Material Culture is the perfect place for a colorful autumn wedding like Melissa and Danielle had last October! An imports auction house and home decor retail space, Material Culture is already incredibly vibrant and a little wacky (dancing bear statue in a floral tutu, anyone?) so couples don’t need to do a lot to dress it up for their special day. The in-house catering at Material Culture, which typically leans heavily toward Mediterranean and other eclectic international cuisine, is truly out of this world! Chef Aliza tries very hard to locally source as many of her ingredients as she can. The event staff are super friendly, supportive and eclectic themselves. For all these reasons, Material Culture is one of our favorite venues for couples who want a non-traditional celebration of their nuptials. It’s the perfect spot for same-sex weddings in particular as the space itself seems to challenge every perception most guests might have about a normal wedding venue.
The Design Concept
Melissa and Danielle were incredibly sweet and relaxed — our favorite kind of brides! Because they chose to use our Prix Fixe Package, they left pretty much all the floral details up to us and just asked us to create something with relaxed earthy elegance that really showcased the lush seasonal blooms our farm is cranking out in mid-October. Since dahlias are the queen divas of October, we chose to go with a deep and moody color palette of saturated jewel tones that included rich persimmon, rusted plum, warm garnet, muted orange, oxblood and lots of deep greens with just a few touches of soft peach for a little contrast. This palette was totally on-point for the space at Material Culture, with its many tapestries and orange walls.
The Bridal Party Flowers
Both of the brides carried lush bouquets full of an assortment of dahlias, zinnas, pin cushion flowers, antique lace hydrangeas, caryopteris, lisianthus, amaranth, eucalyptus, fennel, lavender foliage, and other fragrant seasonal accents. While the bouquets were made to be a complimentary pair, they were each unique and had subtle shifts in their personalities. Just like the brides themselves!
Melissa and Danielle decided to ask their bridal party (clearly a fun mix of stylish people, judging from the photos!) what type of floral accessory they’d like for the day. What a refreshing change from the cookie-cutter approach, right?! We ended up creating a colorful mix of bridesmaid bouquets, modern floral wrist cuffs, and boutonnieres. I love how the whole look came together with everyone in the bridal party wearing whatever made them feel the best!
The Ceremony at Material Culture
Guests were greeted with a truly special ceremony experience, nestled in the heart of the giant warehouse space at Material Culture. Surrounded by wooden pillars and other relics from ancient temples and with colorful glowing glass globes overhead, sitting there is like being transported to somewhere in India. We designed lush, colorful flowers to decorate the ancient wooden doorway that would frame Danielle and Melissa as they said their vows. This floral touch was dramatic and understated all at the same time.
The Reception
Because Material Culture is so visually yummy to begin with, Melissa and Danielle chose to stick with simple table accents of potted succulents and references to Scrabble (a favorite pastime/obsession of theirs). We created one large, overflowing statement piece that decorated the guest book table when everyone arrived and then was later moved to accent the generous buffet. A few bodacious dinner plate dahlias were also scattered around the cocktail tables throughout the evening.
A huge thank you to Inna at Peach Plum Pear Photography for so generously sharing these amazing images with us! She’s a gem and definitely one of our favorite wedding photographers in Philadelphia! If you’re planning your own wedding, be sure to check out her work and shoot her an email!
Thanks, Danielle and Melissa, for trusting us so deeply to make your celebration as special and colorful as the both of you!!
If you’re looking for some more inspiration for colorful wedding florals, be sure to check out this previous post and this previous post. We love COLOR here at Love ‘n Fresh Flowers! Looking forward to many more vibrant palettes in the future!
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