Blush eye candy

This wedding was pure sophistication.  The location, Lord Thompson Manor in Thompson, Connecticut.  It's set back in the woods, down a winding gravel driveway.  It's a unique venue with pretty rooms, distinctive decor and a beautiful backdrop for an outdoor ceremony.

With the stunning arbor as the backdrop for the ceremony, we filled two large urns with an abundance of white and pink delphinium, white stock, antique green hydrangea and open "Anna" roses. 

Centerpieces were a mix of high and low pieces.  Many facilities require any candles be in glass (no open flames), however this facility along with only a hand full of others allow open flame candles.  With the low centerpieces we used a low dish style container and set them on a footed cake dish.  That is a wonderful option for a dramatic low centerpiece.  You can find so many beautiful footed cake dishes at yard sales, flea markets (such as Brimfield and Elephant's Trunk Flea Market in New Milford, CT)  I personally love Milk glass and Depression glass.  There are so many unique options.

Tall curvy glass vases were filled water and white cymbidium orchid blooms with touches of pink on the throat.  At the top a large arrangement of antique green hydrangea, white hydrangea, "Faith", "Sahara" and "Patience" garden roses along with pink peonies made the perfect addition to this late spring wedding.

Summer of weddings

This weekend officially kicks off the wedding season and it feels like summer.  Crazy hot weather has made all of the peonies bloom a little early in our gardens.

The cooler is packed with hundreds of stems of pale pink peonies, "Faith" roses and antique green hydrangea.  Mother nature is unpredictable sometimes.  Last month when the volcano erupted planes were grounded and we not able to ship anything coming from Holland or other countries.  Unfortunately, occasionally sometimes things like this happen.  With our business, in situations like this it's about thinking outside the box and improvising.  Luckily we have a wide variety of wholesalers we purchase from.

This summer we're designing such unique weddings all over.  From a beautiful wedding at The Farmer's Museum to a wedding in Boston at the Boston Public Library, The Fairmont Hotel and then on the shores of Rhode Island.  I love that each wedding it's a different couple with different styles and we get the experience of working with new venues. 

Selecting a wedding venue

When you plan your wedding, ask yourself "What will make our wedding different and personal to us?"  Make an initial guest list and gather some basic ideas of what your priorities are.  It's probably one of the biggest parties you'll ever have, so it's essential that it's an event that reflects your style yet doesn't break the bank.  Remember that the more guests you invite, the more everything you'll need (dinners, linens, flowers, etc.)

The internet is a wonderful tool to do your basic search for wedding venues and professionals.  But, don't judge a book by it's cover!  Make an appointment and tour properties in person to get a real feel of the facility.  Ask to take a sneak peak before a wedding, so you can see it in action and set up for an actual wedding.

Do your homework and ask every question you can.  How much is the rental fee (if any)?  Do you have the option of bringing in an outside caterer?  What comes with the facility?  (tables, chairs, linens, etc.)  Or do you need to rent things like tables, chairs, linens, china, flatware and stemware?  All of those things add up, so it might throw you over budget if you have to rent all of those items.  If catering is done on site, what are the menus available and how much per person.  Make sure you know everything that is included and any extras. (including gratuity and taxes)

As you walk into the perfect wedding venue, it's an almost overwhelming feeling that you get as you realize you've found the place that will hold the memories of your wedding reception.  Start the hunt early for the perfect venue.  If you have your heart set on a fall wedding in New England, remember there's lots of other couples that have the same thought... so book early!  Same thing applies for a wedding in the south (South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, etc.).  That is just a gorgeous time of year in the south for a wedding, so dates and venues fill up.

Enchanted Weddings book

You may have read that I've been working on a wedding book for about 2 years now.  (of course, I have a second book and a third book in the works too!)

I started writing after several of our clients repeatedly said "You are so knowledgeable and you have to write a book for anyone planning a wedding!"  So, I started jotting notes down.  My mind is overflowing daily with pure experience from helping couples create beautiful weddings and events.  Our company has become so much more than a floral design company!  Each year, I have fully coordinated deserving couple weddings from scratch to fruition.  Every little detail, far beyond flowers was coordinated and brought to life, by yours truly.  My knowledge of which are the best wedding vendors, which rental companies we love to use, what is the best wedding venue (from barns to grand hotels) is vast.

(this hand-tied bouquet features "Juliet" and "Phoebe" garden roses and bubble gum color peonies, wrapped with ivory satin ribbon and accented with a Vintage French dragonfly pin)

There are some amazing wedding books, written by some of the most amazing floral designers, including Preston Bailey, David Tutera and Collin Cowie.  But, most of their books are simply an array of fabulous images of weddings and not much written information.  Plus, for the majority of the population planning a wedding, they are simply not weddings anyone could afford to create.  So, I set out to create a book which couples could gather and absorb information from along with a ton of inspiration to create a wedding uniquely styled just for them.

I have notepads in the kitchen, by the bed and in the living room on our coffee table.  So at any given moment, when a thought HITS me... I can take notes.  I write down everything!  It's kind of funny too, where my ideas come.  Usually right as I close my eyes and the day has ended, all of my thoughts start rolling around in my head.  (sometimes Scott will catch me up at 2 or 3 am typing away on my laptop because I just cannot control the urge to type)

You'll notice most of the big named designers have "co-authors" for their books.  So, like anything else I'm unsure of I googled "co-author" in Connecticut and came up with a lady in West Hartford, named Susan Omilian.  I wrote her an email and asked her if she could co-author my book and she said "No.  You write it and I'll edit your work."  So the writing and editing began.  She's coached me through every little aspect of writing, how to put together a book proposal and how to get a literary agent, etc.  I feel blessed to have found her and that she has worked so very hard with me.  Of course, it takes a very motivated person to write such a book in this economy.  I push forward and know that this is something I can accomplish.  I have complete faith in my writing and in my ability to sell this book to a major publisher.

Susan is now helping edit my second book.  Which is a complete secret... since the subject is so incredible and I think this might be even better than the first!

Writing a book and running a wedding company is definitely a task.  One that I simply love!  It's about managing my time.  Thank God for an amazing husband that gives the kids baths and plays with them while I type my little heart away at night.  Mostly during the winter months, where I can have my feet on the coffee table and my toes warming up from the glowing fireplace.  (I knew there was a reason I insisted upon buying a house that had a fireplace, seriously... it was number one on my list!)

I'm working on big things.  We have the most amazing (and unique) book tour planned, filled with some of the best wedding professionals all over the country!  I'm also working on a few photo shoots for Style Me Pretty blog and our blog.  So, you can see the prettiest of things and know exactly what every bloom is along with some of the most unusual stationery, cakes, etc.

Touches of Vintage charm

You might ask, "what gives you inspiration?"  Honestly, everything that surrounds me in life brings inspiration.

I bought this cute little pair of warm, cozy (and fuzzy) slipper socks.  They are deep espresso chocolate with raspberry color tips..putting them on, I just had this thought.  Why don't we do an amazing table setting with dark chocolate linens, layered with texture and dramatic hot pink flowers?!  The breeze rolling through the trees makes me think how can I make our "tree" centerpieces become more real and more dramatic?  So when we were in Atlanta we picked up so many fabulous things like copper leaves to hang in the autumn from "tree" centerpieces.

For one of our 2011 deserving couples, Scott will be creating a custom canopy of salvaged barn wood, which we will decorate by draping organic cotton muslin fabric over it and adding touches of greenery and Antique purple hydrangea along with garden roses.  I love taking old and making it into something new and exciting.  Texture of the old wood brings interest and adds detail.  I remember thinking as the texture wood boards were being removed, and my dad said he was going to sell them... NO! I'm saving every little piece for weddings.

I'm making my shopping list now for this July at Brimfield.  We have a fabulous wedding at the Boston Public Library this fall we'll be looking for old wooden crates and lots of old glass bottles.  I'm in the hunt for Tiara glass in Amber color for a touch of vintage style in an absolute stunning venue!  Since they are using a book and stories theme I might get a few old books to create something unique.  Thoughts are still running through my head.

Flower budget

It's a question that is asked so very often: "How much should we set aside for our flowers?"  The answer is sort of complicated. 

It's all a personal preference.  But, most of our couples have flowers on the top of their list and they budget approximately 10-20% of their overall budget for floral decor.  As with any wedding, things just seem to add up. 

At your initial meeting, expect to spend about an hour or two with us.  We'll ask you all sorts of questions about the style of the wedding, what your tastes are, what type of atmosphere you would like to create, etc.  We want to get to know you both and understand every aspect of what is important to you.  I think it's a great idea to do some homework prior to us meeting and rip out things from magazines, create inspiration boards on Style Me Pretty blog or My Kate Parker Wedding.  There are so many great books to get as well. Check out the wedding books on Amazon.

When you select your wedding date, it's a good idea to research it a bit and see if there are any major holidays during that week.  Flowers are more expensive around popular holidays such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas and Easter.

During our initial consultation, tell us everything you have dreamed about... and we'll go from there.  I'd rather you tell us what your dream is and we can pull so much inspiration from that.  For every one of our weddings or events, we create custom designed concepts.  Which means you as a couple are so very different from our other couples and therefore your wedding should reflect that!

Obviously what effects the overall floral design pricing is the type of flowers that are being used in the wedding, how many stems we need, hard goods needed and of course, how much labor is involved.  My suggestion to couples looking to achieve a full and lush look without breaking the bank is to use things in season and use a maximum of three types of flowers.  Things like hydrangea are big and fluffy and take up space.  I love the simplicity of things like gerbera daisies in simple glass bud vases mixed with a ton of votive candles!

We're working on a few photo shoots to give everyone a little bit of pure inspiration.  More details to follow.  We'll be describing everything in detail so you can know what we did, what we rented and what flowers we used!

Weddings in the summer

With spring here and summer approaching there are a so many options to make your event pretty!  This weekend is Brimfield Flea Market.  One of the largest flea markets in this area!  You will find a HUGE selection of collectables and old goodies to use for decorating your event.  One of the hottest trends right now is vintage charm, touches of old added to new.  I personally LOVE that look!

Some things that make stunning vases for a simple and understated look are:
Peanut Butter glasses
vintage style drinking glasses or dessert cups
Mason jars in various colors
Lu Ray
Tiara glass (which is this absoultely gorgeous amber color glassware! but also has some other colors)

If you don't have time to hit the market, try local yard or tag sales (check the news paper listings)
Ebay is also another great place to purchase anything vintage, but remember the shipping might cost you just as much as the item itself!!

Adding single blooms, such as dahlias, zinnias, gerbera daisies, garden (cabbage) roses or orchids make a simply gorgeous statement.  Add a ton of candle and you've got the most romantic setting ever!  Of course, for most of our weddings these little vases are an addition to the main centerpiece.  Adding that touch of detail and drama.  The more detail the better!