown and ties with Italian ribbon—had a personal note from the couple on the backside.
For their guestbook, Kinsey and Charles asked guests to fill out wish cards with hopes for their marriage. The cards were hand-stamped and purchased on Etsy.
Kinsey and Charles were seated at a sweetheart table, which was topped with an orchid and moss centerpiece and dozens of votive candles, for the reception inside the club.
Beneath the vaulted wood ceilings of Montecito Country Club's ballroom, guests sat at tables covered in cream-colored linens. Palm trees wrapped in moss hugged the walls.
Cream flowers—including roses, hydrangea, lisianthus, cymbidium and Phalaenopsis orchids—made up the centerpieces, which were arranged at varying heights "to give a tapered look" from table to table, Kinsey says.
Painted Mr. and Mrs. signs hung from the couple's Chiavari chairs.
"Our cake was a piece of art," Kinsey says of the couple's vanilla sponge cake layered with meringue buttercream and decorated with Swiss dots and lace.
The couple reached their getaway car through a tunnel of sparklers waved by guests. "I really feel like we lived each second of that day," Kinsey says. "We didn't take anything for granted. We remember everything. We cherish everything. It's a day we will never forget and we wish we could keep reliving over and over."
—Jillian Kramer
Wedding Planner: Soleil Events || Ceremony Venue: Montecito Country Club || Reception Venue: Montecito Country Club || Bride's Wedding Dress: Pronovias || Bride's Veil: Panache Bridal Beverly Hills || Bride's Shoes: Jimmy Choo || Bride's Wedding Ring: Philip Press || Groom's Tux: Hugo Boss || Groom's Shoes: Name || Groom's Wedding Ring: Philip Press || Bridesmaids' Dresses: Jim Hjelm || Groomsmen Attire: JoS. A. Bank || Flower Girl Dress: David's Bridal || Florist: Nico Cervantes || Caterer: Montecito Country Club || Stationery: By Tanja || Calligraphy: 2 Hearts B1 || Cake Baker: Robyn Loves Cakes || Favors: Harry Patton Horseshoeing Supplies || Rentals: Classic Party Rentals || Entertainment: Audible Artists || Videography: Lightfield Lewis || Photography: Melissa Musgrove Photography

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