Fashionably Nerdy Weddings: Our Harry Potter, Polka Dots, and Fandom Themed Whimsical Wedding

You may remember my husband, Russ and I met the first day of rehearsals for our Harry Potter themed Improv Comedy Troupe and our love blossomed as we watched Game of Thrones together week after week… (if you don’t remember our story you can read all about it here Fashionably Nerdy Weddings: Our Engagement Story & Rings – Stephanie). So, it only made sense that our wedding should include a lot of our favorite fandoms and a lot of our favorite people. After throwing many Harry Potter and fandom themed events over the years (through The Show That Shall Not Be Named, Nerd Fest, Fashionably Nerdy, and Stalking LeVar) I have met so many amazing vendors and people I love working with so I wanted to be able to bring all of these things together for an incredibly quirky and whimsical unique event for us to share a bit of who we are with our friends and family.

I wanted a beautiful and meaningful ceremony, a great atmosphere, beautiful location, and of course amazing fashions. Russ wanted to have an incredible party that everyone would have the best time at. So, my work was cut out for me. I didn’t hire a planner but did have an incredible Day of Coordinator that did a great job checking in with me every few weeks and helped me find some of the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Let’s start with my dress, because obviously that’s super important…

The Dress
My dress was made by my best friend and maid of honor, Camille who is the owner of Frakkin Frocks and the winner of the 2016 Her Universe Fashion Show. This was her second wedding dress she ever made (the first was the one that won the Fashion Show). We worked together on figuring out the shape of the dress by going to dress fittings at bridal shops and trying on different styles of dresses and then pouring through books of patterns at the fabric store to find similar shapes to what we liked – we mixed and matched tops and skirts and added an illusion neckline and trim and the most important detail was our own custom made Harry Potter lace that was hand stitched on to the final dress. I love mixing patterns and I love Polka Dots and wanted an all white dress with white on white polka dots with a mix of floral we searched high and low looking for the perfect polka dot tulle and floral lace that would be layered to make up my skirt and eventually found one I liked on Etsy (however, at the time didn’t realize how long it would take to have it shipped from Korea) but once I found it we decided to order the swiss dot tulle for my top of my dress and the illusion neckline from the same place. This dress was a serious labor of love and took several fittings to make sure it fit perfectly and Cami was still finishing up the last little details the week of the wedding. You can really see how much heart she put into these pieces. We trimmed the armholes with an adorable heart lace trim which was the perfect little addition of love. We added a little sparkly belt from amazon at the last minute just to add a little pizzaz (though I wish We had tacked it down because it seemed to shift throughout the night I only noticed because photos).

My Shoes
I picked my shoes long before I had a dress – these Curtain Call shoes by Irregular Choice were champagne glitter and golden polka dots and were absolutely perfect (I took them off 3/4 of the way through the ceremony – because I had been wearing them forever, my feet were tired and I needed a break but, hey- that way at least people got a glimpse at them since my skirt was long)

My Necklace
I choose a rose gold necklace with aquamarine stones – this was my something blue and is also our daughter’s birthstone.

My Flower Crown
My wedding coordinator, Melanie is also a floral designer, Gingersnap florals – she did all the jewel toned flower crowns for the girls. Mine was greens and camomile (unfortunately, mine wilted before the wedding started but as sad as it was it still looked almost art deco and whimsical the girls crowns stayed flawless all night).

Bridesmaids Dresses
The bridesmaids dresses I had in my mind for years a big full tulle skirt with something sparkly or polka dot on top… the tulle for the skirts (which were also handmade by Frakkin Frocks) was easy to find in the fabric district in downtown Los Angeles. We used a very soft lining fabric for comfort and the tops were a spandex blend that Camille found after we both spent hours searching in person on the internet for the perfect polka dot fabric and scrapping several previous versions of the top. The end result was a super flattering top and skirt that could easily be worn again as separates.

Bridesmaids Shoes
The bridesmaids had matching iridescent glitter heels from Guess. I love glitter and wanted to make sure my ladies had a bit of extra sparkle!

Makeup and Hair
We got our hair done at DryBar and then arrived at the venue where (Fashionably Nerdy’s) Ashley Troub met us and did our makeup in shades of peaches and pinks with hints of sparkly champagne using makeup by Too Faced, Urban Decay, Benefit and Sephora.

Bouquets
The night before the wedding after the rehearsal dinner my bridesmaids joined me in my bridal suite at the hotel for a bouquet making party – they made all the bouquets and boutonnières using some purple and yellow wildflowers and babies breath. I let them have full control over what they made with the stipulation that I just wanted mine to be all white and a big poof. We sipped on champagne and laughed until the flowers were finished. I originally didn’t want bouquets I wanted like fairy wands or something but couldn’t find anything glam that I loved and was sparkly, fun, and classy enough… then while looking for something else on pinterest I stumbled upon Babies’ Breath Poofs! I felt like they felt extremely fairy-like. We got rose gold sparkly rope ribbon from etsy and once they were finished I knew they were perfect and exactly what I wanted!

The Wedding Party
I have so many close girlfriends I honestly didn’t want to leave anyone out so the best choice was to only have family my two baby cousins who are like sisters to me (and are now all grown up), my older sister was my matron of honor, and my best friend, Camille was my maid of honor – I had several close friends give readings during the wedding too. Our daughter was our flower child (she was only 13 mo old so she had no responsibilities but just being there and being cute) and she was accompanied by my Bridesman (my brother). Russ’ Groomsmen consisted of friends from college and longtime friends and his best man was his cousin.

The Men
The groomsmen and my bridesman rented charcoal suits from The Black Tux. Russ purchased his grey suit from Bonobos. All the men wore black and white polka dot ties and socks I ordered online. The Ushers were my adorable nephews and had little bowties that matched the men’s ties and wore grey pants, a white button down and black suspenders.

Kippot/Yalmalkes
We are Jewish but we allowed the men to make their own choice if they wanted to wear a kippah or not and I ordered them in charcoal suede.

The Venue
Our venue was probably the most important thing for us to decide on and we only visited this one venue and all knew right away this was the one… we got married at Jim Henson Company Studios in Hollywood. It was once the home to the Muppets and is where some of our favorite films and shows have been made, the recording studio is where many of our favorite artists have recorded albums and it was beautiful and intimate and whimsical and had plenty of unique spaces to fill our needs… and it had an outdoor courtyard that was perfect for both our ceremony and reception. It was important to us that we had a beautiful outdoor space and that it had some history and this was perfect. The studio originally belonged to Charlie Chaplan and was built in 1916.

Ketubah Signing
Before the ceremony it’s traditional to sign a marriage contract that is the official Jewish document (a gorgeous piece of art you hang in your home, ours was from Etsy) with your wedding party and parents present. Our Rabbi (a long time friend) led a beautiful Ketubah signing ceremony in a board room in front of an amazing Labyrinth Poster.

The Ceremony
Our ceremony started with (Fashionably Nerdy’s) Samantha (our ring bearer) giving a reading from Game of Thrones. Then asking our congregation to pass the rings around and bless them with well wishes, and hopes and dreams for us. Then Blackhaven (awesome fandom themed rock band and our good friends) played live as the wedding party entered to “The Rains of Castamere” from Game of Thrones. Several people noticed the irony and chuckled or tweeted about it. Then came “Hedwig’s theme” and I entered escorted by both of my parents. All of our parents held the Chuppah poles that symbolizes the home we are creating as husband and wife and they have been our foundation all our lives so it made sense for them to be the foundation for our Chuppah. We exchanged humorous and fandom related handwritten vows and our friends came up to talk about the people we had lost whose presence was missed and to offer advice for a happy and healthy marriage.

We sipped sacramental wine (Game of Thrones wine – which we were relieved was not poisoned) as the blessings were said.

Exchanged our rings that included my imitation of Gollum saying “My Precious” and “Your Precious”. Russ stomped on a glass and we kissed and before we knew it we were dancing down the aisle to “Life’s a Happy Song” from the Muppets performed by Blackhaven as confetti canons erupted as we made our way to some private one on one time.

Cocktail Hour
Blackhaven played some fandom favorites including songs from Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Muppets, and Moana. Our specialty cocktails were served by our gorgeous friend Sue and were super tasty while appetizers were passed.

The Lounge
We had a gorgeous magical and whimsical lounge area provided by Thrifted Sister Events.
The inspiration was a Hogwarts Common Room and I think they nailed it!

The Screening Room
Jim Henson has a screening room right off of the courtyard which was a great place to have the kids or adults gather when they needed a break – there are theater seats and bean bags – as well as several pack’n’plays for the real tiny ones to take naps as a bunch of Muppet movies played. We had a popcorn machine with custom “Mischief Managed” popcorn boxes and magic color changing cotton candy.

Our Guests’ Attire
Our guests were invited to dress in formal or cocktail attire with a quirky or whimsical edge and they did not disappoint

The Reception

Our DJ
DJ Jimmy G from No One Betta Entertainment was the best – people kept complaining he was TOO GOOD and they couldn’t take a break from dancing because they never wanted to miss a song! Jimmy is a phenomenal DJ and a good friend – he was the best to work with and truly did a spectacular job including dinner which was basically a game for our guests as he played lyrical fandom theme songs and the guests would try to name the song before others at their table did.

Our food
The food was absolutely incredible from Stonefire Grill – a buffet with Tri-Tip with Gorgonzola Butter, Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken, Greek Salad, Vegan Pita Sandwiches, Mac and Cheese, Breadsticks, Roasted Veggies, and Mashed Potatoes. Our coordinator suggested them and they were perfect.

Entrances
All our guests gathered around in a circle and welcomed us onto the dance floor
The Wedding Party entered to “Seagulls, (Stop It Now)” by a Bad Lip Reading of Star Wars
Russ and I entered to “the Virgin America safety video” song by Toddrick Hall

Our First Dance was to “You and I” by Ingrid Michaelson which ended with everyone joining us in the middle of the dance floor for the stomps and claps.

Father Daughter dance was “Something” by the Beatles

Mother Son dance was “For the longest time” by Billy Joel

Our Chairs Russ bought on craigslist and I painted them gold and reupholstered them with a floral fabric
The Chair Signs I made from project wood I bought, sanded, shaped and painted and featured quotes from Harry Potter

The Cake was from Sweet Lady Jane and decorated with signs from Etsy and Florals from Gingersnap Florals

Fandom Themed dessert bites were available from the Kneady Bakery and included brown butter pie, key lime squares, brownies, s’mores, and rice krispy treats. I love working with the ladies at Kneady Bakery they are creative and everything they make is delicious!

A Photo Booth was set up by our good friend, Photo Baker and offered hours of entertainment during the celebration and after looking through all the great photos.
(here is just a small selection)

A Highlight of the night was when my big brother prepared a parody of a song from Hamilton (the musical) all about Russ and I which received a standing ovation

The Decor
Market Lights and Umbrellas were placed overhead adding a ton of whimsical atmosphere
Rentals came from AV Party Rentals – Umbrellas were purchased piecemeal from all over the internet and took months to get them all…

Centerpieces were fandom themed cookie jars (purchased from different vendors online) filled with potted plants we got from our local hardware store’s garden department.

Gold and Rose Gold Mercury glass votives lined the tables (also purchased online)
Lumos, glow sticks were thrown out during the party and were custom made from Oriental Trading

When we could hardly stand anymore we had so much fun we said farewell while dancing to “I’ve Had The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing and we tried to recreate the lift sequence as our friends held sparklers and cheered us on.

We took a lyft back to the hotel, The Hollywood Roosevelt (another classic Hollywood Landmark and the home of the original Academy Awards) where we awoke to brunch with our families and out of town guests and sipped frozen drinks at the pool afterwards (before recovering just in time to hop on the plane for our honeymoon to enjoy a week in Ireland as a newly married couple and family.

Signs
I used my graphics skills to create custom signs for the wedding that I then had printed up at my local print shop and either framed, hung, or staked in the ground. Some of these I have offered digital downloads of on my Etsy shop.

Party Favors
We had custom made stemless wine glasses that said “Mischief Managed, Russ and Stephanie, 2018” that we gave out at the beginning of the evening and encouraged people to hold on to their glass throughout the night and take it home. For children we had plastic color-change cups that change color when there is cold liquid inside them and they had the same graphic printed on them. the escort cards were supposed to be placed on top of the glasses (the cards had slits in them) but whoever set them out did it this way.

Hospitality Bags
For our out of town guests we had custom bags printed that said “We Solemnly Swear We Are Up To No Good – Russ and Stephanie 2018” and we filled them with treats and essentials to have a smooth vacation.

Our Photographer who took these gorgeous photos is one of my best friends from my childhood, Sleepy Fox Photography who is an extremely talented and kind human and I was so glad was there to share with us in such a beautiful weekend.