First wedding of 2021!
Cheers to a new year
Gallery photos by Coli Michael Photography
What a perfect way to start the new year! Creating beautiful floral designs for an intimate wedding in Westerly, RI at the Shelter Harbor Inn. I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful day.
This wedding was for my cousin who has been with her now-husband for 8 years…since their college days. They’ve been engaged for quite a while now and very much ready to get married. However, the pandemic had different plans for them. The bride knew she was getting married somehow or another on January 1, 2021.
After a subpar food tasting at their previously reserved venue, she sprung into action to find an alternative for their American wedding. Her husband is Indian and they were originally planning Indian festivities for January 2nd. That was definitely not possible due to all the dancing involved.
new year’s day wedding
They finally settled on the Shelter Harbor Inn, essentially around the corner from where they live. I went down to meet her at the venue just 5 weeks before the wedding to see the space in person. I was immediately enchanted by it’s cozy New England charm. The staff was incredibly hospitable and accommodating. It seemed like the absolute perfect spot for an intimate winter wedding.
Now to the floral design … I knew I had to do a mantle installation for the ceremony to create the perfect backdrop. The room was pretty small, with walls only about 4 feet away on either side of the fireplace. I didn’t want anything on the ground to clutter the space around the couple. The stone on the fireplace was very large and a bit brutalist. I knew a somewhat dramatic floral design on the mantle would soften the look perfectly.
wedding ceremony backdrop
To create the look, I put one piece of foam on each end of the mantle to control the angles on each end. I wanted one side to start to climb up the stone, and the other side to cascade down off the mantle. To cut down on a lot of foam, I used a “chicken wire burrito” to fill in the gap in between. I have to say, it worked perfectly as I had hoped! I used cedar, Italian ruscus, silver dollar eucalyptus, and parvifolia for greenery to create the shape I was hoping to achieve. Then I started filling in the pre-determined shape with several stems of white stock. I added in some stunning playa blanca and white Mondial roses. Lastly, I added in a few stems of white lisianthus here and there, just to make sure there was some variety in flower size. See the finished product below!
Additionally, for the ceremony I created a pair of arrangements in gold urns to put behind the last row of chairs to make the bride’s entrance a bit more beautiful. We then moved them into the dining/reception room for the rest of the night. For these arrangements, I used cedar, Italian ruscus, playa blanca roses, white Mondial roses, white lisianthus, stock, and ginestra. See below for the final product and ceremony placement.
For the cocktail hour, I just made a handful of bud vase arrangements for the tables and used a few extra for the gift table. Bud vases are totally underrated and insanely elegant, in my opinion…definitely resolving to utilize them more at future events! The glass card box is from Michael’s with the card sign created by Kate’s Calligraphy. See below for the bud vases I used from Accent Decor on the gift/dessert table.
Reception decor
For the rest of the reception decor, I made centerpieces with this gorgeous vase for the 4 main guest tables for the 22 guests in attendance. The couple’s wedding colors were black, white, and green, with gold accents. While I love the classic look especially for a winter wedding, I wanted to utilize the full depth of that palette for added dimension which meant including different shades of greens, whites, ivories, and grays. See below for the guest table centerpieces as well as the sweetheart table decor. For the guest table centerpieces, I used silver dollar eucalyptus, dusty miller, parvifolia, stock, roses, astrantia, and lisianthus. Stunning place cards created by the very talented Kate’s Calligraphy. (Note: the table settings for dinner weren’t finalized at this point by the waitstaff.)
sweetheart table design
For the sweetheart table, I created this simple long and low arrangement with lots of texture. I used cedar, silver dollar eucalyptus. dusty miller, parvifolia, anemones, roses, silver brunia, and astrantia. I’m in love with the candles and votives for this table.
Lastly, a quick peek at the personal flowers that I created for the day. The bride said she wanted lots of texture for her bouquet so I was super excited to create something lush and wintery! I’m fully obsessed with Silk & Willow’s handmade ribbon and encouraged the bride to do a cascading ribbon off her bouquet. She chose the stunning Pebble Gray color from their collection to pick up on a bit of silver in her dress. I used all the same greenery and flowers as the other pieces but focused on including more anemones for an extra punch with their high contrast look and a few pinecones for an extra wintery touch. Excuse my extremely dirty mirror selfie with the bridal bouquet…
For the corsages, I used silver metal cuffs from Michael’s as the base. I’ve discovered using silver or gold (brass) bases for corsage and I’m not sure that I will ever look back at traditional corsages again. They are so chic for an updated take on corsages. I definitely learned a few lessons while making them but I’m still happy with how they came out overall.
I used anemones for the groom and best man’s boutonnieres for that extra high contrast punch. While I love how they look, they definitely didn’t hold up super well to the big bear hugs that were going around, so I’ll make a note of that for next time. ;) I used the same Pebble gray ribbon for the 2 main boutonnieres. For the fathers, I made slightly more understated boutonnieres with lisianthus and a few other accent flowers.
Anyways, after the holiday rush and the wedding I took a much needed few days off to recover. And now I’m diving back into wedding prep for my other part-time job with a local event design/planning company as well as plans for my own wedding in September!