Elegant Organic Style at the Taj

We’re following up on an earlier post from November on a lovely wedding we did for Heather and Nick at the Taj in Back Bay, Boston. The bride and groom wanted their floral design to be elegant to fit with the formal and beautiful setting of the venerable hotel but they also wanted to tone down the ornate aspects of the space through organic touches that were representative of their own style.

Color Palette:
We created a color palette of ivory, gold, orange, and terracotta, with  touches of espresso brown and green. This worked beautifully for the Taj’s Grand Ballroom with warm color palette of deep reds, golds, and ivories.

Close Up of Bridesmaid's Bouquet. Photo by Person + Killian.

Flowers:

We were able to use a lovely variety of flowers including fabulous white amaryllis, champagne roses, and cymbidium orchids for the neutral ivories. Then ilex berries, burnt orange roses, bronze cymbidiums, and gold mokara orchids for the bronze and gold aspect of the palette. Then touches of brown with fiddleheads and foliage.

Groom's Boutonniere of White Phalenopsis Orchid, Fiddlehead, and Wheat Tuft. Photo by Person + Killian.

Ceremony:

The ceremony featured a brighter, festive color palette by incorporating more burgundy and magenta orchids. We also made wonderful flower leis for the bride and groom in similar colors.

Chuppah Design with Elegant Orchids and Curly Willow. Photo by Person + Killian.

I just love how ‘glowy’ this photos is – thanks to Person + Killian! This palette was just perfect for the Taj and to create a festive air for the evening ceremony. In this photo you can event see a bit of the chuppah cloth which was actually from the groom’s mother. It was one of her saris; the couple incorporated it beautifully into the ceremony to fuse both of their cultural traditions.

Reception:

The palette was a bit softer the reception with two table designs for the ballroom – one of low footed bronze bowls filled amaryllis, orchids, and organic elements. The other design, a collection of three different vases in bronzes and brown hues filled with one type of flower in each.

Entry Arrangement at the Taj. Photo by Person + Killian.

We both just loved this entry table arrangement for the Taj – elegant and exuberant and just a little bit wild with lots of curly willow and arching foliage.

One Style of Table Design. Photo by Person + Killian.

Second Style of Table Design. Photo by Person + Killian.

Our thanks to Heather and Nick for having us be part of your day; you were wonderful! And a special cheers to Person + Killian for their lovely, lovely photography that day!

Floral design by Petalena.

 

Lush and Elegant Wedding at the Taj

We just finished up a big wedding this past weekend at the Taj in Boston’s Back Bay. Most of us Bostonians probably think of this space still as the Ritz Carlton and it hasn’t actually changed very much since the Taj bought it a few years ago.

The ballroom at the Taj is quite lux, with lots of deep reds, golds, and warm ivories. It’s beautiful but it’s a lot of room. Given the detailed and decorative quality of the room we kept the flowers a little more hushed and neutral with ivories and golds primarily.

 

Bride's Bouquet Against the Studio Door

The bride’s bouquet was rather hushed and tonal – just loved it. A few dramatic cattaelya orchids, phalenopsis orchids, ‘quicksand’ roses (our fave rose!), fiddleheads, lovely big white amaryllis, and some lovely soft peach-meets-brown cymbidium orchids.

 

Bridesmaid Bouquets

The bridesmaids’ bouquets had a touch more of color with deep gold Mokara orchids and soft orange ilex berries. The bouquets look beautiful against the aubergine color of the dresses.

Now, onto the Taj!

 

Place Card Table at the Taj

Just love this arrangement Apryl did, it’s so exhuberant but subtle at the same time. It says autumn to me but without being too over the top.

 

Chuppah with Orchids and Curly Willow

I still can’t believe how perfectly beautiful the flowers fit with the room – we did more of the orange Mokara orchids and then red and deep pink Ankara orchids with lots of curly willow. We draped the staging with ivory fabric and did a long runner edged with white rose petals up each side.

The bride and groom rented the poles and fabric from the Israeli bookstore in Brookline and then added the groom’s mother’s own sari as additional decoration. It was such a lovely and personal touch.

 

Cocktail Hour Arrangement

We did petite little bud vases of ‘Majolika’ roses or orchids for the cocktail hour. Each vase was wrapped with a bit of angel vine for an additional organic texture.

 

A slightly blurry (but still lovely) photo of the ballroom being set for dinner

I was getting just a bit frustrated at my lack of photographic skills, the room was so lovely and glowing but I could not get a decent photo. Wondering if I should take a photo class…oh well. Thank god there are professional photographers out there!

 

Style One for Table Arrangements

We did two different table designs for the ballroom – ten arrangements with a bronze footed compote style container filled with amaryllis, orchids, unique foliages, and ilex berries.

The second style, seen below, we took three different kinds of neutral vases and did simple more modern arrangements in each. These arrangements were kind of deconstructed versions of the larger table arrangements.

 

Style Two for the Dinning Table Designs

We just loved how everything looked together – elegant, slightly organic, not fou-fou.

Photos & Design by Petalena

 

 

 

An Evening of Elegance on November 6

An Evening of Elegance

A cool bridal show, really? I know, I know, so many of these shows are scary affairs with too many vendors, too much ‘over the top,’ and not enough truly unique and beautiful things. Apryl and I have mostly sworn off bridal shows for those reasons but never say never, we are actually participating in one that will really be quite lovely.

Cocktail Party meets Wedding Planning - That’s really the feel for An Evening of Elegance at the Taj Boston on Thursday, November 6th from 6-8pm. Hope you can make it! And, for those of you who haven’t visited the new Taj, here’s a perfect excuse!

Apryl & I will be there cocktail in hand with a gorgeous and interactive display – “What kind of bride are you?” With lots of wonderful different styles of bouquets to try on and model. Here are few examples of bouquet styles we may do (photos below are all by Petalena from prior weddings).

What kind of a bride are you? A Classic Beauty

What kind of bride are you? Unique and Modern

What kind of bride are you? Dramatic and Daring

What kind of bride are you? Romantic and Earthy

Sponsors for the event are: Boston Weddings Magazine and Elegant Venues

Other vendors include: Donna Perkins Photography, Jubilee Event Design, Lux, Bond, and Green and many more including Petalena!