Eclantante Entrance

Nov 12th was my first holiday party of the year. Kendall Brown, Donna O’Brien, and Claudia Seyler of Eclatante Design, Beautiful Blooms, and Claudias Make-Up Studio respectively, held their holiday party open house early so that all of us “in the biz” could make it before the holiday rush.

Kendall and Leila were the consummate hostesses, streaming between the shops and welcoming guests outside while Donna and Mya mixed and mingled and kep the flow going.

I caught up with some old friends and colleagues that now work for Feast Your Eyes catering. I sampled some great red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and an adult milkshake with what else but Bailey’s in it! There were some warm firepits outside with make your own smores stations. Heaters lined the walkway between the shops and there were throws for brave guests to curl up in and snuggle and people watch (or was that just me?).

I got to say to some other great people including Mike Kehr and his team and Dave from DVideography. Mary Reugg from Brides Philadelphia was also there. I snapped a couple quick shots - take a look.

Festive Scene

Sexy Claudia

Comfy Throws

Cool Ice

Hello again readers. While I have not been posting I don’t want anyone to think we have been slacking over here. We are hard at work getting ready for our 1st ever tasting on Nov 24th featuring some of our great vendors and so much food!

I wanted to let everyone know that I am currently revising the catering packages as we are going to be offering you a choice of 2 different cake vendors - our fabulous Kimberly Withers and the infamous Liz Marden. Liz has been a pastry chef in this area for over 20 years and loves when she now makes cakes for children of prior wedding couples.

Kimberly’s style allows you to mix and match your perfect combination. Liz puts her combinations together for you with signature items such as her White Chocolate Mousse Cake - Light and airy white chocolate mousse, sandwiched with a combination of chocolate and vanilla cake layers and raspberry jam. Other choices include Milk Chocolate Mousse, Strawberry Mousse, and Bananas Foster!

Both of the ladies will be here on the 24th with samples and photos. While you won’t have time to dig into every specific question, you will have plenty of time to sample and look and see what options best suit what you are looking for. We are so excited to be able to offer you more options and can’t wait to hear your feedback after the 24th!

I realized a week or so ago that we have no videographers on our preferred list. the reason for that is fairly simple - i have worked with some very pleasant people but i have never seen the end product of their work so I don’t feel I should recommend them! I attend a NACE meeting a day or so later and when I starts mentioning that to my colleagues I kept getting the response - “You have to talk to Dave and Sheryl, DVideography”. It was uncanny - I really mean that every single person I respect raved about these guys!

So I made the connection - had them down - and they brought me a disk of some past work from here and it is amazing! We are so excited to now have even more great vendors on our list with Winterthur experience and all so respected in this crazy wedding world we work in. Please check out their website at

http://DVideography.com

This is a two wedding weekend here for us at Winterthur - our last one this season. The bridal season is slowly winding down and going out with great beauty if last night is any indication!

Great fall weather at 74 degrees and great vendors made last night at the reflecting pool and the visitor center remarkable. We worked with 3 of the best - eventions lighting, steve croce - DJ extraordinaire, and Sweet Peas florist. I think rather then tell you about what a great job they did I can let the pictures speak for themselves!

Nice placecard idea

Placecards - up close!

Individual Wedding Cake Favors - Yum!

Night View

GoBo on the Patio

Winterthur Delaware - Last night was one of the prettiest weddings we have had all summer. Everything came together the way the bride had thought and all of her hard work and planning paid off.

Lets start with her dress - OMG!! She had a vanilla colored, somewhat vintage yet very modern, mermaid dress that was amazing on Jaimie - he father told me later that he thought she had never looked better. The bride had some spunk last night and wore gorgeous 4 inch blue heels with the dress - very fun and very statement worthy!

Ceremony was outside at the pool, followed by cocktail hour inside the Gallery. Guests were then shuttled to the VC which Flowers by Yukie transformed with black chandeliers, picture frames, fun flowers, and a gorgeous lounge that was something out of a magazine. I am just sorry that my camera did not catch how amazing the bride looked and I am afraid I won’t do justice to the room - really one of my favorite that I have seen.

And yest I forget - the groom is a total cutie and looked great as well. We wish them all the best and had a great time working with them and their very close knit family!

Cake - Punch of Color

Guests Boook Table, Favors = Donation

Love the Lounge

Flowers by Yukie - Drape, Lights, Chandeliers, Flowers

Sweet Dance, Amazing Dress!

Hi everyone

Been a while. We have been really busy this month and I thought you guys might like to know some of what we have been up to:

My sisters wedding is less then 8 weeks away so I have been really busy helping her with final details. We are wrapping up the alcohol, linens, and timeline tomorrow - hopefully with a cocktail in hand.

We got some new pics from one of our favorite photographers - Mike Kerr. Check them out on our photo page. We love getting new pics and Mike and his team are amazing!

Testimonials - thank you to all the people that have sent us thank you letters and great words. We have posted a few of them on our website on our testimonial page as well so please read through those as well.

Anybody notice the cost of food going up - so have we! We are re-evaluating how we do business and the ideas of packages. We have removed all of our catering packages and are currently customizing all of the requests we get. This does give the bride exactly what they want and nothing you don’t. So we are watching and seeing what everybody wants and seeing how everything works out.

Well I am off to enjoy a vegetarian thanksgiving tomorrow (free the turkeys ) and then my sisters bachelorette party is this weekend as well so hopefully I will have some good stories for you next week. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

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,

Hi Everyone. I have not written about just the latest things to be happening at Winterthur with our weddings in a little while so here is a little update as to what Rachel and I have been doing - other then working with everyone on all of these events you read about…This past Tuesday evening Rachel and I were in Philly for an industry party sponsored by The Knot. It was great to see some of our favorite people:

Mike Kehr - he is responsible for half of the new photos on our photo section of our website and spends a good amount of time at Winterthur. Mike is here with us on Saturday and he shot the Seliger wedding from 7-19 that you saw.

Faith West - Faith is here tomorrow night and she shot the other half of the photos that went up on our gallery - those are from the Kloss wedding on the 14th of June.

Donna and Mia from Beautiful Blooms - they did last Saturdays Scida wedding with the amazing orchids.

Kendall Brown of Eclante Events partnered with the Knot for the design and schematics of the party which was all about the environment and what we can all do to make a difference. Tell me anything you want with a glass of wine in my hand and it gets even more interesting!

Ed and Greg with EventQuip were there. These guys are hopefully about to become my new best friends. We have some interesting things happening at Winterthur and hopefully in another few weeks I can unveil some big stuff - and don’t email me and ask for a preview!!

Coming up this weekend we have 2 weddings, 2 the following weekend, Garden Fair the following weekend - no weddings allowed then - then 2 more after that and 3 more the following week - Whew! And we are already booking like crazy for next September and October so that promises to be just as busy.

I have not talked about my sisters wedding in a while - her shower is at my house on the 28th - yes the weekend I don’t have any weddings here I will send you an update on that after the fact - the date and time are not a surprise to her but everything else so I better not spoil it here.

And everyone - if you have things that you feel it would be helpful for Rachel and I to write about - let us know. We can always use suggestions. Have a great night and I will be back on tomorrow night!

Hi Everyone

Tonight is an overall wonderful eclectic surprise everywhere you look!

Camille and Chris Wilkinson were married tonight on a perfect August weather day - 84 degrees! Great Karma huh? Camille is an artist - Chris is a golf pro and the wedding was so representative of the two of them.

Flowers by Yukie did all of the arrangements - Camille and her mom purchased all of the vases for them to be used. Each flower arrangement was unique to the vase - Purdy Flowers, Purdy Flowers 2, Purdy Flowers 3, Purdy Flowers 4, Purdy Flowers 5, Purdy Flowers 6

Eventions is in for lighting -Purdy Lighting, Purdy Lighting 2

Favors this evening - Coffee! It smells so good in here - this would be great idea on a cold fall night or a winter wedding - the smell just envelopes the room! Purdy Coffee, Purdy Coffee 1

Cakes - one for the bride - and one for the groom - Purdy Wedding Cake, Purdy Grooms Cake

The tables of honor were a little different this evening - Purdy Head table

 And I don’t know what to call these things but I love them! -Purdy Spikes

Great ideas for all!

Hi Everyone - I wanted to share another blog with you - this one is for Marie Labbancz who was here on 8/2/08 for the Savini Wedding. I chatted with the Savini’s yesterday and they told me about this and I thought you all might want to take a look at some amazing shots - great job Marie!

http://www.artoflove.com/blog/weddings/sara-christopher-08-02-08-part-1/

http://www.artoflove.com/blog/

OK - I know - I am cheating. I was simply too tired on Saturday evening to update you all and write!

 Looking back at the wedding this weekend it was so very Sarah Savini. After working with the Savini family for over a year I feel that I really got to know Sarah really well and her touches were apparent everywhere.

 Beautiful Blooms did the flowers and they were so creative - as always! Savini Flowers, Savini Flowers 2, Savini Sweetheart Table

 The placecards were very zen - Savini Placecards, Savini Placecards 2

And everything was coordinated just so with the help of “Two Paper Dolls” - Savini Menu Cards, Savini Tablecards

 I know I have mentioned before how much I love the idea of using one of the Winterthur Books from the bookstore as a guests book that you can keep on your coffee table - Savini Sign In Book

 Linens are from Special Occasions and I think the room and the tables look great - Savini Set-up,

 We also worked with Sarah to create a lounge after 9pm in the lobby area, complete with a Bellini Bar - Savini Lounge set-up started, Savini Lounge

The cocktail tables on the patio added character - Savini Bug Jars

And how about this cake? - Savini Cake

 Marie Labbancz was their photographer and I am looking forward to sharing some more photos with you when I get a copy of some of the professional ones from Marie!!

So Lisa and Jeremy are off to Brazil now for their honeymoon  - very adventurous!!

Lisa and Jeremy were married last weekend at the pool, followed by cocktails and back to the VC for dinner and dancing.

Mike Kehr was their photographer and he does some great work (for those of you who sat with me on your initial tour he gave us one of the smaller books of photos we show. I came across his blog this week after the fact and I thought rather then shower you with more of my amateur photography I would let you follow this link to his and see his great photography.  http://www.mikekphoto.com/blog/2008/07/24/71908lisa-and-jeremy/ He even manages to make them not look nervous during the horah and that is tricky!

Their band last week was Andrea and her gang from CTO and they were great yet again. They had the crowd up and dancing between courses but she was a great help working with my banquet captain to make sure the night flowed and we were not overcooking the food while waiting on them. A really great team effort.

I will say I am not sure if Jacob and Kristin know there is a nasty thunderstorm outside right now as they look at one another - they have their priorities in the right order - each other!

Tonight was a tough start - a beautiful (if warm) day and plentiful sunshine. At 5:00pm I got a call from some friends and family just a few miles away that knew we had an outside wedding, warning me to get everybody inside safely and check out the radar (which was flashing with red warnings).  At that time my banquet captain at the pool called and heard thunder. I called Joan so she could talk with the bride and we started to pack up the bar from the pool.

Making these decisions is almost as tough on Joan and I as it is on the bride to be and the people around her that are involved. We love the spaces we have and we want all of you to have the wedding you dream of here with us. When thunder and lighting start it is then a safety issue for the guests as well as my staff and a rain plan has to go into action. Ugh.

The Visitor Center always looks so cool in the rain, especially with those lanterns - Townsend VC from Outside, Townsend - Rain

 On the high note - Kristin and Jacob look so happy and Kristin was simply elegant and glowing! And the flowers are so cool tonight. Theresa Florals did them (yes the same ones from the shower 2 weekends ago) and yes, I got pictures tonight. Townsend Flowers 1, Townsend Flowers 2, Townsend Flowers 3, Back of Bridal Chair

A small sprig of rosemary and some chocolate favors are special touches for the guests - Rosemary

My favorite thing tonight - look at the card holder - I think I want that for my mailbox at my house!!Card Holder

And the cake looks like it was made to be here at Winterthur - Townsend Cake

And the placecard table, not a table to be ignored - Placecards - Grass, Townsend Placecard Table

 Joe from Tom Barrett DJ is here tonight and he is a lot of fun - we are working with him tomorrow night as well and can’t wait. Rachel and I will be checking in tomorrow night - we will “talk” to you then.

So last night was the perfect weather and I think it has to be the reason so many people aim to get married in June here at Winterthur.

Melissa and Steve were married last night on the patio at the VC, surrounded by the lush green canopy, under a beautiful arbor, with family and friends. The night was magical and you all know I don’t throw that word around. The weather can make my job so easy on a night like that!

Sweet Pea did the flowers and they were great, very professional. Once again I was moving around and never got pics (I am going to get pics of tonight as soon as I am done this!) but the arbor was great and they had these metal baskets of hydrangeas with lush satin ribbon tying them to the aisle chairs - very nice in the garden.

We had one small hiccup - the bridal party and some family headed over to the pool during cocktail hour to take pics and they ran a bit over time. The guests got a little restless when the bar closed for a while but I think seeing how happy the bride and groom were when they were introduced meant all was forgiven. One idea I have seen working really well even for couples that don’t want to see each other before they get married is to get the some of the bride and bridesmaids shots done beforehand. With enough time add some family and then you won’t have quite so many shots to get in the short amount of time of cocktail hour.

Saturday we held the surprise shower for Ms. Sara Savini - one of our fabulous brides who is getting married here at Winterthur in August. The food looked great - the bride to be looked shocked - and the bridesmaids and guests looked happy. I think the standout - other then this super fun cocktail bar we had set up - was the flowers. These flowers were done by Theresa Clower of Theresa Florals. Theresa and I have worked together for years and I so excited that she has decided to devote her time to florals full time. I wish I had some pictures for you but I was kind of running around a lot that day and never got a chance to snap any. They were all tall and filled with different colored water with these balls of flowers hanging - very cool and very whimsical. I think Sara’s favorite part may have been the buffet centerpiece that the vase was full of flip-flops - a nod to Sara’s rumored 300 pairs!

Hi Everyone - Beautiful night, beautiful weather, beautiful bride, beautiful Winterthur last Saturday!

 So much I know you will want to take a peak at so let me get started…When I toured Marvin and Christina around the Pool she made this little laugh and Marvin turned to me and said - “she is happy”. Well she laughed a lot on Saturday night and it was all thanks to a top notch team of vendors working together to make her vision come to life. First lets start with the flowers - welcome Beautiful Blooms! What true professionals and great artists. An absolute pleasure to work with and the flowers were stunning - but see for yourself - Blooms 1, Blooms 2, Blooms 3, Blooms 4

 Draping - second week in a row! Christina did not like the folding wooden walls in the Visitor Center and so she worked with Eventions Lighting to light the place up and drape the walls, take a look - Drape 1, Drape 2, Drape 3, Outside view, Lighting, Lit Ceiling,  Drape Cake (didn’t Kimberly do a great job with this design Christina picked out?) Drape Sweetheart and we even rented cloths to drape the entire front desk - Draped Desk

 Christina and Marvin are really into wine and they had some great accents to go along with that theme - Advice 1, Table Names, Pictures/Advice, and they also worked in a cherry blossom motif - Cherry Blossom Cake, Favor, Favor Table

 And I knew I was in capable hands but I was psyched to find out the event planner was such a delight to work with - Beka Nave. Beka has a great disposition and kept everything flowing and everybody calm all night long. She was a delight and so on her toes. Beka is working on more weddings this summer as well as her own - we wish her all the luck and hope to see her more here!

As always if you would like more information please let me know by clicking here.

Hi everyone

Tonight we had a great wedding - Emily and Nelson. Great weather out by the pool and the guests were raving about the rhododendrons that are in full bloom. She went with Periwinkle which compliments those so well.

 Two things in particular that I want to tell you about. Flowers by Yukie was here this evening. I love the flowers, the whole room smells like lilacs and I can smell it through my allergies! The flowers are so full of the lilacs, hydrangea, and peonies they are unbelievable - see for your yourself - Dickson Flowers - Tall, Dickson Flowers - Perfect Season, Dickson Flowers - Short. Look how great they went with the Periwinkle silk cloths from Special Occasions Linens - Periwinkle Bar, Periwinkle Placecards

I know some of you really dislike the pillars that are in the VC and Yukie unveiled something tonight to cover them, some white draping. This is her first time using this and it could only work on a smaller wedding right now as this takes up a lot of space. The staff and I feel after looking at them all night that they attract more attention rather then hide the spots but take a look for yourself and let me know your feedback - Pillar Covers, Pillar Covers 2, Pillar Covers 3, Pillar Covers 4, Pillar Covers - Room View

But I would say if you ask anybody that was here what the best part was - they would say FIREWORKS!! We have one vendor that is allowed to do them here on the property - Dennis O’Regan from Fireworks Concepts. I am happy to answer any questions you have about them or to put you in touch with Dennis who is a great guy to work with.

Alright - I am off to get some sleep. We have 2 more weddings next weekend that Rachel and I will put up for you.

This past Saturday evening was the official kick-off of the 2008 wedding season here at Winterthur for Rachel and I - we now go until the 25th of October with at least one wedding every week! Our hope is that we can keep up with blogging every week and sharing pictures, stories, and ideas to inspire you for your wedding.

I spent a lot of time watching the weather channel this past weekend. By 3:00pm it was still saying 50% so I gathered my banquet captains and we went for it and it was great! Just cool enough with the sun peaking out and the guests were able to be out on the VC patio for cocktails which is stunning right now.

 I worked with one of our favorite photographers this weekend - Jim Graham. He sent me the links below - take a look….

 Candle Centerpieces, Cake, Visitor Center Patio

This past weekend was stations. The group really only wanted the Italian side (um, did they not hear me say tortilla crusted crab cakes?) so we got creative in getting people through fast and tempting them and talking them into trying some other things. The dessert station was a hit - Jason made mint julep ice cream - my new reason to go to the gym!

Reminder to all - if you are using a vendor that is not one we recommend, please stress in the planning process that there is no access to the VC until 5:00pm. That was almost an issue but everything ended up working out okay.

Alright - now I am off to check the weather for this weekend, rehearsal dinner, wedding, and of course, the 30th Annual Point to Point races on Sunday- whew!

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!