Alexandra Riley wouldn't have gone ahead with her Jan. 11 wedding if it weren't for her mother, Bev Lowe. Wildfires were raging in Los Angeles. California's Santa Rosa Valley, where she was scheduled to marry fellow soccer player Lukas Waller Nilsson, was outside the danger zone, but many of the couple's 120 guests were still inside.
“My mother took all my hesitations, worries and doubts and completely brushed them aside,” said Riley, who has played in five World Cups. For Riley, 37, of Canoga Park, Calif., it was a demonstration of the fortitude she expected from her mother.
Those who don't know Lowe may have been surprised by the enthusiasm she and her husband, John Reilly, mustered for their daughter's wedding. Five days before the ceremony, her Pacific Palisades home of 41 years burned down.
As the city of Los Angeles assesses its long and uncertain recovery from the devastating fires, it also shows the tenacity of local professionals helping couples and their weddings. Jessica Carrillo, executive producer and creative director of Art & Soul Events, a Los Angeles wedding planning and event design firm, believes there is something uniquely Los Angeles about the acts of generosity and kindness she has seen in recent weeks. There is.
“We are a city here to network and build relationships,” she said. Since the fire broke out, the Facebook group she started for colleagues in 2015, LA Wedding Vendors & Creatives, has become a hotbed of links, from florists who lost their homes to weddings whose cameras were burned. There is also a link to a GoFundMe campaign for the photographers, and the venue that had agreed to host the wedding was evacuated due to the fire.
Malibu wedding photographer Ariel Nunez has seen colleagues offer to open their studios to people who need a place to shoot and charge their batteries. Watching their generosity gave her something to focus on while her husband was deployed as a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department. “It was incredible to see how the community rose up,” she said.
Some business owners, like Cordelia Culver, are seeing their communities develop for a second or third time. Culver's catering company, Chef Cordelia, operates two event spaces: The Lodge at Maribou Lake in Agoura Hills and Rensmoor Castle in Alhambra. In 2018, she and Carrillo teamed up to find a new venue for couples whose lodge weddings were abruptly canceled during the Woolsey Fire in and around Malibu.
“From that experience, we learned how to act quickly and rush to each other in an emergency,” Carrillo said. Those lessons have been reinforced during the coronavirus pandemic, which has left weddings in a state of flux due to laws banning large gatherings. “Now I can practice more,” Culver said. But this time still feels different.
Now, “we are in this pocket of fear and devastation. Where will it end and how will it end?” Carrillo said. “The scale of these fires is much larger and more widespread.” “A lot of people in L.A. really understand that,” Culver added.
If there's a silver lining for couples, it's that there's a lull in the wedding season in January and February. Mr Culver got married at Rensmoor Castle on January 11, despite complications such as fallen trees and smoky air in the area, although he usually spends this time of year cleaning warehouses and re-setting tables. She said she is putting the finishing touches on it. Carrillo didn't have a wedding in January. Nuñez had planned to take photos for his bar mitzvah, but the event was postponed because the synagogue where it was scheduled to be held was turned into an evacuation center.
Ms Culver said she was starting to receive a trickle of inquiries from couples planning weddings later this year at the fire-damaged venue. But “it's still too early,” he said. “Right now we're seeing these ugly scars all over the city. It's going to take some time before anything comes to light.”
Riley and Waller Nilsson's Santa Rosa Valley wedding was held at the home of former professional soccer player Lauren Holiday. Riley's parents evacuated their home two hours before losing their home to the Palisades fire and are living there temporarily.
“My dad doesn't match his socks with his bow ties,” said Riley, a defender for Angel City FC, a team in the National Women's Soccer League. Waller Nilsson, 36, previously played in his native Sweden and is currently a soccer coach. “Besides important documents, among the few things they packed was a wedding outfit,” Riley said.
The homeless guests rented suits and shoes for the couple's wedding. Not all apply. My neighbor was wearing suit pants and a T-shirt. But “everyone was like, 'This wedding is going to happen.' We're going to get drunk and dance and hug each other,” Riley said. The event, built around love and unity, gave Riley's parents something to look forward to, especially. “It gave them so much light,” she said. “It kept them busy and excited. Dad knows how to bring the atmosphere.”
Danica Pinner and Nick Campbell weren't sure they'd be able to generate such high spirits when they got married on January 12 at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. A few days ago, Campbell said, “I just felt like I didn't know what to do.” “I saw smoke in the distance.”
Like Riley, Campbell had lost her childhood home in the Pacific Palisades just days before. His mother, Leslie Linka Glatter, lived with him and Pinner in the Van Nuys area. But the 33-year-old musician had 182 guests to consider (it ended up being closer to 165), some of whom had flown in for the wedding. I'm glad they didn't cancel. “My mother convinced us that people needed some kind of outlet for their community right now,” Campbell said. “And that's how it felt. There were a lot of hugs around the room and a very happy feeling.”
The fire also added meaning to Alex Schmider and Kat Klein's wedding, which took place on January 14 at a relative's home in Santa Barbara. Schmider, who lives in north Los Angeles and works as a producer, and Klein originally planned to marry in 2026, but were concerned about marriage equality rights after the presidential election. “I felt it was important to get married quickly,” said Schmider, a transgender man in his mid-30s.
The couple planned their wedding with 130 guests in two months. Almost everyone showed up, including friends and neighbors who had evacuated their homes. It was unexpected, along with the foresight of their oath. Klein, who is in his late 20s, said, “A week before the fire, I wrote, “I don't know what's going to happen.'' “All we have is the conviction of our love for each other,” Schmider said.
Less than a week after the wedding, Riley wasn't sure if she had fully processed the loss of her family. “I couldn't even cry because the grief was so great,” she said. “I think you'll probably need treatment.”
