After a fun bride and groom session with Concept Photography on the beach, Suzy and Mike’s wedding celebration at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne Oceanfront continued into the hotel ballroom. Here again, Thallo Floral Design carried the vibrant jewel tones and peacock feather accents throughout the room.
Here you can see the tree motif that Suzy looked to bring into her design.
The wishing tree was a big hit with guests. Throughout the night, guests added their sentiments for Suzy and Mike to cards and displayed them on the tabletop tree.
A “creative” wish by one of the younger set in attendance who took the “wishing tree” concept to heart. I love it!
Suzy and Mike’s reception featured an incredible 80′s cover band who kept the dance floor packed all night! The festivities drew the attention of hotel guests and guests from another wedding who kept trying to steal a sneak peek through the door. Suzy and Mike, we loved getting to know you and work with your families. We wish you all the best for a wonderful life together!
The incredible team at Martha Stewart Weddings has added yet another fantastic tool to their website – Plan Your Wedding By Color. They have brought together a beautiful array of carefully selected images and organized them by color, inspiring brides to plan and develop their wedding day design around a chosen color palette. Plan Your Wedding by Color is an easy to use interface found on the Martha Stewart Wedding website. Images have been organized by flowers, cakes, bridesmaid dresses, perfect palette combinations, decorations, and favors all accompanied by descriptive details and source information. Need some help organizing your thoughts around your desired color palette? Visit www.marthastewartweddings.com and find Color Palettes under the Inspiration tab.
From the Emerald and Aqua Color Perfect Color Palette
From the Pink Plus Perfect Color Palette
From the Pink and Poppy Perfect Color Palette
This past weekend, we had the pleasure of attending The Wedding Party at the Breakers in Palm Beach. This outstanding show was created and produced by Claudia Hanlin and Jennifer Zabinski’s Wedding Library.
We headed down to Palm Beach with eager anticipation to hear and meet some of the finest wedding professionals in the business. The morning started with champagne and bellinis upon arrival. Guests were then ushered into the beautiful Ponce De Leon Ballroom to hear from top wedding experts Darcy Miller of Martha Stewart Weddings, Donna Newman of Donna Newman Photography, Sylvia Weinstock of Sylvia Weinstock Cakes, fashion designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka, and Kleinfeld Fashion Director Randy Fenoli. Making your wedding uniquely personal was the theme that tied all of the presentations together. Documenting the day was none other than Abby Larson, creator of Style Me Pretty.
Sylvia Weinstock
Our favorite take aways included (and please forgive my amateur photography):
Darcy Miller – Find ways to make your wedding personal, thoughtful, and delicious.
Donna Newman - It is better to have fewer hours in your photography package in order to have a better photographer who will take better pictures. You are not going to regret spending a little more on photography.
Mark Badgley and James Mischka – Your bridesmaids should feel like they are walking the red carpet. Their dresses should be fabulous, delicious – ones that they will want to wear again.
Darcy Miller Interviewing Mark Badgley & James Mischka
Randy Fenoli – Your dress should be all about you and what you want to convey. Dimension and texture are going to be popular. Look for shredding, ruffles, and layers. Finding the dress is like finding the groom; there is always going to be another groom so once you find IT – stop looking!
Randy Fenoli of Kleinfeld
Following the presentation, brides were welcomed to the Gulfstream Room for a VIP Luncheon featuring Breakers Master Sommelier, Virginia Philip. At the same time, the showcases opened in the Venetian Ballroom. There was so much wonderful wedding goodness to take in, we spent the entire allotted time visiting each of the booths. Really, we could have spent the entire day in there…
Outstanding Entertainment To Greet Everyone
Beautiful Designs at the Kleinfeld Display
We loved the Kleinfeld brooch display – tres chic
Fun Favor Ideas
Tablescape by The Wedding Library
Tablescape by The Design Studio
The Design Studio
The Design Studio
The day was capped off with a bridal fashion show sponsored by Kleinfeld and The Wedding Library Bridesmaids. The dresses were both stunning and unique…
What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach! We enjoyed every moment, made some wonderful industry connections, and came back with several fresh ideas to share with our clients. Congrats goes out to the team at The Wedding Library for putting together this top notch event.
This week the Wed Lines blog has focused on our favorite trends among The Knot’s recently announced Hot Trends for 2010. Today’s topic is Hot Trend #6: Textural Floral Arrangements.
Image Credit: www.theknot.com
At Uniquely Yours, we encourage our brides to approach their wedding design with their personal love story in mind and to think of ways to incorporate their passions and personalities into the overall design or theme of the wedding. With this focus we can develop a cohesive design that is integrated from save the date through to the departing favors. Florals are, of course, an important part of the overall design scheme. And we are noticing brides getting more focused and creatively savvy when it comes to personalizing their floral design. Textural floral design follows this pattern and we love the different looks that brides are creating for their bouquets and centerpieces. Incorporating texture into the floral design requires one to be more open to organic elements in a variety of shapes and patterns and considering vessels that are out of the ordinary as compared to more traditional floral options. This past year’s client designs featured a variety of interesting textural elements such as seed pods, leaves, unusual flower pairings, succulents, feathers, bold ferns, and even fruits and vegetables. We also noted a movement toward uncommon vessels such as antique milk glass bowls, burlap wrapped vases, mercury glass pedestals, colorful depression glass era vases, and mason jars. And various textural bouquet wrappings included a variety of lace, vintage fabrics, and sentimental baubles.
We asked leading Orlando designer Lee Forrest, of Lee Forrest Design, to offer his insights on this emerging trend.
I love using containers that are personal to the client–perhaps pieces of family heirloom silver, or perhaps old worn cast iron urns that someone bought from a flea market–and filling them with gorgeous blooms. It is also a way of being “green”–repurposing old containers into something current and beautiful, and of course if they are used in a special way at family occasions, it makes the containers even more precious to the family. In these containers, I love using variegated foliage with interesting patterns, grasses, twigs, mosses, or even wire, if I am doing something more modern. Texture makes an ordinary arrangement feel richer and visually more interesting. Brides are moving away from cookie-cutter weddings that look like the last ten weddings that they have attended and making something more personal and extraordinary. Even the wedding that we did last weekend on the beach, we used a variety of tropical foliage in tall crystal vases, which gave not only rich texture, but height and drama to the room–and the best thing was, it wasn’t terribly expensive as the foliage are readily available here in Florida. Vintage second-hand stores and discount home decor stores are great places to find beautiful, interesting and one-of -a-kind containers–and with the variety of blossoms that are available these days from all around the world, it is easy to create wonderful floral pieces that guests will long remember. All one needs is a little creativity and a whole lot of imagination to put things together that may work, or may not work–but in experimenting it is fun to push boundaries that perhaps you haven’t thought of before. This is how I have come up with some of my best original ideas that are now the hallmarks of our design work.
Images Courtesy of Lee Forrest Design
A special thank you to Lee Forrest for graciously contributing his thoughts, and a huge congratulations goes out to Lee and his incredible staff at Lee Forrest Design for recently being named the Knot’s Best of the Best in Central Florida. Lee goes above and beyond to make a bride’s dream wedding design come to life through flowers. His work for our clients is always outstanding, as is his professionalism and attention to detail.
Here are more fantastic images that illustrate this trend toward textural floral design.
Images Credit: www.marthastewartweddings.com
What are your ideas for integrating new and interesting textures in your arrangements or design elements?
Elizabeth and Rob were recently married on a beautiful summer day in Brevard County. Their wedding was held at Faith Lutheran Church on Merritt Island and the reception was held at the Cocoa Civic Center. Elizabeth and Rob truly understood the importance of hiring a planner, even if for just wedding day management and coordination. Their priority was to have the Uniquely Yours team on hand to make sure all the details were in place and ensure all the activity leading up to and through the wedding ran smoothly. Thank goodness, because as the final days prior to the wedding approached, Elizabeth and Rob had to focus their attention and efforts on a difficult family situation. They were able to rest, knowing we had the wedding day fully coordinated and planned, while they focused on the needs of their family. Here are a few of our favorite photos of the day courtesy of the talented and fun Caroline Nicole of Caroline Nicole Photography.
Congratulations Elizabeth and Rob! We wish you a lifetime of happiness and love.
When people think of wedding publications, The Knot immediately comes to mind. The Knot is synonymous with all that is current in the world of weddings and is an incredible resource for inspiration through their online Real Wedding galleries, interactive planning tools, and both their national/regional print publications. This summer, the Uniquely Yours planning team (Karry Castillo, Sandy Dostal Thornton, and Jackie Becker) had the opportunity to assist with the planning and production of The Knot’s North Florida Networking Luncheon. The luncheon provided a unique outlet for invited professionals across the North Florida region to meet and network. Featured speaker for the luncheon was none other than Alan Berg, Vice President of Local Strategic Marketing and Director of The Knot Market Intelligence. So in addition to the great networking, the attendees were able to hear first hand the newly released results of the Knot’s latest Real Wedding Survey and learn powerful tips and advice for improving their businesses through targeted, specific marketing and sales strategies.
Photo Courtesy of Dawn McCarthy Photography
Selected for its gorgeous landscaping and river views as well as its outstanding cuisine, the beautiful and historic Epping Forest Yacht Club served as the host venue. Epping Forest has been a Jacksonville landmark for nearly a century and was originally the home of Alfred and Jessie duPont. It is a venue that combines all the magnificence and charm of yesterday with today’s style and sophistication. Kudos to Dan Cook, Assistant General Manager/Catering Director, and his staff at the Yacht Club for their outstanding service and commitment to excellence. No wonder, Epping Forest is renown as a beautiful location for Jacksonville weddings and social soirees.
Epping Forest Yacht Club
Back of Epping Forest under the centuries old oaks
Greet Table
Because we were into the early summer months we wanted the event design to be light and fresh and work well within the historical environment of the venue. We decided upon an airy french country palette of soft creams and ivories which would flow well from the outdoor meet and greet through to the indoor luncheon. Lynette Self at the extraordinary Rose of Sharon European Florist brought our vision to life through her creative floral talents and we could not have been more pleased with the beautiful results. Rashida Erskine of BBJ Linen further instilled life and color into our design scheme with coordinating table linens throughout the venue.
Cocktails by the fountain overlooking the river
The Dining Room
Uniquely Yours Planner Sandy Dostal Thornton and BBJ Linen Sales Manager Rashida Erskine
Sharon Clark of I Need A Favor, embellished the Knot emblem and logo to correlate with our theme and location by including a vintage, soft line drawing of the mockingbird. Sharon graciously provided the name tags, menus, sponsor cards, swag bag tags, and programs.
Sponsor Cards
Nametags
Menu
Bag Tags and Programs
Each attendee received a cute Knot tote-bag filled with the latest issue of The Knot Florida and special goodies from the luncheon sponsors without whom we could not have put together such a wonderful and productive event. Special thanks goes out to the following North Florida professionals for their partnership and support:
Peterbrooke Chocolatier – Gourmet Chocolate Popcorn
Choux Designer Cakes & Pastries – Cupcake Dessert Display
The Write Touch – Stationery Items
The Spa At Bartram Walk – Mini Spa Products
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Courtney Craver of Sublime Studios who documented the day along with Eric Torres of Collab-Creation Wedding Filmakers whose video is to be used for future Knot events and training. Thank you Courtney and Eric for your talent and beautiful images. All images courtesy of Courtney Craver of Sublime Studios unless otherwise noted.
Finally, we want to thank David Hanscom of Y? Entertainment whose team went above and beyond the call of duty at the last moment to provide the required audio-visual equipment and tech services as well as the entertainment for the entire event. We were impressed with his response to our call to action and greatly appreciated his sense of humor as well as his technical skills.
Uniquely Yours was honored to not only plan this event and work with the incredible team at The Knot, but also to participate and get to know so many of the wonderful North Florida wedding professionals with whom we look forward to doing business.
As the Florida chapter chair for the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants (ACPWC) Karry Castillo of Uniquely Yours had the opportunity to collaborate with the ACPWC course instructor, Carol Davis of Events of Excellence, on the annual Speakers Day which concluded the course offered in August at the beautiful Orlando Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort. This year’s Speakers Day topic focused on informing and inspiring the students in the area of wedding design, especially in working with their clients and other wedding professionals to develop a cohesive wedding aesthetic to be infused into every aspect of the wedding design.
Our featured speakers included the always creative Lee Forrest of Lee Forrest Designs, linen expert extraordinaire Rashida Erskine of BBJ Linens Orlando, and the talented graphic and paper design divas Sarah Matthews and Lisa Badeen of Orange Blossom Ink. Each speaker shared information about their respective businesses, outlined how they work with clients, and discussed their collaborative approach to design. Their speeches culminated with a design presentation that featured an organic, eco chic theme perfect for Florida brides and a darker, sexier theme appropriately named Midnight Escape – both the result of collaboration between Karry and the presenters to serve as an example to the students on how a wedding professional team should work together to bring a bride’s unique wedding vision to life.
Here are a few of our favorite snapshots of the designs. (Thanks to Lisa Badeen for being the un-official photographer!)
Florida Eco Chic Paper Design
Sarah and Lisa were very conscious and deliberate in selecting eco-friendly products, inks, and materials for this special paper suite.
Table Items – Menu, Place Card, and Table Marker
Invitation and Response Card
Packaged Invitation and Program
Closeup of Menu and Place Card
Table Setup on Woven Grass Charger
Florida Eco-Chic Tablescape
Linens
Rashida Erskine of BBJ used a variety of chairs to show the creative options available dependent upon the client’s taste and formality of the event. Those chair options included a chivari with covered with a gold lamour chair pad, covered banquet chair with rosette tie, and wood folding chair with flip sash. Rashida also used a gold lamour napkin upon which she rested the menu. The featured table linen was a grass twist from BBJ’s newest line. BBJ Linen proudly carries a variety of linens that are created from recycled materials and they also utilize an eco-friendly washing process for laundering their products.
Floral Design
The floral design was both simple and elegant. Lee used an urn filled with live orchid plants that may be transplanted post wedding day and enjoyed for years to come. The urn itself can also be re-purposed in the client’s home and garden. The urn was surrounded with white beach glass for added texture and sparkle. Eco-friendly soy candles were used to provide warm natural light. Lee placed a palmetto branch, widely available in Florida, as an added highlight for one of the seating treatments.
Midnight Escape Paper Design
In contrast to the simpler eco chic design, we chose to present a design with a darker, richer, more lush palette. Sarah and Lisa used a variety of accents, including feathers and crystals, which were carried from the invitation suite to the actual table-scape.
Save the date, invitation, reception card, and response card
Menu and Escort Card – We loved the scalloped border and crystal and feather accents on the escort card.
Menu and Table Marker
Midnight Escape Table-scape
Linen Design
This fall and winter you can expect to see dark jewel tones predominate wedding design. This table-scape was created to showcase some of the hottest hues for this year’s fall and winter weddings – deep purples, plum, burgundy, fuchsia, and silver as a metallic accent. Again Rashida Erskine highlighted a variety of chair treatments. A ballroom chair was covered with a cerise lamour chair cover and tied off with an eggplant lamour sash. A mahogany chivari chair was shown with a cerise lamour chair pad cover and eggplant lamour sash. The table itself had a base linen of eggplant lamour and was covered with a purple damask type patterned overlay with satin band. The silver bengaline napkin was laid upon a frosted silver beaded charger alongside the menu and accented with a single purple dendrobium orchid.
Floral Design
For this table-scape, Lee was able to showcase more of his creative talent and floral design genius with an over the top centerpiece. The main arrangement was a towering manzanita tree dripping with fuchsia, purple, and white orchid strands along with sparking strands of crystals and glowing candles. At the center was an arrangement of lavender roses surrounded by a collar of black feathers. Three small arrangements of lavender roses and feathers in silver julep cups surrounded the main centerpiece along with a scattering of crystals and votive candles. Can you say, “Hello Gorgeous!” ?
Another look…
And under the lights…
A very special thank you goes out to all the talented professionals who participated in or contributed to the success of Florida’s ACPWC 2009 Speakers Day. You are the epitome of a wedding dream team:
Rashida Erskine – BBJ Linens Orlando
Lee Forrest – Lee Forrest Designs
Sarah Matthews and Lisa Badeen – Orange Blossom Ink
And a big thank you and amen goes out to Angela Palacio and her gracious staff at the Orlando Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress for hosting the course. The students had a wonderful time and your team went above and beyond each and everyday we were there.
Today’s post features more beautiful images from Rachel and Brandon’s beautiful wedding post ceremony and into the reception. Thanks again to Mike Buoy Photography. Enjoy!
Love that beautiful smile!
The handsome fellas…
Calla lilly centerpiece, simply elegant…
Shorter Centerpiece
The candy buffet was a hit!
The cake…
Reception fun…
Beautiful bride and groom session images…
Congratulations, Rachel and Brandon. We wish you and your family a lifetime of blessings.
Much love and hugs,
Sara & Karry
This summer the Uniquely Yours wedding planning team has been immersed in assisting brides who are planning culture specific weddings as well as increasing our knowledge and experience with a variety of cultural wedding traditions. Staying atop traditions and trends in weddings is key to offering our clients an amazing and informed planning experience. Uniquely Yours planners Karry and Sandy recently attended a seminar on Indian weddings at the beautiful Wyndham Resort in Orlando. Not only did we learn more about the traditional elements of Hindu weddings, but we were also educated on the important differences and similarities between Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim weddings. The decor presented at the seminar was beautiful, offering a glimpse into some of the current trends and how they fit within the overall traditions and design of modern Indian weddings. Another key element of the seminar was the food presentation which offered an opportunity to taste a variety of traditional and modern fusion dishes. Our past experiences have including planning a variety of culturally and religiously diverse weddings including Hispanic (note: there is also great diversity among predominantly Hispanic countries/cultures), Egyptian, pagan, and Greek. We are always excited to bring to life the cultural traditions and experiences of our clients within their weddings, and look forward to incorporating this new knowledge into our client services.
Henna Experience – Sandy’s and Karry’s hands. Aren’t the designs beautiful?
Beautiful Invitations and Decor
Here at Wed Lines, we feature the some of the finest wedding products and professionals so that you can make wise, informed choices regarding the offerings available in the wedding industry. Wedding Pros In The Know spotlights professionals who not only know the trends, but are one step ahead of them. Today’s Wedding Pros In The Know are none other than the uber talented Sara and Ann Petrosky from Thallo Floral Design. The planners at Uniquely Yours Wedding & Event Specialist have partnered with Sara and Ann to bring to life the design concepts of several of our creative clients on the coast. Their designs are always “out of the box” unique and their customer service exceeds expectation. We hope you enjoy learning more about these graceful ladies and their amazing work.
Pacific Northwest Theme by Thallo & Uniquely Yours
1. How long have you been in business?
We’ve just begun our fourth year of business
2. What services do you offer bridal clients?
Fresh, custom-designed flowers. However, our services can encompass “all things visual”, i.e. custom lighting, linens, creating environments, draping and paper-works. Thallo’s newest offering for Fall 2009 is “wedding styling”, where we assist brides in developing a cohesive visual theme, something we’ve noticed can be a challenge for some clients. We’ve often had a client come in with an invitation featuring a classic, botanical print of a cabbage rose and then request flowers with a tropical twist. Guests will notice the disconnection between those two elements. Our belief is that there should be visual connectivity from the one’s first communication with guests to look of the reception.
3. What sets you apart from other designers?
Without the demands of a retail flower shop, we are able to focus our time and energy on personalizing each celebration. We book only one major event per week to ensure clients the time and thought a wedding deserves.
As co-owners, the two of us are involved in every level of our service from the initial consultation to delivery and installation. Our weddings mean more to us than a work order; they are about creative relationships with clients and nature.
4. How do you approach the wedding planning and design process?
During the initial consultation at our Melbourne studio we get to know the bride, learn about her needs and develop a sense of her aesthetic. We brainstorm and suggest ideas, product possibilities and give price estimates. The meeting usually lasts about 2 hours and we suggest that brides take written notes because it is a lot to take in. After the date is secured with a booking fee, we prepare a detailed written proposal outlining the plan for the day. The proposal is a starting point and can be manipulated throughout the planning process until a suitable plan is in place.
5. What can clients expect from you before, during, and after the wedding?
Many things! A complimentary 2 hour consultation, detailed proposal delivered within 10 business days of booking, e-mail and phone correspondence throughout the engagement until our contracts are perfected. We communicate with planners and other pertinent vendors as required to ensure a seamless experience. On your wedding day, we personally deliver and install our work – attempting to be invisible as we move through your day, leaving behind beautiful flowers and décor. Post wedding, we share special photos we’ve taken and look forward to hearing from the hosts once their new life together settles down.
Prototypes, special on-site venue visits, additional consultations, and strike services are available upon request.
6. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
Working with some of the most beautiful fresh flowers on the market and appreciating each blossom for its intricate patterns and individuality.
7. What do you see as future trends on the horizon in floral design?
Calmed-down-color, monochromatic palettes, and an inclination to classic, romantic designs are the requests we are hearing from Brides. Hot pink, orange and yellow are losing favor to vintage-inspired lilac, butter cream, and blush. The new looks are classically inspired with a modern sensibility.
8. What words of wisdom can you offer brides as they go about the planning process as it relates to the overall look of their wedding?
Relax and trust the professionals you’ve hired. The planning process should be as enjoyable as the celebration itself.
9. How does an interested potential client go about contacting and meeting with you?
We can be reached by telephone 321.953.9710, Tuesday through Friday (Saturdays and Sundays are reserved for installing weddings and parties), and via e-mail at Thallodesign@aol.com. Please call us to arrange your consultation, or a visit to our studio.
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