Tara Lipinski and her fiancé, Todd Kapostasy, haven’t started wedding planning quite yet. Before diving into bride mode, the former Olympic figure skater has one major obstacle first. “I have Rio coming up and I’m hoping after that I can really get down to business,” Lipinski tells InStyle. She and her skating BFF, Johnny Weir, will act as NBC culture correspondents during the 2016 summer Olympics, covering everything from food to fashion in Brazil during the games.
Even though Lipinski and her fiancé aren’t working on their nuptials yet, the duo recently threw an epic engagement party to kick off the celebrations. The bash was held at Mr. C in Los Angeles with the help of celeb planner extraordinaire, Mindy Weiss. “We were going to do it in our backyard and have a few friends over, but then I started working with Mindy, who’s also my wedding planner, and it just turned into a magical party,” Lipinski says. “Everything that I envisioned, it was ten times better than that. It was a really fun night and lots of our family and friends flew across the country to be there, which is the best part.”
With the help of Wedding Paper Divas, Mindy Weiss used Lipinski and Kapostasy's input when planning the fête. “We worked closely together to come to decisions on everything from food to florals to the furniture we brought in specifically for the event,” Weiss tells InStyle. “Tara was really looking for something clean, crisp, and elegant. It was a joy working with them to bring their love story to life.”
Scroll down for all of the fun details from the engagement party.
Mindy Weiss Infused It With Little Details
“She just knows everything,” Lipinski says of her engagement party planner, Mindy Weiss. “I just feel really lucky to have met her and to have her guiding me through this process because I know it can be a bit stressful. There were a lot of little special things that I just didn’t think of, like the really cute napkins with ‘TNT.’ When you walked into the room, all those little details made such a big difference.”
Lipinski Requested CoolHaus ice cream sandwiches
“I had the idea to bring in CoolHaus because I love their ice cream sandwiches so much,” she says. “I was expecting one or two flavors and they had at least five different ones. Obviously chocolate is my go-to, but they had a lot of options. To have that as a midnight snack was pretty awesome."
Her Custom Mark Zunino Dress was Convertible
“It had a removable skirt,” Lipinski tells InStyle about her white Mark Zunino stunner. “When I went to Mark, I said I didn’t know if I wanted a really tight dress or more of a fit and flare dress. He said ‘We’ll do both.’ It was really fun to start the night in the full dress and then be able to take it off, dance, and have a good time. It was just such a fun process having it custom made for you. It fits like a glove and obviously I love it."
They Kept The Color Scheme Simple
“I wanted a very clean look,” she explains. “We had the party at the top of Mr. C Hotel and it has all these beautiful windows, so I just wanted a very fresh, clean look. We went with all white and then because we thought we could add a fun accent color, we added gold."
The Wedding Paper Diva Invitations Had a Fun Element
When Lipinski’s fiance proposed to her over the holidays, he took over a window at the Plaza where a commissioned painting of the two of them was on display. The painting featured Kapostasy proposing to Lipinski in front of her house. “We came up with the idea of putting the painting on the invitation,” she says. “We both looked at each other and knew that was exactly what we wanted. We went on the Wedding Paper Divas site and there’s just so many options and everything was so beautiful. I was so overwhelmed and wanted them all! They made the invitation look just like a painting. It was really perfect."
You Won’t Believe the Photo Booth Props
Since the engaged duo met at the Emmy Awards (where Kapostasy won multiple Emmys for producing Fox Sports) and Lipinski won the gold medal at the 1998 winter Olympic games, they opted for “fake Emmys and medals,” according to her. She says, “Everyone loved the photo booth. It was one of those GIF ones and the background image changed, so you could pretend you were presenting at the Emmys or they had a skating one where you were in an ice arena and flowers fell in the background. Everyone got a kick out of that."
The Dance Party Was Epic
“The party was long so it was nice to mix it up and have all types of music,” Lipinski says, pictured above with Johnny Weir. "We put some oldies in there for my mom and dad. Our friends love to have a good time and at the end of the night, Todd and two other people split their pants. So after that happened, I was like ‘Okay, it was a good party then.’"
