DIY Wedding at Renbrook School
Growing up Whit always knew she wanted to get married at Renbrook School where her father worked. While a school is not a traditional wedding venue, the historical building holds many fond memories for this bride — and turned out to be very appropriate since both Mark and Whit worked in the field of education!
With the help of Sarah Taggart from A Polished Plan, the school was transformed into an unique wedding venue with DIY projects and colorful fabric. Don't miss any of the DIY touches in this wedding by viewing the full gallery here, all fabulously photographed by Anna Naphtali.
From A Polished Plan:I remember my first phone conversation with the bride, Whitney, vividly. She described the vision of her wedding day as lots of DIY touches, shabby chic details, colorful fabric & patterns and … oh yeah, the reception was going to be held in a school cafeteria. Huh? She was a little overwhelmed at the prospect of pulling together a beautiful wedding, while on a budget, inside a school cafeteria, and quite honestly — so was I. But her enthusiasm and energy were contagious, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a part of something so special and so unique.
On the Venue:
Originally founded under a different name, Renbrook School has been a working school in West Hartford, Connecticut since 1935. After out growing several buildings, the estate of Frederick B. Rentschler, founder of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, allowed the school to rent the family home on Albany Avenue. In 1958 the school moved to its new location and renamed itself 'Renbrook' after the original name of the Rentschler estate.
Whit is a lover of all things fabric and patterned and pretty so we used that as our jumping off point for the design. And even though the wedding was taking place at a school, and both Whitney & Mark worked professionally in the field of education, the "typical" school theme of vintage books and chalkboards was far from her their mind! The school cafeteria, where the reception was held, was quite literally a blank slate upon which to build our color story of robins egg blue and shades of pink. Using a neutral background of textured and earthy linens, we pulled pieces from Whit's colorful fabric collection into pennant flags, table numbers & runners, and embroidery hoop wall art
Fresh flowers from a local farm were casually arranged in milk glass and rustic wooden boxes for the centerpieces. Escort cards were strung on a vintage window atop a family heirloom quilt and place cards were cleverly stuck on colored paper straw in the water glass. We created a playful table arrangement using rectangular and circular tables, a large dance floor with a lounge area and dessert bar and installed grapevine wreaths, string lighting, and fabric swag treatments on the ceiling. The result was truly magical and you had to blink twice to remind yourself you were actually standing in a school cafeteria!
As you can see, embroidery hoops and fabric can be used in different ways to decorate your wedding. All that is needed to create this simple wall hanging for your wedding are embroidery hoops, fabric and string! You could even decorate the windows using lace to allow the light to shine through!
- Band: Ripcord
- Cakes & Catering: Sage Catering
- Flowers: Windham Gardens Farm
- Lighting: Social Decor
- Photographer: Anna Naphtali
- Rentals: Party Rental Ltd
- Venue: Renbrook School