Boston Wedding Coordination: Kristen and Christopher's Four Seasons Boston Hotel Wedding

This past Saturday, November 17th, I had the honor of coordinating Kristen and Christopher's wedding at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel in Boston.  The day started out in the bridal suite with hair by Yvonne from Demiche Beauté and makeup by Dana from Beauty Muse Bridal for the bride and her wedding party.  The bride wore an absolutely gorgeous mermaid style gown from Vera Wang, and silver Jimmy Choo heels.  The bridesmaids wore floor-length black gowns with a black chiffon statement bow in the back, and carried petite bouquets of roses from Winston Flowers.

The ceremony for 165 guests was held at the Scared Heart Italian Church in the North End, and two white limos from LTI Worldwide Limousine, and two white trolleys and a limo bus from The Original Party Trolley helped to transport guests and the wedding party to the ceremony.  Following the ceremony, guests made their way to the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston for cocktail hour, held in Aujourd'hui.

The cocktail hour was a treat for guests, complete with ice sculptures, a seafood table with shrimp cocktail, sea scallops, and crab cakes, a prosecco bar, and an antipasto display.  In addition, passed hors d'oeuvres included baby lamb chops, beef wellington, parmesan truffle fries, crimini caps with spiced Italian sausage, and rosemary fontina arancini.  Guests found their escort cards on a beautiful ivory ruffled linen with an elegant display of white florals and candles from Winston Flowers.

The reception was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel, and the room looked absolutely stunning.  Table linens from Table Toppers of Newton and silver Chiavari chairs adorned the mix of round and rectangular guest tables, and stunning white florals from Winston Flowers were placed in the middle of each table.  Suzanne B. Lowell Lighting & Design created a beautiful atmosphere with pin spotting, a dance floor wash, and the couple's monogram on the white dance floor.  Menu cards and favor boxes filled with truffles and topped with a seal of the couple's monogram were set at each place setting.  The videographer, Black Tie Video, created a same-day video replay and it was shown during introductions at the beginning of the reception.

The dinner menu included an appetizer of pumpkin ravioli with sage brown butter sauce and warm lobster with Tuscan kale and roasted chestnuts, an entree of either grilled filet mignon or herb and potato crusted halibut, and a spectacular wedding cake for dessert from I Dream of Jeanne Cakes.  This five tiered cake had crystals lining the bottom of each tier, little fondant flowers flowing down the front of the cake, and the top four layers were suspended in the air with crystals hanging between the fourth and fifth tiers like a chandelier.  Everyone loved it!!

In addition to the wedding cake, there was a large dessert display made up of custom ice cream sundaes, frozen yogurt, sorbets, warm miniature pear crumbles, maple leaf crusted apple pie, chocolate truffle torte, triple chocolate peanut butter bites, and chocolate cream tartlets.  If that wasn't enough, later on in the night during dancing, mini chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches, warm chocolate chip cookies, and miniature pumpkin whoopie pies were passed to guests on the dance floor.  The party was rocking all night with the band, Nightshift.  Photos from their photographer, LifeFusion Photography, will be coming a bit later, but for now, here are some photos that I took of some details!

Kristen and Chris, it was an absolute pleasure working with you both, and I am so happy that I was able to be a part of your special day! I hope you are having a fabulous time on your honeymoon in St. Barts and Anguilla!

~Emilie

Boston Wedding Coordination: Jess & Derek's Four Seasons Boston Hotel Wedding!

On Saturday, June 9th, I had the pleasure of coordinating Jess and Derek's beautiful wedding at the Four Seasons Boston Hotel. They are such a cute couple together and I just first want to share a teaser photo taken by their wedding photographer, Kate McElwee of Kate McElwee Photography.

Photo by Kate McElwee Photography

LOVE it!! :) It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the bridal party all got ready in a suite with their hair & makeup done by Jenna and Susan from Salon by Naomi. They even had some fun sights to see out their window because the Pride Parade went right past the hotel on Boylston Street that afternoon!

The bridesmaids all wore flowing floor-length raspberry pink dresses and carried bouquets of roses, sweet peas, and mini cymbidium orchids. The bride wore a stunning Priscilla of Boston gown from Kleinfeld Bridal, sparkly Jimmy Choo heels, and carried a beautiful white bouquet of ranunculus, peonies, and cymbidium orchids.

The bride and groom opted to do a first look on the grand staircase at the hotel, and it was truly a very special moment when they saw each other for the first time. They were also able to do the majority of their wedding portraits with family and the wedding party prior to the ceremony so they could spend as much time as they could with all of their wedding guests during the cocktail hour and reception.

The wedding ceremony for 113 guests was held in the Grand Ballroom at the Four Seasons Boston Hotel, and Mimosa Fresh Flower Design set up decor using large manzanita trees with dendrobium orchids, white draping, and submerged orchids. The ceremony was short and sweet, with music from a string quartet from Music Management, and was followed by a cocktail hour just oustide in the foyer.

Jess and Derek did not want their guests to go hungry, and they really went ALL OUT for food, starting with cocktail hour! Along with an open bar, guests enjoyed passed hors d'oeuvres such as baby lamb chops, Philly cheesesteak spring rolls, sesame chicken, lobster spring rolls, mini crab cakes, and herbed goat cheese stuffed mushrooms. There was also a cheese display along with baked brie in brioche with sugared grapes and spiced pecans. Plus, an amazing seafood display set in ice sculptures that highlighted their wedding monogram, J&D. This included cold colossal shrimp with cocktail sauce and lemon, oysters on the half shell, Alaskan snow crab claws, and cracked Maine lobster. It was quite a feast and definitely one of the most impressive cocktail hour displays I've ever seen!

Following cocktail hour, guests were invited to be seated for the dinner reception in Aujourd'hui just down the hallway. The guest tables were covered with chocolate pintuck linens, and various floral centerpieces made of hydrangeas, peonies, orchids, ranunculus, freesia, and dusty miller. Glass pedestals of LED lights and submerged flowers, and votive candles also surrounded the florals to create a really fun lighting effect for the dining room. Walnut Chiavari chairs surrounded the tables and ivory hemstich napkins held personalized menu cards.

A bottle of limoncello was set at each place setting along with a favor tag that read "Salute!" on the front, and "Enjoy this Italian limoncello in celebration of Jess and Derek's honeymoon on the Amalfi Coast" on the back! It was so much fun to design and create all of the stationery for the wedding day with Jess, which included the escort cards, welcome brochures in the out of town bags, favor tags, menu cards, and some signage for their guestbook and adorable thumbprint tree!

For dinner, guests enjoyed a four course dinner of creamy fontina risotto, baby arugula salad, an entrée choice of striped sea bass or a beef trio, and a wedding cake from Jenny's Wedding Cakes for dessert. In addition, there was a delicious dessert buffet of assorted confections later on in the night, as well as cookies and ice cream sandwiches passed out on the dance floor. Ari from Beat Train Productions provided the blue uplighting in the room and had guests dancing all night long, and if guests had any more room to eat at all, they were treated to late night bites like sliders and flatbread pizzas at midnight! Ben from McElroy Weddings was the videographer for the wedding day, and here are some photos that I took of the details!

It was a fantastic wedding day, and here are a few more detail shots of some of the stationery items that were designed in-house by Pink Orchid Weddings.

Jess and Derek, it was so great working with you both of you, and congratulations again!! I hope you are having a wonderful honeymoon in Italy!

~Emilie

Jess and Derek's Engagement Photos by Kate McElwee Photography

Jess & Derek are getting married this Saturday!!  I'm so excited for their Four Seasons Boston Hotel wedding, which will be absolutely gorgeous with florals by Mimosa Fresh Flower Design, and photography by the one and only, Kate McElwee of Kate McElwee Photography.  I had the privilege of working with Kate on another Four Seasons wedding last year and she is just so good at capturing all of the details and emotions of a wedding day - LOVE her.  As a preview to the couple, here are a few shots from their engagement session around the city with Kate, from Fenway to Beacon Hill, and ending at Neptune Oyster in the North End.

Photos by Kate McElwee Photography

To view more from their engagement session, check out Kate McElwee's blog here.  Thanks so much, Kate, for sharing these photos with me!

~Emilie