I ♥ Your Style: Rachel Chandler Guinness

While I'm on the subject of weddings, can we all just take a moment to be obsessed with Rachel Chandler Guinness? I first saw her about three years ago at a fashion show. It was Tara Subkoff's second Imitation of Christ show after attempting to take back the label she founded, and all the cool girls were there - Chloe Sevigny, Jen Brill, Liz Goldwyn - but it was Rachel I noticed most. What caught my eye were her Belgian shoes. I grew up around Belgian shoes - the WASPy, old school half loafer / half orthopaedic shoe that you could only buy at their tiny, inconspicuous boutique on East 56th Street. Everyone in Palm Beach wore them. My dad still wears them! I had been through the Belgian shoe phase myself for a brief, channeling-my-grandmother moment in high school but had long since moved on. But there was Rachel wearing them in an entirely new context. She had peroxide blonde hair and wore her black Belgians with skin tight black jeans and a fitted, wool fisherman's sweater. She looked so cool.

I never saw Rachel again until her wedding was given a one-page in Vogue. It looked cool, but I wasn't drooling until I saw the rest of the pictures on Vogue.com! They are amazing. Her wedding style was 100% English, but it was at once traditional yet up-to-the-minute, romantic yet refined. I love the hand painted tent, the flower leis, the wobbling homemade cake, and especially Rachel's custom Haider Ackermann gown. The girl has seriously good style.

A friend's house where Rachel and Tom had their reception. 

A self-portrait of Rachel's Belgian shoes

I love how Rachel's style is simple and classic, but dead sexy

Because the wedding was held on Easter weekend, someone had the hilarious idea to appear as a bunny at the wedding.

Love her Balmain embroidered vest.

The tent would have been beautiful in any case, but I just love how they hand-painted the ceiling and walls. 

The dress!

Kim's Wedding: Part Two

When we saw that great weather was coming for the wedding day, we planned a last minute picnic on the lake. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. 

Despite the hot, sunny weather, the lake is still ridiculously frigid at this time of year, especially as it had snowed in the Adirondacks just the week before. I was impressed to see that some of our friends had already been swimming by the time I arrived with the bride in tow. As native Adirondackers, Kim and I both knew we'd have to meet their challenge. So we pulled a group of intrepid would-be swimmers together and got ourselves psyched up with some jumping on the dock.

One of my favorite memories of the weekend was when our friend Megan suggested we all think of Kim and Till when the cold water rushed over our bodies and send all that energy their way. I'm sure that will start a new tradition for me - every time I jump in cold water (which I love to do) I will think of someone or something to send the rush to.

My family has been picnic-ing at this boathouse nearly all our lives so it was so much fun to share it with friends from all over.

The double decker water jump is Zach's signature move, and he got the groom be his 1st deck for wedding day good luck. 

Kim and me sharing the happiness with our beautiful Mama. 

Kim and I went straight to The Uplands after lunch to get ready for the wedding. I snuck into the dining room on my way upstairs to have a peak at the beautiful room my mom had decorated for the dinner that night. 

Every time I went up or down the stairs at The Uplands, my attention was grabbed by this painting of Phebe, it's owner. I just can't get over the outfit!

A detail of the room where Kimberly was getting dressed. This is why we love this house so much. It has such style, but in a very personal and unpretentious way.

As maid of honor, I was the last in the procession before Kimberly did her wedding march. I couldn't resist turning around a take a picture. Here she comes with our dad and step dad.

Love and Lanvin! The dress was made of the softest, most delicate silk tulle - it was like a cobweb.

The kiss!! (photo credit: my husband) 

I managed to get a quick closeup on the porch while we waited for a rain shower to stop. I love the flowers. And the veil.

Even Til is in awe of her dress, which you can see more details of here. I love the cut gathering at the waist and on the shoulder. On the other side was Lanvin's signature exposed zip which brought the dress into the 21st century.

The wedding children.

The bridal moose. We tried to match her to the real bride as much as possible. I hope Alber would be proud!

Mom and her best friend Mimi, having a quick recap of the ceremony before going into dinner.

On Sunday we had brunch at The Ausable Club before everyone took off. I love the bathroom there so much, I just had to show it to you. 

Kim's Wedding: Part One

Our whole reason for being in New York for half-term was to go to my sister Kim's wedding. She got married in the Adirondacks, the dramatic mountains in upstate New York where we have spent summers since early childhood. Kim had always maintained that one day she would marry in The Uplands - a charming, eccentric and huge old wooden house in Keene Valley that belonged to a family friend. The whole thing was a scene right out of The Royal Tenenbaums - kooky WASP chic - a three day adventure of frigid lake dipping (we didn't stay in long enough to call it swimming), dancing to blue grass by a bonfire, toasting and roasting the bride and groom, and cheering them on as they had their first make-out as husband and wife. Here is the first day and half. More on Thurs. 

The view towards Giant Mountain is arguably the most classic high peaks photo op in the Adirondacks. On our first night there, we had family dinner at the Ausable Club, and it was our view from cocktails on the porch.

Just the bag that Kim's Lanvin wedding dress arrived in made me have a lump in my throat! 

The Uplands - well, part of it. The other half of this enormous old Adirondack camp extends past the left side of the tree.

The organized but not too manicured pantry at The Uplands. Can you imagine having to serve that many cups of tea?

The wedding weekend guide, illustrated by my genius little sis Phoebe Cutter.

One of the most amazing things about The Uplands is it's owner Phebe Thorne. She is wonderful and stylish and eccentric and energetic and, above all, smart (she used to be a judge). This is her fishing hat.

The wicker porch at The Uplands.

This might be my favorite part of The Uplands - the New Yorker bathroom. Each wall is plastered floor to ceiling with New Yorker covers. There is also an Absolut Vodka ad bathroom elsewhere in the house. It was so fun reliving the memory of each one while I was having a pee.

On Friday, the construction crews were still working like mad to get the new metal roof finished on The Ausable Club before all the guests arrived for the weekend.

After months of fog and clouds in England, we were so excited to see the sun that Christopher started skipping across the golf course and waving his hands in the air. Never thought I'd see that from him.

Adirondack houses are famous for having a screened-in sleeping porch attached to each bedroom for summer sleeping. We don't usually use them until July or August when it's warmer at night, but on this trip it was 90 in the day and 80 at night so we made good use of them.

It literally "took a village" - the entire village of Keene Valley that is, to pull of this wedding, and our local farmers/farmstand at Rivermede were a big part of it.

As a Florida girl, one of the things I miss most about living in England is being near water. I crave that rush you get when your body is shocked by sudden immersion into a different temperature, and the feeling of freedom and weightlessness when you are fully submerged. I don't understand people who keep their head above the water while swimming. If I didn't want to get my hair wet, I simply wouldn't go in. On this day, I can't even describe to you how cold the river was, but I was determined to go in. And so in I went!

Kim and Till's cake stand, with it's engraving, being prepared for the next day.

Both Kim and I are very close with our dad, but we have lived with our step-dad since we were 2 and love him like a birth parent. There really was no question that both of them would walk us down the aisle when we each got married. Here they are at the rehearsal. Kim's Burberry dress was such a stunner.

Mom's best friend Mimi generously offered to have the rehearsal dinner at her house. With Mimi being the famously gracious and detail-oriented hostess that she is, we knew that it would be like Kim having a Friday night wedding and then a Saturday night wedding. We were right. 

The view from the cocktail porch at Mimi's.

When Mimi first built her house years ago, she decided to have a big party before it was really done. Kim volunteered to decorate an empty wall by covering it in chalkboard paint and drawing on it. It's still there in perfect condition all these years later.

The meticulously laid and decorated tables at the rehearsal dinner looking out over the mountains. As soon as the sun faded, the whole porch lit up with twinkling lights. 

The view from dinner, as the sun was disappearing. A perfect night.