Katherine and Jonathan had a romantic, luxurious and custom detailed military red rose wedding at Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Cairnwood Estate.
The couple met in Brooklyn, NY in 2014 through a mutual friend and have been inseparable ever since. After getting engaged in Greece, where Jonathan had red roses, rose petals, champagne and candles to propose, Katherine decided she wanted a luxurious red rose wedding in the summertime back in Pennsylvania, where the couple originally grew up, to incorporate the flowers from the engagement.
When planning the wedding, Katherine hired Kyle Michelle Weddings and voiced that she wanted a “timeless, romantic and unique wedding that incorporated custom details that surrounded her and Jonathan’s lives together.”
The couple exchanged custom written vows at Bryn Athyn Cathedral while Jonathan was in his dress blues and Katherine was in a custom gown designed by Gina Zatsarina. The gown was inspired by her Katherine’s late grandmother’s wedding gown as well as Grace Kelly’s gown. When creating the dress, Katherine worked directly with Gina and the two decided on custom, couture off the shoulder lace sleeves with a full satin skirt.
“My wedding dress was inspired by my grandmother’s wedding dress, as well as Grace Kelly’s dress. I had always wanted a very traditional wedding dress with satin and long lace sleeves but with couture lace. When I went to try on wedding dress, nothing seemed quite right and I never had that “this is it” moment with any of the dresses. Being an artist, my mom and I decided it would be very special and unique for me to create and design my dress. The dress took over a year in the making with fashion designer, Gina Zatsarina from Zatsarina Fashion.
The dress was a Full A-Line with an off the shoulder neckline, couture lace sleeves, and a pure satin bottom with satin buttons that ran down the entire back portion of the dress onto the train. After the initial dress was made, Gina went back in adding custom beading, lace and pearls into spots her and I deemed needed extra hand touches to truly make it one of a kind. Along with the dress, Gina created a long cathedral veil using the same couture lace from the dress.
After the ceremony, the couple exited through a traditional Marine Corps sword arch where Katherine was officially welcomed into the Marine Corps family as a vintage Rolls Royce took the couple to the reception at Cairnwood Estate. Upon being greeted at the reception with custom signature cocktails named after their pets, Katherine and Jonathan were able to view their reception tent for the first time.
Katherine states, “The florals were a major aspect of the wedding being that I love red roses and the reception tent blew me away! Jon had originally proposed to me in Greece with over four dozen red roses and I knew from that moment, those were going to be my wedding flowers. They were just so striking! For me, they simply scream romance. I feel red roses are so romantic if they are incorporated properly.”
This red rose wedding reception was filled with over 3,000 red roses, carefully decorated and placed to represent romance, elegance, luxury and glam, with unique varying centerpieces, candles, shimmering linens, and gold decor accents under a white tent and around Cairnwood Estate to enhance Katherine’s vision to have a classic, luxurious wedding.
The wedding color palette, which included red, ivory, gold and black, were all carefully designed to accent the theme of “timeless romance” by Kyle Michelle Weddings and Fabufloras, keeping in mind that every aspect had a unique detail with each area of Cairnwood displaying a personalized touch to represent the couple’s life together.
Everything from the attire, live painter, cigar roller, custom details, and military traditions made this wedding beautiful, timeless and classic, but with a personalized twist.
The dinner reception was held under a white tent with chandeliers on Cairnwood Estate’s patio area. The main centerpieces were a mix of tall and lower red rose pieces with tons of candles! The tables had textured ivory linens intermixed with sequin linens, satin napkins, and ivory weaved gold chair sashes on gold chairs. The menus were placed on gold trimmed ivory plates, along with a glass gold rimmed charger plate, with black bows around them. Gold rimmed drinking glasses and gold cutlery were also incorporated. More specifically, the round tables had gold mercury glasses, floating clear candles, and a lot of tea light candles surrounding the red rose centerpieces.
The tall centerpieces were designed on top of Fabufloras’ tall, gold harlow stand/riser with red charlotte roses and only very subtle accents of salal foliage throughout. At the bottom of the stand, another smaller bunch of red charlotte roses were placed directly underneath the top. The lower centerpiece design consisted of red roses in a low, gold footed chalice with very subtle accents of salal foliages throughout.
Keeping Katherine’s vision in mind, inside of the estate continued her vision of romance. Cairnwood’s iconic staircases and mantels were lined with red rose garlands, candles, and custom signage in gold.
The wedding finished with dancing on a custom vinyl floor with Bachelor Boys Band and custom cigars. After it finally came to an end, the couple exited with custom streamers leading out to white trolleys!
Transportation First Class Roll Royce, Bridesmaid Dresses: Here Comes The Bridesmaid, Tuxedo and Men’s Attire: Englund’s Apparel, Officiant: NewChurchWedding, Invitation Designer: Paper & Posh, Cinema and Video: Shutter and Sound Films, Band: Bachelor Boys Band, Dress Designer: Zatsarina Fashion, Hair Stylist: Brides by Valerie Clarke, Linens and Coverings: BBJ Linens, Cake Designer: Ann’s Cake Pan, Signage: The Little Louie Studio, Ceremony Location: Bryn Athyn Cathedral, Reception Venue: Cairnwood Estate, Caterer: Karen Spire Catering & Events, Makeup Artist: Beke Beau, Floral Designer: Fabufloras, LLC, Event Planner: Kyle Michelle Weddings, Photographer: Tyler Boye Photography