Zoe's Bat Mitzvah

We love families and community: Bar and Bat Mitzvahs are one of our favorite rites of passage (guess which one is out favorite!).

 

Zoe prepared for a year for this day, learning about  and practicing reading from the Torah at Or Shalom.

 

Here are some of Aurora's favorite moments from the service.

 

 

Leah and Kira pass around candies.

 

 

 

Congratulations, Zoe! 

After the service, everybody headed to Forest Hill Clubhouse for Zoe's party!

Zoe wanted an additional fun activity so Chef Stephanie arranged for Soul PatchTattoo to design Henna tattoos for the guests.

 

 

 

Chef Stephanie started out the evening serving a variety of appetizers included phyllo wrapped spiced turkey with seasonal vegetables and herb, polenta wedges with Fontina and fresh chives, kalamata olive crostini with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese...

 

...while Aurora took lots of portraits of Zoe's family and friends.

 

 

 

Dinner was a seasonal buffet featuring grass fed tri-tip and spice rubbed chicken with a red wine shallot sauce and wild mushrooms. The vegetable penne pasta included sweet tomato sauce and fresh basil. The farmer’s market salad with nectarines, feta cheese and pecans and artisan bread were the delicious side dishes.

 

The flowers were sourced locally and the signs were designed to match the invitations as well as have a clean and sophisticated look.

 

Purple was Zoe's favorite color so we had lavender linens, purple flowers with a pop of bright green.

To close out the evening, Pei-Yee created a delicious two-tier celebration cake made up of some of Zoe's favorite cakes - rich chocolate for the bottom tier and a moist carrot cake for the top tier - that were filled and frosted with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. The beautiful flowers Madeline composed for the table arrangements were the perfect finishing touch to bring it all together.

And after dinner, the real fun began, with dancing, dancing and...more dancing!

  

Great party! Thank you for choosing Locally Grown Weddings to make it happen.

 Locally Grown Weddings Featured Members:

Catering: Chef Stephanie

Photography: Aurora Meneghello

Flowers and Design: Madeline Trait

Wedding Desserts: Pei-Yee Woo

Venues: Or Shalom Jewish Community and Forest Hill Clubhouse

Guest Vendors:

DJ: Joel Nelson Productions

San Francisco Wedding: Dolores Park, the Mission District and Civic Center

Styling a faux wedding is always a fun adventure! From developing the concept to bringing all the elements together into one cohesive story, it is such a creative process. For our Mission photo shoot, the vision and design stemmed from a real-life couple, Tina and Travis, who just got married in San Francisco this past July. While their actual wedding was a bit different from the shoot, we were excited to collaborate and find ways to incorporate elements of their real wedding plans into our storyline 

As residents of San Francisco’s vibrant Mission District, it was a no-brainer for the team to focus the shoot around key landmarks in this bustling neighborhood. Dolores Park is an integral part of the Mission landscape and where the couple spends a lot of time hanging out with their friends. It was also the perfect setting for a picnic feast of delicious food prepared by Chef Stephanie. The meal was a combination of seasonal favorites including quinoa tabouli with English cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, minted red beets with goat cheese and herb roasted chicken with artichoke heart pesto. And while we couldn’t bring the Ojai Ice Cream shop into the Mission, we had the next best thing - ice cream sundaes from Bi-Rite Creamery. Yum!

 

 

Tina and Travis are avid cyclists and first met through the Mission Cycling Club on a bike trip through the town of Ojai. For their actual wedding, they chose light blue and tangerine as their colors to honor the “Mission blue” of their cycling club and also the renowned “Ojai orange”, which also happens to be the flavor of ice cream Travis enjoyed on that first bike ride together. Madeline wove these two colors into their floral design, as well as those adorable Toms shoes that Tina and Travis were sporting. We’re all big fans of the magical blend of comfort, style, and social responsibility that Tom’s shoes bring to the fashion industry! 

 

 

 

Adele Weschler provided us with a stunning dress from her eco-conscious collection of bridal gowns. In keeping with Tina’s personal style, we chose something that was sporty and fun, the kind of dress where a bride could say her vows and then hop right on to her 10-speed for an epic ride with her new hubby. Travis got to have a test run of the suit he’ll be wearing this month when he says “I do”.

 

And while most of the day’s shoot was a step or two from their real wedding plans, it was a fun adventure for our lovely couple. We chatted with the couple after the photo shoot and both of them remarked on how the shoot was a fun way for them to step outside of their comfort zones and have a little bit of role-playing for the day. 

 

We wrapped up our shoot where they’ll begin this next stage of their lives together - at San Francisco’s City Hall. It’s a landmark in this gorgeous city of ours and provided a stately backdrop to the fun and playful day we’d built as well as a nod to their real wedding plans. 

The highlights of the shoot? Working with a couple who are in love with one another and their home turf and being able to capture that essence in a perfect, sunny day in the neighborhood.

Locally Grown Weddings Members:

Event Planning: Sadie Waddington
Catering: Chef Stephanie
Photography: Aurora Meneghello
Flowers and Design: Madeline Trait
Wedding Desserts: Pei-Yee Woo
Make Up Artistry: Angela LaFlamme

Venue: Dolores Park, the Mission District and Civic Center, San Francisco.

Locally Grown Weddings Partners:

Jewelry: D&H Sustainable Jewelers

Guest Vendors:

Invitations: Cherish

Hair: Chava Nieto

A Special Thank You to Adele Wechsler for lending us a gorgeous dress from her Eco Couture Collection. And to Toms for lending us shoes from their Wedding Collection.

Meet Tammy Foxx, Bridal Fitness Coach

We asked out favorite bridal fitness coach to share a little about herself...here Tammy answers 5 questions about herself and her passion for fitness and weddings.

1. How did you become a Bridal Personal Trainer?

Eating healthy and being fit has been a passion of mine for most of my life.  Like a lot of women, when I hit my 30s I gained a few extra pounds.  I decided to do something about it and hired a personal trainer.  It was such a great experience that I decided if I ever made a career change, I would become a Personal Trainer myself.  The experts always say if you want to go in business for yourself, pick something you enjoy doing.  Well, I love working out and like most women, I LOVE weddings.  At the time I was researching my new career, I discovered there was only one other personal trainer in the entire country who specialized in working with brides, and she was in Detroit.  That’s when I decided to launch Bridal Fitness Coach.

2. What do you love most about bridal fitness?

Brides are great to work with because they have a specific goal in mind…LOOKING BEAUTIFUL ON THEIR WEDDING DAY!  They are perfect clients, because they are committed and focused.  I’ve trained brides solo, brides and grooms and brides with their moms.  Training a bride with a partner is especially rewarding because they keep each other motivated.  Also, working out with a partner is a great way to draw closer together.

Before:

After:

3. Why green?

Being a green business in this day and age is very simple to do.  So, why not do my part?  Some of the ways I do my part are to encourage my clients to eat organic foods and grass fed and pastured meats as much as possible.  Also, I try to run a paperless office by generating as little waste as possible.

4. Do you only train brides and bridal parties?

I work with women in every stage of life…single, dating, getting married, already married, young, middle-age, seniors, fit, plus-size, recovering from injuries, etc.  However, 75% of my client base is brides and bridal parties.

5. What is your role in Locally Grown Weddings and how do you work with the team?

I love Locally Grown Weddings! We share the same passion for what we do, commitment to our brides and the environment. As a bridal fitness coach, I enjoy my role in preparing brides (and grooms!) to look and feel their best on their wedding day. I know that Locally Grown Weddings sees to it that the big day is truly unforgettable.

Featured Locally Grown Weddings Partner:

Fitness: Bridal Fitness Coach

Photography by Milena Velez