The Wedding of Stationer Cheree Berry! Colors: Red, Orange, Pink, Robin’s Egg Blue Courtesy: Martha Stewart Weddings

Cheree Berry’s my hero (of weddings). Here’s why.

As you know, I’m a big fan of the wedding wow factor – whether it be an inspirational color scheme as unique as it is stunning, details that inspire the crafty creative inside me, or invitation suites that seamlessly tie into the wedding they are so dutifully announcing. How do you know if a wedding has, as some would say, brought it, or, as I would say, achieved a wow factor of patentable heights? I liken it to what inventors… or at least what Greg Kinnear who played an inventor in a movie… call the “flash of genius.” This doctrine held that “the inventive act had to come into the mind of an inventor in a ‘flash of genius’ and not as a result of tinkering. The new device, however useful it may be, must reveal the flash of creative genius, not merely the skill of the calling.” Well, replace inventive act with wedding, and new device with innovative theme, colors and details, and you’ve got a (pretty underdeveloped and possibly flawed but works so far) formula for determining which weddings rise above.

Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we stumble across these standout performers and, when we do, our reactions are quite uniform: we get really excited, we sit back (or if you’re me, scrunch the shoulders and hunch over like Gollum protecting the ring and get as close to the screen as possible), and revel in the beauty. Many try, and while countless weddings I’ve come across achieve near perfection, there are the few, the precious, precious few, that achieve a certain divine Greatness.

Featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, the transcendent beauty of Cheree Berry‘s wedding decor, which employed a brilliant palette of reds, oranges, robin’s egg blue, and splashes of pink, is beyond inspirational… it’s perfection, pure and simple.

So Martha et al, I would like to extend my grandest appreciation for this, another miraculous gem of a wedding spread from the kings and queens of Layout Land. While the majority of images I’ve featured below are directly from the lustrous, silken pages of Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine – which unfortunately you can’t access unless you have one, or you’d like to grab coffee with me and my copy – a handful of them can be found over at Martha Stewart Weddings, the online version. Isn’t the internet wonderful (mostly)?

Those sunbursts – whether real or a Photoshop flourish – are so beautiful, aren’t they? Sunset is the best time of day for a lover of brilliant colors and tones. I get so excited about a sunset inspired wedding palette when I look at this photo of Cheree and Jeff:

It shouldn’t be a surprise that I am very excited about her shoe choice. Need I remind you?

Deserving of a close up…

Now, check out the brilliant reds, oranges and pinks of her bouquet, comprised entirely of ranunculus, as well as the tiny golden bee, one of her stationery motifs. How I love the robin’s egg blue ribbon at the base of the floral arrangement.

Her bouquet, up close:

The mother of all superb invitation suites. I tip my hat to you, Cheree. Will you do mine? I’d like it exactly the same as yours, except with my name and that of my future hubby. Please? ;)

Cheree stated that a palette of reds, oranges, and pinks is “too perfect,” adding robin’s egg blue to splendid mix of bright, bold tones. I love her details – the red calligraphy, the little bee she added to her reply card, Love Mail printed in the upper right corner of the envelopes – it’s art, and, at least for me, she accomplishes what she states is her goal with the suite… “to evoke a big smile.”

Here’s a close up of that adorably delicious looking (and, I’m sure, tasting) lollipop stand:

And here’s a close-up of the dashing couple:

Her napkins:

Another couple of shots of her rectangular reception tables, which have been draped in orange tablecloths, and are topped with the most stunning centerpieces, which feature floral arrangements of red, orange and pink flowers.

That cake takes… itself? (Cheesy? Yes. A pun anyone would be hardpressed to resist? Also yes. So it stays.) Simplicity coupled with color is a fine combination, done quite expertly here:

Wait, what’s that? That huge red board that reads, “PLEASE TAKE A SEAT”…

It’s her AMAZING seating chart!!! Now, up close:

I love everything about this – the personalization, the hard work involved, the fun, the color, EVERYTHING. Cheree told Martha it was styled after the Plinko game on The Price is Right, which was definitely my favorite game on that show. I have to give this a difficulty rating of *Intricate* and potentially *Frustrating* but if you’re looking to really wow your guests and you’ve got some time on your hands, check out the How To for detailed instructions.