Ski Resort Wedding: A Snowy Soiree

Sculpted in ice by Shintaro Okamoto of Okamoto Studio in New York City, a whimsical appetizer bar is the heart of this frosty landscape. Set into hand-carved depressions, tumblers of clear spirits make jewel-like aperitifs. Individual servings of seafood are presented in stainless-steel saucers. Clams and oysters on the half shell perch on a bed of chipped ice in carved-ice trays, with accompaniments -- two tangy gelees -- in gleaming silver bowls.

Assembled in the shape of a three-tier layer cake, store-bought boxes hold individual slices of the groom's cake, ready for the guests to take home. Tucked between the white boxes are ranunculuses, sweet peas, hyacinths, and lilies of the valley.

These pressed-sugar boxes were personalized with piped-icing designs.

Capture these delicate symbols of snow's beauty in dough, and share them with your wedding guests. Gingerbread cookies, piped with royal icing and highlighted with sugar and nonpareils, are perfect snacks for the post-reception ride home or the day after the wedding. Package them in clear acetate containers banded with ribbon and a quilling-paper label, both held on with double-sided tape.

Tied with a white taffeta ribbon, a spring cascade of peonies floats on the tender foam of fresh white lilac sprays.

Perfect for a snowy wedding, 'Casablanca' lilies, some a hand-span wide, are wired into a plump and ruffled lily ball and intermixed with 20 silver-mesh leaves, some of which drift onto its silvery ribbon.

Stephanotis-in-the-mist -- equal parts baby's breath and starry stephanotis -- seems evanescent in its starchy faux-horsehair cuff.

A selection of white boutonnieres, each wrapped, for the most part, in ribbons that blend with dark lapels.

Fondant, tinted ice blue, blankets this cake, like snow in the shadows cast by a winter sun. Real pinecones flocked with royal icing and glistening with sanding sugar are accented with finely wrought chocolate pine needles; they add a natural-looking texture to the cake's modern lines.

When the weather is cold, bare branches sparkle with frozen crystalline droplets, creating a luminous, icy white that can set the tone for a sophisticated snowy wedding. When accented with shades of pale gray and glittering silver, this purest of whites seems to glow, recalling the soft light of a winter afternoon.

A simple cake frosted with white buttercream rises from a sea of blown-sugar bubbles that mimic both the color and the festive air of Champagne. Piped buttercream dots on the cake continue the effervescent theme.

It sounds like the word for a sphinx's riddle, but anaglypta is actually the name of an embossed wallpaper the Victorians used to mimic costlier pressed plaster or tin. These days, it makes an easy centerpiece when affixed to flower-filled cylinder vases in varying sizes. Cut the paper -- available in many motifs (ours are from FYHome) -- to cover the vase, overlapping slightly. Wrap the piece around the vase, securing both ends with strong double-sided tape. Flowers by Naomi deManana.