You Were Dreaming of a Big Wedding, but - Covid?

By Alyssa Erdley, Observer Staff Writer

When the lockdowns hit Southern California, it didn't take wedding industry professional Andrea Cohen long to realize she could turn what seemed like devastation into a new business. The owner of Chuppah Studio, a business that provides custom and rental chuppahs for Jewish weddings, Cohen saw by May of 2020 that the restrictions on gatherings made by state and local officials was not going to end soon since COVID-19 was continuing to move through the population. She reached out to other professionals in the industry, and they created Lovely Little Weddings, a customizable, build-your-own-wedding website and service.

Lovely Little Weddings specializes in the small, no-reception, outdoor weddings that are the only legal option in Los Angeles County. The maximum number of guests is 25. But even when that small, weddings have "a lot of moving parts," says Cohen. Lovely Little Weddings coordinates those parts - photography, flowers, drinks, furniture, and more. They even provide a non-denominational wedding officiant, Rev Roxanne Hunt, who can perform non-religious, single-religion, interfaith, and LGBTQ ceremonies for all cultures and religions. Also available is a rabbi.

Packages start at "Elopements," a one-hour service with a 10-guest maximum that includes wedding photography, flowers for the couple, and an officiant, and a champagne toast for $1495. Locations can be chosen from various beach spots to Griffith Park Observatory and Vasquez Rocks. (They obtain the permits.) At the other end of the spectrum is the fully-planned package, which includes both the wedding and reception and everything traditionally associated with a dream wedding. Those begin at $6300. All of the packages allow customization and add-ons and include coordinators who will make sure everything goes smoothly on the day of the event.

Whatever size wedding a couple may want, everything that is necessary is available for purchase on Lovely Little Wedding's website. Choices of floral arrangements, flavors of cakes, types of wedding canopies, locations, and more can be perused and chosen from the comfort of one's home. After the date is okayed by the website's vendors, payment can be made via credit card or Paypal.

For those locals wanting to get hitched on Valentine's Day, Lovely Little Weddings has reserved Santa Monica's Proper Hotel all weekend for one-hour elopement packages.

With planning this easy, it's hard to find an excuse not to take the plunge.