How often do I get to blog about beer? And not just any beer - dogfish head. With the new show (discovery channel)dogfish mania has somehow managed to grow even more then it already existed in Delaware. I don’t know anybody at this time in Delaware who does not look to get their hands on a great craft beer - brewed in Delaware - that just makes it even better.

A few of the couples getting married here at Winterthur have asked me to add dogfish onto their beer list for their wedding evening. And I do this, with great trepidation! I have never gotten my order of Dogfish delivered - never.

This past Sunday in the business section of the New Journal I finally got to know why - not just rumor- a whole story on dogfish production and delivery. Sam Calagoine speaks to the News Journal about how they are looking to reign in where they are selling in an effort to deliver what is ordered. Here are a few of the key facts, as I see them…

Dogfish is distributed in 30 states

Production has increased 303% in the past 5 years; last year was 20%; it is still not enough!

“To ensure no store was completely cut off, an allocation system was adopted” - what’s that mean - as one store owner says in the article - “it is not uncommon to order 40 (cases) and get 5 or 6″

So I will continue to add dogfish to your orders but buyer beware - with this demand and not enough supply - there are no guarantees. To read more please visit delawareonline.com for the full article by Eric Ruth.

Hi All,

Tastings coming up

March 4, 2011 - 6pm - Full and Closed

April 8, 2011 - 4:30pm - Space Available

June 2, 2011 - 6pm - Space Limited

July 7, 2011 - 6pm - Space Available

August 11, 2011 6pm - Space Available

As a general reminder or for planning purposes you want to be selecting a tasting approximately 6 moths to 4 months in advance so that you have all of your menu selections prior to meeting with your stationer to prepare your invites. Please let Lauren and I know which one you would like to attend!

Hello everyone. 2011 is almost completely booked and 2012 is starting to fill in nicely. It has been a busy month for me with inquiries and site tours and a great time to meet new people.

I love to post about current questions I am being asked about. If 5 of you are asking me -I bet at least 10 more are wondering. This week - day of planners - do you need one?

Our team prides ourselves on working with you and taking great care of you once you arrive on the estate. That said - who is taking care of you before you arrive here? I think it could be nice to have somebody during the day checking your schedule, your flowers as they arrive, handling questions, working with the transportation. Day of planners can certainly help you with that.

A day of planner can only be as effective as they are involved. A true day of planner is going to come in after you have everything done and just work off a checklist. If they do not have a relationship with your other vendors they may not be as useful as you would hope for.

Some planners do not like to provide day of planning. They want to provide at least month of planning so they have a chance to speak with your vendors, look at your timeline and edit any crucial items they see as well as understand your desires for your wedding day. I had a planner just recently say to me that a day of planner is the fall guy - they have no control over anything, they have no part in the decisions you make, they have to hope they are good ones and somehow make it all work at the last minute.

We work with some great planners. If you are looking for that last minute help please use a vendor who has been to the estate before so they will understand the logistics and be able to provide you with the best possible service!

The past few weeks have been so busy - great problem to have to meet all of these new people!

So I am seeing an underlying theme right now - budget! I wonder if there was something written recently on another blog or magazine but budget is the buzz word this January. I get it - I know everyone has a budget - whether it be big or small or more then likely- somewhere in the middle. I ask, is budget the only important thing for your wedding?

When I meet with a couple for the first time I like to spend a few moments talking, trying to get to know them at least for a few breaths, before we dive into the conversation. I do like to ask -What is important to you for your wedding? LatelyI am getting a one word answer - Budget. I feel that if budget were truly your only concern you would have a multiple options in free state parks or a beach or a friends gorgeous backyard. I think that while it is a concern, there are other things to you that are also important.

Preston Bailey - planner extraordinaire - just posted a blog about how to help clients who want champagne on a pepsi budget. His tip and what he does is talks about money in person and he explains where his costs come from and he openly acknowledges that he is covering his costs and looking to make a profit. He runs his business after all.

A lot of you know that I love to talk about food and the estate and the service we provide. I believe that we are in the tops in our field. We have a great reputation. We have a proven track record and we provide personal attention. Can you put a price on that?

Perhaps we shift the conversation to value. What do you get for your money. Do you get organic fresh food or frozen food, a personal attendant, your sales person at your event? And is that important to you?

One tip I have used with a lot of my friends is to list out your top 5 most important things - that is where you spend your money and you look for deals or creative ideas on the things that are not as important to you. As you all start planning for 2011 are there any thrifty things that you have done to save money  that you want to share and help another?

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone is ready to make this a great new year.

This is the time of year where I get to catch up on my reading and look at the trends and new things happening for the coming bridal year. I must admit I have not quite gotten into it yet (so many great new inquiries!) but, I was flipping through a pottery barn catalog the other evening and I saw 2 things that made me think Winterthur Weddings.

Terrariums - no, not the ones you had as a  kid with bugs in them. These are rustic and would look gorgeous as a centerpiece on the gift table - perfect to update the card holders/bird cages. Pottery barn has them right now in two sizes and I love how they have the tablescapes with them. I am sure your florist would LOVE to add some plants or flowers to match your decor and to help you own this look as your own.

How about updating the look from the traditional bird cage to a great collection of lanterns. Sets of 3 always look great and you cold light two and leave one for your cards and envelopes. Some more ideas from pottery barn -

You can also search antique stores, flea markets, even bargain box stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx. Now will be the perfect time once the stores clear out their Christmas and Holiday stock and start thinking Spring.

Work with your florist to really complete the look of the gift table. Nothing looks worse then one item or holder set in the middle of the table with nothing to tie it in or ground it. The finishing touches go a long way in showing how much energy you spent making your wedding perfect!

It seems to happen at this time of year where you thank everyone that helped you and made your year special and think about the ones who are going to be a part of your life this coming year.

We had such a great group of brides and grooms this past year. A special thanks to all of you who have posted such great comments and reviews for us on the blog, the website, and especially on The Knot and Brides.Com. I think we may have something fun to announce from one of those sites in a month but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Thank you to the great vendors we have worked with this year. We are so fortunate to work with so many great vendors and we are thrilled that we have added some new ones onto our list that all of the brides may take advantage of. I am going to spotlight more of the vendors in a week or so.

Looking forward to next year. If you are reading this and you are getting married here in 2011 and you do not have a meeting scheduled with me to start planning - please contact me.

In the meantime- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

I knew from the moment that I met Eva and Kevin their wedding was going to be just a little bit different in all the right ways. Such special touches included…

The bridesmaids carried lanterns instead of flowers which shone beautifully as the sun set

We used the pool for the ceremony but moved into the Gallery for cocktail hour - Eva works at a museum (or the museum) in NYC and all of her guests were enthralled with the sites at Winterthur. We then escorted guests via shuttle to the VC for the dinner and dancing portion of the evening

Eva’s dad took the mic from the DJ - pre-planned of course - and he did the bridal announcements - including Eva and Kevin coming in first so they could watch their friends and families

The cake was accented with fall fruit - how simple and beautiful, and the motif was carried out in the wonderfully simple centerpieces that the Winterthur Floral team created.

Great pics shown from Joel Plotkin- we love Joel - he just makes our life so relaxing and allows me to focus on all of the other important details- look at some of the shots he sent me- thanks Joel!

Huppah designed by Winterthur Floral

pictures in the gallery - how unique

Cake by Kimberly Withers - Liberty Lane Bake Shoppe

At least we are not whining about the weather this morning. The last remnants of Tropical Depression Nicole has left the area and the sun has come out and the wind is giving us a lovely breeze. This evening we are celebrating with Ethan and Lindsey and everything wine, wine colors, wine accents, well, you get the idea….

Wine Table Numbers, Flowers Sweet Peas of Jennersville

Wine Table Numbers - aren't these a great touch?

I think the flowers were great - they were all so natural and enhanced the Visitor Center and the Pool so well. We love Meg and her team with Sweet Peas  from Jennersville!

Liberty Lane Cake - Flowers from Sweet Peas of Jennersville

Creative cake topper - all of the flowers were so natural

Guests entered the Visitor Center and were greeted with this great display of wine bottles as favors and placecards.

Wine bottles as favors and placecards

Since I am flying out on Saturday morning for my friends bachelorette party in Dallas Texas I wanted to make sure you stil had something to read until we kick the month off with weddings bonanza on October 1. Have the lastest issue of the Knot? If not check out one of our real weddings at this link:

http://weddings.theknot.com/Real-Weddings/69919/view.aspx?id=69919&type=1&location=021

No not for me - for the guests at tonight’s wedding! Caitlin and Rodney love the beach and everything that goes with it. Caitlin said to me earlier this week if she could not get married on the beach then she would bring the beach to her, and she did. There are so many great little details here that I could not wait to share them with you….the girls starfish necklaces, the one bridesmaid who had a small starfish affixed to her up-do, the signs, the table names, ahhh

 Beautiful Blooms did these great centerpieces - I want one for my house!

Cocktail hour by the pool

Cocktail Hour by the pool

Seared Scallop on wonton - yum!

What a creative, gorgeous centerpiece

Table names

Table names

Liberty Lane Bake Shop Cake

The other centerpiece - simply elegant

Creative placecards

On the 31st of July we were once again blessed to work with Kendall and her team from Eclatante Design. They had the best clients - Gina and Jason - and they had great karma - 86 degrees with a faint breeze by the pool. I cannot wait to get more shots from Kendall but look at what I got snapped quickly in between helping make things happen:

Amazing ceremony back drop

Bruschetta Station

So cool - the dahl drummer was great - and coupled with the DJ - the guests would not get off the dance floor and eat

We just fnished a marathon of events - 3 weddings the 23, 24, 25, then 2 more parties on the 29 and 30 and another wedding with our buddies at Eclatante Design on the 31st - whew! We did some really fun food items the past 2 weeks from root beer floats to a great trio of chilled soups served as a first course - I have a picture of those - read on and let us know if you want to add something fun like this to your upcoming event:

Root beer floats passed to guests or served on the dessert station

Trio of chilled fresh soups as a first course

Cheese tasting course with local farm cheese

Grilled Steaks and Shrimp Shish Kebobs on the Visitor Center patio

Grilled local peaches with homemade vanilla bean ice cream

Water Ice in stemless martini glasses

Lemon Italian Sodas served pre-ceremony

Yellow Gazpacho, Strawberry Watermelon, and Creamy Avocado Cucumber

Saturday evening was the 3rd night of festivities for Sue Ann and Mike and their lucky guests. Sue Ann and Mike had a lot of guests from all over the world and they really wanted to show that they really appreciated everyone taking the time to come into town and celebrate with them. Thursday night kicked off with a small intimate dinner for guests and family. Friday night after the rehearsal the whole gang went to the country club for a BBQ and pool party. The guests stayed at various hotels - including blocking every room at the Inn at Montchanin; where they held brunch on Sunday for guests. Rumor has it that some of the guests then headed down to Dewey Beach on Sunday evening!

Kimberly from Liberty Lane worked on Sue Ann’s cake with her

Linens were a mix of sangria and ivory vine from Total Table

The ceremony was at the reflecting pool and their rain plan was under a tent on the VC patio due to their size

Flowers by Yukie did the beautiful peonies on the tables. We also had the pleasure of working with the team from Proud to Plan - Lisa and Danielle specifically. It was so great to have an extra set of hands and another person helping me to greet guests and get the ceremony off without a hitch. I don’t think I could have done it without them. They do the best thing for cards - it is 4 picture frames together that cards may go into -

2 more weddings this weekend - stations in the gallery on Saturday and seated dinner in the VC on Sunday. Look for more posts then!

Hey everyone. I want to get these great pics out to you so you can see the cool things we had on Friday night here. Everyone had a tremendous time and I can not thank my staff and the great groups of professional vendors that I am so privileged to work with including Dave from CinemaCake, Kendall from Eclatante, Maya from Beautiful Blooms, Steve Croce - Dj extraordinaire, Meredith from Winterthur Floral Department, Eventions Lighting, Jim Graham - amazing photographer (please see some of his handy work below) and so fun to work with, my colleagues at Longwood Gardens - Michelle and Sara, our amazing bakers - Liberty Lane Bake Shoppe and Liz Marden Gourmet Cakes and Desserts, and we got some more decor help from Special Occasions and my favorite person Claudia and Party Rental supplied the look once eclatante and blooms did the design for these 3 tables.

Beautiful Blooms flowers, Eclatante Design

Special Occasions Linens, Winterthur Florals

Special Occasion Linens, Asian Lanterns Hung, Winterthur Florals

Winterthur Rolls Royce

Gazpacho Soup Shooter

Thai Shrimp Salad Cones

Eclatane Design, Beautiful Bloms Flowers - love this as a modern take on a head table

Beautiful Blooms

Winterthur Floral Department - so whimsical

Pecan Chicken with Tamarind Shrimp

Filet and CrabCake

Portabello crusted Chicken with Seared Scallops

Eventions - Draping in the VC

Previewing the salads

Hi all! What a weekend - our tasting showcase on Friday, wedding on Saturday, and we hosted the annual graham partners event on Sunday and all day Monday - whew! Saturdays wedding was delightful! I have had so much fun with these two families. Tim and Sarah are really the first of their group of friends to get married and everyone was just so excited to be a part of it.

The weather held - it was hot and sticky but we had pre-ceremony beverages for the bridal party while they were taking pictures and the guests enjoyed themselves though they were all happy to get back to the VC in the air conditioning!

Meredith and the team from Winterthur Florals id the centerpieces. I think the pop of color on the napkin is a nice touch as well.  Joel Plotkin was the photographer and he did a great job as always - though he needed help for this one as he has a broken arm right now!

Cake - Liberty Lane Bake Shoppe

Seating Chart - framed

Candy Table as a Favor

Flip Flops set up in the restrooms for guests

More flip flops

Winthur Floral Department

Visitor Center - ready to party!

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!

I had a great time today working on a photo shoot with our buds from Eclatante - design and planning and our other fellow colleagues - Donna from Beautiful Bloooms, Marie Labbancz Photos, and Claudia on hair and make-up. I can’t wait to see these shots published. Here are a few of the pictures that I took. As soon as I get the professional ones I will have them up for you to see how cool this was!

Reflecting Pool

Blue like the water....

Staging the ceremony space

Lower Level of the Pool - Super Cool Aisle Runner

Reflecting Pool - Lower Level

Hi everyone. Another great night here at Winterthur. Tonight we spent the evening with Val and Ty who knew they wanted to get married here because the mother of the bride is a treasured Winterthur employee and they love it here - like we all do!

Val and Ty had a few things you should see - they used the Rolls Royce Winterthur owns for pictures, they used our very own Winterthur Floral Department for all of their flowers, and they took advantage of the option of having their names up on the flatscreens as well. Take a look at the fun pictures and let me know your thoughts

Staff greet guests w/Strawberry Lemonade as they step off shuttles

Charming - the "Vand T" at the pool

Love this great natural collection of plants where they got married

Powerpoint and a photo presentation in the lobby

Black overlays over white - great look

Pulling up in the Rolls

Congratulations Val and Ty!

No weddings on the 4th of July so we will all be watching fireworks next weekend. After that we have 2 a week so keep looking back to get some great ideas for your wedding!

Good evening everyone. If you have not been to Winterthur lately -this is a great week to do it - the daffodils along the front hills are popping up, the trees are flowering - Spring is Here!

And so are some new options for you. Now you may have your name in lights, er, flat screens. Winterthur has come up with various slides, colors, and fonts that you can choose from and the evening of your wedding they will appear on the flat screens to enhance your experience. The charge is a flat rate of $250. Check out the slides and let me know your thoughts.

08452-digital-wedding-signage

Coming soon - slide show options that you create with your family and friends photos and we post on the screens for you!

Hi everyone - I just got some great pics back from this event. Look at the great food Jason did and the amazing display by Brian and his team at Evantine Design. And did I mention that our pod was picked as the favorite for the evening from attendees and from our peers? what a boost!!

Sample Table Setting

Sample Table Setting

Food Display Table

Dream Cocktail Hour

Wouldn't you love to have this at your party?

Signature Cocktail

Food

Mini Cubans

Food

and more food!

Hi gang! 1st wedding of the season this evening - we are officially kicking off the 2009 wedding season. I will blog later this week with some pics from tonight’s wedding - right now I want to let you know about this great event we are participating in on the 25th - Fresh 2009.

Fresh is the premier catering and design showcase in our area every year! Everyone who is anyone in the events industry is there. It is a great way to share ideas, see the upcoming trends, and get inspired for the new season. I always leave feeling so filled with ideas that I can’t way to implement.

This year they are opening the doors to the public - with the target of brides to be - for the first time ever. You will get to the latest and greatest in design and decor - taste some of our new menu items, and hopefully get inspired or grab some ideas for those last minute things you don’t have settled yet. For more information visit their website at http://www.isesphila.com/displayconvention.cfm?conventionnbr=6418