Our Courtyard Wedding in Romantic Homes magazine and more French Chairs

 The May issue of Romantic Homes magazine is on the stands and inside you will find a nice little feature on the courtyard wedding we had last September.  The cheery yellow and white cover is hard to miss, so look for it in Barnes and Noble, grocery stores, Walmart and other places like that.

Look at those darling slipcovers on the chairs!! Lots of spring inspiration inside this issue,

as well our wedding feature.

 Here is a sneak peek, and it tells the story of how I conjured up the fairy tale theme with a French twist to guide the decorating angle of the wedding.  All the advice is applicable to throwing a party as well, so I hope you enjoy the narrative as well as the beautiful photos taken by Matthew Mead.

 Our wedding had guests arriving inside the home, and then ushered to the outdoor area where a tent stood waiting for the festivities, so both images inside and outside are part of the spread.

 Romantic Homes is my go to for French inspired romantic living ideas, 

and I am honored to be included.

As with any magazine feature, a lot of cuts must be made, yet some of my favorite images and elements were not shown. If you have read the article and would like to see more, this is for you!  It was hard to tell the relationship of each space to each other from the published photos, most likely due to our spaces being small and rather nook and crannyish. 

Here the tent looks up to the arbor where the wedding vows were performed.

 We used all the little garden spaces for different purposes, as you can see on the upper level where the bride and groom are chatting in front of the arbor, where they had exchanged wedding vows, with the Boston skyline in the background, while the musicians played in front of the garden shed.

The tent sat just below, beside the house in our small pea gravel courtyard.

 My favorite element in the wedding that didn't get mentioned was the live event artist.

Sheila Foley is one of the best in the business, and happens to live in the greater Boston area.

She came early and painted the background scene on her canvas, which was the interior of the tent leading to the cabbage garden and arbor where the vows were exchanged.  I love how she included the chandelier and tulle draped from the ceiling of the tent.  As the wedding progressed, Sheila added guests and the wedding couple into the painting, while we all ate, drank and made merry.

Before the festivities  I came out to see if everything was ready to go... Sheila is at her station with her art supplies and easel.  Because it had rained, we needed to set up a table umbrella to protect both artist and artwork!  

You can see the white picket fence beyond where the bride would emerge to climb the old stone steps to the grassy terrace to say her vows.  Sheila had the background ready for adding all the details, including champagne bottles, the french settee, floral arrangements and of course all the people!

This is a sneak peek collage of the painting progression so far!

I have been able to see bits of it on Sheila's Instagram account: @sfoleyeventpainter

I can't wait to reveal the entire painting and already imagine it in a fancy French gilded frame, hanging on our walls, reminding us all of that special day.

And one last garden element that was missing....

Our cabbage garden!

White Belgian mums and ornamental green and white cabbages planted in a formal layout. 

 The urns were filled with more cabbages and then roses in florist water vials 

were tucked in between the large cabbage leaves. 

Simple.  Elegant.  And very French.    

Speaking of French~ 

I had the good fortune to land a pair of plume back gilded chairs

in the Louis XVI style.  They are truly marvelous little chairs, all hand carved with gold leaf.

Destined for my bathroom for now.  I adore old and French, and these fit the bill.

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Live Event Artist Captures Romantic Wedding: Part 3

Pure Romance.

It was the moment no one expected. 

 It captured us all with its sweeping gesture of old fashioned chivalry, 

something straight out of a romance novel.

The groom swept the bride off her feet after they were pronounced husband and wife. 

He carried her down the stone steps into the wedding tent to present his new bride.

Swoon.  

Its moments like those that we can't get enough of, in real life.

And it was just that moment that will now be captured forever on 

canvas by Sheila Foley, the wonderfully talented live event artist.

Have you ever heard of live event painting?

  I had not until recently, when I spotted Sheila's work on Facebook and Instagram. 

I was enchanted by her paintings.

The entire idea of it!  

It struck me during the wedding planning that hiring Sheila

would be PERFECT for capturing this wedding.  I love original art, and I was

amazed at the romantic impressionistic essence of her paintings of weddings,

 as they unfolded.... LIVE!

Sheila arrives ahead of time to see the wedding site, and at that time we briefly discussed 

ideas for the painting.  I gave her "carte blanche" to paint something she saw fit.  She said that was rare, that most often brides or the one commissioning the painting has something specific predetermined in their minds that they want to have painted.

 I think that the way to get the best out of an artist is to let them express their vision, and you won't be disappointed.  I know from my own experience that painting things for myself are often superior than the things I must paint on command, because the inspiration and artwork is guided instead of natural.

 Often times Sheila is painting at an event in a grand ballroom, and the architecture adds

a lot to her paintings, and yet our wedding was in a tiny tent.  I set her painting station up to afford her the best view of the ceremony, the tent, and the guests.  She arrived two hours early to start the 

background and the tent part of the painting.  Sheila will capture guests and moments on her iPad and then refer to it as she paints.  It was the most marvelous thing, to have an artist painting as

if she were just a fly on the wall.  The guests would come and look and then go back to their tables and it was fun to see the painting progress throughout the night.  While our wedding was all about keeping costs down, this was my one big splurge!  And you can see what she decided to paint

for capturing the essence of the wedding~that grand romantic gesture of Brandon sweeping Mimi off of her feet!  I cannot wait to see the finished painting.  Sheila takes the partially finished painting back to her studio and will work on it to add the guests and fine tune the details.

This is a closeup of a groom sweeping his bride off her feet during a dance,

and it was my favorite painting that I saw on her website.  This shot is from Sheila's 

website as I viewed it from my phone.

 www.sheilafoley.carbonmade.com

Sheila told me it was her favorite too! So I knew we were on the same page, and

now our family will have a painting by this amazing artist that recalls a moment

captured in time.  Fleshed out in the painting will be the faces of those who we were 

fortunate to have around the table with us, as Sheila actually paints the guests to look

like themselves!! That is truly amazing to me, as painting people is very difficult.

The painting takes shape, and this is the last I saw of her progress.  Stay tuned for the finished portrait of the wedding, I will be sharing that for sure.  Sheila Foley is in high demand, and I think its wonderful that people are recognizing the specialness of what she does, and how something like this can add so much to an event you want to remember in a uniquely beautiful way.

When I last blogged about the wedding in Part II, I said I would share my splurge (the painting),

and other details from the wedding and how we went about getting the wedding of our dreams.

 There were many other special moments of course, like the cake moment. 

 Personally I find the money spent of cakes to be CRAZY, and since I

 am not a big desert person,  I wouldn't spend tons of money on a pretty cake.

  However the bride loves deserts and pretty cakes, and so the hunt was on

 to find a cake that wasn't outrageously priced.  We found it.

 This pretty little white wedding cake with buttercream frosting was made by the chefs at WholeFoods Supermarket.  

Yes.  

A supermarket bakery department created this cake for Mimi.

Mimi described a simple white on white cake, to be frosted in buttercream with simple dots and flowers for decoration.  

The cost?  A jaw dropping $58.  

 These beautiful and romantic elements of a wedding do not have to cost a fortune, like we 

are programmed to believe.  I set the cake on a silver tray and we had stacks of vintage gold and white cake plates for each slice.  The top layer was a chocolate cake, and the bottom layer was white cake with strawberries.  Matthew Mead captured the moment beautifully for the couple.  The bride sliced up the cake and the groom delivered it to their guests.  A charming way to serve a wedding cake, don't you agree?

Vintage gold metal heart trays were used to serve a mix of chocolates.  I found this stack of interesting tiny gold hearts, and have no idea what their purpose was, but I thought they would make nice little trays for sweets.  Matthew and Jenny Mead took a great shot of it adorned with a tiny rosebud.  All the chocolates were bulk chocolates, delicious none the less, from Costco.  Ferrero Rocher, Lindt, Roca, and other sweets filled these cute little trays and were passed out as the wedding cake was being served by the couple.

One other expenditure that was fairly modest but added a lot, was the trio of string musicians 

that we hired to perform for the cocktail hour and the ceremony.  Thankfully the rain let up, but we kept them under an umbrella just to be safe.  Find musicians like these on Craigslist, or a local music school or college and you can hire them by the hour to add a touch of elegance to your event.  What fun it would be to have musicians playing at a cocktail or dinner party!  I think we often overlook ideas that aren't super expensive, yet create a memorable feeling for the event.  Live artists and musicians can give such a "rich" experience for both the guests and the hosts. 

 Lighting is a big consideration for creating the right mood, and for an outdoor event, its easy to string lights, wrapping tree trunks and branches.  Starting at the base just ball up a string of lights and wrap the trunk and then connect another string and so on, until you have reach the upper part of the tree.  You can just wrap trunks, or you can add more, as my son Brandon did in the tree that the bride walked underneath.

This shot of my buddy Matthew Mead shows how magical the trees appear

as dusk starts to fall.  Its an inexpensive trick and just takes time to do it.

 It all added to the romantic effect we were aiming for....

The guests had departed, the wedding was officially over. 

Still wanting to linger in the magical spell cast upon us all, 

the newly weds danced in the living room with family watching,

 until the clock struck twelve.

A very romantic wedding was enjoyed by all.

Read PART ONE here Fairy Tale Wedding without the High Price

Read PART TWO here Romantic Home Wedding Dreamy Table Tips

Visit Sheila Foley's Website HERE

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