Elegant Wedding: Real Weddings: Lauren & Andrew
Local brides tell us what made their day so special
After looking at what seemed like a million venues, Lauren Anrig and Andrew Addis finally realized the one that made perfect sense: The Union League of Philadelphia. Andrew is from here; Lauren had decided to leave New York and move here; and they both loved the idea of using their wedding as an opportunity to educate their friends and family
After looking at what seemed like a million venues, Lauren Anrig and Andrew Addis finally realized the one that made perfect sense: The Union League of Philadelphia. Andrew is from here; Lauren had decided to leave New York and move here; and they both loved the idea of using their wedding as an opportunity to educate their friends and family who aren’t from the area on the city they were about to make their home. The Union League is about as historic and traditionally Philadelphia as it gets, and so it all began to fall into place.
After almost four years of friendship at Gettysburg College turned romantic, Lauren and Andrew dated long distance — until her birthday in the fall of 2005, when Andrew surprised her in New York and, after dinner at Per Se, proposed at The Central Park Boathouse. The following August, Lauren moved in with her groom-to-be in Ardmore and set about making the finishing touches on their holiday-season wedding.
“We found this old postcard of City Hall, from down on Broad Street,” says Lauren — and that only confirmed the old-Philadelphia theme of their wedding. Their save-the-dates showed the same image, and she had Deborah Nadel, owner of Merrick, New York-based Deborah Nadel Design, create a logo bearing the couple’s first names, which Tiffany & Co. splashed on everything from the invites to the favor cards.
During the reception, Liquid Pleasure, a six-piece band with an outpost in Philadelphia, kept the crowd constantly on the dance floor (the bride thinks their sequin-studded tuxes might have helped set the mood), and photographer Marie Labbancz, based in the city and South Jersey, captured every moment — some, even, that no one else may have noticed. “I was actually already with another photographer when I found Marie,” says the bride, “and her work just blew me away. I signed her on right away.”
But setting the decor was truly the bride’s passion: Lauren joined the team at TableArt in Ardmore soon after moving to the area, and she, along with her new boss, owner Katharine Grace Patty, set about playing off The Union League’s decor — natural, dark wood; rust and amber tones; and, with a stroke of good timing, a club already decorated for the holidays. This meant rust, red, peach and gold flowers, with tableware to match. And it meant a lighting scheme that, in the bride’s mind, made the room. “Brian Toner from Eventions [in Aston] created lighting in the room that was so incredibly warm — and for our first dance, the ceiling was washed in blue with stars all over.”
As guests dined on risotto, crab salad, filet and sea bass, followed by macerated fruit in chocolate tulips to accompany the cake, the couple danced the night away. New Year’s wasn’t far off — the perfect beginning to their new life together.
