One of the best parts of my job is sharing weddings with you. Weddings that I know are going to make your jaw drop. It’s my favorite thing ever. This one was set in The New Haven Lawn Club and the building alone is enough to drop that jaw, but the bride, her gown, the flowers (I could go on and on)… let’s just say Raw Photo Design had something extra gorgeous to capture on this October day. It’s all sitting pretty right here!
From the stunning bride … My wedding day was a day girls can only dream about. When I started the whole planning process, so many different ideas were running through my mind. Do I want a modern wedding, do I want a traditional wedding, should we get married by the water, should we get married in a church? All the basic questions a bride asks herself when planning out her big day. When venue searching, my husband and I visited so many, but both fell in love with the first venue we looked at – The New Haven Lawn Club in New Haven, CT. It has such utter beauty and class to it with its swaying palm bushes in the cocktail area, and its black and white tiled floor, it makes you feel like you in a 1920’s Cuban Cigar Lounge. And then you enter into the Grand Ballroom, with its enormous palm crystal chandeliers and its welcoming fireplace and large windows, it takes your breath away even when it is not set for the night. Immediately, I knew my wedding was going to take on the image of timeless beauty with a modern flair.
I am a very traditional girl when it comes to wedding details, meaning I wanted the church wedding, and to arrive in a limo and wear the cream dress, but I am also very modern and am obsessed with fashion, so knew that both styles needed to come together. Finding my dress and shoes was the most fun part of planning my entire wedding. I didn’t try on many dresses at all, the minute I put on the Monique Lluhlier Sunday Rose dress, I just knew it was the one. It is so couture, and so fun, yet so absolutely stunning; it was the perfect dress to show my true personality. And then finding my shoes… well that was easy. I love high high heels, and I love color, so when I found my six inch heel Giuseppe Zanotti peep toe booties at his boutique in NY, I knew I didn’t need to look any further. The bow on the front of the booties matched perfectly to the roses on my dress, and the bright yellow gave it just the pop I needed. So many store sales people kept telling me to get a low heel, boring color, because that’s a wedding shoe. Clearly they didn’t know me, because those were not the wedding shoe for me. My bridesmaids wore Amsale dresses in a slate, bronze color to keep the elegant style flowing and the groomsmen all wore black tuxedos. Our wedding was truly going to be a Black Tie Affair. My mother, also known as my wedding planner, made sure to take care of other details, like making sure me and my bridesmaids all had paisley robes to get ready in the morning of the big day, and she found the perfect jewelry for all my bridesmaids to wear, along with ensuring that all my jewelry and my purse were perfect collaborations to go along with my dress.
At the actual ceremony, our church was European in style, and took your breath away. It was so elegant, flowers were not even needed at the alter. I wanted a different approach on entering the church, so my vocalist sang some of my favorite love songs as everyone walked down the aisle. My bridesmaids walked down to “Today I Met the Boy I’m Going to Marry,” from Father of the Bride just as an example.
Then at the Lawn Club… the flowers that draped the entire venue were so unique, breathtaking and truly original as was the designer herself, Jennifer from Fleur de Lys. She used cymbidium orchids as the accent flower to give the pop of green fun throughout the classic ivory flowers used. The entrance to the cocktail hour was inviting with a piano player that set the tone to a black and white theme with green palms adorning the space. In the corner was an authentic Cuban cigar roller that gave the cocktail hour a feel of a tropical paradise. Upon entering the ballroom, we had a place card table that was candle lit with crystal pillars and three dimensional candle adorned with rose buds and pearls. The most unique and original moss urns adorned with flowers were also place for gift cards. The ballroom was the most eloquent, soft, candlelit and romantic atmosphere any bride could dream of. With it’s floor length linens in black, it’s chevere chairs in ivory, the chartreuse napkin and the most exquisite crystal pillars adorned with ivory and chartreuse flowers. It was a truly magical atmosphere that all of the guest felt.
To put a truly great spin on things, the DJ introduced the wedding party to a variety of songs chosen my husband and I to create a fun and lively atmosphere all based on the 80’s. He created custom entrance that we all danced into and all the members of the bridal party wore their ray-ban sunglasses given by us as one of their gifts. The cake was a truly exceptional creation done by (Hope of J-Cakes). It mimicked my gown of a three dimensional rose of fondant which adorned the four tier round wedding cake with different flavors in each tier.
My wedding day was the most memorable day of my life so far. It turned out to be a gorgeous October day, one that took a lot of research, from bridal magazines, GO was my favorite, to Pinterest, to looking at different websites online for ideas. I took many different ideas from many different places and combined them together to make my own unique day. And of course, I had my mom, the most creative and stylish women out there, she wore a Vera Wang, Emerald Green dress as her mother of the bride dress, absolutely stunning. The most important part though, when actually planning the big day, is to make sure it represents you and who you are. Because after all, that is your big day.
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Photography: Raw Photo Design | Flowers: Fleur De Lys | Cake: JCakes, Hope | Music: DJ Melee, Jason Palermo | Venue: The New Haven Lawn Club | Dress: L’Elite Bridal | Dress Designer: Monique Lhuillier, Sunday Rose | Shoes: Giuseppe Zanotti | Makeup and Hair: Naomi’s Studio and Salon, Makeup by Janice Raccio, Hair by Angela | Invitations: P.S. Fine Stationers, Branford, CT