CRANBERRY IS VERY IN …
Those were the words said to me by Lauren’s mother Linda, who is a long time customer and friend. Lauren is a trained culinary artist and even though she has a quieter demeanor than her sister, Lindsey, whose wedding I did last year, she still knew what she wanted. Our meetings were short and sweet. Lauren LOVES sunflowers, but she also loves jewel tones and a little shimmer. It was a tricky combo to make seamless, but in the end I think we got everything just right.
THE DESIGN …
The personal flowers were easy … a combination of jewel tone flowers, herbs, a few unexpected fall accents, and those little purple cabbages that Linda loves. The girls wore cranberry because it’s in. Combining purple, fuchsia, hot pink, and a touch of brown resulted in stunning bouquets for the girls. For Lauren, I watered the color down a bit. I included some very special blooms and herbs from my own garden, like viburnum berry, Japanese anemone, lavender, and rosemary all cut on the morning of the wedding.
Cocktail hour was a bit of a switch up on the verandas of the Lake George Club. We provided creamy cotton full length cloths, with overlays of Irish hemstitch linen. The flowers for cocktail hour were mixed grasses, sunflowers for Lauren, and snow tree blossoms. This couple wanted their guests to have a taste of the Adirondacks, and they had a micro brew station in mind. Thank God I looked at the set up the day before the wedding … it consisted of two blue igloo coolers with pulls for the kegs (insert frowny face). That night I went home and came up with a plan. For Lindsey (Lauren’s sister), I had painted two cows that looked like they were straight out of a Lilly Pulitzer catalog. I wanted to do something fun for Lauren too so I took a life size pig we had at the store and painted lederhosen on him! I added a fedora with a feather and called him Gunter! He sat on top of the Micro brew station and was a big hit!
The Reception was beautiful. I used a combination of cloths that had just a hint of shimmer on natural fibers, so it felt right in the space. Layers of flowers, herbs, and champagne grapes were used in the arrangements … hundreds of tapered candles, votives, and floting candles were lit moments before guests entered the room. In the upper lever of the club, we placed narrow tables that over looked the main dining area. They were so awesome! The chandelier in the the main dining room is a part of the building and can never be removed, so I added close to one hundred glass bubbles with a floating candle in each, then dimmed the bulbs of the chandelier to the same brightness of the candles, everyone loved it. I added led lighting to the room so the architecture of this beautiful space could be featured, and each arrangement had a pin light focused on it. I made the table numbers out of slices of birch wood, carved the number, and added a little shimmer to them to blend in with the beautiful linens and mercury glass. You can see in the pictures and video below, this room looked stunning!
THE PROFESSIONALS …
The event was hosted at the Lake George Club. They were on full alert with DMS and team in the house. Columbus Day weekend is jam packed with activity at that club, so we had to do everything within 24-hours. Thank you Bill and crew for working with us. I enlisted the boys of CPRC to help with the lighting, the tents for the veranda, the chairs, and some flame throwers for the entrance to keep everyone warm. I introduced Lisa Light to this family for Lindsey’s wedding last year and she was back in action again for Lauren as the wedding coordinator. Tracey Buyce and her team were there and are responsible for all the awesome images below. I had my Nashville crew of Full Frame Cinema back in for this wedding, and they did an awesome job as usual! Rebecca, from The Pink Orange, really smoked this one out with all the paper and invitation details. As a special surprise, I enlisted the talents of piper Hazen Metro of Vermont who helped me move the guests from dinner out to the docks for the fireworks display.
THANK YOU …
Thank you to the Aquino’s and the Bonelli’s for letting all of us in on the fun … for what has to be one of the most memorable days. Congratulations Lauren & Andy!
