guava

the bridesmaids are wearing the color "guava" for this wedding. how rich and awesome is that color name? i love the dresses without even seeing them. this may have something to do with the fact that i make a mean guava and champagne punch so maybe that's coloring (pardon the expression) my feelings. as early summer gives way to mid to late summer the colors of our brides are becoming brighter but also richer. it's almost as though the brides that preceded went with a more muted palate and slowly everything's changing just like the seasons. (caveat here: this is not an across the board statement. some of our brides have done the exact opposite of what i just said).

the aisles were lined with simple stainless steel buckets that had a burst of cheerful colors...yellow sunflowers, white, orange and fushia roses. the bride's bouquet had those same flowers and colors with the addition of calla lilies freesia. jane's trademark simple and polished but lovely and sweet.

man, now i'm thinking about that guava punch!

grace ormond weddings book launch

what is it with cocktail attire events and rain? so far we're 3 for 3 with rain and our networking nights out. i don't normally mind rain, except when i'm wearing killer suede heels and then i curse the gods.  not unlike brides who have rain on their wedding days.

monday evening was a night at the bushnell theatre in hartford to celebrate the launch of grace ormond's ginormous wedding book. seriously, you can bench press it. but it's gorgeous. pages and pages of wedding inspiration. and at just over 30¢ per page it's a regular bargain (especially considering what you'll probably pay for chair rentals...)

and this guy wasn't at the connecticut launch but at the boston launch party, but i love his tie and sportcoat combo....

140 west street

for those who haven't yet seen our new (does just over a year still constitute "new"??) shop, it's a cool old factory building dating back to the early 1900s. it was originally the lyman gun sight factory and made gun sights (well, duh).  the factory was renovated over the past few years, and has shaped up to be a cool space. all original windows, re-pointed brick and exposed industrial ceilings. the building now houses a millwork shop, architectural offices, an hitchcock furniture dealer, an internet marketing company and just for you.

working in an old factory building can be challenging but it also has it's charms and advantages. 8 different entrances into the building can make finding jane an adventure, and sometimes if the wind is just right you can smell the fumes from the woodworkers which makes it's way down into our space. the flip side is that we find cool old stuff all the time, like old wooden boxes and crates that we are now using for a photography staging area.  and of course the industrial look and feel of the space is definitely a plus.

we're slowly renovating our space. we started with the consultation area (see earlier fushia wall and hand painted cherry blossom post) and the next area will be the sitting area/library. stay tuned.

here's a picture of the east side of the building and the entrance to our shop. hopefully for those of you who have not been here yet, it will eliminate any confusion when you come to visit.

the space directly above our shop is currently unoccupied. right now it's a gorgeous wide open space and we have plans to use it for some photography shoots in the future. i'm sure the owner is open to renting it out for that sort of thing. and hmmmm....maybe even small events....?

sometimes we just can't help ourselves

here's what i love: shopping. here's what i don't love: not having the money to do so. but guess what? working at jfy enables me/us to buy things for the business thereby somewhat scratching the "need to buy" itch without really spending money. the new york gift show is just around the corner and i hope to do a lot of spending of just for you's money when we're there...

we are constantly finding cute product without a particular bride/wedding in mind but we can't help ourselves and buy them with hopes for a future client. these square wood vases are just that. jane bought a bunch of them and i LOVE that she did, i mean how cute is this? and i don't even think they just have to be for a country or particularly casual wedding. mixing hi and low is something i love with flower, events and clothing.

red + yellow

in honor of today's FIFA World Cup final, i'm posting some flowers in the color of spain's flag who i hope/believe will triumph over the netherlands in today's match. truth be told i would have loved to be doing this post in red, white and blue, or even white and blue (argentina), but sadly, it was not meant to be.

i would also like to publicly thank jane for tolerating my wildly swinging moods over the past few weeks all because of which team won or loss, and for listening to me talk penalties, yellow cards, offsides, etc. without glazing over. ok, a little glazing over but still she nodded and listened as if she gave a hoot.

a big thank you to eric foley photography for the beautiful collage helping me get my point across.  go spain!

it's amazing to me how weddings are so different. i mean the elements are the same, right? church, flowers, dress, cake etc. (not in that order of course...) and yet each turns out unique. what's crazier still is how two weddings at the same venue can be so utterly different as well. we recently had two brides both getting married at the avon old farms school. one wedding was simple, no fuss and the other had every detail thought out and beautifully executed. and get this, as if to support this "different" line of talk, the weather was the complete opposite for both events. the first wedding was overcast, grey and windy and the latter was all blue skies, happy and sun shiney and because of it the grounds and the dining hall looked like completely different places. we refer to the dining hall at aofs as hogwarts. it has rich dark wood and heavy iron candelabras hanging from the ceiling and you can just picture dumbledore presiding over a hogwarts school dinner with harry, hermione and ron...ok, i'm a harry potter geek and i digress.

tori is a bride after my own heart. she scoured etsy to find all of the adorable details of her sunny "green" wedding (like the jeweled napkin ring holders--LOVED!). her choice of a lime-ish green color woke up the heavy quality of the hall, leaving the formality, but adding a bit of a wink if you catch my meaning. she and lindsay at sixpence for your shoe created a "it-should-be-in-a-magazine" wedding. the girls at sixpence are super talented and when we do events with them we are confident they are going to be super chic, well thought-out, elegant affairs. tori and jack's wedding was no different

the table centerpieces were a mix of high and low arrangements using green and white hydrangea, white peonies and white roses for the low and lush arrangements and larkspur, snapdragons, hydrangea and spirea all in white for the tall (and elegant!) arrangements.

enjoy the photos of tori and jack's wedding, courtesy of brian khang photography.

eolia mansion wedding

one of the nicest days for a wedding this season was in waterford at the eolia mansion. the couple, alexandra and jake couldn't have been sweeter and they deserved the wonderful weather they got. they wanted natural and "gardeny" (i think jane invented a new word...expect to see it again in future posts!) the bride loved line flowers like snapdragons and white astilbe. white tulips provided a softness to round it out. another special touch was that the bride's bouquet was wrapped with the tie from her mother's wedding gown. you know my fondess for wraps and sweet personal touches.  it was a simple and understated affair, and while gardeny and natural it was still polished.

beautiful photography provided by butler photography.

a little laughter

sometimes we can get a little punchy waiting around at venues for one reason or another. sometimes the church is locked, sometimes another wedding has to be taken down before we can get in, and sometimes it's the weather. often if some rain is forecast, but it's still clear and it's just uncertain, we have to wait for the facility to call whether a planned outdoor ceremony has to come indoors. i'm sure it's not an easy decision when the weather is iffy, because obviously the bride planned to be wed outdoors and you want her to get what she wants but you also can't fight mother nature. and so there are times, like for us at the water's edge recently, where we end up waiting for an answer as to where and when we will set up. some coffee drinks and pastries later, i'm sitting in the back of the van with sis and we look up at the trees only to see a sure sign that love is in the air. and it was just the thing to get us laughing. and laughing.

oh, and we saw clouds shaped like hearts too.