This first week in 2011 has brought so many more wonderful examples of just how fantastic this wedding world is! We have an over-abundance of occasions to share with you this year … don’t even know how to fit them all in! We’re also going to be including lots and lots of wedding films. What better way to immerse yourself in the love and romance of the day! We’re very proud to bring you our first 2011 wedding film feature from Naomi Raiselle and Generations cinemastories.
From the beautiful bride … The entire day was a dream from beginning to end. We started out on Derby Wharf in Salem, where our photographers, Tara and Ben (who were the best!) from Hitched Studios took pictures of the entire bridal party with five HUGE paddle balloons. My mom has her own balloon business, Balloon Creations, and supplied us with the balloons. Then we all headed via Salem Trolley to the church. The minister, who is not only good friends with Judd, but Judd is also the god father of one of his children, performed a wonderful, worshipful, and funny wedding service. Then we went right down the street to the Peabody Essex Museum to eat, drink, and dance! Every single detail was captured by Generations cinemastories. They were everywhere, documenting everything. Not only are they fantastic at what they do, they are very special people whom we just love! It was by far a night to remember and we couldn’t have done any of it without the help of our family and friends.
Jana & Judd Wedding Trailer from GENERATIONS cinemastories on Vimeo.
From Naomi at Generations cinemastories … The clip we feature here is the trailer we just sent to Jana and Judd. We opted to give a retro look to the piece in response to the retro influences in the wedding and chose to film with different types of cameras in order to accomplish this look. The grain and texture of certain scenes are an intentional departure from the crisp, bright look of much of the DSLR footage we’ve been seeing recently – even though we shot a fair amount of the wedding with DSLR cameras and special lenses.
Jana and Judd met on a blind date in Salem MA. Jana is an artist and Judd is an history buff, so their choice of the Essex Peabody Museum in Salem as a reception venue for their December 11 wedding was perfect. The reception was held in the East India Marine Hall (the same room seen in the movie, Bride Wars). The couple held their ceremony in the United Methodist Church with plenty of parking, also in Salem, a wonderful, warm circular church with graded seating – offering each guest a perfect view of the ceremony and great sound.
Jana’s dress was gorgeous. And with a birdcage veil anchored by a white maribou feather, and an antique mink stole, this bride was everything right about retro. The dress was a trophy from Filene’s Basement’s Running of The Brides.
There were also tiny notes of brilliant cobalt blue throughout the décor, beginning with Jana’s fabulous blue suede high-heeled pumps and continuing through the blue cobalt water goblets on the black and white tables in the reception.
Jana, her mom, and Judd hand-created Christmas ornaments of clear balls with peacock feathers and decorated the tables as a gift to each of her guests. Each ornament included a note telling of a donation in the guest’s name to Starfish Africa, (founded by one of the groomsmen) which helps put Kenyan youth through high school.
In Jana’s own words:
“This past summer I, along with a few killer- athlete girlfriends, my mom AND dad (he’s a champion) met me downtown Boston in the wee hours of the morning prepared and ready to attack! We had a plan that went out the window the second they opened the doors. It took us 29minutes flat to find ‘the dress’ and to wind up interviewed about our exciting experience on TV.
Judd’s mom, Sandy, was in charge of the wedding plans and coordination, leaving the artistic design up to me. The palette for the wedding suddenly emerged after our first tasting with Capers Catering. They fed us a red beet salad with fresh goat cheese, garnish and a purple & white orchid. I loved the flowers and colors so much they became the inspiration for everything moving forward. I wanted the girls to look unique and love their dresses. All the bridesmaid’s dresses were different shades and styles and most came from Nordstrom and Lord and Taylor. My mother wore an eggplant dress from Nordstrom and my mother-in-law wore an eggplant dress from Ultimate Bride in Milwaukee.
The invitations, that I drew myself, had the orchid motif as well.
Judd’s college friends came from all over to be his groomsmen and ushers. With eleven groomsmen, four ushers and one best man (Judd’s dad), coming from around the country, the Men’s Wearhouse was a great solution for well-fitting, formal tuxes that looked modern and young. I loved the way the light grey and purple played off the colors of the bridal party. The bridal party also picked up the groomsmen’s light grey in their matching grey suede pumps.
Peter Barter Florist, (my uncle) special ordered flowers from Holland. For the centerpieces I wanted simple arrangements, classy but elegant -and something that made a statement. I knew exactly what I wanted: curly willow in tall 18″ glass vases with white orchids cascading down the sides. (They were BEAUTIFUL.) As for the bouquets I wanted simple straight up astilbe.
My uncle called me two days before the wedding and told me they looked breathtaking. Then he called me one day before the wedding (almost in tears) and told me they ALL turned brown overnight. Enter, simple, but very elegant, roses.
The food, created by Capers Catering, was outstanding. Then we all danced the night away to music, by our fabulous DJ from NuImage Entertainment. The DJ was off the hook awesome. The night ended with family and friends circled around Judd and me as we danced.