Lake Placid Wedding // 10.01.11
I think I speak for everyone in the wedding biz when I say, “I love when I get to do something different.” Don’t get me wrong, we do something different for every wedding, but when we get a new location … that’s always a blast!! Last weekend we had a chance to work at the Lake Placid Golf Club. Jill and Derek got hitched there on Saturday, and it was awesome!
I’m not sure the staff and crew we worked with feel the same way, but I know Michael, James and I had a great time putting this one together. Those of you who know me understand that I can be a bit of a bulldozer when I walk into a room. The crew at LPGC rolled with me and once they saw the dust settle from the DMS storm … they loved It!! Catherine and Donald, I swear I will never touch the antler chandeliers if I’m allowed back in the room. Promise.
Jill and Derek picked this location because it’s where they spent a lot of time during the years they were dating, and of course … for the views. Jill was not sure about all the wood in the room. She was afraid her storybook wedding would be labeled “Adirondack”. When we first met, there was talk of draping the room, new chairs, crystal chandeliers and bringing in custom lighting. The more I looked at the plan, the more I felt we could give Jill that bit of glam she wanted without recreating Rome … .
It took some doing, but we left the room as we found it and created a design from the inside out.
For this wedding, I built my signature “Renaissance table” for Mr. and Mrs. and added two Alice chairs, which worked perfectly in the space. The Renaissance table is a combination of banquet tables, capped with 1/2 rounds on each end. I created this for a bridal party in 1993, and now almost every ballroom I have ever worked, uses this configuration as an alternative to a sweetheart table or the “Last Supper” line up. At the Mazzone properties, they call it the Tuscan table because Angelo Mazzone is Italian. At Franklin Plaza, they call it the Captain’s table, because Michael Cocca loves boats. But the fact is… it’s the Renaissance table.
The linens I selected for Jill were a creamy colored thick heavy cloth with a bark-like pattern to mimic the wood texture in the room. That linen was then topped with a pale, gold-shear overlay with a rich, cream-velvet boarder over that. We topped the table design with vintage mercury glass compotes filled with warm melon color blooms. Each place setting had our new bubble glass charger with a custom-designed menu neatly folded into a hemstitch linen napkin. Each table held ten tall mercury glass votives accented with our crystal table frames. Instead of numbers, each table frame held a picture of a place the couple loves. 
As guests were dropped off to enter the club, they ascended stairs that we decorated with monochromatic arrangements in 2 by 2 by 2 by 2 configuration. I used the base colors of the wedding to get the design flow started.
I placed 30 floating candles on the fireplace in assorted size containers. The addition of a cream velvet band on each candle holder helped to connect the modern style of the candle with the warm feel of the velvet bordered overlays on the tables.
It all goes to show that with the right guidance, you can have your dream wedding – even if you think you can’t. The couple could not have been happier when they walked into the room. And I can not thank them enough for letting me get their design on.
Thank you, again, to the staff of LPGC, Coordinator Mim Frantz, Photographer Paul Reynolds, Rebecca at The Pink Orange, the talents of Make Me Fabulous and my team for six hours of road time to get it set.
For more of my pictures on this event see, Jill & Derek.