Elegant Wedding: Real Weddings: Barbara & Avery

Barbara Ovrutsky and Avery Menke knew immediately they’d get married in their native Philadelphia area, even though jobs had taken them elsewhere in the time since they’d met through friends in Doylestown.

Barbara Ovrutsky and Avery Menke knew immediately they’d get married in their native Philadelphia area, even though jobs had taken them elsewhere in the time since they’d met through friends in Doylestown.

After a three-and-a-half year romance, and a laid-back Thanksgiving proposal during which Avery slipped Barbara’s great-aunt’s ring on her finger, they also knew that they wanted a fall wedding, with everything brown and orange and drenched in bold, rustic texture. “I really wanted a modern country wedding,” says the bride, after she saw a beautiful wedding in a barn in a magazine. “But not like a down-home, hay-barrel wedding. Something rustic but also very Martha. Nothing run-down.”

What they found fit this dream perfectly. The Elm Lowne estate in Bucks County, run by Open Aire Affairs, offered everything they wanted: a rustic setting just begging for an autumn celebration (complete with a tented area for receptions) and services that were offered à la carte, allowing them to design their wedding according to their own very creative preferences.

Beyond brown and orange, the bride also knew two other things she wanted for her wedding: dahlias and a completely unstuffy atmosphere. “Barbara wanted fall with flair,” says Donna O’Brien, owner and creative director of Beautiful Blooms in Philadelphia. She combined the bride’s love for the large, striking bloom and desire to make the whole party beautiful but casual, and scattered tables with groupings of flowers that were natural, instead of arranged. Clear glass vases of different shapes and sizes held groups of one type of flower each — all the colors of fall, of course. Branches of bittersweet berries, deep red dahlias, spiky orange echinacea and sunflowers the color of milk chocolate anchored the decor, and white accents in the napkins, tableware and chair cushions kept it fresh. Star-shaped paper lanterns twinkled above, and candlelight was everywhere.

To add to the rustic feel, Main Street Fine Catering provided never-ending platters of carved fillet of beef, almond-crusted sea bass, potatoes, oven-roasted vegetables and salad served family-style, and Philly Heat, led by Tony DiLacqua, played the whole night through. To highlight the bride’s Russian heritage, a Russian duo played traditional Russian and Jewish music, such as the hora, during the band’s breaks, and every guest found at their seat a square shot glass filled with — what else? — premium Russian vodka to toast the happy couple.

VENDOR LIST
Flowers: Donna O’Brien, Beautiful Blooms, Philadelphia
Cake: Main Street Fine Catering, Rocky Hill, New Jersey
Food: Main Street Fine Catering
Dress: J. Crew
Venue: Elm Lowne estate, Bucks County