Detroit Deco: WeddingDay’s Exclusive Detroit Cover Shoot

Photos ByMoonrae Photography

Written By

Date

August 7, 2023

The Vision

Wanting to pay tribute to the beautiful architecture throughout the city of Detroit, Amanda of ARC Design Studios planned a stunning Art Deco-inspired design for our spring/summer cover shoot. “I wanted to show that it is possible to blend touches of a historic style with modern trends in a venue that is a totally blank canvas to create something unique,” Amanda shares. As a reflection of the venue’s location, Amanda and her team incorporated bold colors like gold, teal and the Pantone Color of the Year, Viva Magenta, to revive the Art Deco style.

The Venue

Since they were honoring the city, it was important to this creative team to find a venue that was within Detroit’s city limits and not the Detroit metro area. They also wanted a venue that they could dress up how they wanted. Amanda raves, “What I love about The Eastern is its flexibility. There are so many different ways you can set the space, and it gives clients the ability to totally transform it into the style they feel fits their love story.” One of our favorite details is the diversity of the walls from brick to greenery, which made for gorgeous photos captured by Moonrae Photography!

The Florals

Design Quintessentials brought a ton of life into our shoot with her beautiful floral designs! Using a large array of roses as well as snowberry and heather, the colors she chose from the color palette created a lovely contrast to the teal in the tablescape. She also included gold painted blooms to create a more luxurious look. These floral designs added a playful texture to our shoot and were the perfect touch for the spring/summer season!

The Decor

You can really see the Art Deco and modern designs combine in the tablescape! Amanda found beautiful 1920’s brass candlesticks and pulled in the bold color palette with multi-colored taper candles. She also included magenta bubble vases to help illustrate the juxtaposition of modern and classic elements. Filling out the tablescape are floral arrangements in gold compotes and feather details, giving a nod to the historic era. We love the glamor of the multi-layered place settings with gold beaded chargers and antique plates. The addition of the menus with gold foil accents elevates the place settings even more!

The Cake & Catering

There isn’t a more perfect cake for the Art Deco era than this stunning creation from For The Love of Sugar Detroit! Not only is it three tiers of beautiful geometric designs in the rich color palette, but it also boasts stunning flowers for some added texture. Surrounding the cake are Neapolitan, red velvet and chocolate cake pieces as well as decadent macarons to reflect flavors that were popular in the Art Deco period.

We all love a champagne tower (which is very Gatsby!) but to take the idea to the next level, Thyme & Honey created a luxurious seafood tower using oysters, caviar, crab, grilled lobster tails and more. Garnished with edible grass, mini Tabasco bottles, watermelon radish and borage blossom–to name a few–each vintage-style coup glass was its own glamorous piece of art that was almost too pretty to eat!

The Looks

The team utilized two gowns that reflected both the traditional Art Deco look and a more modern wedding style. “The Bridal Studio Corktown did an AMAZING job providing the shoot with two beautiful dresses for our models,” Amanda gushes. “Britney is amazing at what she does, and it was wonderful to partner with her in choosing the dresses.” She pulled modern gowns that reflected the symmetry, balance and opulence of the cityscape. For the historic look, the team chose a satin dress with a sleek silhouette and elegant lace design to pair with a classic bun and dramatic eye makeup by Nicole Lynn Artistry. The second dress focused on the intricate beading that could be seen on flapper dresses from the 20s that is still very stylish today. The model’s hair was styled in loose curls that drew attention to her bold lip. The final look was a bold, custom-tailored suit from Tailored Detroit that brings the perfect pop of color to this fun celebration!

The Stationery

“For stationery, working with Ching of The Paper Creation was awesome! I provided a handful of images for inspiration and she went through and tested fonts, layouts, paper types and combinations until we landed on our final set!” Amanda explains. The idea was to play off stereotypical fonts and designs you would see in the age of Art Deco with a modernized color palette. You may notice a skyline on the menu, which calls back to the idea of celebrating the city of Detroit and its architecture.