With ties to Paris and Connecticut, this couple blended the two in an elegant affair by the Connecticut shoreline. Jubilee Events helped with the finishing touches, and every detail, from the Bride’s dress from Everthine Bridal Boutique to the personalized invitations by French calligrapher Bernard Larboillat, is flawless! Take a peek at all the pretty captured by Tony Spinelli Photography right here!
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From the beautiful Bride…We hired Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events to assist with design and coordination. We did a lot of legwork ourselves such as finding the venue, accommodation, photographer, caterer and music. Candice helped us find our last few vendors, managed our rentals and helped us develop and implement the design.
We spent about half the engagement planning. We did a lot of work immediately after we got engaged finding a venue and vendors and then things came in small spurts thereafter.
The Branford House is a beautiful property that is conveniently located in walking distance to my parent’s beach house. It was not the first place we looked but it was the one we choose. It was the perfect fit. It was on the shore with an amazing view and it could accommodate our guest list! We have spent many weekends on the Connecticut shore swimming, kayaking, sailing, running and biking, and it was the perfect place for us to get married.
I wanted to look classic, elegant, and understated and be comfortable! I tried on a bunch of wedding dresses both in stores and at home that I ordered online. I fell in love with my dress. It was an A-line cut. The bodice was structured lace with an illusion top with fabric so thin it looked like it was strapless with the lace climbing up. The skirt was chiffon and very lightweight. It was white. I wore a headpiece and a belt to embellish the look. For my shoes, I wore silver Varas. I custom ordered them so I even got my initials put on them. I wanted my shoes to be beautiful and comfortable.
For jewelry, I used earrings I already owned (a gift from my parents several years before) and wore my maternal great-grandmother’s rose gold watch that my dad had gotten restored for me. The clutch was by b.m.c. and I purchased it off Amazon.
I had five bridesmaids and one bridesman! I told the ladies to each find a gray dress of any shade, length, and design from J.Crew. For the bridesman, I asked that he wear a tux (of his choosing) and I got him gray paisley suspenders, socks and a bowtie from thetiebar.com. I told everyone to choose something they were comfortable with–they all selected their own accessories including shoes. I had very wonderful and beautiful people in my bridal party and I wanted them to be happy and comfortable! For hair and makeup, they each decided what they wanted.
We had our niece, Avery Kagan, was our flower girl. Her dress was purchased off dressale.com. She carried a basket of rose petals down the aisle. I decorated the basket (that I purchased from Michael’s) with Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Specialty Girl Ribbon I bought off Amazon. The ring bearer was Marc’s second cousin, Cole Robertson. He wore a kilt in Robertson clan tartan (Marc’s mom’s family is of Scottish descent, the Robertsons), a sporran purchased from sportkilt.com and a Joey Couture tuxedo purchased on Amazon. Cole made it down the aisle… but not with anything in his hands!
From the Groom… There were five groomsmen. They all wore tuxedos. They were not required to have a particular brand and all but two owned one already, some had midnight blue and other black. I had a bespoke tuxedo made (with both black and ivory jackets) by W.W. Chan, done with grosgrain shawl lapels. My shirt, tie and cummerbund were also made by W.W. Chan. I wore Allen Edmond Vernon shoes in black with a bright polish and the overall package finished with a silver and mother of pearl stud set from Brooks Brothers. All the groomsmen wore Bresciani socks (I had pink ones!), and they all had skull and crossbones suspenders and pocket squares purchased from thetiebar.com (to mark our trip to the Carribean for the bachelor party). Each groomsmen finished their look with their own details such as different shoes and cufflinks.
From the Bride… Our second wedding was in Paris, France so the loose theme was Connecticut (my home and now our home) meets France (Marc’s father is French and Marc used to live and work in Paris). So for our Connecticut wedding we wanted to have a blend of Connecticut shoreline and Paris. I wanted a very neutral color palette; I didn’t want to be overpowered. I wanted the beauty and color to come from the flowers. Candice helped us develop a palette of white, blush, peach, khaki, mint and grey that were much more about showcasing the flowers. The design was really driven by Candice, and she really listened to what we wanted and developed the color story and feel of the event: elegant, simple and romantic.
For our save-the-dates, we used photos from our engagement shoot with Tony Spinelli and made postcards on WeddingPaperDivas.com.
The wedding invitation stationary was an original design by French calligrapher Bernard Larboillat. Bernard lives outside Paris and when Marc was working in France over the winter he brought me back a few of his cards because I love stationary. We loved his designs so much that we contacted him and Marc met with him a few times and he created this very unique invitation for us. He drew the view of Branford House and composed his drawing of letters and words of the item he was drawing. For example, the house was drawn using the letters “b” and “h”. We carried his design through a few elements of our wedding design such as the cocktail napkins (ordered from foryourparty.com with our custom design on them), our guest board and the groomsmans’s gifts.
From the Groom… The design also made it way into the groomsman’s gifts, which were laser etched solid wood wine cases with the Branford house and the wedding couple designs. Inside were the ingredients for my favorite drink, a Manhattan, along with home made maraschino cherries. I also etched a limerick to explain the contents on the inside of the case. Bernard also designed the invitations for our Paris wedding. We had everything printed locally at Minuteman Press in Hartford, CT.
From the Bride… For programs and menus, we used chalkboards with design by Molly Shanahan. The chalkboards displayed on easels and were adorned with garlands from Just For You Floral.
For our escort cards, I used tags from paperpresentation.com and my mom (who has excellent handwriting) wrote out all the names. The Jubilee Events team attached fresh lavender with twine to each card. They escort cards were left on a whitewash barrel bar with flowers, garland and antique family silver trays.
We had 42 inch wide banquet tables and our meal was served family style so the goal of the table centerpieces were to be beautiful but leave plenty of room for platters and bowls and cutting boards. I wanted the simple, elegant and romantic vibe to come through. Jane of Just for You made every table and centerpiece look a little bit different. Each table had a mixture of arrangements with different flowers (many of the flower types used in the bouquets), in varying sizes and containers (antique glass vases, silver cups, trays, etc.). The linens were camel with white napkins and the chargers gold. Table numbers were simply displayed with cards on stands. Everything was very simple. The idea was beautiful but functional–lots of room for food! Food being part of the beauty!
During dinner we challenged guest tables to sing us love songs (as a group) if they wanted us to kiss (instead of the traditional clinking of the glasses). Shockingly almost every table participated! We got the range from Frank Sinatra to Salt-N-Pepa! Between guest tables singing and speeches, we had on some background music during dinner. For dancing, the Nu-Cullers did what they do best– a mix of pop, soul and mo-town! My father-daughter dance was to “My Girl” and Marc’s mother-son dance was to “Into the Mystic”. The band even played a great version of Hava Nagila.
Photography: Tony Spinelli Photography | Event Planning: Jubilee Events | Floral Design: Just For You Floral Design Studio | Wedding Dress: Everthine Bridal Boutique | Cake: Le Petit France | Invitations: Bernard Larbouillat | Bride's Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo | Rings: R. Hollander Master Goldsmith | Bridesmaids' Dresses: J.Crew | Catering: Emily’s Catering Group | Makeup: EyeCatcherz | Hair: Chameleon Salon | Band: Nu-Cullers | Groom's Attire: W.W. Chan & Sons Tailor | Wedding Venue: Branford House | Groom's Pocket Square And Tie: The Tie Bar | Groom's Shoes: Allen Edmonds | Groom's Socks: Bresciani | Lighting And Sound In The Tent-: Rob Alberti's Event Services | Programs: Molly Shanahan (chalkboard) | Rentals: New England Country Rentals
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