Real Wedding: Lilly & John

It's always so fun to learn about a wedding venue that I didn't know about before, like the Penthouse at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel. Lilly and John were joined by 90 guests for their wedding at the historic venue. The couple wanted their wedding to feel like a chic cocktail party in a fabulous apartment, with amazing food, an amazing location and amazing views. The ceremony took place on the balcony overlooking San Francisco, after which guests were able to explore the penthouse, playing pool in the billiards room, nibbling on hors d'oeuvres in the living room, and dancing in the dining room.

Says Lilly, "We pretended that we were throwing a party at our apartment which was super helpful with focusing our attention on what we really wanted, instead of the many wedding things that everyone says you must have. We decided there would be no walking down the aisle, no first dance and no sit-down dinner. And that we definitely wanted black tie, amazing food and definitely Russian vodka!"










How amazing is this Persian-inspired billiards room?










Framed photos of Lilly, John and their families were placed around the penthouse to give it a lived-in feel. Pink peonies were arranged in vases throughout.






To honor her Russian heritage, Lilly and her family made flavored vodka which was served from an ice bar, which featured iced shot glasses and a selection of caviar. Pink cocktail napkins which were personalized with celebratory Russian sayings.









Photography: Kate Harrison

Planning: Lauren Geissler at Downey Street Events

Venue: Penthouse at The Fairmont San Francisco

Bride's dress / shoes: La Sposa / Valentino

Bridesmaid dress / clutch: J.Crew / Eclu

Hair / makeup: Julie Morgan

Flowers: Not Just Flowers

Officiant: Rabbi Gershon from A Sacred Event

Catering: Adriana McKee-Abbe for Barbara Llewellyn

Congratulations Lilly and John! And thanks so much to Lauren Geissler and Kate Harrison who shared details and photos from this gorgeous wedding.

(Photos submitted via Two Bright Lights.)

Eclu is a sponsor of Snippet & Ink.

Real Wedding: Julie & Noam

I just love all the candlelight in Julie and Noam's New York wedding - is there really anything more romantic? Julie had some details to share with us about the day...








Barb at Hatch Creative Studio was amazing. She really listened to us and brought our personalities out in her design. She was able to take all our crazy ideas and make them into something beautiful. She made votives out of old slides, a nod to my husband's profession as an art historian. We especially loved her bouquets and boutonnieres: my bouquet had peonies, white feathers, and gorgeous green succulents, while Noam's bout had a baby artichoke with a feather. They perfectly encapsulated the whimsical joy we felt that day.










We just wanted a day that allowed us to share our joy with the people closest to us, and we wanted it to be reflective of our values and of our personalities. We were civilly married in Connecticut on the Friday before our Sunday wedding, as a show of support for those states that do not discriminate against gay couples. For us, the most important element of our Sunday wedding was the ceremony. While wedding planning was a team effort for us from start to finish, we worked together particularly closely on the ceremony. Noam's mother, a rabbi, performed it. We worked very hard to remove any non-egalitarian elements from the ceremony, and to make it our own. We read our ketubah (our Jewish marriage contract, also written by us) to each other in place of vows. One of my favorite parts of the day was Noam singing a Hebrew love song that he sings to me each Saturday, as I walked down the aisle.








One of the highlights of the night was the insane hora that lasted for half an hour and left us all sweat-soaked and exhausted.





Photography: Dave Robbins

Venue: Angel Orensanz Foundation in New York City

Coordinator: Soraya Jollon

Stationery: Your Day Designs

Flowers: Hatch Creative Studio

Bride's dress / veil: Selia Yang / Leah C. Couture Millinery

Groom's suit / tie: Boss by Hugo Boss / Men's Wearhouse

Music: Truth Groove

Thank you to Noam and Julie for sharing your wedding with us, and to Dave Robbins for sending over photos from the day.

Real Wedding: Chloe & Adam

Nikole Ramsay is back today with photos from Chloe and Adam's intimate and chic London wedding. Says Chloe:

As it was October, we had a leaf theme and autumnal colors. The rich orange of the ties was inspired by this theme and they had the most amazingly vibrant effect on the day and the photos. We had leaves on the invitations and pressed leaves on the table. We also had paper cut into the shape of leaves for guests to write a message on and hang to a tree in the reception room. We wanted to get married in London as it is meaningful for us and is where we have spent most of our time together. The Century Club has a gorgeous rooftop terrace - a magical atmosphere up there with cozy lighting, rustic greenery and views over Soho rooftops.




Chloe accessorized her jeweled wedding dress with bezel-set diamond earrings, a birdcage veil fascinator, and a cozy white shrug.










Chloe on the ceremony: The ceremony was the best half an hour of the day for us. It was just the most amazingly celebratory energy full of positivity and joy. Since it was what the day was all about, it's where we focused our energy. We wrote our own vows and recited them to each other from memory - it was the most special moment of the day to be up there making my personal promise to Adam in front of all the people who mean so much to us. We had music played by our brothers, my uncle and cousin and my Mum, and everyone joined in singing "All You Need is Love" and "So Happy Together." The atmosphere was amazingly happy and joyous.








A map of London acted as a seating chart, since each table was named after a different street. Says Chloe, "We wanted to put the wedding in the context of London, so we named the tables after nearby Soho streets. It was all really quite simple. We wanted to avoid being fussy or looking too busy. We didn’t have flowers on the tables - just matching candelabras."






Carrot cake cupcakes were an appropriate autumn dessert.







Venue: Century Club in London

Bride's dress: Alice Temperley

Bridesmaid dresses: Warehouse

Groom's suit: Roderick Charles

I'm so glad Nikole Ramsay was able to stop by and share another beautiful wedding with us today. And thank you of course to Chloe and Adam for sharing so many wonderful details!

Board #478: What's Old is New

I recently read an article (cannot for the life of me remember where I read it) about the resurgence of vintage style, and the desire for artisan, hand-crafted things, and how almost anywhere you look you'll see anachronistic jumbles of designs and things reminiscent of bygone days. Not that I needed to read an article to tell me this, but it did get me thinking about how this trend is certainly present in the wedding world. That, combined with this film about the inspiring architecture and design firm, Roman & Williams, plus my desire to incorporate Root Liquor into an inspiration board, all led up to today's post. Not everything here comes from the same era or region, but there's a common thread in the palette and feel of each element, and I don't think any of it takes itself too seriously except for that love of hand-crafting and thoughtful design. It's all mostly somewhat masculine, but I think the tiniest bit of blush pink could balance it nicely.

Mood: vintage, vintage, vintage
Palette: caramel, whiskey, leather

{click image to enlarge}

Top row from left: peeling theater poster via Decorology, dapper gentleman via The Sartorialist, Leica camera via Dress Design Decor, Root Liquor from Art in the Age
Row 2: photo of picture frame wall by Elizabeth Messina, Western Union telegram wedding invitation by Greenwich Letterpress via Once Wed
Row 3: gramophone photo by Justin & Mary, brown and white striped necktie by Billy Reid, salted caramel and chocolate cake by Baked via Amy Atlas, cocktail ring photo by Johnny Miller
Row 4: Tobacco Warehouse photo by Raquel Reis, bistro table via The Bride's Guide, photo of apothecary jar "bud vase" by Tec Petaja, nude blusher veil by Che Bella via MSP Magazine