Southern California wedding with European Elegance

Russ and Rachel Cohn might have had their first date on Valentine’s Day, but from the very beginning, this was an unusual courtship – “Russ brought me a bag of M&Ms instead of roses!” Rachel laughs. Having gone their separate ways after college, the pair realised that they never wanted to be apart, and after Russ proposed on a hike in the Santa Monica mountains, they made it official with a beautiful wedding captured by THIS MODERN ROMANCE at The Folly in Orange County, California. Working with planner and stylist GATHERINGS BY STACIE they took inspiration from the European-style elegance of the venue, and chose a high contrast palette of dark aubergine and navy, with organic florals including dahlias, French anemones, garden roses and mixed greenery. Watercolour stationery, vases collected from a local flea market, and a freestanding moss ‘wall’ finished off the look. As an acoustic duo played and guests looked on, the couple enjoyed an al fresco first dance – the first of many happy moments in the years to come.

“Our guests were our favourite part of the day – having them there gave us something to celebrate! After the ceremony, right when everyone finally got seated at our large U-shaped table for an awesome dinner, we finally had a moment to look around and take it all in. At that moment we realised that we were among SO MANY people that love and care for us. Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends from growing up, college friends, work friends, and everything in between. A collage of faces that represent different stages of our lives. We also realised that this moment would never happen again, and this group of people would never all be together. It made us feel very lucky that we were there, and made all the headaches of the wedding day disappear. Everything after that moment was purely surreal.“