Emerald and Gold Elegance Meets Gilded Age Glamor at Elkins Estate

Lauren Megerdichian
December 17, 2024
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, The Blog

[section title=”The Planning”]

[field title=”Wedding Colors”]Chelsea selected a color palette of Emerald, Blush, Ivory, Gold, Sage, and Burgundy. These colors provided the perfect compliment to the Gilded Age grandeur of Elkins Estate.[/field]

[field title=”Design / Vibe / Vision”]Colin and Chelsea have a fairytale love story, so it is only fitting that their wedding weekend exuded ethereal romance, gilded age glamor, in a classic, timeless, elegant fashion. They were thrilled to find a venue so close to both of their families that could accommodate a garden ceremony, inclusive rooms, and the party of the century.[/field]

[field title=”Proposal Story”]From our groom, Colin:

“When you’ve been dating a person for seven years, hiding a proposal is a challenge. You know too much! You know what time they like making tea at night, you know what their favorite show to fall asleep to is, and you definitely know the signs that there’s a proposal brewing. Great for the newly-wed game, terrible for surprises. My instructions for Chelsea were, “it’ll happen at some point ‘soon’, but don’t go searching for presents if you don’t want to ruin Christmas”. Fortunately, she agreed. That, along with some classic misdirection and subterfuge thanks to her very helpful family, kept the train on the tracks.

Grandiose trips or elaborate dinners would give away too much, so we opted for a different route. Her family had been asking to do a coordinated Christmas card photo shoot for years, but as it often does, life would get in the way. This would act as the perfect opportunity for both of us to be dressed up without raising suspicion. Using that as the cover, her mom came up with a brilliant plan. The “photo shoot” would be at Longwood Gardens, but we’d get there “before” her family. That way, we could walk around and try to find a nice spot to “take pictures”!

What Chelsea didn’t know was that my parents and some family friends already scoped out a number of spots in the Gardens that would be quiet, secluded from others, and beautiful to propose in. They even went as far as to draw on a map the exact route I should take to get to the spot — the bridge next to the Eye of Water. There was a small stream running under the bridge that led into beautiful willow trees, providing a gorgeous atmosphere.

I had my sister hide with a camera in the pavilion nearby before we even walked over. I suggested we cross the bridge, got down on one knee in the middle of it, and pulled the ring out of my pocket to propose. I said my small prepared speech and asked if she’d marry me. Chelsea, too stunned to speak, stood there with her hands over her mouth until I said “you’ve gotta say something!” — which caused her to immediately say “yes, yes, absolutely yes!”.

As planned, her family and my family were given the green light to walk over and celebrate with us which was incredible. Unplanned, were a number of women dressed in fairy costumes (doing a photo shoot of their own nearby) who had watched this happen and came out to say congrats and cheer after we kissed post-proposal. The moment was pretty magical. Maybe a bit extra because of the fairies.”

[/field]

[/section]

[board_carousel title=”Getting Ready”]

[/board_carousel]

[board_carousel title=”Bridal Portraits”]

[/board_carousel]

[board_carousel title=”Flat Lays”]

[/board_carousel]

[section title=”The Fashion”]

[field title=”Wedding Gown”]Chelsea’s vision was clear, a strapless, sweetheart ball gown, ideally accessorized with elbow length gloves, a pearl-encrusted cathedral-length veil, and Christian Louboutin Sandale du Désert heels. Van Cleve helped Chelsea find “THE” dress: Royal Highness designed by Sareh Nouri, and the perfect veil to match. [/field]

[field title=”Bridesmaid Dresses”]The bridesmaids wore the color Pine from Azazie. [/field]

[field title=”Groomsman Attire”]The groom wore a tux by Ventresca LTD in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and sported a Datejust Rolex, and socks adorned with pictures of the happy couple’s cat Fibonacci. The groomsmen were fashioned via Men’s Warehouse, styled in BLACK by Vera Wang.[/field]

[/section]

[board_carousel title=”Wedding Party”]

[/board_carousel]

[board_carousel title=”Ceremony”]

[/board_carousel]

[board_carousel title=”Cocktail Hour”]

[/board_carousel]

[section title=”The Details”]

[field title=”Food & Drink”]For cocktail hour Colin and Chelsea served a Dark and Stormy and French 75 as “His and Hers” Cocktails respectively. Guests had the opportunity to snack on passed hors d’oeuvres, sushi from an in-person sushi chef, pasta, and protein from the carving stations.

At the reception, guests enjoyed a first course of a fall Harvest Salad with apples, field greens, goat cheese, candied pecans, cider vinaigrette. For their entree, guests had a choice of roasted chicken with butternut squash, maitake mushrooms, and rosemary jus; filet mignon with creamed spinach, fingerling potatoes, and bodelaise sauce; braised short rib with sweet potato puree, brussels sprouts, and pickled-roasted shallots; or the vegetarian option of baked eggplant with a tomato conserva, pecorino, and fresh basil.

For dessert, wedding cake was passed as well as platters of milkshake shooters, mini cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, petit fours, mini creme brûlée, and mini fruit tarts. At the afterparty, guests enjoyed the luxury of cheese burgers, fries, and a seasonal donut wall before departing for the evening.

[/field]

[field title=”Florals & Decor”]Stacia from Petals with Style collaborated at Chelsea to bring her floral vision to life. In addition to bouquet, boutonnieres, centerpieces, and garland, the florists also bedecked the ceremony space in beautiful blooms, including the arch that wrapped around the magnolia tree, under which the wedding ceremony was performed. The floral arrangements consisted of soft blush café dahlias, peachy apricot ranunculus, white anemones in a blush hue, peachy apricot sweet peas, peachy blush garden roses, soft orange dahlias, reddish hellebores, cosmos, and accents of maroon and green magnolia leaves. Table centerpieces consisted of the wedding flowers with ivory candlesticks in golden holders, giving the tables an ethereal, elegant look.

Guests found their seats on the mirrored seating chart which matches the miniature mirrored table numbers. All signage, including the welcome signs and bar signs were created by Rosier Rentals.

[/field]

[field title=”Wedding Cake”]Bredenbeck’s Bakery supplied the most marvelous, four tiered confection that was delicious from inside and out. With two layers of pumpkin spice sponge filled with a salted caramel buttercream and two layers of chocolate sponge filled with cookies and cream buttercream, guests were treated to the best flavors that fall has to offer. The entire cake was coated in vanilla buttercream and adorned and florals.[/field]

[field title=”Readings, Ceremony Music, Reception Songs”]During the ceremony, they had a string quartet play some of their favorite music: Four Seasons by Vivaldi, Canon in D, and Clair De Lune for the Entrance of the Bride.[/field]

[field title=”Special Detail #1″]Every Little Something created the most beautiful, bespoke invitation suite for Mr. & Mrs. Hoffman’s wedding day. She incorporated the tree that the couple said their vows under into the design on the details card and also on the wedding program. [/field]

[field title=”Special Detail #2″]Both of the wedding bands held symbolism for the bride and groom. Chelsea’s band has nine diamonds, while Colin’s band has nine engraved stars on the inside. The number nine represents the number of years the couple was together before their wedding. The stars are a nod to the secular wedding reading, which was chosen because of the couple’s deep love of stargazing. This passion started because Colin and Chelsea spent the first four years of their relationship across the country from each other while they felt physically far apart, they would spend nights looking up at the stars, knowing they were under the same sky, admiring the same moon. [/field]

[field title=”Special Detail #3″]In the welcome bag of all of the guest rooms, Colin and Chelsea added a crossword puzzle “The Newly Wed Times” which was written by Colin Hoffman, edited by Chelsea Hoffman. All of the clues are general questions asked in the standard way crossword clues are posed but all of the answers relate back to our relationship. This gave guests a fun pass time to complete in the morning as well as some fun trivia about the happy couple. Colin and Chelsea used to call each other on Sundays with coffee in hand and complete crosswords over the phone. They continue this tradition of “coffee and crosswords” to this day.[/field]

[/section]

[board_carousel title=”Couple Portraits”]

[/board_carousel]

[board_carousel title=”Reception”]

[/board_carousel]

[board_carousel title=”Wedding Weekend Events”]

[/board_carousel]