My heart almost skipped a beat the first time I met with Alysa, our bride, and her mom during her bridal consultation. As Alysa painted the most beautiful vision for her June wedding, my attention was caught when she mentioned her desire to include buttery yellows into her color palette. As someone who has designed for over eight years, I have worked with a lot of different color palettes, but buttery yellows have never really been a thing. Not only was I so excited to use this beautiful color but the icing on the cake was that my bride and groom had chosen the perfect time of year for this color and locally grown flowers with a wedding date right in the heart of the local peony season! The stars had aligned and I couldn't wait to design for Alysa and Tim!
With a classic New England feel and a nautical theme at the heart of the design, Alysa chose a beautiful array of blues for her bridesmaids while her groom Tim and his groomsmen sported classic black and white tuxes. For all of the bouquets, we chose to keep the palette clean and summery, with all whites and greens. June is a great time for locally grown flowers and foliages so I chose to incorporate Privet greenery and its green berries as the main staple to build all of the bouquets with. Next I added white ranunculus, white lisanthus, white peonies, white stock, white orlaya and other white florals. The end result was classic and timeless!
On June 10th, 2017 Alysa and Tim tied the knot in Newport, Rhode Island. The couple chose to have their ceremony at the beautiful Salve Regina chapel, Our Lady of Mercy, because of the chapel's small size. They wanted to be close to their guests, creating an initimate and personal feeling. For the ceremony I wanted to carry out Alysa's vision of lush and natural floral decor that was clean and monochromatic. Using a color palette of summery greenery and all white florals, I chose pottered urns in a pure white to highlight the beautiful architecture of the Salve's chapel.
Following the ceremony, guests enjoyed a beautiful cocktail hour at the Eisenhower House, located in Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. The Eisenhower House is a historic home, which was built in 1873. With beautiful victorian architecture, a dream worthy wrap-around porch showcasing panoramic views of Narragansett Bay and the most perfect buttery yellow exterior color, this was the perfect setting for Alysa and Tim's classic New England reception!
For the reception, Alysa and Tim wanted the nautical feel to carry out throughout their tented reception while giving their guests a wow factor. Okay, not just one, but several wow factors! This reception space was a great example of how flowers and foliages can add so much to a reception's decor and overall feel. From the amazing floral entrance of the tent, to the greenery chandelier that hung over the dance floor, no detail was left out. The star of the show though? Those buttery yellow peonies I mentioned before. Grown by our talented farmers, Electric Moon Peony Farm, these intersectional plants were the beautiful Prairie Charm variety. Their blooms are huge like a tree peonies and their vase life is strong like typical herbaceous peonies making them the perfect showstopper!
In a reception space, it is always a good idea to add depth and dimension so we chose to mix elevated designs with low designs. On half the tables were our clear glass elevated vases, with lush and wild greenery-filled arrangements, that also showcased a white and buttery yellow color palette. For the low arrangements, I carried out the white theme and chose compote-style pottery containers, complimenting the crisp and clean color palette of greens, yellows, and whites. On the head table, which sat the bridal party, we chose to do a lush greenery garland that stretched the entire length of the table and cascaded romantically down the sides. The bridesmaids bouquets and bridal bouquets were then repurposed on this table in clear glass cylinders adding a floral element to the table.
With a mix of square tables and round tables and the prettiest page blue linens, this wedding reception was everything and then some!
Thanks to an amazing team of vendors, Alysa and Tim's seaside New England wedding was one for the books. (Full credits below)
Photographer: Erin McGinn
Venue: The Eisenhower House
Planner: Infinite Events
Catering: Blackstone Caterers
Lighting and Decor: Ryan Designs
