Overlooking the ocean at La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates

This may be a little late, but better late than never! (Brides, remember that line when everyone asks why the wedding started so late.) Wedding Decorator pal Doris came all the way from Washington D.C. to take pictures of her friends' wedding just for this lil' ole blog! Well...not quite.

All photos by Doris. Thanks, Doris!!

As the headline suggests, this wedding took place at La Venta Inn. It so happens I have done a wedding here -- a long, long time ago. I remember the place pretty well -- spectacular location, as you can see from the photo of the gazebo, although the facility where the reception is a little tight -- no 500-person parties here! But if you asked me for pictures, I probably lost them. Oops! Not to worry, Doris has swooped and saved the day.


The flowers, I gotta say, are spectacular. Totally bright and eye-popping, perfect for an outdoor wedding overlooking the ocean. Very summery. These lovely flowers were designed by Be Buds Florist in Torrance. Nice job! The photo above, by the way, is a close up of the gazebo's centerpiece, and have a gorgeous variety of flowers -- orange-edged yellow and pink roses, green cymbidium orchids, pink orchids, pinky-green hydrangeas. There's just so many!


The pew decorations are simple but effective -- red and orangey-yellow roses attached to the chairs. Simple, easy, colorful. Ka-pow! Massive impact. Heheh.


I've been meaning to do a post on staircases. Don't ignore your staircases! I love decorating staircases. They add a lot of drama, without needing a lot of decoration. Think of all the bridal magazines you've seen, where the bride's wedding gown train is spread behind her on the staircase. And those staircases don't even tend to be decorated! Decorating a staircase is easy, just like in this photo -- rose petals, a few bunches of roses, and some draping. Easy elegance.


This photo was labeled a tabletop arrangement -- which could mean it was for the gift table, or the sign-in table or a cocktail table. Anyway, here we've got more hydrangeas, more of the orangey-yellow roses and -- are those coffee bean buds?! How cool are those?! They're actually called hypericum berries.


This is the sweetheart table. It's very simple, but in a way, the statement of where the bride and groom are going on their honeymoon -- Maui -- kind of invokes your imagination.


This guest tables appeared to be set with three different styles of vases, carrying three bunches of flowers, although I'm not clear if all the tables had the same type of trio. I don't think that's the case, since in the background, I don't see the big sprig of orchids at that table to the right. Anyway, I like the asymmetry here -- square, tall vase with a green cymbidium orchid sprig in water, topped with a candle, a short cube vase with a bunch of those orangey-yellow roses, and the sprig of bright pink orchids. Really cool. And, I think, looking at the other pictures in Doris' set, there were other combinations for each table.


Last but not least, the cake. A bakery was not listed on the wedding website so I have to assume that La Venta Inn did this cake, and it is so simple and beautiful. As a wedding decorator, I tend to like wedding cakes that are simple so that they can be dressed up with flowers. I mean, look how this one turned out! And the florist left nothing un-decorated -- the cake knives, the wineglasses, everything has blossoms on it. And yet, nothing seems to be dripping with flowers. That's good decorations, my friend.