Check out our featured wedding with Ameena and Jamie on District Weddings today! We miss them so much!  And, of course, the Ronald Reagan Building is one of our favorite places!

Happy Planning!

As promised, here are more photos from the real wedding that was featured in the most recent Washingtonian magazine.  We are super excited about Kate and Mark’s wedding and I will do a follow-up post sometime in the new year about their engagement photos which were even cuter!  Another eco-friendly wedding shot by Tom Van Veen & Ashlee Wilcox of Documentary Associates with our floral designs!  Such a fun wedding!

Kate had her chivari chairs custom painted with the help of her sister Arney who used to work for one of the best wedding caterers in the DC area.  We were so happy that Kate let us have free reign over making her floral designs to match their vintage and whimsical style wedding.  The lapel flowers were finished with hemp twine and the bride’s dress was by Lela Rose (manufactured and designed in New York City!)

The programs were beribboned with various shades of raffia and ribbon by the bride and her sister.

Every single detail of this wedding was well thought out – down to the vintage typewriter as the “guest book”.

Congratulations Kate & Mark!!

(and to our wonderful friend Arney too – sister of the bride!)

~Katie Martin

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/washingtonian-real-wedding-feature/feed/ 3 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/elegance-simplicity-inc-on-carbonfund-orgs-blog/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/elegance-simplicity-inc-on-carbonfund-orgs-blog/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:06:28 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=1232

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

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

Congratulations Anna & Denis!  We loved working with you and can’t wait to see the photos from Belize!

***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!

• We now offer wall backdrops.  We designed this concept last year with one of our clients that is getting married in September.  More comprehensive and interesting than a typical pipe and drape backdrop, it creates a romantic mood and endless possibilities for making your wedding unique and interesting. The wall panels come in 8 feet by 2 feet wide combinations.  They are boxes making them heavy enough to withstand wind for outdoor ceremonies and we currently have 3 panels in our inventory.  We have the ability to make as many panels as you want with our in-house carpenter.  We cover each panel in the fabric of your choice!  Soon we will have swatch samples for you to choose your color!  However, keeping in tune with how original our brides our – we will use whatever fabric you desire.  Bring in a swatch of fabric with your appointment!  We can match your linens, bridesmaids dress or your venue colors.  We even had a bride bring in a swatch of her bedroom’s wallpaper!  Here is a sample of what the 3 panels look like next to each other.  We used them at both the Washingtonian’s Bridal Show and the Washington DC Couture Wedding Bridal Show in January. As you can see, we have shelves for the panels (customized to your liking) and the ability to hang photos!  The shelves can hold actual vases full of flowers or votives.  How do you want your backdrop to look?  After the ceremony – reuse them as a photo backdrop for your guests and more!

• Our 10 x 10 foot pergola style mandap/chuppah that we introduced to our inventory last year has won raves and is now being offered in a smaller 6 x 8 foot option.  The pergola style mandap/chuppah gives your ceremony structure a signature style.  Style the beautiful (and sustainable) wood with fabric, curly willow or flowers to make it yours!  Here is the 10 x 10 foot model.  The 10 x 10 foot size is wonderful for reusing after your ceremony to dine and entertain under!
• New recycled glass lanterns and sustainable material lanterns have been added and more coming soon to inventory in various colors and styles!  They are hanging in the mandap above.  Here is a close-up!

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

1st thing – hire a wedding planner that knows who is really green and who is not.  There are a ton of wedding professionals that say they are green for marketing purposes but have no concept of what the philosophy is behind being green.  It is not just about using green products and organic foods.  It is also about giving back to the community and not being wasteful along with a slew of other guidelines depending on the type of wedding professional that you are looking for.  As a wedding planner and a florist, I see a sea of waste after a wedding and it is always our goal to reduce waste before it happens and reuse, compost or recycle what is not not used or wasted after a wedding.  We can give you creative ideas on how to do that for your wedding.  There is not a formula for a green wedding – it is more about your general attitude towards your wedding prior to the planning process.  Find like-minded vendors to go with your philosophy as you start your life together!

If you can’t afford a wedding planner (or think you can’t) – make sure you read as much as you can before get started! 

I tip my hat to those that are really interested in doing it right!  Check back often for weekly green tips!