Elegance & Simplicity - Engaged & Green Blog » Multi-Cultural Weddings

Purple, Green and Black Wedding

Katie Martin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:30:42 +0000

Did you see the gorgeous mandap we did for Beejal’s wedding in the last post??? We just love the landscape that we designed for Beejal’s wedding at the Ronald Reagan Building in November! We designed her bouquets with rich eggplant mini calla lilies and green hypericum berry accents. Her bridesmaids bouquets had local hydrangea with calla lilies and astrantia.

We provided purple and black linens to go with our tall rectangular vases filled with submerged mini calla lilies with green beads inside. We had our signature manzanita branches with hanging green glass votives and purple orchid accents. Floating above our our purple, green and black paper lanterns!

Then – the talk of the night – our elephant decor design!

Congrats to Beejal + Ben!!!

Harvest Wedding Style

Katie Martin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:30:43 +0000

Credits – Top to bottom, Left to Right

Margaret & Patrick’s Wedding with fun pumpkin “love you” by Kathy Blanchard and one of our signature candy bars at Woodend

Mini Pumpkin Soup via Elizabeth Anne Designs with one of our favorite bouquets we made for Ashlee & Tom’s Wedding (my brother and sister-in-law) at Decatur House – photo by Documentary Associates

Cotton Bur Wreath via Etsy with an escort card display we did at GW River Farm

Mari + Josh’s Decatur House Reception

Katie Martin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:10:34 +0000

There is nothing better than the best band ever for a wedding! Golem, from New York, kept everyone on the dance floor at Decatur House for Mari and Josh’s wedding reception! Can’t you tell by this photo above? Take a look:

Don’t you want to get up and dance right now?

If you saw the post yesterday – you also saw this gorgeous quilt made by Mari’s mom. We were able to bring it over to the reception in between the ceremony and reception to hang behind the escort card table. Just beautiful!

Mari and Josh chose beautiful fabrics from Africa to place on each table. Every table had a different fabric accent that our seamstress customized for them from the bolts of fabric Mari brought back from Africa. We then had several fun ceramic square white vases filled with herbs for the guests to take home. As always, Design Cuisine did an amazing job. You can’t tell from these photos, but Mari’s family owns cattle and Design Cuisine was able to use cuts of meat from her own family’s farm for the dinner! Just an over the top amount of work and wonderful customer service!

We loved Mari’s beautiful bridal bouquet and bridesmaids bouquet – a fun and whimsical bouquet with peonies, delphinium and belles of Ireland.

Her bridesmaids bouquet complimented so wonderfully with the peonies, delphinium and dianthus!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our final installment from Mari and Josh’s wedding…incredibly fun photos!!!

Photography by Documentary Associates

6th and I Historic Synagogue

Katie Martin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:30:32 +0000

We are so excited to bring to you a series of blog posts from one of our favorite couples (Mari + Josh) from this past June. Tinica and Chrishaun headed up this fantastic event that started at the 6th & I Historic Synagogue in Chinatown.

One of our favorite elements of our decor for the couple was that one of the little guys in the ceremony dropped greenery and then the little girls dropped petals afterwards…just had a really pretty effect for the entrance!

We were able to use the standard chuppah provided by 6th & I and attached a pretty garland of greenery and peonies along with a gorgeous heirloom quality quilt made by the mother of the bride as a wedding gift! Wait to see how we reused it for the reception in our next post!

Such a gorgeous Ketubah!!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for more floral and planning details at the reception. Then we will do a 3rd and final post with some really fun portraits and silly photos that Tom took!!!

(Photos from Documentary Associates)

Eco-Friendly Flowers and Details

Katie Martin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:30:31 +0000

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!

Margaret + Patrick’s Lebanese + Irish Reception

Katie Martin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:00:00 +0000

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

Margaret + Patrick – Rust Manor Wedding

Katie Martin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:01:32 +0000

I am so excited to finally show you one of my favorite weddings from last year! Margaret and Patrick were married this past October at Rust Manor (which is one of the Audubon Society’s properties). This wedding meant so much to me as Margaret is the sister of a previous client Ameena (click here to see her wedding)! I really got to know Margaret, Ameena and their mother during Ameena’s wedding and I was so excited to be planning Margaret’s wedding!

Her pretty bridal bouquet was comprised of purple vanda orchids, green cymbidium orchids and white ranunculus. Margaret wanted purples and greens for the ceremony and blues and greens for the reception.

We were able to hang some pretty purple and white paper lanterns along with our green glass votives above the couple for a lantern chandelier effect from the sprawling tree! We customized our reclaimed wood stage for them with a darkened natural stain.

After seeing our cute article on eco-friendly wedding children’s ideas in Eco-Beautiful Weddings (by Couture Parties), Margaret fell in love with the idea of a little sign for the ring bearer instead of a pillow. Margaret’s mom also got a radio flyer painted blue to fit the color scheme for the little flower girl to ride in! Just adorable!

During the cocktail hour the guests were treated to eye candy and so much more! Since Patrick is Irish – they opted for a fun Shamrock Ginger Lime Mojito! We kept the purple going with the flowers, but started to bring in the greens and the blues with this fantastic escort card table display:

(Be sure to click on the photo here above to get a bigger and better view!)

Stay tuned for later in the week for details from their reception!

Photography by Kathy Blanchard & Catering by Design Cuisine

Kendall & Mo on Project Wedding & Cakes and Pictures

Chris Easter — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:00:30 +0000

We are so thrilled that Project Wedding Featured Kendall and Mo’s wedding as well as the very cute blog:

Click on both logos to read all about the wedding and about green weddings!

Congrats again Kendall and Mo!!

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!

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!

Ameena + James Video

Chris Easter — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:19:21 +0000

Everyone has loved seeing the details from Ameena and James’ wedding last year at the Ronald Reagan Building.

So I asked Blue Sky Films to send over the video from their wedding. There is seriously nothing more magic than seeing their wedding on film again. I absolutely adored working with them. Just sweethearts to the core. I miss them – but now I will get the chance to work with Ameena’s sister for her wedding! YAY! Take a look at the video and you will see why I adore them!

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 Persian-American Wedding at GW River Farm

Katie Martin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:26:20 +0000

We have had several inquiries lately for Persian weddings and we have done quite a few over the years. I wanted to showcase one of my favorites and talk a little about what is actually involved in a Persian Wedding. I have always found multi-cultural weddings absolutely thrilling. This particular wedding drew from Iranian, “American” and Thai traditions (the groom was working in Thailand at the time).

I want to really just focus on the details of what makes a Persian ceremony so wonderful as so many websites do great job of explaining what a sofreh-ye-aqd (or Agdh) is – but rarely have photos! So for my upcoming engaged couples that are looking for a little more photo action for the “Persian wedding cloth”…here it goes.

There are two stages to a Persian wedding/marriage. The first is called ”Agdh” or “Aqd”, which is the legal process of getting married. Typically the couple and their parents will sign a contract together. The second stage is the “Jashn-e Aroosi” (the wedding celebrations and festivities). In Iran, most traditional celebrations can last up to 2 to 7 days! Let’s just say for simplicity purposes, if you are here in the States, this will most likely only last 4-6 hours!

The ceremony will always have an elaborately decorated cloth on the floor which is called the “Sofreh-ye Aghd” (or “aqd”). You will need to have a bench or a love seat as you must sit close to each other during the ceremony and face east towards the direction of the sun. When planning your ceremony, you need to make sure you visit your ceremony site at the time of day that your actual ceremony will take place. This will help in the layout of your sofreh and chairs for guests. You may have restrictions due to the size and space of your venue. With the photos seen here at GW River Farm, the couple chose to have their ceremony outside (near their 1st ceremony – which was a mix of Western and Thai traditions). It is, however, customary to have the sofreh-ye agdh at the bride’s parents’ home. The arrival of your guests starts the wedding ceremony (so don’t expect it to start on time). This couple was smart by having their western ceremony first as it gave sufficient time for latecomers to be available for the Persian ceremony. Parents and elders welcome all of the guests and guide them to their seats. If one of you is not Persian, be sure to take the lead from the Persian side of the wedding. (Just a note: each family is different in respect to traditions – so be sure to ask what your family can be doing to help or to simply stay away from if you are not the Persian side.) After all the guests have arrived, the groom takes his place first, before the bride, on the right hand side of the bench or loveseat. The right side is thought to be a symbol of respect.

The underlying cloth that is spread below all of the elements of the sofreh is generally passed from mother to daughter (or son) However, you can always start your own tradition with a new cloth! The cloth is normally made of Cashmere.

Here are the different elements typically displayed on the Sofreh-Ye Agdh:

Mirror (of fate) “Aayeneh-ye Bakht” and two Candelabras (or candles with holders) represent the brightness in your future and are placed on each side of the mirror. When the bride enters the ceremony, she traditionally has a veil covering her face. This particular bride chose not to do this. (When having a multi-cultural wedding, rules can typically be bent a little – just be sure to include your parents in the rule breaking before you break them!) Once the bride sits besides her groom, she removes her veil and the first thing that the groom should see (or look for) in the mirror should be the reflection of his wife-to-be. It is important to note that if you are having a same-sex ceremony, veils do not have to be used, however, the mirror element is important to be able to see a bright future ahead for your marriage.

A tray of seven multi-colored herbs and spices (“Sini-ye Aatel-O-Baatel”) are artfully displayed to guard the couple and their lives together against the evil eye, witchcraft and to drive away evil spirits. This tray consists of seven elements in seven colors:

Poppy Seeds “Khash-Khaash” (to break spells and witchcraft)
Wild Rice “Berenj”
Angelica “Sabzi Khoshk”
Salt “Namak” (to blind the evil eye)
Nigella Seeds “Raziyaneh”
Black Tea “Chaay”
Frankincense “Kondor” (to burn the evil spirits)

You really need to get family involved when it comes to this – this tray is truly art. The Persian community does a great job of knowing where to find this artwork and many women in Persian families know how to make the display.

Flatbread (“Noon-e Sangak”) with the blessing “Mobaarak-Baad” written on it (with saffron, cinnamon or Nigella seeds) symbolizes prosperity in marriage. A separate platter of the bread with cheese (typically feta) and fresh herbs should be made available to share with the guests after the ceremony (to bring the new couple happiness and prosperity). Be sure to have extra trays of this handy if you are having a large number of guests. Everyone will want a taste!

A basket or bowl of decorated eggs and decorative glass/bowl or basket of decorated almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts in the shell to symbolize fertility (the more nuts – the better).

A basket of pomegranates and apples for a happy future. Pomegranates are considered heavenly fruits and apples symbolize the divine creation of mankind. Obviously in certain parts of the world, pomegranates are hard to get and are not available year round. Consider using dried pomegranates which can be provided for you by your florist or can be found online. Some people like to use plastic (sorry – I am just not a fan of anything plastic as we are eco-friendly planners and florists here).

A cup of rose water or perfume to perfume the air.

A bowl made out of crystallized sugar “Kaas-e Nabaat/Shaakh-e Nabaat” to sweeten life.

(click on the image to see a larger photo)

A brazier “Manghal” holding burning coals sprinkled with wild rue “Espand”. Wild rue is believed to keep the evil eye away and to bring health. Not all Persian couples use this tradition due to fire hazards and regulations of the properties where they are getting married.

A bowl of gold coins representing wealth and prosperity. (We did one recently where the parents provided all $1 coins – I think it was at least $100 worth! Yeah baby!)

A scarf or shawl made out of silk or any other fine fabric to be held over the couple’s head throughout the ceremony by various happily married female relatives.

Two sugar cones or bells “Kalleh Ghand” made out of hardened sugar to be used during the ceremony. The cones are ground together above the couple’s head (over the scarf held above their heads) throughout the ceremony to shower them in sugar (symbolizing sweetness and happiness). You need to assign a few people to this task as the ceremony can be lengthy (and one person can get tired quickly)…keep the sugar coming!

A cup or a glass of honey to sweeten life. Immediately after the couple is married they each should dip one pinky finger in the cup of honey and feed it to the other one. I find this part of the ceremony to be super sexy (as marriage should always be)!

A needle and seven strands of colored thread to figuratively sew up the mother-in-law’s lips from speaking unpleasant words to the bride! The shawl that is held above the couple’s head throughout the ceremony is sewed in one corner by the needle and threads.

A copy of the couple’s Holy Book is placed on the spread which symbolizes God’s blessing for the couple. Some couples use a poetry book instead of a religious holy book.

A prayer carpet/kit is placed in the center of the Sofreh-ye Aghd to remind the couple of the importance of prayer (both in good and bad times). If you are not religious, you can forgo this element.

An assortment of sweets and pastries to be shared with the guests after the ceremony. The assortment usually includes: Sugar coated almond strips “Noghl”, Baklava, Mulberry-almond paste made in the shape of mulberries “Tout”, Rice-flour cookies “Noon-Berenji”, Chickpea-flour cookies “Noon-Nokhodchi”, Almond-flour cookies “Noon-Baadoomi” and Honey roasted almonds “Sohaan A’sali”.

I would like to give Farisnet.com and The Persian Mirror a thank you for their wealth of information on Persian weddings. Some excerpts on this post were taken from these websites to be sure as much accuracy as possible would be provided here. Please visit these websites for more information on other specific elements of a Persian Wedding.

Another huge thanks goes to Jennifer Domenick of Love Life Images for taking these amazing detail shots for me (and the couple)!

To see more photos from this beautiiful wedding, please see our sister post to this on Wedding Chicks by clicking here!

Happy Persian Wedding Planning!

~Katie Marin