Michelle Rago, Ltd.—Blog

My family has always spent summers at the shore so it was only natural that my cousin, Rebecca and her now husband Ed have their wedding there. And since the sea and shore were always so important to our family, we wanted to incorporate it into as many aspects of the design as possible.

The candy station gave us an opportunity to both give a nod to the sea and salute the bride’s grandfather (my uncle), Russell Lord, who built and sailed sneakbox sailboats on Barnegat Bay. We duplicated a line sketch drawn by the bride’s grandmother (my aunt), Barbara Lord, on to a crack and peel label and then applied it to the candy bag.  

We grew up with a “live car” at the end of our dock to house the bounty of crabs we caught during our regular summer crabbing expeditions. I thought it only appropriate that we use one to receive the bounty of envelopes for the bride and groom on their wedding day.

This block and tackle belonged to my late grandfather Alfred Conrad Naeole and was the perfect way to recognize him among the sand dollars and starfish.

Here is where I really get into the minutia-The stems of the boutonnieres were wrapped with bakery box string from one of our favorite family haunts in Lavallette New Jersey-Kay’s Bakery.