Patricia Vaks Creates a Modern Sculptural Wedding at the Copacabana Palace

A Contemporary Intervention in a Historic Hotel

For Renata and Fred's wedding at Belmond Copacabana Palace, Patricia Vaks developed a project intended to introduce a modern, artistic language into the hotel's classical architecture rather than repeat traditional ballroom decoration.

72 Hours of Installation

Photography: Rafa Pinheiro Fotografia / Inesquecível Casamento.

Photography: Rafa Pinheiro Fotografia / Inesquecível Casamento.

Photography: Rafa Pinheiro Fotografia / Inesquecível Casamento.

Photography: Rafa Pinheiro Fotografia / Inesquecível Casamento.

The editorial source reports that the build took 72 hours. One of the defining elements was a gold aerial sculpture designed by Vaks above the dessert table, alongside a mirrored environment centered on a gold structure more than six meters in diameter.

Material, Scale and Restraint

The couple specifically wanted a design with fewer conventional floral masses and more sculptural intervention. Flowers supplied by Orlando Ambrósio completed the composition without becoming the only visual language of the event.

Credits

Decoration: Patricia Vaks. Venue: Belmond Copacabana Palace. Flowers: Orlando Ambrósio. Structures: Lonarte. Furniture: Festah Móveis.

Editorial Source

https://inesquecivelcasamento.com.br/casamentos/cerimonia-classica-pelos-saloes-do-belmond-copacabana-palace-veja-o-casamento-de-renata-e-fred/amp/

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Photography Credits

Photography: Rafa Pinheiro Fotografia; Ellen C. Soares.

Design Analysis: Sculptural Gold Inside a Classical Palace

Renata and Fred's wedding at the Belmond Copacabana Palace was conceived as a contemporary intervention in a highly recognizable classical hotel. Patricia Vaks developed a decorative concept that did not rely on the traditional abundance of large floral centerpieces. Instead, the wedding balanced furniture, architecture, metalwork and selective arrangements to create a more sculptural atmosphere.

The defining installation was an overhead golden sculpture placed above the dessert area. Its prominence made the vertical volume of the room part of the project and established a distinct focal point without repeating the same arrangement at every table. The source reports that the overall assembly required approximately 72 hours, indicating how the execution depended on coordinated production rather than table styling alone.

Festah Móveis supplied furniture for the ceremony, lounges, dinner and dessert zones, while Lonarte was responsible for covered structures that helped adapt the event spaces. Orlando Ambrósio worked on the flowers, providing a botanical counterpoint to the more architectural elements. This mixture allowed the decoration to remain elegant in a historic hotel while expressing a contemporary personality.

Claudio Tironi led the planning and ceremony coordination. Photography is credited to Rafa Pinheiro Fotografia. The project illustrates a useful distinction between luxury as floral quantity and luxury as design precision: here the relationships among suspended sculpture, furniture, room proportions and careful staging were central to the visual result.