Rattan, Greenery, and Live Trees: A Summer Wedding at the Bar Harbor Club

The Bar Harbor Club in June sits at the edge of one of the most naturally beautiful stretches of the Maine coast. For Isabel and Patrick’s summer wedding, that setting wasn’t a backdrop – it was the brief. Working alongside the talented team at R.L. Sisson Events and the floral artistry of Afterglow Floral, the goal was a reception that felt less like a tent and more like a garden that happened to have walls.

Bringing the Landscape Inside

The sailcloth tent at the Bar Harbor Club sits in one of the most naturally beautiful settings on the Maine coast. Rather than competing with that landscape, the design leaned into it. Live trees were installed throughout the tent, positioned to wrap around and disguise the tent poles entirely. The result was a structure that felt organic rather than constructed – the poles disappeared into the canopy, and what remained was the impression of dining beneath actual trees.

String lights were woven throughout the same canopy, threading through branches and greenery in a way that blurred the line between the installation and the natural material surrounding it. As the evening light faded, those strands became the primary source of warmth in the room, drawing the eye upward into the greenery rather than toward the tent ceiling.

Rattan Pendants as Focal Points

Over the dance floor and positioned above the bars, rattan basket pendants in varying shapes and scales added a layer of organic texture that complemented the live trees without duplicating them. The woven rattan diffused the light from within, casting a warm, patterned glow that felt less like event lighting and more like something you’d find in a well-designed outdoor space. Trailing greenery spilled over the edges of each pendant, connecting the fixtures to the canopy above and making the entire ceiling feel like a single continuous installation.

This kind of layered approach – live trees, string lights, and rattan pendants working together rather than in isolation – is what gives a tented reception its depth. Each element on its own would read as a design choice. Together, they created an atmosphere.

A Garden Room on the Maine Coast

By the time guests arrived for dinner, the tent had become something else. The farm tables, the florals from Afterglow Floral spilling across the grass at the tent’s edge, the painted bar front, the Silver Arrow Band — all of it existed inside a room that felt grown rather than built. That’s the work at its best: invisible infrastructure, atmosphere you can feel, and a setting that holds the entire evening without announcing itself.