LRE Weddings - Cara and Roberto

Last year at this time our city experienced Super Storm Sandy, and while the city had to practically shut down, events still had to go on!  Cara and Roberta had their wedding planned for November 3, the Saturday following the storm.  With many of the guests traveling from Europe, we had to work with a pretty big drop off as many of the guests' flights were cancelled that week.  Luckily the wedding venue has a variety of rooms to choose from so we decided to move the dinner from the largest room to the second largest room so that the drop off would not be as noticeable.

I spent quite a lot of time on the phone with Cara's mom that week leading up to the wedding and I have to say, they had the best attitudes!  Rather than dwelling on the negative, we worked to make this wedding beautiful and memorable for all involved.

As it was a November wedding, most of the flowers were coming in from all over the world, we had pre-ordered deep red peonies, roses and James Story orchids.  The wholesalers in the Flower Market did an amazing job and getting the orders in and Cara's mother gave me her full support and approval to substitute if need be.  I have to admit that I was quite nervous that my recurring nightmare would come true (I often have nightmares that I arrive at the Flower Market to find no flowers, kind of like that old stand by dream of showing up for a test you forgot about, haha).  

Everything went off perfectly!  Cara and Roberto had an amazing (and very memorable) wedding.  While they were missing several guests, they made the best of the situation which is really all you can do in a case like this!

On to the beautiful photos from Christian Oth Studios - 

Credits:

Design/Floral - Laura Remmert Events

Catering - Feast and Fetes

Photography - Christian Oth Studio

Day-of Planning - Beth Harris for Valerie Post Events

Entertainment - Perrone Bros.

Wedding Trends - The Mini Moon

In today's busy world it's often difficult to take enough time off of work for your wedding and then a long honeymoon.  I don't know about everyone else, but with an "out of town" wedding, I had to take a few extra days to head up to Saratoga to prepare for my own wedding, we all know there are a lot of last minute details to be taken care of the week leading up to a wedding (yet another reason to hire a wedding coordinator, wink wink).  With my own wedding being right in the middle of wedding season, I had to get back to work quickly after to prepare for all of my June and July weddings last year, but I of course still wanted to go somewhere to celebrate.

Enter the "Mini Moon" - the perfect solution for our busy careers and lives.  Joe and I chose to fly out to Napa Valley for a few days, but many of my clients will jet off to a fairly close beach to relax for a few days or depending upon when your wedding is, there are a variety of great options right here in the Northeast!

Here are some ideas within either a short flight or a short drive -

If laying on the beach is your thing...

You could be in the Bahamas in less than three hours from NYC for white sandy beaches, bright blue ocean and lots of relaxing!

Or no flight involved - The Hamptons or Montauk - beach, ocean, wine tasting, farmers markets and of course shopping.

If nice dinners out, beautiful scenery and exploring is your thing...

Fly to Napa Valley or Sonoma for wine tasting and exquisite dinners (photos from my own "Mini Moon")...

Or skip the flight and check out Newport, RI where you can tour mansions, enjoy fresh seafood on the water and go sailing.  

If adventure is your thing (and hopefully your husband's or wife's thing too, haha)...

You could hop a flight to Colorado for either skiing and snowboarding in the winter or hiking and mountain biking during the summer.

Telluride, CO - Another from my personal collection... 

Or closer by, try Stowe, VT.

This is the first in a series of travel related blogs featuring Honeymoon and Mini Moon destinations.  Come back for more soon!

LRE Events - Rachel's Wedding Shower

This is the first of several events I worked on for Rachel and Anthony (well this one is just for the girls, but anyway...)  It was the first weekend of May - Cinco de Mayo to be exact - and it was a beautiful if slightly chilly day.  Our team planned and designed the shower, always exciting when we're able to take on both aspects of an event!  We worked with the super talented Peter Callahan http://www.petercallahan.com/ who's famous mini hors d'oeuvres are always the hit of any party.

Rachel wanted girly and fun for her shower.  Her mother's perfectly decorated Brooklyn townhouse was the perfect location for this intimate gathering of family and friends.  I love all of the bright spring flowers (anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE color), and you can't beat early May for it's selection of peonies, ranunculus, roses and more!  We also played quite a lot with the rental selections from Party Rentals LTD.  Notice the mixture of floral plates and my favorite touch, the black and white stripe cushions.  We had  a mixture of containers, glass, silver and gold to make it look as though we pulled vases and containers from their personal collection - we actually did use some of Rachel's grandmother's crystal wine glasses!  The Avignon Sheer champagne toned overlay created the perfect back drop to make all of the hot pink flowers pop.

Check out the photos below from the talented Roey Yohai!  http://www.roeyyohaiphotography.com/

We started with cocktails and Peter's famous passed hors d'oeuvres in the backyard.

Is there anything prettier than pink peonies in May???

Some of Peter's famous hors d'oeuvres and cocktails.  

Mini fish tacos accompanied by mini margaritas in mini Patron bottles - necessities for Cinco de Mayo! 

Edible Caviar Engagement Rings!

Instead of a guest book, friends and family signed wine bottles for Rachel and Anthony to open on their 1 year, 5 year and 10 year anniversaries!

After hors d'oeuvres, we headed in to the dining room for a "Ladies Luncheon."  Featuring toasts, gift presentations and cupcake decorating, as well as the always popular video of the groom answering questions about the bride (a must have for any Bridal Shower in my opinion!)

Ending with a photo of our beautiful bride to be with her lovely mom and sister.

And of course you need Peter's mini desserts to end a super fun girly bridal shower!

Credits:

Planning and Design - Laura Remmert Events

Catering - Peter Callahan

Photography - Roey Yohai