Wedding | Jenna & Zach

Tell us a little about yourselves!  

Zack and I met in college when we lived on the same dorm floor, but just remained  friends for several years until finally getting together in 2017 when we both moved to Los Angeles. A true friends to lovers story!

We both work in the entertainment industry - Zack is a writer/director/cofounder of Tooth Hurty Media and I (Jenna) am a producer/executive at a production company. We love our dog Monday, trying new restaurants, traveling and thrifting. You can find us at flea markets and estate sales most weekends and often base our international travel around the best flea markets in the world (we’re partial to the Mercat dels Encants in Barcelona).

Why did you decide to get married where you did?  

We were originally dead set on getting married on the East Coast where we’re from  - Zack is from NY and I’m from CT and we met in school in Boston. We toured dozens of venues, searching for something that felt cool and different like us, but nothing was giving us that spark. We loved the idea of a jazz club and/or a boutique hotel, and some family in San Diego recommended we check out The Lafayette Hotel. We went on a whim and immediately upon walking in, we turned to each other and were like “sorry everyone back home, this is the one.”

There’s an energy you feel at the Lafayette and we really connected to the cool old Hollywood history it has, as both of us work in the industry. We loved it's unique quirk and  how each detail and location in the hotel tells a story: the old timey jazz club LouLou’s for the ceremony/reception, bowling and games in The Gutter for cocktail hour, the pool cabana for our welcome party. It was perfectly eclectic like us.

How many guests did you have?  

125 including us - the perfect amount! Most people stayed at the hotel/venue, which made it so much easier to be able to actually stop and talk to everyone we loved  leading up to the day.

What was your budget?  

We splurged on the venue/food/photography, which was most important to us, but were very savvy and thrifty with everything else.

Tell us about your outfits.  

We are huge thrifters and love sourcing cool stuff, so wanted our wedding to also  ell that story. Zack thrifted his vintage Valentino tux for $100 in NY with his mom and a posse of old Jewish women cheering him on at the thrift store. The week of our wedding we stopped at The Girl Can’t Help It , a vintage store in San Diego, and found a quirky 70s Dick Clark tie clip in lieu of boutonniere. Even his  wedding band was a vintage flower-engraved gold ring we found on eBay. For shoes, he wore red velvet slippers with bulldogs on them.  

The morning of, I got ready in a gifted negligee and vintage red 1950’s silk robe. For my dress, I wanted simple, cool and glamorous and fell in love with the LA designer Newhite Bridal when I was dress shopping on the East Coast with my mom and aunts. I went to their showroom in downtown LA alone on a weekday and impulse bought their Soleil dress without getting any second opinions because I was just so obsessed with the liquid satin fabric. I definitely needed to put my own spin on it  hough, so had the sleeves removed to make it fully strapless. My best friend/MOH Kelsey took the scraps and made a fabric choker necklace that I wore during the reception.

For the ceremony, I wore my late grandmother’s pearl necklace and  borrowed pearl earrings from my mother in law. Also had to infuse some color by wearing velvet green Eleanor Louise heels and having my makeup artist do a subtle green eyeshadow. Late night, I changed into a sparkly midi dress I thrifted  for 10 bucks (new with tags !!), heels I’ve had for 10 years and borrowed earrings from my mom.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

I know everyone says this, but we did not want cookie cutter. There were some traditional aspects we wanted to incorporate to pay homage to our families and respective cultures, but every element we approached, we thought to ourselves: how can we make this funkier, a little more us?

Zack's cousin Justin officiated because we wanted the ceremony to be really personal and he did a great job of making some more traditional aspects feel relevant and like us -- all tied to creativity, love, storytelling and adventure.  

We both come from the entertainment and arts industry, so it was super important  for the whole weekend to feel like an experience and there to be elements of surprise. We hid our rings under a chair for the ceremony so we could have  omeone we love find them and become a part of the ceremony. Cocktail hour  brought our guests to the hotel’s “secret” bowling alley and game room The Gutter for some activities. And by the time we returned to LouLou’s for dinner and dancing, the space was transformed into a full jazz club with a live band.  

The non-negotiable for us were great food/drinks and live music which tied into that idea of it all being super experiential and telling a story. Everyone told us that good food was going to be hard to find for a wedding, but that wasn’t something we were going to sacrifice. We also didn’t want a typical wedding band playing covers, so we hired a local San Diego jazz funk band that we saw perform at LouLou’s before, so we knew they worked well in the space and could get people  on the dance floor. It was awesome hearing original music that told a completely  original story for our night.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

It was super important for us to find vendors that were true artists in their respective field to collaborate with. We really just wanted to find cool, creative people that could just run wild doing what they do best and have fun in the really unique space. We wanted the photography to be artistic and editorial, capturing  the authenticity and magic of the night; the florals to be funky and compliment the already maximalist space without overwhelming; the music to really fit in with the  vibe and showcase different music we enjoy that isn’t often heard at weddings. We even had fun with our wedding cake — Zack has celiac so we found a gluten free bakery that does funky flavors and picked the most exciting flavor on the menu (fruity pebbles).  

We have so many talented friends that work in the arts too, so in lieu of a hired videographer, we thrifted a handful of old video cameras to pass around and let  people film the night as they saw it. It was such a hit for everyone but also captured the real feeling and energy we all felt that night perfectly.  

And we definitely wanted to show off our thrifty and eclectic tastes and tried to incorporate little surprises that felt like us throughout. I handmade clamshell table numbers and anniversary cards for each table for guests to sign that we’ll open on the corresponding number anniversary. We thrifted vintage cake toppers and bulk ordered a ton of old fashioned candy cigarettes as our favors and everyone was fake smoking them on the dance floor. We’re diehard musical fans and had to  incorporate our favorite musical Hadestown into the ceremony with instrumental arrangements.

Any tips for couples getting married?  

Personalization doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars. The small, thoughtful elements will be remembered the most - song choices, speeches, who you get ready with in the morning. It’s easy to get swept up in everything you see online and what you’re told has to be done or happen at a wedding, but remember it's a day about  you and the person you love, and there are no rules. Have fun with that.

Enjoy the engagement. Enjoy the planning process, even when it’s stressful. It will help you learn to communicate even better with your partner. Trust your vendors so you can soak up every moment of the day. It will go by fast, so remember to stop and reflect on each moment and practice so much gratitude for having all your favorite people  together at once. Also, you might fall asleep during your own afterparty. Don’t be mad at yourself - it’s a lot and you’re going to be exhausted.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about? 

Truly all of our vendors were incredible!!! The goal was to find super talented  people that have a clear artistic POV that we could let run wild and be creative and they all really delivered.  

Tyler Branch, our photographer, captured that real, raw energy we wanted and was such  hit with everyone all weekend. We really wanted him to run free in the space and try anything he wanted to in terms of photos and we love what he captured. We are behind the camera type people, but he made us feel so comfortable and we felt like the best versions of ourselves the whole time.  

We were SO obsessed with our florist Kiwi Florals. I found her on IG and she has mostly done freelance work and not a ton of solo weddings, but I just could tell from her  work that she had the perfect kind of funky taste for what we were going for. I didn’t give her a ton of direction, just some Pinterest pics and a pretty limited  budget, but when I walked in for our ceremony and saw all the table arrangements ready to go, I was truly speechless.  

Our band, Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, was fantastic. They’re a local jazz funk band that had people on the dance floor all night.This is your sign to hire a real band to play original music for your wedding because it’s so unique and fun!  

I had such a blast getting ready with Kim and Tiana from Blushed by Brink  who did hair and makeup for me, the moms, sisters and my MOH.  

And last but not least, our coordinator Holly Kalkin Wedding was a hero pulling everything together on the day. I’m a producer by trade, so I had a blast planning everything on my own to a tea up until the day, and it can be scary to pass the baton to someone else to execute your vision, but I felt totally comfortable and taken care of  by Holly. There's just something to say about working with good, genuine people and Holly is that.

Photographer: Tyler Branch Photography @tylerbranch | Planning: by Jenna | Week of Coordination: Holly Kalkin Weddings @hollykalkin weddings | Flora: Kiwi Florals @kiwiflorals | Ceremony & Reception Location: LouLou’s at The Lafayette Hotel & Club @loulousclub | Cocktail Hour Location: The Gutter at The Lafayette Hotel & Club @downinthegutter | HMUA: Blushed by Brink @blushedbybrink | Cake:

Phatties Bake Shop @phattiesbakeshop | Stationery: by the couple | Entertainment: The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble @surefiresoulensemble | Dress: Newhite Bridal @newhite_bridal | Suit: Vintage Valentino tux @valentino | Veil: Meshki @meshki | Welcome Party Outfit: For Love & Lemons @forloveandlemons | After Party Outfit: Thrifted 12th Tribe @shop12thtribe | Engagement Ring: Designed by Zack | Wedding Rings: Frank Darling @frankdarling (Jenna) & Vintage (Zack) | Shoes: Eleanor Louise @eleanorlouis eco |

Zack’s Vintage Tie Clip & Jenna’s Vintage Silk Robe: The Girl Can’t Help It @thegirlcanthelpitvintage | Jenna’s Pearls: from Jenna's grandmother