Good afternoon wonderful ones – I’m taking you on a little trip over to California this afternoon for the laid back and lovely wedding of special effects makeup artist Christina to musician Anthony. The couple tied the knot on 26 April 2014 at Las Flores Ranch House on Camp Pendleton in California. I love the whole vibe of this day – relaxed and fuss free with a fabulous hint of 70’s fashion. Christina’s dress was a bespoke creation made by her close friend Alyson Wegner, a skilled costume designer also based in California. I love how it oozes sexy studio 54 appeal.
The wedding day itself was hugely inspired by the venue as well as the couple’s mutual love of music.
“The grounds surrounding the Las Flores Ranch House speak to a time on the California coast before all of the major development. There is a lot of history associated with the site dating back to the Native Americans, the Franciscan Monks who made wine here, cattle ranchers, lima bean farmers, boy scouts, US military and so on. The Ranch House itself was initially built as a wedding present to the son of John Forester. It is a very special place and we are truly grateful to have celebrated there with our loved ones.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, John Newsome
“Anthony and I met working at a small family owned and operated Italian restaurant and connected over our shared interest in Book Arts and Print-making. Anthony also worked at a small letterpress called Bay Park Press where we hand‐printed our Save the Dates as well as an edition of 200 signed prints as wedding favours for our guests.”
“I was lucky enough to have a dear friend make my dress. Alyson Wegner had recently moved back to California from New York City after finishing her studies at Parsons The New School for Design. It was just the right timing because she was just getting settled and luckily for me she hadn’t started working yet, and still had time to dedicate to my dress.”
“When we first talked about the idea of her making my dress, we thought of finding a dress at a vintage shop and re‐purposing it. Then as we brainstormed further, we decided to just make the dress from scratch.
Some of my favorite memories of planning the wedding will forever be spending time with Alyson and sketching out designs and having fittings and seeing the dress come to life.”
“Alyson is a true friend and a true talent. She made the most perfect dress for me and I have never been more honoured to wear a work of art made by a dear friend. I will always cherish her and my dress. I told Alyson that I wanted a simple silhouette with sleeves and an open back. She definitely delivered. I love how classic the dress turned out.
It fit me perfectly and Alyson literally sewed me into the dress on the day of the wedding.”
“I made my own veil with silk tulle I bought in New York while visiting Alyson in her last semester at Parsons. The tulle was incredibly delicate and flowed beautifully in the wind at the ceremony. I used silver chain to build a head band and sewed the tulle to the back portion of the band.
I must admit, I’m a bit of a procrastinator and did this the night before the wedding! Luck was on my side and it turned out perfectly.”
“Our photographer John Newsome was so amazing and took the most lovely photos to tell the story of our special day. I love his style of photography because it is very clean and his point of view captures really unique moments without a lot of distraction. He has an eye to see special moments and seemed to always be in the right spot at the right time.
Photography for us was one of the most important aspects of the wedding. As time goes by and the details of the event fade, the moments your photographer captures become the inspiration to spark memories. I was so grateful for the work John did and will always cherish his images of our wedding.”
“One of the great features of the space is the barn, where we set up the stage for live music. Most of our friends are in the music industry so we were very lucky to have Extra Classic, a San Francisco based band, perform for our guests. Another defining aspect of the venue is the fact that it is a campground.
More than 80 of our guests set up tents and RVs and celebrated late into the evening with us and shared a very memorable breakfast the next morning. The Las Flores Ranch House was definitely the inspiration for our wedding and will always be a dear place to us.”
“Forrest Harrop is a dear friend who helped coordinate the flowers. We chose to use living California Poppy plants to fit the landscape and add a pop of color to the tables. Other that that I wanted mostly candles to set the atmosphere.”
“As a professional makeup artist, I did my own hair and makeup for my wedding. I am a makeup artist and perfectionist, so I didn’t want to burden anyone else with the task of doing my makeup. Also, applying makeup to me is therapeutic and helped me stay calm and focused on the morning of the wedding. I was also able to give myself some extra facial treatments to help perfect my skin for the day.
Some of the products I can recommend that really made a difference for bridal makeup are the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (photographs beautifully), Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick (matte red lip‐stain that doesn’t transfer or dry out lips), Glam Glow Mud Mask (helps shrink pores and illuminates dull skin).”
“My mother gave me a family heirloom to wear. It was a beautiful bracelet that my grandmother originally bought in Italy over 50 years ago. It was a multi‐strand bracelet with rose gold, 24 karat gold, and platinum beads. I also wore diamond stud earing that my mother also gave me when I graduated from college.”
“My dad walked me down the aisle. I was very happy to have such a long walk across the field towards the ceremony. Both my dad and I were very emotional, so it was very nice to have some walking time to try to compose ourselves as we neared the ceremony. The whole day can fly by in a blink, so that moment my dad and I shared walking through the field was very memorable and calming.”
“We were accompanied by the sound of ‘Sleepwalk’, by Santo and Johnny. We picked this song because it is so romantic and also we had a feeling the name would be perfect for that moment that can seem almost surreal, walking down the aisle towards your true love. The song also has such and California vibe.
We both walked out of the ceremony to the recessional song ‘May I Baby’ by Sam and Dave. The lyrics go: ‘May I baby, walk you home, because I don’t want you to be all alone…’. These lyrics played perfectly with the theme of the ceremony songs. We walked off into the back of the field to this song and had a moment in the sunset with our guests cheering in the background. That is a moment I will always cherish.”
“The ceremony was definitely very special. While the guests arrived we had two friends playing acoustic guitar which seemed to excite all the little swallows nearby. There were tons of these small birds flying in a swarm directly over the ceremony site just before sunset.
Walking across the field with my dad was very special and helped me gather myself before we reached the crowd of people. I will always remember the lighting of that moment too. Everything seemed like it was washed in gold. Anthony played the guitar and sang an original song to me during the ceremony. It was all very special and full of love. I will always remember those moments.”
“My best friend, Lily Fife, performed the ceremony. We held to pretty traditional ceremony and vows. Lily did elaborate on an ancient Chinese proverb dealing with love and how to live in community with others. It was a very special visualisation for a wedding because we all soon would share a meal together and feed each other and celebrated love. The proverb goes something like this:
‘A very old man knew that he was going to die very soon. Before he died he wanted to know what heaven and hell were like, so he visited the wise man in his village. ‘Can you please tell me what heaven and hell are like?’ he asked the wise man. ‘Come with me and I will show you’, the wise man replied.
The two men walked down a long path until they came to a large house. The wise man took the old man inside, and there they found a large dining room with enormous table covered with every kind of food imaginable. Around the table were many people, all thin and hungry, who were holding twelve-foot chopsticks. Every time they tried to feed themselves the food fell off the chopsticks.
The old man said to the wise man, ‘Surely this must be hell. Will you now show me heaven?’ The wise man said, ‘Yes, come with me.’ The two men left the house and walked farther down the path until they reached another large house. Again they found a large dining room and in it a table filled with all kinds of food. The people here were happy and appeared well fed, but they also held twelve-foot chopsticks. ‘How can this be?’ said the old man. ‘These people have twelve-foot chopsticks and yet they are happy and well fed. The wise man replied, ‘In heaven the people feed each other.'”
“Anthony custom designed my engagement ring using a family diamond and 18k gold. I love the simplicity of the setting and our wedding bands are just classic simple bands that match perfectly.”
“We made blockprint posters for our guests as favors. Anthony sketched and hand‐cut the design into a linoleum block. We then printed the block at Bay Park Press on the Vandercook I with the CA poppy orange on Fabriano paper. The sketch was of the Las Flores Ranch House and made a great personalized favor for our
guests. We also framed the prints for our immediate family and friends who gave extra help with the planning and execution of the wedding.”
“I collected most of the décor at thrift stores and flea markets. I used pressed glass plates as serving platters for the desserts and mix matched brass candlesticks. I also found tapestries to hang on the wall as a backdrop for the stage. I also bought the wood “stumps” from a Christmas tree lot for super cheap (they called them “Christmas tree butts”).
All the candles and glass hurricanes were also collected at thrift stores.”
“We hired San Diego Taco Co. to proved the catering – this taco truck company is the best! They came and cooked the meat and made the tortillas on site. They also fried fresh chips to order and had the most tastey
watermelon and cactus juice! Our guests were very happy with the food.”
“We had a sort of potluck style dessert table. My mom is known for her delicious cheesecakes and Anthony’s mom is known for her yummy chocolate chip cookies. We had to have both of those desserts, of course. We also had an assortment of small pastries from an Italian bakery in San Diego called Café Zucchero, and our cake for cutting was the Ivoire Royale from Extraordinary Desserts.”
“Our first dance was to ‘Harvest Moon’, by Neil Young. When Anthony and I first started dating we would go to his house and listen to his vast collection of records (I mean like thousands of records!). I thought I loved music, but he was a different breed. I would mostly just let him entertain me with stories of bands from the 60s and 70s. He seemed to know everything! Once he asked me to put on a record and I asked if he had any Neil Young, specifically Harvest Moon.
I somehow picked one record he didn’t have. He had other Neil Young records, but this was the one he didn’t have. So that following Christmas I bought him that record and he said that was one of the early moments he remembers falling in love with me.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“I think the best advice is to try your hardest to let the little details go on the day of. We did almost everything ourselves with the help from friends and family. This made our wedding so personal and special, but the trade off is that it didn’t turn out exactly how I would have done things myself, but in the end, it all was so much better having friends and family involved.
Also, give yourself plenty of time to get ready with even more extra time to relax before the ceremony. I was rushing until the very last minute I had to walk down the aisle. I wish I had more time to sit and relax with my mom and close girlfriends before the ceremony. Once you do walk down the aisle…there is very little time to do anything, even go to the bathroom!”
It’s such a treat that we get to see and enjoy weddings like this, I LOVE how Love My Dress® connects me with a community of brides from all over the world, whose own weddings and ideas I know hugely inspired our readers. Many thanks to you both Christina and Anthony for taking time to share your beautiful story and to your photographer John Newsome for his generosity too.
California love. One day I will visit this beautiful place.
Love Annabel xx
Photographer – John Newsome
Venue – Las Flores Ranch House on Camp Pendleton in California
Wedding Dress – Alyson Wegner (bespoke)
Veil + headpiece – DIY
Brides Shoes – Calvin Klein
Grooms Suit – Ben Sherman
Florist – a friend
Entertainment – Extra Classic
Rings – Custom designed
Catering Company – San Diego Taco Co.
Stationery – DIY, using Bay Park Press + gotprint.com
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
Ohhh my this wedding is truly beautiful and the couple are so so amazing! You can really feel the love. X
I know, I love it too Noirin, I adore her bohemian style too.
Thank you for leaving a lovely comment,
Love Annabel xXx