Cedar Lakes Estate Wedding on New Year’s Eve

A Cedar Lakes Estate wedding in winter is a different place entirely. The lake goes quiet. The trees are bare and beautiful against a grey December sky. Snow sits on the ground and everything feels stilled, like the whole property is holding its breath. It is not the version of Cedar Lakes most people picture when they think about getting married there, and that is exactly what makes it so magical.

O and B got married there on New Year’s Eve, and the combination of that setting and that date made for a day that felt genuinely unlike anything else we have ever had the privilege of witnessing.

The Quiet Before

The morning and afternoon had that particular hush that snowy days bring. Getting ready felt slow and easy, full of laughter and the kind of unhurried closeness that happens when you are surrounded by your favorite people with nowhere else to be. Outside, the grounds of Cedar Lakes Estate were blanketed and still, like a snow globe someone had just set down. Inside, candles were already lit, and the whole place smelled like winter and flowers and something wonderful about to happen.

By the time the ceremony came around, the light outside had gone soft and blue the way it does in winter just before the sun disappears completely. The room glowed. There is something about candlelight in a space like that, on a cold night, with snow just beyond the windows, that makes everything feel sacred and close and a little bit like a dream. When O and B stood together and said their vows, the room was completely present. Nobody was anywhere else. Nobody wanted to be.

The Horse

O had always dreamed of riding a horse down the aisle. It is the kind of dream that is completely impractical and completely perfect at the same time, and while the logistics of an actual aisle entrance were not quite in the cards, she found a way to make it happen in her own way. Before she even put on her wedding dress, she climbed up onto a horse in the snow at Cedar Lakes Estate and we made a few portraits together.

The light was that soft, hazy grey that only exists on winter mornings. The snow was still undisturbed. O was in her getting ready clothes, hair done, completely at ease, and there was something about those few quiet minutes that felt more intimate than almost anything else from the day. A little piece of a childhood dream, tucked into the morning of her wedding. We loved every second of it.

Then the Party Started

And then the night changed completely.

The Pat Roddy Band came on and the room that had felt so tender and intimate an hour earlier became something else entirely. People who had been dabbing their eyes during the ceremony were now absolutely losing it on the dance floor. The noise level climbed. The joy got louder and wilder and completely contagious. O changed into her second dress and came back out ready to celebrate, and the crowd met her there with everything they had.

A New Year’s Eve wedding has a built-in energy that is nearly impossible to replicate. Everyone already knows the night has a destination, a single sparkling moment that everyone is building toward together. At Cedar Lakes Estate, with snow falling softly outside and warmth and chaos and music spilling through the halls inside, that feeling was electric. The countdown was not just about midnight. It was about O and B stepping into something new, together, in front of every single person who loves them, on a night the whole world was doing the same thing.

When midnight hit, the room erupted. Cold spark fireworks, champagne, noise, and light. It was loud and joyful and a little overwhelming in the most beautiful way. And somewhere right in the middle of all of it, O and B were just looking at each other. Quiet, in the chaos. Like they were the only two people in the room.

That was the picture.

Venue: Cedar Lakes Estate
Planning + Design: Beth Burrus Weddings
Floral Design: Scarsella’s Flowers
Video: Windward Weddings
Wedding Dress: Le Sposé Di Gio
Second Dress: Roland Mouret
Dress Shop: Mark Ingram Atelier
Hair: Joni Tussin
Makeup:Sarah Belle NYC
Horse: Celtic Valley Carriage
 Linens: Reverie Social / Stradley Davidson / Nuage Designs Inc. 
Custom Toile: BBJ La Tavola
Entertainment: Pat Roddy Band / DJ Christa Marie
Paper Goods: Public House Co.