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!

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!

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

White Stripe Linens for the Rehearsal DinnerStationary display for the rehearsal

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

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

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

Mary Jane finishing placecards

Different cake idea

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

What a great 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!

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!!

Good morning

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

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

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

Sugared Blueberries

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

Flowers, lower level reflecting pool, July

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

I started my morning off looking at the weather and thinking we would not get in the ceremony of Emily and Tim here at Winterthur. I watched the weather all day and saw big chances of thunderstorms right around 6:00PM when we were supposed to start.

Emily’s one wish was that if she was not going to get married outside at the Reflecting Pool, that she would at least be able to take photos outside. She ended up getting the best of both worlds. Just to be safe we did the ceremony outside and cocktail inside. The rain held off until after the guests were inside for dinner.

Emily and Tim ended up with a really beautiful evening. The Azaleas at the Reflecting Pool are in full bloom and are absolutely perfect. Besides having a wonderful outside experience, the Visitors Center where the group was having dinner and dancing looked great too. Emily picked out some great toppers for her tables and of course the cake looked good too!

Overall it was a great evening, the Bride and Groom could not be happier and we truly beat out Mother Nature for the night!

Holt Ceremony

Beauty at Winterthur

Reflecting Pool

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.

Good afternoon everyone! There is some exciting news on the Winterthur estate today - the museum has received the amazing gift of this car from the Beals estate. This Rolls-Royce adds a new dimension to our visitor’s experience as we interpret this era of Winterthur as an American country estate. It truly represents the luxury vehicles that the guests of Henry Francis and Ruth Wales duPont traveled in when visiting Winterthur in the early 1930’s. Other owners of a Phantom I Rolls-Royce include such names as JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Goodyear, Rockefeller, and of course, various duPonts!

Want to know why I am letting you know all of this information?

I am trying to find out from all of you how many of you would be interested in having the Rolls-Royce outside of your wedding venue here at Winterthur to enhance your day? Imagine your guests pulling up and seeing the Rolls-Royce in front of the Visitor Center or outside of the Reflecting Pool or Gallery. It is such the perfect addition to the ambiance of your wedding. And think about what the pictures next to it and inside of it could look like!

The car would be moved from its designated location by one of our specially trained drivers and would be positioned next to your ceremony or reception area before and after (weather and light dependant). We are thinking the charge would be approximately $500 for this service. What do you think ? Respond to me and let me know your thoughts and ideas and help me with this fantastic new feature we are so lucky to have!

Good morning everyone. I love Winter at Winterthur -the snow covered grounds would be the perfect back drop for wedding pictures right now!

I am going to write today about the passes that guests are able to partake of at Winterthur during the wedding weekend (thank you to one of our fabulous mothers of the bride for the idea!).

First there are two separate things between the Associate Level Membership and the passes that come with that and then the wedding passes for guests the weekend of. Passes are available to all of your guests the day before, of, and after the wedding (assuming our business hours). Guests do not need to show anything - they simply let the staff at the front desk know which wedding they are attending for the weekend and they will be given a wrist band which allows for the following: Tram Tours (weather permitting), Garden Access, Gallery Access, Intro Film Access, and access to the bookstore, gift shop, and restaurant.

I think we get asked before every wedding for the best way to let guests know about this exciting opportunity. I love adding it to your wedding website if you have one. That is such a great way to share all of the information with everybody quickly and it is environmentally friendly as well as it reduces the need for more paper and brochures.

Should you not be doing a wedding website, there is another idea that I have stolen from one of our couples a few years back. Request brochures from Winterthur through me about a week prior to the wedding. Get yourself some large mailing labels and add the following lines”See the estate where we are to be married. Winterthur offers free pass no the following dates —— for our guests. Simply mention our wedding —– and you are in!”. You can then take the brochures and put them in the welcome baskets at the hotel.

What about the guests not staying in the hotel? Truthfully - most of the guests around town are not going to partake - they may be busy working or doing things around their home. Word of mouth is always great and making an announcement at the rehearsal dinner works as well.

Associate Level Members will also receive guests passes that may be used year round as friends and family come into town - a great perk with membership.

Good morning everyone! Well Rachel and I are starting to wind down with the holiday parties. Since last we “spoke” we hosted Barclays bank for 675 people in the Gallery with great tents, Marin, Marvel, Bradley, and Anderson on Friday, Neudesic on Saturday, and a group from John Hopkins on Sunday. This morning it was my pleasure to host Winterthur’s security team for breakfast.

We start with wedding tastings again this week - we just could not fit any in last week!

I am working on some new things for weddings that I am hoping to have posted before Christmas. We have just gotten a classic car on property and we are working out the parameters for its use (picture opportunities!! and maybe more) as well as looking at some more spaces off the beaten path that we might be able to use for day-time weddings - an option I don’t have at this point and I know a lot of people would like.

 With the holidays next week (and my birthday!!), Rachel and I are looking at our days off and alternating so that one of us is here almost every day so we can handle tours and client meetings and all of your questions while you are home with your families thinking of things and starting to plan.

I need to go check on that breakfast again. I will be blogging again next week and look forward to chatting with you all then!

Hi Everyone

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone is out of their turkey stupor and had a great holiday weekend!

It is a quite morning so far here at Winterthur today but that is not going to last for long. We have an exciting few weeks ahead of us with some really great holiday events including St. Andrews School on the 5th, Bentley Systems Appreciation Party on the 7th, the Convention and Visitor Bureau Holiday Mixer on the 8th, the New Members Reception in conjunction with our feeding desire exhibit on the 19th, Barclay’s Bank on the 11th, Marin, Marvel, Bradley, and Anderson on the 12th, Neudesic on the 13th and more and more!

We have 2 exciting weddings this month as well - we have the Lazopoulos wedding this Saturday - which promises to be exciting with a new designer out of New York that we have never worked with before - I can’t wait to see Michael’s work and the Lazopoulos family is so much fun.

We also have a New Years eve wedding this year for the Walkers. Her theme may best be described as Bling - she has so many great little touches and I can’t wait to see it all come together and ring in the New Year with such a great group of people.

 My sisters bachelorette party was this weekend in AC. Not sure who says the casinos are not doing well - you could not move in Caesars or the Borgata - they were all packed! And no, I did not win big! If you are looking for a restful spa you have to try QUA in Caesars. It is great and the staff there was so nice and friendly. Late night Mur. Mur was the hot spot. Beautiful people and great music to dance to.

OK - I need to get prepared for the next few weeks. As soon as I get a minute I will post some great pics from the wedding this Saturday!!

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!

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.

Night number two of this three day wedding weekend was perfect as well. The weather was wonderful for Lee and Erika’s Tuscan themed wedding. Their ceremony took place at the Reflecting Pool and with a smaller amount of people, their reception was inside the Gallery Reception Area. Just under 80 guests fit well in that space!

I thought everything came together for them as well. They had passed Limoncello Martinis as their signature drink, homemade Limoncello as their favors, and more lemons everywhere. They put their place-card table outside the Gallery which is just beautiful right now with the trees in bloom. Place Cards, Patio at Gallery They opted for a different seating arrangement than we usually do here, along with rental Chivary Chairs, and I think it worked out well. Seating, Seating 2 I also thought there cake looked amazing and exactly what they wanted! Cake

Overall, it was another good night here at Winterthur!

Friday night was absolutely gorgeous here at Winterthur. Man Yee and Samson could have not had better weather for their ceremony and reception here. With the sun shining and a nice breeze it didn’t even feel like August!!

 Man Yee and Samson had a beautiful wedding with some fun added extras. One thing that we have seen a couple people do is provide a sign in the parking lot for their wedding guests. It helps them know where the ceremony and receotion take place. Sign They were so put together and everything matched perfectly. They had everything from a photo booth for their guests to a traditional Lions Dance to an added dessert station of chocolate goodness. They had an Asian theme which works well inside the Visitors Center. Their place-cards were river rocks and fit in well. River Rocks They also has menu cards and tea fortes as their favors which all went together. Table Layout , Favors One of my favorite things was their cake topper. It was custom made and looks exactly like them!! Cake Topper

 It ended up being a really nice night and I think they were really happy with everything!

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!!