Looking for a Designer Wedding | Modern Chanel Inspired Wedding | OC LA SF Wedding Photo and Film Directors

Love, LOVE Chanel.

Passionately inspired by Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel Spring 2011 Collection and fashion show held at the Grand Palais, we couldn’t wait to create our luxurious wedding stylized shoot that would be based on iconic Chanel while contrasting it with modern day materials and textures.

The Spring 2011 fashion show itself was inspired by the monochrome ornamental garden and fountains from an early sixties film Last Year at Marienbad (a film in which the clothes were designed by Coco Chanel herself). The collection included tweed, feathered embroidery, chiffon florals, and a collage of jewels, lace and sequins.

We were really inspired by how the collection utilized new fabrics and textures as well as how everything had a feathered edge feel to it. Incorporating bold colors, a new and unique use of signature pearls along with the classic tweed accents set the tone for our modern chic Chanel inspired wedding shoot with an organic twist.

stylized elements
Embellishments or accents of tweed, feathers, pearls, flowers, ruffles, rosettes.

color palette
Pearlized shades of black and white accented with gunmetal grey, silver and pale pink.

bride fashion & jewelry

The bride’s attire took inspiration from the spring collection and thus included and reinvented the elements of tweed, feathered embroidery, chiffon florals, jewels and lace.

The bride wore a modern draped white strapless gown with ruffled rosettes gathered at the sweetheart bodice and cross at the pleated empire waist. Reminiscent of the collection, the dress was long and flowy, assymetrical and embellished. The contemporary gown was juxtaposed with Chanel’s signature tweed jacket – worn as a shawl.

As a nod to Coco Chanel’s affinity for pearls and high contrast color pairings, the look was completed with classic jewels — by layering a Chanel black pearl and pearl drop necklace as well as white pearl bracelets interlaced with black chiffon.

lovely bride hair & make-up

The bride wore a smoky shadow with a metallic liner to make her eyes pop. As an alternative to the traditional veil, our bride wore a custom-made black bowler hat adorned with a black silk trim, birdcage veil and cream chiffon flower. After the ceremony, she wears a beautifully handcrafted black lace headband embellished with a cream flower and accented with a black crystal flower button. The effect: luminous and lovely.

groom fashion

We kept the groom’s attire black and white and infused it with a bit of edge. We dressed our groom in a classic black tails tuxedo but had fun with wearing a tweed bow tie and a fresh white one. A bride can have a ceremony and reception dress – why can’t a groom have a ceremony and reception bow tie! The look was completed with an encrusted mixed metal wedding ring and the groom’s trousers tucked into a pair of black motorcycle boots.

glam floral & event decor

Contrasting glam with unexpected elements, the bride’s bouquet was the first creation from which the design of the event décor was based on. The bouquet was created using dried lotus pods, ostrich feathers, mesh and pearls. Similar elements were incorporated into the centerpieces and backdrop with a touch of fresh florals – pink roses, spray roses and peonies. Our tablescape utilized black button taffeta drapes, a silver charger and stemware. A mini silver frame of tweed surrounded by pearls and pink roses doubled as name card holders and favors. Our wall backdrop displayed large pink paper blooms, handmade by Joanna.

We wanted to design an event that was modern and elegant with a bit of edge. We did this by incorporating dry goods but also made it glam by infusing pearls – strung across the silver chivari chairs, richly dangling from the arrangements, luxuriously wrapped around the napkin and finished with a single blush pink rose.

It was important to us to use these elements because we wanted to show a different approach to everyday items as well show that one can reuse various components to promote sustainability. For example, regular pink butcher paper was used to create the wall floral décor and dried lotus pods embellished with pearls in bouquets and boutonnieres glam up the bridal accessories!

fab luxe cake

As luxurious as all of the other elements in the shoot, the cake imbued a strong classic Chanel feel without being cliché (no quilted chain cake purses here)! The cake included details such as the groom’s buttons, bride’s pearl necklaces and pink roses from the centerpieces!

What do you want people to feel after they see the shoot:
We hope that our shoot will inspire brides who love the iconic Chanel brand to be able to create their own classic wedding but updating it by including their own unique modern twist using elements that are out of the box.