Believe it or not, this lovely bride was actually a repeat client! Years ago, Event Designer Arlene Bluestein designed the bride’s bat mitzvah celebration. Arlene also designed the bride’s sister’s bat mitzvah, as well as her wedding too! Needless-to-say, this family knows that whatever celebration they have on the calendar they can turn to Arlene to bring their dreams to life. In this case, in technicolor.

{Photos courtesy of Love Shack Photo}

When it comes to designing weddings and events, we really want to create a unique experience that reflects our clients’ passions and personalities. For this festive celebration, Arlene could draw on the couple’s playfulness and joie de vivre. Choosing the Please Touch Museum as the venue for their wedding was the perfect start to building this happy party, particularly when Arlene discovered that the bride is the Coordinator of Family Gallery Learning at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the groom, a Wharton School MBA, was Captain of Penn’s Ultimate Frisbee team and now plays on Philadelphia’s competitive team.

As for the event design itself, from the beginning the bride envisioned a “rainbow” of color that included her bridesmaids dresses, stationery suite and event decor. Even her Kate Spade shoes were multi-hued!  Enchanting, eclectic, whimsical, romantic — it all would intertwine in an explosion of color!  Of course, when Arlene discovered that the bride and groom had registered at MacKenzie-Childs, the party inspiration was complete. Color, wit and whimsy were the name of the game!

The bride wore an absolutely gorgeous Monique Lhuillier lace wedding gown and carried a loosely gathered bouquet of bright blooms. Flowers in every color of the rainbow were used, such as: peonies, hydrangea, roses, clematis, ranunculus, orchids, and stephanotis.

The Please Touch Museum is one big soundstage of delightful backdrops that let the couple’s photographers from Love Shack Photo get some incredible images! From stolen romantic photos in dimly lit settings to playful laughter in childlike playhouses. Just a couple of our favorites…

The traditional Jewish Chuppah was a gorgeous floral rainbow of blooms set alongside the beautifully restored 1908 Woodside Park Carousel. Yet, this type of lush decorative display doesn’t normally go up quickly! It takes a few hours ordinarily but working in a public facility like the Please Touch Museum doesn’t afford us that luxury! Since the museum closes at at 5:00pm and the wedding ceremony was scheduled for 6:30pm, we only had an hour to make this dream ceremony setting come to life. As fate would have it, the actual Carousel was not working that day and with a full team of Evantine floral designers on hand, we were able to create the Chuppah in time. Right down to each hanging crystal strand…

Guests were invited to wander through the fun exhibits, sipping colorful specialty cocktails and nibbling delicious hors d’oeuvres provided by Brulee Catering. Touching back to the party location, family and friends were encouraged to leave their best wishes for the bride and groom using crayons on brightly-colored cards that can be read through the years.

Pulling all the color together into the wedding reception meant embracing COLOR in every way! Starting with the fabrics chosen for the dinner table, every single detail has to tell the whimsical tale. Six different gorgeous colors were chosen for the tablecloths to serve as the base to which breathtaking, colorful, embroidered lace overlays were added to bring in the romance of the occasion. Linens and chairs cushions in fuschia, azure,  sunshine, coral, citron, and lavender were the six base colors with lace overlays in eggplant, aqua, orange, red and jade. Napkins, flower patterned charger plates, black and white check lampshades and accessories, as well as sharp white modern vases all came together for a playful vibe.

Then came the layers of light! Hamilton Hall, with it’s classic Beaux-Arts architecture, soaring 60-foot ceilings and majestic dome, is candyland for lighting effects.

A variety of gorgeous flower arrangements were displayed in wonderful ways, from towering displays of flowering cherry branches right down glass apothecary jars filled with orchids. Textural floral arrangements were designed using seasonal, local and imported flowers from around the globe, such as tulips, hyacinth, roses, clematis, coxcomb, hydrangea, viburnum, ranunculus, and orchids.

And, nothing brings energy and playful to a wedding better than the adventurous bride and groom themselves. The rockin’ music of Eddie Bruce took the energy up yet another notch, but these two beautiful humans were the heart and soul of the event. To watch them enjoy every single moment with childish enthusiasm was something to behold. Chairs lifted safely in the Hora, a boisterous mezinke paid a last honor to the parents and dancing continued long into the night…

The delicious white wedding cake was from the award-winning Isgro Paticceria, a South Philadelphia tradition since 1904 and a beloved family favorite. We simply added more of those colorful flowers to bring it into the look of the whole event.  Guests departed the wedding with mini frisbees and mini boxes of crayons…

{All these wonderful photos are from the talented duo at Love Shack Photo}