Modern Vintage

Here it is!!! Last week on my 6 month wedding anniversary, I decided that I would love to share some of my favorite wedding moments with my readers during a special full week report on Modern Vintage.

Of course, having thrown a wedding centered around food, I thought it appropriate to run my Wedding Week feature the same week as Food Network's Wedding Week.  Don't miss all the great shows including Ace of Cake's wedding cake special (I am fortunate enough to have sampled his delicious and super-cool slot machine cake at my dear friend's 7/7/07 wedding last July).

I was thinking about how I could possibly cover, in only 5 postings, my one and a half year's work planning what was to be the best day of my life thus far and I came to the conclusion that I should start off by writing about my ceremony. Beyond the DIY projects, the flowers, the stationery, and of course the food...what's most important on anyone's special day is their ceremony, the moment you make your promise of unconditional love and commitment to your partner for life. It's also the part of your wedding that marks off the start of a full day's/night's celebration.

So here we go!

photo by David Willems

This is the entrance to Per Se. My husband and I are huge foodies and there seemed no place more perfect than Per Se for our wedding. We loved the entrance of the restaurant with it's mini garden - a perfect way to make a wonderful impression as guests arrive. My photographer, David Willems, took some wonderful "entrance" photos of guests that reminded me a lot of "red carpet" shots -  this was sheer genius on his part; after all, my guests looked fabulous. Afterwards, looking at these photos brought back the wonderful feelings of excitement and anticipation. So when planning your wedding, think about the entrance way/arrival area for your ceremony or reception. Such a miniscule factor, but it's something that can really set the tone of your day.

photo by David Willems

What I loved most about the little garden in front of the restaurant is that it was the perfect place for me to meet my dad before heading inside and down the aisle. When planning your wedding, take a moment to think about an appropriate place to meet your father or parents...or if you're taking photos with your groom before hand, think about a location that you can look back on as a special place where you can experience a meaningful moment in private with your loved ones. Such a small detail to think about but when it's all said and done, my heart warms up every time I go back to Per Se and walk through their garden entrance.  

photo by David Willems

As the guests settled in, programs and sashes filled with silk petals were handed out. If your ceremony and reception is held in one location, a great way to get in that tradition of tossing petals or rice is during your recessional. Hand out sashes or cones of whatever you wish to be tossed to guests sitting near the aisle.

For more info on my programs pictured above please see my posting on Poster Programs.

photo by David Willems

Our ceremony took place in the larger private dining room of Per Se. Since the room is a bit small - we figured we should use what could be considered a disadvantage to...well...our advantage. We decided to play up the intimate space with loads of candles. The room is also filled with a lot of mirrors which made the entire space look surreal - there was this wonderful ethereal dream-like-glow in the space and that really intensified my ceremony for me. 

photo by David Willems

I chose cream and off-white flowers because I wanted a somewhat clean and modern look but still have a very classic and vintage vibe. I worked with Per Se's florist (the ridiculously talented Luis Collazo of Lotus) because I knew he would know best how to make Per Se's space as beautiful as possible. Even more, I didn't just pick Per Se for the food but for the atmosphere as well, and I wanted to keep that look and feel. When you're booking your dream venue, realize that you decided to pick that venue for a reason and keep your planning simple by not trying to turn your venue into something it's not. Sticking with the inherent design of your venue's space will make your event more seamless and most likely keep your costs low. In fact, I decided what my wedding colors were based on Per Se's colors. I even went as far as requesting the exact Pantone color number for their stationery and menus so I can match my wedding stationery colors perfectly with the restaurant's colors creating perfect harmony.

photo by David Willems

We had a wonderful multi-ethnic-inter-faith ceremony performed by Rabbi Burt Siegel  whose words were so passionate and beautiful and who spent many hours getting to know us prior to our wedding. What's more, Rabbi Burt has this amazingly commanding and Shakespearean voice (I had to ask him to do a Sonnet reading). The moment we were pronounced husband and wife, our String Quartet played our song, Five for Fighting's One Hundred Years. It was the happiest moment of my life. Please check out my posting on Hire Conservatory Alumni for more information on the fantastic musicians that made my day so special. Afterwards, we planned a photo shoot in the kitchen. It was our moment to take it all in and, when I started my wedding planning, I was most inspired by Bobby Flay's wedding at Daniel and loved the photo of him and his wife in the kitchen with chef Boulud and his team. So after one quiet minute together (when my husband was able to check out my dress for the first time), we headed to the kitchen where we were greeted by Chef Keller and his team and we took some amazing photos right in the place where all the magic happens!