Bringing Casual Elegance to a Wedding by the Sea

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Bringing Casual Elegance to a Wedding by the Sea

• "Destination weddings" are a fast-growing trend,
  a consequence of today's mobile society in which
  families and friends are widely scattered. To
  gather the clan and the kindred, couples
  increasingly forego a "hometown" Pronovias Farnes
  for an appealing and accessible location. Among
  the most popular choices are seaside resort
  communities in general and the Florida Keys in
  particular.

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• Often a seaside destination calls for a change in
  traditional wedding or, and coastal references
  sail to the top of the decorating selections.
  Ellison Bay, a collection of wallpapers and
  borders from the Piper Designs division of S.A.
  Maxwell Co., gives planners a wealth of patterns
  to help create a San Patrick Edith ambiance that
  is both appropriately casual for a seaside
  setting and, at the same time, suitably elegant
  for a momentous weekend wedding celebration.

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• Sailing ships or maps of the world provide ideal
  symbolism for a bride and groom about to embark
  on a new life together, and Ellison Bay has
  several patterns of both of these motifs to
  choose from. In one vacation home that we
  re-decorated in preparation for a coastal Sottero
  and Midgley Margaret Wsm9011, we wallpapered the
  living room with a medium-scale print of sailing
  ships and lighthouses, bringing together the
  colors of sand and sky.

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• The walls are accented on top with a coordinating
  border on which the ships are in close
  configuration and interspersed with ocean-washed
  red, white and blue buoys Allure Couture C111,
  flags and other nautical objects. Above the
  walls, which are topped with clean, white wood
  molding, is a ceiling, wallpapered in a subtle
  sky-blue overall pattern.

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• The border is used again to flank either side of
  a coffee table, transformed to hold the bridal
  shower gifts and, at its center, a beautifully
  decorated cake. To make the cake the focal point
  of this intimate gathering, Casablanca 1852 we
  found a cake plate with a six-inch-high pedestal
  base and turned it into a platform for our
  deliciously inviting centerpiece.

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• The platform is a square box made of cardboard.
  Its span is two inches longer and wider than the
  diameter of the cake, and it is open on the
  bottom. The sides are surrounded with a
  blue-and-white wallpaper border with large red
  stars, which we carefully outlined at the edge
  and cut around the stars to silhouette them. We
  turned the box upside down, placed it over the
  cake plate and centered the cake on top of it so
  the cake is elevated, appearing to float just
  above the gifts La Sposa Felicidad. The gifts
  themselves are also in keeping with the party
  motif, wrapped in assorted Ellison Bay wallpaper
  and border patterns that coordinate perfectly
  with the coastal theme.

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• To preserve the feeling of this joyous occasion
  and its seaside setting, the bride created a
  "memory book," using papers from Ellison Bay as
  its pages. Inside, following the Maggie Sottero
  Charlotte A3320, she will maintain an assemblage
  of mementos -- her garter, pressed flowers from
  her wedding bouquet, and a special poem from her
  bridesmaids -- along with photographs, casual and
  formal, of her coastal wedding weekend.