Deep down in my heart, I’m a nautical loving girl, so weddings like this pull heavily at my heartstrings. The thing I love the most about the day? The way Lasting Impressions and the gorgeous bride went with green and white… it was a fresh take on the nautical, lakeside soiree and I couldn’t love it any more than I do. The whole thing, as captured by Melissa Oholendt, is sitting pretty right here!
From the planner… Lisa and Chuck’s wedding took place on a stunningly beautiful June day in the backyard of Lisa’s childhood home on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. However, the festivities really started one month before the wedding when Lisa and Chuck traveled back to Minnesota to “Bury the Bourbon” in the exact location they were saying their vows and, true to the Southern tradition, their wedding day arrived carrying blue skies, mild temperatures and a light (perfect) lake-driven breeze that kept their custom L + C flag, designed by Lisa’s mom, waving all day long.
The day began, as all wedding days should, with the bride & groom surrounded by the people they love the most. The ladies sipped on Veuve upstairs in Lisa’s bedroom as the guys convened in the sunroom with a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle, a bourbon that, over the years, had become a tradition of celebration within their friend group.
From the gorgeous custom Kathryn Conover gown Lisa wore to the beautiful Anne M. Cramer skirts (a designer local to Minnesota!) that adored the bridesmaids to the groom’s custom blue linen suit by New York tailor Saint Laurie Merchant to the Collared Greens bowtie & ties that the groom and groomsmen wore, there was not a single detail left unattended.
They said their vows where the lake met the shore, with two of their closest friends as acting officiates. Excerpts from the Velveteen Rabbit were read & E.E. Cummings poem “I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) was read in it’s entirety as it played a very special role in Lisa & Chuck’s past; when Chuck was deployed to Afghanistan, Lisa sent him with this poem on a piece of paper & Chuck has kept it in his wallet ever since. During the ceremony, Nicole Herzog – a very talented artist – started her work on a piece of artwork that would capture the essence of the day in painted form, including an appearance by Tucker – the family’s black lab – who played an excellent ring bearer.
Post-ceremony, the couple sent their guests off to cocktail hour as they took a boat ride across their favorite lake with a custom “Just Married” sign on the back. During cocktail hour, guests mingled in the gardens and were served champagne and the couple’s signature drinks; Chuck’s was his favorite “dark & stormy” and Lisa’s was her favorite “Lake Minnetonka Bootleg”.
With the couple having attended college together in the South and now residing in New York City, many of the guests traveled to Minnesota from all over the country; as such it was important to the couple to not only make sure that guests felt taken care of and loved in an elegant & comfortable atmosphere but also meld together pieces of their past & present, all while showing off everything that Minnesota has to offer. They enlisted Sarah Trotter with Lasting Impressions to truly execute their vision and not a detail was missed.
While the guests enjoyed cocktail hour, Sarah & her team were putting the finishing touches on the tented reception. Instead of working with the customary navy stripes that is often thought of for lakeside weddings, a palette of green and white was used with much of the greenery & florals from Weber’s Westdale consisting of ferns, hydrangeas and green mums to compliment the existing landscape & gardens.
Compasses helped guests find their seating assignments under the beautiful draped ceiling of the dinner tent from Après Party Rental with the table cards on display in nautical holders and named after different bays on Lake Minnetonka. Each table had both an elaborate hydrangea & fern based tall floral arrangement & beautiful rose based low floral arrangements to promote cross-table conversations. A fern was placed on top of the menu cards to tie in the look. The bride & groom’s chairs were draped with a floral garland as a special little touch of importance. The result was a stunning dinner setting that was both meaningful to the couple & allowed the lakeside setting to shine.
After dinner the guests were served both a piece of wedding cake & a piece of the pecan pie Groom’s cake and were invited to the dance tent as the dance floor officially opened with Belladiva’s band & singers keeping the tent packed all night long and late night snacks of mini-burgers were served by D’Amico Catering. At midnight, guests were ushered to the driveway to send off the couple in style with sparklers and treated to the perfect sweet treats, made by a local truffle maker in custom boxes by Letter Perfect. As the sparklers were lit and Lisa & Chuck made their sweet departure, guests were overheard commenting to their partners that they didn’t want the beautiful night to ever end.
The sign of a perfect wedding? We truly think so.
Photography: Melissa Oholendt | Event Planning: Lasting Impressions Weddings | Floral Design: Weber Westdale | Wedding Dress: Kathryn Conover | Cake: Buttercream | Bride's Shoes: Milk and Honey Shoes | Bridesmaids Shoes: Milk and Honey Shoes | Catering: Calhoun Beach Club | Groomsmen Ties: Collared Greens | Groom's Suit: Saint Laurie Tailors | Bridemaids Tops: Kathryn Conover | Bridesmaids Skirts: Anne M. Cramer | Ceremony & Cocktail Hour Musicians: Lake String Quartet | Ceremony & Reception Venue: Lasting Impressions Weddings | Groom's Bowtie: Collared Greens | Groom's Cake: The Country Cake Cupboard | Groom's Shoes: Cole Haan | Mom's Dress: Kathryn Conover | Mom's Shoes: Milk and Honey Shoes | Paper: Letter Perfect | Reception Band: Belladiva | Rentals: Apres Party And Tent Rental | Trims: Mokuba New York | Truffle Boxes: Letter Perfect | Wedding Painter: Nicole Herzog