1. Real Weddings

Bianca & Ben: An Outdoor Wedding in Palm Beach, FL

Bianca and Ben crossed paths through mutual friends for two years before they had their first date. The Bride Bianca Strul (now 31 and a writer and

Bianca and Ben crossed paths through mutual friends for two years before they had their first date. The Bride Bianca Strul (now 31 and a writer and field producer) The Groom Ben Geyerhahn (now 36 and a political consultant) The Date March 3 A year later, Ben had been hinting about a proposal, and Bianca’s patience was beginning to wear thin. Then one evening, Ben planned a relaxing spaghetti dinner at home for the two of them. After hinting at a proposal one more time, “the spaghetti sauce wasn’t the only thing starting to boil,” Ben remembers. Finally, just when Bianca couldn’t take the suspense anymore, Ben popped the question then and there in their kitchen, “slotted wooden spoon in one hand, ring in the other,” she says.

Guests enjoyed a five-tiered cake covered in apple green fondant and adorned with sugar orchids and birch branches.
Bianca carried a bouquet of Black Magic roses studded with crystals. Her bouquet was wrapped in ivory satin that was pinned in place with an antique pendant.
Bianca walked down the aisle in an ivory, silk satin, hand-beaded and embroidered, trumpet-shaped gown by Lazaro. She accessorized with a sheer veil trimmed with crystals and antique lace.
The flower girls wore floor-length Vera Wang dresses, one with an apple green sash and one with a gold sash. The ring bearer wore a black tuxedo and a gold vest, to match the flower girl.
Chocolate brown, pin-tuck linens covered Bianca and Ben’s dinner tables, which were surrounded by mahogany chiavari chairs with apple green cushions. Votive candles added to the cozy glow.
Bianca and Ben married beside the pool at the Four Seasons just after sundown. They stood beneath a huppah hung with flowers and candles that was spotlit in soft amber. Shepherd’s hooks with hanging candles and orchid garlands lined the aisle.
“We turned the ballroom into two distinct spaces: the dinner area, and the lounge or club area,” Bianca explains. The dining section was done in chocolate and lime from top to bottom, with orange and red accents—even the ceiling was draped in swags of chocolate brown fabric.
During the cocktail hour, guests enjoyed specialty martinis -- chocolate, mango, and key lime -- poured from an ice luge shaped like a tropical fish.
Bianca and Ben’s guests were greeted in the foyer by a seven-foot-tall arrangement of dragonwood branches hung with crystals and white cymbidium orchids. Their round escort cards were draped on ribbons hanging from the branches.