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March 11, 2010

Lauren & Mark

A lavish, elegant weekend-long event at Stein Eriksen Lodge

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Photography by Randy Despain and Stacey Petersen at Brody Dezember Photography

For East Coasters Lauren and Mark, the perfect place to exchange their wedding vows wasn’t in the city but in the mountains out West. Stein Eriksen Lodge, nestled in the aspen trees and mountains of Deer Valley, provided the ideal setting for their lavish nuptials.

The couple and their many out-of-town guests enjoyed a four-day celebration in Park City. The wedding was both traditional and modern, including Jewish customs like the ketubah signing ceremony and hora dance, as well as special hand-tying and sand ceremonies designed by the couple.

The wedding’s day-long festivities, beginning with a pre-ceremony cocktail hour in the afternoon and ending with a late-night ultra lounge, featured stylish décor ranging from organic to luxurious elements—nothing less than you’d expect from this sophisticated couple.

The day after the wedding, the newlyweds enjoyed a farewell brunch before departing for a romantic honeymoon in France.

Before the Wedding

Occupations: Lauren is a student at Northwestern University Law School, and Mark is a student at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

How the couple met: Lauren and Mark both attended a pre-orientation camping trip before college. As fate would have it, they arrived at the same time and were placed in the same group—they have been together ever since.

How he proposed: Mark took Lauren on a surprise trip to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. Both their parents snuck into the hotel and surprised the couple at dinner following the proposal.

Bridal shower: Lauren celebrated at an intimate affair with family and close friends.

Bachelor party: Mark took a trip to Las Vegas with his friends.

Wedding

Place: Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley, Park City

Date: August 2, 2008

The bride wore: a satin Rivini gown with a V-neckline, mermaid skirt and buttons down the back.

The groom wore: a white linen suit

Wedding Song: “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton

Reception

Place: Stein Eriksen Lodge

Wedding music: a variety of musicians played throughout the evening, including a classical guitarist during the pre-ceremony cocktail hour, a jazz trio during dinner, and a show band—hand-picked by the couple and flown in from San Diego—during the reception’s ultra lounge.

Menu: a seated dinner featuring a duet of filet mignon and sea bass, along with individually selected paired wines for each course, catered by Stein Eriksen Lodge.

Cake: a “topsy-turvy upside-down pyramid cake” specially crafted by Stein Eriksen pastry chefs. The towering chocolate creation featured white cake with lemon buttercream, fresh raspberries and fondant. To create the cake, the pastry chefs drilled a hole through the cake table, put a tall pole through it and built the cake around it, placing large chocolate spheres between the cake layers.

Flowers: Lauren’s all-white bouquet included lisianthus, stock, freesia, snapdragons and Queen Anne’s lace. Bridesmaids carried smaller versions of the bridal bouquet. At the reception dinner, a dendrobium orchid was placed at each setting and a stem of dendrobium orchids decorated the back of each chair. Beds of rose petals and pomander balls made of deep red roses covered the tabletops. Centerpieces consisted of deep red manzanita trees with deep red amaranthus and crystal strands hanging from the branches. During the ultra lounge, tables were decorated with clusters of glass vases, lit from within by submerged lights, filled with “fountain orchids” that appeared to jump from one vase to another.

Theme and Colors: The wedding day featured a series of events: a pre-ceremony cocktail hour, the ceremony, a seated dinner, the cake cutting and an ultra lounge reception to end the night. For each event the colors and décor differed slightly, with the overall look of the wedding moving from a lighter color palette during the day to a darker color palette in the evening.

Decor Elements: The pre-ceremony cocktail hour on the Flagstaff Deck featured a color palette of white and copper. A classical guitarist entertained guests as they mingled by the Champagne tower and awaited the ceremony.

The ceremony, also held on the Flagstaff Deck, had a very natural, organic feel: the color palette included shades of white, copper, celadon green, and small touches of chocolate brown. Guests sat in mahogany chiavari chairs decorated with Lamore satin ties and cushion covers; a single rose topped each of the reserved seats. Flats of copper willow balls and wilted willowgrass lined t

The aisle runner, which was covered in a bed of 12,000 white rose petals. The couple wed under a Chuppah made of curly willow, aspen branches, wilted wheat grass pots and a white silk canopy.

Following the ceremony, guests moved to the ballroom foyer for cocktails before dinner. A jazz trio made lively music as guests looked at photos of the couple, signed a guest book and enjoyed mojitos, one of several signature drinks Lauren and Mark selected for throughout the evening.

Next, dinner was served in the ballroom. The overall look for dinner was more glamorous than organic, featuring a darker, mostly green color palette with touches of deep red. Long banquet tables decorated with crystal chargers, hundreds of candles and flowers en masse created a romantic, intimate setting.

Following dinner, the couple cut their topsy-turvy cake. After they fed each other a bite and shared a kiss, suddenly the show band began to play and a curtain on the opposite side of the ballroom parted to reveal the ultra lounge, which had been out of sight during dinner, hidden by a wall of candles and black velvet and platinum mirror organza draping.

The ultra lounge consisted of three lounge areas surrounding the dance floor and stage where a show band entertained the crowd. The lounge featured a modern, funky look, with a dark red and chocolate brown color palette, white couches, high-boy tables with leather stools, and signature lighting that created a hip, nightclub vibe.

Mark and Lauren relaxed on their “VIP” couch as guests sipped pomegranate martinis, another signature cocktail, and nibbled on hand-served wedding cake and finger desserts. But before the couple could rest their feet, it was time for the traditional Jewish hora dance: Mark and Lauren sat in chairs, holding a white napkin between them, as friends and family lifted their chairs and danced in celebration. After, guests continued to dance the night away.

Special touches: The couple incorporated many special, meaningful elements into their ceremony, including Jewish traditions. Almost every wedding guest was in from out of town, since Lauren and Mark are both from the East Coast, so the couple designed a wedding weekend rather than a single event. “We had the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, a party on Friday night for all the guests arriving that day, the wedding on Saturday, and a brunch with everyone on Sunday morning before we left for the honeymoon,” Lauren explains. As a special touch at the brunch, held at Stein Eriksen, guests tried to complete a custom-made “Sunday Crossword Puzzle” based on facts about the couple.

Most Memorable Moment of the Wedding

Lauren’s answer: “Walking down the aisle with Mark at 
the end of the ceremony.”

Mark’s answer: “When my bride came walking down the aisle. It was a moment that was more special than I could possibly have imagined.”

Honeymoon

Place: France

A memorable moment: “While we were in the Loire Valley in France, we visited a small family vineyard in St-Nicolas de Bourgueil,” the couple recall. “We drove our car down into the medieval rock quarry that now serves as a natural wine cave and drank wines from the years of our birth. We then sat with the family on their back porch overlooking the vineyard and had a three-hour meal the mother cooked.”

Rings: Cottage Jewelry, Evanston, IL, cottagejewelry.com
Invitations: Tabula Rasa Social Stationers, SLC, 801-575-5043, tabularasastationers.com
Programs: Ann Elizabeth Custom Wedding and Event Invitations, SLC, 801-262-3605, annelizabeth.com
Photography: Randy Despain and Stacey Petersen, Brody Dezember Photography, SLC, 801-391-8553, dezemberphoto.com
Videography: Pointe Digital Photography and Videography, SLC, 801-755-8950, pointedigital.com
Bridal gown: White Couture Designer Bridal & Tuxedo, Park City, 435-655-2943, whitecouture.com
Bridesmaids' dresses: White Couture Designer Bridal & Tuxedo, Park City, 
435-655-2943, whitecouture.com
Flowers: StellaPosy, SLC, 801-949-5728, stellaposy.com
Catering: Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, 866-773-8980, steinlodge.com
Venue: Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, 
866-773-8980, steinlodge.com
Decorations and rentals: Riehl Events, SLC, 801-259-8598, riehlevents.com; Bacchus Event Services, SLC, 801-898-2535, bacchuseventservices.com; Alpine Event Rentals, Orem, 801-787-4387
Hair and makeup: Kendall Preece and Genevieve Jaslowski, McCarty Salon, SLC, 801-581-9911
Entertainment: Michael Lucarelli, classical guitarist, SLC, 801-274-2845, lucarelli.com; Heartstring Productions, jazz band, SLC, 801-419-5216; Party Quake, show band, San Diego, CA, 619-507-0724
Cake: Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, 
866-773-8980, steinlodge.com
Wedding planner: Jacque Riehl, Riehl Events, SLC, 801-259-8598, riehlevents.com
Officiant: Allison Herbert, 801-759-8636