Want something different for your Valentine’s Day?  Just let us know what you want to send or receive!!  We take care of everything from plants and roses to fun jars with candy or gum for your sweetheart!  Make your order by this Friday and get $10 off!!!  Call or email us today:

inquiries@eleganceandsimplicity.com

301.656.5560

Photo credits:

1st Row – Documentary Associates and The Observatory 

2nd Row – Documentary Associates

3rd Row – Us!

We finally found a photo of the cute cake from the wedding we did recently at the Hotel Monaco in DC.  Katie and Grant’s wedding had a cute lemon and lime theme (to see more from their wedding click here.  The cake was designed by Patisserie Poupon!

We have been so excited to show you these photos from a wedding we did in early July with Amber Karson Events!

The bride had the most amazing carnival theme that had a wonderful red and blue color scheme.  To go along with the carnival theme we added candy to all of the centerpieces either in jars or with candy apples complete with color coordinated ribbon.  The candy bar was complete with all sorts of nostalgic candy and more caramel coated apples!  We got the apples custom ordered from the Dutch Farmers Market in Laurel.  I even watched them hand dip them!

The candy bar was complete with cute banners from the client!

There are so many other fun elements from the wedding – which should be spotted on another blog or magazine shortly!!

Congrats to Sarah and Joe!

Photography by Documentary Associates

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)

While I prep the photos from last weekend’s weddings…I wanted to give you a sneak peek of an upcoming extensive post I plan to do on fruits and floral designs.  They are wildly popular and create a lot of impact in a simple and effective way.  We try to use only local fruits and veggies or at least from the States!  Stay tuned for more!

Finally getting a chance to blog about one of our weddings from two weekends ago.  This lovely wedding at the Decatur House was small and intimate with lots of hydrangea and peonies for all to enjoy!  I love this simple bridal bouquet which smelled delicious with peonies, lavender, freesia and a touch of delphinium.

The maid of honor got this beautiful and elegant all white peony bouquet and each of the mothers got small nosegays of lavender.

We were able to use our pretty chocolate urns from Pottery Barn to set atop our own customized wooden pedetals.  The urns were filled with lush blooms of white, blue and green hydrangea.

The simple centerpieces had beautiful peonies, blue hydrangea and green dendrobium orchids.  Lot of candles were used both under the tent and in the carriage house.

Congrats to Vanessa & John!

If you have not been reading our Eco-Beautiful Weddings Blog – then maybe you have no idea that Anthroplogie’s answer for the bridal market is going live today and it’s called BHLDN (say “Beholden”)!  Above is my absolute fave of the dresses that I was able to catch a sneak peek of last week!  The Pinwheel tea dress and that amazing headpiece are to die for!  Not to mention the shoes that have vintage and scarce fabric on them!  Take a look at the blog post about this dress and the shoes here!

Robin Fisher and I were invited to tour all of the URBN family buildings at the Navy Yard in downtown Philly.  Their food court/gym space (to the right above) can also be rented out for weddings!!! Seriously a dream space for a wedding planner like me!  All of the buildings had some sort of eco element to it.  Whether it was the original Urban Outfitters sign as decor or reclaimed wood for flooring or steps, I was in love at first sight!!!

After touring their various facilities they brought us to their own bed and breakfast which was set up with 4 lovely coordinated rooms filled to the brim with their various special occasion dresses, upcoming decor items and bridal gowns.  They started off with the bridal fashion show with a candy bar and sushi!  It really was a wonderland and quite dreamy to say the least!

One of the dresses that we did not get to see on a model is this gorgeous gown with navy blue accents on it!  Just divine!  I really would love to see a bride pair it with these gorgeous yellow shoes!

The shoes, the candy, the accessories…everything was amazing.  Anthropologie’s BHLDN line will be the biggest line to hit the market in years and they will continue to grow!  Check out their website today as it will be the most coveted and most talked about wedding website on the block!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We are pretty jazzed over here that we were recently featured in the December/January 2011 Issue of PDN (Photo District News).  Nicole Wolf from Sota Dzine asked us to help her out with floral designs for their amazing Alice in Wonderland “Trash the Dress” photo shoot.  (We were glad that the dress did not actually get trashed!)

A very fun and well planned photo shoot produced these amazing photos!  Congrats Nicole!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/photographers/photo-district-news-feature/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/purple-purple-everywhere/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/purple-purple-everywhere/#comments Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:30:38 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=4566

Over the past few weeks I have met with so many fun brides that are looking for purples and lavenders for their wedding flowers!

So it got me thinking – I better do a blog post about this!  I created the above color palette as I met with one of my clients and we came up with a fun design scheme complete with flowers, furniture and colorful linens galore!  Purple has always been one of my favorite colors and can be used everywhere!  So here are my picks for purple for your wedding and your home!

(Credits Top Marta Locklear, Documentary Associates and ME!)

Some of the best purple floral designs use hydrangea, roses, calla lilies and orchids.  But don’t forget fresh lavender, veronica, delphinium, stock, aliums, carnations, agapanthus, caspia, statice, anemones, hyacinth, muscari and so much more!  Check in with us to find out what is available for your wedding day!

This photo from Apartment Therapy is just delicious!  This should inspire you to use purple with matte gold items for your wedding day.  Go with matte gold chivari chairs and gold rimmed plates to get this regal look! Heck – get someone like Kendall’s Cakes or Cakes by Design to paint with edible gold on your cake or wrap pretty matte gold ribbons around the tiers of your cake.  (And no – I will not spray any of my flowers with gold – sorry folks!)

And this beautiful combination of purples, aquas and blues is enough to make me swoon!  I am starting to dream of an amazing lounge combination with purple and blue flowers with funky aqua bridesmaid dresses!  The splash of red gerbera daisies adds the extra touch of whimsy!

If you have not found inspiration for your purple wedding and modern home landscape here – let me know and I will whip up something purple next week!

As tomorrow is a big day for anniversaries for me – I wanted to start off this final flower fave blog post with my bridal bouquet from my wedding in the Dominican Republic!  Our Anniversary is tomorrow along with the Anniversary of the Magazine!

My best friend and Logistical Manager on staff Keya Beale made this bouquet for me.  She traveled to the Dominican Republic to be with us on that very special day!  We have had three brides this year fall in love with my bouquet (but those leaves can really only be found on the beaches of the Dominican Republic)!  We brought the beading down from some leftover Christmas decorations we found and picked the limes from a local market along with the phaleanopsis orchids!  My brother was our best man and photographer for the week, along with his wife and associate Angela – whom you will see a photo from her wedding below! (Documentary Associates)

This was one of my favorite photos taken by Jennifer Hughes this year for a wedding that will be featured in Baltimore Bride Magazine.  I love the bridesmaids bouquets as the ranunculus was just perfect that weekend in the spring and the hydrangea and mini cymbidium orchids complimented the overall color scheme of the day!

Not the fanciest of floral designs – but fun nonetheless. This wedding that we did with Sara from Bella Notte was photographed by Greg Gibson.  We love working with both of them and I, in general, just love limes.  A lot of the photos from this particular wedding are actually in the current brochure for the Decatur House!

And yes – if you have been following my blog over the past couple of months – I am obsessed with the Ourisman Wedding with images taken by Love Life Images.  Candace just let me get as creative as I wanted to be and the designs we created were flowers that I will never forget.  Their wedding will be featured in the Washingtonian Bride & Groom Shortly – so I am sure I will blog about them again!

I loved making this bouquet for my friend Angela, one of Tom’s associates at Documentary Associates.  This wedding and this photo always makes me smile for so many reasons.  First of all – I just love this photo.  The bouquet I made for her as a gift…but that day it rained like cats and dogs….I MEAN IT RAINED!!!  She got married on Chincoteague Island and my hubby and I strung up a bunch of lanterns in the small tent behind this lovely bed a breakfast.  By the time the rain stopped – there were literally DUCKS swimming underneath the tent, the lanterns were destroyed and the ceremony location had to totally be moved to a new location.  Of course, the wedding planner in me kicked in and everything worked out just fine. I am still so thrilled to see my two friends married and now happily awaiting a new baby!

Stay Tuned Tomorrow for the Anniversary Issue of Eco-Beautiful Weddings (and don’t forget its my anniversary too)!

Cheers!

We are thrilled to be showcasing Christina and Brent’s gorgeous wedding day at the Ronald Reagan Building as seen through the truly talented eyes of Marta Locklear!

I never tire of Holy Trinity Church and all its grandeur in Georgetown. We have done countless weddings there – but there is something about those large beautiful restored wood doors along with the beautiful stained glass that scream classic DC wedding to me!  It always makes me fall in love with Georgetown every time we are there!  (Yes – I love my city!!!)

Christina choose simple and beautifully elegant flowers for her and her wedding party including freesia, green hypericum berries and cymbidium orchids along with dahlias for the gals!

I have to say – this is one of my favorite escort card tables we have done this year.  Yes – those are plums to bring in the purple that they wanted!  The staff washed the plums after the event and donated the plums (and ate a few) – so there was no waste!

Their fun centerpieces consisted of tall rectangular vases filled with cymbidium orchids, manzanita branches and hanging votives.  Their low centerpieces were simple purple hydrangea arrangements with local green apples inside the vases!

And this beautiful cake from Fluffy Thoughts!  We only added the flowers to this masterpiece!

A big congrats to Christina & Brent!

Cheers!

Oh Jennifer…what I am going to do with you!  Every single photo you take is amazing!  Yes – we are back again for Candace and Chris’ wedding. I promise this is the last post (maybe – LOL) about this wedding…but there are simply are so many things to write about it!  I thought this would be a good post right before the weekend to sink your teeth into!

We purchased these new chandeliers for their wedding to hang above the escort cards (now available for your wedding – we have 6 now)!

We hung 3 crystal chandeliers above the escort cards to create a vignette of gorgeous fun!

Yes – those are teeny tiny clothes pins – perfect for escort cards hung on hemp ribbon!

This gorgeous banner from Giggleberry Creations was the entrance bunting as guests were welcomed to the wedding!  And also a perfect spot for a kiss!

Giggleberry also created this adorable “Love Nest” bunting for the Love Nest! Here guests were asked to leave love notes and wishes for Candace and Chris and attach them to the bunting.  We created these so they could be reused as decor in their home!

You might remember these hanging flowers above the cocktail hour’s tapenade station from a previous post about their wedding. Well – here is what happened while the guests were at dinner:

We transformed the tapenade station to the dessert station complete with suspended lollipops!  Candace’s friend provided cupcakes and cookies while we provided the stands, jars and candy!

We were able to use our vintage cake pedestals and jars along with custom designed signage for the candy sticks and signs for the cupcakes and cookies.

And how could we not have some sort of car photo?  Two Corvettes adorned the driveway as guests entered the wedding.  Of course, having their wedding on our blog and not talking about cars at all would be blasphemy (at least in my mind)!  My first brand new car was a green civic from Ourisman Honda in Bethesda!   I love this adorable shot of them inside one of the corvettes!

Well – there are more details to show – but I will sign off by saying that these two love birds were wonderful to work with and I had a wonderful time planning this gloriously beautiful wedding.

Big hugs to Candace, Chris and their families for letting us be a part of their day!

VENDORS

Caterer – Design Cuisine

Photography – Love Life Images

Band – Washington Talent Agency

Rentals – DC Rental

Hair onsite (including bridal) – Elegant Hair by Giselle

Bridesmaids Hair – Salon Jean

Make-up – Jeff Enriquez

Bridal Make-up – Carl Ray

Valet – MarcParc

Hotel – Hotel Monaco, DC & Bethesda Hyatt

Rehearsal Dinner – Congressional Country Club

Officiant – Mary Maurey

Elegance and Simplicity Provided Wedding Planning, Floral Design, Programs, Menus, Signage (both paper and wooden), Dessert Bar set-up, Chuppah rental, Calligraphy and other decor prop item rentals.

We are so excited about this new blog for Washington, DC area weddings!  A blog that really features how amazing our “wedding city” is!  On top of it being new, it is  also run by some of the most savvy wedding ladies in the industry (whom are also here locally in Washington, DC).  Nole and Julianne!  Nole runs the popular Oh So Beautiful Paper Blog and Juli has her amazing line of Garters called The Garter Girl (the first to have a specific eco-line by the way!).

Oh and it just so happens that one our weddings from last year is already on the blog!  Click below to see more of Claire & Adil’s wedding at Meridian House and see all the yummy ideas on United With Love!  A big congrats to Nole and Juli for putting together such a beautiful blog!

I can’t begin to imagine how many blog posts I will do for this wedding – so I am not even going to try to number them!  Candace and Chris Ourisman’s wedding was a showcase wedding beyond my wildest dreams.  Candace had such amazing ideas and she let me be as creative as possible with the decor aspect.  She wanted a real eco-chic, modern, shabby-chic, gorgeous wedding.  I think we nailed it!

You will see from all of these various photos that we took a lot from our inventory and infused a few new pieces.  We had a ton of tea cups, vintage frames, mason jars, and glass milk bottles already – but we added a few new antique items for this wedding.  New items included things like milk glass and vintage tea cups from our local antique shops.  Almost all of the pieces we used in their centerpieces were actual antiques!

Candace chose a beautiful color palette of whites and greens with touches of turquoise here and there!

We had such a fun time with turn-over for this wedding.  Above are floating floral designs that we hung above the tapenade station during cocktail hour.  Stay tuned for what we did with them after dinner!

More to come from their wedding this week!

(Of course – a HUGE Thanks to Jennifer Domenick from Love Life Images for these amazing photos!)

Here is the third and final installment of Mary Kate McKenna’s Wedding from earlier this summer.

Many thanks to Azul Photography for his amazing work (he came all the way from NC for Mary Kate’s Wedding)!  I just adore this photo above from their ceremony!

We had so much fun making these adorable bouquets with vintage ornamental birds. I had no idea how cute their dresses were going to be!!!  IN LOVE!!!

And another great photo of the couple with our fun biodegradable trellis!

Another of Mary Kate’s genius table number boxes that she made herself from a carpentry class she took!  A girl after my own heart!  We simply just added the flowers.  She provided all of the milk bottles and mason jars (which we quickly grabbed from her after the wedding).

Many blessings to the happy couple!

I was so excited to do this wedding for just a multitude of reasons.  I can’t wait to show you more images from Candace and Chris’ which took place on September 11th.

Stay tuned for a blog series about this super sweet couple!

Congrats to Jeannete and Joey!

Their wedding was in July at St. John’s followed by their reception at the Decatur House!

I just loved her dress with those fantastic ruffles!

We made some pretty traditional bouquets comprised of  roses, lisianthus, and stargazer lilies…along with the adorable carnation pomander below:

Then came the reception!

Jeannette opted for three different centerpieces:

1) Tall Peach Gladioli mixed with white dendrobium orchids

2) Low pink Dutch hydrangea centerpieces

3) Tall simple arrangements with pink hydrangea

(Love the combination with the blue linens)

She also had a special guest!  Michael Steele!!

A big thank you to Odell Photos for these images and again – many congrats to our happy couple!

Cheers,

We are excited to finally showcase Melanie and Michael’s wedding from June at Woodend Sanctuary.  As many of you know – it is one of my favorite locations in the entire Washington, DC area.

We helped Melanie and Michael with a partial planning package along with all of her flowers and decor.  Her bridal bouquet was comprised of lavender and white mini calla lilies with light blue delphinium and fresh lavender accents.

They kept the ceremony pretty simple and added a touch of whimsy with these adorable purple, lavender and white carnation pomanders – which we reused on the back of the chairs at the head table during the reception.

Their centerpieces had luscious local purple hydrangea with lavender vanda orchids.

Melanie had so much fun picking out their candy for the candy bar!  She did not stick to a color theme – she stuck to the candies that both her and Michael loved!

Congratulations Melanie and Michael!

And thanks to Martha Fitzsimon for all the beautiful photos!

I apologize that I did not get this post up last week!  I was hoping to make the floral explanation series a weekly thing!  But doing a destination wedding for a friend took priority – I will share those photos with you soon!

Today I want to talk about dahlias.  We are entering the best season for dahlias.  You can get them throughout August but they really start to  look amazing in September and October.

They come in a variety of colors and we love working with them as they give any arrangement nice texture.  Colors include the vibrant orange above, peach, white with a hint of green, magenta, purple, burgundy, yellow and light pink.  I will warn you though – they have a very pungent. musky smell to them.  If you are easily affected by the smells of flowers – I would stay away from this flower.  However, they are hearty flowers and on average they are moderately priced.

Our favorite place to buy  dahlias are from a local farm and from our growers in Oregon.  Why?  These are the most eco-friendly ways to go.  Of course with local farmers we are giving back to the local economy and there is one farm in particular we love that we also buy fruits and veggies from.  Then, the farmers in Oregon are able to produce their dahlias without pesticides and that we love!

I will say that even though the bouquet above is comprised entirely of dahlias, I do not recommend this all the time.  The shape of most dahlias make it more difficult to make a perfectly rounded shape for a bouquet. However, if you like the English garden or loose garden look for a bouquet – they are perfect choice.  We also think they are fantastic for centerpieces and large garden altar displays.

As we get closer to fall, we are starting to order more and more dahlias.  If you are planning your fall wedding for next year – keep dahlias on your “to do” list!

Once again – Jennifer Domenick delivers the goods when it comes to amazing photography. I worked with her in July for a lovely wedding on the Chesapeake Bay at the Philip Merrill Environmental Center.

Her beautiful bouquet was a bit of a challenge in the July heat!  We scored white anemones with pink garden roses straight from California!

Pink ranunculus (also terribly difficult to find in July) for the groom -he looked smashing!  We love the little starfish the bride found for their groomsmen!

Congrats Jenna + Chad!  Cheers for having an amazing eco-friendly wedding on the shores of our amazing Chesapeake Bay!

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/floral-designs/jenna-chad-at-the-philip-merrill-environmental-center/feed/ 0 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/custom-chuppah/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/announcements/custom-chuppah/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:41:04 +0000 Chris Easter http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=3288

As we get ready for another weekend filled with weddings, I just got this photo off my camera today.  We have had such a wonderful year so far with many of our clients letting us get creative while using their own family heirlooms and treasures.  This custom designed chuppah we made for our client was no exception!  The bride’s mom made a wonderful and meaningful quilt for her daughter’s wedding. We custom designed the frame to make sure the quilt would sit well on top then added some curly willow with orchids on the poles.  It was so beautiful on that warm spring day at the Sewall-Belmont House!

Have a wonderful weekend and Mazel Tov!

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!

Oh how we love it when wedding professionals get married and ask us to be a part of their day!  As company policy – we will help give our friends in the biz some tips – but most of the time – they don’t need it.  Sure – I will point them in the right direction if they want it, but we will not coordinate the day of the wedding – too much pressure!  Amen for Laura Auer from Wish Special Events for taking care of the details the day of the wedding. Most wedding professionals get pretty darn creative for their wedding day – as they have seen so many details that they have loved along their career path.  Mary Kate McKenna‘s wedding was no exception.

We just loved how she gathered bottles and mason jars from all over the DC, Frederick and Baltimore area to create a unique mix of local flair.  Not only that – she made these adorable boxes with the numbers of the tables on them herself!  Yes – she went to a carpentry class to learn how!  We could have made them for her – but what a great DIY project!  So adorable!  We simply provided the flowers!

Thanks to The Blonde Photographer for taking these photos and getting them back to Mary Kate so quickly!  Keya did such an amazing job on this bouquet.  She used a beautiful coral toned peony, purple delphinium, peach lisianthus and fresh lavender to create her beautiful hand-tied bouquet.  Take a look at the first post to see the cute arch we made.  We will post more as soon as their photographer has them ready!

Cheers!

We are excited that Bella Bridesmaid has finally made it to the DC area!  Really – they are right around the corner from us in Bethesda.  The nationwide chain holds heir own line along with the amazing line from Two Birds!

They had their grand opening last week – where we provided the flowers (shoot – no photos- sorry!) – but you can read more about the grand opening at the DC Bride Guide Blog – by clicking here!

We are very excited about them being right around the block from us!

We posted a few of the photos from Kati & Jason’s wedding from May this year…however Rodney sent over this great video montage of the images from their wedding at the Decatur House!

Take a look by clicking on the image above!

Cheers to Kati & Jason!

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!

We were so happy to be a part of Jordan and Jeremy’s wedding day last weekend at the Ronald Reagan Building!

We custom made a lot of very fun details for their wedding that I can’t wait to share once I get the photos back from Ralph Alswang!

Above – you can see our new trellis that we have in stock.  It is with reused wood and is seven feet tall by five feet wide by three feet deep!  We added curly willow, peonies and green cymbidium orchids.  We also provided our custom gold  stage cover, pink step and pink and yellow aisle runner.  I can’t wait to show you the rest!

Congrats Jordan and Jeremy!

I have some wonderful images that Rodney Bailey sent over to me from a super cute spring wedding at the Decatur House!  Loved the shoes Kati!  Stay tuned for more images!

I am slowly catching up to posting photos from weddings from earlier this spring!  Here are a few images from a beautiful wedding at Mount Airy Mansion in April.  Photos by Brian Lusby!

I love the fun orange and purple complimentary color scheme from this wedding!

Look at that pretty Paula!

Loved her bridal bouquet comprised of white cymbidium orchids, phaleanopsis orchids with crystal and lily grass accents!

Love love love her dress!

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