MY wedding design!

I love decorating for parties! I think you can always enhance a space and an event if you have a beautiful table setting and magnificent center pieces! However, detailing is what makes a party and of course you must always make sure your guests have a lot of comfort!

I had the joy and excitement of designing my own wedding about 6 months ago, it was a blast but a lot of work! I loved thinking about every little detail that went into the decor. I space-planned the furniture, the whole concept and the layout of the party. I planned the work flow of the party, where the guests were coming from and going to. I did several changes on AutoCad until my parents and I came into the best solution possible.

I have lived in the U.S for the past four years, but I was born and raised in Brasil. I decided to have an intimate wedding on my parent's backyard. Since my (now) husband is American I chose to do a very Brazilian wedding by picking out some tropical flowers, which is not very common for weddings in Brasil. However, I thought it would add interest and it would remind me of my roots. Specially because my inspiration came from the beautiful colors of tropical flowers: Red, Yellow and Oranges. Also it is important to warm the place up when having an outdoor wedding it's important you warm the space up and I did that by using golden damask table cloths and table skirts on the outside tables.

Because the cake was inside I decided to go with a medium size. It's important to consider the ceiling height when choosing the size of your cake. The picture on the right was the "Hot Cocoa" & sweets on a beautiful distressed wood table, when guests were leaving the party and waiting for the valet to get their car they could enjoy some delicious Hot Cocoa, Mini-Cupcakes of different flavors, Cake-pops, Brownies, Petit fours de Maison (All provided by Sweet Cake Buffet ) on a cold August night.

These sweets were by the cake. I designed a symmetrical look with tall flower arrangements on each side and used silver dishes and crystals to display these truffles of different flavors. The cake was displayed on a marble table top with a rustic base, and it was under a spot light to really shine!

The wedding was a rustic-chic sophisticated look! I love the distressed wood furniture pieces, it adds so much character to the space and it gives warmth to any room!

When you have a party on your backyard or any outdoor party try to add this new concept of  "Garden Rooms". Garden rooms is what I like to call spaces designated for guests to gather and feel comfortable with each other, while enjoying a beautiful outdoor space. Mauro Barros one of the top 10 Landscape Architects in Brazil loves this concept as well. (He happens to be my Dad!)

A lot of my design inspirations came from the invitation, the paper was a beautiful shimmery pearl color and I absolutely fell in love with this monogram that had our initials. I wanted that through out the little details at the party. So for the bathrooms we used the monograms on the towels. We used the monogram design on the menus, on the "take-out" gifts for the guests, and on the "Thank You" cards.

We had to do invitations in English and Portuguese, we sent the English ones to Scott's family and as a tradition they usually add a photo on the invitation and that's what we did for the English ones, only. It was one of my favorite engagement photos by Hillary Howland Photography . I'll share some of those engagement photos later on the blog.

The box above were done by Arte Naty
The treats above and bellow were all given to the guests as they left the party.

Jordan Almonds with "Thank you for your presence!"

A Brazilian tradition of  "Bem-Casados" wrapped in a colorful and fun fabric with "Thank you for your presence!" tag. The tags, invitation, menu's and thank you cards all had the same style of paper and font.

I loved how much "Doce de Leite, Dulce de Leche" they had inside of them! They were so good!

Down on the left was the Sweethearts table, I choose yellow-clear glasses for water, the chargers and silverware was all detailed silver, the Menu's where on top of the charges. I designed everything from the Menu to how I wanted to "dress" each table. It was exciting seeing it all come to live!

For our altar we had an arc covered with flowers between the Palm Trees on my parent's backyard. It was the perfect focal point at the party. On the right is a photo of my bouquet that My Father made for me! Knowing that he took time to create my bouquet it meant a lot to me. I love orchids and we had lots of orchids through out the different spaces we created. My father is a Landscape Architect and Designer and played a big role on helping me to design this wedding. I will be forever thankful! I have to mention my mom that was amazing during these 3 months of planning a wedding, with her incredible ideas and making sure everything was how I wanted!

Another crucial thing when designing a wedding is the food. In our family's opinion Sweet Cake Buffet is the best in Brasilia where we held the wedding celebration. My parents have done events with them before and they never let us down. 

Before dinner was served we had a variety of Hors d'oeuvre going around: 

Mini Croque Monsieur and Italian bruchettas, freshly made in pans Maitre d'hotel.
Curry Chicken dumplings "Pasteizinhos de frango ao curry", Caramel Apple covered "folheado de maçã caramelada", Chestnut covered foliated "folheado de castanha", Mini Strudel Cod "Mini Strudel de Bacalhau", the Calabresa Empanadas, Empanadas de Brie with apricots "Empanadas de Brie com damascos", Baked Shrimp dumplings with gratin parmesan  "Pasteizinhos Assados de Camarão com parmesão gratinado", Mini Spinach Quiche, bundles of Hearts of Palm "Trouxinhas de Palmito", meat pies dry with catupiry "Empadinhas de carne seca com catupiry" 
Deep-fried shrimp with sesame sauce, chicken with cream cheese Delicia "Camarão empanado com molho de gergelim"
Beef Carpaccio, Cones stylized salad with cod "Casquinhas estilizadas com saladinha de bacalhau."

 For Dinner we served:

• Crispy Lettuce Salad with Almonds, and grated Grana Cheese with Honey Mustard. "Salada Crocante de Alface Americana com Amêndoas, Grana ralada e Mostarda com Mel."
• Robalo Darne wrapped in a lemon muslin. "Darne de Robalo envolvido em mousseline de limão."
• Filet Mignon accompanied three Mushrooms Risotto. "Filé Mignon acompanhado Risoto de três Cogumelos."
• Rondelle white stuffed pasta with ricotta, buffalo Mozzarella, Parmesan, and lemon zest, involved in sauce Pomodoros Pelatti with a  scent of basil. "Rondelle de Massa branca, recheado com Ricota, Mozarela de búfala, Parmesão, e raspas de limão siciliano, envolvidos em molho de Pomodoros Pelatti ao perfume de manjericão."
• Sautéed Potatoes. "Batadas Salteadas"
• White Rice. "Arroz Branco"

For the Sweets we had Chocolate truffle, White chocolate + Coconut (Our Initials were in it),  Lime mousse with chocolate, one that had Brazilian cashews nuts in it, Hazelnut, Mint truffle, Passion Fruit, Hazelnut, Gnash Chocolate truffle, etc. By: Bolo Arte

 

I choose a smaller center-pieces on most of the tables because tall center pieces avoid conversation with those on the opposite side of the table.

This Gazebo was the perfect spot for some tables, with flowers and candles to warm up the place.

We had different marble sculptures through out the gardens and inside the home. We also had beautiful abstract art pieces to add color on bare walls and to really transform spaces.

Our musician was Tico de Morais we saw him playing at a restaurant in Brasilia called: Coco Bamboo and we loved his Jazzy style, he plays a lot of "Bossa Nova" and that's exactly what we wanted. The saxophonist was incredible as well. It was perfect for an intimate dinner with close family and friends.

Special participation of my dearest friend Beth Maiques that has an incredible voice and came all the way from Los Angeles for the party and celebration together with another friend Annette Duran. This was really a special moment for me!

Overall, a wedding needs to portrait the couples personality and taste. I can say that our wedding was exactly what we wanted and everything turned out so perfect! I love being married to my best friend!

I think things turned out better than we expected them to be since we only had four months to prepare! Big thanks to my parents that made this dream come true and to my husband's family that came all the way from the US for our celebration! 

Other Services: 

- Party Decor, Design and the overall process from Schematics to Installation by Ingrid Brown Interior Design make sure to like my page on Facebook

- Landscape and lighting by MB Paisagismo

- Photography by Joshua Brown  based in New York City for photos, highlight videos and a ceremony video. 

- Invitations, Menus, "Thank you for your presence" tags, Thank you cards were all done by Grafica Relevo
- Hair and Make Up Cloves Nunes
- Abstract paintings were done by Sonnia Guerra
- Sculptures were done by Clecius Coser

- Valet Service was done by  Divaldo Manobristas

- Photo Credit on this post goes to Joshua Brown Photography and  Hillary Howland Photography

Top 10 instagram Photos: 

#casamentoingridescott

  

Gifts for close family members "Padrinhos e Madrinhas":

 

Making of:

 

Detail on my dress:

 

   

 I hope you liked it!

Xk,.

Ingrid Brown

Interior Designer