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!

Hi everyone. Great wedding this past weekend - Sarah and Chris and her parents were awesome to work with - it is so much fun to work with a couple for a year and see everything come together so beautifully.

And you know how I love the finishing touches - the ribbon on the cake that perfectly matches the bridesmaids dresses, the linen overlays that match the table names that match the menu cards - I think these are the thing that take a wedding to the next level and show your guests that you really thought about every little detail.

Summer Green Ribbon = gorgeous summer cake

Added touches - linen, table names, menu cards

Family Portraits on the Front Desk

Beautiful Room

Placecards and donation notice

The couple made a donation that was near and dear to them. Remember - your guests have enough little picture frames and bottle toppers! Do something good for a hometown organization that so desperately needs the money now and feel good about the fact that I am not throwing all the leftover favors away at the end of the night!!

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

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

08452-digital-wedding-signage

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

Flowers by Yukie did a great natural spring job and lovely huppa which frames out the gardens so nicely.

Ceremony

Something new we tested out this evening - our Phantom I Rolls Royce. We had it parked right off from the Visitor Center and guests were able to take a look, ask questions, and have their picture taken with it as well. Isn’t it beautful. It is such a great enhancement for only $500 for the evening - and th pictures in there are mesmerizing.

Rolls Royce

So we are off and running. May is very busy for us and we have some really different and unique weddings coming up that I can not wait to share with you. I won’t be posting next week as I am walking in a charity walk for my favorite charity, the Delaware Humane Association. But don’t worry - I will have plenty to share with you in just a few weeks.

Hi everyone - sorry for the late post on this blog - I got a new camera and the pictures are too large. So now that I have re-sized them, here you go…. 

 OK well maybe not Erin (go bragh) but Patricia and Kevin sure had a great time. Some great Irish touches - like the amazing Irish guitarist - Tricia - write in and tell everybody who that was that played at cocktail hour - and like these little favors Tricia made -

Gannon Favors

And then there was the green beer! The linens were great in shades of green with black accents.

The cake was intended to make people chuckle -

Gannon Cake

A lot of you have asked me lately for pics of the lobby set-up as a reception space so here you go -

Gannon Bar

And another shot of more of the lobby -

Gannon Lobby

And with that the 2009 wedding season is off to a great start.

First and foremost everyone here at Winterthur Museum and Restaurant Associates wishes all of you a safe and prosperous New Year! Rachel and I are ringing it in with high style and BLING this evening with a beautiful wedding here at the Visitor Center.  This wedding is a real treat as there as just so many creative ideas that I can not wait to share with you. And a reminder to those of you who are reading for the first time - click on the highlighted words to see pictures!!

Tonight’s theme - definitely BLING! There are tiny sparkly touches everywhere you look to create this one of a kind wedding. Lets start with what may be my favorite thing tonight - the cake. Almond cake with almond buttercream - but look at it. The cake topper and the cake jewelry (something new to me) work in perfect harmony to create this stunning masterpiece. Walker Cake, Walker Cake 2

Our couple really embraced the champagne idea for tonight as ell. I love this idea - they have silver markers and are asking their guests to write remarks on the bottles. They will, in turn, open a different bottle every month on their anniversary and get to read their friends and family good wishes. Walker Champagne Table

 So how about the square tables? We rented these tables for the couple - it certainly gives a different look. I had somebody just remark that it makes it look so special. With these particular tables we can seat up to 12 people so fewer tables but they do take up just about as much space as a few more smaller ones. I think they look really great and give a lot of room to the guests. Walker Room, Walker Tables

The sweetheart tables is so decked out - I love it. It always feels so sad when people don’t think about their own table or skimp their. Set the tone - you are the special couple and your tables should showcase that special something. Walker Sweetheart

 Danielle has wanted a candy table for her guests from the first time we started talking. She saw a specific picture of the candy arranged like a rainbow and we have duplicated it here for her. How cozy in front of the Christmas trees. Wakler Candy Table

We are unveiling one of our new stations this evening - the Caribbean one. Yes - I worked on it with the chef becuase of my love of that food. Red Snapper with Banana Jam - yum! Bay Scallop Ceviche with Citrus and Kiwi - Divine!

We have a small break now while Rachel and I gear up with tastings and new inquiries for the Spring season. We have a lot of great topics lined up for you in the next few weeks (including my own sisters wedding next Saturday!) so please keep checking us out each week. If you have ideas you would like us to write about please email us at this link. once again - happy New Years and we look forward to working with so many of you in 2009!

Thea and Mike were married at the Visitors Center at Winterthur this past Saturday night. Thea’s grandmother used to work here and brought the idea of holding their wedding here to couple’s attention. It was very meaningful in that way and special to both Thea and her Grandmother!

The ceremony took place inside the Visitors Center overlooking the Japanese Maple tree that was all lit up. Cocktail hour took place in the lobby and then reception of course in our main room. Thea wanted to incorporate her colors of burgundy and ivory where she could. Table 1, Table 2, Place Cards She used tables runners and other colored linens on her accent tables to bring everything together. Despite the cold, rainy weather outside, the wedding was beautiful and they both seemed incredibly happy!

Hi Everybody - welcome back! I feel that I have not been on and talked to you guys in weeks. Lest you think I have been goofing off please let me share with you what has been happening here and in my life.

The weekend of the 18th we were blessed enough to be able to do one of my favorite events - SHINE. Shine raises money for the Chester County Hospital Cancer Center and it is such a great cause and such a hardworking group of ladies that put on the event.

The last weekend in October was somehow not booked here at Winterthur! I had some of my college roommates fly in and we were off to Princeton New Jersey for a surprise wedding shower. Last weekend I was at a wedding on Saturday night which is always fun and yet hard to relax and not try to pay too much attention to what is happening behind the scenes!

 Tonight we have the great wedding, Emily and Nick. Emily looked pretty nervous when we met earlier this week but she is glowing now and practically skipping around. It is great to see how happy Nick and her are right now and that they have relaxed and are really enjoying their wedding reception. I always try to tell people that when you keep smiling - everyone around you is smiling and it really is true - the guests are so cued in to the bride and the grooms vibe - it is unreal and when it comes together like it has tonight - it is great!

Emily and Nick got a tent this evening on the patio so we had cocktail hour there. Guests moved into the Visitor Center for dinner and (a lot of) dancing. We put up the Asian Lanterns for them and Emily got some great fall flowers. Click on the blue words to see pictures - Pierce Entryway, Pierce Candles, Pierce Tables

We wish Emily and Nick the best of luck and I will be back and blogging next week!

Brianne and Raj could not have had a more perfect fall Wedding! The temperature was 65 degrees and sunny and the leaves here at Winterthur are absolutely gorgeous right now.

The couple had a wonderful day and truly embraced fall for the theme of  their wedding. With leaves scattered around, gourds and pumpkins as accents and the warmth of candle centerpieces really brought everything together. The couple used Asian lanterns in the Visitors Center for the reception. This time of year, they held their cocktail hour in our lobby with the front desk as the bar. Room 1, Room 2, Decor, Cake

 The room looked beautiful as always. Nicole and I truly love simple candle arrangements as centerpieces or as extra decor in the cooler months between November through March. That is always a fun idea and way to keep things elegant and simple. Candles

Evening everyone

Tonight at Winterthur Museum we have the fabulous wedding of Robin and Scott. I first toured Robin and Scott about 18 months ago and I remember thinking then how much I really wanted to work with them as they were so much fun and so relaxed. Now all of this time later they feel like close friends and family and I am so happy for them.

Ceremony at the pool as the sun sets - how romantic. Cocktails around the candlelit pool and then back to the Visitor Center for dinner and dancing.

Some nice special touches this evening: African Violets as favors

Placecards in a picture frame (a green idea for those of you who like that!) Picture Frame Seating Assignments

Some nice lanterns in the lobby Candle Lanterns

Flowers by Yukie did the beautiful arrangements and the hanging Asian lanterns Asian Lanterns, Asian Lanterns, flowers

And look at the great outside lighting Outside lighting, Candles on the Railing

Robin and her family also decided they wanted to honor their family and have a pasta course. I just walked through the kitchen and the penne a la vodka looks divine! Jason is also whipping up the vegetarian option for the night - samosas with sauteed fall vegetables, tofu, and chutney - yum!

Tomorrow brings another wedding - this one is at the Gallery and intimate - a perfect 50 people. Looks like they are going to get some great weather fall weather as well!

Evening all. Another magnificent wedding here at Winterthur tonight. Last weekend of summer and the weather here in Delaware is a great 74 degrees - no humidity - little bit of a breeze - just enough to stir the plants in the garden and the frogs and lilies in the pool!

Adam and Nicole were married this evening and it was a great ceremony. We started a few minutes late but caught back up. Photos were taken afterwards and their bridal attendant kept everyone well fed and drinks full. The bridal party loves to have a good time and they are such close friends. Guests were in awe of the beauty of both Winterthur and of Nicole! Boucher Pool, Boucher Arch

Nicole and her mom - Cathy, were in a few days ago to wrap everything up with me and they brought me an extra copy of their invitation. I instantly asked to show it to all of you as I think is so special - look at the antique post card they found on E-Bay and had re-produced for the invitation and reply card - she had a firm in Seattle do them for her that she saw in a national magazine. Boucher Postcard, Boucher Invitation, Boucher Invitation 2

Nicole and Cathy also wanted a different look for the seating tables. We have some round, some various sizes of square and some clusters of round. This is for about 150 people with stations and it works great. It would probably take up too much space if it were plated or with another 50 people. Boucher Tables - grouped, Boucher Square, Boucher Room

Something different for the place-cards - Boucher Placecards

They did menu cards for the tables - this works out great as guests can figure out which station they want to check out first - Boucher Menus

A nice simple cake this evening - Boucher Cake

We have an intimate wedding tomorrow with the ceremony at the pool and dinner inside the Gallery. I will be back on tomorrow evening. Have a great night!

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!

Evening everyone. Well we had some rain for our outdoor wedding this evening here at Winterthur. We moved the ceremony inside in the front portion of the Visitor Center. It looked very nice and very intimate for their close family and friends. Ceremony, Arbor

Renee and Matt used a florist I have not worked with before. As guests started to arrive at 5:50pm, they were still setting up the arbor at the front for the bride and groom - ugh! But alas, the bride was a moment or so late so it all worked out.

After the ceremony guests moved further into the VC and to the waiting bar and DJ. They are dancing in the same area this evening.

From there it was into dinner. Look at the centerpieces for the kids table Kids Table -  and the centerpieces on the adult tables are soft and sweet - Centerpieces

Faith West is doing the photos tonight so of course we can not wait to see those. Mathew and Renee decided to share some photos of their ‘Children” on the placecard table Dog Pics - and they made donations to various animal charities, right after my own heart - Charity

Tonight’s dinner was mostly vegetarian, again, I can relate. Dinner this evening was our fantastic heirloom yellow tomato gazpacho with grilled shrimp and Jason made a great vegetarian entree that everyone enjoyed - black bean cakes with grilled pineapple & black rice with a watermelon and jicama slaw - yum!

I wish they could have gotten their wedding outside but once again, when the bride and groom are enjoying themselves this much then everyone else does as well!

Ann and Greg were married here at Winterthur this past Saturday right on our Visitors Center Patio, under a tent. Ann made the decision on Tuesday about getting a tent just in case the weather was bad. A bunch of people have made the tent decision and are overall happy they did. It lets them relax and not have to worry about the weather that for the big day!

Ann and Greg had about 120 people attend the wedding so we decided on the smaller tent. It is a 40×40 tent and was able to accommodate the ceremony nicely and the cocktail hour. Tented Ceremony Since we did not get any rain as we were supposed to, we were able to put cocktail tables outside the tent as well to give more space. I really like the tent option, and I know a lot of people think about it but cannot imagine it, so hopefully some of these pictures will help you out! Tent 1, Tent 2, Tent 3 We also have a larger tent that accommodate about 200 people or more for a ceremony and cocktail hour, and that tent takes up more of the Patio.

Ann and Greg had a really cute idea and she told me she found it right online. She had her ceremony programs on fans for her guests. I liked them a lot! Fan Programs, Fans .

And since we like to show as many pictures of the Visitors Center as we can, take a look at their room set up with a rented dance floor. Visitors Center

 I think Ann and Greg had a wonderful evening and it seemed to be a great night.