Think “Bridgerton” Meets “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at The Clifton

[section title=”The Planning”]
[field title=”Wedding Colors”]Wildflower colors – pinks, blues, yellows, greens, neutrals[/field]
[field title=”Design / Vibe / Vision”]

Our vision was a black-tie garden party. Think “Bridgerton” meets “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. I wanted the florals to feel like wildflowers to complement the sprawling green landscape of The Clifton and the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Everything felt natural and organic, yet upscale and refined.

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[field title=”Proposal Story”]

Pat and I met when we were both living in Washington, DC. I was out at a house party with my friends in a high-rise apartment building, and one friend suggested we head up to the roof to check out the view of the National Mall. Pat and his friends were at a different party in the same building and had the same idea. As my friends and I were taking a selfie with the Washington Monument behind us, Pat and his friends walked by and offered to take the photo for us. Pat and I started chatting, and he asked for my number. I agreed to a date with him the next day and had no intention of it going anywhere, I just thought it would be a good story! Four years, two moves, and one dog later, Pat proposed to me in our favorite spot in the park across the street from our apartment in Cambridge, MA. It was a Tuesday evening after work, so I was taken by surprise!

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[board_carousel title=”Bridal Portraits”]

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[board_carousel title=”Flat Lays”]

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[section title=”The Fashion”]
[field title=”Wedding Gown”]

I wore a simple and sleek Alexandra Grecco gown with its Floral Cap Sleeves and train sewn on. I fell in love with this look when I first saw it in their collection, and when I had my appointment at Ceremony in Boston, it was the first dress I tried on. I knew it was the one immediately. During our reception, I changed into the V. Chapman Betina mini dres, which was fun to wear and even more fun to dance in. I highly recommend changing into a party dress for your reception – you have no idea how much jumping and running around you’ll do all night long!

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[field title=”Bridesmaid Dresses”]

I wanted my eight bridesmaids to feel beautiful and comfortable in dresses that resonated with them, so I offered some guidelines but let them pick their looks. It also gave them more flexibility with the price points they each felt comfortable with. I asked them to look for pink, green, or blue gowns in a variety of textures, patterns, and cuts to create more visual interest at our ceremony and in photos. They came together beautifully! The final looks were from Mac Duggal, Selkie, V. Chapman, Agua by Agua Bendita, Show Me Your Mumu, Maje, Birdy Grey, and Francesca’s.

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[field title=”Groomsman Attire”]Pat bought his tuxedo at a local suiting shop. The groomsmen all either wore tuxes they already owned or rented from The Black Tux. [/field]
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[board_carousel title=”Wedding Party”]

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[board_carousel title=”Ceremony”]

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[board_carousel title=”Cocktail Hour”]

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[section title=”The Details”]
[field title=”Food & Drink”]

The Clifton provided the catering for the wedding and did a fantastic job. Our signature drink during cocktail hour was a Paloma because that is the cocktail we most commonly serve up to our friends when we have them over (our friends call them “Patlomas”). Our guests enjoyed drinking these with the custom stirrers we had made of me and Pat’s faces from when we were little kids, as well as our dog, Milly. Dinner was served family-style which was a big hit among our guests.

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[field title=”Florals & Decor”]

Lynn from Wild Fleurette’s floral designs was simply jaw-dropping. She completely nailed my wildflower vision. I loved the natural yet vibrant look of the blooms along the ceremony aisle, and the simple, grounded floral altar. My colorful bridal bouquet and the bridesmaids’ simple white bouquets complemented the look and feel of the gowns and venue beautifully. But the real showstopper was the head table at the reception. I knew I wanted rattan lighting above the tables and stage, and Lynn wove bouncy fresh greenery all through the lanterns. It felt like we were dancing in an enchanted garden all night long. She knocked it out of the park and was a joy to work with.

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[field title=”Wedding Cake”]

My mom and I developed a friendship with the team at Bake From Scratch magazine (better known as The Bake Feed on Instagram) over the last few years through their many wonderful and immersive baking retreats around the world. Shortly after getting engaged, my mom and I were at a weekend retreat at their headquarters in Birmingham, AL, and their delightful and talented team was peppering me with questions about wedding planning. When asked who was doing our cake, I replied honestly that I hadn’t thought about it yet. They exclaimed, “We’ll do it!” I thought they were joking! They’d never featured a wedding cake in their magazine before. But after many months of back and forth and several test cakes that we devoured, the team packed up and drove to Charlottesville from Birmingham and baked the most exquisite cake we’d ever seen. They baked it in the tiny farmhouse kitchen on The Clifton’s property, where all the groomsmen were staying – god bless them. They incorporated florals from Wild Fleurette and our monogram from our stationer, Jolly Edition, into the design. I asked for a vintage-style wedding cake, with buttercream frosting and strawberries and cream filling, and they exceeded all expectations. Not only was it gorgeous, but it was delicious!

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[field title=”Readings, Ceremony Music, Reception Songs”]

Our ceremony felt so special, in part because we got married on my parents’ 33rd wedding anniversary, so there were already good vibes. We had a string quartet – Melodious Strings – play instrumental music during the procession. The wedding party walked down the aisle to “Dancing in the Moonlight” and then “XO”. I walked down the aisle to “Invisible String” by Taylor Swift. Our good friend officiated the ceremony and did an incredible job. A groomsman and a bridesmaid read two poems by Whitney Hanson. Additionally, we had reached out to all the married guests before the wedding to ask them for their best marriage advice for us. We assembled all this advice into a ceremony reading read by my aunt and another groomsman. It was a perfect mix of tender, sweet, and funny wisdom, and it let our guests feel like they played a part in our big day. We finished by reading handwritten vows to each other, then recessed to “Love You for a Long Time” by Maggie Rogers, one of our favorite songs.

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[field title=”Special Detail #1″]

I used to be on a competitive dance team when I was growing up, and my studio also offered father-daughter dance classes, which my dad gamely signed up for with me. We did these for five years, and those classes with him are some of my favorite childhood memories. We have all the dance recital recordings on VHS tapes, and years ago, long before I was ever engaged, I used to tell my dad, “Someday when I get married, we’re doing one of these dances again!” He waved me off at the time, but once I got engaged, I didn’t let him forget! We decided to relearn the first dance we ever performed together when I was 7 years old. It was to “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” from Footloose. We practiced together almost weekly for months before the wedding until we both had it down again. I also had the idea to rent a giant projection screen to play the original VHS video alongside us as we danced. To take further advantage of this, I cut together a montage of clips of my dad and me through the years set to “Best Parts of Me” by Will Dempsey while my dad and I did a traditional father-daughter slow dance. Then this cut to our dance video, and the music picked up. The goal was to have the whole room in tears, and then the whole room on their feet cheering for my dad – and we succeeded! You may have seen this video online, as our amazing content creator, Plan With Laur, posted it on social media this summer, and it went viral. We even got interviewed by People Magazine and Inside Edition about our dance. It was so much fun, and I was over the moon to see the outpouring of love and support for my dad. Here is the link to the video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8FKUNQx_94/

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[field title=”Special Detail #2″]Our reception tent was right next to The Clifton’s beautiful swimming pool, so Pat and I knew we wanted to take advantage of this. For our exit, we had all our guests line up around the pool with sparklers, and then Pat and I did a running jump into the pool to end the night. It was definitely one of the highlights of the night, and the perfect, most memorable way to end it! (Not to mention it felt great to take a dip after dancing up a storm all night!)[/field]
[field title=”Special Detail #3″]

One of my family’s favorite traditions is to pop Christmas crackers during the holidays. I found some beautiful spring-themed crackers that just happened to be in our wedding colors and I knew they’d be the perfect detail to add to our reception. We handed these out along with our wedding cake and it was so much fun to see everyone on the dance floor wearing the paper crowns that came inside them. Who doesn’t love a dance floor accessory?!

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[board_carousel title=”Reception”]

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