and... After

And here are some of the professional "After" shots in the tent...  No signs of the effort from the previous post that went into making our vision come to life! You can make out the white vinyl underneath the sofas at the front of the tent; it ran along the entire lake side --  the lounge and bar were on the right side and the band and dance floor were on the left.

 

 

Natural linen tablecloths adorned the tables and vases were wrapped in birch bark to bring the outdoors into the tent. The bride and her family were very clear that they did not want an explosion of flowers in the tent; the setting itself was extraordinary... the interior of the tent needed to complement it, not compete with it. It ended up being really lovely -- beautiful but slightly understated too.

I applauded David Williams from Storey Wilkins Photography for getting high up onto a ladder and right into the lanterns for this shot... Those are real (and heavy!) pillar candles in those metal frames. Each different lantern and it's candle were weighed in advance when Lidia and Co. were figuring out the weight load the structure would have to support. Working with 'old' pros like Lidia are key on complicated, out-of-town events: she even went so far as to have extra panes of glass cut for the lanterns, just in case anything should break in transport or while being hung. Love that.

As the sun started to go down, the lanterns really came to life and became the stars of the show (although the bride, having changed into her full-length, bronze Oscar de la Renta showstopper might disagree with me!) It was warm, romantic and very intimate. Having North 44 cater a mouthwatering 4-course meal complete with wine pairings only added to the overall guest experience too...

This is a fun shot, looking up into the tent (especially given the 'before' photos) -- taken from the fire pit, where guests assembled a few hours later to watch the firework show.

This shot is just a snippet of the spectacular firework display shown that magical evening, being set off from a barge floating down on the lake, hundreds of feet below. They could be seen from miles around -- even the lady at the liquor store in Bracebridge (when I was returning unopened alcohol the next day) asked me about them! The funny and (slightly stressful) part to this story was the timing of the fireworks -- designed to go off immediately following the father-daughter dance: alas, the speeches ran long (quelle surprise) and the barge kept drifting out of sight in the strong current. It was poor Gabi's job to keep on the cell phone with the barge driver to pull him back into view. Trees, islands, the wind and 'long-winded' speakers -- everything conspired against us that night. Thankfully, she got him into position, with literally seconds to spare...

Thank you to Storey and David for the photos. What a weekend -- what a celebration!