"What usually happens,”Anita begins, “is the couple comes to me and we determine what they want. I devise a design which reflects their personalities, wishes and requests. I spend a lot of time thinking about everything. I also try to figure out the best effect for the best price."

The next step is to determine a location.

“I can help select a site that has particular meaning for them...Some of the locations are really remote. There’s nothing there, no water, no electricity.”

Natural beauty more than compensates for the lack of amenities. Couples who seek out Pagliaro are usually “aesthetically and environmentally conscious.”

“I don’t want to bring in plastic, metal, and materials which don’t belong in remote ceremony sites,” she continues, listing the incorporation of lodge poles, branches and canvas to create shelters and other structures.

However, if a client wants chairs, they get chairs. Anita can also refer the cake maker, flower provider, photographer, caterer and any other trade or crafts person necessary to the project. She also works quite a bit with artists, including her sister Carla, who is an accomplished painter.

Because of her perfectionism and determination that each wedding be different, the work is very intense. Anita concentrates on the production of one event at a time, though others can be simmering in various stages of development.

Many of the details for each wedding need to be assessed in advance. Circumstances have necessitated bringing in a water truck, or running long lines of power cables to locations. Each wedding can take several days to set up and a full day to take down. Also part of the job is to make certain that the wedding location is reclaimed after the event is over, however some couples want to keep special things that Anita has had built for them.

Indigenous materials which have been incorporated into Anita’s weddings include curly willow, sunflowers and other native plants. She likes to set up alternative structures such as tipis for children to rest in and has mowed paths in fields, and devised distinctive landscaping and lighting designs.

For an August wedding, the prior spring Anita planted wildflowers which grew in the shape of a heart.

"That was really fabulous," she says.

Sometimes the couple already has many details worked out prior to the first meeting with the designer.

“I’m flexible. I tell the bride, I want your input, I want to accommodate you.”

Anita helps the couple really think about what they’re doing. She believes people shouldn’t have to worry about glasses on the table or salt shakers. They should be concentrating on each other, their family and friends.

“The best thing about Anita,” says a summer wedding client, “is that she is so organized and so good at what she does, she brings a sense of calmness to what can be a stressful and sometimes chaotic situation. Anita is one of those people who is truly doing what she is supposed to do. She really created a fairy tale wedding for me.”

"Anita is a wedding stylist" observes assistant Donna Pace who recalls a wedding where guests rode horse-drawn wagons from the parking lot to the ceremony site.

"When people go into a (Anita) wedding there is a "Look" from how they park, to the cake, to the coffee cup set-up."

To achieves this “Look,” Anita relies on the unique talents of local craftsmen and businesses. “Anita’s definitely creative,” says Montana Party Rentals owner Jill Clemons. “What I like about her work is that every wedding is different.”

Jill’s business, with offices in both Livingston and Bozeman has provided tents, tables, chairs, dishes, silverware and other items for some of Anita’s weddings. “A lot of our brides live in other beautiful states, there’s something that draw them here. With Anita, they can get a little New York in Montana.”

Anita says she acquired her sense of perfection and design “by osmosis.” She recalls making dresses for dolls when she was a young girl growing up in an artistic environment on the East Coast.

“It’s really fun!” the designer exclaims regarding her current work. “I’m in a different location, doing something different for every event.”

Going way beyond the usual to make each wedding special, Anita sometimes even leaves little surprises or presents for the couple.

“My clients are terrific. Some often become my friends.”

In addition to weddings, Anita Pagliaro will design most any event; birthday parties, holiday parties and even bachelor parties. She has handled functions from less than twenty guests to more than several hundred.

For the future, she is looking for other unique situations for adventuresome clients. “I’d love to do something tropical...on a beach. Or in winter. A snow ceremony would be a challenge, ” she says.

Though the selection and arrangement of a wedding’s physical characteristics are crucial to
creating a memorable event, Anita feels that there is another, most important element for success.

“The key thing is the couple, If they’re not happy with the relationship, then they’re not happy with the cake, the dress, all the way down the line... If people are a good match then everything turns out great...better than expected.”

Anita Pagliaro can be reached in Livingston at 406-222-3965.

ANITA PAGLIARO
MONTANA WEDDING DESIGNER
by Lynette Dodson

Single, engaged or married-a wedding designed by Anita Pagliaro could inspire anyone to consider a trip down the...mountain meadow.

“I grew up on Emily Post,” admits Ms. Pagliaro, who specializes in nontraditional, signature weddings held innocuously in remote, private locations.

Rather than adhering to the stodgy do’s and don’ts specified in Post’s early 20th century “Etiquette” books, Anita flows with the modern “anything goes” philosophy of weddings: incorporating what is natural to blend with what's already present in each ceremony’s surroundings.

Anita lends her personal sense of elegance and sophistication to the “Total Effect” and the “Big Picture” of every wedding she designs. Thoughtfully envisioning and attending to every detail, Anita is not just a wedding planner, she is a wedding designer.

The Montana based business, called simply “Anita Pagliaro” has really taken off. Her work has been featured in several books, including mention in what Anita describes as the “Bible of Matrimony” (also known as “Martha Stewart's Weddings”) and appearances in “New York Fashion,” “Best of New York,” “New York Magazine,” “Town and County” and “Harper's Bazaar.”

Anita undertook her first Montana wedding four years ago.

Why?

“Some friends asked me to,” she replies, seated thoughtfully at her distinctively remodeled home on Livingston’s quieter east side.

Pagliaro was not unaccustomed to cultivating marital bliss. During the 1980s, Anita Pagliaro Ltd. was the place to buy dresses in New York City. At her uptown store, Anita started off designing little unlined black lacy numbers which were, she says,“fabulous and really racy.”

“Someone came to me and wanted the dress lined, and ivory. That’s how that started.”

That was her nontraditional wedding dress line. At one point Anita was working six to seven days a week with anywhere from five to fifteen employees.

Anita retired from dress design in the early 1990s. About this time the New York native began frequenting Montana. First vacations. Then a second home. A permanent move was made in 1997.

Since settling in Montana, Anita has been hired as a stylist for films and commercials. She compares weddings to her other line of work.

“It’s totally a production...something you put up for a few hours and then take down.”

Anita’s work is not only unique, it is also innovative. She was the first to design what she calls the Circular Wedding Ceremony Site utilizing indigenous seating. “I was at a really spectacular hilltop setting where it seemed wrong to introduce non-native materials,” she remembers. “I then thought of using indigenous materials to retain and enhance the natural beauty.”

As we all know, Montana has no shortage of beautiful spots. To fish, to hike, to dream and to be married in.

“In the summer the (Montana) weather is perfect for outdoor weddings. They’re my favorite,” confesses Pagliaro, who has also styled indoor ceremonies. One outstanding event was held in and around historic Nevada City.

Anita generally plans weddings six months to a year in advance. However, she has successfully accomplished one in two months time. Her clients are mostly from out of state and have vacationed or have second homes in Montana. They tend to be more mature and frequently are paying for the wedding themselves.

Anita does work mostly with brides but in some situations spends quite a bit of time with both members of the proposed union. One wedding was mostly planned with the groom. In laws sometimes attend meetings and give input.

What is the process of creating an Anita Pagliaro wedding?