Crane Estate Wedding by Max Wanger
Many of you may know photography extraordinaire Max Wanger for his whimsical approach behind the lens but many of you haven’t seen Max quite like this – paired with a perfectly classic New England wedding full of elegant touches. The result is sort of blowing our minds with its sheer gorgeousness and we can’t quite get over how fashionable the guests are. They are bringing wedding attire to a whole new level of cool. Bravo Massachusetts. See the rest of the pretty details from this Crane Estate soiree in the gallery.
The prettiness doesn’t stop there… we have the gorgeous film from VideoDesign Films right here for your viewing pleasure…
My vision for the wedding was for it to be elegant yet whimsical. My family is English (my mother is from London) and Griff grew up in the South (Virginia), so I wanted to combine elements from both of our backgrounds. I wanted it to be filled with contradictions and contrasts: a grand estate on a rolling hill as the setting, with an ultra casual bluegrass band as the ceremony/cocktail music; vintage urns stuffed with white and green flowers with hanging leaves (reminiscent of an English garden) on belgian linen tablecloths (that my mother made for us) contrasted with the vegetables we used as centerpieces on the outdoor cocktail tables; formal menus, programs and seating cards in ivory and pewter with vintage postcards (collected entirely by my husband) as our guest book. My husband, Griff, is obsessed with 2 things: farmers markets and postcards. He rides his bike to the farmers market EVERY wednesday (rain or shine) and he has been collecting postcards for over 10 years (when I met him his bathroom was absolutely covered in postcards, each with an IKEA frame). I wanted to make sure that his favorite things were included in the wedding in some way, so we wanted to make the cocktail hour feel a little bit like a farmers market with a different vegetable on each cocktail table (brussell sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, artichokes even a bell pepper!) and we had a raw bar with local oysters shucked in front of our guests.
The color palette was neutral with lots of ivory, beige and green with a subtle hint of color (like the pale pink and navy blue striped ties on the groomsmen). I wanted it to feel natural. The bridesmaids wore comfortable summer dresses with pockets and the boys wore blue blazers and khaki’s with beige suspenders. A lot of the evening was spent on the grass, so I had a big basket with “heel stoppers” for the ladies to put on their shoes. For the table names we picked all of our “first dates”: Weird Fish (a restaurant in San Francisco), Burrito Night, English Bay, Hog Island, etc – we wanted the guests to have fun trying to figure out what they meant! For favors, we had brought Earl Grey flavored macaroons from Paulette’s in San Francisco and put them in individual boxes that we hand tied with tulle!
Photography: Max Wanger / Cinematography: Lynne Valeri of Video Design Films / Flowers: Leonhard’s Florist, Beverly, MA (Dorris) / Event Planning: bride and mother / Ceremony and Reception Location: Crane Estate, Ipswich, MA / Shoes: Oscar de La Renta / Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Bridesmaids Dresses: Thread / Groomsmens Ties: Ben Silver / Cocktail and Ceremony Music: The Goodtime String Band
Monique Lhuillier is a member of our Look Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.
41 Comments about “Crane Estate Wedding by Max Wanger”
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Utterly gorgeous and dreamy!! The bridal party is beautiful. what is the name of her ML dress?
Super cute wedding! I love it!!
max wanger can seriously do no wrong. absolutely stunning.
Beautiful! May I please inquire where the mother of the bride's dress is from? It's so elegant - I want to get it for my mom!
Beautiful - I go to the beach down the road from the Crane Estate & have always wondered about having an event there! And the fashion is great - cool preppy :)
This is a beautiful fairytale wedding! The images on the couple surrounded by the bast grounds is stunning!
Such a beautiful wedding and a gorgeous bride! Can I please ask where you got the fabric for the table cloths? Thank you.
What a beautiful wedding! So classy and sophisticated yet you can clearly see the couple's taste. Love the linen on the table and the floral displays. Looking for something similar myself x
such a beautiful and elegant celebration. love all the classic details and decor!
So classic and preppy! I love how whimsical the table settings are, and those bridesmaid's dresses are to die for.
LOVE IT! Best dressed wedding guests EVER. I vote for more hats at weddings. :)
Yes to white bridesmaid dresses! Love it!
Such a classically beautiful wedding! Lovely from start to finish. I adore the bride's ML gown! Perfection!
So classic and elegant, simple but sublime.
WOW! The groom is breathtakingly gorgeous.
Thanks for all the sweet comments!! The table cloths are belgian linen and can be rented from Carole Bruce Workroom in Beverly, MA or custom made in a variety of fabrics! The MOB dress is Paddy Campbell (from London).
I ADORE this wedding. The bride and her mother did such a spectacular job. I am thoroughly impressed.
As an on site hair and makeup artist for Florida weddings, I am stunned at the rolling hills beauty! It is very flat here and I enjoyed the landscapes in the photography! I also LOVED the hats for the bridesmaids! How cute!!!
This is the groom. Thanks for the comments. We absolutely loved the wedding and the Max Wanger photos. Another big treat was seeing ALL the photos that our friends took that day on a website called www.weddingturtle.com. We spent our Sunday in the airport looking at pics that guests had already posted and we kept checking the site during our honeymoon for new pics.
Gorgeous wedding! I LOVE her dress - can I inquire what ML dress is it? And which dress from Thread are the bridesmaids wearing? Thanks!
i have to second all the wonderful comments! fabulous wedding! i'm dying to know where the bride bought all the little urns for the tables... i've been looking for some just like it!
LOVE LOVE LOVE! This wedding is absolute perfection! So chic, classic, and simple.
Can I ask where the invitations/menu are from? The simple monogram is tdf! I'm currently looking for mu invitation suite and would love a recommendation... Thanks!
I loove the Crane Estate! It is such a beautiful venue!!
What a chic and elegant wedding!
YES!!!!...
Stunning pictures and location!
Gorgeous photos, totally love every single one!
As soon as I saw all of those hates I thought, "The bride has an English family!" No one rocks a wedding hat like a Brit!
Beautiful wedding. I love that the grooms-men aren't in matching suits!
*hats, not hates, obviously!
LOVE the Crane Estate - I've been there and it's just amazing. I especially love the photos of the bride and groom on the property's immense rolling hills. Max Wagner's photography is stunning as always!!!
Ashley and Griff's wedding was one of my favorites to film for 2010 ... simply spectacular! Loved working with Max and his wife Margot. Be sure to check out their WEDDING FILM at http://videodesignfilms.blogspot.com/2010/11/ashley-griffin-feature-film-crane.html as well as the HIGHLIGHTS FILM http://videodesignfilms.com/Web_movies/Screening02.html
You're right. Max's images just blew my mind...amazing.
I loved seeing all the images, but equally as excited to relive the day with Lynne's film. It was SO AMAZING to really get a feel for the couple and the setting. Incredible job Max, incredible job Lynne!
ashley and griff - your groomsmen look fantastic. we'd like to do a similar look with navy blazers and khaki trousers. did you have all the groomsmen buy their trousers from the same place in order to keep them uniform? (where are they from?) Same with the navy blazers, or did you have them just wear whatever they owned? the ties from ben silver are very sharp.
Congrats on a lovely event!
Lisa- we bought the groomsmen the khaki's from j.crew and had them get their own blazer.
Elle- The Invitations were from Vera Wang and we got Rug Road Paper Store (on Charles St in Boston) to use the same embossed Monogram on the invitation to create custom menus and program.
Chrissy- The dress was the Mercedes, but I didn't like the drop waist so I had them raise it up and add a sash (so it was kind of a creation, which was a little risky and caused me some stress bc i didnt know what it would look like). The bmaids dresses are the Gabrielle in Faille.
Wow! I was just looking through these pictures and then quickly realized - this is where my parents were married 31 years ago this August - that is truly amazing!! What a beautiful wedding - Congrats!
Beautiful wedding photos and video--love seeing Crane Estate from a different pov.
I want to look like the beautiful lady in the amazing hat. The guests do look fab. I love all the white dresses and the guys suits. They look so Polo, it's like Ralph Lauren had their wedding for his next ad campaign.
The white bridesmaids dresses are so fresh and beautiful. Thanks for having the courage to put them in these dresses. Everything about this wedding works perfectly together1
The bride is breathtakingly gorgeous! AMAZING WEDDING.
I love the bridesmaids shoes! Where are they from?