This Glamorous Wedding at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia was Inspired by Paris

For their wedding in Philadelphia, Milanee and Amine selected a "wintry Parisian chic" aesthetic with a "clean, airy and soft" color palette which complemented the Academy of Music's classic architecture seamlessly. To bring their Parisian theme to life the couple served a decidedly French-inspired menu, complete with white macarons with an espresso filling as wedding favors. "We did not have a cake but we had a madeleine tower. We also had a croquembouche, cheesecake pops, strawberry shortcake verrines, and an array of homemade Algerian desserts that were made by amine’s mom and aunt," Milanee says.  

The wedding décor further reinforced the Parisian vibe. "Most of the flowers were white roses. There were also sandstorm roses, garden roses, hydrangea, white anemones, and white orchids. My bouquet was all white with no greens and had hanging bleach white amaranth. Throughout the planning process I was inspired by European style weddings and keeping a winter white theme," says Milanee. Milanee goes on to describe how "the reception décor was so beautiful to walk in to after being in cocktail hour. Sararea Design and I came up with the idea to create a “sweetheart lounge” instead of a sweetheart table. Sararea repurposed the ceremony décor to surround the lounge and our florist designed a structure that hung over 200 white roses over the furniture. We rented a pink velvet couch, a vintage glass coffee table, and a midnight blue chair to complete the look. The lounge was my favorite part of the reception décor because I had never seen anything like it!"

Beyond French inspiration, much of the wedding design was also an homage to the couple's two puppies (one of which was Milanee's wedding present to Amine!). "Anywhere we could incorporate the pups, we did! We also had signature drinks that were named after our puppies. Cacio’s cotton candy bubbly and Pepe’s spicy margarita. Pepe was actually Amine’s wedding gift that I surprised him with a week before the wedding when we went to pick up our marriage license," Milanee shares. 

As the couple's wedding took place on New Year's Eve, they recall the midnight celebration as their favorite moment. "Looking around and seeing all of our family and friends ring in the New Year together was unforgettable. We started counting down, the music was playing, and we could feel the excitement of everyone in the room surrounding us. My nephews were rolling around a gold cart with nye props and flutterfetti confetti launchers for the guests. 3, 2, 1 happy new year! We kissed, our amazing photographer and videographer captured it all. I remember them telling us to spin for the shot and looking out and seeing all of our guests hugging and kissing each other. It was the best feeling in the world knowing we were all together in this moment. Everyone was smiling and so happy, and that made us happy because that’s everything we wanted for our guests," Milanee recalls.