Roses, Roses Everywhere

Carter’s love has been the most incredible blessing in my life. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about how lucky I am to have such a unconditionally loving and giving husband. I’m sure a lot of brides say this, but I feel like Carter’s and my love is incredibly rare and special, and I wish this kind of love for everybody. I wanted our wedding day to stand out forever in our guests’ minds. I wanted them to look back years later and say, “Wow, remember Tammy and Carter’s wedding?” 

Creating an unforgettable event was my way of honoring our rare and beautiful relationship.

So how did I go about planning a night to remember? I incorporated powerful themes and recurring images beginning with our save-the-dates and ending with our holiday cards that are yet to come!

Flowers are a great way to infuse a theme into your wedding day, and because I absolutely love roses (they are my birthday month flower), I decided there would be roses everywhere! Carter trusted my judgment, and flowers weren’t exactly on the top of his list of priorities. 

Our color scheme was predominantly peach, with coral, white, champagne and gold accents. I was inspired by Jessica Simpson’s soft wedding colors (by the way, I am STILL sad that she and Nick broke up), but I didn’t want to go the pink route. My favorite color in the world is peach. It’s such a soft color. It reminds me of a beach sunset, of the warmth of summer, and of innocence and purity. 

Rows of white (vendella), champagne (clear ocean) and peach (oceana) rose petals ran down each side of the aisle in the church, and peach roses and white satin bows adorned the pews. I carried a very large bouquet of peach roses and rhinestone-studded stephanotis, and my maids of honor (I decided to call them all maids of honor instead of bridesmaids) carried bouquets of peach, white and champagne roses.

The groom, groomsmen, fathers and grandfathers all wore boutonnieres comprised of roses and baby’s breath. Moms and grandmoms were also outfitted with rose posies or corsages. 

And at the DuPont Country Club, guests found their table numbers on a peach-clothed table that was scattered with white rose petals and crystals. In the middle of the table was a gorgeous topiary: two balls of white roses were anchored by a post covered in peach ribbon. My absolutely phenomenal florists, Cathy and Dan of Forever Floral Weddings, designed the topiary for me. Here is the sketch they created before concocting the sumptuous rose creation. 

The container ended up being gold to coordinate with all the gold accents we had throughout the ceremony and reception. 

During the cocktail hour, guests mingled in the Upper Terrace. The terrace was lined on one side with ivory-clothed tables, and the tables were scattered with peach (oceana) and coral (movie star) rose petals and crystals. Framed photos of Carter and me were on each table. 

And the Crystal Ballroom, where the reception was held, looked like a fantasyland of roses. When I walked in and saw it before the reception began, I SOBBED with happiness. It was my dream-come-true and more. This is a photo of Carter and me right after seeing the reception ballroom for the first time.

Giant balls of white hydrangea and peach and coral roses were arranged atop tall glass pedestals on each peach-clothed dinner table. Rose gobos, courtesy of Eventions Productions (who did all of our spectacular lighting) flooded the dance floor. Our cake table was scattered with white and champagne roses . . . and in the middle of the table was the most magnificent five-tiered wedding cake I’ve ever seen in my life.

The cake featured an explosion of roses in the same exact shades of white as our wedding flowers. Michele Mitchell, the executive pastry chef at Hotel du Pont, is amazing! Seriously, she should win an award for this cake! I couldn’t believe my eyes — it looked better than any cake I’d ever seen in my endless collection of wedding magazines.

And by the way, in case you didn’t already pick up on it, this cake was also inspired by Jessica Simpson’s wedding cake, which I adored (but not as much as our own). I asked for our cake to be created sans leaves, because are wedding day was all about roses, roses, roses, not greenery!

Here is Jess’ wedding cake.

And ours!

Magnifico! Not to mention delicious! Can you say grand marnier pound cake with raspberry filling? The BEST cake I’ve EVER eaten! And I’m only a little biased — many guests said the same thing. It was yummy, yummy in the tummy! And for the chocolate lovers . . . chocolate chip cake with chocolate ganache. Mmm, mmm. 

The cake was SO good that I ordered the raspberry for Carter’s birthday in August, and I drove 40 minutes to the Hotel du Pont and another 40 minutes back just for the confection!

But I digress. Back to roses. A family friend designed our rose-centric logo, which appeared on our welcome bags, on the wedding programs, on the Crystal Ballroom’s 9′ x 12′ screen, on the ballroom floor, in our photo coaster favors, and it was even etched into our ice sculpture! Thank you, Damien, for the elegant logo!

 

 

As you can see, the logo itself became a recurring theme throughout our wedding day.

Guests are still talking about our wedding day. They definitely took the time to “smell the roses.” I’d say the roses made a lasting impression!

How will you make your impression?