Expectations Exceeded

• By Katie Charles
• Published Winter 2006

1. If you've always wanted an outdoor wedding, but for some reason you're restricted to marrying in frigid February or blustery March, fret not. Thanks to high-tech heaters and clear tents made of space-age plastics so taut they look like glass, you can virtually have an outdoor wedding indoors. Clifton Park Rental Center (518-877-7449) has outfitted dozens of weddings on a delivery route that stretches from New Jersey to Maine. Not only do they install climate-controlled tents (from $250 to $100,000), but they'll hang rustic antler chandeliers or romantic paper lanterns from the ceilings. A go-to for many New York event designers is Stamford Tent and Party Rental (203-324-6222). They furnish tents with custom carpeting, picket fences, or whatever else you desire (from $1,200 to over $1 million).

2. Make a grand entrance: If you're marrying lakeside, consider paddling up in a canoe. Try Bob's Canoe Rental on Long Island (631-269-9761) or Raquette River Outfitters upstate (518-359-3228). For an outlandish winter-wedding arrival, pull up in a dogsled then offer a ride to young guests at the reception with Lake Placid's resident dogsled driver Michael Arnold (518-891-2461).

3. For a dramatic English-garden wedding, why not have live peacocks wandering the lawns? All-Tame Animals (from $850; 212-873-5000) can provide a small flock and discreet wranglers. Plan ahead: Male peacocks aren't always in feather, and it's their iridescent tails that'll add a splash of fin-de-siècle voluptuousness to your reception. For more drama, deck out your bridesmaids in smashing British-wedding-style couture hats from milliner Ellen Christine (from $350, 212-242-2457).