Oh to be a guest at this wedding. For a fun twist on a destination affair, this Bride and Groom grabbed their nearest and dearest and headed for the Bride’s childhood sleep-away camp for a fun filled 3 days that culminated in “I Do’s”. Fun, right? You can’t beat the smell of pine trees and a belly full of s’mores on a regular day but for a wedding weekend? Pure perfection. With the crafty minds of Hatch Creative Studio behind all the details, Chandelier Events behind the planning and Dave Robbins Photography behind the lens, Lake Bryn Mawr Camp was taken over for an action packed wedding weekend and you can see it all in the full gallery here and right here with some of the fun, pre-wedding festivities.
From the Bride…When Greg and I started planning our wedding, we both knew that we didn’t want a stuffy ballroom wedding. Instead, we wanted to whisk away our friends and family to a beautiful and FUN setting to celebrate our relationship and the amazing people in our lives. My childhood sleep-away camp had hosted weddings in the past, so it was a perfect fit. And that’s how Camp Lerner-Decter was born! Not only were Greg and I able to spend quality time with our guests, but we truly got to share special moments with each other. When we first arrived at camp on Friday morning, Greg had arranged for our room to be filled with dozens of roses– just like our apartment on the night he proposed to me. He then read me vows that he had prepared, and we shared our own private wedding ceremony before the weekend “officially” started.
When our guests arrived on Friday night, the sky was lit up by a blue moon, which really set the mood for the weekend. On Saturday, we surprised our guests during lunch by “breaking” color war with a mock Olympics ceremony. We divided our guests into teams, and spent the afternoon playing kickball, capture the flag and tug-of-war. We truly felt like guests at our own wedding, and could not stop smiling and laughing the entire day! On Saturday night, we hosted a BBQ rehearsal dinner in the camp’s apple orchard. We hired a Brooklyn-based band to perform during dinner. Our guests enjoyed delicious ribs, brisket and macaroni and cheese from Local Smoke BBQ. We also served 20 pies from a local bakery in 7 different flavors! And guests helped themselves to beers kept cold in an ice-filled canoe. After dinner, we gathered in the camp’s open-air theater for a talent show and color war awards ceremony. We then followed a tiki-torch lit path down to the lake, where a bonfire awaited us. We spent the rest of the evening celebrating with our guests over beers and s’mores. On Sunday, we were married outside by the lake surrounded by giant pine trees. For the reception, Hatch Creative Studio completely transformed the camp dining hall into a magical flower-filled alpine lodge. We danced and partied all night long, and closed the night down with another lakeside bonfire.
Throughout the weekend, we tried to incorporate as many unique and personal touches as possible. Hatch created a vintage logo/monogram, which we printed on custom color war t-shirts, our welcome bags, etc. Hatch also created custom maps of the camp, welcome itineraries, custom placemats for the BBQ, burlap-wrapped vases filled with sunflowers for the guest bunks– the list goes on and on. Our chuppah was created by stringing our family members’ tallit from pine trees, and we lined the ceremony aisle with wedding pictures of our parents and grandparents. Our wedding party walked down the aisle to “Stand By Me”, and our flower girls placed birch hearts along the aisle instead of flowers. During our ceremony, Greg and I read from our ketubah, which we had written together. Instead of a guest book, our guests wrote messages on fabric squares, which we have since made into a wedding quilt.
Although planning a 3-day wedding was a LOT of work, it was all worth it! Our wedding was filled with so much love and happiness, which Dave Robbins Photography was able to capture so beautifully. We are incredibly grateful to our dream team of vendors, especially Barb of Hatch Creative Studio and Amy of Chandelier Events.
Photography: Dave Robbins Photography | Cinematography: Open Eye Media | Floral + Event Design: Hatch Creative Studio | Event Planning: Amy Shey Jacobs of Chandelier Events | Ceremony + Reception Location: Lake Bryn Mawr Camp | Caterer: The Settlers Inn | Invitations: Steel Petal Press | Dress: Nicole Miller | Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Hatch Creative Studio,
Dave Robbins Photography,
Chandelier Events and
Steel Petal Press are members of our Little Black Book, Love what you see? Take a look at their portfolios.
For more information on how Little Black Book Members are chosen click here.
Summer Entertaining with Jade + Matthew
