Wedding Crashing: An Elegant Affair

We’re thrilled to announce a new feature here at Young House Love: Wedding Crashing. Since you all seemed to be enjoying our house crashing posts, we figured it was about time we started peeking in on people’s nuptials as well. And we’re not discriminating. We’re dropping in on a wide variety of events, from modest $300 celebrations to $75,000 galas and beyond. And the locations will range from scenic rural farms to fabulous Manhattan lofts and everywhere in between. So slip into something swanky and let’s get crashing.

Meet Patrice and Jeff, a sweet duo who wanted a day of traditional elegance with a few modern and memorable twists. Their July wedding was held in Charlottesville, Virginia where their family and friends gathered for an unforgettable evening with a heaping portion of southern charm.

Patrice didn’t overlook even the tiniest of details, as demonstrated by this cross stitch of her initials handmade by her mother (which a seamstress then sewed to the inside of her gorgeous Justina McCaffrey dress from Kleinfelds in New York City).

The bridal party wore emerald green dresses from J Crew and carried contrasting violet-blue hydrangeas to establish her elegant jewel toned color scheme.

Since the traditional tossing-of-the-petals was out of the question (thanks to a one and a half year old flower girl) Patrice and Jeff wisely chose a decorative ball of flowers for Grace to carry down the aisle instead. And since the pomander was made of faux-flowers, there was no worrying that she would destroy her prop before making it down the aisle.

The couple got hitched at the University of Virginia’s historic chapel (the college where Patrice & Jeff first met and fell in love). Couples fight to get on the waiting list for this charming location and Patrice and Jeff were lucky enough to score a prime date in the middle of the summer. The reception was then held at the nearby Farmington Country Club. The couple chose timeless white on white linens for the tables and added some height in the form of a few tall candelabras (which were more affordable than floral ones).

They also reused the bridesmaid bouquets (set in elegant metal vases) on some of the tables for a mixed and matched look that provided more bang for their buck and kept everything from looking overly symmetrical and eerily identical.

Another personal touch that we adored was the collection of wedding portraits of their parents and grandparents that were displayed just outside the ballroom. This was a fun project for the mothers of the bride and groom, who enjoyed feeling involved in the planning process.

But our favorite display had to be the groomsmen gifts: personalized bobbleheads created to resemble each and every one of ’em. The bride and groom picked up the utterly unique novelty gifts here.

Now when we crash a wedding, we don’t sit back and try to blend in. In fact we may have been single handedly responsible for the inexplicable formation of this conga line. But credit should be shared with the awesome twelve piece band (Horizon) who had everyone on the dance floor the entire night.

And not a memory was missed thanks to the couple’s photojournalist-style photographer (Rob Garland Photographers) who snapped a bevy of candid shots throughout the night.

When it came to Patrice & Jeff’s white almond cake with amaretto buttercream icing and blackberry filling, well, it took the cake. The traditional tiered design with pretty hydrangea accents kept things simple and sweet. And it tasted as good as it looks.

The party continued into the night and culminated with a much anticipated bouquet toss (from the balcony above the ballroom). There wasn’t a fistfight, but lets just say that there were plenty of extremely enthusiastic bouquet catchers below.

Then the evening sizzled to a close with a wow of an exit complete with sparklers (see the first picture above) and Patrice and Jeff escaped into the night as husband and wife.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our brand spankin’ new wedding crashing feature. Be sure to tell us what you think so we can bring you more of what you want. And stay tuned to see which wedding we’ll drop in on next. So many nuptials, so little time…