Katie & Alex

Wedding Stories

Feb 2

DETAILS
When — June 2024
Where — North Shore House

A Wedding as Colorful as the Bride Herself

From the very first conversation, it was clear this bride was anything but traditional. Her vision was joyful, bold, and unapologetically colorful. She wanted her wedding day to feel exactly like her. Vibrant, playful, and full of personality. Set against the relaxed elegance of North Shore House in Newton, New Jersey, her celebration became a true expression of color, creativity, and floral storytelling.

A Colorful Bridal Party and Wildflower Ceremony

The day began with the most joyful bridal party, with bridesmaids dressed in colorful floral gowns that felt straight out of a garden party dream. Their dresses immediately set the tone for the entire celebration. Lighthearted, expressive, and wildly fun.

And despite the fact that the day was easily hovering around 105 degrees, the entire wedding party looked absolutely flawless. Huge credit goes to the incredible hair and makeup team from Beauty and the Blush, who somehow kept everyone glowing, polished, and photo ready from first look to last dance.

Guests were welcomed to the ceremony by a whimsical wildflower aisle that felt as though it had grown right into place. At the altar stood a lush and colorful floral arch filled with movement and texture, framing the couple in a way that felt romantic, celebratory, and completely effortless.

The Bud Vase Idea That Stopped Me in My Tracks

Now for my favorite part of the story.

The bride had an incredible idea to use bud vases as her guest seating chart that would later double as the reception centerpieces. Each guest found their name attached to an individual bud vase and brought it to their table to decorate the space. Thoughtful, interactive, and completely unique, it was one of those ideas that instantly felt special.

But there was a twist.

She casually mentioned that she originally planned to buy flowers from Costco or BJ’s and have the groomsmen assemble all of the bud vases at the venue while getting ready.

Luckily, my studio has a fainting couch because this absolutely threw me for a loop.

I never tell my clients no. Instead, I gently guide them in the right direction. We calmly walked through flower availability, pricing, stem counts, and the time it would realistically take to design dozens of bud vases. I also reminded her, with a laugh, that groomsmen typically want to hang out and drink beer on a wedding morning, not play floral designer.

We both had a big laugh, and she happily decided to let us take it from there.

A Show Stopping Floral Experience

The final result was something truly magical.

The bud vase seating chart became a true showpiece that was colorful, joyful, and beautifully curated. When carried into the reception, each bud vase transformed into a centerpiece, creating tables that felt personal, intentional, and full of life. This creative seating chart concept was later featured on Minted Weddings, highlighting it as a standout design moment from the day.

To complete the look, the cake was surrounded by a lush floral cake meadow that turned the dessert display into its own moment of beauty. Every floral detail worked together to create an experience that felt immersive and unforgettable.

We were also lucky enough to work alongside one of our absolute favorite photographers, Ashley from Renee Ash Photography. Ashley has an incredible eye for color, emotion, and movement, and captured this day so beautifully and honestly. It is always a joy collaborating with creatives who truly understand how to tell a wedding story through imagery.

Proof That Trust Creates the Magic

This wedding is the perfect example of what happens when couples bring bold ideas and trust us to elevate them. With thoughtful guidance, a sense of humor, and an abundance of flowers, a wild concept turned into an unforgettable experience that guests will remember for years to come.

Colorful, joyful, and full of personality. Just like the bride herself.

More Photos:

Vendor Credits

It truly takes an incredible team of creative professionals to bring a vision like this to life, especially on a very hot summer day. We are so grateful to have worked alongside such a talented group of vendors who helped make this wedding unforgettable.

Venue
North Shore House

Photography
Renee Ash Photography
Captured beautifully by Ashley, one of our absolute favorite photographers to collaborate with

Videography

TMT Weddings

Florals and Design
Wild Floweress Design Co.

Hair and Makeup
Beauty and the Blush

Reception Entertainment

Aftershock NJ

Ceremony/Cocktail Music
Acoustic NRG

Bridal Attire

Brides by Young

Shuttles
Sussexpress

Invitation Suite
Minted Weddings

Wedding Feature
This colorful wedding was featured on Wedding File. The bud vase seating chart was proudly featured on Minted Weddings.

The Story Behind Our New Jersey Bride Feature · Wild Floweress

A countryside fairytale at Ryland Inn

The story behind our New Jersey Bride feature.

Venue · The Coach House at Ryland Inn Photography · Michelle Behre Featured · New Jersey Bride, Fall/Winter 2026

Some shoots are about showing off flowers. This one was about a feeling, the sense of walking into an old stone house in the fall and finding it already alive.

When the creative team came together for this editorial at The Coach House at Ryland Inn, the goal was never a list of pretty arrangements. It was a countryside fairytale, warm and golden and a little untamed, the kind of room you don't want to leave. Months later it landed in New Jersey Bride for Fall and Winter 2026, and getting to see the work in print alongside this team is the part that still feels good.

Here is the thinking behind it, and what it was like to build it with people who care this much.

An idea built around a room

This one began with an email. Michelle Behre was curating a bridal editorial at The Coach House to open New York Luxury Bridal Market week, and she came to it with a clear feeling in mind: florals and candlelight climbing the fireplace, a single tablescape that felt like the heart of the room, and light that made a statement of its own. She had just come home from Florence, still holding the chiaroscuro of the old masters, and she wanted that same play of candlelight and shadow to carry the whole day. The brief was an atmosphere, not a checklist, which is exactly how we like to begin.

The Coach House gave us everything to work with. Stone, beamed ceilings, chandeliers, and an enormous fireplace that practically asks to be dressed. So instead of filling the space evenly, we built around its bones. The fireplace became the anchor, and everything else followed from there.

The palette was autumn made soft: peach, butter yellow, burgundy, and rust, with dried seedheads and trailing greenery woven through so it read like fall instead of just looking like it. On the table we tucked fig, grape, and pear among candles set at deliberately uneven heights, so the whole thing felt gathered rather than arranged. Garden-grown, with movement, never tightly packed.

The bride before the dressed stone fireplace — The fireplace, dressed and left a little untamed

Letting the flowers climb

The fireplace installation is the piece I keep coming back to. Rather than setting an arrangement politely on the mantel, we let the flowers climb the stone and trail toward the candlelight, asymmetrical on purpose, so it looked like it had grown there on its own.

Nothing matched on purpose. That is usually the difference between a setup and something that feels alive. The bouquet carried the same idea in miniature: loose garden roses and dahlias with a soft ribbon, built to move with the bride rather than sit still in her hands.

The bride beside the dressed stone fireplace

The bride's loose garden bouquet with trailing ribbon

"Flowers should look like they belong in the room, not like they were delivered to it."

Working with Michelle Behre

Michelle hosted this shoot and photographed it, and working with her is a large part of why it turned out the way it did. Her eye is editorial and intentional. She photographs for permanence, for albums and wall pieces rather than for a quick scroll, and that mindset changes how a floral designer gets to work.

She thinks about how light falls on an installation, how candlelight reads on camera, how a room frames the people in it. When a photographer understands those things, florals get to be seen the way they were designed. She also curates rather than floods. What you get back is a tight, considered gallery that feels like a published feature, which is exactly what happened here.

The inspiration

Her reference points were not florals at all. Think the chiaroscuro of Titian and Caravaggio, the grandeur of Florentine fashion houses, the natural light of the Uffizi, translated into an abundance of candles, deep shadow, and a stone fireplace dressed like a still life. We built the florals to live inside that light, not in front of it.

The groom before the Coach House stone arches — Photographed for permanence · Michelle Behre Photography

The bride in the floral gown in the garden — Photographed for permanence · Michelle Behre Photography

The whole team

A shoot like this only works when everyone is pulling toward the same feeling. Every gown, every place setting, every linen had to agree with the room. When a team is this aligned, the design stops feeling assembled and starts feeling like a place.

Candlelight carried all the way to the table

Why it made the magazine

I think it earned the feature because it committed to one idea and followed it all the way through, from the fireplace down to the smallest detail on the table. It was not the most flowers we have ever used. It was the most intentional.

That is the thinking behind every Wild Floweress wedding: never a recycled recipe, always a room and a couple-specific answer. This time the room happened to be a stone fairytale in the New Jersey countryside.

The Vendor Team