It’s the White Whale of celebrity relationships: a high-profile couple who managed—against all odds—to remain private. News of Alison Brie and Dave Franco’s engagement—after three years of dating in which they were rarely photographed and remained tight-lipped about their relationship—feels sweet and intimate, not flashy. Here, our nine favorite low-key couples.
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Beyond the red carpets of Hollywood and Cannes, the Met Gala on the East Coast, and black-tie events everywhere in between, some of the best-dressed moments of the year happened outside of the traditional celebrity arenas, unraveling in more intimate—and yet equally glorious—fashion down the aisle. So what did all these stylish nuptials have in common? A Valentino wedding dress of ethereal proportions. In fact, this summer, design duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli brought their magic touch to high-profile brides of every kind, from Hollywood A-listers to royalty.
Even before the warm months hit, there was Sofía Sanchez de Batek whose heavily embellished pearl Valentino couture dress required 1,800 hours to create, and was the ideal stunner for a New Year’s ceremony in Patagonia. Shortly thereafter, a pregnant Sophie Hunter opted for an intricate lace dress for her Valentine’s Day wedding to actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Featuring long sleeves and a high neckline, the floral-motif floor-length piece married a prim aesthetic with a modern silhouette.
It was this summer, however, that saw a parade of beautiful brides in creations by the Italian house. In early June, former Gucci creative director Frida Giannini married her longtime partner, Patrizio di Marco, in a bespoke dress that revealed hints of skin via clever panels at the neckline. Channeling the Old World glamour of Grace Kelly, Nicky Hilton wed James Rothschild in a dress that was fit for a princess. The demure design featured a distinct bodice with embellishments climbing to the neck and along the sleeves.
Chiuri and Piccioli also infused a sense of color and texture to Valentino’s romantic aesthetic this season. For her wedding in May, Vogue Communications and Marketing Manager Elizabeth Dishi wore a dress that combined meticulous lacework with a pared-back and sophisticated line, while Mollie Ruprecht’s reworked Sala Bianca dress balanced a modern ladylike look with classic influences through scallop-edged sleeves in lace. Adding a touch of color for her union to Pierre Casiraghi in Monaco was Beatrice Borromeo, whose blush pink frock was the picture of elegance against the coastal Mediterranean backdrop.
The post It’s Official: This Was the Summer of the Ethereal Valentino Bride appeared first on Vogue.
Nothing brings you down from a post-wedding high faster than being herded onto a plane with hoards of other honeymooners. Rethink that traditional trek to Hawaii or Paris and head to one of these more under-the-radar destinations. You’ll have an unforgettable experience without feeling as if you’ve stumbled onto the set of The Newlywed Game.
The post Unexpected Honeymoon Spots That Will Make You Rethink Your Plans appeared first on Vogue.
The Dutch masters–style florals that have dominated the scene of late were a welcome break from the rigid, pavé-style arrangements that came before. But perhaps it’s time for the pendulum to swing again in the floral world, ushering in a new wave of minimalism. Taylor Patterson of Fox Fodder Farm—no stranger to the lush look of the moment—is also championing this new, ikebana style. While her arrangements do not adhere to this traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement, she does enjoy the restraint that the emphasis on balance, imbalance, and structure forces on her creations.
“I love and appreciate the lush look, but it doesn’t excite me in the way these sparser and sometimes disjointed compositions do. I think it’s because in the end it’s harder to achieve,” says Patterson. “Flowers are inherently beautiful regardless of how we manipulate them, so one could argue that the more flowers there are, the more beautiful it is. I just don’t feel that way anymore.”
Above, Patterson shares five of her latest ikebana-style arrangements.
The post Minimal Flower Arrangements: The New Ikebana-Inspired Look appeared first on Vogue.
Wedding and registry trends may come and go, but the monogram—from elaborately scribed icons bordering on art to relatively austere single-letter imprints—has been a constant for generations. “In the nineteenth century, monograms were a sign of wealth,” writes Kimberly Schlegel Whitman in her new book, Monograms for the Home. “Fast-forward to the fifties, and technology and the sewing machine increased the popularity of monograms, as it was easy to add a mark of personalization to everything. In a time when so much of what we have is mass-produced, a monogram can make something unique while adding a touch of artistry.”
While some traditional “rules” of monograms (the husband’s monogram should grace the barware, while the wife’s should grace the bed linens) seem charmingly antiquated, some guidelines do bear repeating. Here, Whitman shares protocol for every stage:
SINGLE FEMALE
First, last, middle; with the center initial larger than the flanking initials.
Kimberly Jayne Schlegel = kSj
MARRIED FEMALE
First, last, maiden; with the center initial larger than the flanking initials.
Kimberly Schlegel Whitman = kWs
SINGLE OR MARRIED MALE
First, middle, last; with all initials being the same size.
James Robert Whitman = JRW
SINGLE-LETTER MONOGRAMS
Monograms for unmarried people are also often just the single first-name initial, allowing for the addition of surname initials at a later time.
ENGAGED COUPLES
Traditionally it is not appropriate for an engaged couple to use the last name before their wedding ceremony. Instead, use a duogram incorporating the couple’s first-name initials only. Once they are married, they may use the full combined initials.
MARRIED COUPLES
If you do want to create a duogram, the tradition of “ladies first” holds true. Use the wife’s first initial, the couple’s married last name in the center, and the husband’s first initial last.
Kimberly and Justin Whitman = kWj
Ready to make your mark? Here are fourteen beautiful and monogram-ready pieces:
The post Married Monogram Etiquette: What to Know Before You Register appeared first on Vogue.
Janklow & Nesbit Associates literary agent Luke Janklow and fine art photographer Xela Mandel met via email through Luke’s sister, Angela, and a mutual friend, Hillary Lindahl, on what was basically a blind date. “I was living in L.A. at the time and happened to be coming to New York in a few weeks,” explains Xela. “Luke sent me a lovely note, and we started communicating daily until I arrived. Then, we went out to dinner in the city and the rest is history. By the time dessert arrived, I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.” The two had been seeing each other for about six months when Luke proposed with a simple band in the ocean at Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos the day after Xela’s birthday.
The couple got engaged in October, found out Xela was pregnant in March (she’s due in November!), and got married on June 20 on the exact same beach where Luke proposed. “The ocean is so magical there and the feeling so calm—we wanted to have our closest friends and family in that setting,” says Xela. “And when we learned that Donna Karan’s incredible home was available, the whole thing just fell into place.” Wedding planner Michelle Rago helped make everything relatively effortless. “The aesthetic was very simple and natural,” says Xela. “Bare feet were practically mandatory!”
Xela originally had hoped to have Peter Copping create her dress. “I met with him and his team, and they were magical—but later that week my mom, Cydney, called and said, ‘This must be the week of wedding dresses because I just found mine, and I thought I had lost it.’ I am very sentimental and the thought of wearing my mother’s dress was just too special and rare to ignore,” explains Xela. “On my parents’ next visit to New York, we all took it out of its box together for the first time since 1967! When I put it on, it just felt so right and fit me perfectly. My mom and dad burst into tears.” The dress was originally designed by Cydney and her mother, and they had it made at Saks Fifth Avenue 48 years ago. Xela did her own makeup, and her hairstylist, Brittany King, flew in from Los Angeles to do everyone’s hair.
To complement the dress, Xela chose simple diamond studs and wore the JAR engagement ring Luke had made for her in the lead up to the wedding. “Luke knew that my dream was to have a JAR ring, so he cold emailed Joel Rosenthal, and they struck up a very funny conversation over the course of several months. Eventually, we went to Paris for a few days and had lunch with Joel and Pierre Jeannet, and at that lunch Joel casually mentioned that my ring was ready and instructed us to come to his shop in a couple of days. He is quite a showman and a brilliant artist with a wonderful heart. When he unveiled the ring, we were speechless.”
Meanwhile, Luke wore a linen suit made by Miller’s Oath and a vintage seventies gold Omega watch that Xela gifted him earlier that morning.
The ceremony took place in front of 75 guests on the beach at sunset. Xela walked along the sand with her father, and her mother joined them halfway as Page Hamilton—a close friend and the founder of the band Helmet—played “The Nearness of You” by Hoagy Carmichael, which segued into the “Wedding March.”
Afterward, guests congregated around the pool at Donna Karan’s house for a reception overlooking the ocean. The couple entered the party to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s version of “The Nearness of You,” and then dinner was served while Carter Van Pelt spun amazing reggae and soul. After dessert, everyone moved to the beach for a dance party that was commandeered by DJ Select. Luke performed the Flamingos’s song “I Only Have Eyes for You” with Page Hamilton. “At the end of the night, friends convened around a bonfire on the beach,” remembers Xela. “And Luke initiated the release of the first of many wish lanterns into the perfect Parrot Cay sky.”
The post Luke Janklow and Xela Mandel’s Wedding in Turks and Caicos appeared first on Vogue.
I entered 1990 ferocious and proud: a thirteen-year-old eighth-grader in Dr. Martens boots, reeking of Escape perfume and scribbling the lyrics to “Live to Tell” on my Trapper Keeper. I loved writing letters to my pen pals from tennis camp, the movie Ghost, and Christian Slater. I exited that very same decade a 23-year-old editorial assistant with a padded bra, Seven jeans, and very thin eyebrows, humbled by my new postcollege life. I loved preparing for Y2K, my AOL dial-up connection, and watching the heroic plight of Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry. In between, I smoked lots of pot, read (and reread) Prozac Nation, and ruined many a flannel shirt crying my eyes out over Kurt Cobain.
It was a wild decade. I often catch myself staring into space and mourning the once-upon-a-time pre-Internet years when my interpersonal life was dependent on leaving answering machine messages and having to ask people, “What have you been up to?” instead of just stalking them on social media. I was a long way off from marriage (in fact, it would take another eleven years of casual hookups for a ring to finally appear on my finger), although I did, through a cloudy, bubblegum haze of Winston Lights and Spice Girls, admire the nuptials of the rich, cool, and fabulous from afar. Here are some of my favorites:
Julia Roberts
Betcha forgot about this one. Fresh off her shocking breakup with Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts married Lyle Lovett, ten years her senior—only three weeks after meeting. The couple gave guests 72 hours’ notice to get to tiny Marion, Indiana, where the couple married in a church in the middle of nowhere. As it was in the midst of Lovett’s summer tour, Roberts got on stage later that night in her $2,000 white Comme des Garçons size-small satin dress that Lovett bought himself, announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, my husband . . . Lyle Lovett.” They kissed and the crowd went wild. Lovett said back, “Welcome to the happiest day of my life.”
Stella Tennant
Stella Tennant, granddaughter of Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, married French photographer David Lasnet in her hometown of Oxnam, Scotland, in 1999. Although Tennant is royalty by blood, her wedding was conspicuously absent of anything ornate: Vows were exchanged in a plain church with clear windows and pine pews. Tennant herself, clad in a streamlined Helmut Lang dress and barely there makeup, was the picture of understated elegance. Fast-forward to present day—Lasnet is an osteopath, Tennant was the recent face of Pringle of Scotland, and together they have four children (along with a black Lab named Quill).
Jerry Hall
Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall met in 1976 at a party, where the rock star immediately became smitten with the blonde then-20-year-old model. Hall soon left Bryan Ferry for Jagger and the two legends started dating in 1977. They married thirteen years later in an unofficial Balinese ceremony (which would later come to bite her in the ass when Jagger got the marriage annulled, despite rumors that he had already started his wandering ways with Eric Clapton’s then-girlfriend Carla Bruni). The bride wore a white lace minidress by Antony Price and the groom a yellow suit. After an intense and tumultuous relationship, the couple’s common-law marriage ended in 1999.
Kirsty Hume
The leggy blonde beauty married actor, model, and documentary filmmaker Donovan Leitch at Luss Parish Church on the banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland in 1997 after meeting at a nightclub. (Guests included Stella McCartney and Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz.) Hume wore an ivory satin brocade gown by Arkivestry and a coronet headpiece of amethyst, and her five attendants dressed in period-style dresses in lavender, the color of the local heaths. The groom wore a tartan kilt and, in true Scotsman fashion, went, he says, “the full monty underneath.” They have since filed for divorce.
Victoria Beckham
After spotting her on television, soccer star David Beckham claimed “it felt straightaway like we’d always been meant to be together.” The enviable Posh and Becks finally met in 1997 at a charity football match, a couple years after her breakup from Corey Haim. Two years and baby boy Brooklyn later, the couple married at the 560-acre Luttrellstown Castle, on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. The bride arrived at the castle in a vintage burgundy Bentley. Only 29 guests were in attendance for the vows. The room was decorated in rose petals and silver birch trees, and in true Posh fashion, Victoria made her grand entrance in a champagne strapless Vera Wang gown, an 18-karat-gold tiara, and Rachel from Friends hairdo. Two hundred and thirty people joined later to celebrate at a lavish reception. Needless to say, the Spice Girls were all in attendance.
Stephanie Seymour in “November Rain”
In 1991, Stephanie Seymour, the then-girlfriend of Axl Rose, appeared as a bride in the “November Rain” video wearing a cinched cupcake dress, froufrou veil, and slutty garter. The wedding took place in a New Mexico chapel, and featured Slash, inexplicably wandering shirtless through a desert wearing a crucifix and cowboy boots, playing an extremely emo guitar solo. The whole thing ended with Seymour lying dead in a casket covered with lilies and Rose playing a wild emo piano ballad. The couple broke up in 1993 after Rose accused Seymour of being unfaithful; later that year, he sued her for withholding more than $100,000 worth of jewelry.
Carolyn Bessette
Never was there a more foxy bride. Clad in a pearl-colored silk crepe floor-length gown, hand-rolled tulle silk veil, and long silk gloves by Narciso Rodriguez, the then-fiancé of John F. Kennedy Jr. walked down an aisle lit with candles and kerosene lamps and strewn with rose petals to “Amazing Grace” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” sung a cappella in the Brack Chapel on Cumberland Island in Georgia. She carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley, and he wore his father’s wristwatch, along with a boutonniere of cornflowers. My heart is breaking just typing this.
Cindy Crawford
In 1998, the ultimate hot bod nineties fox got married to nightclub mogul Rande Gerber barefoot on Cabbage Beach in the Bahamas. She chose a simple John Galliano slip dress and had it lined because it was so sheer. She claimed she “also had a Valentino dress I loved, but in the end I wore the Galliano. Rande liked it better because it was shorter.” Gerber also wanted a short ceremony. The minister, eschewing traditional vows, asked Crawford what she needed to hear to feel married. She replied, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” It clearly worked, as the couple are still together seventeen years later and have two kids, Presley and Kaia.
Kate Winslet
Fresh off her Titanic fame, Kate Winslet married film director Jim Threapleton after meeting him on the set of Hideous Kinky. She was immediately drawn to him: “I arrived and saw this rather glorious-looking blond boy with fantastic blue eyes, and I just went, ‘Shit,’ because I knew that was it and there was nothing either of us could do about it.” She was the epitome of Edwardian chic in her custom hand-beaded lace Alexander McQueen gown. The couple had a low-key ceremony at her church in Reading, England, and guests later feasted on bangers and mash. The two had a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton, in 2000 but divorced shortly thereafter in 2001. Winslet is now on her third marriage to Ned Rocknroll.
Iman
After being introduced at a dinner party in 1990, it was love at first sight for David Bowie, but the supermodel took some convincing. Bowie proposed under the Pont Neuf bridge, and after officially getting married in a private civil ceremony in Switzerland, the couple had a small but celebrity-packed (think Yoko Ono and Bono) wedding in Florence. Iman wore an epic, skintight, oyster-color bandage halter dress with a long train designed by Herve Leger. She accessorized with diamond-and-pearl drop earrings and ivory silk opera gloves and carried a cascading bouquet of white starburst lilies. The bride said later of the look, “I wanted something very simple, elegant, no frills, no fashion, no gimmicks. Something that would outlast anything.” And it did. Bowie asked friend Thierry Mugler to do a custom take on the traditional tails for his tuxedo. She walked down the aisle to a Bulgarian folk song, “Kalimankou Denkou.” The couple have been married for 23 years.
The post Carolyn Bessette, Cindy Crawford, Jerry Hall: Flashback to the Best ’90s Brides appeared first on Vogue.
It was 20 hours to the wedding, and I knelt on the floor of my Brooklyn apartment beneath a rumbling AC unit, frantically fanning a 14-inch pan of white cake. This was to be my best friend’s wedding cake. And I, its unlikely baker. The day had passed in a haze of Swans Down. Now here I was, clock ticking, Band-Aids on my forearms, and five of eight cakes still yet to be baked. I’d barely pulled this one from the oven in time.
Mountain climbing’s Mt. Everest. Bicycling’s Tour de France. Tennis’s Wimbledon. Every pursuit has its pinnacle. For the home baker, it may just be the wedding cake. For me it was. I’ve loved to bake since jamming my first fistful of flour into an Easy-Bake Oven. So when my childhood best friend began planning her wedding, asking guests to contribute something personal to the intimate ceremony, I knew my die had been cast. By God, I would bake the wedding cake.
My qualifications? For one, I own an oven and pay my gas bill. And while my baking repertoire consists only of a serviceable single-tiered cake for the occasional birthday, I do possess a will to learn. I started at ground zero: Google, hoarding recipes, video tutorials, and Pinterest photos into an enormous folder. The volume was comforting, the content was not. Beneath all of the Internet’s “easy,” step-by-step guides, was a comment section wherein lay a dark sub-narrative—of brides late for their ceremony, hopelessly piping melting frosting, of gorgeous flowers lacing cakes with poisonous pesticide residue, of the cakes that scorched or sunk or smashed on the kitchen floor at the feet of some luckless baker who started out just like me.
“Oh, my God. You’re so crazy,” said Betsy Thorleifson, founder of Brooklyn’s Nine Cakes studio. She eyed me with the kind of respect you reserve for nervous animals whose potential for erratic movement requires keeping a distance. Betsy bakes dreamily perfect cakes that look more akin to a Pixar creation than to anything you make from flour. Her bakery, which she opened without any professional training, produces the borough’s most delicious and desired sweets (the fact that she’s signed nondisclosures should hint to her caliber of clientele). I was sure if anyone could help me it was Betsy. “When people first asked me if I did wedding cakes I said ‘No, that sounds stressful. It’s someone’s big day,’ ” said Betsy, prompting the onset of a vague nausea that would accompany me through to the cake cutting. “I never bake at home. I can’t even imagine. Especially a cake for 200.” Gripping the tabletop where we sat in her sunny Cobble Hill storefront, I leveled with Betsy. “Ultimately,” she conceded, “if you start with a trusted recipes and follow the directions it should go smoothly.” With a rigorously tested recipe in mind, I passed Betsy’s first criterion. “Having the right tools, like a turntable, a good serrated knife, an offset spatula, and a bench scraper would make it easier,” she further proffered. Betsy’s final advice? “I guess fake it till you make it?” I could do that.
It was around 1:00 a.m. when my co-chef, my mom, arrived. “Please watch the videos,” I pleaded as she lugged her baggage up the staircase, bleary-eyed from a cross-country flight. I had emailed her The Folder. After a dreamless sleep, the sun rose and we began, hitting the oven with the swiftness of a special ops midnight raid. We measured and leveled each cup and teaspoon, barely breathing until we slid it onto the rack and set the timer. From there, confidence waned, blood sugar plummeted, and the heavy-handled whisk repeatedly fell out of the frosting bowl and onto the floor—cools were lost. But, one by one, we baked each cake, mixing frosting and cooking curd while the pans were in the oven. Eighteen hours and thirteen pounds of butter later, we shut off the oven.
White Wedding Cake
Adapted from Cook’s Country
This recipe will yield two 8- to 9-inch layers, which is suitable for a middle tier. For a top tier of 6 inches, adjust volumes to 2/3. For a bottom tier of 12 inches, you’ll need to quadruple this recipe. Because the capacity of your mixer may not allow for that volume, you can double the recipe, mixing the batter for each of the two 12-inch pans separately. Mix only enough batter for the cakes that will be going directly into the oven. (If excess batter sits around, the leavening agents could fizzle out.)
Note: Reserve the egg yolks left behind in this recipe if you plan on making a curd.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting pans
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups (12 1/4 ozs.) sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
12 T unsalted butter, softened but still cool
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch or three 8-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pans. Wrap pans with dampened insulating strips.
2. Mix milk, egg whites, and vanilla together in 2-cup measuring cup. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined, about 5 seconds. Add butter, one piece at a time, and mix until only pea-size pieces remain, about 1 minute.
3. Add half of milk mixture, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium-low, add remaining milk mixture, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds (batter may look slightly curdled). Give batter final stir by hand.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth tops with rubber spatula. Bake until tops are light golden and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, rotating pans halfway through baking. (See baking times below.) Let cakes cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on rack, about 2 hours, then wrap in plastic and store in the freezer.
Baking times:
6-inch: 16 to 20 minutes
8-inch: 18 to 22 minutes
9-inch: 20 to 24 minutes
12-inch: 35 to 45 minutes
Vanilla Bean Buttercream
This frosting will coat and fill a three-tier cake with a bottom tier of 12 inches and a top of 6 inches. You will need to halve or quarter the recipe to suit the capacity of your mixer, preparing in batches.
Adapted from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum (William Morrow & Co., 1988)
Yield: 8 cups
Ingredients
24 large egg yolks
3 cups sugar
2 cups corn syrup
8 cups unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup pure vanilla bean paste (not extract or flavoring)
Instructions
1. Grease with butter a heatproof glass measuring cup near the range.
2. In a bowl, beat the yolks with an electric mixer until light in color.
3. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan (preferably with a nonstick lining) and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a rolling boil. (The entire surface will be covered with large bubbles.) Immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measuring cup to stop the cooking.
4. If using an electric handheld mixer, beat the syrup into the yolks in a steady stream. Don’t allow syrup to fall on the beaters or they will spin it onto the sides of a bowl. If using a stand mixer, pour a small amount of syrup over the yolks with the mixer turned off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Stop the mixer and add a larger amount of syrup. Beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup. For the last addition, use a rubber scraper to remove the syrup clinging to the glass measure. Continue beating until completely cool.
5. Gradually beat in the butter and vanilla bean paste. Place in an airtight bowl. Bring to room temperature before using.
Passion Fruit Curd
Yield: Approximately 2 cups
Ingredients
8 large egg yolks
1/2 cup 100 percent passion fruit juice (beware of juice cocktails)
1 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
10 T unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
Instructions
1. Combine egg yolks, passion fruit juice, and sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan; whisk to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (be sure to scrape the sides of the pan), until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and set, at least 1 hour.
Assembly
1. Start with the largest cakes, which will comprise the bottom tier. Place one onto a cardboard round and rest it on your turner. Coat it with a thin layer of frosting (a crumb coat).
2. Pipe a thick snake of frosting around the perimeter of the cake, creating a wall to keep in filling.
3. Spoon a quarter-inch-thick layer of curd on the surface of the cake.
4. Pipe a tight swirl of buttercream on top of the curd, moving from the outside edge to the inside.
5. Press raspberries (or any fruit) onto the surface. You want fruit in every bite of cake, but not so much that it displaces all the frosting.
6. Take your second large cake and place it on top of the first. Cover the entire tier with a thin coat of frosting, shoring up any spillage of filling.
7. Cover loosely with plastic and place in freezer or refrigerator.
8. Repeat with the middle and top tiers.
9. Allow tiers to set up in freezer/refrigerator overnight.
10. When you’re ready to assemble, place your bottom tier onto a sturdy presentation board, which could be a round of heavy cardboard, wood, or something more decorative.
11. Lay the middle-sized cardboard round on top of the bottom tier. Mark its dimensions so you can see where the next tier will lay, then remove it.
12. Measure the height of the bottom tier and cut five wooden dowels to length. Plunge them into the cake inside the perimeter of the area that you marked. The dowels will support the next tier.
13. Take the middle tier of the cake and place it on its cardboard round.
14. Repeat the doweling process for the middle tier and place it on top of the bottom tier.
15. Put the smallest tier onto its cardboard round and place it on top of the cake.
16. Once all three tiers are stacked, take one very long dowel and sharpen it well with a pencil sharpener. Measure the height of the cake and cut the dowel to length. It should be a quarter-inch shorter than the cake. Find the center of the top of the cake and fearlessly plunge the dowel through the entire cake, cardboard and all. The sharpened tip will allow it to pass through.
17. Coat the cake in another layer of frosting, starting at the top tier and working downward, smoothing everything over with the offset spatula and bench scraper, hiding the dowel hole.
18. Decorate however you like. A few fresh flowers may be all you need.
The Essential Tools
The post Baking a Friend’s Wedding Cake? A Vogue Editor Takes On the DIY Challenge appeared first on Vogue.
Vogue Social Editor Chloe Malle and Graham Albert met through mutual friend Hussein at an Ethiopian New Year’s dinner at Zoma, an Ethiopian restaurant in Harlem. The two dated for four and a half years before Graham proposed on New Year’s Day in 2014 while they were visiting Santa Barbara on a weekend trip. “I was cranky,” admits Chloe. “So he was nervous and kind of scared of me and just kept it really simple while we were taking a walk in the evening before dinner. He said, ‘I have a question. I think we should get married.’ And my first response was, ‘That’s not a question!’ I know I’m a brat, but I’m an editor—what do you want from me? Then I said, ‘Oh wow, this is happening.’ I don’t think I ever actually said ‘yes,’ there was no need. He brought the ring out of his pocket in a Kleenex—a detail that makes my mother [Candice Bergen] shudder and yell, ‘A KLEENEX!’ every time she hears it.”
Chloe never had preconceived grand plans for her big day. “Before we got engaged, and for several months afterward, the idea of a wedding really stressed me out,” she admits. “Where to have it, who to invite, how to make it personal and actually enjoy it. I couldn’t get my mind around it. The only thing I knew I wanted was to wear Valentino white lace espadrilles, but other than that I had nothing!”
After the initial overwhelming days following Graham’s proposal, she realized that the only place she would really feel completely comfortable and happy getting married was Le Coual, her father, Louis Malle’s house in Southwestern France. “It is a sixteenth-century stone manor house that my father bought almost 50 years ago when it was completely derelict and had last been used during World War II as a Resistance hideout,” she explains. “He restored it beautifully and loved being there more than any place in the world. I grew up spending every summer there and the minute I turn down the driveway my heart leaps—I get so excited, it’s a visceral reaction, I just love being there more than anything. When my father died, he left the house to me and my two half-siblings. They both live in Paris with their families and our time together in Le Coual each summer is sometimes the only time we spend together all year. For the past several summers, Graham has been coming to Le Coual with me, and during his first trip he seamlessly blended into the fabric of the house and its occupants—this was one of the first times I really imagined spending the rest of our lives together. When I suggested we get married in Le Coual, he was thrilled.”
Chloe and Graham both knew that it would have to be small though—“Like really small,” says Chloe. “My mother and father got married there 35 years ago, and they had thirteen guests!” The only way for them to make it work was to have a party in New York with their extended family and friends and treat that like the traditional wedding reception—and then have the event at Le Coual for just a handful of their closest friends and immediate family. “Originally, I thought we’d have a party in New York after the wedding, but my mother was so eager for us to get married immediately that our compromise was to do a big engagement party in New York that felt like a wedding and then get married the following summer in Le Coual. It ended up being the perfect solution because the actual wedding in France was small enough that Graham and I were both able to really enjoy ourselves,” says Chloe.
The two visual references Chloe used as inspiration for the wedding were Valentino lace espadrilles and the annual fetes that the local villages all have once a year in their main square, called un bal champêtre. “There are always long picnic tables with strings of round bulb lights overhead,” she explains. “I wanted it to be country chic or ‘paysan chic’ as Graham described the dress code on our website which he made. The goal was for the celebration to feel comfortable and lively and true to the region but sort of a stylized version, thus the Valentino espadrilles!”
For Chloe, finding a dress was the easiest part of the process. “I was convinced I wanted a vintage dress, a Victorian lace tea dress—but then in the spring of 2014, soon after I had gotten engaged, I was absently scrolling through photos of Oscar de la Renta’s 2015 Bridal show and the first look was the prettiest, simplest, loveliest wedding dress I had ever seen,” remembers Chloe. “It was exactly what I wanted for a French country wedding, it looked like the dress Belle from Beauty and the Beast might wear if she ended up marrying Gaston in her village instead of the Beast. I immediately emailed Erika Bearman at Oscar de la Renta and asked her about the dress. It turned out they weren’t producing it, but it had been Oscar’s favorite dress of the show, which of course made my heart melt, and it turned out to be Oscar’s last bridal collection. Thanks to Erika I ended up wearing the sample and having it altered—obviously, I’m vertically challenged—and I couldn’t have been happier.”
The shoes were another story. Chloe had already purchased the Valentino espadrilles she’d been eyeing, but when she tried them on with the dress, they competed a bit with the simplicity and crispness of the dress’s broderie anglaise. So, her mother ordered white satin ballet slippers and had them custom dyed to match a periwinkle grosgrain ribbon from M&J Trimming so the ribbon could hold her bouquet and the shoes could serve as her something blue. Then Chloe found a gorgeous pair of antique emerald and diamond dragonfly earrings on 1stdibs that she and her mother fell in love with. “My mom bought them for me as a wedding gift and my ‘something new’—I was thrilled,” she says. “They were the only jewelry I wore for the wedding besides my engagement ring and later my wedding band. The dragonflies were the perfect size and the green of the emeralds was so vibrant it really felt like the perfect touch for a country wedding outdoors.”
With the addition of the earrings, it quickly became clear that the blue ballet slippers no longer worked though. Luckily, Chloe’s mother found a pair of fuchsia satin Christian Louboutin espadrilles that were the perfect fun pop of color and worked well with the earrings. “But it was a lot of pop, so the jury was still out!” jokes Chloe.
Two weeks before the wedding, Chloe was going through a box in the back of a closet at home and almost eerily came upon the little white leather ballet slippers that her mother wore for her wedding. It was serendipity. “She had had lace appliqués sewn onto the top of the toe box, and they were so pretty and delicate I felt like there was no way I couldn’t wear them,” says Chloe. “There was my something old! I ended up wearing both the Valentino and Christian Louboutin espadrilles throughout the wedding weekend too, and they were a big hit.”
When it came down to planning the nitty-gritty of the wedding weekend, the logistics weren’t simple. The location of Le Coual is very remote. “It is truly La France profonde, as they say, and someone local doing my hair and makeup wasn’t really an option. I also didn’t love the idea of making a huge fuss about that since the other aspects of the wedding were so relaxed and low-key,” she explains. “I asked my friend Suzy Gerstein, who is a wonderful editorial makeup artist, for a tutorial before I left for France, and I studiously practiced all the tips and tricks she showed me and filled my arsenal with the tools I would need. I didn’t want to wear a lot of makeup anyway, so it ended up being the perfect solution. I had a whole pipe dream that my mother and I were going to go to the Braid Bar at John Barrett and get a braiding tutorial and then she could just do my hair for the wedding, but whenever I relayed this brilliant plan to people, they convinced me it was a recipe for disaster. And when I told Vogue.com Beauty Director Catherine Piercy about it, she diplomatically asked, ‘Is your mom particularly good at braiding hair? Or doing hair?’ My response? ‘Hmm. Well, no, she’s not, but it just sounded like a good idea.’ Catherine swiftly put me in touch with a member of Guido Palau’s team, Andre Cueto Saavedra, in Paris, and the rest was easy. Andre came down on the train Friday night and went back on Saturday right after he finished doing my mom’s and my hair. And boy, was it worth it. I wanted my hair back and braided loosely with some wildflowers nestled in and that’s exactly what I got but so much prettier and more lyrical than I imagined.”
Gyl Crayssac, the mayor of Lugagnac, the local village which has a population of 100 people, married Chloe and Graham in a civil ceremony inside the town hall. “The town hall is one small room that fit about 40 people standing, and it is the same room where my mother and father were married,” says Chloe. “I really wanted to be married in France—I didn’t want it to be a ‘fake wedding.’ The mayor counted Le Coual as my French residence, so we were able to do that, plus a lot of paperwork! My sister and Graham’s sister were our two witnesses, and the four of us signed about 500 French legal documents before the ceremony was over.”
After the civil ceremony, which lasted about 20 minutes, the couple went down the hill to the village square and shared a champagne toast with everyone in the village. “The village is really small, and we know everyone—a wedding is a big event so this was a nice way to include people, and it felt very festive.”
Guests then either walked or drove the kilometer back to the house for cocktail hour in the front garden. “People were very excited about the local foie gras,” laughs Chloe. “My father loved Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, as do I, and so we found a trio that could play their music. It was important to me that there be notes of my father in different parts of the wedding.”
The group moved to the other side of the house for dinner, which was in the walled-in garden behind the kitchen where the family usually has all their meals. “I wanted the evening to be a chic version of a bal champêtre, or a country village picnic, so we found these vintage bistro chairs and the plates are actually painted tin by a wonderful place in Paris called Au Bain Marie,” says Chloe. “I probably spent the most time on planning the tables. I looked at different fabrics for the tablecloths for months and finally decided on this lovely Carolina Irving stripe print in grass green and had it made into giant tablecloths. Our florist, Zeste, from nearby Montauban, did a great job working with my directions to make it very lively and natural using wildflowers and vintage vessels and vases. We strung strings of lights with large round bulbs like they always have at the village fetes.”
The couple used a local caterer who owns a restaurant in the closest town, Cahors. “We served everything family style and had a variety of local vegetable appetizers and then duck for the main course,” says Chloe. “Dessert is very important to me, and the French don’t really do wedding cakes, so we had a big dessert table instead and served a variety of fruit tarts, chocolate mousse, and clafoutis.”
Chloe’s half-sister; her best friend, Jackie; her uncle; Graham’s best friend, Brett; and the couple’s mutual friend Hussein all gave toasts. And then after dinner, Chloe changed into a short Alberta Ferretti dress for dancing and wore her Valentino lace espadrilles since her mother’s ballet slippers were a size too big. “I saw the dress on the runway last spring and fell in love,” remembers Chloe. “I can’t wait to wear it again.” After dessert, everyone walked across the property to the old barn, which the DJ, James Nanobox, and the couple’s wedding coordinator, Heather Jerue, had turned into a disco. “We didn’t have a first dance, but I really wanted to start the night off with Motown, so I asked the DJ to play Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours’ when we walked in, which felt appropriate! We had a man come and make crepes outside the barn starting at 1:00 a.m.—I had three. And then, we danced until 3:00 a.m. at which point the shuttle bus drivers got cranky and wanted to go home, so we had to round everyone up. It ended up being good to finish on a high note while everyone was still having a great time.”
The post Vogue Social Editor Chloe Malle and Graham Albert’s Wedding in Southwestern France appeared first on Vogue.
You’re in the middle of the Black Rock Desert. The sun is rising, your favorite dance song is playing, and you’re staring deep into the eyes of the love of your life. The two of you decide then and there to get married, because, why not? It’s Burning Man! Aren’t you supposed to get carried away in the moment? Carpe diem!
You would think Burning Man would be the place of all places where one could have an über-romantic, impromptu wedding. But in reality, a Burning Man wedding does need to factor in a little planning. For those legitimately hoping to tie the knot amongst EDM ravers, monumental art sculptures, and miles and miles of desert, a marriage license still needs to be secured beforehand. (Burning Man’s website explains how to do this easily.) And while one of the festival rules is that no money should ever exchange hands, future brides and grooms still have to pony up $60, per couple, to the state of Nevada to get their license—that’s one thing festivalgoers can’t barter their way out of.
Those who have been bestowed the honor of performing a marriage ceremony at Burning Man also need to arrange for additional certification as well. Like any other marriage officiant, the couple’s friend, yogi, spiritual guide, or life coach performing the ceremony also needs to be ordained in order for a Burning Man wedding to be legal. The quickest way to do this is to go to the Universal Life Church Monastery’s website.
If you think all this paperwork goes against the very spirit of Burning Man, you’re not alone. Many couples who do choose to get married at the playa end up ignoring all the rules, ultimately bestowing more importance on the spirituality of the ceremony than on the validity of it. For instance, repeat Burners Alejandro and Natalia, who first went to Black Rock in 2013 and eventually got married there the next year, ignored the legal process completely. After they got engaged in early 2014, Alejandro began planning a surprise ceremony for them at the festival. While he prepared a speech in advance and told several friends about the event, he worried little about getting a license or even ordaining the friend he chose to preside over the ceremony. “We officially got married there in our point of view,” he says of their wedding. “Even if a few months after, we had another nonreligious, legal ceremony, the one in Burning Man was more relevant in our eyes.”
In 2014, Laura, another repeat Burner, was also presented with the idea of a Burning Man marriage from her then-boyfriend as a sort of joke. “We picked a random time and called a mutual friend to marry us,” she explains. “We ended up heading to the temple and having a small ceremony at 10:00 a.m.”
Even though the possibilities for a ceremony location for those betrothed at Burning Man are endless, several Burners tend to favor the temple, aka the festival’s spiritual destination, which is updated every year. “Since the temple is always open, there are always people doing some sort of religious ceremony in there,” says Laura. Many also regard the temple as the all-knowing entity of Burning Man. “Our friend Pietro, who married us, went there to look for inspiration,” explains Alejandro. “During the ceremony, Pietro shared with us that he had spoken to the playa inside the temple and that the playa had approved of this union.”
There are other couples who prefer to get hitched beneath one of Burning Man’s larger-than-life art installations, such as last year’s 72-foot-tall wooden sculpture, Embrace, by Matt Schultz. Aside from providing an incredible backdrop for the wedding photos, choosing a highly visible gathering point makes it easier for guests, who have no access to phones or Wi-Fi at the festival, to actually find the ceremony. It’s not unusual for someone at Burning Man to get lost amongst the more than 60,000 attendees and frequent dust storms that take place in the Nevada desert.
As for Alejandro and Natalia, they wanted to avoid the raving crowds for their intimate wedding ceremony and ended up choosing to get married at the edge of Burning Man’s campsite, where the mountains are visible from afar and only miles and miles of desert lay ahead. “For me, that’s one of the most special and beautiful places at Burning Man,” Alejandro recalls. They ended up getting married at sunset surrounded by friends, who were all dressed for the occasion in elaborate costumes and tunics. As for when they’ll return? “Natalia said she wanted to come back every single year,” he says. “Even when we have kids.”
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When you’ve overseen hundreds of weddings that crisscross the globe, whittling down thousands of flower arrangements, invitations, venues, and the constant flurry of inspiration to just one set of favorites can be a herculean task. But we nevertheless asked Jung Lee, event planner and founder of her eponymous registry destination to craft her fantasy beach wedding. Lee delivered in predictably grand fashion. Here, she takes guests to Majorca, Spain.
“I am loving Majorca,” she says. “The architectural details and the influence from Moorish and North African cultures make the environment so rich and warm.” But rather than a white-sand wedding, Lee would opt for the Cap Rocat hotel—a former military fortress surrounded by a nature reserve of beaches and crystal-clear Mediterranean waters—for a sunset ceremony on the terrace with panoramic views of the bay of Palma.
Guests would arrive to delicate Spanish guitar music—“It’s so romantic!” says Lee—and vintage Spanish fans. “They’ll stave off the summer heat, look great, and double as favors,” says Lee. Look for good options at Flamenco Export. Moroccan-style white lanterns would mark the walkway and cast a beautiful glow on the bride’s Monique Lhuillier Spring 2016 Kasey dress and a sweeping mantilla veil.
Post-ceremony, guests would pass through a hall lined in Mediterranean tiles calligraphed with the guests’ names and seating assignments. “These should look like they’ve been in place forever,” says Lee. “The tables would be set with simple, organic floral arrangements in polished silver-footed urns. Like a Dutch still-life painting,” she says. “I’d incorporate different olive leaves, some silver gray in color, with ferns, echeveria, and gorgeous garden roses, peonies, and ranunculus.”
“I always prefer using a fantastic live band that can do all genres, mixed in with a phenomenal DJ like D-Nice or DJ Bas from the Netherlands,” says Lee. And for feet worn out from dancing, she would forgo the typical sandals for custom espadrilles from the Espadrille Store. A large, dark reflecting pool would be flanked by containers of shiny new coins for guests to use to make wishes for the newlyweds, and she would cap off the evening with fireworks over the Mediterranean. “I like to create an orchestrated journey during the fireworks,” says Lee. “Starting with an amazing operatic experience with Plácido Domingo, leading somewhere contemporary with Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full of Stars’—I particularly like the Hardwell remix—and lastly changing up the mood with some classic rock like ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ by the Rolling Stones.”
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Wedding planner Ginny Au found herself at a wedding in rural France when she realized the ribbon for the bouquet had not arrived. Rather than do without, Au turned to her stepmother, Heather Cowie—an artist who has been hand-dyeing silk since the late ’80s to use in her mixed-media works—and fashioned her own ribbons by tearing long strips from the dyed silk. The result was so beautiful that the two decided to go into business together and create these one-of-a-kind ribbons.
Their company, Froufrou Chic, offers hand-cut and frayed-silk ribbons in several widths, and each order arrives wound on a charming wooden spool. The frayed edges add a bespoke quality and lightness to the ribbon, but also make it feel incredibly soft. There are more than 20 hand-dyed colors available—many with evocative names like Cocon Fonce or Nuages De Néige—each the result of blends of several pigments. The duo also takes custom color requests and sells groupings of coordinated ribbons in different colors and widths, all meant to be tied en masse to bridal bouquets and left to billow in the breeze.
The post Stunning Hand-Dyed Ribbon for Your Bridal Bouquet appeared first on Vogue.
Ariel Dearie—the creative director of Ariel Dearie Flowers, a floral studio that she founded that specializes in arrangements for weddings and photo shoots and has worked with brands like Dior, Prada, and Bulgari—met Andrew Simkiss, partner at Acres New York, a film production agency, on Halloween in 2012. “It was the week of Hurricane Sandy, and Andrew was sleeping on his friend Seth’s couch in Williamsburg,” explains Ariel. “The storm had knocked out the power at his East Village apartment, and we were both brought to this ‘fake house’ party by friends—a full suburban house built into a warehouse as an art installation, complete with food in the fridge and clothing in the drawers.” The two met in the “kitchen,” and Andrew pretended that he needed flowers for a nonexistent film project as a ploy to get Ariel’s number. “I suggested that we just get a drink instead,” deadpans Ariel.
The couple had been dating for a little over two years when Andrew proposed. “After going out for dinner in our neighborhood, Andrew made an excuse to lead me down a nearby street,” remembers Ariel. “He took me to the wine bar where we went on our first date and proposed outside, under the same tree where we had our first kiss.”
The couple originally planned to get married in New Orleans, where Ariel is from, but all of the venues they were interested in were already booked for 2015. “I had done flowers for a wedding at the Boathouse in Prospect Park and had really loved it,” Ariel explains, “so we inquired and they happened to have this one Friday in June available.” They promptly booked it. “With the tall French doors and large terrace, the architecture of the Boathouse resembles some of the buildings in City Park in New Orleans,” says Ariel. “We also loved that the location was convenient and in the city, but because it’s on the lake, it manages to feel private and tucked away in the park.”
Ariel had a very specific idea of the simple silhouette she wanted for her dress. “During my search, I found a dress with the silhouette I wanted, but it was too basic—and then I found another one with the right silhouette but with too much embellishment,” she recalls. “When I eventually saw the Jenny Yoo dress, I immediately knew it was the one I wanted—it had the simple silhouette but with light beading on the waistline and the cap sleeves.”
The search for a crown was a bit more complicated. “I looked all over for one that was ornate but not over the top,” she says. “I originally thought about wearing a Victorian wax flower crown, but those felt too heavy. I also had a specific idea in my head for this and just couldn’t find it. That was when I decided to make my own crown of tiny freshwater pearls and rose gold. Now that I made that crown, I’ve realized just how special wedding crowns can be and am now making custom crowns for some of my clients.”
The couple’s simple ceremony was outside, overlooking the water. “The weather was absolutely perfect, which was very lucky, as the prediction had been heavy storms for days,” says Ariel. “Our friend Dawn Mauberret, who is an event coordinator, helped orchestrate everything. We had a cellist and acoustic guitar player to welcome our guests and play during the ceremony, and I walked down the aisle to ‘Oh My Love’ by John Lennon. The ceremony was just a few words from our friend who officiated, Jesse Israel, followed by our vows and readings from my mom and Andrew’s brother. Jesse was a great speaker and did a wonderful job of finding a balance between being meaningful and heartfelt, yet humorous. As if on cue, a family of swans swam right up to the altar just as the ceremony ended.”
The reception began inside the Boathouse with toasts made by both sides of the family. Andrew’s two brothers each made some funny speeches to kick things off, followed by Ariel’s family, including her nephews and 3-year-old niece. “Our DJ, Chances With Wolves [Kenan Juska], played incredible music,” says Ariel. “Dinner was hardly over when the whole party made its way out to the terrace to dance by the water. A limbo stick made by my little sister appeared, which led to a contest, followed by a full conga line. The music was so good that at one point I looked up and there were people across the lake dancing on the bridge and in the woods!”
The post Ariel Dearie and Andrew Simkiss’s Wedding at the Boathouse in Prospect Park appeared first on Vogue.
Emily Post is probably rolling over in her grave knowing that online wedding invitations even exist, but that doesn’t mean that sending them is a faux pas. In fact, they cost less and make keeping track of RSVPs much more seamless. Wedding planning can take a lot out of even the most organized, OCD bride, and if one element of the process can be made easier, why not indulge? E-invites, though often quite garish, are becoming more and more prevalent and, thankfully, more stylish. If you know where to look, the calligraphy can be beautiful, the templates creative, and the designs made in the same sophisticated vein as the real deal. As much as Mrs. Post might have lamented it, here are 12 of the chicest online wedding invites to click on in lieu of paper.
The post 12 Chic Online Wedding Invites That Make the Case for Going Paperless appeared first on Vogue.
Earlier this summer we were introduced to Haifa Snobar, the first bride to wear a design by Peter Copping in his role as the newly appointed creative director for Oscar de la Renta. However, earlier this weekend, Girls actress Allison Williams flew out of the Big Apple for a secret wedding at the Brush Creek Ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming, to entrepreneur and CollegeHumor cofounder Ricky Van Veen. Her floor-length stunner featured intricate techniques and a traditional approach to dressing for the aisle, and made for a magnificent look in the stunning natural setting.
An A-line silhouette lends a flattering effect, which is emphasized by sheer detailing at the neckline and continuing on the sleeves. A bohemian motif is woven throughout, adding a dash of rustic elegance, while a coordinating belt highlights the 27-year-old’s enviable waist. With the fall wedding season just getting started, Williams is leading the pack with her take on romantic modern bridal style.
The post Allison Williams Is Married! Her Oscar de la Renta Wedding Dress appeared first on Vogue.
Girls star Allison Williams married boyfriend and CollegeHumor cofounder Ricky Van Veen in a very private ceremony in Wyoming on Saturday. The only peek inside the event—the ceremony was reportedly officiated by Tom Hanks—came from a single shot on Williams’s Instagram feed showing off her gorgeous Oscar de la Renta dress while hand in hand with her new husband.
Here, we take a closer look at their venue, Brush Creek Ranch, and four more stunning outdoor venues around the country.
The post Inside Allison Williams’s Wedding Venue and 4 More Stunning Ranch Locations appeared first on Vogue.
Moments before the wedding starts, nerves are racked, heads are spinning, and prenuptial butterflies abound. A handwritten love letter from your betrothed can be a centering, meaningful way to mark such a momentous occasion in your lives. This exchange of one-of-a-kind notes between a bride and groom before the ceremony is a tradition that should be protected in the age of FaceTime and emojis. Whether you choose classic stationery or a quirky handmade note, these 11 cards are the perfect way to tell your betrothed just how overjoyed you are to make it official, and bring a moment of calm before your walk down the aisle.
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Flower arranging. A skill that all Swiss finishing-school attendees should master, along with proper table placement and etiquette, but not one I ever felt compelled to have under my belt. As a product of a highly competitive girls’ school I was taught how to wire a circuit board and read a survey map. Admittedly, these are not skills I’ve found much use for in later life, but the idea was that someone else would do the flowers while I went and broke through a glass ceiling somewhere.
Fast-forward twenty years to a blossoming millennial DIY culture and it looks like I may be on the wrong side of history. A quick scroll through my Instagram feed reveals photo after photo of lush Dutch masters–style bouquets, artful Ikebana constructions and rustic arrangements of garden-grown blooms begging the question: Is flower arranging a ‘thing’ that people are actually doing? A bit more digging around uncovers a multitude of classes, workshops, even corporate team-building events all devoted to the art and in the unlikeliest of places, namely hipster strongholds like Brooklyn and Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice (aka the coolest block in America). These are not your grandmother’s flower-arranging classes.
“This generation has an interest in crafts whether it’s making your own beer or growing your own food,” explains Sarah Ryhanen of the Little Flower School in New York City where they share practical tips like how to mix and match blooms from the corner bodega for maximum effect and elevate the ubiquitous gas station dozen roses with foraged wildflowers and tree foliage. Maurice Harris of Bloom & Plume in Los Angeles agrees, “I think people want to have these skills again. Everything is so manufactured.” It was clear that this gap in my education needed to be filled, so I found myself at celebrity florist Eric Buterbaugh’s new workshop at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.
“A lot of people in Los Angeles have gardens and want to learn how arrange the flowers they’ve grown,” Buterbaugh explained as we sliced the stems from giant tropical Ti leaves using razor-sharp florists knives, constructed grids across the top of vases with sticky florist’s tape to create a foundation, and then cut and arranged what must have been hundreds of dollars’ worth of burgundy dahlias and Free Spirit roses. “I like showing them how to do it so it’s less intimidating,” he added. I hadn’t even considered flower arranging to be intimidating, but as I stepped back to assess my work in progress (and sneak a glance around the table at my fellow students struggling to construct Instagram-worthy works of art) it hit me: This was challenging. We were learning about depth, texture, color, and technique and, in the words of Kate Moss, there are basic bouquets and then there are flower arrangements. Lesson learned.
Here are five cool new spots to learn the art of flower arrangement:
Floral Design Workshop by Eric Buterbaugh
Celebrity florist (clients include Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Valentino, and, the British royal family) Buterbaugh holds workshops from his base at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. The Awards show–themed class in January is sure to be a hot ticket.
Bloom & Plume
Fashion industry favorite Maurice Harris has a cult Instagram following thanks to his outrageous captions and famous fans like Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow. Classes arranged by request.
Flour LA
Owner Carly Cylinder likes to focus on technique and then let students design their own arrangements rather than replicate. Classes are held at the Flower Mart in Los Angeles and the Brooklyn Brainery in New York City.
Putnam & Putnam
Known for their large scale installations for the likes of Vogue and the CFDA, florists Michael Putnam and Darroch Putnam hold one class each season, focusing on the best available flowers and color palettes at that moment.
Little Flower School
The joint teaching project of florists Nicolette Owen and Sarah Ryhanen. Classes are seasonally oriented and often use flowers from Ryhanen’s farm in upstate New York.
The post The New Garde of Flower-Arranging Classes appeared first on Vogue.
Christina Stembel isn’t your average florist. “I’d like to say I started the business because of a burning passion for flowers, as that may sound like a better story,” she says bluntly. “In truth, it wasn’t a burning desire to be a florist, but a dream to start an innovative, creative business that did something good for the world.” And that’s exactly what she achieved when she launched Farmgirl Flowers in 2010. Growing up on a farm in Indiana, environmental awareness and an appreciation for agriculture were always in her blood. After working in the donor events department at a university, she began to take notice of the high price tag that came with ordering floral arrangements for the soirees she was organizing. She did some homework on the flower business and discovered that the high costs were because most of the companies imported their flowers from overseas (about 80 percent sold in the U.S. are imported), and many were shipped in containers with harsh chemicals. So Stembel set out to build her own business around a farm-to-vase model, where all of the flowers would be ethically sourced from stateside farmers.
The post Farm-to-Vase Flowers That Are as Beautiful as They Are Ethical appeared first on Vogue.
“Our relationship really started on my birthday when my best friend, who was in town from Paris, dragged me out dancing after my Monday night birthday drinks had ended tragically early,” says jewelry designer Michelle Campbell Mason of her courtship with real estate developer Zach Vella. “We went to a bar and Zach happened to be there. He likes to say he never let me leave his side after that night, which is pretty accurate. That was over four years ago.”
The couple had been dating for two and a half years when Zach proposed. “It was Christmas Eve in New York, and we were planning a date night out at the Italian restaurant Marea,” remembers Michelle. “As I was getting ready, Zach asked me to meet him in the living room of our apartment for a drink at 7:00 p.m. sharp, which was a bit fishy, as neither of us are punctual people. As I walked downstairs, I heard Frank Sinatra playing, and then I saw a lot of beautiful lit candles and some amazing champagne chilling. He suggested we each open one gift before dinner. I had him go first. I had gotten him an antique valet, which was in a wooden crate. After he pried that open, it was my turn. I picked a bag, and he said, ‘Not that one!’ and handed me a beautiful and rather large box. I unwrapped the paper and found a Belstaff box. I assumed leather would be inside, but instead it was filled with tissue. I felt around and found a smaller box. In that box was another box, and in my head I was really hoping it wasn’t earrings. He took the box from me, got down on his knee, and asked if I would marry him. I was crying so hard, it was difficult to get out my answer.” The couple then went on to dinner and celebratory drinks at The Carlyle. “It was the most memorable New York winter night,” says Michelle.
Originally, Michelle and Zach had hoped to get married on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands but ran into issues when faced with their guest list of 150, so they set out to explore larger venues in Europe. Michelle studies medieval and Renaissance history and wanted to find a place with ruins and a beautiful story. They started with Ashford Castle in Ireland, which was once owned by the Guinness family. “We brought our amazing wedding planner, Colin Cowie, and toured the property together,” explains Michelle. “Ashford is just a breathtaking place. During our tour, we walked through the woods and came across Cong Abbey, the ruins of a 13th-century monastery. We fell in love with it, and that location was where we had the ceremony.”
Michelle and Zach wanted the aesthetic of their wedding to be comfortable and understated. “When you get married in a castle, you don’t need to add much,” jokes Michelle. “We went for really organic elements to highlight the natural beauty of the space—lots of wildflowers, candles, moss, and unfinished wood.” The weekend kicked off with a high tea for the ladies—all of the women wore hats. Meanwhile, the men took part in a whiskey tasting. Afterward, everyone met on the lawn to practice archery and falconry lessons. On day two, the couple hosted a Moroccan-themed picnic in one of the gardens. “We were very fortunate, as Irish weather is generally gray and rainy. The morning of our first event, the clouds broke and the sun was shining, and we had warm, clear skies until about 4:00 a.m. after the ceremony when a downpour started and didn’t stop for over a week!” Overall, Michelle had six events to dress for, so she had to plan her wardrobe carefully. The first night, she opted for a Cushnie et Ochs dress. “I have done the jewelry for their shows the last two seasons, so they loaned me a killer Resort piece,” says Michelle. She had found her welcome dinner dress months earlier. “Zach owns the Oscar de la Renta building on Melrose Place, so I spend a lot of time there,” she says. “I found a two-piece Oscar gown from the runway that was absolutely stunning—and from his very last collection. With the help of the Melrose team, I tracked down the sample and did a custom order. I was the only one to get this dress!”
For the picnic, she wore Zimmermann paired with Chanel high-tops. And for her wedding, she had three custom pieces made by Maiyet. Its cofounder Kristy Caylor is one of Michelle’s closest friends and offered to help her with the dress. “I worked with them to create a simple fitted silk gown for the ceremony, with a low back and small train—a sort of homage to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s dress,” she explains. “We also made a hooded cape that I wore as an unorthodox veil. It was perfect for the walk through the woods to the ruins. The grounds looked like a dream at dusk with white light twinkling throughout the woods. Maiyet and I also made a dress for the reception from a nude tulle that matched my skin and was covered with beading that Declan Kearney and I picked out. I was so involved in the making of my dresses that I didn’t think about shoes until the last minute. I was lucky enough to meet Brian Atwood at my friend’s wedding a few weeks prior. He is so kind and offered to make me custom wedding shoes in record time. We made two pairs, one nude with a snake motif and the other, a matte gold pair that matched the Oscar de la Renta dress perfectly.” She designed all of her jewelry and both wedding bands. “I created trillion diamond earrings that have a moving back and catch the light beautifully,” she says. “I paired them with a back necklace that draped into the opening of my dress, and my wedding band is a set of baguettes that hugs my engagement ring perfectly.”
When the Guinness family acquired Ashford Castle in the 1800s, they planted an amazing forest to hunt woodcock. “We created a pathway illuminated with lanterns and candles, filled with fun surprises along the way: two bars, a fairy on a swing, a fairy playing a lute, and a monk fishing in the ruins of a hut where the monks from Cong Abbey fished,” says Michelle. “The walk ended with the guests crossing the river and walking to the abbey, which was covered with candles and wildflowers.” Michelle’s father walked her down the aisle while a violinist and cellist played “Yellow” by Coldplay. Then Zach’s brother, Zane Vella, married the couple at dusk.
The reception took place in front of the castle on the lake, Lough Corrib. Lights illuminated the water, and the tent was turned into a bohemian forest with branches and candles hanging all over. There were two long tables side by side, and the guests dined on: cauliflower soup topped with caviar and prawns on a pastry spoon, grilled turbot, and roasted Connemara lamb chops.
After dinner, Zach shot an arrow into a target that set off a display of fireworks over the lake. They were all variations of white and amber. This went on for about 10 minutes, and then afterward, everyone went back into the tent to listen to Zach and Michelle’s father give speeches. “My dad brought everyone to tears with a very sentimental speech,” recalls Michelle. Afterward, everyone moved into the castle for dancing. The couple’s first dance was to Frank Sinatra’s “It Had to Be You,” and the Soul Jets from London proceeded to bring down the house.
Post-reception, the party kept going. “We turned the Dungeon at Ashford—which is usually a bar—into a nightclub, and the DJ Coleman, who flew in from New York, played the most epic mixes until the sun came up,” says Michelle. “The majority of the guests danced till at least 5:30 a.m. Someone with an Apple Watch clocked that they danced 10 miles of steps! Sadly, most people flew out the next day. Everyone was exhausted, though, and missed flights right and left!”
The post Michelle Campbell Mason and Zach Vella’s Wedding at Ashford Castle in Ireland appeared first on Vogue.
