{Image c/o Philipp Klinger on Flickr}
Pausing for a moment to remember those who lost their lives in the September 11 attacks eight years ago, and to thank all those civilians and servicemen and women who helped out on that day and the days that followed it.
God bless America.
I don’t think I’ve ever started a post by focusing on the wedding cake before, but there’s something about Courtney + Andrew’s three-tiered confection from Fatty Patty’s Cakes and Café that makes me smile. I just love how the bright, full blooms surrounding each tier perfectly match the bridesmaids’ Nouveau Flowers bouquets. Bold, colorful flags, bright serapi blankets and gold ceiling decorations transform the Seaside Lyceum into an ultra-festive venue perfect for the couple’s Cinco de Mayo-inspired reception. The cute chalkboard menu paired with the Dine by Design fixings round out this Florida fiesta. Now that we’re all in a festive mood of our own, it’s time to start looking towards the weekend! Happy Friday from all of us here at SW!
Describe your wedding flowers: The only flowers in the entire wedding were the flowers the girls carried, which were the same as the flowers on the cake. I wanted each bouquet to make its own individual color statement. Since they were going to be the only flowers in the church, they really needed to pop. We did rustic bouquets of apple green hydrangeas, purple stock, orange orchids and hot pink dahlias. In contrast my bridal bouquet was just a simple bouquet of ivory garden roses. We didn’t have any flowers at the reception, so decided to use simple candles and succulents on top of colored linen runners that matched the colors of the bridesmaids’ flowers). Since we had a family style dinner, we couldn’t have a huge floral arrangements on the table.
Describe your wedding cake: We had a Mexican Chocolate cake with Kaluah butter cream alternated with a layer of tres leches cake with key lime butter cream. The outside of the cake itself was a vanilla butter cream that was finished like an old-fashioned cake. The pop of color came from the flowers alternating between the layers. I loved that the flowers on the cake matched the bridesmaid’s flowers.
What was your favorite design element of your big day? I loved the lounge our designer created on the lawn. It was gorgeous with all the colored papel picalo and the lights. It quickly became the place everyone wanted to hang out in during the reception. I also loved all the candles used during the ceremony and later at the reception. They added a very romantic vibe that made it feel even more vintage Mexico.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: I loved the lanterns hanging from the ceiling of the dinner tent. We collected them all year and I loved that they all were unique and slightly different. I also loved our seating cards or, rather, tiles. We had everyone’s names and table number written on traditional Mexican tiles. When they were all put together on the table they created a fun, colorful pattern that made the table looked tiled!
Congratulations, Courtney + Andrew! We love hearing about the happy endings of college sweethearts!
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Bravo- I love how simple, and intimate yet fun and festive your wedding looked.
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The cake is so interesting. I really like it.
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The wedding looks so magnificent. Hope there are more weddings like this.
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Those star lights add such a beautiful detail to the reception. So pretty and unique!
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Talk about amazing details! The cake rocks.
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This week we’ve seen bright, colorful weddings and neutral, understated affairs, so today we bring you the perfect union of the two! From the moment our lovely new intern, Sydney, showed me this Florida wedding from Goode Green Photography, Inc. and Heather Archdeacon Williams, I was struck by Courtney + Andrew’s clean, sophisticated color palate and bold splashes of rich purple, orange, pink and green accents. How refreshingly original! Inspired by Cinco de Mayo festivities, Courtney chose to dress up her bridesmaids’ simple stone-colored J.Crew frocks with bright, blooming bouquets from Nouveau Flowers while keeping the focus on her re-embroidered lace gown from the Elizabeth Filmore collection with classic ivory garden roses. The newly-married couple’s portraits in front of the darling Seaside Interfaith Chapel are so sweet and carefree! Check back soon for shots of Courtney + Andrew’s family-style reception (complete with an ultra-fab cake!).
How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Andrew and I met in college at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. We didn’t start dating however until three years later, just two months before Andrew graduated. The following summer and fall, I was interning in Washington, D.C, and Andrew ended up getting a position there as well that September. We had been casually dating until that point (especially since we had been in different states for most of our relationship ) but we suddenly found ourselves in this amazing city together. We fell in love with our nation’s capitol and each other at the same time!
Describe the proposal. We were living in D.C. at the time and I was just coming home from a trip. Andrew picked me up from the airport and, when we walked into my apartment, all 550 square feet were covered in candles. There was a box on my coffee table with three more boxes inside, each containing a poem Andrew had written that weekend while I was gone. The final box contained a key, which unlocked a box Andrew was holding in his hands. When the lock fell off, he dropped to one knee and asked me to be his wife.
A few adjectives that describe the day are: Colorful, casual elegance and fun.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding invitation? I was originally inspired by a formal Cinco de Mayo dinner held in a garden in Washington, D.C. What I particularly loved about this event were the vibrant colors. Every table was covered in a different bright color. It managed to look beautiful and casually elegant, but fresh at the same time. I knew I wanted a lot of color in the wedding which led to the inspiration for a colorful vintage Mexican theme.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I tried on forty or fifty dresses in three different cities before finally choosing an Elizabeth Filmore dress in New York. I had never seen anything like it! The re-embroidered lace was just so beautiful and unique.
Were there any wedding traditions or new ideas you included in the wedding? We included wedding photos from our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings. Both our parents are still together so it was nice to honor them at our own wedding.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Andrew’s face as I walked down the aisle. He had this huge grin on his face and was shaking his head as if he was saying “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me! I actually might cry!” I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. That moment really reminded me what our wedding was about: each other.
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That dress is gorgeous! And I love the bright pink shoes on one of the bridesmaids!!
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Seriously love the details. I love the photography! The use of light is just beautiful!
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I love the groommen suits! where did you get them?!
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Beautiful! The colours in the bouquets work so well together!
Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post. And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads. We love hearing your kind thoughts!
Thank you for doing this post. I’m active duty in the Air Force and was a little surprise about the lack of even a mention of September 11 by most of the blogs.
Yes, thank you for reminding us to be thankful. I feel so blessed to be an American.
Yes, a pause for those who left us…