WEDDING, ENGAGEMENT, ANNIVERSARY & COMMITMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Together
Giving thanks
Julie Ling Photography/Paper Hearts and Lemonade
Melissa Lemer — Andrew Mogel
Showing gratitude is a good start to a marriage
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1. Will and Jennifer Preuss had this photo taken for thank-you cards to guests
of their April wedding. Photo by Heidi Ryder. 2. David and Jenny Groom, who
married on Feb. 14, used this shot on their thank-you cards. Photo by Studio Castillero. 3. Couples can express their gratitude by giving guests these party favor
jars, created by Paper Patch Creations in Newbury Park, Calif., to hold candy or a
personal note. 4. Aurelie and Simon Vanderhoek recognized their guests in their
vows. Photo Greg Goldstein.
ing a photo of the gift giver with the couple or by adding the scent of a signature flower at the wedding, said
Helen Driscoll of InviteSite.com, a Pasadena company
specializing in eco-friendly stationery. “Graciousness is
at the heart of a wedding, and a lovely thank-you note
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is the perfect expression with which to personally and
formally end a gracious wedding,” she said.
Giving to others
Doug, 35, and Andie Green, 30, of Mar Vista, chose
not to buy party favors for the guests at their August
wedding and instead donated a clarinet to Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, a nonprofit organization that
provides musical instruments to schools. The couple
displayed it at their wedding with a framed note letting
their guests know it would be given in their names.
“We decided to donate to a charity that supported
music and arts in public schools because it breaks our
hearts that children across the country are having that
gift taken away from them,” said Green, director of
scripted programming for Fox International Channel.
‘Appreciating people in your life is crucial in
creating a feeling of community’
— Lisa Vorce
tude to their family and friends, said Lisa Vorce, owner
of the Santa Ana-based event planning company Oh,
How Charming! “Getting married is a deeply profound
transitional phase in a couple’s life and thanking loved
ones helps to ensure that the couple’s community wants
the best for the marriage,” Vorce said. “Most couples
realize that the magic of their day wouldn’t happen without their family and friends’ participation and support.
By including people in your wedding ceremony, you
help them become invested in the success of your marriage, she said. “Appreciating people in your life is crucial
in creating a feeling of community. It is also nice to ...
thank everyone who helped you get to the place you are
in your life when you tie the knot.”
Making it special
Many couples personalize their gifts of gratitude,
including writing a statement of thanks in wedding
programs, leaving notes in their guests’ hotel rooms or
creating a slide show of photographs that highlights
moments in the couple’s relationship while including as
many guests as possible in the presentation, Vorce said.
Some couples give their guests CDs of their favorite
songs that remind them of special moments they’ve
shared with their friends, while others give their wedding party members personalized gifts.
And some take time on their wedding day to have
photos taken for their thank-you cards. Irene Hsu, 27,
and Garrett Asay, 33, who married in San Clemente on
Oct. 3, were delighted when their photographer, David
Esquire, suggested they write “Thank You” in the sand
following their wedding. The bride, originally from
Taiwan, and the groom, from San Clemente, wrote the
words in Chinese and English. Will and Jennifer Pruess,
who married on April 17, posed for those shots during
their reception held in San Juan Capistrano.
Thank-you cards can also be personalized by includ-
When Aurelie and Simon Vanderhoek, both 38, of
Long Beach got married in 2008 at the Earl Burns
Miller Japanese Garden in Long Beach, most of their
guests flew in from overseas. The bride was originally
from France and the groom grew up in Australia. And
they both wanted their guests to know how much they
were appreciated. “All our wedding plans were based on
making everything meaningful, including saying a special vow during the ceremony to recognize everyone’s
participation in the making of our union and in giving
us their commitment to continue to support and advise
us throughout our marriage,” Aurelie Vanderhoek said.
They treated out-of-town guests to dinners and spa
services prior to the wedding. Munson of Sacred Ceremonies officiated at the wedding and, to show their
gratitude, the couple gave her a 15th century Buddha
statue that had been used during the ceremony.
“A wedding is really a time of expressing gratitude
as the people that come to the ceremony and reception have a part in making up the fabric of each of the
lives of the bride and groom, both as individuals and
as a couple,” said Wanda Wen, founder of West Hollywood’s Soolip Paperie & Press, which sells high-end
thank-you cards and other stationery.
“Yes, the wedding is about the couple, but it’s also
a time of celebration for the family and for the friends
who have nurtured and supported the couple’s love.”
— Kim Kabar, Custom Publishing Writer
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Taryn Livingston — Zac Propersi
www.onelove-photo.com
A
h, “I do” — two words that brides and
grooms long to say to each other and
wedding guests eagerly wait to hear. But
there are two other equally important words
spoken by wedded couples that are as powerful and as
appreciated by their families and friends. These words
are: “thank you.”
While it is easy for many couples to get swept up in
the hectic planning of their weddings, showing gratitude
to family and friends before, during and after their wedding is not only proper etiquette, it’s a heartfelt demonstration of the couple’s understanding of the practice
of love, said Priscilla Munson of Sacred Ceremonies in
Long Beach, which provides wedding officiant services.
“A wedding is the celebration of the miracle and practice of love, so it’s the perfect time and place to show
one’s gratitude,” she said.
For today’s couples, saying thanks is no longer just
about generic thank-you cards. Instead, they are finding
personalized ways to show their affection to guests.
Most couples care deeply about showing their grati-
hey met as freshmen at the University of Wisconsin in 1992 and
got along, well, like badgers. “I wouldn’t look at him. He had
long hair and wasn’t preppy, and I was into the clean-cut type,”
commented Melissa Lemer about Andrew Mogel, whom she married in a
rooftop ceremony at L’Ermitage Beverly Hills on Oct 2. “We had the same
group of friends but we were never friendly.”
After college, Mogel, 36, moved to L.A. to pursue a career as a screenwriter. Lemer wandered west a few years later and started a company called
the Silver Spoon that creates gift bags and gifting suites for celebrity events.
They saw each other sporadically over the years, “and he started to get
very successful and cut his hair,” Lemer, now 36, noticed.
Mogel was writing the screenplay for the 2008 hit “Yes Man” when he
was inspired to have a “yes” day of his own — Aug. 11, 2007. It included,
at one point, saying “yes” to a lot of drinks with a friend in Malibu.
Realizing Mogel shouldn’t drive, his friend asked if he knew of a place he
could crash. “Yes,” Mogel said, remembering Lemer lived in Malibu. He
texted her; she told him to come over. “He walked in and I knew right
away,” she said. “I called my mom and told her I was going to marry him.”
The connection wasn’t as surprising to Mogel, who said he had “always
thought we would be a perfect match.”
The duo dated for 2½ years before Mogel proposed. “He had me
convinced that he didn’t believe in marriage and we were not getting married, ever,” Lemer said. For her 36th birthday, Mogel didn’t even get her a
card, and he told her at dinner, “Don’t be upset — I got you the elliptical
machine for Christmas, it’s for Christmas and your birthday.” As Lemer
fought back tears, Mogel put a ring box on the table.
“I was just floored. I wouldn’t even open the box,” Lemer said, who
added that Mogel was deliberately acting like a jerk to make the proposal a
surprise. When she finally did open the box, she found a ring with Mogel’s
grandmother’s diamond placed in a setting that Lemer loved.
For their ceremony, Lemer wore a Vera Wang gown with a full skirt.
Florist Justin Howard created a “forest of roses” hanging from willow
branches attached to the tents atop L’Ermitage, where a reception was
held for 120 guests, including actors Jonah Hill and Tori Spelling, who are
friends of the couple. The self-proclaimed “gift bag queen of L.A.” made
gift bags filled with wine, skin-care products and other goodies.
“He’s my absolute best friend,” Lemer said of Mogel. “He makes me
laugh every day. We didn’t have bridesmaids or best men because we really
just wanted it to be about us. I feel like the luckiest person in the world
and I never, ever thought I would find this.”
Thinking back to that day two years ago when Mogel walked through
her door, Lerner said, “I said yes to him. I am his Yes Woman.”
W
hen Zac Propersi was 8 years old, his mom enrolled him in
dancing school so when he grew up he would dance beautifully
at his wedding. To everyone’s astonishment, he loved the classes
— and went on to become an amateur jazz, hip-hop and break dancer.
Propersi met his future wedding dance partner, Taryn Livingston, in 2002
when they were students at Loyola Marymount University. “I had a huge
crush on him,” she said, “and one of my girlfriends gave him the word.”
Propersi asked Livingston to the West L.A. school’s 2003 Charter Ball
and invited her to dinner first. She wore a spectacular red dress worthy of
the best table at any five-star Westside restaurant. He offered to take her
wherever she wanted to go and she chose Johnnie’s Pastrami restaurant in
Culver City — her favorite fast food joint.
That down-to-earth genuineness just knocked Propersi out. Then, at the
ball, she kept up with his dancing and completely won his heart.
A week later, Propersi asked Livingston to be his girlfriend. Caught completely off guard, she took all of a second to think about it before saying,
“Sure.” They’ve been together ever since. “Taryn is my breath of fresh air,”
he said. “She’s my go-to smile factory. She’s my best friend.”
In 2009, the couple celebrated their sixth anniversary at Yamashiro Hollywood, the romantic landmark restaurant where Livingston’s parents were
married in 1972. She was sure this was the night he would propose. But she
was wrong. She could barely hide her disappointment.
The next morning Propersi brought her breakfast in bed. He set the
tray on her lap, got down on one knee and proposed. He knew what she’d
expected the night before, but had really wanted to surprise her. “I was so
shocked,” Livingston said, “I ducked under the covers.”
Livingston, 26, a therapist at Summit View School in Valley Glen, and
Propersi, 28, a lead software developer for the Tribune Co., were married on
Oct. 3 at Temescal Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades.
Instead of having a maid of honor, the bride was attended by a man of
honor, Jon Carmichael, Livingston’s best friend since high school. For their
officiant, this couple who met at a Catholic university chose Rabbi Michael
Barclay, who taught their class on Judaism — a man whose warmth and
presence they had always admired. The event was a team effort, with friends
and family pitching in. One bridesmaid, a trained pastry chef, baked a
two-tier wedding cake. Another gave them centerpieces of wildflowers. One
evening, a half dozen friends came over to hem table runners.
As for the wedding dance Propersi’s mother had been dreaming of for 20
years — the couple wowed everyone by performing to “The Time of My
Life,” the steamy dance number from the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”
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