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

The bride, the weather, the flowers; all classic beauties this evening. We have great weather today - for the 3rd weekend in a row - gotta love September! Cool breezes and 78 degrees set the stage for a gorgeous outdoor ceremony here on the patio at the Pavilion at the Visitor Center. My camera or my talents shooting do no justice to the beautiful flowers framing the couple.

Erin was so beautiful this evening, even with her tears shared with her dad right before she went down the aisle. The girls wore purple dresses that were so beautiful and they will certainly be able to wear those again. Meg from Sweet Peas of Jennersville did the flowers. Classic, elegant, simple - we love her sense of style.  Liz Marden has the cake this evening and tomorrow as well. We wish Mark and Erin all the best in the world!

Sweet sweetheart table

Erin made her guest book from shutterfly

Liz Marden Cake

We started the weekend off with a little bit of luck on our side, Hurricane Earl stayed far enough out on the ocean that we did not get any wind or a drop of rain last night for the first of 3 weddings this weekend. Last night we kicked off our holiday weekend with Kellie and Sal. Kellie and Sal had an intimate wedding ceremony at the pool then brought their guests back to the Pavilion at the Visitor Center for delicious hors d’oeuvres on the patio and dinner and dancing inside. Theresa Florals did the flowers which were all aglow. Eventions did the great plum lighting but I am afraid my camera with its flash does not do the room justice. Overall it was a very sweet night for one of the sweetest couples that I am lucky enough to get to work with this whole season.

Raining flower petals, arch enhanced by Thersa Florals

Coordinated bubble sticks and program holders are a great touch

David has the foundation for the watermelon, beet, and red onion salad started

Thersa Florals lights up the night

Wedding cake by Kimberly at Liberty Lane

Eventions customized Kellie and Sals monogram on the dance floor

A pop of purple behind the planters was perfect

The whole dance floor ceiling was lit up!

Sunflowers and puzzle pieces lenta sunny mysterious feel to this evenings festivities. When the puzzle pieces were put together it was Van Gogh’s sunflower pic. Sunflowers captured the feel of the estate and the amazing weather on this gorgeous summer evening. Curry and Bob held their ceremony at the pool with cocktail hour following and then back to the VC for stations and dancing. The food looked great and people rushed back to the VC to enjoy dinner and start to dance. It was a great evening and we wish all the best for Currie and Bob!

Ceremony at the Pool

Mango Rum Soup Shooters - Caribbean Station

Mexican Station

Black Bean Cakes, Avocado and Mango Salad

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

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! 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!

We kicked off our 2010 wedding season this evening with the ceremony and reception for Josh and Michelle. What a beautiful night - cool and crisp but sunny until 7:00pm - great for photos!

Ceremony was out on the patio under a tent and cocktail hour followed outside, sorta. The heaters in the tent were shut off to accommodate the cantor who had a sore throat - you could not hear her with the heaters on. Guests bolted inside after the ceremony and cocktail hour was impromptu outside and inside.

Josh and the cantor sneak a peakLaughs and tears under the huppah

Michelle had this cute cake topper made - on top of carrot cake with white chocolate buttercream from Liz Marden - yum! I love how this topper shows off their style.

Check out the look a like cake topper

Tonight is the first of 40 plus. I have a break for a week or so and then I will be posting so much you won’t be able to keep up reading. Looking forward to 2010 and working with So many of you!

Sunlight streams in as guests are seated for the ceremony

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!

Accent tables this evening in copper silk - gorgeous. From our friends at Special Occasions Linen!

My bartenders - they don't like their pictures taken!

Guests were ready to dance and party as they were invited up to dance the rest of the bride and grooms first dance.

Dance, Dance, Dance

Great lighting at this time of year - look at how the cake just glows

Family Photos on the Front Desk, Slide Show on the Center Screen - Nice Touch!

This was such a great group to work with - I wish them all the best for the B & G and their families and friends!!

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

Evening all. Great weather again this evening. I love this time of year as it gets dark now for the dinner and dancing but you still have the sun and the sunset during the ceremonies and cocktail hour.

Ben and Sarah (yes - you made the Blog!!) just got married at the Pool and are now having a great time in the Visitor Center. We turned the ceremony and faced East today so that the beautiful white blooms would be the backdrop. Sarah was able to walk threw the arch with her dad - what a stunning picture.

White Flower Back Drop at the Pool

Sarah and Ben had a vision for the Visitor Center and it looks great!! Of course I think everyone knows we love the black and white in the Visitor Center. Eventions did the lighting and the draping for them, linens by Special Occasions set the tone for an upscale garden wedding.

Visitor Center Entranceway

Blue Lighting on White Drapes

Mood Lighting on the Seating Tables

White Cake, White Dance Floor

I hope you found some great inspirations with the pictures from this weekend. Looking forward to next week and more pictures and stories for you!

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!!

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!