A Secret Garden Wedding

Hello Everyone, I have a special wedding to show you.
This last Saturday I had a great deal of fun creating a Secret Garden Wedding in a most magical glen of a beautiful estate in Montecito California.  The owner of the property is a very fun and imaginative soul who has truly planted a magic garden.  The couple Tara and Kip and Tara's Mom Carrie and I had a blast designing and imagineering a beautiful celebration.  The following are pictures I took so as I have said before I am a designer not a photographer, please excuse the horrible shots.  When I get the professional pics I will share them with you.

All throughout the grounds were statues and whimsical details which I added wreaths and flowers to.

This is the entrance to the estate and the wedding.  The guests had cocktails next to the pond which we floated tons of flowers in.

I think the duck enjoyed himself!

There were little nooks and tucked-away-places with lovely seating areas for people to relax and enjoy themselves.  This estate was so magical!

This is the pathway that lead from the pond at the entrance to the ceremony area.

This is the arch under which the bride and groom said their vows. We built it of Birch branches and then laced through out trailing greens and Orchids.  At the base I had potted ferns and floral arrangements.  We wanted it to look like part of the grounds, not so contrived as many arches and arbors can look.  I think we did it almost too well as it is hard to see in the pictures...  it just blends right in!

This is one side of the arch.  We made it look like there was a Birch tree on either side with branches bent over in the middle to form the arch.

The other side of the arch.

details

This is one side of the entrance to the aisle. 

Another view...

We placed the programs in a vintage suitcase.

This is the other side of the aisle.

The aisle meandered down the grass to the arch.

On the aisle side of the chairs we hung bundles of Rosemary, Snapdragons, little pockets of flowers and had a few lanterns scattered here and there.

These lanterns (the ones below) belonged to the bride's mom Carrie.  I just loved them!!!

How's this for a wedding seat!  This was in where the chairs were for the ceremony 

(they are off to the right)

There is a large open area where we set up the dining tables.

Each table had a combination of flowers, ferns, statuary and lots of candles.

See the angel statue under the flowers on the right?

Lots of vintage silver and mercury glass to add to the vintage theme.

Garden elements also.

Ferns in stone ware pots with garden Roses in little perfume bottles.

Flowers under glass cloches,

More flowers...

The guests name cards were written on a hang tags then put with a beautiful copy of a Waterhouse painting and a vintage key.  We hung them on an old shutter.

Up close...

There were loads of whimsical garden details which of course I had to add flowers to...

(I don't like seeing the nails/screws into the trees either!)

The Nike of Samoranth bedecked for the occasion...

There were two cakes.  The traditional wedding cake...

Which we put on a bird bath.

And then the groom's cake which we placed on a stack of vintage trunks and suitcases.

The bride's Mom had a lot of fun designing it.  His college mascot is a wolf.

He is also a TV producer so she combined themes.  The whole thing is a cake!  Those are vintage TV guides surrounding the cake.

Here he is seeing it for the first time.  Very fun!

Our bride...  It is not a great picture of her but you still get the sense of how beautiful she is!  I will post the professional shots when I get them.

It was a beautiful wedding!   Tara, Kip and Carrie were so gracious and fun!  It was a pleasure to be a part of their wedding.  I really hope to work at this estate again, the creative possibilities are endless!

The A team of vendors are as follows

Coordinator: Tonya of Soigne Productions

Lighting: Bella Vista

Caterrer: Michael Hutchings

Cake: Christine Dahl

Estate: La Bella Vita for more information contact Tonya above.

At last but most definitely not at all least...

Happy Forth of July to everyone!

Avery heartfelt thank you to everyone across the years that have served this country with their strength, heart, honor, blood, tears and the most precious gift, their life.  A debt that I will never forget!

Thank you Dad!!!

Blessings everyone!!!!