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While we've VERY much adored the times we've spent at alwaysabridesmaid.typepad.com
All,
Every year the Lower Eastside Girls Club gives away new and gently used dresses and gowns to girls in our programs--girls who cannot afford a new gown for her prom.
For many of our members this is a very special time - as High School graduation eludes many in her family and her community, she is going to prom because she has finished High School and is on to college. So "prom" is more than prom...and we want our girls to look their best and feel fabulous!
This year we received many gowns sizes 0-8 but are in desperate need of gowns sizes 10 and up.
If you have anything to donate, please mail it or drop off at the Girls Club by Thursday May 7th. Gowns should be clean, stain free, and appropriate for prom.
And please forward this request widely!
Thank you so much,
Adriana
The Lower Eastside Girls Club
A job hazard of wedding planning is that when you have been working with a couple for a long time, especially a couple as awesome as Rebecca and Lance, you feel a tremendous amount of pressure for the day to be even better than perfect. Mayra had been working with Lance and Rebecca, who own a lighting company named TinC, for the last 18 months. The night before the wedding, she was sending me emails and I could sense the tension level. "What's Wrong?" She said she'd just gone through the program and they thanked her..... right below thanking their parents. Needless to say, when I arrived on Site the next morning, this was literally her face... I was much less worried. She's done an awesome job with the prep for the event and we had a great team in place. But I knew it was just because she wanted everything to go perfectly.... Studio 450 is one of our favorite places to work because it completely transforms. Here is some before.... Including Tinc setting up and Salome from our team folding napkins and tucking menu cards.
The ceremony was on site, which meant that we basically had to "turn the room" around....
We'd hired a Mariachi for cocktail hour, and went to sweep them up to the roofdeck, where cocktails were happening. The best moment of our day is probably when we see the bride and groom head down the aisle!! In this case, there was still a ton to do..... Since Lance and Rebecca have their own lighting company, some of the guests were helping with the lighting transition! I've never seen girls in dresses on trusses before! Vanessa from Verde Flowers and her team did an amazing job with the flowers, which, set on top of the steel grey pintuck, looked both spring like and modern.
Of course, the real star of the show was the lighting... which was amazing. THey used a mix of squares and rectangles and we cut the room up a bit with some pipe drape, which of course, was lit. Mayra had done such a great job and everyone was enjoying DJ Serious so very much.... well, the day ended great and Mayra was clearly very happy. The rest of the pics are up on our FACEBOOK page.
I love the luxurious invites that Rock, Paper, Scissors offers up. The designs are bold and opulent and the boxes and packages are so gorgeous. And while their lines of couture are amazing, they now broadening their offerings FURTHER and YOU can benefit.
Rachel Baker, the lead creative there is in the process of designing Rock Paper Scissors A La Carte, a line of letterpress and wooden engraved invitations AND she needs brides to inspire her! If you book Rock Paper Scissors before May 16th, you will receive 20% off of your order!
Contact her via her website for a consultation!!
Here are some of her past designs.
So, I live on the 4th floor of a brownstone and sometimes if I'm feeling lazy I order Fresh Direct and slip the guy a tip to take my groceries up the stairs. Often my cheapness outweighs my laziness (or, more accurately, I simply have no food in my house) but this week, I'm going to change that because Fresh Direct is doing something awesome!!!
From now until April 21st, if you spend more than $100 on groceries with them, they will donate an arbor in your honor to the Nature Conseratory's "Plant a Billion Trees" program. That's amazing!
If you don't have Fresh Direct in your area, it's basically if Whole Foods would deliver to your house (and they have prepared foods as well). But regardless, this concept of donating a tree would be an awesome IN LIEU of FAVOR idea... Or for the "tree hugging" couple (using that term with affection, btw) it would make a great little engagement gift!
Summer brides are starting to dot their i's and cross their T's, but winter brides and those 2010 couples are just rolling up their sleeves for inspiration. I was just thinking about the stigma from corporate events that Ice Sculptures have gotten and thought I'd hit you all off with a little "IceSperation" (another Punny). They can be used in totally modern, really beautiful ways at weddings to wow.
If you've got the budget, consider Ice Vases, or freezing blooms inside oversized Ice Cubes. These were all done by Ice Fantasies for tables we designed for clients.
I also really love them as signature pieces for an escort card display. Here are two from a couple of weddings we did a couple of years ago, also by Ice Fantasies (where does the time go?)
Finally, here are some newer, really pretty takes for ice as food display from fellow Brunonian, Okomoto Studios via The Bride's Guide.
The moral of the story... don't be afraid of ice. It can be un-tacky and it can be your friend. Your wedding day may be full of warmth, but your decor can be ice cold (oh, my cheese kills me :-)
Well, if you haven't been buzzing about this, you will be.... The Ritz-Carlton is launching a FABULOUS new bi-annual Wedding magazine that will bring together writers, style and wedding trends from around the world.
I've done a few weddings at a few different Ritz' and, be it Carribean or Metropolitan, the consistency of service and elegance is always top notch. So, that said, I'm really looking forward to it's global approach, as it showcases real weddings, gorgeous gowns, honeymoon locations and more from here near our shores and way, way beyond! Of course, it will showcase classic Ritz-Carlton style and more. It's being spear-headed by Carrie Tuhy, the same editorial expert who brought us the gifts of In Style and Real Simple!
If you are wondering how to get your hands on a copy, you can pick one up at your site inspection at your near by Ritz.
At this time of year we are so in the thick of wedding season, Mayra and I aren't fit for public company. Dinners with friends degenerate into talk about clients' RSVPs, some of the crazy people who run venues around the city and the latest issues of elegant bride.... Not fun if you aren't a bride. (Though, the plus side is, we discovered that I have a secret talent of seeing a bridal magazine clipping from the last 5 years and name the season and the magazine AND what was on the cover.... it's freaky).
Anyway, since my post the other day, I've been talking to everyone about how awesome peach is as a wedding color... and I mean everyone. I told the handyman in my building about it and he's not even getting married. But since we are sooooo sooo sooo busy, I realized I didn't have the time to make an inspiration board... so instead, I bring you my Homage to Peach as best represented around the web. Here is the color in it's pure and lovely form as seen on Style Me Pretty Here it is with brown, which I think is just lovely, but for some reason harder to find images of in execution.... This is from Moments by Morgan
This next color combination had me at "hello" especially after I saw this bag by Emma Gordon on Etsy....
And then I saw this board on Style Me Pretty, which I thought only provided evidence of something already proven by this little clutch. Here is a portion of a larger, gorgeous board.
And then, I think I saved my favorite for last... Here is Peach and Grey from Elizabeth Anne Designs. In fact, both Mayra and I love the peach and gray and peach and Navy so much we used it all at our NY magazine table. The lighting is terrible on this shot, but it was a grey cloth, peach flowers and navy trim and napkins.
The Q: I'm planning a bachelorete party for my sister and I'm totally at a loss for what to do. My sister does not drink at all and she's not at all into the stripper thing. However, her bridal party is made up of my other sisters and cousins, who are a hard partying crowd. I Know can't do the usual girls' night out, running around town and drinking thing, but at the same time, I don't want to do something so serene that the other girls are bored. Any suggestions at all would be super appreciated!
The A: That is a quandry. First, you should know that bachelorete parties are NOT mandatory, though it is nice to get the gals together without the formalities of a shower. That said, you need to remember that the most important guest is your sister, so while you want everyone to have fun, it's mainly about what you think your sister would like. Does that mean that you need to do pottery painting or something like that? No, not at all. But I think you should consider the degree to which you accomodate your more wild family members. But enough with the scolding, how about I give you some real suggestions?
My first thought is to do something home based, with an activity around it. This way you can create a comfortable setting for the drinkers and non-drinkers a like. Why not have someone come in and teach a cooking class? THat's a great treat for a new bride to be and everyone else will get a kick out of it. The DJ Chef services the Northeast and looks like a ton of fun.
Or, how about a make-up class from a make up artist. The woman at My Hair and Makeup can come to your home here in the NY area and teach 6 or 8 women at a time all the tricks of the trade.
I think the best tip is to come up with an activity that has a class leader, this way it gives room to showcase your personalities, but it isn't centered around an activity (like drinking or clubbing) that your sister wouldn't be comfortable with. Best of luck!
If you are looking for clean, modern but romantic invitation design, look no further than The Bee Paperie. The name comes from the phrase "bee in your bonnet" because these ladies are simply obsessed with stationary design. They do custom work, but here are some of their pre-existing designs that I fancied. They offer patterned backs, which I've noticed is a growing trend with invitations. I sort of love the peach one, mainly because I think peach is going to be THE new color..... it's awesome with brown, grey, navy. I think i'm going to do a peach post... hmmm...
