Cedar Lake Estate Wedding Inspiration

Right off the bat, I am going to fully confess I fell hard for this shoot cleverly done by The More We See and crafted together by Heart & Dash and Kate Farley Design. It tugged on the endearing heart strings of mine when I saw the first few pictures of the couple waking up together on their wedding day; no worries of “bad luck,” just a sweet and tender moment shared between them and a lovely breakfast of bagels, coffee, and those divine-looking rosemary grapefruit cocktails before heading out to get married. I am so smitten right now with how creative and darling this entire shoot is. Not to mention, there’s so many pin-worthy elements!

From the event designers, Heart & Dash:
The big world of social media allows us to discover some pretty amazing people and places right from the comfort of our sofa. It was on one of my journeys down the rabbit hole that is Instagram that I discovered Cedar Lake Estate about a year ago. It took me all of two seconds to fall in love with the property. So when The More We See reached out to us recently to see if we’d be interested in working with them on a shoot, we pitched the idea of using Cedar Lake as our setting.

The property just begs for couples who are dreaming of a weekend retreat for their wedding, and that was what we based our shoot around. This concept that a couple can have a wedding that bucks tradition here and there, but is still reflective of what is most important to them. Putting ourselves in the shoes of this “couple” led us to some great ideas. Like a couple who would prefer to NOT be apart on the eve of their wedding. But would much rather wake up on the morning of their wedding, get ready together, eat breakfast, and have it be just the two of them for awhile before the chaos set in. The More We See has a knack for sneaking shots of a couple’s lovey dovey moments from afar (and by the way, this couple happened to be married in real life and were adorable — so the chemistry you’re seeing is real). The More We See captures moments that a couple will look back on with a mushy I-remember-how-I felt-at-that-exact-moment nostalgia.

We often work with couples who feel that they have to do things a certain way because “that’s what everyone else does.” Though we all have an appreciation for certain traditions, your wedding day should be a genuine reflection of who you are as a couple. So if that means the thought of waking up with your honey, laughing over bagels & coffee, and helping one another get ready makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, do it! We support you! 🙂 Oftentimes when couples are trying to decide on a color for their wedding, they highlight that color throughout. If you’re going for a more relaxed vibe — or even a luxe vibe — our recommendation is to let neutrals shine as your primary palette, and use brighter color sparingly in the form of little pops (similar to the grapefruit colors in this shoot). Approaching color this way makes for a timeless wedding, with photos that focus on the storytelling details, the moments, and most importantly — the people.

We worked closely with Kate Farley Design to create the ceremony scene that was different. Many ceremony backdrops tend to draw your eyes up high, but we kept this one low to the ground to keep the focus on the couple with the icy lake and the tall pine trees in the background. For the reception scene, we collaborated on a statement sweetheart table. The pops of citrus stood out from the neutral palette, adding drama and dimension for the most formal setting of the day. Sandpiper & Co (who also modeled as the bride!) used her handlettering skills to transform grapefruits into place cards. The citrus touches carried over into the dessert display with sweets from Nutmeg & Honeybee. We (Heart & Dash) designed the stationery. We kept it simple and natural to match the woodsy weekend vibe, but dressed them up by adding a subtle scalloped lace detail to mimic the BHLDN Cleo top worn by the bride. Our couple was all about great food (see: bagels and lox) and great drinks (see: rosemary grapefruit cocktails), so it was only natural that this couple would make their own grapefruit bitters with custom designed labels to hand out to guests as favors.