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A Mountain Wedding at Cedar Lakes Estate Highlighting Natural Beauty

By Shayna Seid | Photography by 

Lev Kuperman

|Planning by 

SociaLife Events

After six years together, including stints of long-distance between St. Louis, London, New York, and Boston, Adam Klestadt proposed to his girlfriend, Beth Pearl-Barr, by transforming their Greenwich Village apartment into a candlelit restaurant. He went above and beyond and called in favors from restaurants across the city—including Carbone—so he could serve dishes from some of their favorite dates, and he designed custom menus with notes and memories from each meal. “I am rarely caught off guard,” Beth says. “But I truly was completely taken aback, as I walked into our apartment that evening.”

Once engaged, the couple knew they wanted to make a weekend out of their wedding celebration and needed an amazing location that would suit for an outdoor summer event. They stumbled upon Cedar Lakes Estate, and it checked off all their boxes: set on a lake, surrounded by mountains, breathtakingly beautiful, and allowed everyone to stay on-site in cabins. “It’s truly glamping to the extreme,” Beth states. “Think summer camp meets wood burning fireplaces, heated flooring, and rain showers.” 

Aesthetically, the couple felt strong A Midsummer Night’s Dream vibes from their first visit to Cedar Lakes, and their planner, Kelly Heyn of SociaLife Events, ran with that natural beauty vision. Events started on Friday evening with a picnic-style BBQ, s’mores, and live music by the campfire.

After they began designing the weekend, the bride-to-be found Johanna Ortiz’s Divine Intervention floral-print silk gown, which had the exact florals and greenery she wanted to incorporate into the setting. She wore the number to the rehearsal dinner, as a teaser for the events to come, along with a custom Edie Parker clutch from her mother and future mother-in-law. 

On the morning of the ceremony, Beth hosted an early, lakeside yoga class for her bridesmaids, and then they all soaked up the day with kayaking, field games, and canoeing. Then in the afternoon, the wedding party retreated to get ready with Face Time Beauty and Gloje for the walk down the aisle.

The second Beth tried on her Monique Lhuillier wedding dress, she knew it was the one. “It felt both ethereal with delicate embroidery and still somewhat unexpected with its deep-Vs and nude and ivory coloring,” the bride remarks. Her “something new” was a pair of diamond and pearl earrings gifted to her by Adam. “I also like to think of the earrings as a tribute to my own upbringing, as my mother’s last name is Pearl.”

Adam looked handsome in a custom, deep blue tuxedo with their wedding date stitched under a lapel, mother of pearl studs and cufflinks, and black velvet Saint Laurent smoking slippers. He matched his groomsmen, who were in midnight blue tuxes, while bridesmaids chose their own dresses in shades of blush and apricot. “One of our dearest friends, Claudia, is an incredibly talented fashion designer who helped me coordinate all of the varying styles,” Beth explains.

On top of a mountain, overlooking the Hudson Valley hills, Beth walked down the aisle with her father to a string version of “La Vie En Rose” and met Adam under a larger than life floral arch by Faye and Renee. During the ceremony, Adam felt “completely entranced by the moment.” “Apparently, a hummingbird flew into our arch during the ceremony, but we were too focused on each other to notice,” he adds.

Once announced as married, the cocktail hour began by the lake, and guests found their table numbers on oversized cloche jars filled with flowers. The farm-to-table dinner was served in the barn, where greenery was draped from the ceilings in juxtaposition with shimmering, crystal chandeliers. And after the delicious meal, the newlyweds cut their six-tiered lemon and strawberry wedding cake from Nine Cakes

On the dance floor, The Cafe Wha? Band had the best energy and kept everyone moving. The new Mr. and Mrs. had their first dance to John Mayer’s cover of Beyoncé’s “XO.” They were so nervous to dance in front of everyone, but they managed to nail a lift. And at the end of the night, the last song, “Empire State of Mind,” prompted a full-on mosh pit. “Everyone chanted ‘one more song, one more song,’ when it ended,” Adam remembers. 

Before the after-party, Beth changed into a Daphne Newman slip from Spina Bride. And then she met everyone at the “treehouse” (indoor-outdoor deck) on the estate, where they danced barefoot with a DJ spinning ’90s tracks until 3:00 a.m. “There was even an after-after party in one of our friends’ cabins, though things get a bit hazy from there,” the bride says. A couple of hours later, the revelers rose again to gather for breakfast and “to toast the most perfect weekend.”