Drapery in Motion: An Editorial at Ivy Manor Temecula | Temecula Event Venue

Wedding InspirationEstate InspirationEditorial Shoots

May 28

It’s hard to explain just what (and how much) these drapes did to me. I somehow simultaneously overcomplicated them and underestimated them all in one go. The pro and con of living on this property, of seeing the hand-crafted ingenuity of the original owner, the way he somehow made the brick archways and stone pillars look both effortless and incredibly ornate... It turns you into an optimist.

*It was a very windy day — we chose not to stake down the drapes for a more dramatic look*

So of course, I looked at the steel cables strung up over our ceremony lawn and thought Got it! I’ll string two, 30-foot curtain rods down the center and voilà, dreamy and luxurious — like slipping on a silk robe.

The best part was I set a date in the calendar. I invited a florist to make a floating garden on our chandelier and our linen provider to help me dress the tables and a videographer to capture it all. Then for good measure I decided to add two more photographers and three more models and convinced my lovely sweet boyfriend Dylan into both setting up the drapes in the morning and modeling with me in the evening. I’ll skip the confession of just how behind I was come shoot day, except to provide a quick context and say I was dealing with a loss in my family and was in the throes of grief. My employers told me to cancel the whole thing.

*Dylan and I, exhausted but pleased with ourselves and a little tipsy, at the very end of the night. Gorgeous film shots by Christine Flowers*

But I am stubborn and needed a win and had approximately 10 people planning on this shoot and I did not want to cancel last minute. When the morning dawned and we prepared to hang the drapes for the first time with our home-made steel rods, I learned just how high 15-feet is. Teetering at the top of one ladder, with Dylan at the other, the both of us lifting 50 pounds of metal, we not so quickly realized plan A would not work.

*Nicole blew me away with her floating garden… I asked her to pick as many flowers as she could from our gardens and she reports at least 95% were ours <3*

I’ll skip plans B and C to tell you we spent a goodly six hours troubleshooting, while the florist dressed the chandelier, Reagan (from Luxe Linen) took behind the scenes, and our model arrival time of 3 pm loomed. In the end, the first model to show up shot elsewhere on the property (another pro of having 18 acres to work with) while we frantically adjusted the finishing touches on the drapes. Our guardian angel Paige (from Paige Freier Photography) made a last minute run to the store, which made all the difference in the end. With two ropes strung up, 18 individual curtain panels clipped to the tables, our total came out to a whopping 576 feet of ivory fabric. It was stunning.

A spy shot from our two-story gazebo by Paige Freier

*Our bridal arches are covered in tiny roses during early spring… it’s one of my favorite Manor moments.*

I went inside and spent ten minutes having a quick breakdown, rallied my boyfriend with wine, spent another thirty minutes brushing my hair and rubbing sunscreen on my very angry shoulders, and slipped on a special vintage wedding dress that hangs here at the manor. We wrapped just past sunset and by unspoken agreement, Dylan and I left the drapes up overnight. But my favorite part was leaving it up the next night too and having a Tolkien-style hobbit feast underneath. We pulled the cushions off our pool furniture and brought them to the field, along with blankets and our porch lanterns, and we fell asleep out there, held together under, and by, the fabric.

These drapes are special to me. Planning and hanging them was mine and Dylan’s first big project to face as a couple here at the manor, as he had just moved in two months earlier. In fact, if it weren’t for the birds and their unfortunate habit of pooping, I might just petition to leave the drapes up all summer long. They’re that gorgeous. So I’ll leave you with three promises: I know exactly how to get them up now, yes I will happily set them up again, and it will be well worth the investment.