Incredibly Chic Chinoiserie Inspired Wedding Overflowing With Flowers

Melissa Hammam
March 24, 2022
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, The Blog

Our hearts swoon for a chinoiserie-inspired wedding! Dainty details, eye-catching patterns, and personalized touches make this wedding day planned and designed by Kate & Co Events one that’s not to be missed. Watercolors from the save the date to the seating chart wow, and floral installations by Jackson Durham are nothing short of sensational. From the ceremony arch, to the floral table runner, to a floral chandelier hanging above the dance floor every inch of this wedding is lush and luxe. Clary Pfeiffer Photography captured all the dreamy details of the day in a way that only she can, get ready for endless amounts of inspiration in the full gallery. Trust us, you don’t want to miss it!

From the bride… Despite running in similar circles in high school, we did not meet until after high school graduation when our best friends, who had been dating for a couple of years, introduced us to one another. We had an immediate connection, and a few weeks later we began dating—just a couple of months before we were set to go to colleges 1,300 miles apart. A long-distance relationship is never easy, but we were lucky to have the warmth and support of our families and friends who strengthened our relationship through those four years. After college, we were finally together again in the same state. A little less than a year later, Jake proposed on no other than Star Wars Day, May 4th. We were immediately thrilled to plan a wedding with our families. We envisioned an event filled with laughter, joy, and beauty that would bring together all the people who strengthened and supported our relationship over the years. Our original plan of a large celebration with our friends and family shifted when the pandemic hit in 2020. We decided to get married in an intimate family ceremony on our original date of June 20, 2020, while postponing our large celebration to May 29, 2021, which just so happened to also be Jake’s birthday. Looking back, we wouldn’t have done it any other way. There was something so special about being married surrounded only by our immediate family, and we could not wait to renew our vows and celebrate with all our friends and family 11 months later. By the time May 2021 rolled around we had been married for almost a year and were closer than ever, which, to us, was a bigger accomplishment to celebrate than tying the knot in the first place. The extra year of planning had allowed us to think hard about what we wanted our ceremony and reception to look and feel like, and how to make it a memorable event for those attending, many of whom we hadn’t seen in over a year. The unpredictable St. Louis weather supplied us with a beautifully sunny 60-degree day, which perfectly complemented the soft pastel tones and bright smiles of the day.

As soon as we were engaged, I knew that I wanted to work with Kate & Co Events to design our special day in our hometown of St. Louis. I had been swooning over their weddings on Instagram for a couple of years, and we felt an immediate connection with Jill Perez and Kimmy Klipsch in the initial interview. Jill and Kimmy exceeded all our expectations in helping us achieve our vision, supported us and provided a sense of calmness through our shifting plans in the pandemic, and became our close friends throughout the process and even now. Jill and Kimmy helped us find the most amazing vendors for our day. The entire design of the day was a collaborative act between Kate & Co Events, Jackson Durham, Cheree Berry Paper, and my mom and me. We had so much fun planning out every single detail of our fairytale day. One of the first things I did while planning the wedding was finding my dress. We went to Stanley Korshak in Dallas, and the Anne Barge Berkeley Gown was the very first dress I tried on. As soon as I put it on, I immediately loved the elegant simplicity of the gown, the ruching in the bodice, and the off-the-shoulder detail. When I first tried it on, both my mom and dad cried and although I tried on a few more dresses, we all knew it was the one. On the day of the wedding, I wore my grandma’s sapphire ring as my something blue. She was able to watch our first ceremony via Zoom in 2020 but passed away before our celebration the following May. She was very special to me, and wearing her ring made me feel as if she was there smiling with us. Growing up, I always had a love for florals. Both my mom and grandmother were avid gardeners, so I was always surrounded by flowers. My favorite time of year was when my mom’s peony bushes bloomed, and she would fill our house with beautiful pink and white peonies. Because of this, I always knew that I wanted my bouquet and the bridesmaids’ bouquet to consist entirely of peonies. My bouquet contained all soft pink peonies, while the bridesmaids’ bouquets contained all white peonies. This love of florals played a large role in the design of the entire day, and I am forever grateful to Jackson Durham for creating such beautiful works of art with their florals. The invitation suite was one of my favorite parts of the design process and paved the way for many of the other paper details seen throughout the day. When selecting china for my registry, I was inspired by the blue tones and dainty details in the Herend Fortuna Blue and Herend Blue Garden designs. The butterflies and florals from these china patterns, as well as my love for chinoiserie and watercolors, helped Cheree Berry Paper design my invitation suite. The linen backer, platinum foil, soft tones, and embossed text beautifully combined colors and textures to create a final product that made all of my blue and white dreams come true. Our ceremony and reception took place at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. We knew we wanted to get married on the golf course for both the beautiful scenery and to pay homage to Jake’s love of golf. During the two years between our engagement and our May 29th ceremony, Jake and I both experienced the loss of several loved ones who played large roles in our lives. We wanted to recognize them during our ceremony and did so through the rose petal aisle. This petal-filled aisle represented the footsteps of those who had walked before us. One of the most memorable moments of the day was when Jake’s mom, Julie, officiated our second ceremony and stood underneath the beautiful floral arch with us. Her words and presence personalized the ceremony in a way that no one else could. After exchanging our vows, we recessed down the rose petal aisle behind a bagpiper. The bagpiper was my dad’s idea and was another way we honored our loved ones – as the bagpiper reminded us of my grandfather. While the color scheme of the reception consisted of mainly blue and white with pops of soft pink florals, the ceremony saw some brighter tones and mainly consisted of pinks and whites. The brighter colors looked gorgeous with the bright greens on the golf course and the bright blue of the St. Louis sky. I gasped when I first saw Jackson Durham’s beautiful floral arch decorated with pink and white hydrangeas, roses, and peonies.

We wanted the cocktail hour to hint at what design elements were to come during dinner and dancing, stay cohesive with some design elements they had already seen in the invitation suite, and to also share a bit of our favorite things with our guests. The escort wall had the same image as our Save the Date — a watercolor painting of the first hole of the golf course at Bellerive. We decided to add a little butterfly detail from the invitation suite to the corner of this image and played with golf vocabulary with “Please find your seat on the dinner course” written on the escort bar. We decorated the cocktail tables with chinoiserie vases filled with light pink peonies. We also had a margarita bar with his and hers margaritas – spicy and skinny – to share with our guests our love of Mexican food and to pay homage to our time spent together in Dallas and Spain. We even had little umbrellas for the margaritas that had the same pattern as the envelope liner from our invitation suite. I loved the cocktail napkins that Cheree Berry Paper designed – “It’s been quite the siesta…Time for a little fiesta!” After all the time spent apart from one another, we were all excited to reunite and celebrate love and being with friends and family once again. This energy was definitely felt during cocktail hour and for the rest of the night. Walking into the dining room and tent for the first time, we were all overcome with so much joy and gratitude. Every detail was perfect, and we were so thankful for each one of our vendors’ hard work in making our vision come true. In the dining room, we decorated the tables with white and soft pink orchids, peonies, hydrangeas, roses, amaryllis, and stocks. The head table featured an elevated overhead runner of these florals with antique chinoiserie vases below filled with some of the most unique and beautiful orchids and ranunculus flowers I had ever seen. The florals, soft candlelight, light blue patterned tablecloth, watercolor butterfly details, and the use of our china that inspired the entire design created an absolutely stunning and romantic atmosphere down to every little personal detail. The two other long tables featured a floral runner that beautifully cascaded onto the floor. Finally, the round tables were decorated with white textured tablecloths, large chinoiserie floral vases, light blue tapered candles, and light blue patterned napkins that matched the tablecloths of the long tables. The cake was a delicious vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting decorated with peonies, garden roses, and roses cascading down the side of the cake. It was just as delicious as it was beautiful. Designing the tent with Kate & Co Events and Jackson Durham was one of my favorite parts of the design process. Like the invitation suite, the tent made all of my blue and white dreams come true. Some of my favorite design elements we included in the tent were the beautiful pale blue banquettes, Gracie chinoiserie panels that I would love to have in my own home one day, and two white treillage bars with pale blue inserts. However, the focal point of the tent, the gorgeous floral ring hanging above the center of the dance floor, was my favorite part of the tent. Dancing under this ring with Jake, my dad, and all our friends and family is a memory I will cherish forever. Another favorite detail that we had in the tent was cocktail napkins with a watercolor painting of our Mini Aussie, Obi, that said “Obi says it’s time to pawty.” Obi was featured in our vows and in many of our friends and family’s speeches, so having him show up again during dancing, if even on a little napkin, just felt right. My dad was very involved in the wedding planning process and wanted to be included in all of the big decisions of the day. With this, came several exciting “dad surprises.” One of these was the glittering firework show after our first dance. My dad was born on the Fourth of July, so he has an innate love of fireworks that he shared with all of us growing up and on this day. Watching these fireworks surrounded by our friends and family made our hearts boom and feel as large and as full as the fireworks. After dancing the night away and enjoying some late-night snacks of our favorite guilty pleasures – pizza and French fries – it was time for the night to come to an end. We sang happy birthday to Jake and then exited to the cheers of our friends and families tossing the same rose petals from our ceremony. We went off into the night in a vintage Rolls Royce, the same car that my parents exited in on their wedding day. There was a long time between our engagement and our big celebration, with an intimate ceremony in between, but Clary Pfeiffer Photography was there with us through it all. She finds beauty in all of life’s moments and her photographs elicit a type of softness and elegance that make you feel the love that was felt in those moments. Looking through her photographs is like reliving and re-feeling all the emotions of our two favorite days. Clary and Travis are truly wonderful people, and we are beyond grateful for them both.