Romantic Ballroom St. Louis Wedding
Complete with roses and hydrangeas in the summeriest of shades, it's safe to say the fiercely talented Belli Fiori knocked this one out of the park. She put together every gorgeous floral moment, and thanks to Cary Klein, we get it swoon it all for ourselves. Have a look in the gallery and don't miss the video from Analogue Films!
From The Bride...Ben and I met at a mutual friend's 21st birthday party in St. Louis during the summer of 2009. Although we didn’t meet until 21, we’ve had mutual friends since the age of 13. We grew up just 2 minutes from each other in St. Louis, and my best friends from high school were his best friends from grade school. Same goes for college—I knew all of his friends, he knew all of mine, but we didn’t know each other. It was almost like there was some reason we weren’t supposed to meet until we did.
Forest Park is truly one of the most beautiful places in St. Louis and somewhere we love to spend leisurely Saturday mornings, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get married at the historic World's Fair Pavilion. Clean lines, candlelight and the most amazing trio of floral arrangements provided by Belli Fiori for our reception at the Palladium brought to life the "modern elegance with a hint of romance" that I had been dreaming about for years. The beautiful stationery helped set the stage from the very beginning, and was all designed by one of the bridesmaids. We DIY'd the table numbers to add a pop of color and coordinate with the coral ribbon on our cake.
It was important for our wedding to feel personal, very us, and a glimpse into who we are as a couple. We love to entertain and are considered the "party planners" of our group, so everyone was expecting our wedding to be the social event of the season. Talk about pressure! The day was filled with details of our life together. We love to travel and Ben had originally planned to propose on a hot air balloon (thanks, "high winds"), so that inspired our hot air balloon/world map guest book. The cigar bar was a nod to Ben and one of his favorite weekend activities. I love sparking wine, so instead of an expertly crafted signature drink we were very excited to pass flutes of Cava during our cocktail hour. Ben said he wanted to look like James Bond in Casino Royale, and I think we accomplished that goal too!
We also wanted to celebrate our friends and family and the relationships that have made us who we are today. Our toasting flutes were an engagement gift from a bridesmaid, one of my best friends and my roommate all through college. The homemade limoncello favors were most certainly a labor of love! Our best man and a groomsman helped us peel 160 lemons for this magical liqueur, made to honor our four Italian friends that traveled across the pond from Italy and Finland to be a part of our special day. The ceremony was officiated by my uncle and written by the three of us. One of our favorites parts of that ceremony was the wine box unity ritual. Many of our family outings revolve around wine! We asked both sets of parents to add a note and bottle of wine to the box to be opened on our first and fifth wedding anniversaries, and Ben and I wrote notes to each other and included a bottle of wine to be opened on our tenth anniversary. My dress and accessories also had a few special touches. My mom surprised me with earrings made out of diamonds from my late grandmother's tennis bracelet, and also cut a small piece of her wedding dress to pin inside my dress next to my heart. I wore family wedding bracelets down the aisle that have been worn by generations of brides on my mom's side, including my sister just 7 months prior to our wedding day.
The day ended with one big party! I've honestly never seen more people dance at a wedding, which is probably due to the fact that Ben and I are usually the first people out on the dance floor at any and all weddings we attend. Obviously we'd expect all of our guests to follow suit! It was truly a day of celebrations—between myself and Ben, and between us and our favorite people in the world.
Forest Park is truly one of the most beautiful places in St. Louis and somewhere we love to spend leisurely Saturday mornings, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get married at the historic World's Fair Pavilion. Clean lines, candlelight and the most amazing trio of floral arrangements provided by Belli Fiori for our reception at the Palladium brought to life the "modern elegance with a hint of romance" that I had been dreaming about for years. The beautiful stationery helped set the stage from the very beginning, and was all designed by one of the bridesmaids. We DIY'd the table numbers to add a pop of color and coordinate with the coral ribbon on our cake.
It was important for our wedding to feel personal, very us, and a glimpse into who we are as a couple. We love to entertain and are considered the "party planners" of our group, so everyone was expecting our wedding to be the social event of the season. Talk about pressure! The day was filled with details of our life together. We love to travel and Ben had originally planned to propose on a hot air balloon (thanks, "high winds"), so that inspired our hot air balloon/world map guest book. The cigar bar was a nod to Ben and one of his favorite weekend activities. I love sparking wine, so instead of an expertly crafted signature drink we were very excited to pass flutes of Cava during our cocktail hour. Ben said he wanted to look like James Bond in Casino Royale, and I think we accomplished that goal too!
We also wanted to celebrate our friends and family and the relationships that have made us who we are today. Our toasting flutes were an engagement gift from a bridesmaid, one of my best friends and my roommate all through college. The homemade limoncello favors were most certainly a labor of love! Our best man and a groomsman helped us peel 160 lemons for this magical liqueur, made to honor our four Italian friends that traveled across the pond from Italy and Finland to be a part of our special day. The ceremony was officiated by my uncle and written by the three of us. One of our favorites parts of that ceremony was the wine box unity ritual. Many of our family outings revolve around wine! We asked both sets of parents to add a note and bottle of wine to the box to be opened on our first and fifth wedding anniversaries, and Ben and I wrote notes to each other and included a bottle of wine to be opened on our tenth anniversary. My dress and accessories also had a few special touches. My mom surprised me with earrings made out of diamonds from my late grandmother's tennis bracelet, and also cut a small piece of her wedding dress to pin inside my dress next to my heart. I wore family wedding bracelets down the aisle that have been worn by generations of brides on my mom's side, including my sister just 7 months prior to our wedding day.
The day ended with one big party! I've honestly never seen more people dance at a wedding, which is probably due to the fact that Ben and I are usually the first people out on the dance floor at any and all weddings we attend. Obviously we'd expect all of our guests to follow suit! It was truly a day of celebrations—between myself and Ben, and between us and our favorite people in the world.