When kitsch meets classic
Disco balls, hanging chandeliers, red velvet curtains and a champagne glass tower worthy of a Marilyn Monroe movie. At Public Projects we conceptualized and executed a kitsch and classic wedding in one of our main venues: General Prim.
From the beginning, Hailey and Preston (the couple) were very clear about one thing: they wanted a celebration that felt as unique as their story. They weren't looking for a single style or a safe formula. They wanted to tell a story, with humor and irony, but most of all, with intention.
We wanted to go out of the conventional from the spot where the ceremony took place: the main stairs of General Prim. We dressed the space with an installation of suspended foliage that descended from the railings of the second floor. White fabrics fell like a theatrical curtain and intertwined, while white orchids subtly adorned the steps of the stairs. In this almost theatrical setting, the couple exchanged vows in front of those closest to them. Looking at the photos of the ceremony, it seems as if everything happened naturally in black and white, as if the photographer had captured the scene as it was, without any editing.
As guests filed into the cocktail reception in the Rose Room, we transformed the ceremony space in record time. Where less than an hour ago there were rows of chairs, we set up long tables dressed with white roses, antique candelabras and bow-adorned glasses. We wanted the dinner to retain the same timeless, classic spirit of the ceremony. During the after-dinner conversation, someone on the team overheard a guest say that this is what dinner parties must have looked like in that house a hundred years ago.
After dinner, speeches and the first dance, the guests moved to the back of the courtyard to begin the party.
This was the canvas for kitsch and daring to come to life: we decided to dress it up with red velvet curtains and carpets. We accompanied it with an ice swan, anthuriums and red roses. Our intention was to make a nod to seventies glamour and party rooms of yesteryear. The disco balls and lighting did the rest.
Like the house, (with its traces and scars produced by time) the setting of the room did not seek perfection but authenticity.
Hayley and Preston reminded us that the classic and the ironic are not mutually exclusive: they can coexist, dialogue and, with intention, give rise to experiences that are as unique as they are personal. We were delighted to explore this point of convergence.
