From Inspiration to WEDDING: The Design Guide
Now that you’ve had a chance to get to know the ridiculously adorable couple behind our first ever SMP wedding, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. The inspiration. To design a wedding that would make everyone swoon, we didn’t need to look any further than our friend and beloved SMP designer, Sarah True. Sarah is like a wedding genius and is always surprising me with her mad creativity and sense of design. She was the perfect fit for Libby’s wedding.
From Sara True, lead designer for True Event … Inspired by all things girly, ruffles, texture and pink, Libby dreamed of a wedding every girl dreams of growing up. She described her vision as modern romance with flair. “–because part of me is all girl, loves ruffles, pink, and sparkle, and part of me loves the downtown skyline and all things modern and a little funky. And most of all, I love the unexpected combination of the two!” Thus we set out to design a style that was just that. Decidedly modern with girly charm.
From Libby…When I first started the wedding planning process, I was a little overwhelmed with the whole notion of a “vision” for the wedding…in fact, the only think I had actually visualized up to that point was my groom (handsome, thick brown hair, insatiable wit…check!). So at first, when people would ask me about my vision, I felt like the worst bride ever because I couldn’t really describe what I had in mind. Enter…Abby & Sarah, the wedding goddesses who asked me all of the right questions, and helped me to really discover and put into words MY perfect vision for our wedding day.
After about an hour long chat with the girls, I knew that I wanted our wedding to be an interesting and unexpected combination of equal parts modern and romance–equal parts stainless steel and ruffles. I wanted a monochromatic color palate that included all shades of neutrals, all shades of pink, and tons and tons of texture. I also really wanted our reception to be a CELEBRATION. I wanted a party complete with lots of dancing and laughing and of course sushi eating (Patrick owns an awesome sushi restaurant called Zumi). I wanted my guests to have a good time and to really get to take in Nashville!
THE FLOWERS
Now that we had the inspiration for our wedding (and by “our” I mean Libby, Patrick and Style Me Pretty’s wedding…ha), it was time to start thinking about every element and how we would integrate all of Libby’s loves into one cohesive design. First up, the flowers. Libby wanted ruffly, romantic, unabashedly girly flowers which of course, came in the form of Peonys. Sarah and I recruited Nashville based floral guru and designer, Chase Rivers, to help us bring the vision to a reality. Chase is AWESOME and so talented.
From Chase Rivers … As far as the overall wedding flowers, Sarah told me the basics, Peony, garden roses, sweet pea, ranunculus, babies breath. We added some anemones to the mix and weaved in plum foliage and wisteria vine to add texture and dimension. Lucky for our budget, we had a contact who was going to allow us to pull peonies from their peony farm at no cost. It was going to allow us to take the floral design to an entirely new level…every peony lover’s dream. But as fate would have it, that wasn’t in the cards (more on that later), so we ended up ordering the flowers above in the colors Libby was wanting..many shades of pink, pink and more pink.
THE DETAILS
Because Libby wanted to marry a very girly, pretty aesthetic with a more modern, clean execution we needed to pull together a general blueprint for the products that we would bring in to round out the look. We wanted modern meets girly, in a chic, sophisticated and utterly timeless way. The space itself was this ultra modern rooftop rose garden (sounds pretty bad-ass doesn’t it)…think steel tables and chairs, wooden beams, pyramids overflowing with roses and a killer view of Nashville…all neatly tucked on the side of a skyscraper. Yeah, I know. OK, back to the task at hand. Here are the products that Sarah True and I sourced to really bring Libby and Patrick’s style to life.
The VERY first item that we bought, that ultimately inspired the entire wedding style, was that awesome chandelier from Urban Outfitters. With that, Sarah easily let the rest of the design fall into place. The silver cylindrical CB2 vases would give the ruffly pink flowers a more modern base, the zebra rugs would provide that bit of swank that we needed, the lucite trays would be amazing on top of mirrored coffee tables in our lounge areas and the ruffly pink pillows…well, they were just so gorgeous we couldn’t resist.
We are actually selling most of the products that we bought if you are interested! More details on that later!
THE RENTALS
While we were sourcing the decor elements, we needed to really flush out the design concept in terms of the rentals we would bring in to transform the bare space into an inviting and warm place that guests would want to stay forever. We enlisted the help of Classic Party Rentals in Nashville who literally hit it out of the park. Together with Sarah True, the fabulous designer behind the day, we came up with four defined spaces for our event…4 lounge areas, a dance space, food stations and dining. Click here to see the floor plan.
Although Classic Party Rentals provided ALL of the rentals for the day (I told you they kicked butt), the real focus turned out to be the lounge areas that Mark and Allison at Classic helped Sarah design. Each of the four lounge areas would consist of 2 benches, 2 reflection tables, 2 small square ottomans, a zebra rug, some throw pillows, a lucite tray and perfect floral centerpiece.
So in terms of inspiration and ideas, we had a lot. Add in some fun DIY’s, the most gorgeous flowers you’ve ever seen, a giddy bride, vendors who traveled from four corners of the country and oh, did I mention the Nashville floods that literally left us without a venue until the week before…and you have a real life wedding adventure that I will never forget. STAY TUNED to see how it all turned out. Coming up next!
And here is the dream team that made it happen…
Sarah True of True Event: The BEST designer on the planet / Justin and Mary Marantz: Photographer’s whose work will make your heart stop / Julie Hill of Elysium: Cinematography that you’ll hardly believe / Laura Hooper: Papergoods that are as beautiful as they get / Classic Party Rentals: Furniture and Rentals that literally transformed the space / Wildflower Linens: Linens that were BEYOND gorgeous /Jacki and Angela of Elegant Weddings by Angela: Planning and Logistics / Zumi Sushi: The groom’s awesome sushi restaurant that catered the wedding (how cool is that) / Chuck Arlund of Arlund Imagery: Libby’s Day-Of Photographer who snapped some gorgeous photographs / Estilo Weddings: The most perfect cake flower ever / Melangerie NYC: The most adorable gift bags ever.
19 Comments about “From Inspiration to WEDDING: The Design Guide”
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Incredible post! Please let me know where I can purchase the beautiful ruffled pillow!!!! Please!
Hey Tiffany! The pillow was from Pier 1, though I checked their site and they don't seem to have it anymore. Huge bummer, they were so cute.
i am so in love with this. I am just LOVING the breakdown from the flowers to the rentals...cannot wait to see more!!
incredible! every detail is clever, thoughtful and so very lovely.....i cannot get enough of the zebra rug, mirrored side tables and playful pillows! love, love, love.
xo,
sylvie of http://www.silverylining.com " rel="nofollow">silver lining
Absolutely enthralled with this wedding and design process! It is perfection! Cannot wait to see more!
What's bridey-er than blush pink for summer? Loving it.
Wow! What a beautiful wedding! Looks like the Style Me Pretty team knocked this one out of the park!!
Tiffany - the pillows are still in the Pier 1 shop - the one near me had them this weekend when I stopped. We took my daughter to get her new ballet and tap shoes on Friday and the dance shop had these same pillows as they resemble tutus. They're beautiful
Hey Abby and Brenda- thank you sooooooooo much! Brenda- I will check out out local Pier 1 shop later on tonight- crossing my fingers that it is still available!
This wedding is beautiful! Where are those lanterns from? Thanks!
Loved it all -- where are those hanging votives from?!!
Loving this! Every detail is... sumptuous. Breathtaking. PINK!! If they're selling the "Lean on Me" Pillow, I am first in line!!
Absolutely stunning detail! Love your blog.. gorgeous!
The chrome CB2 vases, are those in fact for sale??
I am absolutely infatuated with this wedding!!!! Who are the bridesmaids dresses done by?
Really nice blog and fantastic flowers. I'm going to have to do some bouquets like those for my own wedding flowers shop now :)
abby who is the designer fo those beautiful dresses!