Continuing on from Wednesday and last week, I wanted to show you the details from Caitlin and Dan’s reception.  The above is simply one of my favorite designs from 2011.  We used plums inside the vase with orchids as well.  The orchids and hanging votives created such a stunning effect at night.

We placed little keepsakes of rosemary and wheat for each place setting.  The wheat symbolizes fertility and the rosemary symbolizes fidelity!

The gorgeous cake designed by Design Cuisine!

In addition to the cake, Design Cuisine also made a gorgeous dessert bar!

The day of the wedding we were all so worried about the snow, but I think Caitlin and Dan would agree – it made for remarkable and beautiful portraits for them!

Congrats to Caitlin & Dan!

Have a great weekend!

Photography by Greg Gibson

Gorgeous fun wedding cake from The Knot with orange drink stirrers from Bab’s Etsy Shop

Our own gloriosa lily bouquet with our in-house lanterns (photo by Roman Grinev)

Fabyan Orange Gown via Wedding Inspirasi with beautiful earrings from Rachelle’s Jewelry Box

Orange Brocade Kitten Heels from BHLDN with our menus and orchids (photo from Documentary Associates)

A few of our favorite things for Holiday Wedding Style…

Our green cymbidium bridal bouquet (photo by Documentary Associates) with Green Bunting Pennant from BHLDN

Green and Red cake via Perfect Wedding Day with Green Wedding Dress via Flickr

One of our favorite holiday bouquets we have done with holly berries, roses and rosemary (photo by Amy Deputy) with our green cymbidium cake topper (photo by Roman Grinev)

Our green hypericum berry lapel with green shoes via The Knot

Red is making a comeback…Get Ready!!

Our sexy red backdrop with candles – photo by Documentary Associates

Red Shoes Via Santa Barbara Chic Blog

Red Invitations via Invitation Crush

Red accented cake by Maggie Austin Cake

Our own red rose wreath and red peony posy

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/red-wedding-style/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/blue-wedding-style/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/blue-wedding-style/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:30:36 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=6130

Yummy Blue…

Top to Bottom, Left to Right:

One of our beautiful brides in her beautiful blue dress at Woodend Sanctuary- Photo by Heather Z

Blue Cake by Cakes by Design from a wedding we did last year at the Engineer’s Club – Photo by Jennifer Hughes

Gorgeous Blue Garter from The Garter Girl

Blue Veil by Ossai as seen in the summer issue of Eco-Beautiful Weddings – Photo by Marta Locklear

Lapis Champagne Flutes from BHLDN

Gorgeous Blue Shoes from one our brides at the Decatur House – photo by Rodney Bailey

Here are the fun details from Tina and Chris’ wedding this summer!  Tina started the day at the Mandarin Oriental.  Right after getting ready, Tom from Documentary Associates took some stunning photos in her suite!

We made her beautiful bridal bouquet with green cymbidium orchids, scabiosa pods, seeded eucalyptus, white lisianthus, green hypericum berries, succulents, emerald green roses, lily grass with a few feather accents.

Chris + Tina – pronounced man and wife at Top of the Town!!!

Tina and Chris opted for a fun travel theme for their wedding.  Starting with programs shaped like passports and escort cards like airline tickets!  They also asked the guests to pin on a map where they have been.  The tall centerpieces were created with submerged cymbidium orchids and manzanita branches with hanging votives and orchids attached to them.  The beautiful cake was designed by Cakes by Linda.

Congrats to Chris and Tina – we are so happy we could be a part of your day!!!

Photography by Documentary Associates

Sorry we missed last week’s Style Post!! So we thought we would come back with something sweet!  While cupcakes and all sorts of dessert bars are the rage right now…we will always be in love with the “traditional” wedding cake.  We love cake!  Above is a way to incorporate your love of tradition with the cupcake aspect!  The cake was based on the design of the couple’s invitations and baked to perfection by Cakes by Design.  The bride added her own whimsy with the fun cupcake stand and cupcake decor inserts! To see more from this wedding at the Engineer’s Club in Baltimore - click here. (Photos by Jennifer Hughes)

We love the interesting design of the cake plate here to the left for a wedding we did at Brookside Gardens and the beautiful green garden design by Cakes by Linda for a wedding we did at Top of the Town (more from that wedding tomorrow and Wednesday).  (Photography by K. Thompson + Documentary Associates)

We will always love this cute bird cake topper from Mary Kate’s wedding at Thorpewood and this beautiful and intricate design from Cakes by Design at the Decatur House. (Bird photo by us, Pink cake by Documentary Associates and The Obsvervatory)

Today is the last installment for Mari and Josh – I just love these fun portraits and interesting photos that happened throughout the day!

Such a funny photo from the Ketubah signing at the synagogue.

Hilarious random photo!!!

Cute photo just after the cake cutting!

Best wishes to Mari and Josh and a huge thanks to Tom at Documentary Associates for these fantastic images!!!

We finally found a photo of the cute cake from the wedding we did recently at the Hotel Monaco in DC.  Katie and Grant’s wedding had a cute lemon and lime theme (to see more from their wedding click here.  The cake was designed by Patisserie Poupon!

A country farm bouquet for a country farm wedding!  We loved making all the fantastic floral designs for this wonderful wedding in Comus on Shepherd’s Hey Farm!  The bride’s bridal bouquet had garden roses, peonies, white and blue blue delphinium, white freesia and white lisianthus.

The lovely bridesmaids bouquets were made of white larkspur, white peonies, yellow freesia, blue delphinium and touches of dark pink ranunculus.

With 27 tables worth of different vases and vessels – I can really only show you a smattering of the vases we used for the wedding day!  We had all sorts of vintage tea pots, jugs, vases, and jars.

But by far – the above can is one of our treasures in-house.  This Quaker Maid can was found at a local antique market along with 4 other amazing fun tin cans from the early 1900′s!  Priceless and beautiful all at the same time.  We used Queen Anne’s lace, bupleurum, freesia, larkspur, snapdragons and so much more in every centerpiece.  Every centerpiece was completely different from the next.

Then finally the pretty cake from Mallowdrama!  Decorated with white lisianthus and blue delphinium, it was the perfect summer time cake.  They also provided sheet cakes and an additional gluten-free cake for guests!

Many congrats to Meredith and Owen on their wedding day!  Photos from their photographer will go up as soon as I get them!  A huge thanks to Mary Kate McKenna for coming out to take these beautiful detail shots for our portfolio!

Dreaming about your wedding day but worried how to keep it stylish, fresh and eco-friendly at the same time?  This 4th Installment for Earth Day Week is about how to keep the flowers and the details green!  That is what we specialize in.  Eco-friendly flowers and details is what makes your wedding yours.  If you are like most couples, hundreds (if not thousands) of them have gotten married at your venue before – so the only way to make it special is with floral designs and personal touches.

Working with a logistical team and local farmers, distributors and nature itself, we design an overall design scheme for you to help fit your style!  From flowers that are grown in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Holland (the last two have some of the toughest fair trade and wage laws in the world and Holland practically invented the cut flower trade).  Using a combination of carbon offsetting, commercial flights (as opposed to Fedex or UPS) and sheer information and research – we are able to provide you with the best possible options.  Our inventory boasts thousands of pieces of glassware from small to large.  We don’t charge a “rental” fee for them like most florists do – we just simply pick up our stuff at the end of the night.  With most weddings – we will take any leftover flowers to a nursing home (complimentary).  If not – we also compost!  Our in-house paper and glass lantern inventory is extensive and in every color imaginable.  And…if we don’t have it in stock – we will get it for you!  We have even used leftover beading from Christmas tree decor for a bridesmaid’s bouquet!  We love to upcycle and reinvent weddings.

In conjunction with our flower department and lighting, we have all sorts of decor and favor options available for you.  We have LED lights for our paper lanterns, in-house glassware (like mason jars for serving lemonade on a sunny wedding afternoon).  We also have over 500 pieces of vintage and modern glassware just for candy and food bars.  If your venue or caterer only has trays – we have trays, footed candy bowls, 3-tiered petit four/cupcake plates and more.  We have our own carpentry team in house to custom design mandaps, chuppahs, arches, trellis’, chalkboards, directional signs and more.

We help take your dreams and ideas and make them a reality with the extensive collection of items we have in our inventory to the extensive reach of vendors that we work with in the DC area.  We have an extensive information database gathered from around the world with our magazine team of writers, photographers, interns, researchers and photo editors (Eco-Beautiful Weddings).  There is simply no other event design firm in the DC/Baltimore area that has as much experience, inventory and knowledge about going green as our team here at Elegance & Simplicity, Inc.!  Go green for your wedding today – email us inquiries @ eleganceandsimplicity.com!

(Photo Credits from Top to Bottom – 1st Bouquet – The Observatory, 2nd bouquet – Marta Locklear, Beaded Bouquet – Documentary Associates, Praying Mantis – Amy Deputy, Triple Centerpiece – Documentary Associates, Hanging votives – Marta Locklear, Blue/Green Lanterns, Candy Bar, Lemonade Stand and Cake photos – Documentary Associates (cake by Cakes by Design), Paris Photo – K Thompson, Blue/green votives + Trellis with paper lanterns – Jennifer Hughes, Escort “card” Chalkboard (with calligraphy from Meant to Be Calligraphy – K Thompson)

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We are gearing up for the Eco-Beautiful Spring Mini Mag!  Stay tuned tomorrow as it is filled with green contents that you will need to jump on!

Continuing our Earth Day week on how to keep your wedding eco-friendly – we move on to the next part of your planning process – THE CATERER!  Why is this so important?  You will spend approximately 50-60% of your wedding budget on food + rentals – so you want to make sure you are putting your dollars in the right place.  Our favorite and one of the best caterers in the United States is Design Cuisine.  Above are glassware from their sister company DC Rental.   Design Cuisine is now Green Restaurant Certified and prides itself on sustainable practices and using local resources as often as possible. (Photo by Kathy Blanchard)

Another nationally known caterer that claims DC as their own is Main Event Caterers.  In 2010, they were named Caterer of the Year by Catering Magazine!  They have their own in-house water filtration system with reusable glass bottles.  Their incredible chef prides himself on using locally sourced food as well.  They are 100% Wind-Powered and Carbon Neutral through Terrapass.  They have a comprehensive Recycling, Reusing and Composting Program and strive to educate their clients about how to stay green for their weddings. (photo by K. Thompson Photography)

Occasions Catering was the first caterer in the country to become Green Restaurant Certified!  One of the first to compost and have been a supporter of local farmers years before it was thought to be “green”.  They even make their own jams and preserves in-house!  Truly one of the greenest caterers in town!

Gail’s Vegetarian Catering has been around for years as the DC area’s greenest vegetarian caterer.  Obviously going vegetarian for your wedding is the greenest option.  They are approved by Green America and create amazing menus with flair.  A note – their business is up for sale – the hope is that whoever purchases Gail’s will have the same philosophy and will continue with the same style.  Since it is has been on sale for a while – we are more than sure that Gail is looking for the best person to take it over!

Our final favorite pick for Green Catering is Catering by Windows, another local favorite that is Green Restaurant Certified.  Certainly one of the largest event caterers in the area – they even recycle kitchen oils and food by-products.

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Earth Day Week Green Giveaway for today are free movie tickets to see the pre-screening of Something Borrowed from Stephanie Ward over at Punk Rock Bride - local eco-friendly wedding gown designer!  LEAVE A NOTE BELOW ON HOW YOU PLAN TO GREEN YOUR WEDDING TO WIN THE TICKETS!

We finally have the chance to blog about The Knot’s Market Party earlier this month at Nationals Park!  Above is the cupcake wall we made for Kendall’s Cakes cupcakes!  It was a hit with our Vintage baseball feel!

Levy Restaurants caters at the park and produced a wonderful dessert buffet as well!

Eli Staples Music performed with an amazing jazz band to open up the evening with!

Stay tuned for all the photos from the party in the upcoming issue of The Knot!

The event was also sponsored by Volanni, Everything Linen, Ampa Events, Planet DJ, Midpark Services, Poshbooth

Photography by Amie Otto Photography

The Knot Event was such a hit last night!  I don’t have the official photos back – but here is one from my Blackberry with the cupcake wall we made with cupcakes from Kendall’s Cakes!!!

Stay tuned for more photos soon!

Following up on our post from this past Tuesday, we are excited to bring you more details from the reception at Margaret and Patrick’s beautiful wedding at Rust Manor in Leesburg.  Transitioning into the reception, Margaret and Patrick went from a purple and green theme to adding blue to the mix at the reception.

We used a mixture of different centerpieces: 2 low and 1 tall (tall not shown here).  We had some great navy fabric leftover from another event that complimented the color scheme well and wrapped some of the low vases with it! Our graphic artist designed the table numbers, programs and more!

The bride’s mom came up with a great quilt idea to have each of the guests write a note to the bride and the groom on quilt squares to incorporate into a finalized quilt!  I had so much fun with the mom gathering ideas and our carpenter on staff made that cute sewing station stand from reclaimed wood!

I just love how bright and cheery the spools of thread are!  This was all a surprise to the bride the night of the wedding.  Her grandmother was a quilter and it was a wonderful and bittersweet reminder of how family lives on in traditions.

Yes – you have probably seen a similar cake in The Knot!  She loved it and Design Cuisine did a great job of replicating it for her with their wedding colors!

Combining both of their family’s heritage – we brought in Lebanese Debke Dancers and Irish Celtic Dancers towards the end of the evening!

Then, if that was not enough – we made sure they were sent off with Irish Lucky Clover Cookies, Baklava and Mulled Cider to Go!

Many Congrats to Margaret + Patrick!

Vendors

Photography – Kathy Blanchard

Veneu – Rust Manor

Wedding Planning, Design, Florals, Lanterns, Programs, Signage – Elegance & Simplicity, Inc.

Catering + Rentals – Design Cuisine + DC Rental

DJ Music Services - Disc Jockeys On Call

Videography – Blue Sky Films

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/margaret-patricks-lebanese-irish-reception/feed/ 1 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/purple-purple-everywhere/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/purple-purple-everywhere/#comments Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:30:38 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=4566

Over the past few weeks I have met with so many fun brides that are looking for purples and lavenders for their wedding flowers!

So it got me thinking – I better do a blog post about this!  I created the above color palette as I met with one of my clients and we came up with a fun design scheme complete with flowers, furniture and colorful linens galore!  Purple has always been one of my favorite colors and can be used everywhere!  So here are my picks for purple for your wedding and your home!

(Credits Top Marta Locklear, Documentary Associates and ME!)

Some of the best purple floral designs use hydrangea, roses, calla lilies and orchids.  But don’t forget fresh lavender, veronica, delphinium, stock, aliums, carnations, agapanthus, caspia, statice, anemones, hyacinth, muscari and so much more!  Check in with us to find out what is available for your wedding day!

This photo from Apartment Therapy is just delicious!  This should inspire you to use purple with matte gold items for your wedding day.  Go with matte gold chivari chairs and gold rimmed plates to get this regal look! Heck – get someone like Kendall’s Cakes or Cakes by Design to paint with edible gold on your cake or wrap pretty matte gold ribbons around the tiers of your cake.  (And no – I will not spray any of my flowers with gold – sorry folks!)

And this beautiful combination of purples, aquas and blues is enough to make me swoon!  I am starting to dream of an amazing lounge combination with purple and blue flowers with funky aqua bridesmaid dresses!  The splash of red gerbera daisies adds the extra touch of whimsy!

If you have not found inspiration for your purple wedding and modern home landscape here – let me know and I will whip up something purple next week!

There is a sense of magic with royal weddings – especially when it comes to the British.

The world has fallen in love with the upcoming nuptials of Kate Middleton and Prince William because of the type of wedding they want to have. The bittersweetness of the ring is what has made us so star struck with the couple.  Instead of choosing a large diamond rock (which would have been easy for Prince William), he chose to give one of his prized possessions – his mother’s ring.

Their plans for a fair trade and organic cake (above organic cakes by Sarah Magid and Cakes by Design), the ring and asking that guests make donations in lieu of gifts are just a few of the ways that let us know that Kate and William are modernizing and greening their royal wedding.  We know she wants an eco-friendly gown and if she wants an organic cake – why not have organic and local flowers?

Kate is an elegant and modern woman and by watching their romance and engagement unfold, we think she will choose a gown that whispers a sense of simplicity along with grace and elegant flair.  Everyone has been speculating about different designers, but it seems she has been consulting with a couple of local designers in England – BRAVO Kate!  We know whatever dress she chooses will wow us and will be embedded in our memories for years to come!

Congrats to Kate  + William!

(The Cotton Bride gown photographed by Parris Whittingham + Organic cotton bouquet by us and photographed by a little bit of whimsy photography + Cakes by Design photo taken by The Observatory)

Today is the last to win these adorable cupcake stands for your wedding from Hello Hanna on the Eco-Beautiful Weddings Blog! Write your comment today to win!

We are thrilled to be showcasing Christina and Brent’s gorgeous wedding day at the Ronald Reagan Building as seen through the truly talented eyes of Marta Locklear!

I never tire of Holy Trinity Church and all its grandeur in Georgetown. We have done countless weddings there – but there is something about those large beautiful restored wood doors along with the beautiful stained glass that scream classic DC wedding to me!  It always makes me fall in love with Georgetown every time we are there!  (Yes – I love my city!!!)

Christina choose simple and beautifully elegant flowers for her and her wedding party including freesia, green hypericum berries and cymbidium orchids along with dahlias for the gals!

I have to say – this is one of my favorite escort card tables we have done this year.  Yes – those are plums to bring in the purple that they wanted!  The staff washed the plums after the event and donated the plums (and ate a few) – so there was no waste!

Their fun centerpieces consisted of tall rectangular vases filled with cymbidium orchids, manzanita branches and hanging votives.  Their low centerpieces were simple purple hydrangea arrangements with local green apples inside the vases!

And this beautiful cake from Fluffy Thoughts!  We only added the flowers to this masterpiece!

A big congrats to Christina & Brent!

Cheers!

Grab a cup a coffee or a glass a wine and get ready as this post is long!  There is simply no way to break up  this post into smaller parts!  The details of this wedding are just so much fun and better to see all together!  We have done two previous posts on the decor of the ceremony and cocktail hour (along with 3 teaser posts!) Now the finale!

Even with this overall Atrium room shot at the Ronald Reagan Building – you still can’t see all the stations of fun at this wedding!  To give just a little backdrop – Jordan is a school teacher – so some of the props might make more sense once you see them!

To bring in the true school spirit – we ordered some basic student high school lockers and painted them for the couple.  We still have them – so let us know if you want them for your wedding! It was the talk of the wedding and everyone had so much fun looking inside and seeing all the fun photos [if you look closely enough here - you can see her dad Rick Scott (who is currently running for Governor in Florida)].

Another fun station was the “Map Station”.  Since both Jeremy and Jordan love to travel so much – they wanted to see where everyone else has traveled to.  So we placed pink and green pins on the maps for where Jordan and Jeremy have been and asked the guests to place the yellow pins (as shown in the letters J) on the map for where they have been.

Then we had the photo booth.  I will most likely do a whole other post just on the photos from the photographer (Documentary Associates) that took the photo booth photos as they were hilarious!

(You can’t have a photo booth these days without props – we got these from Etsy!)

A couple of days ago we showed you the program we designed…here is the menu that matches!

There were so many flowers everywhere at this wedding that there just is not enough room in this post to show them.  We had tall arrangements filled with green and white dendrobium orchids along with jaguar pink orchids and yellow mokara orchids!  The two long head tables for the wedding party had lots of fun different shaped vases filled with seasonal local flowers including local hydrangea, peonies and roses.

One of the funniest things about this wedding is that Jordan wanted to possibly trip up the guests by numbering the tables with prime numbers (take a look at the photo above this one and you can see that table number is #29).  Carla David Design did such an amazing job with these table tents, the map station, soda station and lemonade/pink lemonade/limeade bar signs (below).

And now…the cakes!  Cakes by Design did such an amazing job!  I still can’t get over how she was able to create Jordan and Jeremy’s dog and how she used the decor on the groom’s cake to look like the masses/crowd (GENIUS!)

And…their super fun candy bar!

It was an amazing party and we had so much fun designing it!

Congratulations Jordan & Jeremy!

Wedding Planning, Floral Designs & Decor, Lanterns, Stationery, Candy Bar – Elegance & Simplicity, Inc.

Venue & Catering - Ronald Reagan Building

Photography - Ralph Alswang

Band + Ceremony Music - MSE Productions

Videography - Blue Sky Films

Lighting & Fabric Draping – Ampa Events

Cake – Cakes by Design

Linens – Table Manners

Bridal Styling – Polished Image and Style

Hair – Elegant Hair by Giselle

Make-up – Carola Myers

Detail Signage – Carla David Design

Photo Booth Photography – Documentary Associates

Rehearsal Dinner – Arts Club of Washington

Transportation – Chariots for Hire

Accommodations – Willard InterContintental

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/jordan-jeremys-reception/feed/ 3 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/jordan-jeremys-wedding/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/jordan-jeremys-wedding/#comments Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:00:28 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3714

Oh – the yumminess from this wedding is abounding!  Stay tuned for several blog posts on this amazing wedding that we did for Jordan and Jeremy at the Ronald Reagan Building.

(Photography by Ralph Alswang, Cake by Cakes by Design, Lemonade Sign by Carla David Design)

We were so excited to meet Maggie Labaugh (right above) of Magpie’s Cake and her sister and marketing director Jessica Rapier (left above) yesterday that I think yesterday’s cake and cookie tasting might have been the best we have ever had!

Maggie brought her delicious samples in a delicate box complete with linen napkins and sterling silver forks!  Tara and I just marveled at the presentation alone!

If you take a look at the menu of goodies that were prepared for us – you will see  that this was not your ordinary cake tasting.  Every cake was a progression from light and fluffiness to rich decadence.  I landed at the Mexican Vanilla Cake with Earl Grey Ganache and fell in love.  Tara loved the Fiori Di Sicilia Chiffon cake with Strawberry and Champage Preserves and vanilla buttercream – which had a wonderful orange creamsicle tinge to it!  The Double Chocolate Espresso Cake was not for the faint of heart and definitely had a kick to it!

Every cake comes with a delightful detailed hand-drawn treasure,  Maggie is all about creating her cakes from a highly stylized perspective.  These are not the typical buttercream, three-tiered cakes – they are works of art.

She is a an amazing artist!  She also does cookies!

She even made a cute E&S cookie for us.  We love these cookies so much – we just could not eat them!  (Well – we ate one – shhh)

Stay tuned as we are in the throws of planning their launch party and you are invited!

If you are wanting to take your wedding or special occasion cake to the next level – Maggie is the person to call!

Happy Cake Eating!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/magpies-cake-tasting/feed/ 3 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/amazing-cake-design-magpies/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/amazing-cake-design-magpies/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:07:42 +0000 Chris Easter http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3335

I have always been a fan of simple cakes – but there are some cake designers that take simple to a fabulous level.  Such is the case when it comes to Magpie’s Cakes.  New on the scene in the DC area – we love their website and design!

Tara and I are about to go and take a taste of their cakes – we will let you know how that goes!

Stay tuned for a giveaway and more real wedding postings this week!

This was such a fun bat mitzvah that we did in late spring from repeat clients for their 2nd daughter’s bat mitzvah in Bethesda!

She really let us great creative by using our cupcake trees along with wheat grass to place along the edge of the kid’s tables along with nestled cupcakes!

The adult tables had tall arrangements with ginger, eremurus (foxtail lilies) orchids and elephant leaves to remind the guests of their family’s heritage in Costa Rica!

Thanks to Debbie Delardi over at Cakes by Design once again for her amazing cupcakes!

By the way – we have a number of the cupcake trees in stock for rent anywhere in the Washington, DC and Baltimore areas!  They have been super popular this year with our clients!  Not exactly the best photos we have ever taken – but it got he job done!

Mazel Tov!

We posted a few of the photos from Kati & Jason’s wedding from May this year…however Rodney sent over this great video montage of the images from their wedding at the Decatur House!

Take a look by clicking on the image above!

Cheers to Kati & Jason!

Ok – so I am officially obsessed with this cake.  Debbie Delardi from Cakes by Design outdid herself with this one! I am in love with it!  Debbie based the design on the Save-the-Dates and Invitations by her Etsy designer Magnolia Papier!

She also made cupcakes which we inserted paper flowers from Magnolia Papier into!

(Notice the cute paper detailing on the blue cake pedestals – which I am also obsessed with!)

Now – here comes even more craziness!  Their wedding will be on Ace of Cakes this summer!  For all you cake addicts out there…I will post about the show as soon as I know the date!

Kendall wanted to surprise Mo with a cake made in the likeness of the robot that Mo has to use 3-5 times a week to perform surgery at John Hopkins!  The robot is called the Davinci – here is the real life version of it:

And here is the cake:

It was so much fun and such a wonderful surprise for Mo!

Check out the cake topper for this one:

Her in her dress, he in his scrubs along with their doggie and the cute love birds from their invitations! ADORABLE!

There are so many more photos from this wedding…but I am figuring 4 posts is enough!  We will have a gallery of their wedding soon on the main website as it was such a wonderful day!

Again – a huge thanks to Jennifer Hughes for the images and a big ole’ congrats to Kendall & Mo!

I will post once we know about the show airing!

Cheers!

This is a continuation (part 3 of 4) of Kendall & Mo’s wedding – all about the decor we did for them! Grab a cool drink as this will be a long one!

This is our signature trellis that we have been using for about 2 years now.  We have now taken it out of commission and have reused the wood to create a smaller version.  No worries – we can still make another one like it – we just felt a smaller version would make some of our upcoming weddings more intimate!  We purchased the aqua glass hanging votives to add to our ever-growing collection of amazing hanging glassware!   Of course we also have every color of the rainbow in paper lanterns.  It was just especially whimsical to have them inside this beautiful atrium at the Engineer’s Club in Baltimore.

After choosing her save the dates -Kendall brought one to me and we designed the day around the adorable colors from her paper items (which were showcased in yesterday’s post)!  We created simple but beautiful bouquets comprised of green hydrangea with white ranunculus for the bridesmaids to go with their beautiful turquoise/aqua shade dresses from Jenny Yoo.  Each bridesmaid had an individual beautiful brooch that Kendall bought for them as gifts!  She even gave one to me that I adore!

Here is her lovely bouquet! She chose white peonies (available in May and June) with white ranunculus, green cymbidium orchids with blue delphinium accents. (Look at that cute chair decor her mom made!)

We love our oval vases!  We used them for the atrium as decor on the railings with submerged green cymbidium orchids and fun aqua stones.

We custom designed this piece for Kendall!  It was gorgeous and huge!  We took manzanita branches and fastened them to a box Miguel made out of some old wood from our workshop and filled it with wheat grass.  Then we added green dendrobium orchids with her cute paper flowers (and escort cards) from her Etsy Paper designer Magnolia!  Check out the post from yesterday to get a closer view of the flowers – by clicking here! (You can also click on the image to make it larger to see more detail).

Here is a nice snapshot of the tablescapes!  We used our tall cylindrical glass vases with manzanita branches with hanging green and aqua glass hanging votives (hung with vintage green and blue ribbons).  Then we had 3 lower vases with submerged white dendrobium orchids with floating white candles.  Then you can see her adorable napkin rings here too – which were featured yesterday on the blog!

(There was also a candy bar – which I don’t have photos of at the moment!)

Mo is Lebanese and we were able to get Debke dancers in for their reception as well from MSE Productions!

MyDeejay was there that night for all of the other music and it was seamless!  Anthony is always a pleasure to work with!

I love this photo of the Engineer’s Club as it shows their signature lighting ceiling system that I am in love with!  However – this is not to be confused with the fantastic job that Ampa Events did with the uplighting around the facility!  Truly an amazing event!

I wanted to make one final note on this blog post.  This wedding was planned with eco-friendliness in mind.  Kendall and Mo are busy doctors and highly aware of what is going on in our environment.  She chose Etsy Designers to give back to the creative artist community, chose us for our eco-friendly designs, chose the Engineer’s Club for its beauty and historical significance, chose MyDeejay as they are a carbon-neutral company, her friends and family took most of the paper decor to be reused again…the list is really endless.  We adored Kendall from the moment she stepped into our offices!

Going green can be fab folks – as you can see here!

Stay tuned for the 4th and final installment tomorrow for Kendall & Mo’s wedding!  All about cake – not to be missed!

All images were provided by the amazing Jennifer Hughes!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kendall-mo-part-iii-wedding-decor/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kati-jasons-wedding/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kati-jasons-wedding/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:29:43 +0000 Chris Easter http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3049

Here are a few more details from Kati & Jason’s wedding at the Decatur House this spring.  They had such a fun a funky decor design and everyone left saying that the wedding was “so them”!  I love hearing that!

Yes – we always want people to say that the wedding was fun and beautiful and elegant…but we also want the weddings that we are a part of to really reflect the client and their taste.  It is not about what we want or how we do things – it is about what you want for your wedding day.  When we hear guests say things like that was so unique and so much like Kati (the bride) – then we know we have done our job!

Kati and her mom brought me dozens of cute and interesting small vases that they collected over the past few months and we filled all of them with various purple and blue flowers.  They had one small vase with two photos of them at each age – representing the number of the table…very cute and very them!

Along with this hilarious – yet simple cake.

We love weddings that are as unique as the couple themselves.  They had two ceremonies to reflect both of their cultures – be sure to incorporate heritage and culture in your reception as well!

Thanks to Rodney Bailey again for providing amazing photos in with such a short turn around!

Congrats Kati & Jason!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/kati-jasons-wedding/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/same-sex-weddings-are-now-legal-in-washington-dc/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/same-sex-weddings-are-now-legal-in-washington-dc/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:05:13 +0000 Chris Easter http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=2508 I was able to take a quick ride down to the DC Courthouse to just be a part of this historic day in Washington, DC!  I was thrilled to see how easy it seemed.  They had extra hands helping out and people were clapping and super supportive!

Cupcakes were handed out from Hello Cupcake and it was smooth sailing. This particular couple (Jim & Joseph) have waited 17 years to be married.  Truly a bittersweet day for couples.

Since our own Tara was in the DC Agenda and we have been running Legally Wed DC – we have gotten a lot of calls from people in the LGBT community about the excitement that is rising in DC!

We have elopement packages ready to go for couples that are wanting to fly in for the day to get married!  We hae spoken to the courthouse about how to make it as easy as possible.  We will be adding a new page to our  main website as we know several couples will want to fly in from around the United States to make it legal in Washington, DC and we are excited to be a part of it!

Congrats DC – This is YOUR day!

~Cheers!

Katie Martin