Project Runway Fans Unite. This is your kind of day on SMP because we just happen to have one of my all time favorite Runway stars right here, right now. It’s Nora Caliguri. The absurdly chic, absolutely gorgeous, wish she won the whole she-bang but know she’s a raging success regardless Nora Caliguri. And her wedding is nothing short of pure loveliness. Planned by the lovely Sarah True with images by Creative Image Collections, this is me…totally starstruck. Just make sure to click through the whole gallery right here.
Nora + Todd | The Highlight Film from Vantage Point Films on Vimeo.
From the Bride… Todd and I met through a mutual friend at a summer party in August 2007. I knew instantly that I had met my future husband. Throughout the next four years, we traveled all over the world together, became the person we know best to each other and have fallen so much in love. In the summer of 2010, we took our biggest trip yet. We ventured to South Africa to get a taste of the wine country, experience a safari, go to the World Cup Finals and end up in Egypt to fulfill my lifelong dream of seeing the pyramids. What topped this trip off was the evening of July 4th, when he unexpectedly proposed to me in the backyard vineyard of the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Franschoek. From that point on, we both had wedding fever and couldn’t be happier about it. We knew that we wanted to have the most beautiful ceremony and the most epic party at the same setting as our engagement night. However, we had to find the perfect place to do this back home on the other side of the world. To bring home and share that night with our guests, we researched into countless vineyards on the east coast. When we entered Chamard Vineyards in Clinton, Connecticut, for the first time, we knew we had found our place. Set back behind a long driveway and rows of gorgeous vines, it reminded us of the beauty of our trip to Africa and excited us for our upcoming trip to Sonoma Valley in California. The building, the tasting room, barrel room, porches, barn, were all put to use for our wedding and were accompanied by the most gorgeous Sperry Tent. Sarah True of True Event was our event planner and helped us create the most memorable and remarkable wedding ever! Together we created a world for our guests to enter for one night.
As a clothing designer, I had a lot of people banking on me designing my own gown. Before I undertook that, I decided to go shopping first to see if there was one out there that I would love and be me to a tee. I wanted texture and something interesting to the eye that would still evoke a wedding dress. To my surprise, I found my dress at Kleinfeld in New York — from a designer in Turkey, Songul Sarpbas. I absolutely could not wait for Todd to see me in this dress! After skipping the dress-making idea, I focused on the décor and details of our amazing wedding. For my bridesmaids, I wanted to keep the element of texture going. To make it look like a collection, all of their dresses were in shades of gray. They were handpicked throughout the year from several brands to find the best dress to fit all eight girls’ bodies and personalities. The boys wore J.Crew, and it all tied together so well. All of our details embodied us as a couple, our friends and family and the places we have been. For our invitations, my best friend and graphic designer Leah Nista collaborated with us to create a papel picado, Mexican-themed invite. Papel picado is one of my favorite things I brought home from a trip to Mexico City. Todd and I are both surfers, so a surfy Mexican blanket fabric backer accompanied the gorgeous invites inside their teal envelopes. Everyone who got them in the mail said that it definitely looked like it was going to be a party and a half. Our California postcard RSVP card was for where we were headed on our honeymoon.
As our guests arrived to the vineyard on that beautiful day, they were greeted with a spiked lemonade/iced tea favorite of ours. Vintage windows our neighbor had left out for garbage were used in place of paper programs. They signify the vintage window in my house that I display foreign currency on from all of our trips. Biodegradable confetti was handed out in little paper bags with a “how to “ photo of Todd and I throwing confetti. Our ceremony seats were set up in an auditorium style, for better viewpoints for all of our guests. Inspired by the safari we took last summer at a tented camp with no electricity, we collected lanterns throughout the year and clustered them on the tables, glowing all night long with white candles. I made all of the tablecloths and runners throughout the year from a fabric in New York. Had to get some sewing in there somehow! Silver tassels inspired by the necklace I was wearing the day of our engagement that I made were on the back of my chair. We had sparklers and Japanese floating lanterns during the party — they were a big hit with our guests.
Wedding Photography: Creative Image Collections / Wedding Venue: Chamard Vineyards in Clinton, Connecticut / Event Design + Coordination: Sarah True of TRUE Event / Floral Design: Tony Palmieri of Datura — A Modern Garden / Wedding Cinematography: Thomas Morlock of Vantage Point Films / Catering: Betsey Plunkett of La Cuisine / Wedding Cake: J.Cakes / Wedding Paper Goods: Leah Nista / Entertainment: DJ Select / Rentals: Durants Tents + Rentals Unlimited / Transportation: American Executive Limousine / Wedding Dress: Songul Sarpbas via Kleinfeld Bridal / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Various / Beauty: Jennie Fresa — Makeup and Skincare Boutiquerie