dahlia love

the gazebo at water's edge needed a little something for a recent wedding and jane pulls out these amazing dahlias. it took the arrangement from just pretty to drop dead gorgeous. i love the wildness of these flowers. it was not a lot of flowers, but so so cool looking.

i love the green hanging amaranthus in nicole's bouquet. she was a bride who knew exactly what she wanted and came in with most details figured out. her wedding in greenwich/stamford was a polished affair and reflected an amazing attention to detail.

                                                    and i have become quite the expert pew bow maker.

a big thank-you to joe at joseph's photography for these lovely photos! it's always so great when photographers send us proofs and previews so quickly after events.

tagged!

jane wanted to come up with a cute way of identifying bridal party bouquets, something special to tag them. we found these sweet little tags from--where else?---etsy of course. they are your run-of-the-mill manilla tags, only these are coffee stained creating a wonderful handmade quality (and a deeelicious smell to boot!). i had a custom rubber stamp made up with our logo, ordered a bunch of different colored stamp pads, and voila! adorable tags for the bouquets. if you don't mind my saying so myself of course...

thursday centerpiece

from a june wedding gone by....so simple, so modern, so sweet.

chuppahs aren't just difficult to spell

the lovely effect of creating and putting up a chuppah is so worth it in the end, but boy can they pose a challenge to put up. it's one of those things that seems so easy when looking from the outside in, i.e. you're not the one actually putting it together. i have to admit i thought the same way until i tried to construct a chuppah-like canopy for my deck. bamboo poles, poured concrete stands and still the thing sagged and the poles bent in. we recently did a wedding where we put up a chuppah that jane and sis have perfected through trial and error. it went up smoothly and solidly. it's funny because both of them still carry the "war wounds" of getting to this point, i think maybe they still anticipate problems, but in the end it was a beautiful place underwhich to say wedding vows. the heavens must have agreed because the rain held off just long enough for the ceremony to take place outside.

a new toy

isn't this a cute photo? it's the bride's bouquet from a wedding last weekend. jane doesn't realize this, but it's the first and last photo she'll be taking with the AWESOME new camera that she just bought for me. i mean, she bought it for us (ahem). it's been a long time coming but now we have a new expensive toy to play with.  we try to photograph our work during the production stages (time permitting...ha!) and i want to document the evolution of our studio space. most importantly though, we photograph the bouquets and arrangements etc. when they are completed and before they go out the door. we are lucky to often work with photographers who know us and take good shots of the florals for our own use, but it's good for us to have our own pictures.

i admit, i don't know half of the things this baby can do, but i can say with confidence that i'm going to enjoy finding out. a big thank you to jerome from studio 1923 for helping steer us in the right direction as to which camera to get.

i tried to take a picture of myself taking a picture with the camera, but it's late, my hair looks like a disaster and it came out lame. so here's a picture of the box...

it sorta feels like christmas.

azelea for holly

before i start, i just have to say, sometimes it's difficult to come up with titles for posts. i mean, you can't be too cliche (like if i had said "pretty in pink" for this post") and you can't be too vague. but i also don't want to be too clever. or boring. (god forbid!). it's really quite a balance one has to strike. i'm pretty sure jane would be telling me i think too much right about now...

now to the matter at hand...eric foley took these great shots of the flowers we did for holly's spring wedding. the malibu gerberas matched so perfectly with the bridesmaids' dresses--the color was a rich satin color called azalea. you'd have thought we painted them to match.

holly's bouquet of full white peonies, roses, ranunculus and white stock was i think the tailored feel she was looking for.

simple stunning bride

as mentioned, author karen bussen was at the white dress by the shore the other night signing copies of the latest book in her simple stunning series, simple stunning bride. just as the others, it is a beautiful book with gorgeous photos that are sure to inspire you.

karen is a woman with exquisite taste, yet she is so approachable and down-to-earth. better yet, when talking with karen it turns out she lives in my old neighborhood in manhattan! we spoke fondly about the restaurants in the area and my all time favorite grocery store. of course it made me miss my old haunts...

you can order the book through this link to amazon.

wedding row in clinton

so much to report...i'll have to break it up into a few posts.

last night's openhouse/book signing/trunk show in clinton was superfun. you never quite know how those things will turn out, but beth chapman's event at the white dress by the shore did not disappoint. the store is located in a lovely little historical house, in clinton, ct.  different vendors were set up in each room, from desserts (more on that later) to lingerie to wine (definitely more on that too!). coming from the west coast, a place like this is particularly charming because we just don't have them there--old wood floors, fireplaces, wood beamed ceilings. beth has created an interior that is both elegant and intimate with a 1920s meets hollywood glamour vibe.

beautiful girls modeled bridal fashions by modern trousseau, their hair and make-up done by jennie fresa (i know at some point i am going to goof up her name and say "fresca"..!). i recently re-watched the movie marie antoinette (love it btw) and the fantastical elements of the hair and make-up against the ethereal dresses reminded me of just that. a perfect mix of fantasy and beauty. jennie's beauty library is a make-up studio and mini-spa located just next door to WDS in a historical little red barn. jennie is so charming and so obviously excited about what she does it's contagious. her make-up and approach to wedding day beauty is "just for you" (ok, i had to steal that, because, well, it IS). it's intimate and personal, and it's about helping brides look like themselves, only better...enhanced. plus she helps you work her techniques and approach into the days following your wedding and into your everyday life.  the beauty library is not just for weddings. 1 minute into her description of JFBL's one-hour "fassage" spa treatment and i was ready to sign up...

more of agna having bridal envy

i'm looking forward to a evening out with my girls. jane, sis and i are going to a cocktail reception at the white dress by the shore. it's an open house/book signing for 'simple stunning bride' written by karen bussen/modern trousseau trunk show. the vendors and sponsors who are participating are a very talented and sophisticated group, and i am looking forward to seeing some lovely dresses and beautiful and inspiring wedding things.

and damn this rain, i'm wearing my cute shoes anyways.

if there are gowns like this one, i am going to have a very very hard time explaining to my husband why we shouldn't go ahead and have another wedding for our 10th year anniversary (it's a year away, but still...)

i'm sure i'll have more to share about this tomorrow.

all things birch

jane and i love birch. then again, who doesn't?  it's romantic and ethereal almost evoking a fairytale. i picture it whenever a story calls for "woods" as in it's what red riding hood travels to to grandmother's house, etc. etc. a part of the beauty and versatility of birch is that it can be wild or traditional depending on how it's used.

besides using the actual branches in weddings, there are so many new opportunities to use it cropping up everywhere...

bouquet of the day

this june bride gave jane a good deal of freedom to create her bouquet. she wanted something textural and a little bit wild, but her one firm request was "no ball of flowers (!)"  jane used delphinium, green spider mums, monkey tails, grape hyacinth, thistle, dusty miller, kermit poms and curly willow lacing through it--all to wonderful effect.  

webb barn wedding

how is it that it is JUNE already? may seemed to have slipped past me. some of you may have already seen this wedding from another may gone by, when it was featured on style me pretty, but i had to post it here in case you missed it. the wedding was intimate, simple and sweet which was captured so beautifully by jane and mike shauck at iris photography. enjoy!