Repurpose Your Wedding

We are at the height of the eco-chic trend right now. I support recycling, repurposing and being as sustainable as possible. You create your perfect moment, but pieces of your moment can be distributed after the event to make so many others happy!

Sound great but don't know how: there are many ways that you can help spread the love with the leftovers from your wedding.

1) Talk with your vendors:
- Ask your florist if he/she works with a company or organization that can benefit from your arrangements. Can she deliver the arrangements to a hospital or nursing home instead of just throwing them away? (This may incur a slight charge for delivery, but is well worth the money in karma!) You may even want to ask a family friend or bridesmaid to collect the centerpieces and deliver them on your behalf.

- Talk with your caterer about donating left over food (not the food put out, but any over purchasing or food that was not served). Many caterers have partnerships with organizations that will package and collect the food for distribution to local homeless shelter and soup kitchens. If your caterer doesn't usually do this, ask if they would be willing to start (they may decide to incorporate this into all of their future events - karma bonus). If they are unwilling to do the organizing, you might be able to call an organization yourself and ask them to come and collect leftovers at the end of the night.

- Talk with your venue about recycling. If the environment is important to you, exercise your power when you are choosing your venue. Ask what policies are in place, and choose a venue that is environmentally conscious and follows a strict program. If you have to have a venue that isn't so eco-savvy, talk with the manager about ways you can reduce waste and energy. One way might be to purchase enough wind energy credits to power your wedding. (A service available in some areas now through your local power company. Though you aren't actually being powered by the wind, you are purchasing an equal amount of wind power to offset your electricity usage. While you are at it, switch your home bill over to wind power, as well. It doesn't cost an extra penny!)

- Resell or donate your decor items. You can look into sites like www.usedeventstuff.com or www.craigslist.com. You may even want to try ebay. Believe it or not, all of these sites are recycling! You may even recoup some of your wedding costs (which you might want to donate to the organization of your choice...)

Still lost at home to go about this? Contact Special E (www.thespeciale.com/works.html), who will send their Rescue Squad to collect leftovers from your event. They take the lot back to their collection site, sort through it repurpose flowers, direct food to a pantry or food waste to a composting center. They charge an administrative fee to organize this, and are available in many markets, including NYC, LA, Seattle, San Jose, San Diego, Portland, Boston, Las Vegas, Houston and a lot more!

Truli Wonderful Cakes

I found these fantastic designs at Truli Confectionary Arts (based in Philadelphia):

I love the pearlized blue and the wonderful large blue flower (looks so real!)

Complete with uber-elegant orchids and a grand gold bow, this cake is stunning and simple.

The dark brown base color is something unique, as is the pattern pressed delicately into the fondant. This base color can compliment a variety of wedding colors.

Highlighting the damask trend, this cake with an ivory base twists the trend by using red and an intricate gold ribbon pattern.

Here we see the same delicate imprint on the base of the cake. The yellow tone is beautiful and the delicate sugar parrot tulips hold sashes of white fondant (I have a thing for parrot tulips - and the sugar ones hold up much longer than the real ones!).

Learn more about Truli Confectionary Arts at www.truliconfectionaryarts.com

Fresh Florals

I saw this great display of fresh florals in a Pottery Barn eblast (you cxan get all of the containers from Pottery Barn!). The bright and fresh ideas include using a combination of containers in unique ways. Small circular container inside a larger one or a fluted bottle inside a glass cylinder. It also uses different elements in the same containers, highlighting the contrasts: limes topped with gerbera daisies.

Back with New Design Ideas

I've taken a little bit a hiatus (really work has over-taken me), but now we are back with all of our new design updates. I've been saving them up for weeks, so this will start the deluge of great ideas. And what better time than now, when wedding season is in full swing, and all of you brides-to-be are buzzing with prep work!

I just loved the vivid color of this orchid display. It was used to highlight a sponsor (hence the bottle), but the point is that fantastic florals take center stage no matter what the container.

This floral design was used as a centerpiece for a fashion event. Not that I want you to put these on your tables, but it shows that truly gifted floral designers can create anything! Believe it or not, the traditionally under-appreciated carnation squishes and conforms to create fantastic shapes and designs!

I love thed modern and unique design of this floral arrangement. The event them was a modern Parisian cabaret, and I really love the look of the design!

Calla lilies and orchids join together on top of bamboo to create this delicate, yet modern, arrangement.

I love the look of this modern chandelier: a tray suspended from the ceiling, overflowing with florals! Great for a lounge or loft space.

Engagement Rings :-)

I escaped to New Jersey this weekend (for my grandmother's 80th birthday party) and what else is there to do but go shopping at the mall. I was walking around with my girlfriend and we inevitably ended up browsing in a few of the jewelry stores. It got me to thinking about engagement rings. These rings are straight from the pages of The Knot and you can search for them to find more details (and about a million more styles). But these caught my eye and I wanted to share them: This is my favorite, the one that I would walk around with on my hand! It is a Tacori design, with a round cut center stone and pave diamonds around the center stone and on the band.
Tacori platinum and diamond eternity engagement ring
Tacori ring that is modern yet classic: emerald cut center stone with Cadillac cut side stones. To me the center looks like it is shining like an icicle.
Tacori round brilliant cut center stone with pave diamond accents. I love that the setting for the center stone and the pave accents make this ring sort of look like a flower.

Ritani platinum carved, semi-mount ring. I love the fine detailing on this ring, it makes it classic but truly stand out.
Ritani platinum solitaire ring with princess center cut stone. The pave diamonds just below the setting make it look very modern. The coordinating wedding band has a very sleek appearance.
Ritani: round brilliant center stone. I love the crossed accents on this band. I think that I would look for a wedding band with accents that match a bit more. To me this just looks like it would match a sleek silhouette wedding dress with a cross around the bust in rhinestones!
Ritani with another round brilliant center cut stone. The pave accents on the band almost look like little flowers. I like the diamonds on the wedding band (what can I say, I like more bling). The pave diamonds around the base of the center stone make the ring stand out.
Ritani round cut center stone with baguette side stones. I think that the baguette cut really makes the hand look long and lean.

Hearts on Fire Lady Di solitaire ring. I love that this looks like something fit for a Princess of Wales. Though it loosely resembles a snowflake, I think that this is a cute you rarely see in an engagement ring.
Hearts on Fire truly bridal leaf dream cut center stone. From this angle it has a great graphic quality to it.
Kirk Kara designed this setting to have accents of round cut sapphires and pave diamonds. Including the sapphire stones in engagement rings is actually a tradition started in the Victorian era. This ring would certainly count for your something blue!
Mark Patterson round cut center stone with pear shaped side stones. I love the antique feel of this ring. It is good for someone with smaller hands who needs skinny band, but still wants the glamour of a larger center stone.

Mark Schneider Design: this unique band features 48 pave diamonds with a four-prong setting.

A. Jaffe round center cut diamonds with fancy bullet side diamonds. This thicker band gives it a little more of a modern look.
Mark Sepkus created this unique ring. The rose gold band holds round cut diamonds in a modern pattern. If you are the anti-bride looking for an engagement ring that doesn't look like an engagement ring, this is great option. You can also get the band in yellow or white gold.

Diamond Ideals asscher cut center with diamond ideals in the shank. I love the flatness of the band!
Diamond Ideals stardust engagement ring with asscher cut center placed in a box setting. This looks like an antique treasure box waiting to be opened.
Hearts on Fire 4-prong solitaire. This is a great classic and perfect to transcend any time, era or sense of style. The round brilliant cut diamond fits in at any party, with any outfit, on any hand. Widen the band to change the look if you desire.

Happy ring shopping!

Bird & Banner Hand-Crafted Invitations

Bird and Banner was started by Erin & Nicole in Philadelphia when they were brides-to-be. Now they help you create interesting and unique expressions for your wedding stationary (or really any celebration or blank note card). See some of the examples of their creative work below.

Real maple wood cards in a hydrangea blue sleeve for a wedding in Vermont. A great way to show your guests that your ceremony with be elegant, yet unique.

This wedding used custom silhouettes of the bride and groom on wedding stationary, favors, and as you see below - even the cake topper!

The RSVP cards were each place in hand-stitched pouches, conveying the coziness of this wedding.

They created a custom invitation that showed how the groom had traveled for 5 years on the Chinatown bus from Washington, DC to New York City to see his future bride.

A fantastic idea for a more casual wedding. The save the date was printed onto a lobster bib for a Cape Cod wedding. If this is a little too informal for your reception, perhaps use it as an invite to the rehearsal dinner or welcome party (great photos will be made from this!).

Invitations were printed on silk handkerchiefs to embody the French Flea market theme of the wedding. They also printed on the backs of old postcards, each unique.

Custom hand-stitched note card! This would even be a great DIY project for those of you who can thread a needle :-)

Highlighting the cultural traditions of the couple, this save the date came with tissue paper and instructions on how to create a traditional Mexican paper flower. I LOVE this idea - it is interactive, unique, and shows guests to expect unique cultural additions to your wedding. You might even put a note in the save the date, asking everyone to show their love by wearing their paper flower to the ceremony! Or have paper flower corsages for everyone when they arrive. Tie the decor into your wedding reception too with larger paper flowers!

The New Look

You may have noticed that I like a lot of different styles and I constantly like to be inspired by new looks and ideas. So I decided to change the look of the blog. I'm not 100% convinced that this will stay - I'd love to hear your thoughts. The plan is to update and overhaul the entire site within the next year (for your viewing pleasure).