Okay, wedding dress, how cute is Ilona + Philip's wedding? We've seen many different aisle treatments over the years, but never once have we seen individual daisies sprouting up beside the chairs. Almost as delightful as the couple's paper goods, wouldn't you say? And lastly, my favorite detail (before we get to the reception, of course!) is the guests' duds. Ilona + Philip asked their friends and family to don "garden party attire" for their soiree, and, as Ilona says, "many of our guests showed up in charmingly elegant retro outfits, like they were attending the Kentucky Derby." Love! Planner Stacy McCain was on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly, and big thanks to the talented Anna Kuperberg for sending these images our way!
How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We met on Friendster in 2005. Philip had just moved to San Francisco from New York City and was hoping to reconnect with people from home, so he was searching the website for people who had grown up in Montgomery County, Maryland but currently lived in the Bay Area. When he came across my profile, he was smitten, and sent me a message. We hit it off, Mother Dresses, immediately over email, and it was cemented when we went to see the movie 40-Year Old Virgin on our first date and Philip kept remarking throughout the movie how much he had in common with the main character. It was clear right away that we shared the same quirky sense of humor and we could keep each other laughing for the rest of our lives.
Describe the proposal. Philip proposed on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was perfectly romantic-slash-cheesy -- just our style. It's unclear how much he was influenced by the fact that I had been singing the Beyonce song "Single Ladies” (complete with dance moves and hand gestures) nonstop for several weeks preceding the proposal.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Delightful, fun-filled and relaxed.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The Klezmer band, Kugelplex. They are amazingly talented musicians and klezmer music (old-school Eastern European Jewish music) was not something most of our guests had ever experienced before. Also, one of the first details we decided was a “must” for our wedding was lawn games: croquet, bocce ball, and horseshoes. Also, our invitation said that the suggested attire was "garden party," with hats encouraged, and, just as we had hoped, many guests, Mother Dress, showed up in charmingly elegant retro outfits, like they were attending the Kentucky Derby.
As cute, wedding dresses, as Ilona + Philip's ceremony was, I think their reception might raise the cuteness bar just a little bit higher. Lawn games? Check. Gorgeously mix-and match daisy, wheatgrass, apple, and willow decor? Check. A nod to the couples' love of cereal? Check! The Trentadue Winery turned out to be the perfect venue for this garden party, and the florals from Erin Rosenow were a lovely complement to the rest of the decor (and Ilona's hair and makeup, put together by Cowboys & Angels!). And don't those cupcakes from Laurie Lucov look delicious? Thanks again, Anna -- check out her blog post from the day here!
Describe your wedding flowers: Erin Rosenow, who did our flowers, made gorgeous boutonnières for the guys that looked like birds' nests. She also decorated the tables with white flowers made out of paper and clear glass containers of wheatgrass.
Describe your wedding cake: We had yummy cupcakes in several flavors and sizes, with this adorable cupcake toppers.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? We are both pretty disorganized and would have, V-Neck Flowergirl Dresses, procrastinated a lot in doing all the chores that needed to be done in preparation of the wedding, if not for our amazing wedding planner, Stacy McCain. She made the whole process bearable.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? At one point in the ceremony, our rabbi, Camille Shira Angel, had all the guests come forward and touch someone who's touching someone who's touching the bride and groom, while she said a blessing. It was really lovely and meaningful.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Married life is awesome. Even better than the wedding!
Congratulations, V-Neck Flowergirl Dress, Ilona + Phillip!
We, wedding dress, had to share Sarah + Steven’s reception photos with you, if for no other reason than we love their floral arrangements and table décor from Park Cities Petals. (I kind of have a thing for purple accents, in case you didn’t already know!) The newlyweds enjoyed an outdoor reception at Arlington Hall at Lee Park. Thanks to Erik Clausen for sharing his warm and heartfelt images with us. Don’t forget to visit his original post for more photos!
Describe your wedding flowers: The amazing team at Park Cities Petals totally brought to life my vision of wild, unexpected arrangements and bouquets by incorporating cabbages, artichokes and even kale.
Describe your wedding cake: Very classic and simple. Steve insisted that it look extremely edible, so we went with an Italian wedding cake with ivory butter cream icing... definitely delicious.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Everything was perfect! It was so much better than I had imagined, and all the little details came together beautifully. I particularly remember looking around during, Tea Length Flowergirl Dress, dinner and feeling so profoundly blessed to have so many special people celebrating our love in such a magical setting.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We just moved into a new apartment and are both starting new work endeavors. Hopefully lots of travel and adventures await!
Congratulations, Sarah + Steven! Best of luck your big move and new jobs!
Vibrant, weddings dresses, blue and sunny yellow were the colors of the day at Jane + Pete’s Florida wedding, planned and designed by Nancy Silivos and Melissa Mackey of Nancy Haute Affairs. Jeremy and Hara Cook of Cook Images captured the couple’s vows at the bride’s family farm, Panther Creek. Since the bride’s favorite details from her wedding was the full, wildflower-inspired bouquets designed by SW-favorite, Kebbie Hollingsworth Floral Designs, it only seemed right that we indulge in a little flower power ourselves. I love Jane’s decision to have each of her bridesmaids carry a flower that represented her unique personality (genius!) and have to agree that ceremony site looks as if it were nestled in a field of wildflowers. Distressed cowboy boots were especially fitting for a rustic outdoor wedding and the perfect accent to the bridesmaids’ navy Priscilla of Boston frocks.
How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We met through at mutual friend in Pensacola, Florida. We hung out with the same group of people but had never crossed paths before our first meeting, which was INSTANT, Party Dresses, love at first sight.
Describe the proposal. Our plans took us to North Carolina for my aunt’s 60th birthday celebration and Pete had hoped to propose by a waterfall. Needless to say, the rain changed that plan and, with all the excitement (and the fact he had told most of the family), he decided to go ahead and propose after we arrived Friday evening. Not knowing anything was going on, it took a while to convince me to go to the hotel where the proposal was going to take place. I was in complete shock when I walked into the hotel room to find candles and rose petals all the way to the back of the room where Pete was standing. The ring was in a journal, which had special meaning to our relationship. I couldn’t have been more excited! My cousin, sisters and future brother-in-law were waiting outside with champagne to celebrate!!!! It was so special to have the entire weekend to celebrate with everyone!
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Surreal, magical and amazing.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? I had always dreamt about getting married at our family lodge, “Panther Creek,” and my design inspiration for putting the idea together was “rustic romance.” I imagined my day as something very natural, very rustic with lots of candlelight and soft light to give it a very warm, romantic feel.
What was your favorite design element of your big day? I had so many but I would have to say my favorite element of the ceremony was the chuppah, which was built by my mother-in-law, Lynn and the chuppah quilt which was sewn by my Grandma Minnie and our Aunt Shelia. I also wore my mother’s veil from 1981, which was very special to me and meant so much that I was able to wear it on my special day.
Tell us about finding your wedding dresses: I didn’t try on many dresses before finding “the one,” and I actually only went to one place in Atlanta. I will never forget the faces of those special people who were there with me as I walked out in THE dress and their mouths dropped. I felt unbelievable in it and, when I looked at their faces, I knew it was the one!
I'll, wedding dress, admit it: One of the perks to working for Southern Weddings is getting an exclusive sneak peek at (and the occassional mini-fashion show of) the fabulous accessories we feature in our magazine and photo shoots. If you pored over our most recent issue (which I know some of you definitely have!), you may have noticed the to-die-for gold and pearl ring featured on page 16.
The Jocelyn ring is only one of the many treasures we fell in love with from Modest Peach. (Fun Fact: Catherine Leo and her team at Modest Peach just launched an entire Southern Weddings collection with pieces designed and named for each of the editors, so be on the look-out for your chance to own a piece of the SW team.)
The Modest Peach gals knew how much we swooned over their jewelry back when we were working on the last issue, and, to our delight, they’ve generously decided to sponsor their very own give-away.
How to enter: Visit the Modest Peach website and pick your favorite piece of jewelry and tell us why your wedding day ensemble just wouldn’t be complete without it. (Good luck picking just one!) Please leave your submissions in the, A-Line Bridal Dresses, comment field below this post.
The prizes: Our first place winner will receive a custom “Emily” gold vermeil cuff, and our second place winner will win the same stunner in silver. Two runner-ups will be the proud own of a gold or silver Jocelyn ring.
As an added bonus, all our readers will receive a 20% discount on any purchase from now until February 28 by entering the following promo code: SWMAG
The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, January 29, so hurry on over to Modest Peach to pick out your favorite eye candy! Quinceanera Dresses, Happy hunting!
I don't, wedding dress, know if there is such a thing as thing as the quintessential down-home farm wedding, but I’m pretty sure this would be it. There are so many unbelievable details at Jane + Pete’s Florida reception that, rather than trying to point them all out, I’ll just let you take a minute to take it all in and breathe a collective sigh of awe. I will say that the overhead shot of the reception set-up is simply magical and the couple’s four-tier, flower-studded wedding cake from Creative Confections by Betty Weber fresh and appropriately rustic. Be sure to check out Cook Images’ blog post on Jane + Pete’s Florida nuptials here!
Describe your wedding flowers: This was a very important element to me because I saw it as the detail that was going to make my dream of a perfect wedding come true. I was fortunate enough to work with a great florist and wedding planner who brought my ideas to life. My inspiration was gorgeous wildflowers. I wanted to make sure they seemed like they could have been picked out the field. I wanted the ceremony to seem like we were in a field of wildflowers! I wanted the flowers at the reception to have the same feel and make sure they were very bold and bright and to stand out in the field of green around all of us. I also wanted each of my bridesmaids to carry a unique flower that represented her personality and that my bouquet include each of their flowers to represent the, Scoop Neckling Bridesmaid Dress, love I have for each of them. I also included some charms in my bouquet that had belonged to those special people who have passed away so that they were close to my heart on the day I married my best friend.
Describe your wedding cake: I got the idea for our cake from a friend, who used the similar look in her wedding. I really had a hard time deciding on what type of cake I wanted, so when I saw pictures of hers I loved the idea of having a round cake with fresh flowers to make it stand out.
Pete’s groom’s cake was really important to us, as it was not only our favorite flavor (chocolate peanut butter) but it also included a deer which represented the location we were at as well as, Pete’s love for hunting. Pete’s cake was definitely the hit of the night.
Were there any wedding traditions or new ideas you included in the wedding? Our wedding ceremony was very special. Not only did we have a ceremony with both Jewish and Christian elements. The traditions included the handmade chuppah, breaking of the glass, special vows, reading of the apache blessing, a poem by E.E. Cummings and, most importantly, Don Livingston, a very special man to us who took his time to become ordained so that he could perform our ceremony. He was amazing and kept us calm and, Spaghetti Bridesmaid Dresses, made the ceremony absolutely beautiful.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Every moment of the day was so memorable, but if I had to pick one specific moment I would have to pick the moment I saw Pete. We met prior to the wedding in a field we originally wanted to get married in and the moment our eyes met the day became everything I imagined and more. To get the chance to marry your soul mate and best friend is something so special and so memorable that nothing can take that away.
Did you write your own vows? We did write our own vows. We went back and forth on this because the pressure of writing your own vows and making sure to try and remember them can be stressful, but we discussed it with the officiant and he reminded us the importance of making sure to remind each other of our love that day, so we went ahead and did our own vows.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We are enjoying being newlyweds and getting into the swing of married life. We are looking forward to the many memories we’ll make and starting a family.
Congratulations, Spaghetti Bridesmaid Dress, Jane + Pete from all of us here at SW!