A Whimsical Alice in Wonderland Inspired Fête at a Private Lake Forest Estate

SMP Contributor
February 26, 2021
Categories: Real Weddings, The Blog, Whimsical

We’re getting major Alice in Wonderland vibes from this whimsical wedding at the bride’s family estate, and we can confidently say that we fell down the rabbit hole loving each and every one of these gorgeous images captured by Brittany Bekas. Today’s stunning bride wanted the lush grounds of her private estate venue to speak for themselves to achieve a more whimsy feel. With the help of Estera Events and Life In Bloom, the special day incorporated fanciful tones of blue, green, and white to in order to bring the bride’s image to life. Get ready to pin your heart away while you scroll through the full gallery of picturesque images!

From Brittany Bekas… This gorgeous private estate wedding in Lake Forest was inspired by the bride’s wedding venue/ parents’ family home, Fairlawn. She wanted the grounds of Fairlawn, imagined by the great landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted, to speak for themselves. For her, this meant making everything look lush and feel slightly whimsical, like Alice in Wonderland. She used the phrase “old growth” with vendors for her garden party meets 1800s estate wedding vision.

From the gorgeous hanging floral cake to the mismatched chinoiserie to the abundance of topiaries to the modern blue tent, this garden party wedding was simply stunning. The bride wore a gorgeous Monique Lhuillier gown which was transformed from a timeless long-sleeve lace gown into a fun, relaxed short-sleeve gown following the ceremony. The blue color palette was inspired by the bride’s love of the effortless eclectic-ness of assorted classical chinoiserie and was the color direction for the mismatched bridesmaid dresses.

The bride wanted to tie in the feeling of the lush gardens throughout the property inside the blue reception tent and decided to use topiaries to achieve this aesthetic. Topiaries became a bit of a motif throughout the wedding details – topiaries on the wedding invitations, at the front entrance to their home, by the pool for cocktail hour, at the entrance to the dinner tent, and mixed in on the reception tables among white flowers.

No detail was overlooked for this stunning garden party wedding and the team that Courtney + Clarke assembled created a timeless, breathtaking estate wedding.

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Written by Lauren Megerdichian and Carly Zumar