Lesson of the day, inspiration can literally come from anywhere. Ask this beautiful bride who used the Danish word “hyggeligt” to plan this entire affair. Loosely translated, she wanted an intimate celebration complete with flickering candlelight surrounded by loved ones and boy oh boy did she nail it. Captured by Clayton Austin we’ve got every cozy moment waiting for you to fall for via The Vault!
From the Bride…My vision for our wedding was to create an atmosphere and experience for our family and friends of hyggeligt (a Danish idea that is hard to translate in English). I studied in Copenhagen during my junior year abroad and that was the first time I was exposed to hyggeligt, which is loosely understood as comfort, intimacy, flickering candlelight, and the joy of sharing time with loved ones. We wanted the evening to have three stages: a romantic sunset ceremony, an elegant dinner party with great food and lots of wine, and then a wild dance party under the stars.
Peach and blush are my two favorite colors so we began our color palette there. For the ceremony, our florist Ariella incorporated coral for a pop of color to keep the bridesmaids’ bouquets bright and festive in contrast to my lighter and whiter bouquet. As the last weekend of summer, we wanted the color palette to transition from more summery colors for the ceremony to fall tones for the dining room arrangements, so we incorporated darker reds and plums in our centerpieces as well. Dan is colorblind so creating contrast in our palette was a priority! To honor the harvest season, we used figs and plums and vegetables to augment our flowers. The style I imagined was a secret garden that our guests happened upon where there was a formal dinner party underway. With that image in mind, it was important to me that the flowers breathe and look natural and airy. Ariella was the perfect choice as a florist to create a chuppah and centerpieces that were elegant but captured the feeling of a garden coming to life. She also created a stunning panel of ferns and moss to add greenery and texture to our family portraits.
We were blessed with perfect weather and so our ceremony was set up outside in the courtyard at Blue Hill. Our florist, Ariella, had suggested arranging the ceremony in the round to take advantage of the expanse of the courtyard. Dan and I loved being surrounded by our bridal party seated on fabric ottomans and then our extended family and friends encircling the bridal party. For us, having the ceremony in the round brought to life the tradition of the chuppah being open and welcoming on all sides. Dan and I wrote our own vows in part based on the text of a letter my high school English teacher wrote me. I’ve kept this letter since high school because the message he conveyed in it has meant more to me over the years than I can say. We combined some of Mr. Mellonig’s words with the other pledges we wanted to make to each other. Finally, Rabbi Darcie Crystal chanted the traditional Seven Marriage Blessings in Hebrew, but we also had members of our bridal party read a modern interpretation of the blessings, coming up one at a time to read to us.
After we signed our marriage license and ketubah, the bridal party walked through Blue Hill’s kitchen to avoid being seen by our guests who were already seated in the courtyard for the ceremony. Blue Hill has a beautiful tradition that everyone in the kitchen stops to salute the bride and groom as they walk through by banging their pots and pans and cheering. The noise was profound and carried such enthusiasm and encouragement. Dan and I were incredibly touched by this gesture made by complete strangers who were already working so hard to make our day special. Of all the crafted details, Dan and I really enjoyed the process of designing our wedding invitations and other wedding paper created for us by Bianca of Little Miss Press. Our save-the-date featured Blue Hill’s flower cart and Bianca helped us create ceremony fans to serve as programs. I love texture and ribbon and even spied some on Bianca’s Instagram that I loved, so our program fans and our escort cards were tied with different types of textured metallic ribbon, which for me added that special touch.
My mother selected my gown and I selected hers. With almost all of the other details for the wedding, I had a very clear vision of what I wanted, but when it came to my dress I really struggled to make my selection. In the end, I chose my gown because I loved the thin layers of the tulle, the lightness of the dress, and the tone on tone beading. The dress was appliqued and beautifully beaded with pearls so the dress sparkled without having any sequins. I still look at my dress and the matching veil all the time! Dan and I also spent quite a bit of time deciding on the flavors for our wedding cake. I think the cake tasting was the absolute highlight of the wedding planning experience for Dan and he spent much time and energy on it, even organizing a cake tasting 30th birthday party for me so our close friends could come to our apartment to taste cake and vote on their favorite flavor combinations. Of course, our friends all went rogue and wrote in their own combinations, so we did not have much help in making our final selection, but we did have fun!
My best advice is to rely on people who you know are reliable. Be honest with yourself in identifying who among your friends and family are interested and well suited to helping you on your big day. If there are little details that are incredibly important to you (a specific photograph or retrieving the broken glass), but that can be easily forgotten by you in all of the excitement, communicate them ahead of time to your most trusted bridesmaids, friends, or family members. Those individuals really want to be helpful and it will take the pressure off you to remember every little last thing and just enjoy the moment, because it goes by so fast and there are no do-overs!
Photography: Clayton Austin | Cinematography: Phil Wall Productions | Event Planning: Soraya Weddings | Floral Design: Ariella Chezar Design | Wedding Dress: Carolina Herrera | Cake: Sugar Flower Cake Shop | Invitations: Little Miss Press | Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Rings: Marisa Perry | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Plum Pretty Sugar | Band: Elan Artists | Venue: Blue Hill At Stone Barns
© Style Me Pretty, 2016. |
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Post tags: Barn Venue, Barn Wedding, Elegant Wedding, Modern Wedding, New York Wedding, Real Wedding, real weddings, Tri-state Wedding
Post categories: Fall, Real Weddings, Seasonal Wedding Trend, The Blog, Traditional Elegance
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