A Napa Valley inspired bridal shower in Connecticut
I’m so very excited to finally share with you the amazing bridal shower that my mother, grandmothers and maids planned for me back in June. It was an incredible day filled with so many wonderful women. I wish I could relive that afternoon every Sunday!! My very good friends and wedding photographers, Robert and Kathleen, joined us for the day and snapped these fantastic images! The day was also featured on my favorite blog, Style Me Pretty, a while back too.
The shower took place at my grandparents home — which is over 100 years old. It is a great place where we spend many holidays and the most important of occasions. We had a fantastic June day too, and spent the first half of the afternoon out on the front veranda sipping wine and pellegrino. My mom made a delicious and refreshing sangria, and hand chose some great wines.
A lot of my favorite things were on hand… wine, cheese, delicious fruits, veggies, and my friends and family. I can’t really take any credit for the design, look, feel, or details of the day. That’s all my mom! She did such an incredible job! There were wine maps (that I did make… but that’s it!!) that told guests about the wine we were tasting from Napa, a jar for guests to recommend a vineyard for Mike and I to visit on our honeymoon, and lots of pretty signs explaining what guests were imbibing. These little touches are a great way to transform your party and do something unique and inexpensive.
The delicious menu was catered by one of our favorite local restaurants, Jesse Camilles in Naugatuck. Carla and Larry did an incredible job on the food. The menu was really light and inspired by the region: citrus grilled chicken, dill and yogurt salmon, and carpaccio. There were a variety of delicious salads to pair with the meats too (my favorite the baby spinach with goat cheese… yum!).
Nestled on the North side of the house was a variety of pretty dining tables. My mom created purple table runners and used flowy white linen on the tables. The gorgeous centerpieces were created by Lori of Flore. They featured a beautiful variety of flowers such as dahlias, purple calla lilies, green hydrangea, white roses, and purple grapes!! Are they not incredible? So beautiful! My mom had been collecting wine corks for the occasion and had them spread around as accents in various jars. I love that touch (and do it often as they make a great centerpiece). I just love all the purples, greens, white, and oranges. It’s so reminiscent of the region and all the colors we saw while we were out there.
The delish carrot cake was a design collaboration between my grandmother and the talented folks at Let’s Eat Cake.
Guests took home red velvet cupcake lollipops, all hand made by my maid of honor and bestie, Corine. They were so delicious! Something even more incredible and awesome was the fact that Corine has started her own business crafting these and other yummy confections. Check her out: lovely-lollies.com.
What an incredible bridal shower — incredible day! Thanks for letting me share. Hopefully it inspires you to do something personal and unique for your friend or daughter’s bridal shower.
xoxoxoo
Vendor Spotlight: Paloma’s Nest
I love the work of Caroline Colom Vasquez and knew one of her ring bowls would be a perfect detail in our wedding (shown above). Caroline is a native of Connecticut (now residing in Austin, Texas) and has created her incredible product (and business) from her own studio. Her work has been featured in Martha Stewart, House Beautiful, Italian Elle, New York Magazine Weddings Issue, Good Morning America, Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, Brides Magazine regional editions and several other publications, including some very stylish online blogs and magazines. I love the idea of your ring bearer carrying one of Caroline’s ring bowls, personalized with a message that reflects the spirit of your day. Our wedding didn’t have a ring bearer, so our best man carried our rings and handed them over to our officiant during our vows.
She also creates beautiful bouquet charms.
Fitting at White Dress by the Shore
I was so excited to work with the wonderful girls over at The White Dress by the Shore on my wedding gown and accessories (I did a feature on the blog about them last September). For my first dress fitting I brought along my friend Robin Dini to check out my dress. She surprised me with her camera and took some beautiful shots of Beth, Josie and I talking about different looks and the couture element of ruffled tulle I added to my Modern Trousseau gown. Am I super lucky or what?
Josie did all the alterations to my gown and has come out with her own line of fine European lingerie, sold exclusively at White Dress. Its called Beneath the Gown, and her creations are magnificent!!
We’re Married!
What an amazing day! I’ve just gotten back from our honeymoon and I can’t wait to share with all of you how our wedding day came together and all the special touches we incorporated. For now, visit Robert & Kathleen’s blog to get a sneak peak at some of the images and details of the day.
Its my wedding week!
The time has finally come for this wedding planner to get hitched! I’ve been so busy over the past two weeks finalizing details for my wedding (in addition to many others!) that I haven’t had an opportunity to blog which is so unlike me! This is my wedding week, and thus far it has been spent doing what many brides do:
– Finalizing escort cards (thanks Lisa!)
– Creating wedding day paper (epic programs, FYI)
– Assembling out of town bags
– Confirming with vendors
– Wondering what I’m forgetting?
– Buying things last minute
– Smiling as my vision comes together!
– Wondering what I’m forgetting?
– Adding one old friend to the guest list
– Forgetting to twitter
– Practicing our first dance (we skipped the lessons this week, too much to do)
– Trying to remember to eat
– Calling my mother daily
– Wondering what I’m forgetting?
– Attempting to clean, although failing miserably
– Packing for my honeymoon
– Checking items off my to-do
– Okay, so seriously, what have I forgotten to do?!?!?!
So, I’m pretty much like every other bride in the universe. I had a friend ask me last night — are you cool, calm and professional or are you loosing your mind? I’d say, neither. I’m just gettin’ by, just like every other bride before her wedding day.
My prospective has changed a little, though. I’m thinking, dang, where’s my wedding planner?!?! (holla Jen!) In an effort not to turn this into a walking advertisement for me, I’m just going to say that I wish I could push all this stuff off on a professional!! I wish I could talk more but I’ve gotten run. Early morning appointments with my vendors and my fabulous in laws are coming to take me out to breakfast before.
A vintage hankie from Brass Paper Clip
The other day I was cruising etsy.com to be inspired or find something we might need for our wedding. I love etsy because it supports local and national small businesses, artists, and craftsman and in my book, those are the best businesses to buy from!
I realized that I didn’t have a hankie to carry with me down the aisle. Neither of my grandmothers had hankies to loan and my mother didn’t have anything either, so I decided to purchase my own heirloom. I came across this really beautiful hankie from Brass Paper Clip which specialized in vintage items for brides. They have so many cute vintage purses, gloves, hankies, flowers…. heaven! I purchased a beautiful Schiffli Lace hankie and received it yesterday. The one thing that I absolutely love about most etsy.com’s shops is how personable and detail-minded the owners are — just look at how she packaged the hankie that I bought!
A purple, chocolate and gold invitation suite by Lilah Paper
I’m so excited to be able to share our invitations with you!! As many of you know, the first item I purchased for our wedding was my shoes. They’ve been my muse for the entire event and have guided me toward the most amazing gown, linens, and paper. When I set out to have our invitations designed I knew of only one designer who would be able to take my shoes and make an invitation out of them!
Paper is one of my loves, and Kalyn from Lilah Paper and I have worked together on several events and her style really compliments my own. We came up with a custom invitation suite based on a variety of different inspirational pieces that I sent her through out the process. When she sent me our first round of proofs I was blown away. It wasn’t something I had envisioned but it was exactly what I wanted — which is a true testament to her talent! Much like a proud mama, I happen to think I have the most beautiful wedding invitations ever made.
We started out with a pretty belly band holding all our paper goodness together.
Inside, a tri-fold invitation suite. It starts off with lyrics from our soon to be first dance song by Van Morrison…
Our actual letterpress invitation to the ceremony with double backing layers. Photographs cannot do it justice! It is so gorgeous!!
Our pretty letterpress enclosure cards. We’ve gotten so many compliments on the cute vintage inspired food selections. We’ve also received A LOT of interesting first dance songs!!
Our envelopes were hand written by the extremely talented Lisa Ridgely of Pen and Ink Calligraphy. I LOVE working with Lisa — she is SO good to my brides and it was so much fun to be one of hers! We chose this gorgeous red ink color for a fun pop.
I had so much fun working with Lilah Paper and absolutely love the couture suite she came up with for us. The quality was so important to me, and our invitations are above and beyond what we could have imagined. We were SO thrilled to mail them all out (except for the $.78 stamps on each one) and have gotten so many RSVP’s back. Its a joy every afternoon to run out to the mailbox!
I’ll have some prettier pro pictures after the wedding with the rest of our amazing paper!
Our Engagement Pictures
When Mike and I thought out doing our engagement pictures we wanted to do something that was uniquely about us. We’re such a relaxed couple and we love to go with the flow and enjoy the moment. We not only wanted our engagement shoot to reflect our personalities, but the things that we love. Mike loves his fast car and his motorcycle and I love photography and clothes! Totally unrelated to one another but when you put them together its meant to be! We decided to visit The Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, Connecticut for the bulk of our shoot. They were so accommodating and friendly to us and it made the most beautiful backdrop for our session. After, we headed over to Hopkins Vineyard in New Preston, Connecticut for some last minute shots.
Here are some of my absolute favorite pictures from our session with Robert and Kathleen, who did an incredible job of photographing us. There are also additional pictures posted on here on their blog!
Yes, I am getting married!
A crazy thing is happening…. I’m getting married. Yes, I’m a planner turned bride and yes, we are a rare species! After much consideration I decided to finally share my planning process as we hit the last six weeks of planning — this when the good stuff starts happening!
That really gorgeous man who is seated next to me, above, is my fiancée, Michael. We met five years ago when a mutual friend thought we’d hit it off. We both came from two very separate worlds, and at first glance, it didn’t appear to be a match worth pursuing. We’re not afraid to share that either, as our love story isn’t something completely epic or Paramount. Our relationship was a progression that started out in conversation and grew into interest, then an attraction, and finally, love. When our photographers wrote our poignant story for their blog of our engagement pictures they called our love story a slow burn. I had never thought to put it into those words but that’s exactly what it is.
So now we’re here, five years later, planning an EPIC wedding for August 1st in Hartford, Connecticut. I’m really excited to be sharing it with you and can’t wait to reveal (some) details of what is to come. Mike and I are really excited that the final weeks are here and in no time at all, we’ll be hitched for life.
Coming up tomorrow – our engagement pictures – shot by our very talented wedding photographers and FRIENDS, Robert and Kathleen Trenske!
A Bridal Luncheon
On Saturday afternoon, my mom got my girls and I together for a bridal luncheon at La Tavola. We had such an amazing time reminiscing and talking about the wedding Michael and I are planning. The food was amazing (I had the roasted chicken with pinot noir — believe me, it was yum!) and my mom put so much thought into the day, giving gorgeous favors of yummy Ruffino Chianti and wine passports to Italy. She decorated the table with fresh, colorful roses which I got to take home and are now all over my house. We ate downstairs in their wine cellar, which had some amazing ambiance. I really love wine (as does my mother and bridesmaids!) and she really incorporated some of my favorite things into the day. I had such a lovely time and it was so wonderful to feel like a bride for once! I’ve included a few fun pictures from the day — I wish I took more but was wrapped up in the moment and never had a chance.
Of course, the only one not pictured is my mom!
Tales from a Tasting
It is still so surreal to me that I am planning my own wedding! I have to be honest – this doesn’t happen often in the wedding industry and it is mostly the other way around – bride turned planner. Yesterday, my fiancée and I along with his dad attended our tasting at the Gershon Fox Room in downtown Hartford. The chef from Marquee Catering was so generous to work with us on some additional menu choices in addition to their standard selections. Food is a huge deal for us and the one important detail that my fiancée has taken seriously (as most men do!), so we had high hopes and expectations for today. Can I just say it was so amazing for me to be on the opposite side of the tasting? I always attend tastings for my full service and partial planning clients so I know the routine – but it was just so special to be in the other team this time! The chef and staff behind Marquee Catering put out an amazing spread and everything was delicious.
We tasted three yummy salads (yeah… I totally forgot to take a picture so use your imagination!):
Baby greens with seasonal tomatoes, grilled asparagus, sliced romano cheese tossed with a balsamic honey vinaigrette
Endive salad with blue cheese vinaigrette, and
Baby arugula salad with cannellini beans and pancetta with a lemon vinaigrette
And there was some yummy homemade, warm bread:
Our entrees were:
Filet with a Pinot Noir buerre rouge, truffled parisian potatoes and asparagus
Truffle crusted filet mignon with sweet summer peas, whipped potatoes and grain mustard bordelaise.
Herb seared breast of chicken with sautéed spinach fingerling potatoes and wild mushroom jus
Chicken with pan fried gold potatoes, mustard pancetta jus, and baby squash
Salmon with lemon grappa glaze, toasted almond rice and grilled asparagus
So what did we choose? You’ll have to wait to find out! But everything was so super yummy and the decision was TOUGH. A big thank you to all the staff at the Gershon Fox room and Marquee for making our tasting amazing!
A Bit of Vintage: Our Save the Dates
It is an exciting weekend for this event planner — our save the dates went into the mail! I wanted to share them with you as they were designed and crafted by yours truly. I went back and forth several times with the idea of creating them myself. I certainly have the means and tools to do so, but as any artist knows, it isn’t easy to take on your own projects. I searched endlessly for an easy way out and couldn’t find anything that I simply had to have, so, it was off to Illustrator to begin designing!
I wanted to tie in our wedding’s color scheme with the save the dates so I went with varying shades of purple, gold, and white. After many designs, Mike and I really loved this one the most. It has a very subtle vintage feel and gives a peak into the romantic vintage-style fete we are planning! So, without further adieu, here are our save the dates! Be sure to click the images for a larger version!
The front of the purple envelope with gold metallic lettering and a Betty Davis stamp.
The interior custom lining which mirrors some of the design on the actual save the date.
The beautiful hand calligraphy envelope seals in shimmery gold metallic card stock. These gorgeous creations were made by the very talented Lisa Ridgely of Pen & Ink Calligraphy out of Westminster, Maryland. I found Lisa through her etsy.com shop and knew that these envelope seals were the one touch of glam our envelopes needed. She was such a doll to work with and I can’t wait to recommend her services to my brides. Thanks Lisa!
Oh, I am so thrilled with how they came out! My most favorite part is the varying font style. I have huge love affair with fonts. Am I crazy?
All the elements together so you can get the full “experience.”
Up close and personal!
I’ve already started receiving phone calls about how much our guests love them which makes me so thrilled. I hope you enjoyed them too!
Love At First Shoe
In case you don’t know: the planner is planning a wedding! Yes, it is a bit unusual and not the way things tend to work in my industry. I am a planner turned bride and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I haven’t divulged any details of my own nuptials yet and will probably refrain from posting a lot of them. This blog isn’t about me it is about you, the reader, but I simply had to share the impetus for my wedding design. As every designer knows all it takes is one singular thought, object, color, or emotion to start the ball rolling on a design scheme. For me, it was this shoe. It was love at first shoe.
Originally I had big plans for me feet. And in big I mean Christian Louboutin. I had conceded that I would wear a ridiculously overpriced shoe and spend a month’s mortgage payment just to wear it. I didn’t need much convincing but I can assure you that my fiancée was not swayed by the beauty or prestige of a red sole! I was determined, that is, until I met Plath by Natalie Portman. Never in all my days have I met a shoe so very me. But as I said, I had already started to court another pair, and my love for Natalie and her beautiful purple shoe would be mulled over and over for weeks and weeks.
Finally, I was ready for a commitment. The shoe had a life of its own and it had started to dictate my color scheme, centerpiece design, linen choice, and the direction I wanted to go with my gown. The shoe had become my muse! I signed on to Te Casan, the website where my limited edition beauty lived. And to my horror: SOLD OUT. Not just in my size, but EVERY size. Apparently when they say limited edition they mean limited edition! How could I have let this happen? How could I design a wedding around a shoe and NOT wear it on my wedding day! I really became very upset. That is, until I emailed the staff at Te Casan and inquired about the availability of the shoe. Did they have any left, just one pair, in my very popular size of 8 ½? I figured it was a lost cause and in the meantime, cruised ebay for any sign of Natalie and her beautiful shoe. Nothing – and why should there be? Who in their right mind would sell this shoe!
The very next day I got an email on my blackberry while I was meeting with a client. They just so happened to have a pair in my size! I couldn’t dial the number fast enough (after my client meeting was over, of course). They were such a pleasure to work with and I want to thank Bernadette for her help in getting this shoe. It really meant a lot to me to be able to wear it and I received it just in time for my appointment at The White Dress by the Shore!
And now, I present to you, my wedding shoe:
