Exclusive: How Courtney Barry Made Tradition With Her Wedding

As soon as Courtney Barry started planning her wedding, the one word that resonated throughout the checklist process was to “streamline.” The marketing maven and her husband, Sam Lopez, exchanged vows in Downtown Los Angeles before their closest family and friends (including the bride’s BFF Selena Gomez), opting to eliminate many wedding traditions in favor of going their own way.

“We didn’t want to focus on things we felt obligated to include and to lose sight of what it was about: starting our lives together surrounded by friends,” Barry tells The Knot exclusively. “We didn’t do first dances or a bouquet toss–or even a rehearsal dinner, because we didn’t want any added stress. Our most important things for us were food, people, environment.”

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

Barry and Lopez even went without a wedding party, instead having their best friends officiate as a different way to involve their loved ones. Throughout the wedding planning journey, Gomez was integral to all of the related events, including Barry’s bridal shower and bachelorette party. The multi-hyphenate and singer, therefore, served as the honorary “maid of honor” to her longtime friend.

“Our best friends married us because Sam and I knew we’d love how they articulated the service,” Barry says, adding of the reception: “We just wanted our dinner to feel relaxed, intimate, fun, and meaningful. We wanted it to feel like family and for everything to point to the celebration of finding love.”

Lopez’s relaxed approach to the wedding itself even extended to her wedding dress, a form-fitting Ribelia dress from Pronovias, which featured a low, draped back with button details. She accessorized the look with a lace-trimmed veil at the last minute, just a little something that felt “traditional and feminine.”

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

“This one checked all the boxes,” she says of opting for the veil, also by Atelier Pronovias, the day she picked up her “chic and classic” gown.

Barry says she didn’t have a full-time planner since she and Lopez opted to buck a lot of more traditional rituals, though she did have an “amazing” wedding coordinator, Ryam, who also happened to be a close friend.

The couple and their guests seated everyone family-style in order to facilitate more closeness among their loved ones, and served up Jon & Vinny’s, and because “nothing says family dinner like shared Italian food.” The newlyweds even had three specialty Jaja Tequila cocktails for the evening, as well as Calidad a Mexican cerveza being served from Nomad Cocktail Co.

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

“At the end of the night, we got everyone on the dance floor for one final song and my friend requested ‘Dancing Queen,’ and for some reason, dancing and singing at the top of my lungs with everyone was this perfect culmination and send-off,” she says of her favorite moment. “That, and having so many people that I love in one room together, laughing and crying and eating pizza.”

(Credit: Leanne Cantelon)

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