Farmer's Musuem wedding

I think of of the prettiest weddings we have planned this year is for another truly deserving couple wedding which will be at The Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York.  Caitlin has been such a pleasure to work with!

With any wedding that we design, it's important to know that by hiring our company your wedding or event will truly be "custom".  Which means every aspect of the decor is unique and completely custom to your style, taste and budget.  We love our clients and work closely with you to create something incredibly memorable.

Since this lovely wedding is during the summer, we'll be growing the majority of the flowers to give that truly organic, farm grown feel.  I'll be shopping the Brimfield Flea Market this May, July and September for many of our weddings who want to incorporate that vintage style feel.  I love using vintage drinking glasses for accent vases on tables and throughout the reception site.  Especially with a wedding with such a rustic and New England setting.  I'm thinking a mix of green depression glass and milk glass for this wedding.

I'm thinking freshly out of the garden gathered style centerpieces of creamy white dahlias, blue veronica, Antique green/purple colored hydrangeas, purple asters and the most beautiful and aromatic garden roses.  Maybe terra cotta pots filled with succulents.  Of course, tons of incredible candles.  It should be just beautiful!  We'll bring in a touch of country with still creating an elegant affair.

Some of the vendors involved with this wedding (who have graciously donated their services and products):
Justin and Mary Marantz  They are one utterly talented team!  Photographing every detail like no one else could.  I'm so happy that they are able to capture details of the wedding and the love shared between this couple.

ABC Cakes will be working with the couple to design a cake of their dreams!  Such yummy flavors and the most beautiful cakes available! 

The wedding will be catered by L.M. Townsend and Catering.  I cannot wait to taste the food (of course after we've finished the wedding) 

The couple will be using Cooperstown Event Rentals for their linens, china and everything in between.  When you plan a wedding at a barn or in a tent remember that you need to rent everything!  Rental costs can add up.  Some barn weddings provide tables and chairs, then the caterer many times has china, flatware and stemware you can utilize.. which minimizes your rentals to only linens.  That will help with costs.

With any of our deserving couple weddings we look for couples that are truly having financial hardships, do good for their community and have this mad passionate love for one in other.  I ALWAYS tell our deserving couple weddings "Even though you are not paying for our services, it's your wedding and you should tell us what you want, tell me if I start to go in the wrong direction, or if you don't like any of our suggestions, since I get so passionate about these weddings I seem to get really excited about the design concepts.  You are still one of our clients and will be treated as though you are paying for the entire wedding."

Take a look at the first deserving couple wedding we designed at the Publick House in Sturbridge, Massachusetts in 2008.  (images by Troy Photography)

In 2009 we took the deserving couple wedding to a whole new level!  We worked with an exceptional group of wedding professionals to create one gorgeous wedding!  See all of the details from 2009.

Wedding at The Fairmont Hotel this fall

This October we'll be designing a wedding for the lovely bride Lindsay Brandt.  She is one of our 2010 deserving couple wedding winners!  I'm loving all of the details.  I was lucky enough to have had some time yesterday to do a walk through at her reception site yesterday in Boston.  The Fairmont Hotel near Copley Plaza.

Her ceremony will be at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New England and reception following at the Fairmont Hotel.  Cocktail hour will be in the Venetian room with dinner being served in the Oval room.  The entire hotel is SO gorgeous!  I'm so excited to be designing her flowers!

We're going to create the most romantic flowers for her reception.  With 'patience' garden roses, 'creme de la creme' roses, scabiosa pods, 'milva' roses and a ton of ivory pillar candles glowing into the night, it will create such a sophisticated atmosphere with touches of rustic elements.  Her tables will feature a mix of high and low centerpieces.  I personally love when you mix heights... making your eye move throughout the room and add interest.  What better way to decorate for a fall wedding than with rustic orange and buttery yellow flowers along with touches of nature and wood accents?!  LOVE it!

For her escort cards, Lyndsay will be doing something with wine corks with her escort cards sitting in them and we'll be displaying them on a round table in a circular pattern.  In the center of the table we will fill a stone urn overflowing with an abundance of gorgeous blooms!  For that pure rustic feel we might add a few pieces of kiwi vine.  I really love when a couple does some DIY projects.  It adds so much personality to a wedding and touches of love, home and spirit.

Here are some of the FABULOUS wedding vendors who have graciously offered up their services to this very lucky couple:
Fizz Paperie  Jillian has already designed the MOST amazing save the dates and I cannot wait to see the invitations!

Festive Occasions
For all of your rental needs, they are amazing!  They travel throughout New England and have some of the most beautiful linens I've ever seen!

Lindsay hired Allegro Photography to capture all of the details of the entire day.  Photography is so important, because after all is said and done, this is what you will have to remember the day.  We're so very excited to be working with them!

2011 deserving couple weddings

We've been so very blessed with a wonderful (and healthy) family, good friends and an incredible company designing the most amazing weddings and events.  A few years back we decided to donate our services, free of charge to someone who needed it most.  To a couple planning a wedding, in financial hardship and yet they still give back to their community.

For 2011 we had an overwhelming number of applicants for our deserving couple wedding!  With the economy suffering, so many people have either lost their jobs or  have taken huge pay cuts.  Yet, even with a bad economy, couples are still going to plan weddings.  Maybe not being able to have the wedding of their dreams, but still getting married because their passion for one in other is so very strong!

Here are some of the details for the 2011 couples weddings....

Karri and Chris will be getting married on April 30, 2011 at the Wesleyan Chapel with their reception immediately following at Sarah Porter Memorial Hall in Farmington, Connecticut.  

For their ceremony, we'll be lining the ledges with lots of pillar candles for added drama and romance.  We'll be recycling natural wood siding from my parents sugar house, to create a custom arbor for the couple to be married under.  Draped with fabric and lots of gorgeous flowers on it as well.  Kind of a mix of rustic and sophistication... really, really pretty.

For their reception we'll gather lots of purple wave petunias in black footed urns to the entrances of the venue, along with over-sized black metal lanterns filled with pillar candles.  She has the most amazing vendors to help bring this wedding to life!

Emily's Catering Group

Steve Depino Photography

Sixpence For Your Shoe

Paper Olive

Lovely Cakes

The Plumed Serpent

Dancing Pen Calligraphy

Sandra Downie Beauty

Cookie Creatives by Jennifer

Ryan Designs (custom lighting and furniture decor) 

Anna & Justin have chosen their venue and date.  They will be getting married on May 21, 2011 at the Webb Barn.  Let's hope for amazing weather for their ceremony outside with a beautiful oak tree as their backdrop.  I'm hoping we can hang strings of orchids and hanging lanterns from that tree for a really pretty setting!  We'll flank the entrance to the barn with over-sized black metal lanterns filled with a ton of pillar candles.  Scott will be creating a custom curtain rod, so we can hang organic muslin curtains as you enter the barn.  Bringing a soft touch of home to the rustic barn setting.

Anna &  Justin will be working with an amazing group of professionals who have graciously donated their services and products to the couple!

Emily's Catering Group

Justin & Mary Marantz

Details Wedding & Party Planning

Stonington Paperie

Toria Dolce Fine Desserts

The White Dress by the Shore and designer Modern Trousseau

Dancing Pen Calligraphy

Sandra Downie Beauty

Cookie Creatives by Jennifer

Ryan Designs (custom lighting, furniture and decor) 

Both 2011 couples have met with Rick from Emily's Catering Group and tasted some absolutely delicious options!  I was lucky enough to taste it too... and honestly, I know if I needed a caterer I wouldn't choose anyone else.  The food was to die for!  Just plain scrumptious!

Last year, our deserving couple was just amazing!  For this year we're working with 3 different couples.  One wedding in upstate New York, one in Connecticut and one in Boston.  More details on their weddings coming soon!

Here is the "tree" escort card tree we created for last years couple.  Since we chose to do all low centerpieces and their reception was in a basic church hall, I felt we needed something dramatic to literally grab guests as they entered the reception venue.  It SO did that!  Take a look.  Jubilee Events hand cut all of their escort "leaves" which were made out of a beautiful green card stock paper and hung in alphabetical order, wrapping around the tree. 

During dinner, this "tree" was recreated into a wonderful and whimsical candy station for guests to enjoy.

I'm just dying to see all the details from our last photo shoot wedding on Style Me Pretty blog.  So many incredible vendors were involved.  Including Sixpence For Your Shoe who created all of the custom stationery pieces for Katie and Alan's wedding.  They also offered the bride a helping hand for the day of the wedding, keeping all aspects running smoothly! 

Jamie Collins Photography captured the most AMAZING images I've ever seen!  Of course, I already knew Jamie was one of the very best photographers in New England.  But, this just reconfirms that!  She captured every little detail of this wedding (and there were a lot of them!) perfectly!  I loved Katie's gown and her jewelry was beautiful.  Regina B. made the most stunning broach to add some bling to her bouquet stems, it looked like a sparkly snowflake twisting in the cold winter wind!  She makes the prettiest jewelry and accessories for your wedding day!  Look at all of the pretty things Regina B. has.....

We'll be working on photo shoot weddings this year in several locations.  Next year we have photo shoot weddings in New York, Boston and Connecticut.  I might even add one to another fun location/venue!

Summer details

This summery bouquet is filled with 'vendella' roses, lime green cymbidium orchids, mini green hydrangea and thistle.  I love the simplicity of this bouquet with the touches of nature.  I added raw silk ribbon with French knots for a little touch of detail and texture.  Their are so many fabulous natural ribbons and even twine that we have available this year!  I've always felt like the boutonnieres should be just as detailed as any bouquet I could ever make.  But, yet still simple, understated and masculine.  After all, what guy wants to wear a bunch of greens and filler on his jacket?!

We traveled to Atlanta showrooms in January and selected some of the most hard to find trinkets.  Including incredible silk ribbons, natural wooden containers made from recycled barn wood, crystal covered leaves which we'll use on tables for added texture and interest and a ton of fabulous containers for that truly unique centerpiece that no one will have ever seen!  I'm so excited to design with all the goodies we bought!  I was like a kid in a candy store... really, it was SO fun!

Rustic table setting

This gorgeous curly willow "tree" is simple, yet so sophisticated and says "Wow!"  It's filled at the top with speckled orange mokara orchids and has over 100 "milva" roses trailing down the trunk.  I used copper wire that I found in my Dad's workshop to hang luminaries at various heights.  (honestly, I'm dreading the time I need to buy a new roll of copper wire, knowing that copper has gone up in price SO much since I borrowed this roll from my Dad!)

At the base of the "tree" we added kumquats, moss and fresh figs for a ton of drama!  Since the centerpiece was so dramatic we kept the table linen rather simple and just used a espresso color raw silk ribbon around the napkins for added detail.

Here we created this amazingly detailed table setting with a custom arch of 200 "milva" roses hung with luminaries and touches of cinnamon color cymbidium orchids.  We used little terra cotta pots which had various succulent plants for a little touch of Napa Valley feel.  Then for that added color of auburn, Madrid votive cups.  Personally, I think the more candles the better!  I LOVE mixing heights with candles, using clear votive cups along with colored ones... just makes it so much more interesting!

The table itself was from Party Rental, Ltd. and it's what they call a "farmhouse" style table.  We mixed the two different styles of chairs for even more detail.  It's really the details that can make all the difference.  Added interest to your eyes throughout the table or the reception site.  Party Rental, Festive Occasions and Rentals Unlimited offer some great option for rental items.  Including unique tables and chairs, fancy flatware and a wide array of china and stemware.  (even stemless wine glasses which are really cool!)

A wedding is probably one of the largest events you are going to plan in your lifetime.  It's so important to create something you will truly remember and be within a budget you are comfortable with.  This table setting had that little bit of rustic charm along with the sweet sophistication of roses and orchids in stunning colors.  Jamie Collins Photography captured every little detail perfectly!  Jamie is an amazing artist who travels all over the country capturing couples weddings and special memories.

Location: Simsbury Inn
Photography: Jamie Collins Photography

Table setting inspiration

We did this amazing table setting last summer at The Loading Dock in Stamford, Connecticut.  It's such an amazing space!  Really unique, almost a blank setting to start, which is great for a decorator!

images by Matthew J. Wagner

This wonderful copper/chocolate linen was from Party Rental, Ltd.  I love mixing the glasses with some clear and then the addition of amber color stemware.  It really adds interest to your table settings.  The Loading Dock is really a blank space.  Wonderul, rich, earthy dark wood floors, white walls and exposed duckwork ceiling with everything painted white.  Tall ceilings make it great for draping fabric, hanging Chinese lanterns or hanging luminaries.  Really, the possibilities are endless!

For flowers, we used a urn which is pottery.  Then added a ton of "cool water" roses along with lime green hydrangea and brunia berries.  The table was surrounded by two floor length birch branch "trees" with hundreds of "cool water" roses twisting down the trunk along with lavender cymbidium orchids and hanging glass luminaries (hung with copper wire).  I think it's always about the details... which means the more detail, the better!  You'll notice we used clear and frosted votives with a mix of heights to mix it up a bit, add more interest.

Style Me Pretty feature and happenings of JCF

Love the latest wedding we have featured on Style Me Pretty today! It is an absolutely stunning wedding that Alissa Dinneen took the images for.  It's a beautiful summer wedding which was at Jonathan Edwards Winery last summer.  I love all of the details!  You can read about the entire wedding and see some of the amazing images Alissa took on Style Me Pretty blog.

Happenings at Jessica's Country Flowers:
We've been cleaning and organizing like crazy!  Preparing for the upcoming wedding season!  Our gardens are lush and loving the warm spring sun.  All raked out and ready to mulch this week.  Mulch keeps the weeds to a minimum and helps keep moisture in the soil for our plants to grow.  This year we have a huge amount of Dahlias getting planted and it's almost time to till the soil for them!  I'm looking over all of the flower lists to see which amazing annual blooms we'll put into our gardens this year.  We've put cages around all of the peonies, so when it rains... their blooms will still be beautiful!  I LOVE the smell of peonies!

The other things we've been working on is helping our 2011 deserving couples pick venues, go over the menu with Emily's Catering Group and come up with a design concept.  Which by the way, the food is absolutely phenomenal!  I mean, if I were to get married now or ever have a party (which we're doing!) I would with out a doubt, hire Rick from Emily's Catering Group!

Karri and Chris have chosen the Wesleyan Chapel for their ceremony with their reception following at Sarah Porter Memorial Hall.  Lindsay and Talia from Sixpence For Your Shoe will be coordinating every little detail.  The very talented Steve Depino will be photographing every detail of this wedding, we're all so excited!

Anna and Justin will be married outside in the gardens at The Webb Barn.  With their reception following in the barn and on the patio under a tent.  We're creating the most romantic, rustic and yet completely sophisticated and romantic setting for them!  Since the barn doesn't allow real candles, we'll be utilizing lots of battery operated pillar candles to give us a natural glow.  Ryan Designs will be adding the most romantic lighting with a mix of different chandeliers to the interior of the barn and the tent.  Lynda Houghtaling from Details Wedding & Party Planning will be helping the couple plan everything.

Photo Shoot Weddings:
Such a wonderful concept we came up with this year!  We'll be designing 2-3 photo shoot weddings a year.  Which means, we choose a great venue and find a great couple to have this fabulous photo shoot....
We're currently working on photo shoot weddings at Harkness Memorial Park with No Eye Has Seen Photography, Round Hill House in Washingtonville, NY with Jamie Collins Photography and Lord Thompson Manor, Thompson, Connecticut with Justin & Mary Marantz.  Teaming up with some of the most amazing wedding professionals you could ever dream of having for your wedding!  We're also talking with Joyelle West Photography about doing a photo shoot wedding in either New York or Massachusetts!  LOVE it!

Look for our last photo shoot wedding in a few weeks on Style Me Pretty blog!  LOVED all the details that Jamie Collins captured for this wedding!  The most gorgeous of broaches from Regina B in New York and incredible stationery that Sixpence For Your Shoe created!  Of course, yours truly hand-dipped 120 chocolate caramel apples with white chocolate detailing for favors, which Sixpence did beautiful tags for!  Look for all the lovely details on Style Me Pretty very soon!  This wedding will also be featured in my new wedding book Enchanted Weddings.