An Amsale Gown and Bridesmaids in Black for an Understated and Elegant Californian Wedding

Happy May Bank holiday readers.  I hope you have lovely things planned for your long weekend? Whatever you’re doing, be sure to make time for today’s beautiful American wedding, set in a stunning Californian park.  Meet Graham and Lauren, who met in high school and married ten years later on the 8th of October 2016 at Park Winters in Winters, California.  The day was photographed by Jean-Laurent Gaudy and planned by Sara Renfro of With Grace and Love.

“We were most inspired by simple, clean designs.  Our personal style is best described as natural, down to earth and understated and we wanted our wedding to reflect who we are. The natural setting and venue lent itself to neutrals and organic tones and we prefer the simple elegance of plant materials and olive/sage greens to fussy flowers.  We were attracted to softness, textures and matte surfaces.”

Photography by Jean-Laurent Gaudy

Lauren looked fabulous in a simple but very chic gown with mesh back by Amsale, which she purchased from the New York store.  I adore the clean lines and the buttons all the way down the back on the skirt. The gorgeous cathedral length veil was also by Amsale.

“My friend used to be the creative director of Martha Stewart Weddings and she set up appointments in New York for me.  After an entire day of fittings I slipped this dress on and it felt so right. I had the crystals removed on the back and added buttons. I’m not a girly girl or into frills, but I loved the feminine details of the silk flowers on the veil.  I felt like it added dimension to the whole thing.” 

The couple chose Park Winters because of the beautiful barn and details while Graham was excited about being able to sleep the entire wedding party within the compound.  They both loved that it was close to family and I love how incredibly beautiful it all is.

On her feet, Lauren wore heels by Chanel, while for jewellery she kept it very simple with a pair of diamond earrings which she borrowed from her mother in law.

Makeup was by Jennier Haupt at I Make Beautiful, while hair styling was the work of Sam Vilaysak.

“Graham’s favourite part of the day was the first look, something he was totally against until Jean-Laurent convinced him.”

“It was so emotional, but the perfect moment to let everything out and be together before all the hustle and bustle began.”

Graham walked down the aisle with his Mom and Dad to ‘Coming Home’ by Leon Bridges and Lauren followed with her Dad to ‘Sea of Love’ by Cat Power.  The couple’s French bulldog Oliver came last and brought down the rings.

Graham’s cousin led the ceremony, giving a custom speech, and the newlyweds exchanged rings, which were custom made at Personal Touch Jewellery in Downtown, LA.

The bridesmaids looked extremely elegant in black dress from Zimmerman, worn with their own shoes, while Graham looked very smart in a suit from David Augustine, worn with a tie from Pocket Square Clothing.  I always like bridesmaids in black– its a very smart look.

Today’s fabulously elegant images are the work of Jean-Laurent Gaudy, a French photographer who grew up in Paris and is now based in New York- how cool is that?

“When we got engaged the first thing we started researching was a photographer, even before we found the venue.  Graham has a passion for photography and my sister is a photographer so our sights were set very high. We agreed that we didn’t want any kind of staged photography and we were more interested in the journalistic style.  When my sister Sarah sent us a link to Jean-Laurent’s work we instantly knew he was our guy.”

“Graham loves photography, so he bought each of his groomsmen a film rangefinder camera and a roll of black and white Kodak Tri-X to document the event from their perspective.”

The gorgeous florals were the work of Aubriana Kasper of The Bloomery Co.

“I spent weeks pulling imagery together and making inspiration sets.  I was mostly drawn to mixed greens such as olive, eucalyptus and bay with pops of randomly placed unique white flowers.  The colors and textures spoke for themselves – soft and romantic, but not overtly feminine.”

 “My favourite part of the day were the speeches given by family and friends.  During the best man’s speech, Spencer and Graham were given microphones and sang their own versions of ‘These Eyes’ by The Guess Who, which brings me to my only regret- not hiring a videographer.  Jean-Laurent was sweet enough to take some video for us, but the serenade was not captured on video.  It will just have to live on in our memories.”

Catering was the work of the team at Park Winters, while the main wedding cake was by Susie Cakes.

“We both love sweets so we sourced desserts from the best bakeries in San Francisco as I was determined to create a beautifully styled dessert table to incorporate all of our guilty pleasures. We selected a variety of desserts, anchored by our favorite funfetti cake from Susie Cakes, with their trademark mint green frosting swapped for classic white and decorating with olive leaves around the base.”

“Other desserts included coconut cake, carrot cake, classic chocolate chip cookies, brownies, fruit tarts, macaroons, pecan pie, 7 layer bars, cupcakes and Graham’s favorite candy -Smartees.  Additionally, tucked on the side of the barn was a ‘make your own’ S’mores station at the firepit, with graham crackers, marshmallows and speciality dark chocolate bars.”

Evening entertainment was provided by Boutique DJs and the couple enjoyed their first married dance to ‘Bushwick Blues’ by Delta Spirit.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Even if you are a perfectionist (like I am) or you have an amazing coordinator (like we did) something is bound to go wrong- it’s inevitable in event planning!  My best advice is go into your wedding day with an open mind.  I told myself over and over, ‘no matter what goes wrong do not let it affect you’. Have fun and drink it all in because the day goes by in the blink of an eye.”

So many thanks to Lauren and Graham for sharing their beautiful day, and to Jean Laurent for sharing his work.  Take a peek here for another wedding photographed by Jean Laurent and here for some more fabulous US weddings.

Much love,

Shona x