Sweetheart Table - Modern Style - Garden Party via Style Me Pretty

Planning & Inspiration

The Sweetheart Table

Celebrating your big day with family and friends while being close to your newlywed is what makes the day so magical and fires up the romance of it all. As we know, wedding days can get a little hectic amongst the greetings, pictures, dancing and toasts. It can appear to fly by in the blink of an eye! We know how special this day is, how much planning goes into it and, at the end of the day, the bride and groom’s main purpose is to be with one another. At your wedding reception, having a special place for the two of you to catch up and enjoy each other during the excitement is something we find extremely special and essential. Creating a ‘Sweetheart Table’ for two is a great way to find your alone time while still being involved with guests and adored by all. This not only makes the sweetheart table a great concept, but it also adds another decorative feature to your venue. We have a few great tips and tricks on making your sweetheart table one to be admired by all and adding an extra touch of enchantment to your special day.
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Blue Hydrangea- Haute Hydrangea- photo by Hamptons Hostess

Planning & Inspiration

Flower Feature – Hydrangea

One of the most beautiful and well-known species in the flower kingdom, is hydrangea. Hydrangea originated in many regions of the world, including North and South America, Europe and Asia. Now worldwide, they are very famous and a popular flower grown in gardens, while also being used at special occasions and weddings. Offering a variety of species in the kingdom, it is most famous for its hydrangea and Dutch hydrangea variety. The hydrangea species is famous for its large soft clusters and overwhelming beauty in its natural state. The hydrangea flower is grown on a hydrangea bush in single clusters containing multiple little flowers and blooms. Though each individual flower is very small, hydrangea’s florets are known for coming in full round clusters at the top of a single stem.
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Birch Archway / Shelley and Safa / Gurneys Montauk / Flora and Fauna

Beach Chic at Gurney’s Montauk

There’s nothing quite like saying “I Do” with the sea as your venue! Shelley and Safa embraced the last of the summer sun in their wedding at Gurney’s Montauk.

 

 

The beautiful couples’ relaxed vibe was felt through the entire space with natural and overgrown floral elements, whimsical touches, and a Bollywood-pop flash mob at their reception! Shelley and Safa have a very funny story of meeting as told by their maid of honor. “Safa, you met Shelley…when she was your boss,” their maid of honor started. “And now she’s your wife, so really not much has changed!”

When it came time to celebrate their love in front of their friends and family, Shelley and Safa commissioned the services of husband and wife planning team Whimsy Weddings, who we’ve worked with on quite a few beautiful nuptials!

The theme of the day was beach chic – a kind of low-key elegance that perfectly matched this couple’s playful demeanor. The bride wore a gorgeous long-sleeved A-line lace wedding gown with a simple bateau neckline and a beautiful brush train. Her bridesmaids coordinated with her blush, mauve and burgundy palette wearing different shades of purples and pinks in a variety of silhouettes, reinforcing the casual chic theme of the day.

Shelley insisted on a refined and elegant flower crown to accompany her gorgeous updo. It featured baby’s breath, ruscus, jasmine and spray roses. Everyone carried whimsical bouquets of cafe au lait dahlias, roses and spray roses, ranunculus, scabiosa, astilbe, jasmine, dusty miller and Italian ruscus, tied in gold and ivory satin. “With Shelley and her lovely maids bouquets, we kept the focus on creating rustic elegance by giving the bouquets movement and creating an organic shape,” recalls Bride & Blossom founder Rachel Trimarco. The groom coordinated with his beautiful bride with a boutonniere made of ivory garden rose, jasmine vine and ruscus, tied in ivory ribbon. The groomsmen sported interesting boutonnieres of cream astilbe, ivory spray roses and Italian ruscus.

With less than 175 guests, their intimate beach ceremony faced the calming ocean and featured a beautiful white birch wedding arch adorned with cafe au lait dahlias, quicksand and tibet roses, cream astilbe and hydrangea, plum scabiosa and a variety of greenery including jasmine vine, Italian ruscus, lemon leaf and dusty miller. The setting September sun created a warm glow and the couple recited their vows and became man and wife.



We typically see brides and grooms embrace florals for their escort card tables, but Shelley and Safa had a different idea in mind to welcome guests to the reception. Instead of traditional place cards, tequila shots awaited each guest with a lime wedge and their names displayed on toothpicks, which looked like little sailboats! It was definitely a fun and silly way to welcome guests into a night of great food and dancing. A miniature Hulk Hogan also made a few appearances, our favorite in which he held up a sign encouraging guests to take pictures on disposable cameras and sign the couple’s guestbook! The reception featured beautiful and large low centerpieces to keep the space intimate. Sitting atop low birch cylinder vases, we arranged cafe au lait and plum dahlias, quicksand and juliet roses, scabiosa flowers and pods, jasmine vine, dusty miller and Italian ruscus into a rustic and romantic centerpiece. Guests enjoyed their night on the dancefloor when a massive flash mob came out to get the party started!

Wedding Film

 

Wedding Vendors

 

Planner: Whimsy Weddings

Venue: Gurney’s Montauk

Photographer: Love Flora Fauna

Videographer: SparkStory Wedding Cinema

Plaza Hotel Glam

Marianna and Jason celebrated their love in New York’s most famous wedding venue, the Grand Ballroom at the storied Plaza Hotel. With significance in every detail of their decor, their wedding was a true ode to the love this beautiful couple shares with one another.

 

 

Marianna and Jason grew up around the block from each other in Manhattan, but had never met before. Fate had met its match, as they reunited over a decade ago during a bad snowstorm. Jason and his friend were driving in a bad snowstorm, and offered Marianna a ride home. She refused! A few years after that, they met again at a party, and have been inseparable ever since! Jason proposed on a romantic vacation in Hawaii, and Marianna said yes!

 

When Marianna came to Bride & Blossom for the wedding flowers, she had a distinctive point of view and specific vision of what she wanted her wedding to look like. She and Jason, who did not use a wedding planner to pull off their grand wedding, wanted a timeless and elegant look that they would look back on and love for years to come. In fact, the couple opted to keep their wedding details to themselves and really enjoy the planning process as a couple. We’re sure their friends and family were awestruck by how beautiful the ceremony was!

 

The Plaza Hotel’s is absolutely iconic. Overlooking the famed intersection of Fifth Avenue and Central Park, it’s ornate crystal chandeliers, dramatic archways and gilded finishings is a look to behold. Guests entered to flowing champagne and delectable hors d’oeuvres by CPS Catering before descending into the Terrace Room for Marianna and Jason’s romantic ceremony. Marianna stunned guests in a custom Ines Di Santo gown and carried a romantic pastel bouquet featuring cream garden roses, taupe quicksand roses, blush tea roses and ranunculus. The bouquet was made more formal by wrapping the stems entirely in lace and accenting it with beautiful pearls. When Jason saw Marianna come down the aisle, he couldn’t help but get emotional seeing his beautiful bride approach him.

 

The ceremony was enchanting. With a romantic aisle lined in pillar candles and rose petals and an white chuppah made of hydrangea, stock, Phalaenopsis and dendrobium orchids, cream vendela roses and white tea roses, the scale and size of the chuppah perfectly matched the grandeur of the ballroom. Beautifully draped in chiffon and lace, the chuppah was romantic, classic, and perfect for this luxurious wedding venue.

 

The opulence continued when it was time for the wedding reception. Bride & Blossom decorated the Grand Ballroom with over 10,000 roses, Marianna’s favorite flower. Marianna chose the classic wedding flower because she felt that it represented love more than any other bloom. The March reception was lavishly decorated in shades of white, cream, blush, mauve and lavender.

 

The escort card table was made with whimsical gold manzanita branch trees, which had hand-strung ivory tea roses and pearls suspended from it, along with quicksand, amnesia and mondial rose pomander balls.

 

Their Russian heritage was honored with vodka and caviar awaiting guests when they sat down at their tables! Marianna chose ornate high centerpieces featuring 360 roses white, blush and lavender roses arranged with an ombre effect to signify a full circle, like their wedding rings. Suspended from these lush rose arrangements were romantic and whimsical bubble terrarium tea lights and crystal beaded votive holders. A bed of champagne roses covered the base of the centerpieces, creating texture, height and dimension across the room. The sweetheart table where the bride and groom sat featured a beautiful, low and lush arrangement of hydrangea, Phalaenopsis and dendrobium orchids, blush Keira garden roses and amnesia and quicksand roses in shades of lavender and taupe. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Jason’s brother Esmond, a singer-songwriter, performed his wedding speech for his dear brother and his bride!

 

Marianna and Jason ended the night on the dance floor. It was certainly a night and a wedding to remember! With classical touches of romance, elegance and opulence, this Plaza wedding was timelessly decorated and will be cherished for years to come.

 

Vendors

 

Venue: The Plaza Hotel

Photographer & Videographer: Fred Marcus

Catering: CPS Events at the Plaza

Cake: Sylvia Weinstock

Bridal Gown: Ines di Santo

Wedding Rings: Tiffany and Co. and Graff