Country-Chic
As a wedding designer and planner it is my job to take all the elements that come together for a wedding and make sure that the couple’s personalities are represented. There are so many items that are sometimes literally thrown together without putting much thought to the “why”. This brings me to a wedding featuring a good ole country boy and an uptown chic girl, Blake and Jennifer. The biggest challenge that we face when planning their wedding is chivari chairs and hand cut crystal glasses versus bails of hay and mason jars.
As we are going to have to compromise on every decision, I told my bride to pick her battles wisely! So we let Blake win the location and the wedding will take place at a ranch. The next decision is the theme and colors. This one was fairly easy- Blake’s birth stone is sapphire and Jennifer’s is emerald. Add champagne to the mix and we had the colors. Next Blake’s mom had a beautiful emerald glass platter that became the main inspiration for our design. The emerald platter had a beautiful design in the center which we copied and used on all the couples stationery, and ended up becoming the couple’s new family crest.
For the ceremony we kept most of the focus on the couple and what was taking place, so our décor was kept to a minimal. We had rows of champagne chivari chairs with beautiful emerald green cushions. The bridesmaids dresses were a royal sapphire blue and the bride’s dress was a gorgeous light champagne color. Blake’s gift to Jennifer was a custom designed emerald necklace, bracelet and earrings set. The groom and groomsmen wore handsome khaki colored suits with the groom wearing an emerald tie and the groomsmen wearing sapphire ties. The girl’s bouquets were hand tied green hydrangeas and antique cream colored roses. The bridesmaids bouquets were tied with blue double satin ribbon finished with emerald crystals. The bride’s bouquet was tied with blue double satin ribbon with their crest embroidered in emerald. The bridal parties boutonnieres were pieces of hydrangeas; with the rest of the boutonnieres and corsages the cream roses.
The bride and groom stood in front of a beautiful full oak tree. From the tree we hung champagne, emerald and sapphire satin pieces of material that swayed in the breeze. We used a horse and carriage for the bride and her father’s transportation to the ceremony. The ceremony area was enclosed with a fence and the carriage pulled straight up to the entrance. The bride’s father helped her down and she proceeded towards her groom.
When the ceremony was over the guests entered the front of the barn that was closed off for the cocktail hour. The cocktail hour was a relaxed time for guests to mingle while the bridal party finished pictures. In this area was a large stall that was used for the bar. There were servers walking around with trays of miniature Hors d‘oeuvres, most of which came from produce grown at the ranch. The cocktail hour was the only place that hay bails were allowed! When guests were given a cocktail it came with a champagne colored cocktail napkin that also had the couple’s crest embroidered in emerald. While there, the guests also collected their escort card that was a champagne folded card with the guest’s name and table number written in emerald ink. The calligraphy was all done to match the initial envelopes that the invitations were sent in.
The reception definitely combined both Blake’s and Jennifer’s worlds. The bridal party and parents were sat at a table seated family style (which was very comfortable for Blake’s family). The guests sat at either 48 or 60 inch round tables. The table linens were emerald satin floor length linens with champagne chivari chairs with emerald cushions. Each place setting had a sapphire blue cup for water and the same sapphire blue wine glass. The napkins were in sapphire blue and folded with a champagne colored menu inside. The menu was written with the same emerald print of the escort cards, that was also the same as the table numbers. In the center of the tables were three blue mason jars in three different heights that were filled with green hydrangeas antique cream roses and blue and white freckled carnations.
The cake was made of square layers in champagne fondant with the couple’s crest on the top layer. The cake was served to the guests on a clear sapphire glass plate with a drizzling on raspberry sauce around the edge.
Each guest left the evening with a warm feeling of getting together with family and meeting new friends. The style of the evening was country chic and everything fit the theme, the venue and more importantly Blake and Jennifer.
Photo Credits:
Inspiration:
Column 1: Personal pictures of sapphire blue miniature glassware, emerald green platter and close up of table design
Column 2: Table design with satin green linen; champagne chargers, sapphire blue plates, water goblets and wine glasses; centerpieces of three blue mason jars filled with blue and white speckled carnations, green hydrangeas and antique cream roses. www.classicdreams.com
Column 3: www.bagborroworsteal.com, personal picture of East TN land, www.bridesvillage.com
Attire:
Column 1: www.splendicity.com
Column 2: www.snippetandink.blogspot.com, www.syntheticstones.co.uk
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment