Ann and Greg were married here at Winterthur this past Saturday right on our Visitors Center Patio, under a tent. Ann made the decision on Tuesday about getting a tent just in case the weather was bad. A bunch of people have made the tent decision and are overall happy they did. It lets them relax and not have to worry about the weather that for the big day!

Ann and Greg had about 120 people attend the wedding so we decided on the smaller tent. It is a 40×40 tent and was able to accommodate the ceremony nicely and the cocktail hour. Tented Ceremony Since we did not get any rain as we were supposed to, we were able to put cocktail tables outside the tent as well to give more space. I really like the tent option, and I know a lot of people think about it but cannot imagine it, so hopefully some of these pictures will help you out! Tent 1, Tent 2, Tent 3 We also have a larger tent that accommodate about 200 people or more for a ceremony and cocktail hour, and that tent takes up more of the Patio.

Ann and Greg had a really cute idea and she told me she found it right online. She had her ceremony programs on fans for her guests. I liked them a lot! Fan Programs, Fans .

And since we like to show as many pictures of the Visitors Center as we can, take a look at their room set up with a rented dance floor. Visitors Center

 I think Ann and Greg had a wonderful evening and it seemed to be a great night.

Night number two of this three day wedding weekend was perfect as well. The weather was wonderful for Lee and Erika’s Tuscan themed wedding. Their ceremony took place at the Reflecting Pool and with a smaller amount of people, their reception was inside the Gallery Reception Area. Just under 80 guests fit well in that space!

I thought everything came together for them as well. They had passed Limoncello Martinis as their signature drink, homemade Limoncello as their favors, and more lemons everywhere. They put their place-card table outside the Gallery which is just beautiful right now with the trees in bloom. Place Cards, Patio at Gallery They opted for a different seating arrangement than we usually do here, along with rental Chivary Chairs, and I think it worked out well. Seating, Seating 2 I also thought there cake looked amazing and exactly what they wanted! Cake

Overall, it was another good night here at Winterthur!

Friday night was absolutely gorgeous here at Winterthur. Man Yee and Samson could have not had better weather for their ceremony and reception here. With the sun shining and a nice breeze it didn’t even feel like August!!

 Man Yee and Samson had a beautiful wedding with some fun added extras. One thing that we have seen a couple people do is provide a sign in the parking lot for their wedding guests. It helps them know where the ceremony and receotion take place. Sign They were so put together and everything matched perfectly. They had everything from a photo booth for their guests to a traditional Lions Dance to an added dessert station of chocolate goodness. They had an Asian theme which works well inside the Visitors Center. Their place-cards were river rocks and fit in well. River Rocks They also has menu cards and tea fortes as their favors which all went together. Table Layout , Favors One of my favorite things was their cake topper. It was custom made and looks exactly like them!! Cake Topper

 It ended up being a really nice night and I think they were really happy with everything!

Christine and Ryan ended up with a very nice night here at Winterthur. With a little fear of the weather, we ended up with Cocktail hour in the Galleries Reception Area instead of outside at the Reflecting Pool.

 The Visitor’s Center looked lovely as always. One of my favorite things was the cake-I think it looked beautiful and it was unique! Here take a look.  Cake 1 , Cake 2  Also, the linens on the tables looked really nice and tied in with the cake! Placecard 1 , Placecard 2 Here are a few shots of the room. Room 1,  Room 2 The night turned out great with no rain to wash us out!

Heather and Chris are so extremely happy right now. They ended up with a HOT but beautiful night for their wedding. The forecast at the beginning of the week looked a bit iffy, but it turned into a nice night. Heather did not want to worry about a thing on her wedding day so she decided to get a tent adjacent to the patio for her ceremony and cocktail hour just in case. Although there was no rain, I think the tent helped with the heat as well-it kept the sun out! Tent

They are such a happy couple and had some wonderful ideas! For example, Heather’s Grandfather has a 1931 Sedan that dropped Heather off right in front of the Visitor’s Center. They got some great pictures with the old car. Also, they had a wonderful idea for the lobby as well. They strung pictures from home made flower vases of themselves and family. Take a look and see. Strung Pictures ,  Pictures 2 , Picture 3 Theyhad a beautiful cake with ribbon to tie the whole color theme together. Cake

 It ended up being a wonderful night and another great wedding at Winterthur!

So, while Nicole was here by herself for 3 weddings this weekend, I was playing the part of bride’s maid number 4 in my cousin’s wedding. Christy is from Upstate NY right around the Rochester area. It is certainly a different world up there! She asked me to be a bride’s maid earlier this year and I gladly accepted. With all my wedding knowledge I thought I could be helpful!

I wanted to go up for the whole weekend to help my cousin with any last minute things she needed since I was unable to attend her bridal shower.  I met up with her at the Reception Hall the night before and her vision all came together for me. Her favorite color is red, and so red was certainly everywhere! I kept asking her what I can do and what she needed help with. She is such a calm person and told me not too worry about anything and it was all taken care of.

Since I am not used to doing nothing when it comes to weddings, I jumped in and helped her finish decorating the room. When we got back to her house the night before the wedding I realized not everything was taken care of. We had place-cards to do, and other things to still get ready. That is where all the bride’s maid work came into play.  My cousin is unlike many brides in the way that she is so relaxed, and not a care in the world. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself–I felt lost without my check list of things that still needed to be done.

So, the ceremony was under a gazebo right at the location.  We took pictures following the ceremony and were not allowed into the reception room until we were announced after cocktail hour. At this point I was starving and looking for something to drink. Boy–I wished we had a shadow that day! I had to ask my mother to run into the room and get me a cocktail. The food was okay, and I still have not gone a weekend without wedding cake in about 3 months.  The night was complete with a fireworks show. All in all it was a really nice time with family that I do not get to see often, and it was nice to see what all the brides and maids go through!

This past Friday happened to be Friday the 13th. Brandi and John’s wedding did not suffer from the bad luck date. They ran into a couple problems earlier in the week, but the weather was wonderful and the wedding was beautiful.

Their theme was Vera Wang and Brandi had everything from candle holders to the cake knife and server, to picture frames and wine flutes. The flowers were done by Yuki and were beautiful colors. It was overall a very nice evening.

Just to prove that Friday the 13th is not a bad day for a wedding!

Sweet and Simple

This past weekend I had the pleasure of working with a well known wedding planner, Mark Kingsdorf from Queens of Hearts Wedding Consultants. Mark was very  helpful and worked with me to make the event run smoothly.

 We did a Rehearsal Dinner in the Visitors Center of Winterthur this past Friday night, that actually resembled a wedding. The guests count was 130 people of the 190 people that were invited to the wedding. It is not too often, we get a rehearsal dinner in of that size. John and Beth wanted an upscale BBQ dinner with food inside and out, and ending it all with a make your own ice cream bar. 

 Mark was their planner for both the rehearsal dinner as well as their wedding which took place on Saturday in Delaware. The couple was from New York and it made it a bit hard to get in contact with them at times. Mark was very helpful in this situation. He was always a step ahead and helped convey all the appropriate information to the family about the dinner.

 The day of the event, Mark was the first one there and worked with me through the evening. The family had very few concerns throughout the night, but if they needed anything, Mark and myself were there to help them.

 Even though wedding planners are not always needed to have a beautiful smooth wedding, they certainly can help with all the details and may make the night that much better. Mark was a big help and I hope to work with him again in the future.

This past Saturday we were supposed to have a wedding ceremony out by the Reflecting Pool. The incliment weather kept us from using the beautiful Pool. The rain plan was to use the Gallery Reception Area for ceremony and cocktail hour. This does not happen too often, but when it does it is best to be prepared. The Gallery is a beautiful place to hold events. There are some pictures below as to how the Gallery can be transformed into a ceremony site and then also used for cocktail hour. A suggestion might be to let your florist know about the back-up plan as well so they have some extra flowers to really dress up the room. We always a plan B in mind just in case, and we want it to be just as memorable for you whether it is rain or shine!!

Gallery Ceremony,  Plan B

This weekend we held a beautiful wedding with amazing weather. The ceremony and reception all took place at the Visitors Center, which is not all that common here at Winterthur. Usually, if we have an outdoor ceremony, the majority of people will want to use our Reflecting Pool. Most people do not realize how nice it is to use the Visitors Center. The patio holds a perfect place for up to 300 guests for a ceremony and cocktail hour. Paula and John’s wedding was Memorial Day Sunday and they loved getting married outside in this area. Please look at some of our pictures to see how amazing this space can be.

 Visitors Center, Outside Ceremony

Nicole and I could not believe that we had a Saturday with no wedding on a sunny, 75 degree weather day! Walking around on the estate you can find all the beautiful flowers starting to bloom. For example we have Magnolias, Daffodils, Italian Windflowers and Virginia Bluebells all popping up.  There are so many space on the estate that hold truly breathtaking views, especially this time of year.  Just imagine your wedding photos! Keep in mind, April is not a peak wedding month so you tend to have more options when picking your vendors. Please take a look at the pictures below to see what April looks like at Winterthur.

Daffodils, Winterthur Walk

We had one of our first weddings on the season this past weekend and it turned out to be a perfect day. This was a smaller wedding of only 60 guests and they used the Galleries Reception Area for the Ceremony and the Reception.

 We crossed our fingers all week for good weather, and our wishes came true. The ceremony took place on the back patio of the Gallery. With flowers starting to come up in the flower beds, it made for a beautiful backdrop. Cocktail hour and dinner and dancing took place inside. With the guest-list at 60 everything fit nicely in the room. The bar with cocktail tables were placed in the stair-hall that connected to the open exhibits that guests had the opportunity to wonder through.

Since we were unsure of the weather we decided to add in a coffee station with cordials to warm up the guests. Dinner and dancing took place and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

 The Galleries Reception Area is a perfect place for a quaint wedding with still all the beauty surrounding it. Take a look at some pictures below to see what a wedding can look like in this area of the Estate!

Ceremony, Galleries Reception Area, Table Set, Wedding Cake

A couple weeks ago I attended a bridal show right here in Delaware, only about 15 minutes away from Winterthur. One of my good friends is engaged and asked me to go as a favor to her. Since I have been to other shows in the past, I did not think going would be helpful to her who has already chosen her reception location, church, and photographer. She was more interested in the free give-aways.

I went with her regardless how I felt about the situation since she is the bride to be. First off, there was not much parking there, so we had to park in the next shopping center over. Entering the building, we were just swarmed with people and vendors. The Doubletree did provide some food, but it was almost impossible to get to it, and the beverages were no where to be found. The room where most of the vendors were set up was so crowded that we could barley move, and the other room was set up for a fashion show. Just as I thought, there was no one there that my friend wanted to talk to or that could still help her with any of her wedding plans.

 We stayed through the give-aways, and then I thought we would be able to leave, but ended up staying through the entire fashion show. There were some gorgeous dresses and even some brides maid outfits that we liked, but I felt the show was going on forever.

 Overall, it was not a great experience for me, and was not at all helpful to my friend. After being at this show for 3 hours, I vowed that I would not be going to a bridal expo for a very long time!

One of my good friends is getting married May of 2009, so I am the one who is helping her with all of her wedding arrangements. She has her church, her reception site and now she started looking at photographers. She was referred to the Wedding Bureau online where she found an amazing photographer who works all over the world-Jim Graham. Jim is a well known photographer and has worked many weddings here at Winterthur. He is based out of Delaware but has done work all over.

 My friend and I had the privilege of meeting with Jim this past weekend at his house to discuss photography for her wedding. We went to his house, and got to see his work and it was absolutely stunning. My friend not only fell in love with his pictures, but with him as a professional as well. He seems to really take the time to go through everything and actually cares about his clients and their needs for that special day. He emphasized to us that he really likes to capture all the guests having fun!! I think he is going to work well for her wedding and is exactly what she is looking for. I would recommend him to others looking in this area!

There have been a lot of fun things that have been done for our Winter Winterthur Weddings. We just wanted to share a few of them with all of you.

• One of our winter weddings had light up ice cubes that matched their colors. All the guests used them in there water glasses and it really lit up the room.
• Characture Artist- All the guests seemed to really enjoy this
• Ice Sculpture with extra light accents. This was great because it was dark when the guest arrived and it really showed nicely through our wall of windows.
• For one wedding, the bride and groom asked if 3 of our servers would wear cocktail dresses for the cocktail hour to serve specialty drinks-it made the hour a lot more fun for everyone!
• Lighting-Some couples have brought in outside lighting companies to do dramatic effects inside the Visitors Center. One couple actually shined lights in their tent they rented and the trees surrounding the Visitors Center.

January 12, 2008 we had the Papaleo wedding here at Winterthur. This was one of our few but wonderful winter weddings! The wedding was about 190 people in size and had their ceremony and reception here. Having a wedding in January with a ceremony means you need a tent. The couple had the back patio tented where they had their ceremony and also the cocktail hour. The original size of the wedding was about 140 people and the couple wanted to hold everything inside the Visitor’s Center. We have done everything including ceremony, cocktail hour and dinner and dancing inside the Visitor’s Center for guests counts of 135 people or less. The tent comes with heater and lights so this kept all the guests outside for cocktail hour with no jackets on. This really allowed the guests to have a good time. The guests came inside to a warm glowing room filled with lots of candles, hanging Asian lanterns, and light up ice cubes in the Bride’s colors. Driving in and leaving the estate really shows you how gorgeous and inviting the Visitors Center can be even on a cold winter night!