Monday, July 22, 2013

LRE Weddings - Amy and Vincent - Decor and Details

So it's been awhile!  We had a super busy Spring season here at LRE, time to catch up on some blog entries, we still have some great events from this past fall/winter that we'll be featuring as well as some great Spring events including a destination wedding in Anguilla :-)

Anyway - on to the photos!  These are all from a springtime wedding at the Harold Pratt House.  Our bride, Amy, wanted classic elegant, but fresh.  Lots of white, grey and blush and LOTS of flowers!  Originally Amy was drawn to a photo of the ballroom with all cherry blossom branches, unfortunately branches are quickly in and out of season and in mid May, they were done.  Instead we went with half low arrangements, lush with lots of beautiful peonies and roses (in season!) and then worked with orchids for the tall, full arrangements.

Dinner was split between two rooms, I know this sounds out of the box, but it worked amazingly well! The Bride and Groom switched rooms each course so they were able to spend time with guests in both rooms.




White Phalaenopsis Orchid.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography


Modern white vases with mono-botanical arrangements.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography






Beautiful White Peonies accent the Cocktail Reception.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.


White lisianthus entryway piece.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.



Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.










Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.



Long banquet table in Library.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.





Close up of petite florals on the banquet table.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.






Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.
 

Tall dendrobium orchid centerpiece.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.


Low, lush centerpiece of peonies, roses, lisianthus and sweet pea.  Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.


Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.

Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.


Photo Credit - David Willems Photography.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

LRE Weddings - Prerna and Thor's NYC Destination Wedding

Prerna and Thor are couple from Hong Kong who decided to host their destination wedding here in NYC.  This was a really awesome wedding to be a part of, we combined together different cultures into the perfect destination wedding event!  A little background - Prerna is Indian and from Hong Kong, but spent some time here in NYC, Thor is Norwegian but currently lives in Hong Kong where the two of them first met.

Guests began arriving from all over the world earlier in the week of their wedding and their festivities began on Thursday evening with rooftop cocktails and a pizza party (what better way to start a NYC destination wedding!).  On Saturday, guests boarded a NYC site seeing bus for a tour (albeit rainy tour) or lower manhattan ending in Brooklyn Heights/DUMBO for a Long Latin Lunch at Gran Electrica.  Sunday was the big event and what better place to hold this affair than the Harold Pratt House, home of the Council on Foreign Relations!


One of the best and most detailed invitations I've ever seen!  Prerna had them designed in Hong Kong, the little details in this are AMAZING!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake
Starting the weekend off with cocktails on the rooftop of the Thompson LES.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Followed by a Pizza Party at Pala Pizza right next door.  Always keep in mind when moving guests around that it's best to keep events as close to each other as possible!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Yum!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

The next morning guests boarded a NYC Sightseeing bus for a tour of Lower Manhattan ending in Brooklyn Heights/DUMBO.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Long Latin Lunch at Gran Electrica!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Prerna ended up matching the umbrellas perfect!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Enjoying a Long Latin Lunch.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Our lovely Bride and Groom!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Stunning shot under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

One of my favorite shots - remind anyone of Carrie Bradshaw in Paris?
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Another favorite at Grand Central.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

And of course Central Park.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Black Dahlias.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake
Heart Roses.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Prerna and Thor's sisters led the ceremony written by the couple.  The ceremony was a mixture of Indian and Norwegian traditions with personal touches.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Prerna wanted simple dark red and ivory flowers with LOTS of candlelight.  In venues like the Pratt House, decor can be an accent letting the architecture of the House stand out.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake


Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Lighting is everything!  Notice how much the uplighting adds to this room.
We wanted to create a feeling of a very elegant dinner party with two tables.  The bride and groom switched tables halfway through the dinner to spend time with all of their guests.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Lots of candles and beautiful silver chargers for the tables.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake
Repurposing the garlands from the ceremony.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Scandinavian weddings include LOTS of toasts and presentations!  We had close to 10 that evening!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Photo Credit - Samm Blake

After a long dinner with friends and family, guests were invited downstairs for cake, espresso, photo booth and dancing!
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Guests enjoying the photo booth.
Photo Credit - Samm Blake

Credits -
Venue - Harold Pratt House
Planning, Flower and Decor - Laura Remmert Events
Lighting - GG Productions
Catering - Abigail Kirsch
Photography - Samm Blake



Wednesday, March 20, 2013

LRE Weddings - Ashley and Patrick - Harold Pratt House

This was easily one of my favorite wedding designs this past year!  Ashley and I met very early in the year and started talking about her dream wedding, she had already chosen the Harold Pratt House as her venue and wanted a 1920's Great Gatsby "theme" (1920s happen to be one of my favorite eras and Great Gatsby happens to be one of my favorite books of all time, so needless to say, I was very excited about this).  While we were going with a little bit of theme, we didn't want it to be overdone.  Ashley's wedding is a great example of taking a theme and making it feel fresh and personal.



Classic white calla lily bouquet with black and white striped ribbon.  Credit - Weddings by Two.


Beautiful bride Ashley.  Credit - Weddings by Two.


Simple ceremony decor - Ashley wanted the only ceremony decor to be the beauty of the room and lots of candlelight.  Tough to see with everyone standing, but there are approximately 100 candles in the room on the bookshelves, mantles, etc.
Credit - Weddings by Two.


Instead of standard escort cards, guests' names were on a white chocolate table number set in a bed of champagne roses.
Credit - Weddings by Two.


Close up of escort "cards".  Credit - Weddings by Two.


Lots of candlelight, flowers in a variety of containers and gorgeous Irish linen tablecloths.
Credit - Weddings by Two.





The champagne coup glass added to our 1920s theme.  Credit - Weddings by Two.


The menu card and place cards all coordinated with the 1920s Great Gatsby theme (as did the the place settings).
Credit - Weddings by Two.


Close up of the flowers, love the white, green and blush color scheme, all in a variety of silver vases.
Credit - Weddings by Two.

Credit - Weddings by Two.


Credit - Weddings by Two.


Credit - Weddings by Two.


Very fun Momofuku Cake.  Credit - Weddings by Two.


Credit - Weddings by Two.

Credits -
Venue - Harold Pratt House
Flowers/Decor - Laura Remmert Events
Lighting - GG Productions
Catering - Benchmarc Catering
Photography - Weddings by Two
Day-of Coordination - Beth Harris for Valerie Post Events

Friday, March 1, 2013

Wedding Planning Trends - Pinterest and Wedding Blogs

Oh the internet!  The internet changed the world of event planning several years ago by making it much easier for brides and grooms to find information about venues, vendors, products as well as advice about planning and etiquette.  While it's such an amazing tool that you can use to search for ANYTHING that you want or need for your wedding, there is the issue of too much information.  

As soon as the engagement ring is on your finger, most brides are bombarded with information.  Instead of a few magazines that you could look at and pull photos from, now there are weddings blogs that are updated on a daily basis with new ideas! new dresses! new designs!  It can be quite overwhelming!

Pinterest is an amazing site and can be a great resource for ideas and for the organization of your ideas; gone are the days of bringing your "inspiration binder" to meetings, now you can send a link to your Pinterest board to your planner, designer and friends.  



Just beware of Pinterest and wedding blog overload by following my advice below:















1)  FIND YOUR STYLE
It's important that you find your style when planning your wedding.  There are always options to combine two or more "themes" (I love juxtaposition!) but you don't want your wedding to feel pieced together or scattered, cohesion is important.  

Additionally, there are many trends in wedding design, certain colors become popular for a period of time, styles of arrangements, types of venues, etc.  If you are not a "vintage chic" bride, don't feel like you need a "vintage chic" wedding because that is what you are viewing online, view a variety of blogs and websites so you can find your personal style.  


2)  EDIT
After you gather all of the photos that catch your eye, take a good look at them, see what themes and trends seem to jump out at you.  As you're doing this, there will definitely be photos that do not seem to "fit", remove those photos or add them to another pin board, they may come in handy later, but you want to avoid idea overload.  


3)  PERSONALIZING YOUR WEDDING
There are a million of cute ideas out there for personalizing your wedding, you want to make sure that you choose the accents that are personal to you, not just something you viewed online and thought was cute.  Also remember that less is often more, if there is too much going on, wedding guests won't notice the accents that you a) spent time selecting and b) most likely spent part of your wedding budget on.  


4)  PINNING PHOTOGRAPHY IDEAS
Keep this in mind - the best photos are always the spontaneous ones!  While there are a million great photos on these blogs, websites and pin boards, keep in mind that most are these photos were spontaneous, not planned.  There are some great ideas of cute photos you can take of your bridesmaids getting ready in robes or tshirts or groomsmen and their socks, use these for ideas, but don't become obsessed with re-creating someone else's photos.  Be yourself and trust your photographer and you'll have your amazing photos that someone else will want to copy for their wedding!


5)  HAVE FUN WITH IT!
Remember this is supposed to be fun, I often hear from brides that are overwhelmed by all of the information out there.  Go with your gut feeling and if you need help, send your Pinterest board to your wedding planner and designer and we can help you narrow everything down.