Sarah and Tommy's Four Seasons Boston Wedding!

This past Saturday, I was the coordinator for Sarah and Tommy's wedding at The Four Seasons Hotel in Boston. They are so cute together, and they actually met in the 7th grade and starting dating their junior year of high school! Not only was their wedding a celebration for their 187 guests, but there were also 1.5 million Bruins fans that came into town that same day for the parade! Since no one could predict that the Bruins would win the Stanley Cup, we only had two days notice for the parade, and of course, we were right ON the parade route! Overall, the driving traffic was actually less than a normal Saturday because no one drove into town, and it even made things extra fun in the morning because Sarah's Four Seasons Hotel suite had five windows that all had amazing views of the crowd and parade. All of the girls getting hair and makeup done had front row seats to the big event, and a few of the girls even spotted the groom in the crowd below. I couldn't help but snap a few photos =)

It was definitely a fun way to start the day! The bride and bridal party all got their hair and makeup done by Michelle DeVoe and her team from Demiche Beaute'. The bride's Monique Lhuillier dress was absolutely stunning with intricate applique flowers and beading on the top. The bride also wore shimmering gold Badgley Mischka shoes, and a cathedral length veil. The bridesmaids wore knee-length fuchsia Lazaro dresses, and carried bouquets of beautiful pale pink peonies.

Sarah and Tommy opted to do a first look on the grand staircase with their photographer, Kate Femino of k.Photographie. Afterwards, they went to the Boston Public Garden for some portraits with the entire wedding party. This way, they could take a lot of photos prior to the ceremony so they could enjoy the cocktail hour with their guests later on.

The ceremony was held in the Governor's Ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel, and their talented florist, Lotus Designs, decorated the room with four large pedestals with gorgeous peonies and cherry blossoms, and rose petals along the aisle. The ceremony was officated by Beverly Cook, and classical ceremony music from a trumpet, violin, and cello trio was provided by Occasional Brass & Strings. Immediately after the ceremony, the bride and groom changed into hanbok, and returned for a traditional Korean tea ceremony. They bowed to several members of their families and even had to catch dates and chestnuts thrown from the honorees. Dates represent girls and chestnuts represent boys, so however many were thrown and caught are supposed to symbolize how many children they will have in the future.

During cocktail hour right outside of the Grand Ballroom, guests enjoyed a martini bar, hors d'oeuvres such as truffled fontina risotto balls, sesame chicken, cocktail shrimp, as well as dumplings served from two traveling carts. There were two guestbooks to sign, one of which was a traditional Chinese red silk cloth and the other was a book of their engagement photos taken by k.Photographie.

The reception in the Grand Ballroom was absolutely gorgeous, with candles and stunning florals of hydrangea, peonies, and phalaenopsis orchids from Lotus Designs, gold Chiavari ballroom chairs from Tommy Wholesale, and cream triple pintuck linens from Table Toppers of Newton. Guests were treated to summer trio starter, with a bristol style crab cake, salad, and gazpacho soup, followed by an entrée of either grilled filet mignon or herb and potato crusted halibut.

Then, how about a little bit a dessert? Or in this case, a LOT of incredible desserts starting off with a four tiered wedding cake from Montilio's made of two different flavors: the top three layers were vanilla sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries and the bottom layer was white cake with ricotta chips and coffee. Then there was the dessert bar which included chocolate dipped strawberries, miniature strawberry and vanilla bean crème brûlées, miniature cream puffs with chocolate drizzle, mini whoopie pies, strawberry shortcakes, and chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries. Oh, did I mention the "make your own sundaes" station with your choice of chocolate, strawberry, of vanilla ice cream with 11 different toppings to choose from? It was incredible and guests LOVED it.

The dance floor was packed all night with music from Brick Park, and the bride and groom changed into a traditional Chinese qipao and jacket for a portion of the evening. If all of the desserts earlier weren't enough, minature chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies were passed on the dance floor later in the evening. On the way out of the ballroom, guests picked up favors to bring home, which were little Korean wedding duck magnets. Photos from k.Photographie will be coming a bit later, but for now, here are some photos that I took!

It was an incredible wedding, with so many amazing details. A special thanks to Philip and Aaron at the Four Seasons for being so accommodating, as well as my assistant, Alicia! Sarah and Tommy, I hope you are enjoying your honeymoon in Greece and Italy, and it was so much fun getting to know you through the planning process. Best wishes in your married life together!!

~Emilie

Sarah & Tommy's Engagement Photos by k.Photographie!

Sarah and Tommy are getting married this upcoming Saturday at the gorgeous Four Seasons Hotel in Boston. These high school sweethearts have been together since junior year! As a little preview to the big day, I thought that I would share some of their engagement photos taken by Kate Femino of k.Photographie, who will also be photographing their wedding.

Photos by k.Photographie
To see more from this engagement session, head over to Kate's blog. I had a chance to work with Kate on a wedding back in 2009 and I'm excited to be able to work with her again!

~Emilie

Michael & Tricia Films: Donnaree and Chris's Wedding Highlights

To engaged couples: if you're thinking about videography, but aren't sure if you really need it or not, definitely check out the highlights video below of Donnaree and Chris's wedding by Michael & Tricia Films. Simply stunning! I posted their wedding trailer a few weeks back, and I'm happy to be able to share a longer highlights video:



Love love love it =) It definitely brings me back to the wedding day and it's so fun to see the wedding from a different perspective.
Michael & Tricia - thank you for sharing!!

~Emilie

Boston Wedding Coordination: Carrie & Chris's Liberty Hotel Wedding!

On Saturday, June 4th, I had the honor of coordinating Carrie and Chris's wedding!! Carrie is so sweet and an incredibly good-hearted person. It's hard to say that about a lot of people, but anyone will say that about my dear bride, Carrie!

Carrie and her bridal party got ready in a fabulous suite at The Liberty Hotel, with hair and makeup by Lypor Leong of Lypor Hair & Makeup Artisan. The bridesmaids wore blue dresses from Lela Rose, and the bride wore a beautiful strapless gown by Essense of Australia. All of the bouquets, boutonnieres, and a wristlet for the mother of the bride, as well as all of the other florals for the wedding were created by Nicole Pirani of Blooms of Hope. The wristlet for the mother of the bride was so unique because there were pearl bracelets used instead of just an elastic band. Also, I loved how Nicole incorporated photos of the bride's grandparents in lockets so that Carrie could have them with her throughout the entire day. Not only is Nicole's work stunning, but her company, Blooms of Hope, also donates 50% of their profits to charity.

The wedding ceremony for 100 guests was held at Our Lady of Victories Church. There were flowers that adorned the pews as well as two large altar arrangements. The bride, her parents, and her bridesmaids took a white stretch limo from LTI Worldwide Limousine from the hotel to the church, and afterwards, the newlyweds and their entire wedding party took the limo to Beacon Hill for some fun portraits with their photographers, Tara & Ben of Hitched Studios.

Cocktail hour was held in the 5th Floor Rotunda at The Liberty Hotel, and guests were greeted with the bride and groom's signature drink: a fig vodka martini! In addition to a full open bar, guests munched on passed hors d'oeuvres such as mini crab cakes, wild mushroom empanada with roasted tomato salsa, and coconut coated shrimp with sweet chili sauce.

The reception was held in the modern and chic Liberty Ballroom, and in addition to silver Chiavari chairs from Rentals Unlimited, there were beautiful low floral centerpieces, and little seed packet favors on the tables. For dinner, guests enjoyed three delicious courses. Salad: arugula with Vermont goat cheese, fried shallots, and sherry dijon vinaigrette. Entree: braised beef shortribs with half lobster tail and lobster mashed potatoes. Dessert: coconut panna cotta with fresh mango and limo shortbreads. In addition to all of that, there was also a wedding cake from Sweet Tooth Bakery. It was a three tier cake covered in little fondant flowers to match the couple's wedding invitation. Two layers were vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries, and the middle layer was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.

Guests danced throughout the entire reception to music by Superband. A really special moment was when the entire crowd gathered in a circle around the newlyweds singing along with the band to the very last song of the night, "Piano Man". Overall, it was an amazing wedding!! Photos from Tara & Ben of Hitched Studios will be coming later, but for now, here are some photos I took.

A special thanks to Kate & Elizabeth at the Liberty Hotel for being so nice to work with on the wedding day. Also, thank you to my assistant, Alicia, for being everywhere and anywhere that day with me!

Carrie and Chris, have a wonderful honeymoon in Europe next week!! I'm so jealous =) I wish you both the best in your married life together!!

~Emilie

Amy and David's Thompson Island Wedding

On Sunday, May 29th, I was the coordinator for Amy and David's elegant wedding on Thompson Island. Yes, it's actually an island, and takes approximately 25 minutes via ferry to get to the island. This small fact proved to make everything a bit more challenging, but as their wedding coordinator, it was my job to make sure everything went smoothly! In addition to three vendor ferry rides over to the island, there was also a bigger boat chartered through Boston Harbor Cruises for all of the guests from the Long Wharf dock.

The bride, groom, and some of their close friends & family came to the island earlier in the day before the rest of the guests. The bride, her sister (who was also one of their officiants), and her niece got their hair and makeup done by Charlotte Phinney. Amy wore a gorgeous Monique Lhuillier gown and carried a white and green floral bouquet from Winston Flowers. The bride and groom decided to do a first look to maximize the amount of time they would spend with their guests later on, and it was captured by Michelle Turner Photography and also on video by Vera Ventura of Veracious Productions.

After guests arrived at the island, they walked along the dock to find photos of Amy and David attached to the railing, starting out as babies, and progressing through the years. A guitarist played music on the dock as guests walked by, and they also helped themselves to two different "hydration stations" where there was fruit flavored water: strawberry water, lemon & lime water, orange & mint water, and rosemary & cucumber water. There were also baskets of flip flops lined up by size available for guests to change into.

The ceremony area faced the water, and the chairs were perfectly under the shade of some large trees. Amy's sister and David's brother were the two officiants for the ceremony, and a few of the bride's cousins were the ceremony musicians. During the recessional, guests blew bubbles out of bubble tubes that the ushers passed out earlier in the day.

During cocktail hour, guests enjoyed drinks, appetizers, and games like cornhole and horseshoe. Afterwards, guests took a scenic path around the island to the North Lawn Pavilion, where the dining and dancing tents were. The dining tent was truly stunning. Fruitwood chiavari chairs from Peterson Party Center lined the rectangular dining tables. Winston Flowers decorated the tables with unique succulents and square glass vessels to hold the lobsters. CJC Event Lighting provided the uplighting in the tent along with the gobo texture projections of a leafy pattern on the ceiling. The amazing custom lantern chandeliers in both the dining tent and the dancing tent were created by Erik and Christen of Ryan Designs, who also provided the fire pit, custom lounge vignettes, driftwood tables, draping along the corners of the tent, luminaries & lanterns around the island lighting the walking paths, as well as some cool wooden signs to point guests in the right direction.

Guests enjoyed a dinner buffet of lobster, steamers, clam chowder, bbq chicken, ribs, and vegetable lasagna, all catered by Thompson Island. Following dinner and toasts, the newlyweds cut into a pie instead of a regular wedding cake, and a cute little pair of birds in a nest were placed on top of their wedding pie. To start the dancing portion of the night, Amy and David began their first dance in the dining tent, and then made their way into the dancing tent asking the guests to follow. Guests danced the night away with music by the band, Men in Black. Surrounding the dancing tent, there was a firepit with a basket of s'mores items, and two other picnic blanket areas with large lanterns and baskets of games. Photos from Michelle Turner Photography will be coming later, but for now, here are some photos that I took!

This was definitely one of those weddings where I'm so glad that it didn't rain! There were just too many fun elements that would have not happened if the weather did not cooperate.

So, a fun little fact about this wedding: a few weeks before the big day, David emailed me asking if I could help put together a small surprise for Amy for the room that they'd be staying in on their wedding night. Specifically: candles lit around the room, champagne on ice, and a few chocolate covered strawberries. Of course, I said no problem and I made some calls to Denise on Thompson Island to see what she could provide (champagne, champange glasses, and ice bucket), and also called in a favor to Ryan Designs (thanks, Christen!) for 10 extra votive candles since they were providing a bunch already for the wedding. The only thing left were the chocolate covered strawberries, so I made some at home the night before and brought them to the island on the wedding day, concealed with some wax paper in a little plastic container.

Now here's the funny part about the surprise. A week before the wedding during our walkthrough on the island, Amy pulled me aside and told me just as a heads up that she had asked some of her friends to decorate their wedding night room as a surprise for David! I said "that sounds great, thanks for letting me know!" not wanting to mention that David wanted to surprise her! So on the wedding day, Amy's friends and I collaborated and their decor (which was different than what David had requested) was just added onto what I provided and so both of them were surprised on the wedding night!

A special thanks to Fiona & Rachel for assisting me on the wedding day. Amy and David, it was wonderful getting to know you through the planning process. I wish you the very best in your married life together and I hope you had a wonderful mini-moon in Nantucket!

~Emilie