I finally got my hands on some of the amazing photos from Laura Novak from the July 23rd Lewis wedding here. This wedding was amazing in no small part due to Melissa Paul and her team from Evantine. Lighting with Eventions of course and we had Casey and the dreamtime band from EBE - they had the guests up and out of their seats all night long.

This was the first wedding using the conservatory and look at what Melissa did with the Gallery - wow- I think pictures are better then my words any day….

Placecards - Evantine Style

leading up to the conservatory

Guest sign in station - Evantine Style

Stationary Hors D'oeuvres

Bar in the Conservatory, Evantine Florals

Raw Bar Display

Signature Cocktail

Conservatory from the West Side of the Museum

Conservatory Doors

What an amazing sweetheart table

Long Dinner Tables

Liz Marden Cake

Outside of the Gallery

Intermezzo

View from the top of the Gallery

Chocolate Mousse

Dessert Station

Yum!

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

I am so blessed this weekend - I have the best couples and families to assist and share their days with! This evening I have the pleasure of working with Kitty and Jeff and they are awesome! These two high energy people exude energy and when they are together it gets even better. Lots of small, gorgeous touches to show you from throughout this whole wedding…

Pool beforehand

Pretty programs

I was so lucky to work once again with Joel Plotkin - Joel sent me some quick pics so that I could put up some better shots then what my talent and camera allows for - thanks Joel!

I cant wait to get some more of the pics when Joel is done with them

I don’t want to be remiss in not mentioning the rest fo the great vendors we had to work with on Saturday including Signature DJ’s, Theresa Florals, and Eventions Lighting. Linens were from total table. Ambiance by Winterthur, amazing night by Kitty and Jeff!

Hi All. Well we had our first rain plan for the season. I think Ken and Angela had every gardener and farmer on the East coast rooting against them with this rain storm coming. It did clear enough so that guests did not get wet going into the buildings. We so wish it would have cleared just an hour earlier so we could have given them the pool that they wanted. Angela is the last of her sisters to get married and it must now be tradition as it rained on each of their wedding days as well. The guests loved everything and marveled at how beautiful everything was.

Hi everyone. First lest me say that I am sorry I have been remiss the past two weeks about posting. I got some much needed time away after the weddings on the 26 and 27th and I never got the chance to post pictures from Corey and Shawn or Maryann and Chad which is a shame as they were both gorgeous brides with some gorgeous touches. Maybe if the ladies send me some pics I can post late.

Last night - after the 2:00 pop up storm - we hosted the wedding of Emily and Phil. I want to show you even more then what I am posting now and I am waiting for Jim Grahamwho was the photographer last night, to send me some of his shots - you have to see the way these two had the Gallery lit - amazing! I always love the work that the Eventions team does.

Let me tell you what I do have though in the meantime. After the storm we had some much needed cool breezes for our ceremony and cocktail hour outside by the pool. Emily (And Phil?) thought of some great little touches - love the card holder. I was able to carry it around securely for them throughout the cocktail hour!

Loved these programs - remember 1 per couple is more then enough

Cute card holder

Pond Water - no refreshing cucumber water for guests

Sweet Peas simplicity

Beautiful Blue

Nervous Dad

Picture Perfect

Dinner and dancing were held in the Gallery. As always Meg from Sweet Peas of Jennersville did a great job and the music from Tom Barrett was fun and fit the couple great. Newest thing I have now seen - Phil actaully rented 2 identical tuxes and changed completely once he came in from outside. Now there is a guy who knows how he reacts to the heat!

Cake by Liz Marden

PS - Emily if you are reading this in Aruba Phil wanted me to tell you to turn off the computer and go be with your husband!

More pics from Jim Graham - thanks Jim -these are great!

Friday the 14th we worked with the grooms family for a change of pace with a great rehearsal dinner. 70 people in the Gallery with 3 food stations and some light stationary hors d’oeuvres. White Stripe linens from Special Occasions gave just the right amount of pop. I do hope we did not outshine the wedding the next day!

White Stripe Linens for the Rehearsal DinnerStationary display for the rehearsal

Saturday the 15thwas GORGEOUS - I mean that was a typical May day - the reason so many people choose this month to get married! We did something different - which of course I always love - and the mother of the bride had the idea to have the ceremony on the East Side of the Gallery. Now we have done that before but not where we had it. MOB asked us to place it in a different area and I thought it came out really well.

You know how we LOVE to change desks into bars!The Bride makes her entranceMe shooting Jim Graham shooting

Flowers by Yukie did the sweet and simple flowers - I love the height the orchids give to the Gallery!

Mary Jane finishing placecards

Different cake idea

We are in full wedding gear right now with 3 this weekend. You may have noticed my email and phone responses have slowed down a bit - I will get caught back up after this weekend!

What a great mission and what a great team that puts this event on. The committee is so focused and there is a wonderful group of woman who work so hard on this event all year long. It is my absolute pleasure to work with them on an event that is so meaningful every year.

This year the committee wanted to mix it up - we had previously had a seated dinner in the Visitor Center. This year we turned it completely around and had stations and hors d’oeuvres in the Gallery with an extended tent. Theme - Moroccan Nights. Check out some of these great ideas and pictures…

Look at the cool cushions the Shine committee made

Seating for 80 under the tent

OOOhhh - Seafood Station - Shrimp Towers!

Quite getaway on the Gallery Steps

Custom Menu - Exotic Food Station

Custom Menu - Comfort Food Station

Hi Everyone. Jacqui and Ricardo are getting married this evening in the Gallery, with cocktail hour in the lobby of the Visitor Center and the dinner inside. We have some great linens tonight guaranteed to transform the space and set the scene.

Ceremonies inside the Gallery are so serene. They need little to no decor.

The bride is wearing one of the most beautiful dresses I have ever seen and she looks amazing in it!

Great linens from Special Occasions. I love the two tones - green see through and blue stripe. Brown on the bars was a great accent.

Sorry there are so few pics - my camera was misbehaving. This was such a great family to work with - so warm and friendly. We wish them all the best that the future can hold for them!

The pretty parents are readyThis bride is ready to run down the aisle!

Dinner and dancing back at the VC. Kirstin arranged for my 2 favorite favors lately - a photo booth and a candy buffet! 3 different table arrangements - flowers and candles. And I love the VC this time of year with the candles and the lanterns.

Centerpiece 1

Centerpiece 2

A View from Outside

Photo Card Holder from Proud to Plan

Liz Marden Cake

Rachel has been working with Jessica and Aaron and once again I love the small touches that people use in the Gallery. I think this is the most perfect space for the smaller, more intimate groups and look at what just a few runners and toppers can do to the tables. I also have to once again give my love to the Flowers by Yukie team that did the chair ties and these great tables. DJ - John from Tom Barrett is here. And the cake - LOVE IT! I could not wait to see this one in person - what do you think?

Chocolate Coil Cake

Ceremony on the stair landing

Family Photos

Gorgeous Gallery

Flowers by Yukie, Linens - Total Table

Hey everybody! I hope you are all reading this from the beach with this great weather!! I can not wait for a few more hours to pass and then I am going to open up all of the doors in the Visitor Center and let the cool night air blow in. All of these couples must have great karma for us to get this amazing weather for the whole weekend.

We have 2 weddings this evening, one more tomorrow as well. I will update again tomorrow to include Sarah and Ben and their cool lighting and draping they have happening. Tonight is Brian and Beth and over 200 of their closest friends at the Visitor Center with the ceremony on the patio and Jessica and Aaron in the Gallery with 50 of their friends and family.

Beth and Brian have been so much fun for me to work with. They travel a lot with their work so I really got to know her parents as well and I think I am going to miss all of the emails Michael Hunter took care of the ceremony music - strings for the ceremony and a great jazz trio playing during cocktail hour and dinner. Another week, another photo booth - again - nobody doesn’t love a photo booth - including the bride and groom when they get a copy of all of the ridiculous pictures! And did I mention the cake - I think this is so personal and so much fun.

They like scrabble

They REALLY like scrabble

Ceremony on the Patio

Arbor - florist decorated, bride and groom supplied

Photo Booth!

Michael Hunter with Jazz Trio

Okay - more tomorrow - enjoy the weather!!

Good morning

Last night was an interesting one - don’t know where all of you were but we had a really bad thunderstorm come through Winterthur right about 6:40 - so you know what that means - a rainy ceremony, well sort of!

As luck would have it we got word that a bad storm was coming in about 15 minutes and the we let the guests know we need them to be seated right away. The Reverend led the gentlemen in, the ladies all walked quickly and to the same song, the Reverend asked them for their readings - Larry and JoAnn both looked at her and in unison said “Skip it” - and they were kissing and laughing as the rain drops started to fall. The recessional was more like a mass exodus from the pool and everyone made it into the Gallery with not a second to spare - whew! I can tell you that I heard so many great comments abut the wedding and I know it is one the bride, groom and their guests will not soon forget.

Since i had some other things happening I did not get to take too many pictures. I did get a good one of the cake -those are sugared blueberries which went with navy blue dresses the girls wore and the signature cocktail - a blueberry Bellini as guests entered the pool.

Sugared Blueberries

Also - the flowers at the pool are all in full bloom so this was the gorgeous backdrop -

Flowers, lower level reflecting pool, July

Meredith and Jeff tonight - stay tuned for more pictures and hopefully less of a story to tell!

I am sitting here trying to think of a new and exciting title for tonight’s event and I just can’t say it better then it was a gorgeous night here at Winterthur - the bride - the food - the weather - all amazing. You have to love low 80’s with a cool breeze and a signature cocktail mojito!

I think my favorite thing that Melissa put together tonight was this placeard table which looks so fantastic and yet so simple and elegant -

Placecards

She tied that in with her programs

Programs and Fans

and her linens

Linens and Sweet Peas Flowers

Sweet Peas was the florsit - i love their look - such a lush garden atomsphere

Flowers by Sweet Peas

Melissa added an antipasta station to her cocktail hour - here is a sample of that

Antipasta Station Sampling

We have another one tomorrow evening. It is so nice outside that the couple decided to add the reflecting pool at the last minute for their cocktail hour. The Pool looks great right now - July and August may be my favorite - look atthe fun colors and plants in the pool

July Reflecting Pool

and the crepe mrytle around the ceremony location

Crepe Mrytle in Bloom

Check in tomorrow and have a great evening everyone!

Hey Everyone - sorry for the lag time! Our blog was done for some maintenance but we are up and running again.

Great weather - and great weddings this past weekend. I am going to do a separate one for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday Amanda and Andrew were so cute - they were both so into every little detail - ex - Andrew got his guys matching ties, argyle socks, and supposedly - I certainly did not check - matching boxers! From the linens to the lights, to the flowers to the programs, to the place cards and the table names, everything came together in one of the most beautiful weddings so far this year. Judge for yourself:

Pretty Pink Programs

Pretty Pink Petals - hanging from the arbor at the pool

Spring Green in the Gallery - perfectly pretty - Flowers by Yukie

Pink Placecards and votive candles

What a cute cake kimberly made - buttercream flowers - yum!Beautiful Lighting from Eventions

Hi Everyone

Whew! - Busy week here at Winterthur. We have had at least one party every night - and sometimes 2 or 3. Friday we hosted St. Andrews alumni for a tour and their chorale scholars treated us all with a beautiful rendition of some great Christmas songs.

Saturday night was the Lazopoulos wedding and I don’t even know where to start on that one. This family has been so great to work with and Liz and Rob are so full of energy and so caring and considerate of their friends and family. I worked with a photographer new to us - Tom Feehly - GREAT! I have chatted with him this week and he is going to send some pictures my way and I will post a whole separate blog talking about the beauty and great ideas from this event. Did I mention the perfect snowfall…..

Sunday was busy yet great. UD alumni (other then Rachel and myself) were here for brunch and a lecture and gallery walk. We had a concert mid-day and the Port Royal Society had a private reception in the cottage. Bentley Systems was here for an appreciation day and combined great food, libations, and house tours for a really nice evening.

Monday we hosted three of the area Convention Visitor Bureaus here for a combined holiday party. Turn out was great - 335 people. Jason made those great mini creme brulees and those were a big hit. We made some new contacts - got to see other colleagues in the industry and had a fantastic evening.

Last night Winterthur was open late. one more time to catch us at night - next week the 16th. Winterthur is only open after hours to the public at this time of year and it is so much fun to see Winterthur after dark and fully decked out for the holidays.

Tonight we have a New Members Reception and we are getting ready for Barclays Bank tomorrow for almost 700 people. one of us will check back in soon. Hope everyone is have a great December and gearing up for the holidays! 

Hello everyone. once again I am sorry to be remiss and not on top of having these blogs up sooner but we had a very busy weekend - 3 weddings.

Friday night in the Galleries Reception Area here at Winterthur Museum, we hosted the Waddy/Franke Wedding. Both Laurie and Ingo work for a German company and met and fell in love. They booked their wedding with us just a few weeks ago and we have been busy working to have the perfect German/American wedding with the right amount of traditions as well as making sure people did not feel too stuffy and had a great time.

 Guests were greeted outside on the slate terrace with champagne, butlered hors d’oeuvres, and a seafood station done on an ice carving - what a hit! Waddy Cocktail hour, Waddy Seafood Bar, Waddy Seafood Bar 2

Guests moved inside to a beautifully decorated room, courtesy of one of our new favorite florist Meg at Sweet Peas - Waddy Flowers, Waddy Room Decor, Waddy Florals

Ingo and Laurie each had their own ideas of how the stations should look for their wedding. Working with both of them through email with my trusty party rental website we decided on a look. I hope they both liked it as mush as I did Waddy Italian Station, Waddy Italian Station 1, Waddy Asian Station,

Whoa - where did the week go already and look at me getting behind. I can’t believe I missed posting all of these cool things that Miranda and Chip did last Sunday here at Winterthur. Chip and Miranda are a great couple and I worked with them a lot over the phone and via email. Both very busy with their careers in the art fields and with spending time with family and friends.

 Miranda had some great ideas of how she wanted to utilize the space. Their ceremony was on the east side of the Gallery at 6:30pm, as the sun was setting. Guests were greeted with steaming cups of hot apple cider and wine as the ceremony finished and while some lingered, most moved inside and took advantage of the time to go through our permanent exhibit. Guests were seated and treated to a fall inspired dinner complete with apple fritters and spaghetti squash!

Sine there were 50 guests and we did not want them to feel lost we set the guests up in a “U” which was really cozy and encouraged guests to talk more and get to know each other. I love the color combination and the small touches like the runners and the pressed leaves - Maher tables 1, Maher Tables 2

Even the cake was fall inspired - Maher Cake 1, Maher Cake 2

And Miranda and Chip wanted to make sure that all of their guests knew had helped them and where they could get all of the really cool things that they had so they made these cards to show everyone - Maher Cards 1, Maher Cards 2

And these may be the coolest seating cards/favors I have ever seen. The pressed flowers indicates where guests are to be seated and inside is a CD as a favor for the guests - Maher Placecards

 2 more weddings this evening and 1 tomorrow night and then the pool closes for the season and we slow down and try to get a head start on the wedding coming up for the rest of this year and next Spring!

What a weekend we had here at Winterthur - 2 weddings and great Delaware weather for both of them!

Joe and Elaine were married in front of 40 guests on Sunday the 21st (the last day of summer - sigh). Ceremony at the Reflecting Pool followed by cocktail hour. Janesch Ceremony, Janesch Ceremony 2, Dinner and dancing in the Gallery.

Joe and Elaine really wanted their guests to feel the DuPont hospitality. We greeted their guests with glasses of champagne as they pull into the parking lot and a limo was there to bring them to the pool. From there guests mingled with the groom and the best man until it was time to start. The ceremony was short and sweet and guests then drifted around the pool with cocktails. Janesch Pool, Janesch Path

At 7:45 as it was getting really dark, we started to escort guests to the Gallery along a candle lit path. The Gallery looked great with a slightly different set-up and these great new linens from Special Occasions and flowers by Yukie. Janesch Head Table, Janesch Room, Janesch Flowers

This coming weekend is our annual Garden Fair on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Guests will come from all over to fill all of the interior grounds to look at various wares from tons of vendors. A really great event! No weddings this weekend due to the event set-up so Rachel and I are getting a little break - then we have 5 weddings right after that. We will check back in after the weekend - have a great one!

Evening all. Another wedding here at Winterthur this evening. Temperature is about 88 degrees with 93% humidity and a 60% chance of rain -ugh. Scott and Jillian made a great call - working with Joan they opted to keep their ceremony outside at the pool and they moved their cocktail hour inside the Gallery - in the air conditioning

Mike Kehr is the photographer this evening and he does such a great job. He was picked as an industry favorite and was shooting The Knot party last Tuesday. You can see his work on our photo gallery - the first few pics are all his.

Yukie did the flowers and the lanterns- great look. Graeber Placecard Arrangement These centerpieces are amazing. Graeber Centerpieces

Tonight’s crowd is smaller so we rearranged the VC to make it look full and perfect. This is only 88 people and I think it looks really great. Graeber Room

Rachel and I are in love with the look of the cushions. It is so much more uniform then the chairs bows and they have a chic look we think. Graeber Cushions, Graeber Cushions 2

2 more next weekend, and Joan is out on vacation!Chat with you then!

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!