Matthew & Vincent
Glamping with Marie Antoinette
Private Estate
Photographer: Niven Weddings
Published by Brides
A 3 day affair on a private family estate, M&V's wedding celebrations were inspired by the 2006 Sofia Coppola movie ‘Marie Antoinette’. This 300 person soiree wasn’t just a ‘wedding’ but a weekend full of incredible out-of-the-box events with sheer luxury (and a little rock and roll) in every detail. The entire experience can only be described as a candy-colored love letter from beginning to end.
Guests started the weekend by checking into an onsite glamping ‘village’, featuring tents with 5-star hotel luxuries and French-themed amenities. Events kicked off shortly afterwards with an intimate rehearsal dinner for the couple's nearest and dearest. The wedding day itself included endless champagne, an outdoor ceremony under a pergola dripping with pastel florals, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres served alongside a life-sized gold horse statue, a 6-course dinner by the glow of 1,000 candles, with late night dancing, masquerade, and gambling at the Grooms' own private casino. Finally, after partying into the wee hours of the morning, the weekend came to a close with a farewell brunch.
From the very beginning, M&V had the most incredible vision for their wedding. With design cues taken from Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film, Marie Antoinette, we needed to make sure that this private estate wedding weekend set the tone of sophisticated luxury, pastel rock ‘n’ roll, and the opulence of Versailles.
For the first glimpse into this incredible 3-day affair, guests received soft blue mailer boxes lined with a classical mural of the heavens set into the base of each box and a custom butterfly crest letterpressed into mauve velvet paper on the inside of the lid.
Contained in each box was a regal scroll invitation tied with lilac-colored silk tassels and wrapped in sage green moiré fabric. Finished with vintage postage and flourished calligraphy, these invitations were the perfect beginning to a perfectly lavish weekend.
For accommodations, we offered for guests to stay onsite for the weekend at the Grooms' own glamping hotel, branded the ‘Captain’s Quarters’, named after the Grooms' beloved cat Captain.
The stay on the property was a special added experience…complete with a full concierge, 3 days of meals and snacks in a 24-hour canteen, a welcome s’mores party, and a grove of trees set with hammocks, twinkle lights, and yard games.
And as a special gift, each tent received French-inspired welcome baskets filled with pink lemonade, butter cookies, fresh oranges (inspired by the orangerie at Versailles), and dried lavender.
For their 50 person rehearsal dinner in the pool house, we transformed the normally-rustic space from floor to ceiling to maintain the Marie Antoinette-inspired design.
Leaning into the Grooms’ favorite colors, we paired 14’ mauve velvet draping with sage green velvet table linens. And in true Versailles fashion, we topped each table with the finest of 'table-jewelry'…fine china, pearl-handled silver service, crystal glassware, and for my favorite detail…mauve butterfly place cards, lovingly perched on the edge of each guest’s water goblet.
Since color was a very important part of their wedding, we opted to play with more pastel tones for the Grooms' suiting. Bespoke suits of lavender and sage stood out amongst the rest of the wedding party, who we dressed in neutral shades of tan and cream.
When one of the Grooms comes from a family who own an incredible construction business…your imagination is your limit. For M&V’s ceremony, Vincent’s family built the most beautiful custom large-scale wooden pergola on the edge of their pond overlooking the water and fountain.
Add a dash of floral magic by way of a grandiose candy-colored floral installation along with details such as white lace parasols, antique metal chairs, and the most gorgeous program fans you have ever seen, and our Parisian-inspired ceremony was complete.
Funny story about this life-size golden horse statue.
When designing M&V’s wedding, there were NO plans for a giant horse. But when you take your design-adventurous Grooms to rental showrooms where they can play and have fun, you might leave with a few extra things on your rental order than intended. Because there, found tucked in the corner of the showroom after our 3 hour appointment, was a nearly 7’ gold sparkly horse…and it was love at first sight.
So where do you put a giant horse statue in a Versailles-inspired reception tent? Elevated smack in the middle of the bar. And then you add a Kentucky-derby worthy flower collar because why not?
We named him Nigel. And he is now the unofficial mascot for M&V’s entire wedding and he will live in our hearts forever. And I will neither confirm nor deny, someone (or someones) might have climbed on his back at the end of the wedding.
Inspired by the coats of arms, family trees, and war-room maps of the European 1700s…the seating chart was a true honoring of two families joining together.
Complete with the real family crests of the Blackmer and Roncelli families at the top, we displayed a 7’ masterpiece featuring a hand-illustrated table tree (an easy way for guests to find their table placement inside the dining tent), and a scripted list of all 300 guests with their table assignments.
For M&V’s Versailles-inspired dinner, we created a dinner party fit for kings.
Set for just over 300 guests, six rows of long stately tables were set amongst a completely draped room of gathered champagne taffeta. Each table was draped in mauve velvet linen and set with hundreds of gold candelabras, gilded china, classic silver service, gold-rimmed glassware, and gold chairs.
Large silver urns of pastel florals were dotted down each table…and if one were to look hard enough, hidden in each arrangement were small faux birds, little nests with eggs, and white butterflies.
As we couldn’t let them (guests) eat cake only…as part of the table décor, 2’ tall croquembouche towers, macaron towers, and silver trays of petite raspberry tarts were placed on each table for guests to help themselves throughout the evening.
But the crowning jewel of the dinner had to be the custom 15’ diameter crystal chandelier hanging directly in the center of the space (which we promptly named ‘ Big Daddy’). Add a few smaller chandeliers as accents to the corners of the room and our palace was complete.
For that little bit of extra beyond extra, with the help of M&V’s internet sleuthing skills, we gathered photographs of each of their 300 guests…and one by one, our talented stationery designer, Erin Braun Design, transformed each picture into individual 18th century miniature portraits for guests to find their places for dinner and for a fun keepsake to remember the evening. Complete with gilded frames, calligraphed silk ribbon, and gold cording to tie them to each guests’ chair, these 'place cards' are a forever favorite detail.
When we decided to run wholeheartedly into this Marie Antoinette inspired celebration, we knew we would need to turn the dancing portion of M&V's wedding into a masquerade. After dinner, we supplied guests with masks, wigs, wings, a cigar roller flown in from Miami, and a surprise face painter to add designs to the guests’ wedding day looks. Complete with an incredible band and gelato cart for after-dinner sweets…the masked festivities went into the wee hours of the morning.
As the final surprise of the evening, the dinner tent was flipped into a late night casino, complete with customized card decks, ‘cash’ buy-in for each guest, and Chuck-E-Cheese-inspired prize counter.
