social butterfly journal: All the World is a Stage

Okay, so it's the English teacher in me...or is it? This time it was pure fate that I crossed paths with Angie and Matt who have a background in theater and who had visions of a "Midsummer Night's Dream" Wedding. Really, they did. It just so happened that I had just finished competing in a tabletop competition (with Preston Bailey as the celebrity judge and a team that I put together of only the very best pros in town) and our table was...would you believe it: "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

I was fully prepped for this assignment and Angie (who is still one of my all-time favorite brides) saw this as a sign from the Universe...needless to say for those of you who really know me, that was ALL she had to say, I was in!

With the perfect venue: Deer Park Manor we created an event that used every inch of the venue space and stretched our imaginations to pull all of the very best aspects of our Shakespearean theme into 'play' (pun intended)...after all "all the world is a stage" right? I created a "ceremony in the round" for them, which frankly sounded great when I pitched it (and OF COURSE Angie loved it!) but then when my team and I went to actually set it up it was trickier than I thought.

Guests fanned themselves with handmade programs and wrote well-wishes to the couple and hung them on branches. Long feast-like tables adorned with jeweled-toned linens in moss, gold and burgundy flanked the outdoor tent. In the middle of each table was a lush bed of moss and other forest dwelling plants like ferns and mushrooms. Who else would we call on to create such a madrigal feast but Alexa from Lemley's Catering who brought a whole pig! Menu cards were hand stamped with a hot wax seal (I still have the scar to prove it) and napkins were casually gathered with grapevine at each place.

Oh, and I cannot forget the cake...one of Lisa Farkas' masterpieces for sure...it was right out of the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings with all of the tender forest flora the bride requested and it was on top of a very specially made cake plate which was made by the bride's uncle out of a tree trunk...