One of the prettiest places for a wedding

By: Jessica Robinson

Caitlin and Mike applied for our deserving couple contest back in 2009.  They were going through some family issues and struggling financially.  Mike was lost his job and went back to school full time and they were living off of one income.  They are such a loving couple, devoted to their family and to each other.  We couldn't of selected a more grateful and truly deserving couple.

The setting: The Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York.  They were married in the chapel on the grounds, Cornwallville Church.  Then the reception following in the barn at the museum.  The Farmer's Museum is a spectacular venue that has deep roots in New York State's rural history.  The museum is set on 120 acres of pristine farm land which has been a working farm since the 1790's.  The Farmer's Museum is a private, non-profit educational organization.  

Caitlin had a really great inspiration board she had created for us.  From that we designed many just gathered looks.  I used old aluminum sap buckets from my parent's sugar house to showcase some antique purple hydrangea I picked out of my gardens at 4:30 am the morning of the wedding.  For her centerpieces we created three different looks.  One was in wooden crates, lined with sheet moss and overflowing with seasonal flowers.  The other were a chocolate footed metal urns filled with antique hydrangea, garden spray roses and locally grown flowers.  For a simple look, we gathered bright pink and purple salvia, fresh mint, fresh sage leaves and garden roses in various sized mason jars.  Then, clustered them together on the tables.  The smell of fresh herbs is intense and wonderful for a summery wedding.

The bride carried a hand-tied bouquet of white dahlias, patience garden roses, locally grown millet and wrapped with wide ivory satin ribbon.  The groom's boutonniere was a simple dahlia bloom wrapped with a touch of natural twine.  The bridesmaids carried a garden mix of purple statice, purple dahlias, creme de la creme roses and garden spray roses.  Each was wrapped with a fancy chocolate ribbon with copper sequins, then vintage rhinestone buttons for added detail.

I'm really looking forward to all of the incredible images that Justin & Mary Marantz took.  Their truly gifted artists capturing the details of the wedding in a way not many can.  

Touches of detail to Boutonnieres

By: Jessica Robinson
With all of the weddings we've planned and designed over the years, we've done so many unique things with flowers.  Your bridal bouquet is a main focal point to the wedding, but don't forget to spice up his boutonniere a bit!

The boutonnieres should coordinate with the look and feel of the rest of the wedding.  The camera's will be focused on him just as much as you.  Guys usually don't want anything to frilly, so keep it simple but with some detail.  You'll notice that our boutonnieres are always dressed for the occasion.  Meaning, we wrap the stem with a touch of ribbon or twine, depending on the style and formality of the wedding.  Then add other seasonal touches like millet, grass twisted and weaved around the stem or even a peacock feather.

Shades of Pink at Lord Thompson Manor

By: Jessica Robinson

Here's a sneak preview of today's pretty wedding.  The setting: Lord Thompson Manor, Thompson, Connecticut.  Set away from the fuss of the everyday world, it's tucked back on a wonderfully manicured property.  Wind down their gravel driveway into a picturesque and just lovely setting.

What sets Lord Thompson Manor aside from other venues is the weekend wedding idea.  When you reserve their facility, you become pampered for the entire weekend.  Not rushed out the door for the next wedding to take over!

We used a combination of hot lady, cool water, Anna and Faith roses for the entire wedding.  The bride carried a lush hand tied bouquet of white cymbidium orchids with pink throats and ivory garden roses.  I adorned the stems with ivory satin French knots... so pretty!

Jackie, from Lord Thompson Manor will create one of a kind menu cards.  Each of which is personalized with all of your guests names.  A really wonderful personalization.  The manor has a real working fireplace, perfect for that New England autumn or winter wedding.  The smell of real wood burning in a fireplace just gets me.  It makes you feel warm and cozy. 

Enjoy breakfast on their patio or in the sun room and enjoy the company of great friends and family.  Everything in life is so rushed these days, it's nice to take the entire weekend to embrace your wedding.  The details are wonderful for this wedding.  Lord Thompson Manor set up a delicious candy station for the couple with most pink and red candies.  Candles are everywhere which adds so much romance and ambiance.

Of course, these are just a few images I took... dying to see what the fabulous Alissa Dinneen took!

Challenges of wedding planning

By: Jessica Robinson
The challenges you are faced with while planning your wedding can be enormous.  As you plan your wedding, you take on a new roll: wedding planner.  It's like a complete new job.  Like you don't have so much going on in your life already.  If you have the funds available, it's a great idea to hire a wedding coordinator to help with the daunting task.

Wedding planners offer various packages to fit your needs.  Whether you need help from the very beginning stages to assist you with selecting a venue, the design concept and other vendor suggestions or just planning month of and day of to help keep everything in order.  If you live out of town, but planning a wedding in another state a wedding planner might be a must.  (especially if you do not have a ton of vacation days you can take to take on the tasks yourself)

Some area planners to consider:
Sixpence For Your Shoe
Chandelier Events
Details Wedding & Party Planning
Wedding Istas
EST Occasions

I find it helpful to make check lists.  Now, my husband hates them... but I honestly think it makes me feel as though I'm accomplishing things when I can check things off.  Make a spread sheet in Word and check away!  You'll find it helpful to come up with an initial budget and give yourself an idea of how you want to spend it.  Which areas you have more for (or are more important to you).

Most importantly, don't stress out!  Things go wrong with weddings all the time.  The most important thing is that you understand that and know that you have hired the best of the best to take care of the details.  All of your vendors come together and work well together. 

One of my favorite ladies in the wedding business is Sara Faella.  She's the creative force behind Sara Faella Designer Stylist.  She'll come to you and take care of your hair and make-up needs.  She also designs some pretty fabulous couture hair pieces and accessories.

Have your cake and eat it too!  Kelly's Sweet Rewards makes some amazing wedding cake creations!  Let her creative mind come up with something wonderful for your wedding.  Now, if you are looking for something unique for favors or to have in your out of town guest bags, try her cake balls, red velvet cake dipped in scrumptious chocolate.  Bit size tasty treats!  Lovely Cakes is another wonderful company!  If you are looking for someone to make pastries and confections besides your wedding cake try Toria Dolce Fine Desserts & Wedding Cakes.  Now, for the most yummy candy station, handcrafted sugar cookies and other wonderful treats contact Jennifer at Cookie Creatives.  She just made some of the most tempting treats for a wedding we worked on together.  All I can say is Yum!

Deserving couple @ La Cupola Ristorante & Inn

By: Jessica Robinson

As many of you know, each year our company designs a wedding for a deserving couple.  We look for a couple that has experienced financial hardship, yet still gives back to their community.  We feel as though we've been so very fortunate in life and in business that this is simply our way of giving back. 

With the unstable economy, there are quite a few families struggling with finances.  Most are just lucky to still have a job.   Giving back to a few very lucky couples every year makes us feel so good.  It also is a wonderful way to be even more creative and connect with some pretty talented wedding professionals in the industry.  For 2011, we had chosen two teams of professionals to create two deserving couple weddings.  But, while at La Cupola one evening for dinner....we told Frank what we did each year and he said "we should host one here, it would be beautiful!".. and so the plan began.  So we set out to find one more deserving couple (someone who really could use a helping hand and honestly could not afford any sort of a wedding) and one more team of professionals.

What I love most about this couple, is that they are real and genuine.   Life sometimes hands us unexpected hardships and hurdles.  It makes us stronger individuals and grateful for what we do have in our lives.  Life isn't perfect, but if you can stick together and come stronger as a couple even with tough finances... you're golden!

the couple: Christina and Dustin
Details:  October 2011 wedding @ La Cupola Ristorante & Inn, Litchfield, Connecticut

Vendors involved:
Chandelier Events
Stacey Ilyse Photography
AriaDress
Sara Faella
The Spa at Litchfield Hills
Fizz Paperie
Kelly's Sweet Rewards

This is one of her inspiration boards we created for her initial design concept.  I absolutely adore Style Me Pretty blog and love the way you can create your own inspiration boards on her site!  Check this one out and make one of your own!  Give me your input and let us know what you think!! We LOVE to hear your comments!

Wedding @ The Farmer's Museum

By: Jessica Robinson

We traveled up to Cooperstown, New York to design Caitlin and Mike's wedding.  I cannot tell you how much I loved the scenic trip through New York and the stunning country side views. 

Their wedding was beautiful!  The location: The Farmer's Museum, Cooperstown, New York

Our team of designers headed up (very early) on Saturday morning to decorate the site.  We hung green galvanized lanterns from the beams of the barn, adding that sparkle glow to the reception.  All of the couple's place cards were hung from two trees (manzanita branches in tall cylinder vases) strung with natural twine and attached with wooden clothes pins.  It looked amazing!  Definitely caught your attention as you walked in.  Thanks to our lead designer (Melissa) for putting this together!

Their centerpieces were all different. Some with wooden crates, lined with moss and filled with an abundance of summery flowers.  Others were chocolate/bronze footed urns with similar flowers.  The third design was simple.  Clusters of various jars filled with fresh, fragrant mint, colorful salvia, dahlias and garden spray roses.  We clustered antique purple hydrangea in sap buckets at every entrance to the barn.  The entire look was lovely!

Cookie Creatives by Jennifer handmade so many fabulous candies and of course the prettiest hand decorated sugar cookies.  They were displayed on the most yummy candy station I've ever designed!  Scott hand delivered out of town guest (burlap) bags that we filled with Rasinets, bottles of water, Goat boy soaps (lavender goat heads), raspberry rhubarb jam from Lamothe's Sugar House and Crunch and Munch.  They were really cute and the perfect touch as a thank you for guests traveling to join the happy couple.

Justin & Mary Marantz were kind enough to photograph every last little detail.... I can hardly wait to see what they captured!  They are incredibly talented and very, very generous!  Her cake was designed by ABC cakes.

Caitlin looked absolutely stunning in her Modern Trousseau gown which was provided by The White Dress by the Shore.  The weather could not have been more perfect for their summer wedding.  More details to follow in a few weeks...

Paper Quilling class

By: Jessica Robinson

This coming fall we'll be hosting a class at River City Art Center.  It's situated in the historic town of Collinsville, Connecticut.  I'm hoping many of you will join us for a really fun, creative class with Kate of River City Art Center to create some really amazing DIY stationery pieces for your own weddings. There will be about 12 spaces and they'll fill quickly for sure!  We'll have fun, get to know one in other better and just have a great time doing some DIY projects.  I'll bring the wine!

Paper quilling (also known as Paper filigree) is beautiful and creative way of rolling, bending and pinching the paper then making designs out of the paper.  There are numerous things you can design with paper quilling.  I love the idea of making your own save the dates and even table numbers.  You can make your own signs for guest tables and candy station (identifying the different candies).

Kate is one of the most energetic people I know and VERY creative!  We'll be working with her to have a 4 week class so couples will be able to learn how to design your very own art projects.  I'd love to see more creativity for Save the Dates, table numbers and even stationery for dessert tables!!  LOVE!   Maybe even create your very own Family Tree out of paper quilling... and guests could sign on leaves you can place on the tree afterward.   Creative...use your imagination!!

 Let us know if you would like to join us this fall.  We'd love to have you!