Celebrity stylist Sonia Young and Colt Seman, the co-founder of Miku Smart Baby Monitor, met the “good old-fashioned way,” which means they first laid eyes on each other in a New York City bar at 4:00 a.m. He told her she was beautiful, and she complimented his long hair. He was in the city for work, and she was there for Fashion Week, but they quickly realized they lived only a few blocks from one another in Los Angeles.
Once back in L.A., they dated for five years. A few weeks before Christmas in 2019, he proposed with an early holiday gift. Considering that Sonia had been “hot on Colt’s trail” about proposing, she was suddenly suspicious when he asked her if she wanted to open a holiday present early.
Instead of a diamond ring, she opened up a box with matching pajamas for her and Colt. She is a self-admitted matching PJ zealot, so this was not a huge letdown. Then, Colt brought out their two dogs in the same PJ set as well. The gears were already turning in Sonia’s mind. The ring must be tied around the dogs! He’s proposing!
When she felt the dogs for a spare engagement ring, she didn’t come across any baubles. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow! what a missed opportunity,'” she recalls. She and Colt settled into the couch and turned on the TV. About ten minutes into the movie, Colt suggests Sonia look at one of the dog’s pajamas because it seemed to be too tight. “It clearly wasn’t!” Sonia says. She investigated, nonetheless, and saw that on the belly of the dog PJ read, “Will you marry me?” Colt pulled out a box, and Sonia knew this was the moment!
The couple knew they wanted their wedding near their L.A. home base and that their venue needed to have a hotel for their guests. “That way it was like adult summer camp [during] the wedding weekend, running into all of the people you love most,” Sonia explains. She and Colt looked no further than the Calamigos Ranch. The big tree with hanging lights was all they needed to see.
The rest of Sonia’s “must-haves” for her wedding included a black and white dance floor, golden animal details, and a plethora of candles and vintage colored glass dishware.
Sonia also knew that she did not want the all-white bridal look. “Monique Lhuiller has always had my heart, so going in to try on dresses was a surreal experience. And big love to Mary from Monique, who made this so seamless for myself and my mother!” She shares. “I hate to say it, well, maybe I love it, but my vision from age five to 32 did not waver. I always knew I wanted a dress so big that it would stand on its own with a traditional corset top.”
Sonia’s long-held, specific bridal vision was a difficult order to fulfill because most gowns with these qualities were too traditional for her taste. She particularly adored the pattern of the Jardin dress but still sought her “tulle moment.” While on a second fitting with Mary, Sonia’s eye caught a glimpse of the Westwood gown. It was perfect, aside from its red, blue, pink, and black floral beading. Sonia was determined to have the dress and its stunning silhouette, so her bridal team turned the dress into a custom gown with the same embroidery seen on her veil. Several months after, her custom dress arrived with hand embroidery to boot. With several more fittings, the dress became the dress of Sonia’s layered dreams.
Sonia is keen on vintage and estate jewelry. Her Victor Barbone engagement ring is from the 1930s with an old mine-cut diamond surrounded by emeralds. Colt presented Sonia with a befitting wedding gift, a 1950s estate piece with dazzling baguettes from Platt Boutique. “Given how sparkly my fingers already were, I opted for a classic gold band as my wedding band, which is inscribed with a note and our wedding date,” she says. “Being a stylist, picking jewelry is always the icing on the cake.” Sonia wanted to tout the line between elegance and sparkling without being distracting. Her mother’s pearl and diamond wreath earrings were just right, and she slid on pieces from both of her grandmothers. Lastly, she donned a vintage diamond watch and cuff.
As for beauty, Sonia left the decisions to her team. She had full faith in their creative visions that would leave her looking beautiful and just like herself. She has witnessed Dave Stanwell operate a blow dryer for years and knew that he always delivered for her clients. “The only brief I had to give him was that I wanted to add length,” she says. “He is such a visionary that he just came up with the look after seeing the dress.” The style in question was a sleek blowout with a slight bend at the ends and tuck behind the ears. Alexis Oakley applied Sonia’s makeup, which made Sonia look like an elevated version of herself with peachy bronze tones. “Let me tell you, my hair and makeup were intact through the next morning!” she shares. “I am beyond thankful for these two on my wedding day.”
On October 29, 2021, Colt entered the ceremony to the tune of the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.” Sonia followed arm-in-arm with her father, as “Sussudio” by Phil Collins played. Sonia elaborates, stating, “I wanted to start the vibe of the wedding off strong, and I knew Phil would do the job, as it was the soundtrack to my childhood.” Nieces and nephews descended the aisle as well, with Sonia’s three-month-old niece being pushed down in a vintage 1950s bunny stroller from Chairish.
Sonia’s incredible friend, Iris Tanz, served as the officiant. “We really wanted to incorporate something we would be able to keep forever and show our kids,” the bride says. Iris suggested that the couple try the ancient Celtic “Handfasting” ritual, where the betrothed’s hands are tied together to symbolize the binding of two lives. The rope they used at the ceremony is now framed in an acrylic box and will be placed on the wall in their home for their progeny to see someday.
For the reception, guests found their seats by walking up to a wall covered in a Monique Lhuiller-printed duvet, which matched the hand embroidery on Sonia’s dress. There, they discovered maracas from Fiesta Fancies with their names and table assignments.
“Again, I knew we wanted something nontraditional that would maximize the dancing,” Sonia explains. Midnight Special, the incredible 12-piece band from West Coast Music, played “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys, when the newlyweds entered the room. This ushered a solid thirty minutes of dancing before dinner. The five-layer buttercream wedding cake by Hansens Cake was heavily inspired by the one at Sonia’s parents’ wedding. Later in the evening, guests dined on late-night McDonald’s Happy Meals complete with original Beanie Baby toys from the ’90s.
For the rest of the soiree, Sonia changed into a Galia Lahav dress. The Mel gown embodied the romance and fun she envisioned for her “party” piece. She ordered the dress solely based on the photos she saw because the gown was not even in stores yet. Thankfully, the Mel was even more glamorous in person. With its alluring sheer fabric and off-the-shoulder puff sleeves, Sonia looked like royalty on her wedding day.
The newlyweds left with several Happy Meals in hand and happy visages across their faces after such a wonderful day. Sonia cheekily admits that she may or may not have fallen asleep in her beautiful Galia dress.
