Nantucket Weddings Unveiled

You have chosen the venue, decided where the ceremony will take place, you’ve picked out your colors, and have an idea of what you feeling you want to convey on your big day.  A big part of creating the atmosphere is carefully selecting your rental items.  What chair looks best at your reception site (especially if you are in a tent), what linen will give the right pop of color, and what about the shape of the glassware?

rentals by Placesetters, photo by Cary Hazlegrove

Many couples who start working on the details of their wedding quickly realize how fast things get booked here on island.   When you have ‘bigger’ decisions squared away, ask your caterer, planner or floral designer to help get rental items that enhance the overall look of your wedding day.  A caterer can be an indispensable tool and help order everything you need.  Don’t wait too long though, the popular items get rented first!

Rental items in these photos by Placesetters.

photo by Brea McDonald, rentals by Placesetters

With the style of the paper suite established, it made working on the paper-products for the wedding day very easy. For the ceremony program, the pattern was done as a border on the bottom of the cover, almost the same look of the reply card from the invitations. We incorporated another surprise – Jen did the most amazing pencil drawing of the Sankaty Lighthouse which was printed on the back cover of the program. It added a highly personalized touch to the ceremony programs. At the reception site, we had escort cards and on the table, donation cards. For the escort cards, we created a mini version of the save-the-date piece. Again with a grommet in the corner, the guest name was written on the front and the table name on the inside card. Instead of having favors for all the guests, Jen and Carter made a donation to cancer research. They had pins which they invited everyone to wear, in memory of loved ones. To convey this message, we created a card which was inserted into the napkins on the tables. It was double-layer, with a fuschia backer card and white top card. The ink was navy, keeping that color in the mix. Besides giving their guests an important message, the cards added a pop of color to the tables and tied the blues of the paper-suite to the colors of the flowers.

Creating a paper-suite for you wedding can be an overwhelming process. However, your stationer is there to help you! With communication and collaboration, you can create something as beautiful as this collection but reflective of your own personal style. I always advise my brides to bring in pictures of anything they see that they are attracted to. It helps me understand the look they are going for, and gives us a place to start. The wedding invitations really set the tone for the wedding, whether traditional or contemporary, formal or informal… the most important thing is that it reflects the style and personality of the bride and groom.

Flowers by Soiree Floral. Linens & Chairs from Placesetters, Inc.

Parchment is located at 11 Washington Street or you can e-mail Heidi directly at Heidi@parchmentnantucket.com

Last week, island vendors were busy staging a photoshoot for Wellwed Magazine’s upcoming fall issue.  While we can’t show you the pictures, we can tell you a good time was had by all!  The weather held out all morning to get every last detail shot.  It was a great collaboration among island vendors Placesetters, Jodi’s Cakes, Soiree Floral, and Marty Kelly Papers.  Last but certainly not least, the divine Zofia Photography captured all the images and a ittle goofing around.  We can’t wait to show you our inspirations!

flowers by Soiree Floral

Nantucket boasts some of the best in the biz when it comes to our wedding vendors. We have shared many of the magazine features showcasing these vendors here on the blog. Today we bring you yet another one from one of our favorite magazines Wellwed!

This fun strawberry themed shoot is featured in the current issue of Wellwed and offers up a new twist to a spring/summer wedding. The perfect look for a casual garden party wedding at Westmoor Farms!

Sara from Griffin-vites Stationery created the colorful watercolor paper products, Meagan from Maine Seasons Events pulled together the concept and design and all photos were shot by Brea McDonald Photography.

Today we give you a look at some of the vendors who go behind the scenes to pull a photo shoot together.  This crew designed the beautiful sorbet shoot in Wellwed Spring/Summer 2010 we have been featuring this week.

photo by Zofia Photography

Vendors (clockwise from top) – Dawn Kelly of Soiree Floral, Jen Shepherd of Placesetters, Zofia of Zofia Photography, Lisa Frey of Nantucket Event Media, Kim Reed of A Taste of Nantucket, and Jodi Levesque of Jodi’s Cakes.

We thought we would end the week with some cheerful sorbet colors.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

photo by Zofia Photography

Also, just a quick reminder the Cape & Islands Wedding Affair, hosted by Wellwed Magazine, takes place this weekend at Ocean’s Edge Resort in Brewster, MA

Hello everyone.  Sorry for our delay in posting today – we have been experiencing technical difficulties  (we’re blaming it on the full moon last night).

Unlike your typical “expo style” bridal events, The Cape & Islands Wedding Affair provides you with an intimate & lavish setting in which to meet Cape Cod, Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyards’ most celebrated & sought after wedding professionals.

WellWed in Cape Cod, Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard – The Cape & Islands’ boutique Wedding Magazine cordially invites you to attend the areas signature bridal event – The 2010 Cape & Islands Wedding Affair. The hint of winter provides an icy theme for decor with innovative floral & tabletop designs…ice sculptures pouring peppermint martinis…and a dazzling runway of couture.

This one-of-a-kind bridal event is dedicated to catering to local & destination couples that want to experience the BEST Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard has to offer. From planning seminars & decor workshops to makeovers & manicures, The Cape & Islands Wedding Affair will introduce you to the products, people & places that create the area’s most talked about events.

photo courtesy of HGTV

Today Dawn Kelly from Soiree Floral is taking over the reigns to talk about one of her favorite subjects – COLOR!  At this time of year, many couples are newly engaged and jumping right in to the details of the big day.  Whenever I meet with a client, one of the first questions I ask is ‘Do you have the bridesmaid’s dresses picked out?” – believe it or not, this really helps drive the final color scheme and sets the tone for the formality of your event.

Pantone has picked their color of the year as Turquoise.  I was a bit taken aback by this.  I feel like we have seen a lot of turquoise already in the past two years.  From table linens to dresses, it has definitely been present.  It’s safe to say it is not going anywhere anytime soon.  In recent years, I’ve seen it paired with lots of bright, cheery yellows and white to smooth it all out.  This year, brides are being a little more daring and I think this next color combination has a lot of potential for a wedding any time of year.  Think tomato red, turquoise, and apple green!  As long as you keep the colors in the same saturation you can’t go wrong (don’t mix a pastel with a bright color for this – it won’t look good!).

color tiles by Soiree Floral

Think turquoise for your vases, table linens, or napkins.  Placesetters even has some great beaded napkin rings in this turquoise color.

rentals by Placesetters, photo by Soiree Floral

The red and green can certainly come from Mother Nature – anemones, roses, natural greens, mosses, granny smith apples – the possibilities are endless.  I’m a huge fan of using color.  Color evokes emotion and when your guests walk in to the reception, you are sure to make mouth’s drop.

I am taking over photo Friday for just this week to talk about the amazing shoot we did for Style Me Pretty. We traveled North to a rustic barn with the most fantastic team of vendors you could ever hope for. Such a collaboration this effort was… and the results were well worth all the hard work!

In talking about the design with the team, I knew that texture was going to play a huge part in the concept of this shoot. We had a beautiful sunny day to shoot and indirect natural light flooded the barn allowing me to pick up on all the subtle textures on the table. This natural light with the added candles and overhead bulbs created an amazing warm feeling to the table setting. It glowed! One of my favorite photos from the shoot is the cake table. With all the amazing layers of linens, the rough wood and soft window light, the shot is filled with texture and completely showcases the rustic elegance of the shoot concept. (All photos by Brea McDonald Photography)

Photos By Brea McDonald Photography

Photos By Brea McDonald Photography

Photos By Brea McDonald Photography

Here is a bit of the feedback left from those who checked out the shoot.

Abby from Style Me Pretty said: “And Brea McDonald who snapped the pictures, well “talented” doesn’t even scratch the surface.”

Teresa writes: “That cake is so INSANE! The photography and cake combo is unstoppable.”

And Stacey shared: “This is a great take on the “dress” shot. the accessories, the barn background…subtle and romantic.

Congratulations to all of those who were involved in this fantastic shoot! Concept Design & Styling : Meagan Gilpatrick, Maine Seasons Events / Stationery: Sara Fitzgerald O’Brien, Griffin-vites Stationery / Photography: Brea McDonald / Flowers: Dawn Kelly, Soiree Floral / Video: Meg Simone / Jewelry: Private collection / Dress & Shoes: Ashley Vaughn, Occasions Bridal & Tuxedo / Rentals: Rentals Unlimited Boston / Cake: Erin Gardner, Wild Orchid Bakery / Venue: The Barn at Walnut Hill, Contact: Gail Landry, glandry{at}townandshore.com

If you read the blog on a regular basis you are familiar with the talents of Sara from Griffin-vites Stationery. Her custom water color art translates so beautifully into Nantucket weddings. Her creations are a work of art and have a unique style all their own. Sara created, from scratch, a custom design for the Style Me Pretty shoot this past fall. Here is what she shared about her design process.

“The idea of creating a stationery suite that focused around a chic farm wedding was appealing and unique. The image of the rooster stood out to me at very first glance of our inspiration board, and provided a solid design foundation from which to work. I gathered my illustration concepts around those things that were bird-related, but could also be found on a farm; roosters, feathers, a nest with eggs, etc. I thought it might be fun to incorporate a nice graphic detail on each paper piece as well, tying all items together, from start to finish…. a sort-of rusted chicken wire provided just the look I was hoping for.”

Photo By Brea McDonald Photography

Incorporating her original watercolor artwork onto high-quality textured papers. The invitation suite was accented with an illustrated hand-lined envelope and rustic twine & feather embellishment.  The vow booklets for bride and groom each featured half of a nest illustration, that when held together formed one complete nest and were bound with rustic twine tassels.  The unique vow booklets are one of Sara’s signature custom items, offering the newlywed couple a keepsake of their words exchanged during the wedding ceremony.  Thin place card paper ‘ribbons’ featured the tiniest of rooster illustrations, also found on the table numbers and menu cards.  The paper ribbons with hand-notched ends, displayed guests’ names, printed in pale blue and were tucked perfectly into the miniature nest favors at each place setting.

Photos By Brea McDonald Photography

Photo By Brea McDonald Photography

Sara’s designs were a huge hit with many comments on how fantastic the roosters were. Who knew a rustic wedding could be so chic!

Robin lefts us a commented that said:
This stationery suite is beautiful!! The attention to detail is amazing, lining the envelopes to look like chicken wire! So unique! It’s the little details that really tie an event together and if guests received these invites in the mail they would know instantly that they were in for a rustic but elegant wedding that was going to be filled with thoughtful details!