An Art-Inspired Summer Wedding in the Hamptons

Ksenia Artemyeva and Richard Adams met on Broadway—the street, that is—at a restaurant in New York City’s Theater District. Years later, after Richard proposed in the exact same location, they’d pay homage to the special street by selecting “Nights on Broadway” as the song for their first dance at their wedding. 

But first came wedding planning. And then, a pandemic. The duo had to reschedule their original wedding plans, but the change-up was actually a silver lining. “The pandemic helped to get their dream location at Fairview Farm,” shares wedding planner Michelle Fernie-Oley of Michelle Elaine Weddings, Inc. They’d fallen in love with Fairview for its waterfront location, outdoor reception space, and level of privacy—but “the town of Southampton only allows two weddings per year on the farm, and we had missed the boat in 2020,” Michelle says.

“I was in the process of getting them contracted for a private beachfront property when everything came to a head in March 2020. I circled back to the farm owner to see if moving to 2021 would allow us an opening to have the farm, and the owner said yes! So we moved very fast and got things confirmed.” She continues: “The pandemic was by far the most chaos weddings have ever seen, but in Ksenia and Richard’s case it helped get some of the items they had been dreaming of.”

With their venue finally locked in, the couple began outlining their vision. “They share a deep love and respect for art and took that theme into their wedding day,” Michelle says. “From splatter art on the menu cards and a wedding cake inspired by Jackson Pollock, to naming each table after a famous artist and coordinating it with a piece from said artist—the vision was to create this theme with simplicity and class.”

It all came to life on May 15, 2021, a perfect Hamptons day. “We got the most beautiful weather!” Ksenia remembers.” Read on to see all the inspired details, as planned by Michelle Elaine Weddings, Inc. and photographed by Jainé Kershner Photography.

An invitation suite by Vidhi Dattani Designs in varying shades of blue set the tone. “They didn’t want a cookie-cutter wedding; they wanted wow factors at every turn," planner Michelle Fernie-Oley says. That began with the welcome bags. Custom embroidered canvas totes were filled with bottles of Wölffer Estate’s Summer in a Bottle rose and treats from Sag Harbor mainstay Cavaniola’s Gourmet for their 111 guests, who posted up at a handful of quaint Hamptons hotels. 

The bride fell in love with an ethereal and lightweight Jenny Yoo gown with floral appliques. “It fit perfectly into the Hamptons style,” she says. She kept her beauty effortless and timeless, with her hair pulled back away from her face. “I wanted to look like myself.” 

Ksenia’s bridesmaids also wore Jenny Yoo, donning the Helena dress in a dusty hue dubbed Mayan blue.

Richard had a custom tuxedo made in midnight blue; his groomsmen wore a slightly lighter shade to “coordinate, but not clash, with the groom,” Michelle says. 

Floral designer Designs By Ahn crafted a beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas, dahlias, garden roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, and sweet pea, accented with seasonal greenery and wrapped in a ribbon for Ksenia. Bridesmaids carried similar, smaller versions. 

The couple’s ceremony venue was another silver lining. “They did need to switch churches due to availability, but it all worked out because St. Andrew Church was also the church they’d wanted,” Michelle shares. The altar was framed with arrangements of seasonal branches decorated with hydrangeas, dahlias, garden roses, lisianthus, and orchids. The couple said “I do” in a traditional ceremony, then recessed out to Mendelssohn’s famous “Wedding March.” 

“The drive up to the farm, with the Sperry tent and the flags waving already had guests in awe,” Michelle describes. “Then they were welcomed by live topiaries and handed cocktails from a leafy bush.” Guests sipped the signature drink—a blueberry rosemary gin fizz—then found their seats on an escort display handmade by the bride for an artistic touch.

Underneath the soaring tent, a large head table was adorned with greenery in decorative urns and arrangements of calla lilies. Round guest tables featured low arrangements of dahlias, garden roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, and sweet pea. Alice Blue Bengaline linens were topped with square dinner plates and navy blue cotton napkins, and blue-tinted goblets held water. 

Tables were named rather than numbered, each featuring the work of a legendary artist.

The couple learned a choreographed routine to Bee Gees hit “Nights on Broadway”—an ode to how they met—for their first dance. The song was played by a live band featuring unique instruments like electric violin. 

For dinner, “we worked with Pinch Food Design to provide that artistic, unique wow factor for guests,” Michelle says. “We served ‘vegetables in pumpernickel soil’ as the first course salad to go along with the organic farm vibe, then interesting food pop-ups were a fun way to give into the eye-catching, head-turning, WOW that the couple was seeking.” 

As a final artistic touch, the newlyweds cut into a wedding cake inspired by the works of Jackson Pollock, with three off-center tiers splashed with edible paint in a variety of blues, pink, and gold. It was all well worth the wait. “Having our friends and family together after not seeing them for over a year was very special,” Ksenia remembers. Then, having finally celebrated their creative union, the couple headed to Barbados for a romantic honeymoon.