Lily Waronker and Jonny Gordon’s Wedding in Los Angeles

My husband designed our save-the-dates with Ellie Snow of Hello Tenfold by referencing the exploding Dirk Diggler sign from Boogie Nights, which is our favorite movie. To really irritate our guests, we packed about a thousand of those glitter stars in each envelope. For weeks, we would receive photos of the stars embedded in our guests’ carpets, car seats, and every other place you wouldn’t want glitter. Every envelope also came with a #GORDONKER (our wedding hashtag) magnet. I was very lucky to have my wedding designer, Jonathan Cohen, and his partner, Sarah Leff, by my side as I got ready to walk down the aisle. In this photo, Jonathan is fastening my silver glitter heels while I do my best to balance on one foot. I love this photo because I feel like I look like Talia Shire from The Godfather. My whole look that day unintentionally turned out to be very Mediterranean-inspired. Three of my favorite things: my husband; my husband’s hair; and his best friend and our officiant, Dan Pearle. This just oozes with Prince undertones—the whole look just lies somewhere in between “When Doves Cry” and Purple Rain. And the bouquet of aubergine lilies does compositional wonders for this photo! This image makes me want to high-five and French-kiss my wedding planner. Everything about it is picturesque: the striking floral arrangements in Lucite boxes flanking the aisle, the alternating ivory and gold seat cushions, and the gothic fireplace saturated in bright colored florals. Tuesday was our flower girl, and she looked better in her wedding dress than I did. I asked my florist to make a free-form garland in wild shades of pink, purple, and blue—an ideal backdrop to complement my veil and earrings. I loved looking out and seeing our guests as they waited for the bride and groom. One of my best friends Harley and her fiancé Ross really honored my “Black Tie Glam” dress code by showing up in a chic lavender sequined dress by Tibi and a black tux. I wanted our ceremony to be loud, fun, and emotional, so I hired a gospel choir cloaked in white gowns to sing us down the aisle to “Boy Blue” by Electric Light Orchestra and up the aisle to “Raspberry Beret.” The mother of the bride looked insanely beautiful in her blush-color, liquid velvet dress made by Brock Collection. My dad, accidentally inspired by the ’70s theme, wore a 30-year-old tux. I asked my mom to remove my veil because she’s about five inches taller than me (and my dad). I love my father, but I know he would have gotten the lace caught on the tiara and we would have spent about 45 minutes at the altar trying to undo the mess. This bird’s-eye view of the ceremony makes me cry every time I see it! We intentionally had our wedding in our hometown of Los Angeles so everyone and their mother could come. And all 250 of them did. I haven’t stopped holding Jonny’s hands since. This image really puts into perspective how large the fireplace is in comparison to us—my husband is 6’1’’! One of the weirder concerns I’ve carried with me throughout the years is a fear of looking gross when I kiss my husband at the altar. But now we know what that looks like. And it’s not so bad! The row of chairs lining the aisle were stacked with little Lucite boxes filled with gold lamé rose petals. Editorially, asking the rows of guests to throw fake gold petals at our smiling faces was the best decision my planner and I made. I look so relaxed here. As my beautiful friends Morgan, Chris, and Katya congratulate Dan on his brilliant performance up at the altar, my husband and I are upstairs ungracefully taking formal photos. These chic men have all been best friends with my husband since they were in elementary school. I asked the florist to bombard the tables with florals I’d never seen before, so the tablescapes were filled with spider lilies in varying colors, variegated hydrangeas, and other spectacular bright and rare blooms. We had her fill the round fish bowl vases with pink neon-color rocks for an added punch of color and a mix of taper and pillar candles were dipped into silver glitter. Instead of paper table signs, we used agate bookends in shades of pink, blue, and purple with white lettering as table numbers. Now we have two very heavy boxes filled with agate in our garage. My favorite flower in the world is a ranunculus and my second favorite flower is a variegated hydrangea. I didn’t know this until I saw the arrangements on our long tables. I love this busy shot of the reception because it really shows off the magnitude of the room size. And you can also get a good look at the beautiful rose-gold mirrored panels against the wall. Charlie Chaplin was married in this room in the 1920s. And nearly 100 years later, someone so much less important was married there, too. A disco wedding is not complete until you have Jordan’s big smile, mirrored chargers, and vibrant-color flowers. I cherish this group of people because I’ve known them since I was 12 years old and because they took the disco dress code seriously. We made our grand entrance into the party to the tune of “Best of My Love” by the Emotions. That moment will be forever cemented in my brain and in my heart. Our first dance as husband and wife was to “Take Me With U” by Prince and the Revolution. We did our best to not awkwardly dance in front of everyone but after about 30 seconds into the song, I pleaded with all my friends to meet us on the dance floor. I love seeing all my favorite people dancing under the nine disco balls. Somehow we were able to make a tent (without a pitch!) to fit over the dance floor, where people huddled, danced, and gossiped. Right before we cut the cake, I changed into a floor-length, sequin, halter dress that I fantasized Linda Lovelace wore in Deep Throat. Our cake was a delicious mixture of two flavors: our top and bottom layers were pistachio with almond toffee filling, and our middle tier was marble cake with hazelnut ganache filling. We’re still full from eating half of the cake the next day. My friend Natalie was the star of the evening in her red Gucci suit and matching rose-color blouse. I actually told Natalie she wasn’t invited unless she wore that outfit. Toward the end of the evening, instead of handing out quesadillas, we provided guests with rose-infused tequila Jell-o shots while two roller girls in silver minidresses passed out glow sticks and retro candy. We hid the staircase entrance in the back of the cocktail room with a silver-sequined curtain. My best friends Harley, Ross, Staud, Cassie, and Jim used that backdrop as an opportunity to grab the photographer and ask for a photo. I love my people. I think the look on my face says it all: Thanks for coming, I’m exhausted, catch you next time.