Waterfront Garden Wedding At Roche Harbor Resort
The overall vibe that we aimed for with this design was a modern, seaside garden party. We drew some inspiration not only from their island location but also the sophisticated East Coast, since Kylie and Russ were living in New York City. Kylie wanted it to feel timeless and classy, but also fun and modern, so we settled on a soft and cheery color palette for their floral and incorporated a few fun patterns and textures to keep things visually interesting and unique.
Russ planned a dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in the West Village, and proposed on our way home outside of a holiday-lit Jefferson Market Garden. We then stopped by one of our favorite neighboorhood bars for a nightcap where he surprised me with our friends and both of our families waiting to celebrate with us.
For the ceremony I wore a classic strapless sheath dress with a dramatic overskirt, both by Newhite Bridal. The overskirt came off for the first dance and dinner. My shoes were Loeffler Randall and I wore a floral embroidered cathedral length veil from Ofrenda. After dinner I changed into an Elliatt floral applique mini dress! For my welcome party look I wore a strapless lace dress from Jonathan Simkhai and Raye heels.
Russ and his groomsmen all wore matching blue checked suits from Indochino with walnut Allen Edmonds wingtip oxfords.
Food and drink were a top priority for these two! They really wanted to showcase some of the local seafood and featured a signature cocktail using Empress Gin, the "lavender bees knees," giving it a lovely purple hue.Yes! It was very important to us give our guests a uniquely San Juan Island experience all weekend through food and drink. We hosted our welcome party at San Juan Vineyards who served their own wines and beer from the local San Juan Island Brewing Company. For food we live-cooked paella using fresh island meats, seafoods, and produce. On the wedding day Roche Harbor Resort served several island specialties including oysters from Westcott Bay, local dungeness crab, pacific northwest tykee salmon, and their famous prime rib. Our signature cocktail was a purple lavender bees knees featuring Empress Gin, distilled just across the Haro Strait in Victoria BC.
The decor for this was all about balancing timeless elegance with fun impactful touches. The bride chose a fun patterned linen as the base for their tablescapes, adding natural rattan chargers, sweet floral bud vases and lots of candles for a mixture of playfulness and classic style.We partnered with island florist Bloom San Juan to bring our pastel multicolor floral vision to life, including a colorful floral arch that framed our ceremony perfectly. For the reception decor we were aiming for a colorful but timeless coastal look with blue floral tablecloths, rattan chargers and pendant lanterns, and string lights and lots of candles to bring a warm and intimate feel throughout the night.
We kept the ceremony traditional with a lush floral arbor in the venue's garden, and then greeted guests with a champagne wall as they transitioned to cocktail hour.The ceremony was held in Roche Harbor's rose garden in front of the historic Hotel de Haro. It was important to us that our ceremony reflected who we are individually, and as a couple. Russ and the groomsmen entered to an accoustic 'Higher Love' by An International Affair. I walked down the aisle with my dad to Canon in D, which has always been a favorite of Russ's. Our officiant is a close friend who led a heartfelt ceremony, and we read vows we had written ourselves. We recessed and celebrated iwth our wedding parties to Brasstrack's 'Always By My Baby'.
For all events at Roche Harbor Resort, the marina holds a colors ceremony right before sunset. During this they announce any special events and celebrations, so the couple was introduced to the whole marina to celebrate alongside them. The bride's parents have a gorgeous boat in permanent mooring at the marina, so this was extra special for them and something Kylie remembered from time spent here throughout her childhood. For the Welcome event we took photos on parents boat and it was very special.
