Zankyou Real Wedding: Jane & Griffin

by AJDecember 28, 2011 0

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Newlyweds Jane and Griffin

We are especially excited to bring you a special Zankyou couple for this edition of our real weddings. A beautiful couple inside and out, Zankyou cordially invites you to the real wedding of Jane & Griffin. The bride, a dermatologist in the southern California area and of Lebanese descent, shares the spectacular weekend she married her better half, Griffin. What makes this Zankyou couple so special is they decided to use their registry as a means to help their 3 favorite charities. We hope you enjoy the amazing photos and story behind their beautiful day and also be inspired by their giving and generous nature.

The newlyweds

The beautiful couple

Our wedding was at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs and it was really important to us that our guests spend the whole weekend there relaxing and celebrating with us. We hosted a few events to try and spend as much time as possible with our family and friends.

The bride in her ceremonial dress by Kenneth Pool

Mr. & Mrs. King

On Thursday, we hosted a “VIP” dinner party in the indoor spa & pool area. It was middle eastern themed with tents. The food and music also reflected my heritage. I am Lebanese and I wanted to have some food and music that reflected my culture and that also translated in the wedding. Griffin and I opted not to have a wedding party and instead only had my sister as the maid of honor and his brother as the best man.

You may now kiss the bride

The photo booth at the reception

On Saturday, we got married at 4 p.m. on the croquet lawn. My father officiated at our wedding which made it very special and emotional. There was not a dry eye there. Even the photographer told me he was wiping back tears.

The couple posing with one of the traditional Lebanese performers

The couple celebrating with their guests

The couple entering the reception

After the wedding, we had a cocktail reception at the lawn in front of the ballroom where the wedding reception was taking place. I slipped away from Griffin because I had a surprise for him and everyone. For my wedding ceremonial dress, I wore a gown by Kenneth Pool. I had a second dress that I changed into which was designed by Elizabeth Fillmore and then surprised him before we made our entrance and surprised everyone. Griffin donned a classic tuxedo by Ermenegildo Zegna.

The reception venue

Griffin and I wanted to use our wedding as a way to support certain organizations that were important to us. The idea of utilizing young, underprivileged artists to help with our invitation artwork became a perfect fit. After speaking with several organizations we formed a relationship with A Place Called Home (APCH.org) in Los Angeles. Any interested children were given a picture of Griffin and I, a picture of our wedding venue and our wedding colors. At that point they had carte blanche and could create art in whatever medium or design they felt best about. We had submissions in watercolor, pen, pencil and computer-aided design. We decided on 4 primary designs for our invitations with additional designs that were used for stamps and other small things. The results were amazing as each guest got an individualized piece of artwork integrated into their invitation. Our friends and family were amazed at the quality and creativity of the art. APCH received a grant from Griffin and I. The children involved received a special gift as well as the recognition that their work was used to create lasting piece of professional art that will be remembered by hundreds of people forever. We feel very strongly that many at-risk children have talents that need to be developed and rewarded in order to help them stay focused on their future. As a dermatologist, I wanted to include a charity that supports children who suffer from serious and fatal dermatologic illnesses. Camp Wonder is a free summer camp for children with serious and fatal skin diseases where under the expert care of dermatologists and nurses, campers have the opportunity to spend a week at camp with other young people and counselers who have similar skin conditions. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Orange County is a non-profit organization that trains community volunteers to serve as powerful mentors and advocates for our community’s most severely abused, abandoned and neglected children. Griffin is a CASA advocate and has worked with children within this program so it was a natural extension of this commitment to draw attention and support this organization that has already been very important to us.

Zankyou would love to thank both Jane and Griffin for sharing their wonderful day and story with us. All photos are courtesy of Tosti Studios. For more information on all the 3 charities, please visit their websites at APCH.org, Csdf.org and Casaoc.org.

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