Elegance & Simplicity - Engaged & Green Blog » Cake

Amazing Cake Design – Magpies

Chris Easter — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:07:42 +0000

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!

Bat Mitzvah Cupcake Trees

Chris Easter — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:32:57 +0000

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!

Kati & Jason’s Wedding at The Decatur House – Part III!

Katie L Martin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:23:19 +0000

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!

Kendall & Mo – Part IV – CAKE!

Katie L Martin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:40:36 +0000

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!

Kendall & Mo – Part III – Wedding Decor

Chris Easter — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:30:02 +0000

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!

Kati & Jason’s Wedding

Chris Easter — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:29:43 +0000

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!

Same-Sex Weddings Are Now Legal in Washington, DC

Chris Easter — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:05:13 +0000

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

2009…2010!!!!

Katie Martin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:29:59 +0000

Hello everyone – long note here – but worth the read! So get your glasses (whether reading or wine) and hunker down for this one!

A few of us here at Elegance & Simplicity, Inc. are off traveling for the holidays. We hope to still bring you a few more posts before the end of the year though. Sorry for the lack of posts here over the past few days, we have been prepping for many new things for 2010 for you! Including the relaunch of our website incorporating our wonderful new logo!

I am actually just about to get on a plane to Florida to meet the wonderful Lara Casey of Southern Weddings Magazine. I hope to bring back a few copies of the magazine – so be sure to pick up a copy when you stop by the office!

Here is a list of some major things for you to know for 2010!

1st – My 1st book, The Everything Mother of the Bride Book, 2nd Edition (an Adams Media Publication), will be coming out in February or March. If you have not done so yet, please click on the big ‘ole sidebar jpeg of the cover of my book to the right. Let my mom and I know why you have the best mother-of-the-bride (or mother-in-law to be or grandmother) to win $250 to go towards your wedding! I can’t wait for my 1st book to hit bookshelves! It will be the only mother of the bride book to talk about eco-friendly weddings and same-sex weddings. Truly current, especially for DC area weddings since same-sex weddings are about to go legal in DC! It is also easier to read and more inclusive – hard to explain, but will make more sense when you pick up a copy! I have already gotten some great reviews from those who have gotten a sneak peek! Can’t wait to share! My mom typically posts about mother of the bride or groom issues every Wednesday – so check back every week moms!

2nd – We hope to post more content about the wedding that was featured in the Washingtonian. They really only allow two pages worth of photos in their magazine per real wedding and there are so many more wedding goodies from Kate’s wedding that I cannot wait to share with you! We also have an amazing feature in the new Bride and Bloom Magazine! I also can’t wait for you to see our new listing in the Grace Ormonde Magazine! Yippee!

3rd – I am in the final stretch of finishing my second book – The Everything Wedding Book, 4th Edition, which is another Adams Media publication. That book is set to hit bookshelves at the end of 2010! So, this will be the reason why I will be “off to write” offline for the remainder of the year. Then in January and February I will finish my 3rd book Eco-Beautiful Weddings!

4th – I am excited to let you know that we will be launching a website all about same-sex weddings here in the DC area. There is a huge buzz being created around the world (literally) about same-sex weddings going legal in DC. We will be hand-picking wedding planners to cake vendors that are gay-friendly and reviewed and approved by the nation’s leading gay wedding planner: Bernadette Coveney Smith of 14 Stories in Boston. It is an exciting time in DC!

5th – We have had a fantastic year filled with exciting new things! With over 40 staff members (and growing) serving brides and grooms for wedding planning and floral designs, we cannot wait to show you the new eco-couture and fashion-forward designs we have to offer for weddings in the DC area. There simply is no other wedding planning or floral design firm in the DC area that has the know-how and the passion for creating multi-faceted, multi-cultural, stylish and eco-couture events. We are the wedding industry’s leader in eco-friendly wedding design with the launch of our new magazine Eco-Beautiful Weddings.

The website houses our online magazine and blog. While I am the editor-in-chief and publisher of the magazine, I will be taking on a select amount of clients every year to focus on greening their weddings and events along with helping other wedding professionals become green (or greener). We have an amazing team of wedding planners and floral designers led by Tara Davis (aka “Katie Part 2″) and Keya Beale. Tara leads our team of 6 weddings planners on staff and Keya leads our floral design team! All wedding planners on staff are trained in floral designs as well.

I will have more announcements for you in January! We have 3 new projects in the works!

Our staff strives to provide only the best in Washington, DC weddings and Eco-Beautiful Wedding Style!

Stay Tuned!

Have a Happy Holiday!

Cheers!

Katie Martin

A Little Harvest Inspiration

Katie Martin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:01:12 +0000

One look at this inspiration board and you’ll know what inspired us. That gorgeous Carolina Herrera gown, front and center. The stunning wheat design on the bodice makes visions of decadent chocolate cake, pomegranate, persimmon and wheat dance through our heads!

Credits clockwise from upper left:

Shoes: Style Me Pretty

Bouquet: Martha Stewart Weddings

Wheat Boutonniere: InStyle Weddings

Chocolate Cake: Martha Stewart Weddings

Place setting: 100 Layer Cake

Invitations: Bespoke Press

Pomegranate Escort Cards: Martha Stewart Weddings

Gown: Carolina Herrera via Kiss the Groom

Liz & Brian’s Wedding at Franklin Square

Katie Martin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:01:15 +0000

Tara and I had the pleasure of helping Liz & Brian design their wedding day on 11/7 at the City Club at Franklin Square. While I was at the Hay-Adams for Maureen & Brendan’s wedding (photos coming shortly), Tara was with Liz & Brian!

Liz and Brian planned their DC wedding from all over the US. Living in New York and traveling often for business made it imperative for them to hire a wedding planner. Liz loved the fact that we do both wedding planning and floral designs! We save our clients a lot of time and hassle by doing both services. Liz also liked the fact that we are an eco-friendly company and we strive to provide only the best in quality “green” floral and event design elements. She asked, like many ask me, how are you able to do that? Well, we have staff and I love to create beautiful things! The people that work for Elegance & Simplicity are dedicated and loyal. More than half of our staff have been with us for over 5 years. We take our employees seriously and we are constantly learning (or educating others) about innovative wedding trends, technology and eco-friendly practices. Take a look at a few of the eco-friendly elements in their wedding below.

The couple chose a floral motif for all of their wedding stationery. The dried pressed flowers were also on their beautiful invitations. Our in-house calligrapher used soy ink for their escort cards.

Instead of a wedding cake, the couple choose fantastic cupcakes from Kendall’s Cakes! At the top of the cupcake tower they used a family heirloom cake topper. I absolutely adore this particular topper as it is simple and it just has an enormous amount of character and charm. Reusing items for your wedding and donating what you have left over is key for an eco-friendly wedding.

All I have to say here – the cupcakes are almost as cute as Kendall! If you have not met with her yet for your wedding cake, desserts or cupcakes – click on the photo here and get in touch with her! Cream cheese frosting on top of red velvet cupcakes in cute paper holders- seriously yummy for the eyes and the tummy! If you have not noticed already – she decorated the cake stand with matching ribbon. Ahh – how I love thee (Kendall)! A wedding professional that understands the importance of the details! You would think this happens all the time, unfortunately such is not the case. Just a case-in-point of why asking questions is so important when meeting with all of your wedding professionals!

Yet another reason why I love Jennifer…she is the only photographer that I have had at the City Club at Franklin Square who has taken a photo of the club outside after dark. I love my city at night! The City Club at Franklin Square is right in the center of the city and easily accessible via metro and within walking distance of a couple of museums, restaurants and hotels!

The couple chose a mixture of low centerpieces with tall arrangements with manzanita branches and hanging glass votives. I love using these branches – they create a sense of wedding whimsy to me!

These photos from people dancing to Aaron Couch’s skills as a DJ are hilarious. LOVE IT!

I want to hug Jennifer for taking this photo…perfection…

I will post again about their flowers in a separate post! For now, I want to just say a big congrats to Liz & Brian. Another happy couple to add to the Elegance & Simplicity, Inc. newlywed column!

~Katie Martin

Sweet & Sassy Inspiration!

Katie Martin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:01:16 +0000

We love food – especially dessert! Is it so strange to plan a wedding around ice cream cones? We couldn’t resist the idea of a sweet and sassy wedding to bring you back to the days of the Good Humor truck!

Invitation via Papeterie
Ice cream cones via Elegance & Simplicity (by Design Cuisine)
Candy bar via Big Wedding Tiny Budge t
Shoes via Rodney Bailey
Bridesmaids via Our Labor of Love
Gown: “Dandelion” Collen Quen Couture
Cake Weddings Fresh
Bouquet: District Weddings

Elegant Aubergine

Katie Martin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:01:53 +0000

Bright fall leaves, crisp air, and the change of seasons inspired us to create a rich aubergine collage with modern elements infused with classic styling.

Links:
(clockwise from upper left)

Place setting via Loving

shoes: via Casando Ideias

candlelight: via Elizabeth Ann Designs

Cake: via Southern Weddings

Gown: via Douglas Hannant

Pomander Escort Cards: Via Elizabeth Ann Designs

Bouquet: Via Project Wedding

Invitation: via Wedding Paper Divas

Sweet Paul

Katie Martin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:01:03 +0000

Met with one of my clients on Skype today as we were planning her wedding long-distance. The details of her wedding are extremely important! We have 300 guests guests coming to town for her wedding and we want to wow them!

So – we were on the subject of desserts and we searched the web for a few things together and fell in love with Sweet Paul’s blog! A lot of these dessert concepts can be made with local farm fresh ingredients – giving them an eco-friendly edge!

One thing that is always important to me as a wedding planner is the style and creativity of my vendors. We have a caterer that could master these dessert concepts – so I am excited. Yum!

We pretty much heart Sweet Paul and his food styling!

Happy Planning!

~Katie Martin

One of our new cupcake trees

Katie Martin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:13:06 +0000

We have recently been contracted to make cupcake trees for a few of our clients. I finally have a semi-decent shot of the tree. Cupcakes by Cakes by Design.

We have made about 4 different ones and our couples have loved them so much – they have them as decor in their homes now! A great way to make your wedding decor part of your daily living! Reuse people!

Happy Planning

~Katie Martin

Whitney Lee Photography – Freakin’ Cutie Patooties!

Katie Martin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:33:23 +0000

OK – I am in love with these photographers from Austin, Texas. Their logo is cute. Their photos are cute. They, themselves, are freakin’ cute! Because of them, I am going to start a section on my blog called “Cutie Patooties”. Every week, I am going to proclaim someone as a Cutie Patootie! I am sure at some point I will come up with an actual statuette that they can display on their mantels at home. I will have to ponder that for a moment. Not only are they cute, but they seem to have super cute clients (also cutie patootie material). Take a peek:

So – I hope you will look forward to my Cutie Patootie posts and recommend any Cutie Patooties you know!

Stay Cute!

~Katie Martin

Summer Orchard Inspiration

Katie Martin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:27:09 +0000

We have done a few inspiration boards in the past – but now it will be a weekly feature on our blog! Yay! Stay tuned every Thursday!

This week is our Summer Orchard Inspiration Board

Invitation: White Thread
Fruit Escort Card: Joy de Vivre
Dress: Atelier Aimee
Cake: Project Wedding
Bouquet: Grant Riley Weddings
Tablescape: Style Me Pretty

Happy Planning!

~Katie Martin

Vendor Spotlight: Kendall’s Cakes

Katie Martin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:45:59 +0000

Today we are featuring one of my favorite cake designers in the Washington, DC area: Kendall’s Cakes!

photo by Deb Lindsey

What was your favorite dessert growing up?

My favorite dessert as a child was spice cake that my grandmother made. It was light and moist and sweet and lightly spiced. Perfection. It had no frosting.

What is your favorite cake to make?

I think lemon cake is my favorite to make. I love the smell of the lemon zest in both the curd and in the cake. The whole neighborhood smells delicious when I am making it.

photo by Greg Gibson

What are some of your favorite venues for weddings?

I don’t think I can pick just one venue. I love the Hay-Adams for small weddings and the Mandarin Oriental for large weddings.

What kind of trends do you see with wedding cakes for 2010?

I am still seeing a move towards flavor in 2010. Brides are all aware now of what we can do in terms of over the top decorations, but they are focusing more on having a cake that will please their guests mouths as well as their eyes. It is dessert after all.

photo by Rodney Bailey

Tell me about an upcoming cake you are excited about or anything new on the horizon.

One cake this weekend is going to have two gumpaste peacocks on the top with gumpaste feathers swooping down the front of the cake. Beautiful metallic blues, greens and golds for the male and ivory lustre for the smaller female. I am really looking forward to it.

(Please send me a photo of that Kendall! Sounds Stunning and in my colors!)

I am also in the process of making a new flavor. You are the first to know… Tuelpo Honey Cake! White Tupelo honey is a very aromatic delicious special honey. The flowers bloom for only a few weeks and the honey is a bit rare to find pure. It is expensive too. I am designing a delicate white chocolate cake with tupelo honey. It will be the best ever!

On top of being one the best cake designers in the city – she is cutie patootie as well!

Have your wedding cake and eat it too!

~Katie Martin

We Adore Sarah Magid!

Katie Martin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:15:11 +0000

I am looking forward to meeting Sarah Magid. Her work is amazing as an eco-friendly wedding cake designer in New York City! Great ideas for super cute cakes and confections! Plus she has a fantastic book!

Get more ideas from her book!

Clara French’s Beautiful Cake Stands!

Katie Martin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:38:33 +0000

I really have found the most perfect cake and cupcake cake stand store! Clara French’s Ceramique! Online, you can custom design your own cake stand or choose from her inventory. Charming, lovely, exquisite…breathtaking beauties! Ah, how I love cake and how much more do I love cake stands. If I had my wish – I would buy one in every color!

Fabulous Garters! “Embrace the Garter Tradition, With Style!”

Katie Martin — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:41:04 +0000

I had the pleasure of being at the Julianne Smith Launch Party at Hello Cupcake last night! Julianne has the most amazing, cute and sexy garters for your wedding day! To top it all off – she is local! We are going to start selling her garters in our office soon! Check them out:

We were able to eat yummy cupcakes and check out the garters all at the same time! I loved meeting Penny, the owner of Hello Cupcake, and eating a yummy carrot cake cupcake! Aren’t Penny and Julianne cuties! Cupcakes and garters – how could you go wrong????

Ivy Robinson came up from Charlotte for the event. Ivy is our Charlotte Couture Wedding Consortium Director and she has been featured several times on Whose Wedding is it Anyway? and on the new series Hitched or Ditched!

I want to also send a quick thanks to Shannon from Sevan Photography for taking the photos and sending them to us so quickly! We were truly excited to be invited to the event and one of our brides go to be among the exclusive “10 brides only” list to check out the garters and meet wedding professionals from around the area!

Julianne’s motto: Embrace the Garter Tradition, With Style.

She is able to custom coordinate your colors with your garter! Check out her website today!

****Katie Martin

Green Wedding on Earth Day!

Katie Martin — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:54:36 +0000

Elegance & Simplicity had the opportunity of providing a lucky couple with wedding planning and floral designs along with all stationery items for their wedding day on Earth Day! The Washington DC Green Wedding Consortium went all out to provide a lucky couple with over $50,000 worth of professional wedding services and products. Katie Martin, the director of the Washington DC Couture and Green Wedding Consortium helped to plan the entire event and coordinate all the vendors who graciously provided so many services for Dana and David.

You have seen previous posts about the beautiful Adele Wechsler wedding gown that was provided by Promise for the Savvy Bride, but here you will finally get to see the bride in the dress that she chose! Robin Fisher from Polished helped to style the bride and her sister with the best colors and accessories.

Although Earth Day was a very strange weather day, the wedding was beautiful! Fortunately, the couple had two of our favorite photographers (Love Life Images & Documentary Associates) that took amazing photos for them. The wedding day started off with a quick interview from WJLA Channel 7 at the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church!

We designed the eco-friendly bridal bouquet with blue delphnium, yellow freesia, pink astilbe, lisianthus and bouvardia.

Videographer Jessica Pi took amazing coverage that I will post shortly! Elegant Hair by Giselle provided a beautiful natural look for the bride and Carola Myers provided flawless eco-friendly make-up by Korres (which Katie is an avid fan of!).

Utilizing the amazing local Cherry Blossom farmers, Green Love Events was able to display these magnificent blooms in the alcoves going up the stairs to the cocktail hour.

The cocktail hour was hosted upstairs in the museum, complete with mason jars filled with flowers! The tops of the mason jars were available to the guests at the end of the evening; encouraging guests to reuse the jars for their own use after the wedding! All of the flowers used for their wedding were grown by local farmers or from Holland’s pesticide free farmers. All Dutch flowers were flown in on a commercial flight to utilize space otherwise unused by the average consumer on a commercial flight!

The bride and groom made their way to the reception in a pedicab!

The guests were invited into the Carriage House after the cocktail hour for dinner and dancing. Here are some of the beautiful details from the tables! We love billy balls and lisianthus! Every place setting had a different type of flower tucked into their napkin!

The centerpieces consisted of three vases. Some tables had pink recycled glass jars (others had orange) accompanied by a flip top container and spice bottle filled with flowers. The tops for the spice jars were provided to guests at the end of the night and they were able to take the flip top jars to use for anything from holding sugar for their coffee in the morning to saving leftovers!

Evan from MyDeejay.com had everyone dancing all night long to the couples favorite tunes!

Avalon Caterers provided eco-friendly, local and organic cuisine from the cocktail hours through the end of dinner!

Cakes by Design provided a beautiful eco-friendly cake complete with fresh local raspberries and decor that can be reused again and again!

The bride’s Scottish heritage brought forth the bagpiper at the church and the the beautiful custom-designed Korean Korum Bow on the bride’s gown was a fantastic addition to celebrate the groom’s culture.

Of course, the snapshot studio from Love Life Images was a hit!

Last but not least, the entire wedding was carbon neutral with a carbon offset purchased by Elegance & Simplicity from Carbonfund.org!

Elegance & Simplicity also provided all wedding stationery (which was all post-consumer waste recycled paper) and calligraphy. The stationery included wedding invitations, escort cards and programs. Elegance & Simplicity provided the couple with a logo and a logo sign to be reused by the couple as personal decor. All leftover flowers were either taken by the family or composted by Elegance & Simplicity. The discarded programs and escort cards were recycled by Elegance & Simplicity. Leftover food was packed up for the bride and groom and their families at the end of the evening by Avalon Caterers. Avalon Caterers made sure that all of their staff either carpooled or took Metro to the event. Ask your wedding professionals how they can make a eco-friendly difference in your wedding day! Check out all of the green wedding professionals in the consortium by clicking here!

Congratulations to our 2009 Green Wedding Giveaway Couple!

Katie Martin – Guest Contributor on the Green & Clean Mom Blog!

Katie Martin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:11:59 +0000

I love writing and love my blogs that I am a contributor for. Here is my recent post from the Green & Clean Mom Blog! Since I am green and I am a mom – it was a perfect fit for me. We are their only wedding contributor and we get so much traffic from their website – I am amazed at times!

Check out my most recent post (not my photo though) about eco-friendly wedding cake!

http://www.greenandcleanmom.org/green-your-wedding-cak/

***Katie Martin***

Cupcakery in Bethesda!

Katie Martin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:20:36 +0000

Everyone, all I have to say is Frosting! Michelle Snow has started her company in downtown Bethesda and without even having a storefront, she is already overflowing with orders for her AMAZING cupcakes! Tom and I inhaled them in the office last week and I have been dreaming of mint chocolate chip cupcake frosting ever since!!!! My goodness they were decadent. Go to their website to see their mouth-watering flavors and then put in an order today!