With the beautiful Willowdale Estate setting the scene for this equally beautiful wedding, we come right out of the gate with a whole lot of gorgeous. Sprinkle in the beautiful blooms by Joe Pye Weeds Garden, a stunning Monique Lhuillier gown and a oh-so-in-love couple, and we get a gallery from Tilley Photography that’s too good to pass up. See it all here.
From the Bride…As a little girl, I never envisioned my wedding. So upon getting engaged, there were countless nights of no sleep as I dreamt about the vision of our wedding. Would it be a summer beach wedding (the groom’s dream) or a winter city wedding (the bride’s dream)? Would it be modern and contemporary or antique and traditional? What would my dress look like? Which flowers would we have? What would our colors be? As my mind raced for what seemed like several weeks, I ultimately landed on, first, the color (a dark, earthy green + neutrals), which informed the second decision, the theme (antique), and then nicely falling into place was the third and most important decision, the venue and date (Willowdale Estate in Topsfield, MA on June 30, 2012).
This vision lead to weekends of antique shopping with family and close friends – trying to find green antique glass pieces (bottles, vases, bowls, glasses, fisherman balls – you name it, we found it) to create one of a kind tablescapes for each table (later to be arranged around a large glass hurricane). To further adorn the tables, we added lace accents and table runners with the most minimal of flowers and greenery to tie it all together. We used window frames for seating assignments, a birch tree lit from my favorite vacation spot at my parents lake cottage in New Hampshire lit with white christmas lights to hang tags with messages from the guests, and mason jars to put the flowers in.
The best part of all? The guests enjoyed the perfect combination of food and drink throughout the night, including my favorite Wilson Creek Winery Almond Champagne and Sokol Blosser Evolution, local New England oysters and shrimp at the raw bar, farmers market, surf and turf and mash potato bar dinner stations, petite desserts to supplement the wedding cake, all to end with Willowdale Estate’s infamous warm chocolate chip cookies served with cold milk shooters. Ending the evening, closing the dance floor with my father, my husband and I said goodbye to our closest family and friends through an arch of sparklers. As we look back, we ended up creating a simplistic yet detailed masterpiece that lead to the most perfect and best day of our lives.
Photography: Tilley Photography | Flowers: Joe Pye Weeds Garden | Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier | Wedding Cake: Konditor Meister | Invitations: Tank Design | Wedding Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Hair And Makeup: The Makeup Artists | Calligraphy: Astrid Wendth | Band: Felix Brown Band | Ceremony Musicians: Occasional Brass | Estate: Willowdale Estate | Venue and Catering: Willowdale Estate