Moody Autumn Wedding: Restaurant Buyout Edition
Luie is my youngest son’s best friend, who I’ve known since they were in middle school. When Alyssa and Luie planned their wedding, I wanted to gift them a visual experience that fit the season and honored their love story.
I teamed up with Jenna Salvagin Photography and the Events Team at Bull Valley Roadhouse to collaborate on a design experience at my absolute favorite local restaurant. If you ever visit, I highly recommend the grits, cocktails, and seasonal crème brûlée.
Bull Valley offers buyouts for weddings and other events, and I was so excited to bring a little contemporary romance into the space for an editorial session.
The Design Brief: Design a lush autumn tablescape that highlights both the restaurant’s commitment to seasonal ingredients and leans into an elevated, romantic take on spooky season in a Victorian-era venue.
The Inspiration: Designing for a venue built in 1897, filled with antiques, old photographs, and historical accents requires a thoughtful touch. If I’d gone too modern, the design would have fought with the room; too vintage would have felt like a time capsule.
To strike a balance, I kept the mood-board simple but intentional and focused on rich colors, ingredients as centerpieces, and fall foliage. I chose a palette of deep chocolate brown, rich aubergine, weathered fall leaves, and moody lighting to give the historic space a current-meets-old-world vibe.
The Execution: When designing an event, the existing venue is your starting point. It’s so important to design with a space, rather than designing against it. Here’s how the concept took shape using intentional design principles:
Tactile Grounding: Instead of standard smooth linens, I layered chocolate fabric to create rich texture and complement the environment.
The Details: I wanted the tablescape to feel rich with seasonal fruits and vegetables, super abundant, and a little messy to give the feeling of a robust feast on a great night out.
Layered Lighting: I added taper candles and table lamps to build on the spooky but sophisticated glow in a way that interacted with but didn’t compete against the restaurant’s existing antique wall sconces.
Organic Florals: Rather than stiff, tightly packed arrangements, I used loose, gestural autumn branches, stacked red pears, deep jewel-toned berries, artichokes, endive, and late-season tomatoes on the vine.
Alyssa and Luie, congrats on your first year of marriage, this editorial session was an absolute joy to create!
How to work with Jen Harrison Weddings:
Whether you’re looking for a luxury design option or want to learn frameworks to design your own wedding with support, I have a pathway for you:
Custom Wedding Design & Direction: Full design direction, custom floor plans, textile and rental sourcing, and on-site installation oversight.
Starting at $13,500
The Design Direction Group Program: In this small-group program, I walk you through my step-by-step design framework to help you define your style and create a beautiful day that tells your love story.
$1,249 (Enrollment begins November 13th)
Join the Waitlist Here
How to Style Your Wedding (Self-Paced Course): Get instant access to the exact process I use with my clients.
$247
