When the Perfect Gown is Only the Beginning of the Pretty

Abby
June 25, 2018
Categories: Real Weddings, The Blog, Traditional Elegance
Tags: Garden, Lanterns, Mercury Glass, Outdoor

When I got engaged, many moons ago lol, the only thing I wanted to do was find my gown. It makes the whole “I’m getting married” thing feel real. And to this day, despite looking at tens of thousands of weddings with the prettiest of details, for me…it’s always about the gown. Always. And this gown, is spectacular. Seemingly made just for her. Photography by The Edges and planning by Cole Drake Events and a wedding where the perfect dress is only the beginning of the pretty. Click here for more!

Haley & Ellitt are based in Dallas and knew they wanted to have a destination wedding so they could celebrate with their friends and family over several days. They chose a beautiful garden estate in Calistoga with a ceremony location lined with willows trees overlooking a lake. Our favorite part of the day was Haley & Ellitt’s “blind first look”, where they didn’t actually see each other but held hands and exchanged sweet words and gifts. It was truly a special and emotional moment for both of them.

Haley’s bouquet was a stunning asymmetrical shape filled with tons of textures including: willow eucalyptus, seeded eucalyptus, eryngium & echinops thistles, dusty miller, lisianthus, and white phalaenopsis orchids. A welcome sign fashioned on an antique mirror sat with a beautiful vintage table filled with family photos and flowers.

The ceremony scene was simple using the willow trees as the altar and two cascading arrangements at the start of the aisle. Haley made quite the entrance with her dad in a vintage Rolls Royce.

After the ceremony, guests walked through vineyards to cocktail hour on a grassy lawn. To create a a truly stunning cocktail hour in the already gorgeous garden at Black Swan, Haley just had to choose the right details like linens with robust patterns from La Tavola. Vessels of flowers, unique props, and gold framed seating charts finished it off. Dinner was served by the pool, under a canopy of trees and twinkle lights.

Instead of traditional floral centerpieces on tables, the tablescapes included gold mid century styled lanterns, mercury glass candles, and drifts of botanicals. This was all atop a linen like deeply veined marble paired with modern gold geometric chairs. The place settings had layers of detail including custom menus for the family style dinner and delicate gold wood feathers.

Haley + Ellitt @ Black Swan Lake from Kurtela Video Productions on Vimeo.