Really NOW: Prudens and Conrad!

What can be better than a July 4th wedding practically on the water in Los Angeles?? Anything that ends in a [literal, firework] bang is my cup of tea!! Prudens and Conrad not only had an incredibly warm and loving event, they incorporated her culture, Assyrian, and their personalities into the event as well. Prudens had each detail down specifically and her D-I-Y projects would make anyone dizzy with perfection. And that’s just on paper. In person, this couple is the epitome of grace, style, and courtesy! Let’s start with a snap of her invitations:

A quick pre-ceremony snap of Conrad provided by the stunningly talented Mike and Emi of Evoke Photography!!

In Prudens’s culture, all of the bride’s family meets up with the bride at her parent’s home BEFORE the ceremony. They drink and mingle and spend time before escorting her, as a group, to the church to “give her away”. I LOVED having 10 to 15 cars arriving in a caravan all together to escort her to the church and get married!!

Stolen moments during ceremonies are a way to melt anyone’s heart, right???

And some portraits outside of St. Bernadine of Sienna, before heading over to the Marriott Marina Del Rey for the reception extravaganza!!

Her amazing flowers were from the masterminds at The Enchanted Florist. They were truly enchanted!!

The cocktail hour was fantastic! If you’ve never been to this hotel, I’ll fill you in! The ballroom is the top story of the hotel, with windows on 3 of the 4 sides. There’s a patio outside that wraps around the entire length of the ballroom- that is where our cocktail hour was, as well as the private lobby on the top floor. Truly unspeakable!! Here is some of Prudens’s handiwork:

I know, I know. The centerpieces are great! But more than that, I LOVE how the hotel keeps the ballroom “closed” by having the windows covered. They keep it this way until the grand entrance, when all the shades all ALL of the windows raise at the push of a button, as the bride and groom are making their way in! What an impact!!

Half tall centerpieces, half short- a very popular idea for the modern bride! Here you can also see her paper details- table numbers and menu cards. Her chocolate taffeta linens were spectacular!

Fabulous around-the-property portraits:

She is stunning through and through!! And now, onto the grand entrance! Here’s the story: culturally, the groom’s family [women, mainly] would wave scarfs with beads on them as the bride makes her grand entrance, as a way to welcome her into the family. They all get up, gather round, and dance with the newly married couple. Well, since Conrad isn’t of the culture, Prudens’ family took it upon themselves, all having these amazing scarves with beads that rattled and really made it a GRAND entrance. Not only that, but one song of dancing quickly turned into 3 or for and the dance floor was packed with so many of the guests involved in this tradition! Truly amazing!!

Torrance Bakery provided the cake [which I had to end up affixing the fresh orchids to! Talk about nerve racking!!], which was delicious in taste and look!!

Of course, the post-cake-cutting kiss is necessary!! Here you can see that Pru and Con didn’t go for the traditional toasting glasses. Instead, they had their own martini crystal glasses that were perfectly them!!

And around 9:30pm, guests gathered onto the wrap around patios to watch the fireworks from about 15 different cities in Los Angeles. It was truly breath-taking!

If you’re interested in seeing more of Prudens and Conrad, their details, their traditions, and their decor, visit MY BLOG of them because I think I took a gazillion pictures that night!!

It’s almost Friday and, at that, ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

xoxo!
A. Auer