A Modern Southern Wedding with a Panama Twist at William Clinton Presidential Center

Lauren Megerdichian
April 14, 2019
Categories: Modern, Real Weddings, The Blog

Since the groom is from the mountains of Panama and the bride is from The South, this couple wanted to incorporate details that represented both of their unique cultural backgrounds to their overall wedding décor. To do so, they enlisted the help of Anne-Claire Allen Planning & Design to bring their vision to life. Prepare for the most beautiful bright pink bouquets by Silks A Bloom, darling baby blue bridesmaid dresses, some traditional southern fare and a modern reception space that will take your breath away. It all came together seamlessly and truly represented the best of both worlds. Check out all the details from this southern wedding with a twist captured perfectly by Kati Mallory Photo & Design!

From the bride, Mary Daniel… John and I met during a law school function (to be specific – a 90s theme party), and from our first date on, I knew I wanted to marry him. Although we are both attorneys, and seemingly quite similar (we joke that we began finishing each other’s sentences on our first date and haven’t ever stopped), I view him as my perfect complement. I wanted our wedding to reflect our similarities and our differences. The overarching theme became just that – To place a focus on the details that composed us as a couple. Although John grew up in Texas, he is from the mountains of Panama, and I am from Little Rock, Arkansas. From day one of planning it became about combining those cultures in the form of one large party. Our wonderful wedding planner, Anne-Claire Allen Owens of Anne-Claire Allen Planning & Design, embraced this full swing. She helped guide us toward an overall theme of “Southern with Twist.” We incorporated bright pink florals as a nod to Panama’s more tropical feel to complement the more traditional wedding ceremony venue. We greeted guests to the reception with traditional Panamanian sangria, topped with fresh fruit, and they feasted on some Arkansas staples afterward. As a child I’d always dreamed of a hometown wedding with all of my family surrounding me. Unfortunately, several important members of my family, including both of my grandmothers, passed away prior to our marriage, so my style vision for our wedding day began about honoring the role my grandmothers played in my life. My maternal grandmother loved almost nothing more than blue and white chinoiserie pieces, and my paternal grandmother cherished gardenias and all things gardenia scented.

Anne-Claire worked with us to incorporate those details throughout our wedding, from the gardenia-scented Lux Fragrances candles in the gift baskets to the chinoiserie-printed fans on the balcony at our reception venue. Our invitations were lined with a custom created gardenia print, and our crest was adorned with gardenias. We even used my family’s collection of chinoiserie vases for most of the florals! At that point in the planning process, the vision truly began to stand out for a blue and white wedding with pops of pink. While I was focused on incorporating chinoiserie throughout our wedding, I did not want to create an overly traditional décor because John is drawn to a more clean, simplistic design style. That’s where our venue comes into play. We took trolleys from the very traditional church where our ceremony took place to the Clinton Presidential Library, which is one of the most modern pieces of architecture in Little Rock. I think the transition from a stone and wood paneled church interior to the glass and limestone ballroom at the Clinton Center truly signaled the switch to party mode! John and I are total foodies that could not settle on one menu, so instead of having a seated dinner, we had an oversized buffet. There was passed hors-d’oeuvre’s, a raw bar with East-Coast oysters and tuna tartare (a nod to our love for traveling – Cape Cod has been our favorite vacation spot so far), pork tenderloin with horseradish sauce, fried chicken (in honor of our first date – John says he knew I was a keeper when I ordered fried chicken and greens on our first date), macaroni and cheese, an entire bread assortment (another nod to Panamanian custom), and more sides than you could ever count!

John and I are huge Tex-Mex fans, so after a while we had sliders and quesadillas brought out to the dance floor, just to make sure everyone stayed full – Ha! We were fortunate enough to get married over a holiday weekend, so many of our friends and family were able to travel in and attend. We joke that our guests filled most of Little Rock’s downtown hotels, because we had guests fly in from Panama, China, Peru, France, and all over the United States. It was absolutely the most humbling feeling, and I knew I wanted to make sure we treated them to a weekend they’d always remember. Guests were greeted at their hotels with “Welcome to Little Rock” baskets composed of [mostly] Arkansas-made products: J&M cheese straws, a Lux Fragrances scented candle wrapped in a pink box and topped with a blue hydrangea in honor of our wedding colors, a marshmallow crispy cake from The Crispery (which is based in Virginia, where John and I met, but has its bakery in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where I was born and where most of my family lives), and finally, a miniature pecan pie made in Texas by the Gilbert Pecan Company because John and I were moving to Houston, Texas after our honeymoon. I have too many “favorites” to name, but I think the aspect I most enjoyed planning was creating the perfect nod to John’s [other] two loves: flying and our dog, Winston. John did not want a traditional groom’s cake, so instead, I surprised him with a milk and cookie bar, his favorite late-night snack.

We had a custom drawing of Winston that could be made into stickers, and the wonderful chefs at the Clinton Center created airplane-shaped cookies for the station. We labeled the station “Winston’s Wag Bags” and instructed guests to fill a to-go bag with cookies, sealed shut with a sticker of Winston! Another favorite was working with Shuler Studio to create our monogram. We first incorporated it in our save-the-date and then sealed our invitations with wax seals stamped with our monogram. At the reception, Deborah Allen painted a beautiful centerpiece for the back wall of the ballroom with our monogram and the dance floor was adorned with it. Smaller details incorporated it as well; we had custom pillows monogrammed and placed in the lounge areas, stir-sticks and koozies at the bars monogrammed in navy and white to pick up the navy lounge furniture, the guest book ring bearer pillow were properly embroidered, and even the favors by The Crispery were iced with our monogram! Although I loved every minute of our wedding, there are five moments (in consecutive order) that are my most cherished. (1) Opening my wedding present from John to learn we’d gotten each other the exact same gift – an oil painting by beloved Kristen Hess Art. I cried from laughing so hard when I realized! Luckily, she was smart and advised him to give me a certificate for a painting from our wedding day. (2) A balloon release at the church with our family in honor of our deceased family members and friends. When I was young, my brother passed away, and my grandmother helped me understand the concept of death by sending balloons up to Heaven for my brother. It was incredibly important to me that we incorporate a prayer and balloon release prior to our service. (3) Communion. John and I are both religious, and while we wanted the reception to consist of nothing but the world’s most fun party, we wanted to make sure our ceremony honored the commitment we were making. (4) Private dinner after the ceremony with just John and me. Y’all. You need a moment to relish in the fact that you just got married!! Eating in a private dining room ensured that we got that (and that we got to taste all the magnificent food)! (5) Private last dance to end the night. Again – You really need several moments to process the rush of it all and try to commit all those feelings to memory. Our last dance was the most incredible way to wrap up our wedding and head into marriage together!

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