This is the kind of wedding that starts your work week off with a smile. The sort of magical affair that boasts one meaningful detail after another, with a laid back meets elegant vibe that is all kinds of awesome. It’s a day that was styled to perfection by the lovely + oh-so-talented sister of the bride (Experience Events) and is set against a stunning at-home environment that you can’t get enough of. See it all captured by Casey Connell right here.
From Experience Events… What do you do when your sister wants to have her wedding at your family lake house with six weeks notice?! You get to work! I was, of course, thrilled to create this intimate celebration for friends and family at our Adirondack lake house – a place very special to all of us, especially since our Mom passed a few years ago.
We wanted to create a celebration that blended into the look and feel of our house, named Birch at Paradox. Of course birch details prevailed – we used wood grain for the invitation enclosures, birch straws for the welcome drinks, birch candles and birch vases were interspersed on the tables. We setup a simple ceremony space to really show off the beautiful mountain views. Courtney and Mike love to cook, so we used bouquets of local herbs in his grandmother’s mason jars as aisle markers. I had Rebecca, from The Pink Orange, create tags to hang from the jar to highlight the meaning of each herb. Courtney walked through an aisle decked out in wishes for patience, friendship, enduring love, etc. It was my favorite touch of the whole day! We then saved the herbs and she and Mike have them to cook with all year!
Guests grabbed petals and filled envelopes with a custom stamp on them which read “toss one hundred wishes, then a thousand and then more.” As the happy couple headed up the aisle, we all showered them with petals and good wishes.
The self serve bar was set up in a family friend’s vintage canoe (originally used on Adirondack guide trips in the 1950’s) and used our farm table for appetizers right in front of the beach. Dinner and dancing on the beach followed – we kept the palette soft, yet not too feminine using pale blue striped linens from la Tavola which showed off the birch and mercury glass touches beautifully. Adirondack chairs scattered across the beach with soft pillows gave guests the perfect vantage point to enjoy the sunset. My event planner/designer/sister-of-the-bride mania may have gone into overdrive when I found myself sewing aprons for the waitstaff – but they looked so perfect in their seersucker aprons the day of the wedding!
Lanterns were scattered across the property and candles tucked into the walls of the beach to add a beautiful glow as the night progressed. We even had lanterns on our raft and torches in the water! The evening was capped off with cigars and coffee at the bonfire and each guest was treated to a t-shirt designed by the bride and celebrating the day and the place where we all gathered.
I used our Mom’s pin to fasten the ribbon on the bride’s bouquet and also tied our Mom’s signet ring into Courtney’s dress – simple touches to make sure she was included in the day. And when we saw that gorgeous sunset we could, of course, only think of her shining down on all of us as we danced on the very beach we played on growing up. It was a sweet and magical day full of family, friends and old and new memories.
Photographer: Casey Connell Photography | Catering: Black Diamond Caterers | Hair & Makeup: Sonya Heimann | Ceremony & Reception Location: Private Residence | Event Planning, Event Styling & Design, Floral: Herberger Event Co. | Invitations & Paper Goods: The Pink Orange