One of the hottest days of the year in June of 2008 and it was a beautiful wedding day for Bride Marina and her groom Carl. This bride is from Birmingham Alabama and lives in New York City New York where she met her groom Carl who is a Broadway Actor by trade. Marina chose bold colors of reds and jewel tones for her wedding and with a little TLC, they all held up fabulous in the Alabama heat.
Wine bottle corks tied together with ribbon made for great guest place cards
Our bride is dressed and gets some finishing touches on her make up from our make up artist Laura Eason
Bride Marina is in place and ready to see her groom Carl
Groom Carl makes his walk to see his bride for the first time on their wedding day
Such a sweet first look for our bride and groom
Bridesmaids in black dresses with jewel tones necklaces carrying bouquets of beautiful red daisies and roses
With the heat index of over 110 degrees, we had to keep the pew markers inside the cool house for as long as possible. We had pails of hydrangea and other flowers already secured to the chairs and kept them cool inside before bringing them outside right before guests began to arrive
A beautiful brides bouquet of fluffy white flowers for bride Marina by Carol Riley of Lillies
A handsome and beautiful bridal party ready for the ceremony to begin
Carl was true to his bride's theme with these cool red socks!
Such a sweet moment for this bride and groom
Pretty red roses surround this guest book table for guests to sign
A sweet little ring bearer is ready to get the ceremony started and make his walk down the aisle
And this little flower girl had the most adorable dress......and those shoes were so cute!
Bride Marina is escorted down the aisle by her Father
It was the hottest afternoon of the entire year but it didn't stop this beautiful couple from saying "I Do"
....and the new Mr. and Mrs. Cofield are ready to start their party
Marina envisioned an outdoor wedding reception with a family style Mediterranean dinner for her guests. We had seating on both sides of these very long 8 foot tables, however our challenge was that a regular 8 foot table was not wide enough to have seating on both sides for guests to be seated, have centerpieces down the center of the tables and also hold all the dinnerware, flatware, glassware AND all the food that was about to delight our guests. We actually had these long tables made a little bit wider than the average 8 foot table to accommodate the width needed. This plan worked to perfection and gave us plenty of room.
In addition to this family style seated and plated dinner about to be served, we needed lighting out on this beautiful lawn, not only for necessity but also for decor. Design Productions' Andy Tolar designed this gorgeous display we now call "the tent of lights" over our dining area. Three rows of truss was constructed overnight (thank you Andy for once again, working throughout the entire night for me) holding string lights making this beautiful canopy of lights
Each table was dressed with full place settings for each guest, a red box of truffles tied with a blue ribbon red and white wine bottles using all the red wine bottles for the table numbers, tall iron candles on top of a blue gingham runner.
One of the most important elements to Marina and Carl was a delicious menu of fresh mediterranean foods, fresh salads and big chunks of hearty breads accented with lots of Rosemary and fresh herbs
With the incredible team of Kathy G & Company and owner Kathy Mezrano, we created a hearty and delicious menu including these grilled lamb chops which were grilled on site and came to the tables hot and ready
Grilled chicken quarters seasoned to perfection with fresh herbs and spices came out on platters garnished with fresh lemon wedges and basil
A toast at the table as everyone is seated begins this incredible meal
Side dishes included wonderful roasted new potatoes with rosemary
Guests dig in to this scrumptious meal of chunky, hearty foods
Marina and Carl enjoy time with their guests at their dinner table under the lights just beginning to illuminate as the sun falls
The lights are all aglow as guests enjoy time together for the joyous occasion celebrating Marina and Carl's marriage
The last course for the evening were these plates of fresh fruits and cheeses served with delicious pastry of shortbread cookies and baklava all perfectly prepared by Kathy G & Company
An overhead view of our tent of lights over this family style dining reception at the The Sonnet House in Leeds Alabama. A beautiful location for any event or wedding
A first dance for this beautiful couple
All guests join in with this celebration
A shower of red rose petals for the bride and groom gives them a final farewell for the evening
A happy couple on a happy day!
What I remember about this beautiful Summer day in June was, aside from the very extreme heat, how many elements it took for this wedding to come together and as always, I am always saying how very grateful I am to work with such wonderful wedding professionals. We added fans to deal with the heat and believe it or not, it moved around the hot air but it was actually quite pleasant! I think for the vendors and those of us who were setting up, the heat became an issue but we kept hydrated and at one point our photographer, Barry Altmark, had a wet towel around his neck to stay cool. We all did what we had to do and everyone did their job so wonderfully. The tent of lights were in place but none of the tables were in place until after the ceremony concluded. This is what we call a "flip" reception in where we flip the same space from ceremony to reception. In this case, we were right next to the ceremony site and Marina wanted to keep an element of surprise for her guests when they came back out to the reception.
Our team moved tables in place, dropped linens, placed centerpieces and set each place setting all in a matter of approximately 30 minutes time while guests enjoyed cocktails inside this beautiful house. When guests came outside again, they were definitely surprised at the transformation and the welcoming family environment.
Many many thank you's go out to Jarod and Cory of The Sonnet House, Carol Riley of Lillies, a fabulous lighting designer Andy Tolar of Design Productions LLC who produced this spectacular tent of lights and worked through the night to make sure this was complete in time, our fabulous caterer and owner Kathy Mezrano of Kathy G & Company and their entire staff who helped to flip this entire space, set all the tables, served over 200 guests to a wonderful seated outdoor meal including grilling and keeping everything fresh and wonderful, Make up artist Laura Eason, and of course our fabulous photographer who allows me to share all of these wonderful images Barry Altmark of Barry Altmark Photography. Another fabulous event made possible by a fabulous team of wedding professionals!
Blessings to all,
Anita
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