Alix & Shawn were married in the Natural History Museum Los Angeles, and it was this unusual venue choice that really shaped their day. “Our wedding was a combination of historical vintage and handmade, ” the bride told me. “The Museum set the stage to transport our guests to a different time and space altogether. They were surrounded by dinosaur bones, wild animal dioramas and a beautiful historic marble building.”
“We encouraged vintage attire and had a range of time periods from the 1920’s even up till the nineties. I had my dress made and based the design on a modernized frontier style with lots of ruffles and lace. Since it was pouring on the day, I also wore a black velvet cape I made long ago. All my bridesmaids wore black dressed of their choosing, with more ruffles and lace. The groomsmen stuck with the historical theme and wore long frock coats. Shawn also had his suit jacket custom made.”
“Since the museum itself is so beautiful, we went simple on the decor, using a combination of glass jars, succulents, vintage hardware and photographs. For invitations, I made little books filled with images animals from Victorian prints that told the story of Shawn and I. I also sewed little stuffed animals for all our guests as gifts. It took months, but was so satisfying to see how much people loved them. It felt so much more meaningful to give people something that I had really cared about rather than a little trinket they would just throw away.”
“Shawn and I are both vegan and it was really important to us to have a completely vegan wedding. Our caterer was awesome and made some really amazing dishes that were complimented on by many of our non-vegan guests. Also, I made 8 vegan cakes with help from some friends the day before the wedding. When I told people I was going to make the cakes myself, so many people, family included thought it was a crazy idea, but it was one of the most enjoyable parts of all the wedding preparations. Not to mention, all the cake was eaten, with many guest having 2 or 3 (or 5) slices. Keeping everything vegan also meant we had our clothes custom made so they weren’t made of silk or wool.”
“Our wedding was Rock n Roll because we just went all out. We didn’t hold anything back or worry about what people would think. We handcrafted everything to be the most fun we could think of an didn’t pay any mind to whether that was the way people thought it was supposed to be. It’s not that we ignored tradition, but we made tradition our own. We were married in front of taxidermied elephants! We got married and then had a mondo dance party. I think any wedding that ends with shirtless men dancing is pretty damn Rock n Roll.”
Beautiful! Thanks so much to Alix & Shawn for sharing their fabulous wedding with us today.
