Designing a Downtown Spring Wedding With an Epic '60s Soul Dance Party
On a glowing late Spring evening in May, in a handsome urban haunt, my dear friends Glenna and Bryan were married.
It was my great joy to head their wedding design.
“I feel the vision from outdoors and as I think of May, sights/smells/sense of a beautiful soft spring garden or the woods on a mushroom hunt fill my mind’s eye... Soft greens, dew drops glistening, lavenders, peach-coral, berry, pale yellow, gentle wisp of breeze, and rich loam...
Wanna go there?”
The above quote was a casual stream of conscious blurb in an email, so full of enchanting imagery that it fueled the vision for the entire event. I think we achieved it too!
The design elements were restrained and focused primarily on nature and springtime, but with hits of soulful glamour.
Glenna's mom, Cindy, spent months cultivating, then creating all of the intricately constructed terrariums. I thrifted and hoarded various glass vessels, candle holders, even little candy dishes that to me seemed vaguely like adorable metal succulents. For a handful of the tables I sewed table runners of thin black and white stripes to add pattern. I also painted 1/4" thick plywood panels matte black, then used metallic gold tape to create graphic centerpiece backdrops. Cindy's good friend, Cathy Nilsson – though more officially and affectionally known as Miss Cathy by the family – created the whimsical floral arrangements. Every table dripped with candlelight and gleamed like a miniature forest grown atop a haphazard pile of jewels.
It was important to Glenna and Bryan to create a party atmosphere comprised of mingling and dancing – one that encouraged active participation for the duration of the evening's festivities. To facilitate this the floor plan intentionally included less tables and chairs than could seat all confirmed guests. They also chose to serve heavy hors d'oeuvres (and a gelato bar for dessert!) situated at several stations around the room.
Actually, the room itself was a large open space with no designated dance floor. Rather than rent a temporary dance floor I used cocktail tables and two seating arrangements on each side to delineate one. We borrowed a petite leather sofa and some chairs from Cindy's office. But I still wanted to add in some rustic warmth and interest to the mix so I incorporated wooden church pews atop insanely gorgeous vintage Persian rugs dotted with an assortment of potted plants.
But let's get real, the true dance floor delineation came from this mammoth 50 foot (ish) garland draped around the perimeter. Comprised of thousands of 4" strips of white card stock and metallic gold wrapping paper folded in half, painstakingly threaded and knotted onto a strand of fishing line, then tied to an enormous length of white rope and interspersed with an exorbitant amount of white twinkle lights –this was the single most time consuming project I've dreamed up to date!
In fact the weeks leading up to the wedding I consistently spent my lunch breaks in my car threading garlands. Thankfully, Glenna's sister (and my good friend) Laurel was in between a year long stint in England and the beginning of Law School (i.e. no job) so she had ample free time to help me thread, baby, thread.
Ultimately, the combination of these elements, with DJ Eight Ten at the helm, culminated in the most epic of 60s soul dance parties.
Bryan and Glenna, what an honor it was to dream and create, and to join in your magic. Love you so. Cheers to Mr. and Mrs. Pedersen!
* All brilliant photos of decor and design elements by Bethany Gilbert
* All knockout photos of beautiful people by Aaron Hall