Tag: The Sweet Side

When a client puts their explicit trust into our hands and just lets us do our thing, magic happens, and we create our best work. This is what happened with this wedding. When we started working with Katie and Jake 14 months before their wedding day, they told us they wanted a neutral colored wedding that felt whimsical, classy, elegant, organic, and interesting. They wanted a ‘wow’ factor with their design, but really wanted to make sure it was not pretentious or so over the top that their guests would not feel comfortable.  From there they let go and just let us create.  

Katie and Jake are two of the most down to earth, laidback and joyful people I’ve ever worked with, and so creating a wedding to showcase who they are was a true privilege. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this beautiful and thoughtful couple, and we laughed our way through each meeting. The outcome of our collaboration was a new take on the whimsy and sophistication of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

The imagery from that classic piece of literature was the perfect inspiration to pull from, because a dream is exactly what this wedding felt like. From the perfect weather to the beautiful setting to just how every detail came together in the end… everything about this day felt right and really special.  Seeing this couple’s reaction when they walked into the tent for the first time is something I’ll never forget. The thankfulness and joy they communicated made the early mornings, long hours and sleepless nights worth every effort.

 

Katie and Jake– thank you for being a joy to work with, always smiling, trusting us completely, letting me be fully creative, and just inviting us to be part of your wedding day. We are so thankful for the opportunity you gave us to plan and design your wedding!  Weddings like the one we created for the two of you are exactly why we are started this company. Working with you both was a true blessing.  

 

Vendor Notes: 

coordination, design, flowers:  Sinclair and Moore

photography: Ryan Flynn 

venue: Roche Harbor

stationery: LaHappy

cake and desserts: The Sweet Side 

bride’s dress: The Dress Theory/ Claire Pettibone 

linens: Choice Linens

tent and chairs: Cort ABC Rentals

Turning thirty is kind of like coming of age as an adult, so I knew I wanted to do something special to celebrate my wife.  We went back and forth about what we should do… wine and dine at Canlis, an intimate dinner party at home or just an evening out for the two of us.  In the end, we landed on a party in our design studio with our closest friends.

I’m sure some people thought I went overboard and was completely out of control… I probably was. But, I figure when you are doing anything for someone you love, why not go big?!  So I filled the room with a sea of lilacs, displayed a collection of cakes and macarons and brought in a caterer to do the rest.

Beautiful decor, good food and great friendships…  It was magical evening celebrating my wife.

photography: Matthew Land Studios 

invitations: Marabou Design

cakes: The Sweet Side

(blackberry tarts were made by Jamie’s mom Gail!)

catering: Lisa Dupar Catering

I’ve waited a long time to share the photos of this wedding that was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings.

Anyone who is familiar with my work knows that I love a neutral color palette.  Taupe… grey… champagne… blush… maybe touches of navy here and there.  Neutral colors are my favorite and definitely where I feel most comfortable designing.

Then I met the wonderful Ritt family.  They came in and colored my world with their bright personalities, love for people, passion for life and their request for a rainbow wedding.

I’m not going to lie… when I first heard the words rainbow and wedding, I wondered to myself how I was going to pull it off. They wanted it to be classy and sophisticated, yet fun and bright.  I remember googling “rainbow wedding”  and I was horrified with what I saw and it left myself wondering what had I gotten myself in to.  I was so far from my neutral color comfort zone and thoroughly confused as to how to pull it off.

I think that is what I love the most about this wedding.  I was pushed out of my comfort zone, and challenged to think bigger, better and brighter,  and the result was a wedding out of my normal box.  I learned so much from the mother of the bride, Laurie, throughout this process and not only came out a stronger and more diverse designer, but I think a better person too. Laurie reminded me why I started my business in the first place as she encouraged me to keep dreaming and perfecting good ideas until they became even better.  She pressed for me to give a particular reason why I did or did not like something in particular,  encouraged my talents, believed in my vision and in the end trusted me to just do my thing uninhibited.

I never thought I would do a rainbow wedding, but I am so glad that I did.  I couldn’t be more proud of the outcome and I am excited to finally share these photos from Belathee with you.

Make sure to also pick up a copy of the spring issue of Martha Stewart Weddings to see the 10 page feature of this affair.

The Ranch Studios perfect captured this wedding and made the whole day feel like a dream.  Make sure to check out the vide below.

I also have to give my wife and business partner, Jamie, a huge shout out.  Sometimes credit is only given to the visual design of an event and people just talk about how beautiful it was.  Even more difficult than pulling together a design, is pulling together and managing about 50 vendors who all have specific needs and requests. From determining timelines to figuring out how much lighting, power, and space was needed to making sure nearly 200 plus people were picked up and shuttled to the wedding….  Jamie handled every detail of this event and managed to pull off a seamlessly smooth affair with grace and ease.  She read through and responded to literally thousands of e-mails for this wedding and hours and hours of phone conversations to make sure everything was in place.  She is truly the foundation of this wedding and the really hero in my book.  This would not have been a smooth wedding had her skill set and discerning eye not been overlooking every component of the day.  She makes our partnership strong.

And the other key vendors:

wedding dress: Vera Wang

hair and makeup: Erin Skipley

custom striped linens: Choice Linens

mini cakes and macarons: The Sweet Side

stationery: la Happy 

rentals: ABC Rentals

Ceremony Venue: Union Station

Reception Venue: The Four Seasons