Since the guests were all having different dishes – we needed to find a creative way to let the caterers know who was eating what!  So we used the vintage bird theme for the stamps that we used on our place cards that our in-house calligrapher did.  The three different stamps were used for vegetarian, meat and seafood dishes!

Once we get the professional images back – we will showcase more (including the fun cigar rolling table which was a hit for the reception)!

Congrats to Amanda and Matt!!!

For today’s installment from Amanda and Matt’s wedding in St. Michael’s – it’s all about the cocktail hour!  We had a nature and bird theme going on throughout the property – starting with 3 birdcages that floated about the lemonade and iced tea stand!  We have a bunch of fun and antique birdcages including the ones showcased here.

We were able to use our chalkboards again with our in-house calligrapher instead of escort cards to save paper and space.

Check back tomorrow for a few ideas and looks from their reception!

I love Back to School themes and here are a few ideas from a few weddings we have done to get your creative wedding juices flowing – no matter what color your wedding is!

Image Credits (Top to Bottom , Left to Right)

Kathy Blanchard at Rust Manor in Leesburg

Love Life Images at Dumbarton House in Georgetown

Ralph Alswang at the Ronald Reagan Building in DC

Documentary Associates at the Ronald Reagan Building

Ralph Alswang at the Ronald Reagan Building

Mary Kate McKenna at Shepherd’s Hey Farm in Comus, MD

With this new wedding – we added a few new things to our inventory!  One of the more exciting aspects of this wedding was the beautiful down to earth farm feel to match the fact that we were actually on a farm!  We purchased these beautiful vintage framed chalkboards to show guests where to sit!  Our calligrapher did all of the calligraphy in chalk pen!  We have two of these chalkboards in house now!

We were able to get this custom bunting custom designed by Giggleberry.  Perfect for decorating the ceremony band tent along with the backdrop (not shown here) that we made with fabric and custom painting.

One of our favorite items in-house are our hanging blue glass lanterns!  These were hung right over the dance floor in the barn!  Major dancing at this wedding as contra dancing was the center of attention!

With over 250 guests and three different types of entrees we needed to have a way to let the waiters know who was getting which type of meal.  What better way than to use rocks!  We used green, gold and white to distinguish the entrees.

Stay tuned tomorrow for floral design details from the wedding!

(Photography by Mary Kate McKenna)

We were thrilled to be a part of Jane’s (our in-house calligrapher) wedding in March!  Of course, she did her own calligraphy!  There are also some other wonderful things about her wedding day at Ceresville Mansion!

Her beautiful Mon Cheri gown was found on consignment and it fit her perfectly with no modifications!

She also had such a pretty color scheme with these jewel toned tulips from New York and calla lilies from Holland for her bridesmaids.

We also did simple submerged orchids as centerpieces.

We loved her simple and beautiful cake from a local bakery in Frederick.  We did a simple cake topper for her.

With everything being local – she really did an amazing job at keeping her wedding as eco-friendly as possible!

Congrats Jane!  We love you!

(Photos by Documentary Associates)

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!

We had lots of fun with the details at Leah and Aidan’s wedding! (Like starting with these gorgeous blush pink shoes and her vintage yellow garter!)

Aidan’s lapel flower was created with white lisianthus with a fern curl accent.

They used our manzanita trees with hanging votives for half of the centerpieces while the others were our signature cupcake trees that guests placed their votives on!

They had an absolutely adorable guest book table!  Instead of an actual “guest book”, they had the guests write a note to the bride and groom for them to open later in life!

The beautiful and unique escort “card” chalkboard, a super eco-friendly wedding detail with no wasted paper!

Ahh – Michelle – once again – the signs are adorable!  Check out Meant To Be Calligraphy to see how she can create amazing calligraphic designs like this for you!

Main Event Caterers did an amazing job with the ice cream dessert bar with all the toppings!

There are so many more details – but you will have to wait for them for a much later post!  We have so much planned for the blog next week as Katie is off to New York City for Bridal Market to find the best of the best in bridal fashion for Eco-Beautiful Weddings!

Have a great weekend!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/leah-aidan-part-3-details/feed/ 1 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/leah-aidan-part-ii-brookside-gardens/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/leah-aidan-part-ii-brookside-gardens/#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:46:31 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3740

Last week we gave you a sneak peek at Leah and Aidan’s wedding at Brookside Gardens.  Kelsey Thompson did such an amazing job with the photography.  I had the hardest time figuring out which images to showcase!  So we will just have to go to three posts (maybe 4 posts)!

I just love this photo of their first married kiss…take a look at her bridesmaid as well – Bravo Kelsey!

I don’t normally just focus on straight up photography on our blog – but the fun portraits and photo booth photos just really deserved a blog post all its own.  Never mind the fact the Leah and Aidan are just a beautiful couple!

I feel the need to throw in a little bit of the details (which I will focus on tomorrow).  But we are just in love with Michelle over at Meant To Be Calligraphy!  Wait to see more of her chalkboard calligraphy!  But here are a few more photos from the photobooth that I thought were just adorable!

Check back tomorrow for more!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/leah-aidan-part-ii-brookside-gardens/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/come-out-the-chantilly-bridal-showcase-green-pavilion/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/come-out-the-chantilly-bridal-showcase-green-pavilion/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:01:56 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=2211 Tara and I will be at the Bridal Showcase on Sunday at the Green Pavilion!

We will be giving away free tickets to the Washington DC Couture Wedding Consortium Bridal Show!  If you can’t make it – be sure to check out the previous post about winning 2 free tickets here on the blog!  Remember – we are giving away this $2500 The Cotton Bride Couture gown at the show on 2/6.  So come out and grab some free tickets for that!

Learn about our wedding planning packages, floral designs, stationery, lighting, calligraphy for your DC wedding.

We will be giving away the following books from Chronicle:

Learn more about the Eco-Beautiful Weddings Magazine.

We are also giving away valuable discounts on our services – so it is well worth the trip!

See you there!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/come-out-the-chantilly-bridal-showcase-green-pavilion/feed/ 1 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/calligraphy/your-wedding-invitations-to-your-menu-cards-made-green/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/calligraphy/your-wedding-invitations-to-your-menu-cards-made-green/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:23:15 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=261 Yes – we all know that you should have a paper trail all the way to your table for your wedding.  Why can’t it be eco-friendly.  We use Luscious Verde’s 100% Eco-friendly PCW paper for tons of our weddings here.  We have the new edition of the wedding catalog and people just can’t get enough of the new designs!  We are meeting with Maureen tonight to specially design her invitations!  I can’t wait to see what she picks!

Rachel, for her wedding next week picked these fun cards (so did Ameena for her August wedding)

We are doing this one for Sally – I love the Ginko leaves – which is a tree that grows all over Washington, DC!

If you are doing floral designs or consulting with us – you get an automatic 10% off!!!  Mention this blog post and get 25 of your envelopes addressed in calligraphy for free!

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!