Building 177 Provided The Perfect Blank Canvas for This Minimal Wedding in San Diego, California

For Gabriella and Louie's modern, minimalist wedding at BLDG 177 in San Diego, California, a subtle-yet-bohemian color palette of beige, caramel and rose brought the understated affair to life. "For our wedding theme, we wanted to go for something modern with touches of whimsical feelings. We choose our venue at BLDG 17 because it had high ceilings, incredible natural light, and was a blank canvas for us to decorate. Our color palette was muted fall tones. I'm drawn to soft neutral colors but also wanted to incorporate some orange and mustard yellow tones as well. Our intention was to incorporate simple design elements that created a timeless feel to our wedding," Gabriella shares. 

When it came to the wedding's décor, the couple benefitted from Gabriella's prior experience in the industry. "I used to work for the floral company Native Poppy, so it was really sweet to have some of my old co-workers create my wedding flowers. For the floral pieces, I wanted them to be a mix of cream and blush flowers with touches of orange, yellow, and taupe. I also wanted to incorporate a lot of dried elements so that I would be able to dry my wedding bouquet after the wedding. I love Native Poppy's style because they make modern floral arrangements that feel like art pieces. They are light and airy and the floral arrangments take up space nicely."

To start the day, the couple's ceremony included a focal piece that was, "a beautiful hanging installation made up of dried and fresh foliage. Since BLDG 177 had such high ceilings, instead of going for a traditional arch I wanted to highlight the open space. This was my favorite design element of our wedding. We kept the rest of the decor simple and placed two large floral arrangments at the beginning of the aisle and bud vases of flowers on the gift and guest book tables. Since my partner and I are both Christian, during the ceremony we partook in the communion which was a special moment for us. Our bridal party walked down the aisle to 'Touching Heaven' by Johnnyswim. Their music was special in the beginning of our relationship and we always knew we would have at least one of their songs at our wedding. I walked down the I to a cover of 'Can't Help Falling in Love with You' by Kina Grannis. Her voice is angelic. Lastly, we ended our wedding ceremony by walking down the aisle to 'Every Hour' by Kanye West." 

Because of the venue's unique layout, Gabriella and Louie were able to flip their ceremony space into their reception space while guests enjoyed cocktail hour. "One thing we loved about BLDG 177 is that while everyone was outside enjoying the cocktail hour the whole inside space got flipped around to the reception layout. We were very grateful that we could have both the ceremony and reception in one space. We kept the decor simple with bud vases with light and airy flowers in them on each table. I designed all the signage for the receptions. For the signage and menus, I wanted to incorporate geometric shapes and add some brighter blush, orange, and yellow colors to our decor. For our grand entrance, our whole bridal party and ourselves walked out to 'Crazy in Love' by Beyonce. Then that led straight into our first dance, where we danced to 'Best Part' by Daniel Ceasar ft. H.E.R." says Gabriella.