The Popvic – Schuh Wedding Wedding Reception
Sometimes the best place to find your Coronado Ballroom wedding inspiration is from your favorite things. It makes your event personal and magical. The theme of Natalie Popovic and Mike Schuh’s wedding focused on the French confection shop Laduree in Paris. It is one of their favorite places to visit. Known for its signature pistachio green box filled with pastel macaroons and toile ribbon bow, it provided the inspiration for their Marie Antoinette reception. Keeping the linens simple and elegant and matching the ballroom marble, the incredible flowers designed by Tony Montano were out of an haute couture magazine. Each table held a different style arrangement – each a work of art. Every imaginable color and style of flower was mixed with various fruits to create a very lavish French court look. Every table was pin spotted and the ceiling of the ballroom was shadow cast with branches and garden vines like the Louvre gardens.
Both Natalie and I love movie “Great Expectations” and we often laughed at how many things in common we shared. When I first saw her on the wedding day, I walked up and hugged her and said, “You had me at Great Expectations!” It was priceless! I also named their delicious signature drink “Natalie and Mike’s Great Expectation” and was rimmed in pistachio green sugar. I feel so blessed that I was able to design the wedding cake to look like the stacked boxes of Laduree confections with pistachio green fondant and medallions of French toile transposed on white chocolate…it was breathtaking! Their lavish meal was topped off by handmade French macaroons and other friandises accompanied by fine cordials and liquors. Coordinated by the always delightful and organized Sarah Grus, Sarah created a magnificent candy station at the end of the evening. Guests could create their own bag of candy to take home with beautiful European pastel candy. Candy was abundant in beautiful bell jars and glass containers. The place cards were on ribbons and hung from the branches of a tree filled with little feathered birds created by Tony Montano. This later adorned the candy station.
Although it rained earlier, there was a double rainbow in the sky that afternoon. The smell of the rain reminded me of being in Paris and the wedding photos look like a Parisian fashion shoot with the incredible work by photographer John Fedele.
If you are a St. Louis bride and groom in need of a little wedding inspiration, call me. I would love to talk to you.
En vous souhaitant une vie étonnante!
Rob Schaefer
Inaugural St. Louis Wedding Professional Hall of Fame Inductee
