:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/fb-60ff7806269c43edb573f6a2260c0c81.jpg)
Megan and Thomas met in August of 2014 when they swiped right in a dating app. “When he walked into our first date, I was gobsmacked by his handsomeness,” Megan says. Five years later, the pair found themselves engaged and ready to plan their wedding at Paramour Estate in Los Angeles, California. “My dream was to get married at a big house with an incredible backyard, and the Paramour Estate is a much more magical version of that,” Megan says.
When the pandemic forced the couple to make a difficult decision to postpone their wedding to June 12, 2021, their planner Layne Kula of Penny Layne helped them keep all their vendors and deposits. Megan told Layne that she envisioned two long dinner tables, tequila shots, nonstop dancing, and people eating fried chicken in their formal wear. Layne was completely on board to plan Megan and Thomas’s “Father of the Bride”-inspired outdoor wedding with 140 guests. “Her energy is somehow both electric and calming,” the bride says, “She pulled off the most fun, heartfelt day and night of our lives, and she did it nine months pregnant with twins!”
The couple’s wedding stunned with a luxe neutral color palette of champagne, dusty rose, clay, and taupe, and a special appearance by Megan’s aunt Jane Lynch as officiant. Read on to see all the details Megan and Thomas’s wedding day, planned by Layne Kula of Penny Layne and photographed by Logan Cole Weddings.
Megan and Thomas invited their guests to their postponed wedding with a new invitation suite; this time, asking guests to re-RSVP for their new date. The design featured an illustration of the venue and gave guests a glimpse of the couple’s neutral color palette for the wedding day.
Leading up to the wedding, Megan made sure to get 90-minute facials every six to eight weeks and stay as hydrated as possible. On the day, she wanted to look like a “glammed up version” of herself with luminous skin and eye makeup that popped.
To walk down the aisle, Megan chose a Rivini by Rita Vinieris strapless gown with floral applique details. “I had forgotten I even tried it on until I was looking through photos from my long day of dress shopping,” Megan says, “I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I knew it was the one.” She accessorized with a dainty diamond bracelet that Thomas gifted her on their original 2020 wedding day and pink Loeffler Randall heels as a nod to her love of bows. Megan’s mom surprised her on the wedding day with her grandmother’s broach. They pinned it to the ribbon of her bouquet, which featured textured roses in tones of peach, pink, and cream.
Megan asked her aunt, actress Jane Lynch, to officiate the ceremony for the day. “It meant the world that she was willing to marry us, as she has played a huge role in who I am today. She took the job very seriously,” Megan says.
Although Megan and Thomas didn’t have a formal wedding party, the guys got ready together on one side of the venue while the girls got ready on the other. Thomas wore a custom navy blue tuxedo with black lapels from Suit Supply and had his hair blown out and put into a bun. “I finally got to wear a pair of antique cufflinks that my dad gifted me a while back,” Thomas says.
“For the ceremony space, we wanted to really call attention to the gorgeous window moment at the top of the stairs,” explains the bride. White bentwood chairs were set up on the venue’s lawn facing the window at the top of the stairs where the couple would exchange vows. An arrangement of white roses and greenery was made to look as if it grew from the ground at the altar. Pillar candles and a smaller floral arrangement completed the ceremony decor.
Megan made her way down the aisle with her father by her side to her groom. It was the first time the couple laid eyes on each other that day. She wore a cathedral-length veil that her friend, wedding designer Amanda James, embroidered with the couple’s initials. She chose Maggie Rogers’ “Love You For a Long Time” to walk down the aisle to. “I wanted to walk down the aisle to something a bit more upbeat,” she says.
With Jane Lynch as officiant, it’s no surprise that the ceremony went beautifully. “We really trusted Jane to lead the way in terms of building out the ceremony,” shares Megan. “She sent each of us four simple questions a couple of weeks before the wedding: ‘How did you first meet?’ ‘What about Thomas/Megan struck you at first?’ ‘What have you grown to love about him?’ ‘What excites you and moves you most about joining your life with him/her?’ We each sent in our answers and she used our words to inspire her own. She is a bit of a wordsmith, that Jane.”
Reciting the vows we had written ourselves was, in my opinion, the most romantic thing Thomas and I have ever done.
Megan and Thomas exchanged personal vows they wrote for each other in front of their friends and family. “This might sound cheesy, but reciting the vows we had written ourselves was, in my opinion, the most romantic thing Thomas and I have ever done,” the bride says. Once Jane pronounced them husband and wife (and best friends forever), the couple exited the ceremony to “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” as a nod to the bride’s love of romantic comedies.
After the ceremony, the couple took photos around the venue with their photographer, Logan Cole. Then, the newlyweds spent twenty minutes alone together taking it all in. “Even though we were thrilled to be surrounded by everyone we love, it felt good to re-center and remember why we were there in the first place,” Megan says.
The cocktail hour took place around the estate’s pool, where couches and high tops were set up for guests to mingle about. They served three signature cocktails, including “The Far Eastside,” a vodka and cucumber cocktail, “Desert Queen,” a tequila, prickly pear, and grapefruit cocktail, and “Ivy Mule,” a vodka Moscow Mule.
The table assignments were printed on cards and paired with custom matchboxes featuring an illustration of the venue. “I collect matches wherever I go, and when I light candles I always think of whatever memory I have attached to the matchbook,” Megan says, “I wanted people to fondly remember our wedding whenever they do the same!”
With the movie “Father of the Bride” serving as inspiration, the reception space was set up with long rows of tables for an al fresco dinner. The tables were covered in textured champagne-hued linens and paired with white bentwood chairs.
Floral centerpiece arrangements in varying brass compotes were accented with fresh fruits and sandstone colored candles. The tableware included heath ceramic stoneware, matte gold flatware, simple glassware, and ivory open weave napkins. Custom menus made on blush handmade cotton paper were the final touch.
My dream of having all the people I love eating fried chicken in formalwear came true.
After the newlyweds made their grand entrance to the reception, they sat amongst their guests at a head table for speeches, dinner, and drinks. They went with a buffet of buttermilk fried chicken, grilled flank steak, butternut squash ravioli, charred brussel sprouts, and truffled macaroni and cheese. “So, yes, my dream of having all the people I love eating fried chicken in formalwear came true,” Megan says.
Megan and Thomas shared their first dance to Noah Reid’s cover of Whitney Houston’s “Simply the Best.” “Our professional dancer friend Brittany gave us a few dance lessons in our living room, which was humbling and hilarious because I am the least coordinated human on earth,” Megan says. The bride danced with her father to “My Girl” by The Temptations and the groom shared a dance with his mom to “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show.
Megan and Thomas aren’t big into cake, so they opted for an ice cream cart for dessert instead. “There was a moment on the dancefloor towards the end of the night when LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” was playing and I looked around and saw everyone on the dance floor jumping up and down in unison screaming along to the lyrics. I thought to myself, ‘This is it. This is everything I could have ever wanted’,” Megan says.
After the celebrations, the pair jetted off to honeymoon in Santorini, Milos, and Paros, Greece. To couples in wedding planning mode, the newlyweds remind them to be present. “Enjoy the moment! Remember why you’re getting married in the first place!”