Elegant Fall Wedding In Charlotte From Richard Israel

eddye
December 30, 2010
Categories: Wedding Photography
Tags: St. Peter's Catholic Church

With over 300 guests in attendance, Krystin and Joe were married at St. Peter’s Catholic Church this past fall in Charlotte, North Carolina. Little Black Book photographer, Richard Israel was there to capture all the special moments and glorious details …

See more of this beautiful wedding on Richard’s blog and in our SMP galleries: here and here!

Congratulations to Krystin & Joe and a huge thank-you to the always-awesome Richard Israel!

Joe & Krystin ~ October 2, 2010

Church: St. Peter’s Catholic Church

Reception: The Westin

Our Vision – The vision for our wedding was romantic elegance. We wanted our guests to feel wowed when they attended the wedding and we tried to incorporate deep warm colors while keeping with an elegant feel. Our primary color palette was: Eggplant, Pewter, and Cream. From there we incorporated other complimentary colors which included dark berry colors, dusty rose, medium purples, light pinks and natural greenery.

Our Flowers – The Church flowers were mostly white with hints of eggplant and incorporated moss elements. Each of my maids bouquets were slightly different and incorporated natural plants and flowers. The bridal bouquet was 75% white and 25% dusty rose and light pinks. My great-great-grandmother’s cameo (from 1890) was pinned to the front of my bouquet for my ‘something old’. My ‘something blue’ – was the accent color from my grandmother’s handkerchief which my mother used and embroidered my parent’s wedding date, Joe’s parent’s wedding date and our wedding date – and I carried with me down the aisle. My ‘something borrowed’ was the earrings I wore during the ceremony which belonged to my matron of honor (and best friend of 11 years).

The flowers used for the reception were 80% white (so that they would stand out from the back drop of deep purple up-lights used around the reception room) and 20% eggplant and other purples. Each table at the reception had a different center piece – everything changed from the glass containers used to house the flowers, the height of the center pieces, the type of flowers displayed, even the height of the candle displays were all different from table to table. We wanted each of our 30 tables to feel unique yet still flow with the room and vibe of our wedding. Guests had fun going from table to table looking all the different arrangements! We also wanted the room to take on a romantic feel so we used 9 votive candles at each table along with floating and standing candle displays – incorporate in each floral display.

Our cake was 5 tiers and each tier was a different flavor and filling combination. The cake flowers were designed to match the flowers from the bouquets and the custom stenciling was taken from our invitations. Also on our cake table we wanted to honor our parents (they have both been married for 38 years) so on each side of the cake was a picture from their wedding day displayed in silver frames with little signs in front that I made.

Our Invitations were designed for us. We loved scroll work and elegant designs so our designer incorporated that into our invitations. They were all done on cotton paper and were letter pressed in an eggplant color. The invitation set included: invitation, reception card, response card for the wedding, response card for the rehearsal dinner and breakfast the day following the wedding. We wanted to thank our out of town guests for traveling so far so we invited all to our rehearsal dinner and our breakfast.

Welcome Bags:

60% of our guests were out of town guests (Joe and I are both from small towns in upstate NY but have lived in Charlotte for 15 years) so we created a “Wedding Guest Survival Kit” that all guests received when they checked in (see pictures submitted for kit). Included with the kit was:

Survival pack with directions and information for the weekend, Hospital-ity’ enclosure card to let guests know the hours of the Hospitality Suite, Hydration card tied to a water bottle, Food and supplement card; tied to various treats and snacks inside the bag (to remind guests to ‘keep their strength up’ throughout the weekend), Door hanger: “Do Not Disturb – I danced all weekend at Joe and Krystin’s wedding” – guest all hung them on their doors the night of the reception, Mini first aid pouch, Welcome card. *My husband and I designed all the pieces and assembled all 110 kits.

Attire:

My dress was by Pronovias and had a 4 foot train of all lace which bustled into the most amazing bustle! It included 50 ties in order to bustle it completely and consisted of 2 French bustles. It took my wonderfully patient bridesmaids 45 minutes to complete – but they did a wonderful job! Each of my maids’ dresses were all different floor length dress by Jim Hjelm in his eggplant color. I chose 10 dresses for my 8 girls to choose from and select the dress they felt most beautiful in! The men’s tuxedos were from Men’s Warehouse and all the groomsmen were in a black vest and euro tie with eggplant boutonnière and the Joe’s tux was a white vest and euro tie with a white boutonnière.

Beauty:

To make travel easier for my wedding party I had an on-location hair and makeup team come to the Westin and set up in a suite so everyone could come and go as they please and not have to rush around from hotel to house to salon. We ordered breakfast and lunch and drank mimosas and had a great time relaxing and getting ready! My bridesmaids cleverly created a white “Mrs. Ryan” jumpsuit for me to wear while I got ready! Hair Change: Between the Church and the reception I changed my hair from up to half-up, and also had my makeup updated to a more nighttime look and I changed my earrings to chandelier earrings for a more dramatic look.

Some of the other details and special touches, I designed and created myself: Cake table signs,”Eat drink and be married signs” on all the bars; “Love is in the Air” drink stirrers; Bridal lunch and day of beauty invitation (Love is in the Air with birds on it – this was a theme I used for the brides maid lunch and our rehearsal dinner); “Please take a seat” sign – was set among all our seating cards (seating cards were designed with our invitations); “A moment on my ‘sole’ forever in my heart, walk with me down the aisle” – all my maids and the moms signed the bottom of my wedding shoes in a blue ink; I also adorned my shoe heels with blue rhinestone shoe rings; Wedding programs – Joe and I heat embossed 300 programs and cut the envelopes (also embossed) for the programs to go inside of; My veil – my mother made for me; Reserved seating signs – I made one for my parents, my husband’s parents and my grandmother – all seating was assigned, but it was just a little something special for them to ensure they had prime dance floor seats; Birdecage for cards – I adorned the cage with small white birds and embossed a “cards” sign for the front along with a ribbon, I also found a small picture frame with white birds on it and placed an E.E. Cummings poem inside the frame – “I carry your heart”

Additional Details (from Etsty): The wedding gift I gave Joe – The card read “What did one penny say to the other? Together we make ‘sense’” – I gave him penny cufflinks, one from the year I was born and one from the year he was born; Picture props – “Just Married” parasol; “Mr. & Mrs.” Wedding signs, Monogrammed clutch, Bridal Suite sign, “Please leave a memory for the Bride and Groom” sign, Hair comb