Good evening everyone! Wow - last night was a lot of fun. I am sitting here reading emails from people who attended last night - both brides and their families and our great vendors, all saying what a great vibe there was in the air.

Guests were checked in by my wonderful bridal attendants, Jessica, Jessica, and Zanthea. Michael Hunter and his fellow musicians gave us some great background music. Guests mingled in the lobby while sipping apple cider cranberry spritzers and trying 10 of our fabulous hors d’oeuvres, including my personal favorite, the lobster and brie burrito. We also set up the bruschetta station - yum! Special Occasions did the great linens and the Winterthur Floral Team did a great job on all of the florals in the front. Dave Williams of DVideography was able to showcase some of his marvelous work as well.

Winterthur Florals, Holiday Inspired

After “cocktail” hour, guests slipped into the main room and were greeted with an amazing room and so much to see. Steve Croce was spinning some tunes, Brian Toner with Eventions had some great lighting, and we had both of our cake vendors - Kimberly Withers and Liz Marden.

Eventions GoBOWarm Lighting

Claudia from Special Occasions worked with me and we set up so many different tables with collections for the spring, summer, and fall to inspire. Theresa Floral did the flowers, each one different and beautiful.

Sweet ideas for the sweetheart table

Flowing orchids on the buffet - Theresa Floral

We also featured some of our standard linens and worked with our friends at Party Rental to show off some great enhancements including glassware, chargers, tea lights, other color cushions, and chivari chairs. Theresa made the white collection simple yet sensational and the Winterthur team took ivory to new heights.

Party Rental Glasses, Theresa FloralParty Rental Chargers, Winterthur Florals

And of course there was more food if I am going to call this a tasting ,right? Salads, salads, and more salads. 5 great entrees and 5 featured items off of our fun stations. I have a vegetarian couple getting married here and the chef whipped up 2 great options for them to try as well. Everyone got to try so much food and we should have gotten everyone up and dancing to burn some calories before Thanksgiving.

And don’t forget - this was our first one. Shoot me an email or respond to this post to let me know your thoughts and feedback. Have a great holiday everyone!

Good afternoon everyone! There is some exciting news on the Winterthur estate today - the museum has received the amazing gift of this car from the Beals estate. This Rolls-Royce adds a new dimension to our visitor’s experience as we interpret this era of Winterthur as an American country estate. It truly represents the luxury vehicles that the guests of Henry Francis and Ruth Wales duPont traveled in when visiting Winterthur in the early 1930’s. Other owners of a Phantom I Rolls-Royce include such names as JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Goodyear, Rockefeller, and of course, various duPonts!

Want to know why I am letting you know all of this information?

I am trying to find out from all of you how many of you would be interested in having the Rolls-Royce outside of your wedding venue here at Winterthur to enhance your day? Imagine your guests pulling up and seeing the Rolls-Royce in front of the Visitor Center or outside of the Reflecting Pool or Gallery. It is such the perfect addition to the ambiance of your wedding. And think about what the pictures next to it and inside of it could look like!

The car would be moved from its designated location by one of our specially trained drivers and would be positioned next to your ceremony or reception area before and after (weather and light dependant). We are thinking the charge would be approximately $500 for this service. What do you think ? Respond to me and let me know your thoughts and ideas and help me with this fantastic new feature we are so lucky to have!

Evening everyone - how great is this mild weather - I am so ready for Spring - how about you?

I am so excited to let everyone know that we are unveiling a “new’ space - the Period Room Suite or the Wing Rooms. This is a collection of rooms in the main museum including Charleston Dining Room, Bowers Parlor, and the Queen Anne Parlor and each room represents architecture from the East Coast. You and your guests would take a shuttle from the Visitor Center and enter through the gran McIntyre Entrance. This space adds the wow factor for your next event.

What else is great is there are no time restrictions on this space so you can use it for an intimate wedding, bridal shower, anniversary brunch, etc and you have the place all to yourselves.

We had a photographer here in November - we just sent some pictures over the Archer Group to post on our website so that you may get an idea of just how amazing this site really is. Look for them in a day or so! And if you think you have the perfect event for the space - call or email us - we would love to here from you!

Yes - this Blog!!

By popular request we have just added a response section to our blog. Got ideas - respond to the blog and we can read it and share with everybody. I am so excited that we can now connect you with each other as well as with Rachel and I. Try it out and let us know your thoughts as well as any ideas on items you would like to blog about.

Hi Everyone!

It looks so amazing outside my window right now - a light snow - I love Winterthur in the winter - it is such a peaceful retreat! Rachel and I wanted to chare some exciting news with you - run out right now and buy the Spring Summer 2009 issue of Brides Philadelphia - we are all over it!

On the contents page is a picture of the great staircase coming from the back of the home to the pool. Inside - they scooped up Laura Novak’s fabulous pictures of one of our favorite wedding couples - Chris and Camille (see our blog from August). They have a real wedding spread on pages 116 - 118. And check out our newest ad. We changed some pictures and the colors and I love it - page 205. Let me know your thoughts as well.

True to trend - also in the magazine is a story about signature cocktails with some pictures and recipes. Check out our blog from last week about the same topic.

And I am working on new wedding packages with some new day time availability and hors d’oeuvres receptions. Brides talks about those as well and I have read them and added some notes to my homework.

Finally - wondering why I have not blogged from my sisters wedding - I just have not caught back up yet in order to write it and due all of the vendors justice. It was so wonderful (doesn’t everyone say that) and I want to share some tips and tell you about the vendors that I am totally indebted to. Look for that one soon (I promise). Hope everyone is well. Have a great weekend - Rachel and I have about 15 wedding tours in the next few days for prospective brides and grooms so we are going to try to keep warm and make them love Winterthur as much as we do!

First and foremost everyone here at Winterthur Museum and Restaurant Associates wishes all of you a safe and prosperous New Year! Rachel and I are ringing it in with high style and BLING this evening with a beautiful wedding here at the Visitor Center.  This wedding is a real treat as there as just so many creative ideas that I can not wait to share with you. And a reminder to those of you who are reading for the first time - click on the highlighted words to see pictures!!

Tonight’s theme - definitely BLING! There are tiny sparkly touches everywhere you look to create this one of a kind wedding. Lets start with what may be my favorite thing tonight - the cake. Almond cake with almond buttercream - but look at it. The cake topper and the cake jewelry (something new to me) work in perfect harmony to create this stunning masterpiece. Walker Cake, Walker Cake 2

Our couple really embraced the champagne idea for tonight as ell. I love this idea - they have silver markers and are asking their guests to write remarks on the bottles. They will, in turn, open a different bottle every month on their anniversary and get to read their friends and family good wishes. Walker Champagne Table

 So how about the square tables? We rented these tables for the couple - it certainly gives a different look. I had somebody just remark that it makes it look so special. With these particular tables we can seat up to 12 people so fewer tables but they do take up just about as much space as a few more smaller ones. I think they look really great and give a lot of room to the guests. Walker Room, Walker Tables

The sweetheart tables is so decked out - I love it. It always feels so sad when people don’t think about their own table or skimp their. Set the tone - you are the special couple and your tables should showcase that special something. Walker Sweetheart

 Danielle has wanted a candy table for her guests from the first time we started talking. She saw a specific picture of the candy arranged like a rainbow and we have duplicated it here for her. How cozy in front of the Christmas trees. Wakler Candy Table

We are unveiling one of our new stations this evening - the Caribbean one. Yes - I worked on it with the chef becuase of my love of that food. Red Snapper with Banana Jam - yum! Bay Scallop Ceviche with Citrus and Kiwi - Divine!

We have a small break now while Rachel and I gear up with tastings and new inquiries for the Spring season. We have a lot of great topics lined up for you in the next few weeks (including my own sisters wedding next Saturday!) so please keep checking us out each week. If you have ideas you would like us to write about please email us at this link. once again - happy New Years and we look forward to working with so many of you in 2009!

Good afternoon everyone!

Busy day in the office today here at Winterthur- we have just finished revising our catering wedding packages and I just sent them to be posted on the website for everyone. Jason has worked on some great new food items and we listed some stationary food ideas as well as some ideas for signature cocktails. I hope everyone likes them as much as we do.

We are still working on a package for a heavy hors d’oeuvres reception for the partiers out there that want to be mixing and mingling at their wedding. We are also working on a brand new idea - day time brunch weddings!! I am ironing out the particulars and hope to have that information listed by next week.

Rachel and I have had such a great time working with everyone this past year and we are really looking forward to the new bonds and families we will work with in 2009. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday with your families!!

Hi everyone - the wedding here at Winterthur on 8.16.08 of Camille and Chris is featured on the Bride Cafe. Take a look at the awesome work of Laura Novak and of all the really cool things that Camille and her mom added:http://thebridescafe.typepad.com/

Hi All. First, sorry - our blog has been down since before last Saturday so we have not been able to post!

I just wanted to let everyone know that you may want to think about water for your group before the ceremony if you are taking pictures. Depending where you are taking pictures there are no water fountains around and it can get very hot in a long beautiful wedding gown and a black tux! A lot of the bridal parties have been wondering to the pool where our staff is setting up and asking for water. We don’t mind handing water out but we have gone through all of our cases of water for the whole cocktail hour before the ceremony event starts!

Think about it and let Rachel and I know when your wedding is coming up if you would like water service. We can take 2 cases of water and ice it in a galvanized bin and place it in a pre-determined location right before you arrive for pictures. Charge is just $30.00. Please let Rachel or I know if you would like to add this. Thanks!

Thank you so much for visiting the Wintertur Weddings Blog. We got the idea to start a blog after attending a hospitality event and hearing from a wedding photographer about how much his clients liked to read his blog and learn what he specializes in. Since so many of you have asked our opinions on various topics we thought we would try to bring you information on a weekly basis to keep you informed of what is happening, not only with the weddings we have here at Winterthur but also in our personal lives.

My colleague, Rachel Cowit, and I will both be blogging. Rachel is the Assistant Catering Manager here with me and she has been here since graduating from UD in 2006. In the time that she has been here Rachel has worked on over 40 weddings on the estate. Rachel is currently helping her college roommate plan her wedding and is fast becoming an expert on local vendors.

I (Nicole Bailey) have been in catering since I got out of college in 1997 and over that time have worked on countless wedding receptions - 3 of which have been on TV which was a lot of fun. Most recently Winterthur was featured on an episode of “Whose Wedding is it Anyway”, which still airs in reruns. I am currently planning my sisters wedding as well as helping 2 different friends plan parts of theirs.

We are both constantly looking for new and innovative ideas that we can either recommend to clients when meeting with them or to use as our friends and family are going through the planning processes. We plan on letting you all know the best practices we see here and to create an open forum to share ideas.

If there are any topics you would like us to discuss please email us and we will try to fit it in. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you!