{"id":89,"date":"2025-09-03T09:57:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/89\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:57:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:57:53","slug":"viva-weddings-flockhills-valerie-taylor-cullen-on-their-sunny-californian-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/89\/","title":{"rendered":"Viva Weddings: Flockhill\u2019s Valerie & Taylor Cullen On Their Sunny, Californian Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valerie and Taylor Cullen, chef and business development manager of Southern Alps lodge Flockhill, left the snowy slopes to celebrate their long-awaited ceremony in California. Val shares the details of a day in the sun. <\/p>\n

\n Looks-wise, we wanted it to feel like us: for people to show
\n up and immediately know they were at our wedding.\n <\/p>\n

But as far as the big picture, we just wanted a house party with our nearest and dearest family and friends. We didn\u2019t want a big, fluffy wedding with everyone we know. We wanted it to feel like some of the best parties we\u2019ve been to \u2013 with great food and great people.<\/p>\n

Planning was crazy. We had been engaged for two years and didn\u2019t plan anything because we were focused on Flockhill. In January, right in the middle of high season, we felt so proud of what we\u2019d accomplished at Flockhill, that we thought it was time to start planning. <\/p>\n

Planning was just me, my mum, and my cousin Lisa \u2013 maybe three FaceTime calls and a bunch of text messages back and forth. We didn\u2019t make any strict rules. It came together cohesively. <\/p>\n

My whole family is based in Denver, Colorado. I first moved to New Zealand eight years ago, and had a five-year stint in Australia before moving back.<\/p>\n

The day before the wedding we had an open house. Anyone who wanted to come and help could. We had so many helping hands. My mother-in-law and sister did all the flowers, Taylor did all the prep for the chefs, and friends and family helped move chairs.<\/p>\n

Significant events leading up to the wedding included an engagement party in Sydney when we first got engaged, and another in Colorado for family and friends. That was so fun \u2013 it was at my mum\u2019s best friend\u2019s bar with a live band (including a banjo player for Taylor) and a custom cocktail list: fun ones like Cullin Me Softly, Bondi Bride. It was such a fun night.<\/p>\n

Ojai, California at a private residence. We wanted it to be neutral territory and just something really beautiful that felt like us. We found this house and it just made sense.<\/p>\n

\"SunSun soaked their ceremony in Ojai. <\/p>\n

It was really casual \u2013 everyone sat in the lounge on sofas with the view backlit behind us. It ended up looking ethereal in a way. The ceremony was short, mostly about how we met and sharing our vows.<\/p>\n

We arrived two days before the wedding and stayed there for the full wedding weekend \u2013 best decision ever. The venue became our home.<\/p>\n

My engagement ring was custom designed by Lucy Folk; we worked with jeweller Craig Spark. It almost looks like a cat\u2019s eye \u2013 the band has smaller diamonds along the sides and sapphires in it. It\u2019s a marquise diamond. I\u2019ve never seen a ring that looks like it before. Taylor did a great job.<\/p>\n

When we went back to Craig together, I wanted the same band with another diamond centre stone but smaller, while Taylor wanted something funky and colourful \u2013 a gold band with a diamond, rubies, and citrine.<\/p>\n

Taylor wore a fully custom Lucy Folk outfit \u2013 white pants, a white button-up shirt with a red tulip down the sleeve and pants, and a custom vest with the same tulip design hand-beaded on the back.<\/p>\n

\"TaylorTaylor Cullen’s wedding outfit was embellished with red tulips. <\/p>\n

I saw my dress in a photo on Pinterest and bought it. It was the Willoby by Watters dress. They\u2019re based in Texas and also sell at Anthropologie. My mum bought it and brought it to New Zealand. On Mother\u2019s Day at The Chef\u2019s Table<\/a>, we opened champagne and I tried it on. It was a little big, so we tweaked the top and hemmed the bottom. It is a corset top with a separate skirt \u2013 it just felt very me. Lace, a little bit of tulle.<\/p>\n

We both knew we would wear our outfits again. Right after I got mine altered, I tried the corset top on with jeans and thought this works \u2013 it wasn\u2019t just a one-time wear.<\/p>\n

\"Val'sVal’s dress was transformed into pieces she could re-wear. <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to get my hair and makeup done, so I got a treatment at my favourite salon in Colorado to make sure my curls were healthy. I did my everyday makeup with a few extras \u2013 lip gloss and false eyelashes. I wanted to keep it natural and authentic to myself. I ended up wearing the same perfume as Taylor \u2013 Le Labo.<\/p>\n

Flowers were the least important thing to both of us. A week before the wedding, I [searched for] flower farms around Ojai and told them, \u201cI\u2019m having a party.\u201d We got buckets of flowers. Taylor\u2019s mum Sandra and her sister spent hours doing all the table arrangements and bouquet. The farmer cut them fresh. My \u201cmood board\u201d was whites, pinks, soft yellows, and peachy orange.<\/p>\n

We had an outdoor cookout \u2013 chicken, steak, fish, and lots of roast veggies. Food was the most important thing to Taylor. He wanted to cook himself but was told he wasn\u2019t allowed to work. He wanted to feature what was fresh in Ojai. He went to the farmer\u2019s market that morning.<\/p>\n

My best friend, McKenna Lamos (a former pastry chef at Chiswick, now back in the US), made it. We just told her, \u201cYou\u2019re making our cake.\u201d We had different visions but I let Taylor have executive chef rights. I honestly don\u2019t even know what flavour it was \u2013 but it had strawberries all over it and was gorgeous and delicious.<\/p>\n

\"AA cake covered in strawberries was sliced in celebration. <\/p>\n

The reception was amazing \u2013 it went into the next morning. By the end, there were five of us left. We danced, told stories, rolled around on the ground, and even went tarantula hunting in the middle of the night. (that\u2019s right, as in spiders.)<\/p>\n

What songs were essential for the playlist? Lump Sum by Bon Iver; we said our vows to My Friend the Forest by Nils Frahm, played by a pianist \u2013 that\u2019s our favourite song ever. For our exit song, we wanted Gorilla by Little Simz.<\/p>\n

The rest was a playlist of house music, like what we play at Flockhill\u2019s Sugarloaf restaurant.<\/p>\n

We found our photographer on Instagram, and her husband did the video. I wanted someone who could capture the day without taking us out of it. Just a few family and bridal photos, then back to enjoying the day. Her candids were fantastic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our wedding, so everything was heartfelt. The most surprising thing was the tarantulas \u2013 and that guests were happy to let them climb on them.<\/p>\n

Another surprise was Taylor walking down the aisle with a bunch of carrots, like a bouquet. I didn\u2019t know he was going to do that. It was very cute and very Taylor.<\/p>\n

I have two tips: Don\u2019t let yourself get too stressed. There\u2019s no point. If something is stressing you out, just don\u2019t do it. Second tip \u2013 if you plan a honeymoon right after the wedding, make it one stop. Don\u2019t make it epic. We went to Spain and Portugal. After all the emotion and build-up, on honeymoon you just want to do nothing \u2013 so plan for that.<\/p>\n

More Viva weddings<\/p>\n

Special days, special moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valerie and Taylor Cullen, chef and business development manager of Southern Alps lodge Flockhill, left the snowy slopes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[172,138,179,167,177,168,169,164,181,170,156,174,161,101,173,178,93,111,139,69,90,180,176,175,171,182,166,163,165,162,159,160],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-alps","tag-business","tag-california","tag-californian","tag-celebrate","tag-ceremony","tag-chef","tag-cullen","tag-details","tag-development","tag-entertainment","tag-flockhill","tag-flockhills","tag-left","tag-lodge","tag-longawaited","tag-manager","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-shares","tag-slopes","tag-snowy","tag-southern","tag-sun","tag-sunny","tag-taylor","tag-their","tag-valerie","tag-viva","tag-weddings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}