Lila McKean Warburton and Daniele Benatoff s Wedding in St. Barth s
Photo: Jake Rosenberg1/28St. Barth’s is like a second home to me. My first trip down was at three months old. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents started going down in the sixties, and it’s been a tradition in my family to spend every winter holiday there ever since. It’s almost too perfect that I met my husband there, too. This is the famous airport landing—not for the faint of heart!
Photo: Jake Rosenberg2/28I found an amazing illustrator, Clym Evernden, in London and worked with him to design all of the paper for the wedding, including menus for each night. He made logos, which I put on different elements—welcome booklets, cocktail napkins, and matchbooks—along with our tagline, “It had to be you!” He made a wonderful illustration of the weekend’s “schedule of play” and evoked in images what I hoped the weekend would feel like for everyone.
Photo: Jake Rosenberg3/28Our photographer, Jake Rosenberg, took a very nontraditional approach to shooting the wedding. He pushed us to take some fun shots, and entrenched himself in our group over the course of the weekend. For the rehearsal dinner, I wore a white Chloé sheath dress, paired with colorful Charlotte Olympia shoes that Charlotte kindly gave me as a wedding gift.
Photo: Jake Rosenberg4/28Friday night, we had a tropical rehearsal dinner at Tamarin restaurant. We wanted one event to feel distinctly different from the other beach-oriented events. The restaurant has small, little ponds with water lilies, along with parrots and iguanas, and we heightened this jungle vibe by hanging candles from the large tamarind tree, serving cocktails in carved coconuts, and lighting the palm trees from below. Runners were cut from a geometric Schumacher fabric, and our wonderful florist used local foliage on the tables. Clym designed colourful menus, which were placed on acacia wooden plates. It was a magical way to officially start the weekend.
Photo: Jake Rosenberg5/28My mom organized the most amazing luncheon for my eleven bridesmaids and me. She is a talented interior designer and decorated the table with tall orchids to match the custom tablecloth. On every girl’s seat she placed a mother-of-pearl jewelry bowl with a small bracelet inside. I set each place setting with a custom Kayu bag, monogrammed with each girl’s initials.