Tess and Erik | Bermuda Beachside Ceremony

You know, in a way I am happy that it sometimes takes months after a wedding to get the albulm all set up and ready to print. The hardest part is putting together the best images, telling the story and EDITING. Impossible to to when you have an amazing destination wedding on your hands. That is what we had for the wedding of Tess and Erik. This wedding happened last spring on the beautiful Island of Bermuda. Have you been there? If not, I highly suggest it. The first time that I stepped off of the plane on that bit of English heaven in the atlantic, I knew that I would be inspired. It is not tropical, but has tropical elements. It is not English, but it has English elements. I adore it!!

Bermuda Destination Weddings | The Fairmont South Hampton

It seems as though the minutes are ticking by, counting the moments until Tess and Erik's wedding at The lovely Fairmont Southampton, Bermuda. We have been in the best of hands with Wendy Rustalsis, the wedding specialist of the resort. It probably would have been better to install a watts line between our two offices. My last meeting with my bride brought a wonderful moment that comes in the course of planning a wedding, to be stumped looking for more questions to be answered. We are there, we know the details, we know who is coming when, and who is leaving when. We are on it !

Now that the bride and groom have approved the flowers and the look of their wedding, we can get to work sending these very photos that you see here to our partners that we will work with in Bermuda. One of my absolute favorite florists is Flowers by GiMi, located in Hamilton, will work with me to produce a lovely collection of flowers for both the ceremony and the reception. If I could pack these precious little flower arrangements filled with roses, tulips and sweet pea, I certainly would. I have to trust, oh and I do, that GiMi will do an amazing job interpreting these flowers for the wedding. I will be in town early and of course, I will make the jaunt across the harbor to check things out at their studio prior to the wedding.

As I look and try to find something to edit in the look of this wedding it is oh so very hard. One of my partners, Kelli at à deux deserves a special little Bermuda round of applause. Her work on the print material is a quintessential facet to this whimsical and colorful wedding design.

Two weeks and I will have my little french painted toes in the pink sand of Bermuda again.

Tess & Erik | Destination Wedding Planning | The Fairmont South Hampton, Bermuda

Settling in to my sketch pad for me is a great escape. I can put all my worries in this world at bay for hours as I sit, visualize and start the design process of a gorgeous wedding. The past couple of days I have been working and working on the design for Tess and Erik's springtime Bermuda wedding. God, I got so close the day before yesterday until I started to draw the grooms face and head. Oh boy, that sketch was ruined. I could have done some Photoshop magic, but the process I like to keep a bit more pure than that. So with that practice under my belt, I was able to hit the pad again and to work on the "finished" sketch for this project. My bride is in love the color of the water in Bermuda. How could you not be ? It is a rare turquoise that I have not seen in my many travels to warmer weather. It is a perfect inspiration to this fun and elegant destination wedding. I chose to fill in the back of my sketch digitally and of course I just had to get the perfect shade of Bermuda pink to compliment the details. It seems that everything at The Fairmont Bermuda is Pink, for a gay guy it does not get much better than sippin' swizzles under a pink and white stripped umbrella. That is mostly a fantasy, like the sketch I guess. I know that I will be running all around, and of course taking the trolley, to make sure that everything that we have planned and designed is perfect!! With a design map in place, we can get to work on the Save the Dates and finding a perfect bow and pearl necklace for the ducks.

Bermuda Destination Weddings | The Fairmont Southhampton

It is a tough job, but somebody has to do it right? When generational family friends of Eastover Farm in Rochester called on me to work as their wedding designer and planner for their daughter's wedding, I jumped at the chance. It was hard for me to believe that she would not want to be married in the stone lined fields of their family's elegant estate, but she too has always had a dream as a bride and it did not include the farm. Instead a beachy, elegant wedding was her choice. After a lot of discussion, we finally agreed that The Fairmont Southhampton, Bermuda would be a perfect place to celebrate this once in a lifetime event for their family. I just got off the plane last night from my trip down to sure up the details prior to bringing the family down to the island to review all of the wonderful surprises that I have in store for them. Every detail to the hotel is simply impeccable and the service rivaled the best hotels in the world. Even I was impressed and in awe of the well oiled machine and staff that make up the experience of this five star resort. I was especially impressed with two people on the resort, first the trolley driver who sang  and acted out " The Wheels on the bus go round and round....." to the delight of two little cuties and their parents who had hopped in with us for a ride from the beach back up the winding road of the resort to the hotel. Every person on that trolley, myself included was humming along and smiling as the jolly driver tooted the horn and swished the windshield wipers. The second stand out was our waiter on the last evening of our stay. He charmed us with his Indian accent and beaming smile and of course he waited on us and every guest there as if we were royalty. A very special treat. Of course it is hard to thank every delightful staff member who always greeted us with smiles and exceedingly good service.

I fell under charming spell of the island from my first sight of it's crystal blue waters and elegantly dressed gentlemen in their "Bermuda" shorts and knee socks. Prior to leaving I too, had to don a pair of knee highs, pink of course with my matching "Bermuda Pink" shorts and because it was a chilly 72 degrees that evening I decided to throw a pink cashmere sweater over my shoulders. I loved it and I fit right in with the locals and British tourists who painted a colorful palette across the south lawn of the hotel for "Tea" (a.k.a. Dark and Stormies or Rum Swizzles) Lucky me, I get to head back in a few weeks to act as the guide to my clients and friends. I am sure that my bride will be thrilled, but can I convince the groomsmen to wear knee highs and Bermuda shorts?

Boston Bridal Bling

I have realized over the years that one of the reasons my clients continue to work with me is that not only can I come up with creative designs that are inspired by the bride's wishes but I can also put a pen to paper to show how all of the details will come together for the bride's big day.

I love my colored pencils, but it is impossible to represent white in sketches. I love, love the oh so chic idea of all white, modern, clean and embellished with crystal accents. Mounds and Mounds of gorgeous roses all in white, trimmed with candles and crystals complete this look. I am looking forward to taking the bride's favorite flower, the rose and creating custom lighting projections onto the almost room sized dance floor. There are so many fun details to look at with this wedding, I can hardly wait to finalize where we will have the reception and move on to the fun planning of the decor and of course to give you, my readers an inside scoop into the fabulous world of wedding planning and design.