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!

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

Good evening everyone! We just had the best weekend - 3 weddings, 3 gorgeous couples, and 3 great ceremonies with no rain plans in site - whew!

Friday evening started the weekend with Leah and Raleigh. This cute couple dated all through high school and college and they look like they were literally made for each other. Yukie did her flowers and Leah was stunning in an ivory lace dress with a 40’s inspired hairstyle - she looked so coordinated with the estate. They started with ceremony and cocktail hour at the reflecting pool and then moved back to dinner and dancing at the Visitor Center

At the pool - getting married!

ready for guests

Cake by Liz Marden - brandy almond buttercream

Slide Show on, placecards in wheat grass

Lined up, but watching the slide show!

Saturday night had a very vivacious crowd attending. We started with the ceremony at the pool and then Kristin and Mike snuck some alone time in for pictures and the guests hopped on the shuttles and came back to the patio for cocktail hour. Their evening continued as they danced and had a ton of fun in the Visitor Center. I loved what Theresa Florals did with the centerpieces - 3 different table arrangements, and eventions lit the room wonderfully. I got to work with Kristin from all about events planning - she is so laid back and relaxed - a great person to work with!

Liberty Lane cake

Theresa Florals - different floral arrangements

Another floral arrangement - my favorite

Placecard table

Eventions lighting - the perfect finishing touch

Tonight wraps up a busy weekend - I actually just met the bride and the groom for the first time yesterday when we did the rehearsal! I actually worked with the mother of the bride and w planned the whole thing with her in California!! Ceremony on the patio, Steve Croce is playing the music (so I am totally relaxed cause I am working with the best tonight!), and the Winterthur Floral team did the flowers on this wedding. I love this cake that Kimberly designed - I think it might be my favorite (or maybe I am too biased as I know it is the sunshine cake!).

Ceremony on the patio

Winterthur Florals does the arbor

Liberty Lane Cake - this may be my favorite one I have seen in a long time!

Winterthur Florals

A lot of hard work went into making this weekend so successful including my bridal attendants Lauren and Jessica and my great team in the kitchen and running the events including Josh and Adip. I can not do all of this without these great people and they are the same ones that are going to be taking care of your weddings if you are lucky enough to be getting married here.

Hopefully you are finding the pictures inspiring. I look forward to bringing you more next weekend. Have a great night everyone!

What a great night tonight. Sometimes I think the couples vibe just makes the night. Lindsay and Andrew are pretty laid back and relaxed, they are just so happy to be around each other and they have such a warm loving vibe when they are together, people can not help but to look and to smile. I have had a lot of fun as both Lindsay, Andrew, and both moms were very involved and oh so helpful.  And some sweeping azaleas in the background aren’t bad either!

Aptly named - look at that reflection!

Bridal attendant Jessica fluffing the trane

Making her grand entrance

Donna and the gang from Beautiful Blooms did the decor. Gorgeous orchid shimmer cloths were the backdrop for the mercury glass arrangements that varied from table to table. And let’s not forget the setting for the wedding with this great addition to the arch at the reflecting pool - I love the layers of crystals cascading from the top

Table arrangements

2nd Table Arrangement

Lovely cherry blossoms with more crystals on the placecard/frame table

Kimberly from Liberty Lane Bake Shop did the cake this evening and I think it is so pretty with the sweet floral touches supplied by Beautiful Blooms.

One of my favorite people - Steve Croce - is our DJ and master of ceremonies this evening. Steve is so great to work with, he just helps us make the night smooth and makes us look good. Gotta love that!

Winterthur Guest Book and Chocolate Truffle Favors - yum!

We are working with a new photography team tonight - Tony Baida and his son Sal. Really nice guys. I am hoping to catch a glimpse of some of his photos at some point this evening.

Cocktail hour on the VC patio

The past two weeks I have been so lucky to work with the great vendors on our list. I can not stress to all of you how much easier this makes my job pre-ceremony and how much more time I can spend on the bridal party and double and triple checking things for your wedding when I am not chasing new vendors throughout the 1000 acre estate!

More events next weekend and a big 3 in a row the weekend after - whew. Lets hope the weather continues to hold as it did today on this beautiful evening!

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.