I always forget how much I love purple until I see it shining brightly in a wedding like this one captured by Siri Jones Photography. And then I remember that not only is it one of my favorite colors, but it’s the perfect compliment to a day that is dripping in elegant details and uber-romantic touches. A day that boasts beautiful blooms from Wedding Flowers by Annette, a custom (+ stunning) gown from L’Ezu and a breathtaking Elm Bank Reservation setting. Yep, all’s right in the world when purple makes an appearance and you can see for yourself in the full gallery.
From the Bride… We wanted the day to be more than about the two of us. Having been together for six and a half years prior to our wedding day, we had shared a lot of memories together since we met in college. We moved from Los Angeles to Boston about a month after we got engaged, so a lot of our wedding planning revolved around an opportunity to have all of our friends and family together to catch-up and have a good time. Both of us felt that since we were already committed to being together, the wedding itself was mainly focused on having a good time with all the people in our lives that we love and hold dear. So while we took the meaning of the ceremony itself pretty seriously, we aimed to keep the reception from being overly stuffy. We hoped to make our guests, most of who flew in from Los Angeles and the Midwest to attend our wedding, to feel welcome in our new home in New England.
We chose The Elm Bank Reservation (sight unseen) for the location of our ceremony and reception. We loved what the grounds had to offer: When you drive through Wellesley, you get to experience plenty of New England charm and beauty, and the long, winding dirt roads up to the grounds are breathtaking – especially in the fall. We loved that we could transport our guests to a single location for both our ceremony and reception, and didn’t have to do a thing to decorate the location of the ceremony. Our catering was important to us so that we could treat our guests to a delicious dinner, filled with great cocktails. Linda Marino of La Bonne Maison did an outstanding job making our desired menu items come to life. Our guests still talk about how great the food was.
The one thing that was extremely important to us was having an outdoor ceremony. We love nature and the outdoors and were so happy that Mother Earth decided to cooperate on our October 13th wedding day to provide a surprisingly warm and dry day for us. We took a lot of time to write our ceremony, vows, and hand pick our readings all to reflect who we are and how we view the union of two people, their families, and friends. That level of detail extended to the music we chose as the prelude and processional to our ceremony, and several of the smaller aesthetic details of the wedding (e.g., I wore my grandmother’s sapphire wedding ring and pearl/diamond earrings, the groom’s Aunt loaned me his grandmother’s handkerchief, which I held with me during the ceremony). The other details were a reflection of our style and aesthetic preference: casual and simple arrangements to highlight natural beauty. I love lavender and wanted to have an all-lavender bouquet, but settled on a mixed bouquet with lavender, veronica, lilies, hydrangea, freesia, and sweet pea throughout. I was ecstatic with the end result, a design in rich aubergine by our florist, Annette. Of all the flowers, the groom’s boutonniere and the reception vases filled with baby’s breath, wheat, and lavender were my favorites.
The DIY projects were pretty small. Besides crafting the ceremony and running our website, we collected various glass canisters, vases, and jars which I painted in shades of champagne, gold, and copper. These were filled with lavender, wheat, and baby’s breath in various places of our reception, which was in an old carriage house on the estate. I also designed and printed the stickers for the goodie bags we gave to our guests – filled with some of our favorite candies. My mother put together wonderful welcome bags for guests staying at our hotel – using Cape Cod chips, bottles of champagne, seasonal fruit, and candies.
Our photographer, Siri Jones, was phenomenal at keeping us comfortable in the limelight (we are both incredibly camera and attention-shy). I look back on our photos with so much joy and can remember the exact feeling I had when I finally got to see my groom – the ease that came over me and the pure excitement and fun we shared together throughout the night. We were touched by the number of friends and family that decided to travel to Boston for our wedding and could not stop smiling about it throughout our big weekend. It was truly magical.
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Wedding Photography: Siri Jones Photography | Wedding Venue: The Elm Bank Reservation | Officiant: Sue Anderson | Floral Design: Annette Rinaldi of Wedding Flowers by Annette | Catering + Wedding Cake: La Bonne Maison | Save the Dates + Invitations: William Arthur | Ceremony Guitarist: Jack Pezanelli | Reception DJ: DJ John Dudley | Lighting: Design Light | Wedding Dress + Veil: Custom from L’Ezu | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Dessy Collection (Various Styles – Aubergine Chiffon) | Hair: Chignon du Cou | Rings: Cohasset Jewelers | Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka (Janni) | Transportation: Local Motion of Boston + Expo Limousine