Chic City Garden-Inspired Kimmel Center Wedding
Something Marie & Justin have always loved about their chosen wedding venue, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, is the chic clean feeling inside of the Hamilton Garden. With floor to ceiling windows on three sides of the space, the natural light pours in on the hardwood floors to create a modern, clean canvas for any special occasion. It’s no surprise that Brides Magazine just named the Kimmel Center as one of the top wedding venues in the country! As we worked with Marie and her Mom Sue to plan what would become one of our most beautiful weddings of the summer, we were heavily inspired by the idea of creating a chic city garden within the space.
We started the day at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia with two of our most beloved hair & makeup pros: Amanda D’Andrea & Beke Beau. After a fun filled morning, Marie slipped in to her Vera Wang gown and her something borrowed- the gorgeous jade earrings pictured below, and we were off for her first look with Justin at City Hall. There was a flute player who happened to be in the same area as Marie entered, and he immediately started playing “Here Comes the Bride” when he saw her. How cute is that? Philly is so great sometimes!
For group photos, we hopped on an antique trolley from Philadelphia Trolley Works and headed over to the 18th Century Garden. I just love how the muted pastel gowns Marie selected for her bridesmaids came together so beautifully. A few gowns were by Amsale in Bellini and Blush and two bridesmaids, including Marie’s MOH, wore Adrianna Pappell– the new darling designer of bridesmaids everywhere! Brittany from Petals Lane designed the bridesmaids’ bouquets in shades of soft ivory & green, and created a totally showstopping monofloral bouquet for Marie made entirely of phalaenopsis orchids. Their structured, fuss free beauty was the perfect extension of Marie’s wedding style.
Brittany worked in those same orchids for Marie & Justin’s wedding ceremony arch, and dining table centerpieces. The 8ft tall trees with twinkle lights lining the aisle warmed up the ceremony space beautifully and I love how we were able to repurpose the trees to become part of the reception decor afterwards. For the dining tables, we worked with Vicki from Garces Catering to create an interesting, modern reception layout with a mix of rectangular and round tables. For the long tables, Petals Lane created lush, low arrangements accented with tall pillar candles and mercury votives. Each round table was set with a tall burst of dendrobium orchids. For a subtle touch of color, and a very elegant finishing touch, we brought in Party Rental’s brand new pink essex goblet for each place setting. Combined with the hemstich pink napkins on each charger, it was just the right amount of blush to make the design really pop.
Last but most definitely not least, big thanks to Robyn over at Chick Invitations for the amazing “day of” paper details she created for this beautiful celebration! Marie & Justin were engaged in Bar Harbor, so we worked with Robyn to create little “sails” to act as escort cards on mint colored stripey straws placed in the newlyweds’ signature drink. There’s nothing like kicking off cocktails with a cool, refreshing beverage for every guest!
We could most definitely continue to gush about Marie & Justin’s chic city garden inspired Kimmel Center wedding, but we’ll zip it up and let the gorgeous photos from Asya Photography speak for themselves below. In case you missed it, here is a link to Marie & Justin’s highlights from our friends at Rosetree Films. Stay tuned for more details from this one of a kind affair coming soon in the next issue of Philadelphia Wedding Magazine! The glossy hits news stands this December, and you can bet we’ll be posting again when it arrives! Congratulations again to two tall beauties- Marie & Justin! We so loved working with you :)
