The Bride Wore Monique Lhuillier for a Whimsical Wedding at Her Family Home in California
Corinne Foxx and Joseph “Joe” Hooten’s first encounter sounds like the beginnings of a rom-com—they met at a homecoming party while both were students at the University of Southern California. Back then, Joe, who is now a TV executive and producer, was living with a high school friend of Corinne’s. “Even though we didn’t know each other well, I always had a big crush on Joe,” Corinne, an actor, writer, and producer, admits. It wasn’t until years later that they reconnected on social media. “I liked an old photo of Joe’s on Instagram and he DMed me right away,” she remembers. “Our first date was on a sailboat, where Joe was living at the time.”
After five years of dating, Joe started planning an elaborate proposal in Ireland in the spring of 2023. “However, when my dad [Jamie Foxx] got sick, our plans changed, and we ended up spending our summer in Chicago while he recovered,” Corinne explains. “Little did I know that Joe had changed his plans so he could still propose on the same day—just in a different city. He found a park in Chicago that had cherry blossoms in bloom and proposed there.” For the proposal, Joe made sure to include the whole Foxx clan. “He flew in my mom from Los Angeles and had my aunts hiding in a bush FaceTiming my dad the entire time. He even planned a very special post-engagement party in my dad’s room [at a physical rehabilitation center] in Chicago. It was a small celebration, but it was so intimate and meaningful.”
The couple’s wedding was held on September 21, 2024, at Corinne’s father’s home in Thousand Oaks, CA. “It was never a question. We always knew we’d get married in my dad’s backyard,” the bride says. “He has the most gorgeous property. It already looks like a wedding venue. We couldn’t think of anywhere more special than a home wedding. It just felt right.”
“The day after we got engaged, we asked Jamie if we could do the wedding at his house,” Joe says. “The home is very special to the whole family, and it felt like a no-brainer.” The Foxx family then devoted their summer to preparing the house for the wedding, including new paint, landscaping, and furniture. “Even though my dad has lived there for almost 20 years, the house felt brand new,” Corinne notes.
Since their wedding was going to be in their home state of California, the couple knew that the guest list was going to be an extensive one. “We wanted to find wedding planners that would be able to tackle our large wedding, while also making it personal and intimate, and we hit the jackpot with Debbie Geller and Paige Blatt at Geller Events,” Corinne says. “Luckily, one of the hardest parts was already done: finding a venue.”
Because of that, they got to focus on some of the more fun elements, like the band and catering, from the start. “I come from a musical family, so I knew finding the right band would be an important element for the night,” Corinne says. “When we watched videos of The Midnight Special, I knew they were up to par. They also played a lot of old-school R&B, which I knew would be a hit with my family.”
When it came to making decisions regarding her wardrobe, at first, Corinne was fairly confident she would go the custom route—but before committing to that path, she wanted to try on dresses to see what she was most drawn to. “I quickly realized that having a Pinterest board and trying dresses on in real life are totally different things,” Corinne admits. “Neither of my parents have been married, so I didn’t feel tied to anything traditional with my wedding, and that started with my dress. I didn’t want anything that felt too rigid or formal. I knew I wanted something that had a playful element to it, while still being classic.”
With that in mind, she went to Monique Lhuiller by herself one day and fell in love with what ultimately became her wedding dress. “It was light, breezy, and playful but still felt elegant,” Corinne says of the high-low printed dress she selected. “The shoes were also incredibly important as they were going to be seen in every photo,” the bride explains. “That is when I brought in my stylists, Dani Emma, to help with final touches. They found these beautiful pearl-strapped Jimmy Choos that were just enough to be eye-catching, but not take away from the dress.”
From there, they tried to have a cohesive style throughout all of the bride’s welcome party and after-party looks. “But I ended up loving my welcome party look, and it didn’t match my wedding dress at all, Corinne admits. “[At that point,] we just said, ‘Who cares?!’ So, I ended up having three totally different looks throughout my wedding weekend, and I’m so happy about it. We went with what we liked, instead of trying to tell a fashion story.”
On the day of the wedding, Corinne’s dad walked her down the aisle. “It was incredibly special, considering his health scare last year,” she says. “I walked down to a strings version of ‘Georgia On My Mind’ by Ray Charles. My dad won his Oscar for playing [Ray] in 2005. At 10 years old, I was his plus one and got to share that special moment with him. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when we came down the aisle.”
“I didn’t expect to cry up there, but the moment I saw Corinne and Jamie, who was also emotional, walking down that aisle, all bets were off,” Joe remembers. “I was in awe of her beauty and inspired by Jamie’s example of fatherhood. During Jamie’s health scare, the whole family went through and overcame so much. Seeing all of us make it to this moment just opened the floodgates. It was beautiful and unlike anything I could have imagined.”
The couple were very intentional about the look and feel of the ceremony. “We often used the words, ‘secret garden’ as a reference for the ceremony,” Corinne says. “I always envisioned a curved aisle, and we wanted a whimsical feel.” As Corinne and Joe describe themselves as more spiritual than religious, it allowed them the freedom to create traditions of their own— one of which was a tree-watering ceremony. “Each person in our wedding party walked down the aisle and watered a small plant at the end,” Corinne explains. “The plant was meant to represent our new life together and the watering signified all the people who have poured their love into our budding new chapter together.”
