COURTESY OF EMILY GAVILSKY/ZOE LIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
Today’s brides and grooms are bucking tradition and adding personalized touches to the big day. Take, for instance, the longtime superstition of waiting to see each other at the wedding. Instead of resisting, many couples are reuniting before walking down the aisle, allowing the photographer to closely capture that intimate first look. “For clients who aren’t as comfortable with large crowds or want a moment of calm before the day begins, seeing their future husband or wife beforehand puts them at ease, too,” says event planner Emily Gavilsky of Emily Anna, an event-planning firm.
Couples are finding other ways to create memorable photos at the reception. Setting up a lounge area of vintage and boutique furniture, for instance, provides a place for guests to pose. Noticing the trend, Gavilsky recently launched Renown Rentals, which provides boutique furniture for such occasions.
Couples are also skipping the receiving line, giving the photographer more time to capture photos of guests on the dance floor. “The photographer only has a certain number of hours,” says Sam Tucker, event planner at Absolutely In! Events. “You want them to get lots of candid pictures, and that’s always the last part of the evening.”
Though caricature artists and magicians remain popular options for entertaining younger guests, couples are also commissioning artists to create watercolor paintings of their receptions in live time. “We did one wedding recently where the ceremony was outside and the reception was in the ballroom, but the couple really wanted to capture both in one painting,” recalls Anne Churchill, owner of AnnaBelle Events. “The artist was able to alter the windows of the reception venue so you could see the ceremony occurring outside—it was really two scenes in one.” Whether the artist captures the venue’s ambiance or the first dance, the result is a keepsake to be treasured for years to come.
As for wedding décor, last year’s mod industrial trend—marked by mixed metals and bright whites—has a fresh addition: floral arrangements and runners made of lush greenery. Overhead floral arrangements are also popular, Churchill says. At some venues, however, this may require some creativity. “At a style shoot, we had wine barrels on either side of a long table with metal rods coming out of the middle so we could string lights over the table,” she recalls. “You could do that with flowers, too, and then the wine barrels serve as mini cocktail tables.”
