Thursday, April 30, 2009

Real Wedding: Tom & Sarah

We had the pleasure of working with Tom & Sarah on their wedding in Philadelphia. They were such an amazing couple to work with and the wedding was just stunning! The ceremony was held at St. Peter's Church in Society Hill and the reception was at The Downtown Club.





A keepsake custom map that all the Out of Town guests received in their welcome bags! Maps were made by the ever talented Laura Hooper.





I love this little sweet detail!







The bridesmaids wore these incredibly chic dressed by Ralph Lauren which really made their bouquets standout!



After the ceremony, I love how the light makes this image so romantic and ethereal.



The exquisite centerpieces by Nancy Saam (did all the florals) were simple yet so beautiful.






The photographer was the uber talented Sarah DiCicco who assures me she has a zillion more images to share, so we will definitely be adding to this post!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Organizing the details ...

This post is inspired by a dear friend whose getting married on 7/11 ... she's begun working on the final details of the wedding and I mentioned that she needs to remain stress free. She then mentioned that she's a bride and that its hard to be calm!

I advocate a stress free environment. It's not always do-able, but it should be the end goal. Planning a wedding can and will be challenging at times, but the closer the wedding day gets, the more its vital for you to relax and take things in stride. Firstly, being stressed out affects your health and your skin ... you want to be healthy and glowing on the inside AND outside on the big day. Secondly, being stressed brings a negative energy to the wedding, which is probably not the vibe you're going for.

Using A's wedding date of 7/11, she's just about 2.5 months out ... what should she be working on now? Details and nothing else. (The rest of this paragraph isn't applicable to you if you've had less than 4+ months to plan the wedding ... I'll post later this week on managing the shorter time frame). Your vendors should be booked and up to date on what they will be providing, your invitations should be out and hopefully RSVP's are trickling in! Your dress and all the other attire for the bridal party should be almost perfectly tailored. The biggest time consumers now should be your favors (if you're having), out of town gift bags (if you're having),music selection for your ceremony and if you're writing your own vows, getting some pen to paper. All the planning should be to rest, you should be working on details. If you've hired a planner, they should be working on creating the day's timeline with you and making sure that you are getting ready to get hitched. Let your planner deal with the last minute craziness that may flair up (suddenly an extra guest or two pops up, your cellist doesn't have the ceremony address, the florist got in a bad shipment of flowers etc) - whatever nonsense arrives, let the planner handle it. That's why you hired one, right?

Most importantly, as the bride, you should be stress free and indulgent. Go to the spa, read lots of romance novels, whatever you do to unwind. Just take the focus off of the wedding, so that when you start to walk down the aisle, you'll fully be in the moment.

Take a page out of my Maxwell's book and enjoy the warm weather!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Reading List ...

Lots of brides ask me to suggest books they can read related to weddings. There are literally thousand's out there ... some more helpful than others. So, I thought that I would create a list of books that I think are great for tidbits of advice, images and ideas. Check it out!

Happy Reading!



(Mary Cassatt painting)

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Blog Love!

We got a sweet write up from Laura Hooper over at A Lucky Orchid Wedding yesterday! Laura is an amazingly talented calligrapher/stationery guru, so its an honor to be featured on her blog. I recently worked with Laura on a Philadelphia wedding (she designed these incredible maps for guests) ... as soon as I get pix, I will post them up! In the mean time, check out both her amazing blog, and her site!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Being Realistic ...

The past few weeks have been very busy, but all very exciting to say the least.

I wanted to post about being a bride and planning the wedding and being realistic. Contrary to most men ... many woman have spent a very long time picturing how their wedding day is going to take shape, thus when it comes time to start actually planning the wedding, their vision can sometimes be a bit larger than life and not so realistic. I'm not saying that your dreams, wishes, desires, wants, must haves etc can't come true, I am just saying that sometimes, dreams must be scaled back a bit ... perhaps you are getting married in July but you've always pictured a winter wonderland theme - you could do it, but it would be a bit out of place; or you've always thought that you'd arrive in style to the ceremony in a Rolls or Bentley, only to find out that there are none within a 500 mile radius of your wedding site. Instead of becoming fixated on one aspect of your desire, try to figure out other ways to incorporate it into what you are able to do in your wedding locale.

Its all about melding the dreams and life together that will produce your most fantastic wedding.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Happy Spring ...

From my favorite Etsy seller, Kari Herer, Enjoy!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Groom - diva?

I always get asked about how involved the Groom should be in the wedding planning ... I always get a kick out of this. Without the Groom, there'd be no wedding, so he's involved from day one!!! In all seriousness though, having an active (or somewhet active) Groom throughout the planning process is a must have. Firstly, it eliminates him having an surprises on the wedding day ("I hate chicken, why are we serving chicken?" or "This is the venue you picked?") and it also gives him a little bit of ownership of the day. Now, the Groom's involvement doesn't have to be much (obviously you're planning over the course of many sports seasons ... wouldn't want him to miss out on any big games) but he should be helping out.

My suggestions for where the Groom should be involved:

Getting the guest list in order (he should be finalizing his side of invitees AND getting the appropriate addresses from his side)

Help picking the food - he will be eating it, he should like it!

Help picking the band - gotta make sure they play music suitable for his dance moves!

Acting as a buffer between the Bride and the future in-laws ... this is a must do if your in laws are being difficult throughout the planning phase. In theory, he should be the neutral ground - supporting you, listening to them (and then saying no, right?!)

Most importantly - he should be your #1 supporter right now. When you want to scream because all you have is tulle, beef and hydrangea's on the mind and you need to escape from the induced wedding coma, he should be there to listen, calm you down and redirect your fury elsewhere.

Lastly, an involved Groom means he'll be insanely proud of all your hard work after the wedding, and be your personal marketer telling everyone that the wedding was incredible and amazing because of all your fantastic planning!