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!

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 issue is amazing – complete with all sorts of ideas from all over the place about how to go green for your wedding day!  We were able to do an amazing photo shoot at Woodend Sanctuary to showcase some of the green styling we do for weddings.

The amazing vendors that were involved include: Tom Van Veen of Documentary Associates, Debbie Delardi from Cakes by Design, DC Rental & Table Manners!

Click on the images to enlarge them!

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

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/one-of-our-new-cupcake-trees/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/ameena-james-wedding-at-the-ronald-reagan-building/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/ameena-james-wedding-at-the-ronald-reagan-building/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:46:08 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=510 We seem to get so lucky to get some of the best brides and grooms in the city!  All year long we get the pleasure of working at the Ronald Reagan Building and this year – Ameena & Jamie take the cake for the best wedding of the year!  We got a taste of the wedding from Documentary Associates all over again!

I can’t wait to hear more about their honeymoon to Costa Rica!  We loved planning for their big day and we will certainly post more details about their wedding on the main website soon!

My favorite is Cakes by Design.  Debbie has become such a great friend and part of our family.  She makes my son’s birthday cake every year!  Then, when Miguel and I were married last June she made our wedding cake.  Here it is – for those that are interested (yes it is weird and zig-zaggy – just like life!):

Debbie will be having an open house cake tasting this weekend at her cute space in Occoquan.  Email Debbie directly at cakesbydesign@yahoo.com!  I have a few clients going this weekend, so I plan on going myself!  Hope to see you there! – Katie Martin

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!

I have been getting a lot of emails about how Dana & David are coming along with their Green Wedding Plans!!

Her dress is picked, she met with Avalon about Eco-Cuisine as well.  They are getting married at Mount Vernon United Methodist and they have picked out their invitations!  With that – they have also chosen a logo!  

We will be using their logo on their invitation envelopes and programs and stamps!  However – we specifically helped her choose a logo that did not have the date of their wedding.  Why is this green?  So they can use the logo for the rest of their lives.  They will have other celebrations and things to do in the future together – so why not have a logo that is a stamp for their lives.  Reusing items from your wedding is key to being green and keeping the memories of your wedding vibrant and alive in your daily living!

We are off to see Debbie at Cakes By Design tomorrow to pick out their cake!  Stay tuned!

***Katie