Love in La La Land (aka our Engagement Photos!)

When Max and I were in Los Angeles for Thanksgiving, one of my closest friends, Desiree, surprised us with an engagement session as a wedding present! Desiree is a professional photographer and I used to help her with all of her photography projects in school when we were much younger, so this was extra special that she got to be the one to shoot this special time in our lives! We weren't sure exactly where we wanted to shoot them and we actually differed in our ideas at first. I thought it would be fun to shoot in front of all of the old trains at the Griffith Park Train Museum, but Max wanted to have LA as our backdrop, which actually ended up feeling very fitting since it's my hometown and where we first met. So, one dusky evening we met Desiree in the Hollywood Hills and found a few really beautiful spots in Runyon Canyon. Truth be told, I'd never actually been to this hiking trail until this session, and now I wish I had gone to it when I lived in Los Angeles. It has the prettiest views and isn't super uphill (or maybe it is later on, we didn't walk particularly far), but it was lovely. Fun fact: Did you know that Max is scared of snakes? That kept things really interesting whenever we\d have to step into the more jungle-y areas, haha.

On the subject of weddings, I can't believe our wedding is almost six months away! Time seems to be totally flying by now, and we've gotten mostly all of the big things done, like choosing and securing our venue(s), picking our vendors, sending out the wedding website and buying some decorations for the ceremony. But we still need to do some really important things: meet with the day-of coordinator to go over how our day will actually go at the reception site, meet with the chef to choose a menu, send the RSVP's out in February or March, and reserve our charter boat that we will have to shuttle people back and forth after the wedding, mainly. With Christmas being right around the corner, we won't be tackling much of this until the new year, but I already cannot wait. <3

Photos by Desiree Asher Photography

My Bridal Shower!

I'm so excited to finally share all of the photos from my bridal shower! It was held at the cutest mid century style restaurant called The Front Yard in Studio City, and it was everything I dreamed of and more. I celebrated with my mom, her cousin, and 14 of my closest friends, and I wish more than anything that I could go back in time and re-live it one more time!

THE FOOD
The food was beyond beautiful and delicious and everybody loved it! The staff was extremely accommodating and helpful and our main server's name was also Jenna, which made things extra fun.

THE DECOR

I knew once we had the venue picked out that I wanted all mid century typography for the party, and my friend Amber of Dixie & Twine TOTALLY knocked it out of the park with the cake topper and banner. I'm so obsessed with them and they turned out perfect! I also loved that the venue had such cool decor as it was, so I didn't have to decorate TOO too much. We found the flowers at Trader Joes, the vases at Target, and I found the "Bride to Be" banner in Sweden by Ginger Ray UK

THE DRESS!

I knew I wanted something rich in autumn colors and I definitely wanted to wear something early 60s inspired, so I worked with Unique Vintage to find the perfect dress and I am SO happy with how it turned out! I felt comfortable, and totally retro, which was just how I was hoping to look. I went to Drybar and chose the "Old Fashioned" style, and did my own makeup! The lipstick was the Everlasting Liquid Lipstick by Kat Von D (shade: Mother), and the mary jane block heels (which I've worn on my Instagram) are by Lulu Hun for Collectif Clothing.

THE BEST FRIENDS IN THE WORLD

Being 5,000+ miles away from my friends and family has proven to be really hard, so having them all gathered (aside from a small number who couldn't make it) in one place to celebrate my upcoming wedding was the best gift I could have ever asked for. My mom was also there along with her cousin, and we all had a great time. Many of my friends had already met, which made socializing really easy. I'm so lucky to have so many kind and warm hearted people in my life.

My mom is the best! She helped me organize the whole thing from finding the venue, to helping me make all the flower arrangements before guests arrived. Also, I love that we kind of matched!

CAKE CAKE CAKE!

It wouldn't be a perfect bridal shower with cake and mine was PERFECT! It was custom made for me by my parents' neighbor and it was pink ombré! The outside was buttercream, and the inside was vanilla champagne with layers of strawberry mousse and custard. I wish I had been able to try more than one slice, but I'm glad to at least have photos to look back on! He also baked us sugar cookies with our initials on them (which I may or may not have continued to snack on for days after the shower). My aunt (who wasn't able to be there) made everyone soaps to take home that looked and smelled like french macarons (you can see one in the second photo down towards the bottom!). You can find a link to order all of her yummy soaps and lotions HERE.

GIFTS AND GAMES

We ended the festivities with a quiz all about me and I got to open a mountain of generous and adorable gifts that I will treasure forever.

All in all, it was an amazing bridal shower and I'm still smiling from ear to ear. I hope you enjoyed seeing all of the photos and stay tuned because there's more to come including our recent engagement photo shoot! <3

Photos by Desiree Asher Photography + A Fashion Nerd