Wedding of the Year
:
Penelope Diamandis and Chase Ellsworth Blakeman
La Mariposa
Montecito, California
December29th
It was a rainstorm of epic proportions that sealed the Montecito wedding of Penelope Diamandis and Chase Ellsworth Blakeman
with a (soggy) kiss. Maybe you’ve seen the viral video? The one with a happy couple leading an enthusiastic crowd of family,
friends, a baron, a mayor, and a cabal of well-heeled women in the Cha Cha Slide when a suspicious tent gave way under the
weight of the water and doused the crowd with rain, glorious rain? Yes, that wedding. Yours truly, a lifelong friend of the
Mother of the Groom, was in attendance, sheltered by a portico when the deluge happened. Did that fact go viral? No, but I
can vouch that before the tent collapse and in its aftermath, the Diamandis-Blakeman wedding was filled with love, butterflies,
beautiful people, dancing feet, wonderful Greek food, romantic Irish poetry, sly British wit, and enough love and goodwill
to take on the rain. And win.
The Diamandis-Blakeman ceremony and reception were held at the home of Toots Bixby, a well-known interior designer and dear friend to the bride and her mother, who renovated the stately Spanish Colonial Revival home in the latter part of the twentieth century. The renovations to the Mediterranean masterpiece included a spacious entertainment pavilion that Flowers by Flora transformed into a Grecian greenhouse of sorts, with the foraged florals from roses to lavender from local gardens in Montecito and Fair Harbor, Connecticut, the home of the Groom. The backdrop was a dramatic forest of evergreen trees lit with white lights and filled with Grecian-blue paper butterflies handcrafted by schoolchildren on the island of Patmos, the ancestral home of the Bride. The table decoration was simple and elegant with white linens, ample use of silver pieces and china from the collections of the Merry Widows of Montecito, as the friends of the Mother of the Bride call themselves, and rustic arrangements of white and blue hydrangeas, clipped and dried especially for the occasion from the Mother of the Groom’s garden in Fair Harbor. The aisle flowers and arch that decorated the ceremony space featured greenery, roses, and crisp bows of various shades of blue. The seating and ceremony area for the sixty guests was snug and convivial, ensuring that there were no gaps in the decor or the conversations.
The ceremony began with a break with tradition. George Blakeman, the Groom’s father, walked the Mother of the Bride, Alexa
Diamandis, and the Mother of the Groom, Abigail Ellsworth Blakeman, both wearing shades of blue, down the aisle together.
It was an emotional moment for all the women in attendance to see these two mothers united by their children. Maid of Honor
Sarah Blakeman made her way down the aisle in a vintage Betsey Johnson dress covered in the winged creatures of the theme.
The Groom and Best Man, Lloyd Chandra, stood at the altar in blue suits and silver ties, a sophisticated modern look.
When the Bride appeared in her ethereal Kalliope Moon dress, an elegant bohemian affair with hints of blue amid the ivory layers and a matching tulle veil, there were audible gasps from the guests. The effect of the Bride in her dress against the backdrop of evergreens was breathtaking. The guest next to me, Lucinda Bufford Morrison, a member of the Connecticut wing of the floral foragers and of the Daughters of the American Revolution, whispered in my ear, “What a triumph!”
The Bride was escorted down the aisle by her godfather, Baron Plumley, Lord Simon Fox, to the waiting arms of Chase Blakeman.
Timothy Lynch, then mayor of New York City and Mr.Blakeman’s (now former) boss, married the couple with a flourish and a
bit of the Seamus Heaney love poem “Scaffolding,” as the first drops of the downpour began.
Nobody seemed to enjoy their wedding more than the newlyweds, Ms.Diamandis, who will be keeping her maiden name as a nod
to her mother and her heritage, and Mr.Blakeman. The wedding had very few contrived theatrics. There were no videos that
touted “The Story of Us” or choreographed social media moments. But there was a tearjerker of a toast from Baron Plumley,
a beautiful Greek song and traditional dance from the Diamandis uncles, who traveled from Athens and Patmos for the occasion,
and the most wonderful lemon wedding cake from Room for Cake set among a meadow of florals. The couple chose the Kacey Musgraves
song “Butterflies” as their first dance. The families of the couple joined them on the dance floor as the song faded into
“Empire State of Mind” with Mayor Lynch escorting Ms.Diamandis.
Even when the rain came down and then the tent came down, the Bride and Groom stayed up. Guests packed the reception rooms at La Mariposa, dozens of towels appeared, hot beverages were served, a supply of pashminas materialized to warm chilled guests. The dancing continued far beyond the acceptable quiet hour in that neighborhood. As Toots Bixby, owner of La Mariposa, said, “I’m happy to pay the fine for such a glorious event.”
So when you search for the video online and gasp at the volume of water drenching the wedding party, know that all was okay.
In fact, better than okay. It was a triumph.