Chic Modern Wedding in Madison
For those of you that are tying the knot in the gorgeous city of Madison, consider yourself inspired. Because this celebration is everything we love about weddings...it's chic, it's intimate, it's chocked full of tradition, glamour and all out loveliness. With photographs by The McCartney's and florals by daffodil*parker, this is one wedding that will be bookedmarked for years to come. Click here for more!
From The McCartneys Photography... All along, Amanda & Nick's four wedding words were "classic, elegant, soft, and romantic" and when their wedding day came around, every element and moment was anchored in this "theme"! As a couple, Amanda & Nick are sentimental, adventurous, and SO in love, which made for a beautiful celebration filled with timeless, elegant touches (and peonies galore!!!). Personal details like traditional Trentadue family Italian cookies, his/her signature cocktails, and beautiful hand-written vows (that left very few eyes dry during their ceremony) are what made their wedding day so special!
In May 2013, Amanda summarized her wedding as follows and she believes their day held very true to these words!: "My four wedding words are classic, elegant, timeless, and romantic. Our colors are "bright neutrals" - white, champagne, and gold (with pops of coral). Our rehearsal dinner will be at the University Club, and both the ceremony and reception at the Madison Club. There will be approximately 150 guests. My favorite flowers are peonies. The girls will wear long champagne chiffon dresses. The guys will wear plain black suits. Overall, I envision a simple, heartfelt ceremony (we're writing our own vows), an intimate (or as intimate as 150 can be!) reception with lots of white, and one heck of a party. Our taste is simple yet elegant. The venue is almost masculine (an older, establish space with lots of history) so I want to add soft full flowers and touches of gold and coral. Nick and I also love traveling (I collected 5 passport stamps last year and Nick probably collected 10) so I also want to include this passion of ours somehow."
From the bride...We wanted to stay true to ourselves and make sure the day, and everything in it, meant something to us. It was important to us to keep the event as small and intimate as possible (for us 150 was small!) and to also exchange hand-written vows.
After toying with the idea of a destination wedding for about a week, it was an easy decision to decide that Madison was the perfect location for our wedding. The city we are both from, the place we met while students at the UW, the location of our first home - Madison will always be home and have a special place in our hearts.
I'm not even quite sure how the Madison Club came to mind, but after exchanging a few emails with the staff and seeing some photos, we were almost positive it was exactly what we were looking for and it only took a short first look at the venue to know for sure. The location was ideal, the food was well-known to be really great, and it had the character and feel we wanted.
Rather than DIYing everything, we worked with a fabulous team of vendors who brought our vision to life better than we could have imagined!
I'd love to say the whole day was our favorite moment because it truly was more than anything we could have dreamed, but three moments stand out...
1) Our first look. Taking photos before the ceremony meant that Nick and I would see each other before but we were totally fine with that idea. And actually, having that time just the two of us before the craziness of the day really started was very special - I'll never forget those first few moments we got to spend together.
2) The vows. It was important to both of us to write our own vows and that decision might be the best one we made for the entire wedding. Hearing Nick's vows to me was one of the happiest and most blessed moments of my life thus far, and having the chance to read mine to Nick in front of our nearest and dearest meant so much.
3) The moment right after the recessional. After we were pronounced husband and wife we excited the ceremony room for a few minutes before greeting guests at their seats. As soon as we got to that other room, we hugged and started immediately crying because we were both so incredibly overwhelmed with happiness. We were literally so happy we burst (into tears) :)
As for advice to other brides, make sure you stay true to yourselves! I think a wedding should reflect who you are as a couple and be filled with things you love and elements that are important to you.
And, your bridal party matters! They are your support system during planning but also on the most important day of your lives. Surrounding yourself with people who know you and that you can count on is invaluable.
In May 2013, Amanda summarized her wedding as follows and she believes their day held very true to these words!: "My four wedding words are classic, elegant, timeless, and romantic. Our colors are "bright neutrals" - white, champagne, and gold (with pops of coral). Our rehearsal dinner will be at the University Club, and both the ceremony and reception at the Madison Club. There will be approximately 150 guests. My favorite flowers are peonies. The girls will wear long champagne chiffon dresses. The guys will wear plain black suits. Overall, I envision a simple, heartfelt ceremony (we're writing our own vows), an intimate (or as intimate as 150 can be!) reception with lots of white, and one heck of a party. Our taste is simple yet elegant. The venue is almost masculine (an older, establish space with lots of history) so I want to add soft full flowers and touches of gold and coral. Nick and I also love traveling (I collected 5 passport stamps last year and Nick probably collected 10) so I also want to include this passion of ours somehow."
From the bride...We wanted to stay true to ourselves and make sure the day, and everything in it, meant something to us. It was important to us to keep the event as small and intimate as possible (for us 150 was small!) and to also exchange hand-written vows.
After toying with the idea of a destination wedding for about a week, it was an easy decision to decide that Madison was the perfect location for our wedding. The city we are both from, the place we met while students at the UW, the location of our first home - Madison will always be home and have a special place in our hearts.
I'm not even quite sure how the Madison Club came to mind, but after exchanging a few emails with the staff and seeing some photos, we were almost positive it was exactly what we were looking for and it only took a short first look at the venue to know for sure. The location was ideal, the food was well-known to be really great, and it had the character and feel we wanted.
Rather than DIYing everything, we worked with a fabulous team of vendors who brought our vision to life better than we could have imagined!
I'd love to say the whole day was our favorite moment because it truly was more than anything we could have dreamed, but three moments stand out...
1) Our first look. Taking photos before the ceremony meant that Nick and I would see each other before but we were totally fine with that idea. And actually, having that time just the two of us before the craziness of the day really started was very special - I'll never forget those first few moments we got to spend together.
2) The vows. It was important to both of us to write our own vows and that decision might be the best one we made for the entire wedding. Hearing Nick's vows to me was one of the happiest and most blessed moments of my life thus far, and having the chance to read mine to Nick in front of our nearest and dearest meant so much.
3) The moment right after the recessional. After we were pronounced husband and wife we excited the ceremony room for a few minutes before greeting guests at their seats. As soon as we got to that other room, we hugged and started immediately crying because we were both so incredibly overwhelmed with happiness. We were literally so happy we burst (into tears) :)
As for advice to other brides, make sure you stay true to yourselves! I think a wedding should reflect who you are as a couple and be filled with things you love and elements that are important to you.
And, your bridal party matters! They are your support system during planning but also on the most important day of your lives. Surrounding yourself with people who know you and that you can count on is invaluable.