Real Wedding: Victoria & Luke

Victoria and Luke found a hidden gem in Downtown L.A. to tie the knot in a Gatbsy-style affair.

After meeting on eHarmony, Luke proposed on a vineyard in Paso Robles. “Luke called ahead and told the winemaker about his plan to propose, so the winemaker opened the winery just for us,” Victoria says. “We had a couple of glasses of wine in the tasting room and went for a walk in this beautiful olive grove overlooking the vineyard. I commented that I wouldn’t want to get married at a vineyard and would prefer ‘something urban in the city.’ This gave Luke the perfect segue, and he proposed right there.”

She wanted a classic, timeless venue that also paid tribute to her hometown of Los Angeles, and the couple found their dream location at Cafe Pinot, which is nestled between the Central Library and Maguire Gardens. “It’s this little hidden enclave amidst all these skyscrapers,” she says. “So many of our guests were lifelong L.A. residents and didn’t even know it was there. I loved that.”

The art deco-meets-modern library space begged for some literary details, which led to library book-style wedding invitations inspired by a discontinued Great Gatsby cover from the early 20th century, response cards to look like library cards, and library catalog cards as escort cards. “The library décor really took on a mind of its own,” Victoria says.

Take a look at their downtown day, captured by The Youngrens: