When a wedding is this beautiful, it’s sort of an unwritten rule that you have to stop and stare. And when that wedding happens to include a dress designed by the bride herself, it deserves an entire day of swooning. Which is exactly what we have on the agenda today, lovelies – a swoon-worthy love fest with a gorgeous bride (+ dapper groom), an amazing gown and an entire gallery of lovely captured by Tracey Buyce Photography. Join me there for more.
From Tracey Buyce Photography… Mary and Drew met in their church and the vicar who introduced them married them. Drew proposed on a cross country road trip on top of a cliff at Big Sur. Mary, who trained formally as a fashion designer in London, runs a business in the UK called Party Pants that hosts knicker-making classes for hens (or bachelorettes) to quite literally stitch before they hitch and create their very own bespoke knickers.
The most important aspect to Mary & Drew on their wedding day was to have the wedding in a very special place where nature had been uninterrupted and where they would keep going to for the rest of their lives. The location was deep in the Adirondack wilderness – a perfect location overlooking nothing but nature and pristine Goose Pond. It took over a month to build the platforms and infrastructure to set the stage with multiple tents that would indeed be a village when completed. The view from the boardwalk style deck was picture perfect. Mary painted maps that were in all of the guests’ hotel rooms so that they could find the wedding site.
Mary trained as a fashion designer in London and so she naturally made her dress for her wedding day. It took seven months to make; five months perfecting the pattern and toiles (there were 65 pattern pieces in total) and then two months to sew! The lace alone took 3.5 months to be spun in France and once delivered to London she layered the lace over masses of cream silk crepe, fine crepe lining and a tulle underskirt. Mary said “it was amazing to be in complete control and to play with details, alter and work with the cloth in a relaxed way (starting early took the pressure off!) and finish with exactly the dress I initially drew up in my head.” Mary’s wedding dress epitomized her style with romantic tumbling lace juxtaposed with the structured duchess silk bands that wrapped tightly round her corseted top.
The bridal party was all the nieces and nephews of the bride, seven flower girls and three page boys. Mary made all of their outfits.
Mary’s countryside upbringing with shopping trips to London influenced the designs to be whimsical yet chic and refined like the rural/urban worlds. Mary designed and created the flower girl dresses similarly using super soft pale cream cotton, ballet pink silk linen sashes and then adding the all important detail in the top stitching, the covered buttons and She even made Drew’s morning coat.
The ceremony took place in a quaint chapel made of stone and glass and could not-have been more perfect. The ceremony was simple so the bones of the stone structure built in the 1930’s would not be interrupted with too much fuss. Fresh roping of variegated and Italian pittisporum wrapped the wooden porch to the west of the chapel as well as the iron rails below the high alter. The pulpit and stairs were lined with lush blooms of peony, garden roses, jasmine vine and David Austin roses. Pots of maiden hair ferns were set at the entrance as well. The hooks in the church that once held lanterns were ornamented with spheres of gypsophelia hung from vintage canvas strapping.
Their get a away car was Drew’s first car that he bought when he was 16!
The reception had tables with two distinct styles. The farm tables were topped with a hemp runner and hand made drift wood lanterns, these were scattered on the tables with twine wrapped votives and assorted small vases with lush blooms. The chargers were made of woven rattan and each place setting had a cream tea towel as a napkin tied with ribbon. The chairs at these tables were custom made for the event, dark cherry finish with a ladder back. Each seat had a custom made cushion with a lofty 1.5” insert that were tied onto the chair. The round tables were draped to the floor in bleached burlap lined cloths with an overlay of white swiss dot hemstitch linen overlays. The flowers were designed in a combination of vessels both enamelware and porcelain, layers of flowers cascaded from them in hues of white, cream, mint, and blush. Each guest had a charger of white porcelain with a taupe boarder topped with a white swiss dot hemstitch linen napkin. The chairs at these tables were also custom made but had an X back on them in the same beautiful cherry finish.
The head table was a massive yards or baltic ivy with blooms that cascaded off of the table and on to the floor. Above the tables were wreaths of birch and blue berry had assorted size round bubbles with votives in them dancing over head.
The room was opened to the elements and soft breeze of Goose pond. Barcelona lights were draped in the ceiling in a whimsical pattern to illuminate ceiling of the tent while it was washed with blush lights to enhance the effect of sunset.
Photographer: Tracey Buyce Photography | Wedding Planner: Christine A. Wheat Special Events Firm | Cake: Hope Stanley | Stationery: Paper Dolls of Saratoga | Catering: Lake Placid Lodge | Transportation: Premiere Transportation | Tent: Clifton Park Rental Center | Bride's Wedding Business: Party Pants | Floral and Design: Renaissance Floral Design | Hair and Make-up: Make Me Fabulous | Music: Cafe Wha Band | Music: Lindsay Webster Music | Paper: Kensington Paper | Rentals: Party Rental | Video: Philip Coltart Films