Board #492: Love and Surf

I was having so much fun thinking about where my honey and I might go on our honeymoon, and then we found out we might not be able to take one right away. So disappointing! But, one thing inspiration boards are good for (aside from helping to pull together a look for a wedding) is imagining, so I imagined up a trip to Hawaii...

Mood: Hawaiian casual
Palette: sand and surf, red and yellow

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Top row from left: surfboard photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy, vintage surf postcard, tropical fruit wedding cake from Martha Stewart Weddings
Row 2: tropical orchid bouquet by Matthew Robbins, photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy, beach wedding from Martha Stewart Weddings
Row 3: beach and palm tree photo from Real Weddings, popsicles via Ruby Press, red and yellow hibiscus in bud vases by Nancy Liu Chin via Green Wedding Shoes
Row 4: pink Hawaiian quilt from The Quilt Complex, ukelele photo by Dave Robbins, signature cocktails with dried pineapple garnish from Martha Stewart Weddings, surfboard and food truck photo by Ericka McConnell

Board #484: Beach House Blue

I'm not sure why, but this lovely photo by Alicia Bock immediately sent my mind to a beach house-inspired wedding. Something with washed out blues and sun-bleached whites, beachy textures like linen and seashells, and a feel that is both lovely and relaxed. I'm really excited about our wedding plans, but I do love the idea of renting out a beach house for the weekend, and hosting all of our favorite people for a low-key wedding weekend. If you were to host a beach house wedding, where would it be?

Mood: beach house simplicity
Palette: seaglass, sand, white

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Top row from left: blue ceiling photo by Alicia Bock, seashell ring box from Charleston Weddings, parasol photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Row 2: blue ribbon programs (in a box of sand) from Oh How Charming
Row 3: bouquet by Flower Wild from Bride & Bloom, coconut cupcake via Oh Hello Friend, white seashells
Row 4: photo of Twigs & Honey veil by Elizabeth Messina, soda water from Sunday Suppers, aqua invitation suite by Hammerpress and pleated linen ring pillow both from Martha Stewart Weddings

Real Wedding: Rebecca & Mike

Rebecca and Mike's beach wedding is full of preppy charm - I love the periwinkle blue and cream palette. And they planned the whole thing in just a few months! Says Rebecca, "We live in NYC but a city wedding just wasn’t us. We both love to travel, so a destination wedding was an obvious choice. I grew up on the coast, and I always envisioned an outdoor ceremony near the beach. We love nature and being outdoors and were inspired by the natural, untouched beauty of St. John and low-key style of the resort which is located within a national park. We knew we were asking a lot of our guests to travel so far to celebrate with us, and we really wanted to make it as easy as possible for everyone and ensure they'd get the most out of their trip. It worked out so well. Most of our guests stayed for at least a few days after the wedding, and some joined us for a full week of island fun!"




As a wedding gift, Rebecca gave Mike a pair of custom cufflinks with their wedding date stamped on them.




During the wedding, each of us carried something from the other person’s family. Mike wore a monogrammed handkerchief that my mother had given him in the chest pocket of his suit. I pinned Mike's grandfather's wedding ring to the inside of my dress. Since neither of us have living grandparents, it was wonderful to have something to make us feel like those who couldn't be with us physically were still somehow with us spiritually.


For the ceremony, I filled small white paper bags with dried whole blue cornflowers and used periwinkle organza ribbon to attach hang tags that read "As the bride and groom come your way, toss the flowers and shout hooray!"








I wanted guests to feel like they had walked into a friend’s lovely beach cottage, not a reception hall. My mother sewed the periwinkle table runners. Place cards were designed and printed by Luscious Verde. The coral graphic tied in with the sea theme of the wedding as well as the cause to which we made a donation on behalf of our guests: Coral Reef Alliance.
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Mike created playlists for the entire event that we played off an iPod during the reception. It saved us a ton of money and worked out well. We had music we knew we liked that was appropriate for each segment of the evening - the cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. We went back outside to the veranda after dinner to dance under the stars and the full moon.


I'll pass along some good advice that was given to me: Take time during the evening to step back and just watch - watch all your family and friends, in one place, enjoying themselves and celebrating your love and happiness. The day goes by so quickly and you need to make sure you take a moment to soak it all in.

Venue: Caneel Bay Resort in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Invitations: Lion in the Sun

Bride's dress: Jenny Lee (found at a Mark Ingram sample sale)

Groom's suit / cufflinks: Brooks Brothers / Heather Moore Jewelry

Congrats Rebecca and Mike! And thank you to Corbin Gurkin for the beautiful photos!

Real Wedding: Valery & Chauncey

Valery and Chauncey's uber-stylish Jamaican wedding makes me wish I had been there! Either that or hop on the next plane to the Caribbean. I saw a few pics from their wedding in New York Weddings awhile back, and wanted to know more. Cappy Hotchkiss was kind enough to indulge me with a ton of beautiful photos, and Valery shared some fun details about the swanky destination wedding:

Our wedding was a celebration of everything we love: family and friends, music, and pampering our guests! Jamaica is a place that Chauncey and I have visited countless times over the course of our relationship and we have truly grown to love it's unique spirit. When it came time to plan our wedding we knew we wanted to share the island's magic with our guests. For the amount of money we would have spent for one night in Manhattan, we did four days of festivities in Jamaica over Memorial Day weekend - a Thursday-night cocktail party, a Friday beach barbecue, the wedding, an after-party that went until sunrise, and a Sunday lunch.

We were weren't afraid to mix up the expected flow of the day. Our wedding started with the cocktail hour! This allowed us to mingle with our guests and relax before our ceremony. We took all of our formals prior to the cocktail hour, so we could relax and focus on enjoying the rest of the day. After the cocktail hour, our guests were all seated at their respective dinner tables and we had a "dinner theater" style ceremony where we stood in the center, surrounded by our guests. It was intimate and offbeat, and was perfect for us as we didn't want the usual processional down the aisle.




Welcome bags were woven by a local Jamaican artisan.








For portraits and the cocktail hour, Valery wore a short dress by Alice by Temperley, shoes by Pierre Hardy, and a fabulous bridal hat by Gina Foster Milliner. Chauncey looked dapper in an island-appropriate seersucker suit by Etro and wingtip shoes by Tom Ford.



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Round Hill Hotel was originally a private refuge for style icons like Cole Porter, Grace Kelly, and Jackie Kennedy. "It has very old-school glamour," says Valery.






Rum punch was our unofficial signature cocktail; we like the numb, happy Carib buzz it gives you. When planning food and beverage, it’s key to know your crowd: Do they drink a lot? Ours drank us out of house and home!


These shell chandeliers cast a sexy glow over the festivities, and the best part? They were dirt cheap!


Valery's little brother was the ring bearer.



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As Chauncey and I are both jazz musicians (he plays the sax and flute; I sing), we opted to provide the cocktail hour entertainment ourselves. With the help of some of our talented musician friends (who also happened to be guests) we put together a six-piece jazz combo and dedicated meaningful songs to each other: Chauncey performed Art Blakey’s 'When Love Is New' and I did Cole Porter’s 'You’re the Top' and the Etta James version of 'Nature Boy.' It was a great way to include our passion for music in the wedding and share it with our guests.


For the ceremony, Valery changed into a dress by Catherine Walker and Co. and green sandal flats by Christian Louboutin.


I wanted native ginger flowers. They have a thick stem so I thought I’d just hold one, but the florist surprised me with a bouquet.


We opted not to have a wedding party; rather, the morning of the wedding, we each hosted the meaningful men and women in our lives for separate thank you brunches. I treated my friends to pedicures and Chauncey treated his to massages. It was a great way to show our appreciation for them.






Since Round Hill has a clubby old school atmosphere, we opted for a retro supper club menu: iceberg wedge salad, Oysters Rockefeller, lobster tails, filet mignon, and Baked Alaska.






Music was especially important to us, so we placed most of our budget in securing our phenomenal band, the incredible Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, as well as our two amazing DJ's. If I had to choose a favorite moment, aside from the ceremony, it would have to be our after party. We rented a gorgeous mountainside villa not far from the resort and hosted an all night throw down. Our DJ, Quantic, kept our friends on the dance floor until 6am - it was completely wild, and ended with a sunrise swim in the pool. I will never, ever forget it.

Venue: Round Hill Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica

Save-the-date: Ceci New York

Wood veneer invitation: Oslo Press

Paper invitation inserts / menus: Albertine Press

Bride's cocktail dress / shoes / hat: Alice by Temperley / Pierre Hardy / Gina Foster Milliner

Bride's wedding dress / shoes: Catherine Walker & Co. / Christian Louboutin

Groom's suit / shoes: Etro / Tom Ford

Band: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

DJ's: Quantic / Queen Majesty

Planning: JoAnn Gregoli, Elegant Occasions

Valery's advice to brides is exactly what I needed to hear this week:

Also, be true to who you are and don't get sucked in by pressure from others. It is so easy to go into "please everyone" mode, but you'll learn quickly that this is an impossible feat. It is entirely possible to be both a gracious host and also remain on track to creating a day that truly reflects who you are as a couple. Also - enjoy yourself! It really is a remarkable occasion. Rarely will you get to see all your loved ones gathered in one place. I tried to look around and soak in that moment as much as possible.

Happy Anniversary this month, Valery and Chauncey! Thank you so much for sharing all of these incredible details with us - it sounds like an absolutely amazing time! And thank you again to the talented Cappy Hotchkiss for sharing all of these fabulous photos with us - it was impossible to choose just a few!

Real Wedding: Marnhe & Simon

I thought this would be a good week for some beachy destination weddings, and we're kicking things off with Marnhe and Simon's January wedding in South Africa. Just about everything at their wedding was DIY, from the bride's dress (made by her mother) to the picnic meal. Says Marnhe:

We decided to rent a beach house (I grew up in Strand and love the beach) and have our festivities there. We arrived a couple of days in advance with our families and start preparing for the wedding day. Guests arrived spontaneously and pitched in, helping with set up, decorations, everything - the whole weekend was one big social event. The fact that we were at the beach house from Thursday until Sunday made the whole thing so much more tangible and memorable. The time still flew by, but there were so many memories made! Everybody pitched in, made 'frikadelle,' decorated, built and set up structures, packed picnic baskets and had a 'lekker kuier'* while at it.






















All of the decor, from the napkins to the garlands, was handmade by my Marnhe and her mother.


"We both love picnics! They're simple but also special. Every picnic we've had together was a special occasion - a little celebration in itself," says Marnhe. The picnic-style meal included everything from barbecued shrimp skewers, a variety of cheeses, cold cuts, liver paté, ciabatta, cheese stick croissants, miniature quiches, potato chips, olives, meatballs, berries, Swiss chocolate, Krone sparkling wine, summer punch, and a selection of wines, juices and beer - made by family members or purchased at the grocery store.









Photography: Riekert Cloete

Venue: private house at Kommetjie, Western Cape, South Africa

Bride's dress: Magdalena Catharina (Marnhe's mother)

Groom's suit: Hilton Weiner

Flowers: Mariaan van den Berg (Marnhe's aunt) at Flowerz

Tent: Nomadik Tents

Congratulations Marnhe and Simon - and thank you for sharing your beautiful DIY wedding with us!

*"Lekker kuier" is loosely translated as "nice visit."