Credits (from left to right)

Wedding Poppers

Bubbles

Birdseed packets

Pom Poms

Love Birds

Bio-degradable confetti

We have gotten a few chances to work with her and her associates!  I absolutely adore Andrea!  Her innovative photography and friendly approach with clients are always a fantastic combination.  She is also a member of the Washington DC Green Wedding Consortium as an eco-friendly photographer and she was selected to be on the Washington DC Couture Wedding Consortium!

Here are a few photos from a recent wedding in DC that Andrea took.

The couple…also cutie patooties!  Married at the Tabard Inn and portraits in Senate Park!  So wonderfully DC!

Check out the zipcar and her cute red shoes! I LOVE IT!

(bouquet by Phillippa Tarrant)

Congratulations to the couple and Andrea for being cutie patooties and having such a beautiful wedding day!

Cheers!

~Katie Martin

We are tickled GREEN!  We just saw that Carbonfund.org just posted about us on their blog!  We carbon-offset through them for our own company, but we also make carbon offsetting donations for couples as well with certain packages that we provide.  Learn about carbon offsetting your wedding by taking a look at their handy-dandy carbon-offsetting wedding calculator!  We also dig them as they are local!  Right here in Silver Spring, MD!

Take a look at their blog post about us by clicking on the logo above!  Thanks Carbonfund.org!

Happy Greening!

~Katie Martin

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

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/sweet-paul/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/products-of-the-week-2/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/products-of-the-week-2/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:13:25 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=630 A few things that all brides, moms, bridesmaids and the guests should go out and buy!

First, all of us should be learning how to eat well!  So, here is a book I plan to pick up this week:

I am a huge fan of Sophie’s books and blog!  Click on the book above and buy the book online or found out more about the book!

I am a lover of totes!  Here is a great tote that everyone should have for your groceries or for just looking cute around town!  Click on the photo to buy!

I am about to buy a blouse from www.dreamsack.com.  While perusing – I saw these fantastic 70% bamboo – 30% Organic cotton towels on sale – Perfect for a destination wedding welcome bag (if they are in your colors) and on sale!!!

Stay tuned for more products!  I have a great new resource for eco-friendly invitations that are adorable!!!  Will post about them soon!

Happy Shopping!

~Katie Martin

Congratulations Claire & Adil!  Molly from Simply Vintage was a great help as their wedding planner and as always, we love working with her!  They really wanted eco-friendly flowers and they got them!  We love it when clients seek that out in their floral designs!

Cheers! ~ Katie Martin

Check out local Maryland wineries here!

Take a look at Virginia Wineries here:

Keep in mind that you can also have your wedding at some of these wineries and vineyards.  If you are a wine connoisseur, you have probably already thought of this.  Even if you are not into wine, you will find that wineries are some of the most beautiful places to have weddings!

Check out one of the weddings we did at Bluemont Vineyard in VA:

Check out Joe Portnoy’s photography website here!

Cheers to local flair!~Katie Martin

Things that a bride or bridesmaid should have…

Oh – the Kate Spade ring and bangle – love the color!!!!!!!!!!

And since I can’t wear high heels at weddings while I work – all my purple bound brides should have their rehearsal dinner dress complete with these Kate Spade shoes or have the bridemaids indulge in them for the wedding day! How yummy!

Fun eco-friendly bridesmaid gift!  Kudos to Coca-Cola for making eco-apparel! Check it out: www.coca-colastore.com

Hard to believe – but all of the above sexy and cute four photos come from one place – Enamore Ltd!  Oh the British are far ahead in their sassy ways!  All items are made from vintage and eco-friendly materials!

And last but not least – my favorite wedding professional of the week.  We have one of the most talented acoustic guitarists living amongst us!  His name is Chris Dunn!  Not only does he have his own CD, he teaches guitar too!  I have used his guitar services for many of my brides over the years and he is amazing. If you want fantastic ceremony, cocktail or dinner music – you must hire Chris Dunn!

Have an eco-beautiful wedding!

Cheers – Katie Martin

Amanda with Occasions helped to create a beautiful eco-friendly wedding buffet for the couple.  All left-over food scraps were placed into compost bins and the food was amazing!

Here are a few photos from the day:

The chuppah was adorned with purple delphinium and white and green orchids!  We will be using it again next week at the Westin Grand!

The bride choose beautiful shades of lavender and purple flowers with a hint of green (including local fresh English lavender, delphinium, freesia, roses and calla lilies).  While the bridesmaid (her sister) had a simpler bouquet to match her pretty burgundy gown.

We love being able to be creative!  Using deer moss and curly willow to create a real tree-like feel inside the mansion with the escort card table.

The centerpieces reflecting the escort card table and the bridal bouquet.

We always have a fun time creating interesting concepts for a real eco-friendly venue such as Woodend!  We will be there next week as well for Soneela and Walker’s wedding!

Cheers! – Katie Martin

We have them in both four and five feet heights.  The pedestals can used to either place a vase on top of them or (like in the photo of above) vases can be placed inside the pedestal to make the pedestal seem like a vase in and of itself!  We are using them at an upcoming wedding at the Ronald Reagan Building with manzanita branches!  Imagine the possibilities for your event!

Thanks to Documentary Associates for coming out and taking the photos for us!

I am extending the giveaway until August 15th!  We have a lot of clients coming in between now and August 15th.  I want to give all of those clients a chance to get a garter too!

Call today for your free consultation and come in before 8/15!  Click on her logo below to check out all the fun styles and her cute blog as well!

Cheers, Katie Martin

Our new structure gives us the ability to customize the size of the structure to fit your needs!  The basic structure is 6×6x8 feet as shown here:

You can attach greenery garlands and other fabric to the top!  We now can customize the top portion of the chuppah to fit the size of your stages.  We have a couple coming up that are 3×4 feet and 3×5 feet. One of the weddings we are customizing the top to accommodate a family tallit!

The structure is made of local, renewable lumber and some of the pieces of the wood that we have used for customizing the top has come from reclaimed wood that we have stripped and refinished – so it is eco-friendly as well!

Make this chuppah yours with fabric, flowers and size!  We look forward to being a part of your wedding day!

Cheers, Katie Martin

(Photo was taken by Steve Voss from Shulamit and Eric’s wedding at the Meridian House this past July 5th! – Congrats!)

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!

Red and Gold are auspicious colors in the Chinese culture…we used just a touch of gold in the pins on her bridal bouquet!

Oh, Jennifer and Mary – how I love you both!  Love this photo!!!!!  These dresses were so fun and the hydrangea and rose color combo gave a yummy sorbet look!  Look how cute this bridesmaid is with her matching nail color!  LOVE IT!

Just have to make this note here…carnations rock!!!  Look at our carnation pomander here!  Again, yummy!  We tied them to the back of the bride and groom’s chairs after the ceremony. Unfortunately it rained and we had to move the ceremony indoors.

The bride changed her dress twice at the reception which is part of the Chinese wedding tradition.  Here is her beautiful 1st wedding gown.  I love the detail of the bow that had stunning, rough eco-friendly edges. Love, love, love the dress!!!

Here she is dancing in her second dress, a red and gold Chinese gown with the phoenix and the dragon embroidered on the dress.  Absolutely beautiful.  This was a surprise for the groom!

Find out more about Chinese Wedding Traditions in my upcoming book: The Everything Wedding Book, 4th Edition! 

Here she is with her her groom in her 3rd gown!  A stunning orange evening gown!

Everyone’s breath was taken away by the Chinese Lion Dancers!

The couple, so genuinely dedicated to each other and their traditions, had a day full of delightful Jewish and Chinese fanfare.  From the festive dragonfly kippot for the wedding party to the Horah!  The wedding day began with photos followed by the Jewish ceremony of the Bedeken and Ketubah (Jewish Wedding contract) signing.

Next was the wedding ceremony underneath the chuppah with beautiful music played on the Chinese guzheng.

The bride and groom were wrapped in the groom’s tallit by the mother of the groom, who performed the ceremony.   I absolutely adore this shot of the bride and groom.  Simply in love.  

Of course, no Jewish wedding is complete without Horah dancing!!!

There are so many other details from this wedding…but I will wait to post them to the website at a later time!  Congratulations to Susanna and Ariel!

Mazel Tov!

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!

Brides are always shying away from the typical gifts and finding new ways to delight their bridesmaids.

If your Maid of Honor is in to art, check out this local artist:

Angela Aveta’s edgy photography prints. Here is a fun one I am thinking about buying:

Have a make-up lover or the one bridesmaid that always looks on point?  Check out this refreshing line of make-up made up of eco-friendly ingredients that can be found at Sephora.

Trying to find a great and stylish idea for a gift is always easy at Fitzsu!  Here are a few of my favorite items:

Have fun shopping for your ladies and check back for more favorite things!

***Katie Martin***

Soon – I will be launching the Green Love Events website (a 100% eco-friendly wedding division of Elegance & Simplicity Wedding & Event Designers, Inc.)!  We had a preview available of our services at the Washington DC Couture Wedding Consortium Bridal show.  However – we have changed the logo!

Here it is:

Stay tuned for the launch of the website featuring our flowers, Photography from Love Life Images & Documentary Associates, Sound from Disc Jockeys on Call & MyDeejay.com, Bridal Fashion and Style from Promise for the Savvy Bride and Polished Image & Style Consultants.  It will be your one stop shop for an unforgettable Eco-Friendly Green Wedding or Event in the Greater Washington DC and Baltimore Metro Areas!

* Katie Martin

We will be posting a press release shortly that we will be giving away a $50,000 Green Eco-Friendly wedding at the Washington DC Couture Wedding Consortium 2009 Bridal Show.  The show will be from 12-5pm at te Decatur House Museum on 1/31/09.  Yes – that is next Sunday!

The FREE Green wedding will take place on April 22, 2009 – Which is Earth Day – which is also a Wednesday.  You will be required to sign a release form as the wedding will be promoted in various ways as well as showcased in Katie Martin’s upcoming book about Eco-friendly weddings.  You will also sign an agreement that you will not be holding another wedding.  This will be your only wedding.  Please do not apply if you already have planned your wedding or you are in the process of planning your wedding.  You must only be engaged and be willing to be flexible and have a carbon-free, green wedding with us.

The following vendors will be providing services:

Decatur House Museum – Venue

Elegance & Simplicity – Eco-Friendly Green Wedding Planning

Green Love Events – A subsidiary of Elegance & Simplicity will be providing the flowers and invitations

Documentary Associates – Tom Van Veen will be providing green photography

Love Life Images – Jennifer Domenick will be providing green photography

Carola Myers – She will be providing green eco-friendly make-up for the day of the wedding for the bride

Avalon Caterers will be providing catering.

We look forward to seeing you at the bridal show!

For more information – please register here:
http://www.dccwc.com/2009bridalshow.htm

Cost is $55 – which you can register here:

http://washingtonianwedding.eventbrite.com/