Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Whose Mirrored Table’s The Fairest Ya’ll?
Mirror mirror on the wall, whose mirrored table's the fairest ya'll?! That's right, a mirrored table! Now imagine bistro lights glinting off of it and your centerpieces reflecting back up at your guests all while they sit and celebrate in a gorgeous garden setting! Seriously, it'll be hard to top this lovely day!
You can see every last mirrored detail from this day and even some stellar shots of the stunning garden wedding ceremony in our full gallery here! And if you are in love with these photos be sure to check out Julie Kay Kelly Photography.
Dreaming Of Paris
From Julie Kay Kelly Photography: Enamored her entire life by art, Sarah found herself absolutely enraptured when Bart took her to Paris, where he would ask her to be his wife. The proposal turned out to be only one of Sarah's dazzling experiences there. The couple wandered from the Notre Dame Cathedral to the Sistene Chapel to the Louvre. Through the window of the couple's room at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sarah could see the sparkling Eiffel Tower. "I was just visually overstimulated the entire time," says Sarah. She knew immediately, she says, that she wanted to have a Parisian wedding. And while the couple decided to have their wedding physically take place in California wine country, Sarah envisioned a wedding that would allow her guests to stumble through beautiful courtyard into a magical, Parisian, garden.
Drawing inspiration from everything she had seen in France, Sarah crafted a wedding that wove together her favorite artistic themes: the medieval elegance of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Art Nouveau that she saw across La Ville-Lumière. Working with Kim Mills from The Pollen Mill, Sarah chose soft, muted fresh-from-the-garden feeling florals, soft upholstery, and amber and pink vintage glasses.
Making the right impression
Calistoga Ranch, nestled in a forested canyon, provided an ideal location for a magical garden setting. Guests entered the ceremony site by walking across a bridge onto a soft narrow lawn with a wooden arch flanked with billowing white fabric and wild florals. They traveled to the wine cave to enjoy cocktail hour, then re-emerged to the outdoors through a curtain entrance to the spellbinding dinner tablescape.For all the beauty Sarah created through her careful curation of elements atop the table, it was magnified ten-fold by her choice of a mirrored tabletop, which rendered like an impressionistic painting. The mirrored surface caught the market lights above, as well as the raising of the amber glasses, as Sarah and Bart's friends and family toasted to love, to Sarah and Bart, and to their new life together.
Tips on Staying Calm & Organized
From the Bride: Stay organized! Keeping receipts may become difficult but you can make and excel spreadsheet to help you keep your numbers in order. Your planner may have one for you that they can pass along and may be able to help input some of the numbers.
Be sure to mark your calendar and know when payments are due. Set reminders on you google calendar or whatever platform you prefer, it comes in handy. I also had all my emails in folders i.e. photographer, cake, reception, hotels, rehearsal dinner. This helped a lot and because it didn’t clutter up my inbox, which was a never ending battle, was a lifesaver.
The day of, I had several things go wrong but no one bothered me with it. Which was exactly how you would want it. I only found out later on speaking with my florist that my beautiful mirrored tables were cooking my flowers. She of course had backup flowers for those exact unpredictable moments and they were as good as new when I came to dinner.
- Cakes & Catering: Sweet On Cake
- Coordination: With Grace + Love Events
- Custom Signage: Patina Home & Garden
- Floral Design & Styling: The Pollen Mill
- Hair, Makeup & Beauty: Carrie Aldous
- Paper Goods & Calligraphy: Bluebird Paper Company
- Photo Lab: PhotoVision
- Photographers: Julie Kay Kelly
- Rentals: Encore Events Rentals
- Ring Boxes: The Mrs. Box
- Venues & Officiants: Calistoga Ranch
- Wedding Shoes: Christian Louboutin