It's Wedding Show Season!!

This past weekend was full of wedding shows. We took the opportunity to set this tablescape at one of them. Unsure of how brides would react to our bold color scheme, we decided to go big because we just couldn't go home.

We chose orange an white because we believe that this will be a big color trend in 2011 and even into 2012. Monochromatic color schemes have always been popular with modern brides, but adding the white really allows the oranges to pop. The stark contrasts are bold and energetic.



We created a bouquet with a charcoal and white theme (also a color trend to look for in 2011) for the trendy bride who wants to make a statement without shouting. You will notice a little bling on the stems, adding a touch of elegance; and the black crystal flowers that provide an interesting non-floral texture.


We styled this cala lily bouquet for the traditional bride, but accented it with tropical foliage to bring it into the 21st century. This bouquet is also stylized in a popular color pallet for 2011, shades of green and white.


White is a common theme amognst trending pallets because it offers a clean canvas for pops of color and exciting textures. Notice how the metallic orange finish on the candles stands out against the starkness of the candle holders and the daisy is almost three-dimensional on he china.


The tulips offered a natural feel to an otherwise structured tablescape. The green of the tulip stems bring a freshness to the table that could not be completely achieved by the center arrangement on the table.


The Buddha hands supporting the bouquets provided excellent pedestals for the bouquets, tying them into the tablescape.


Pictures provided by eMotion Image and Video

The Princess Bride...in a Castle!

We had the opportunity to do a wedding in Baltimore, Maryland this past fall. In October, the weather can be a bit iffy in Maryland, but we lucked out and had a gorgeous wedding for a gorgeous bride. Casey had always wanted to get married in a castle, and her dream was finally coming true.


In fact, she had chosen The Castle at Maryvale! Working in historic properties always has its challenges, but we ran into a few new ones (like working around a massive 400 year old rug) that took some creative thinking to solve. Casey was grateful to have some professionals on her side. Here is the note we recently received in the mail:

Alex and Paul,

What can we say? You guys are amazing, you rock, we love you.... Thank You!! You not only created a beautiful wedding but you blew us and everyone there away! We hope you are proud of yourselves because we are!

Love you both bunches,
Casey and Jeremy


Working with Casey was exciting. She is an interior designer, giving her a great advantage in developing her ideas and expressing her vision to us.


Her inspiration came from pictures in a Martha Stewart Wedding magazine. The album was titled "Wedding Ideas That Sparkle." It featured metallic tones and lots of candles. The candles were in varied heights and colors of mercury glass holders. Casey loved the copper and gold tones with the bronze and silver accents.


We needed to make the theme more evening-friendly, so we made it darker by introducing a chocolate linen that featuring a copper leafing pattern. The linens were provided by Nuage Designs Each place setting featured a gold leafed charged atop a chocolate taffeta linen napkin also provide by Nuage Designs.


Our color pallet featured metallic tomes (copper, gold, and silver), ivory, and burgundy. To achieve these colors in the flowers, we used burgundy dahlias, brown and copper cymbidium orchids, hydrangeas, mango and white cala lilies, fiddle head fern (it is what sticks up around the candles in the low centerpieces), and vendella roses. The low centerpieces were accented with a copper, flat decorative wire.


The bouquets featured the same flowers as the low centerpieces handtied and wrapped in a copper satin ribbon a finished with pearl headed pins.


Casey wanted us to emphasize the use of candlelight, and we did that by capitalizing on the use of the mercury glass votive holders. There was a little over a dozen on each table. All of the pillar candles were copper colored and accented with a rhinestone band.


The base of the cake was done with the vendella roses, hydrangea, and miniature calla lilies. It was accented with the sterling silver elepahnt escort card holders.

We truly enjoyed our trip to the east coast, and we can't wait to go back. Thank you Casey and Jeremy for having us!

Photography by Jennifer McMenamin