It doesn’t have to be complicated, or expensive, to insert some pretty, unique details into your spring parties.  Here are some wonderful ideas that will absolutely delight your guests.

Once again, Heather Fowler shot the wonderful photos of the items in our Boutique. See for yourself what a great job she does with details.

A set of six placecards is only $9.

We love these adorable hand-crafted paper placecards that flutter right onto your stemware at each placesetting. They make for great conversation-starters. Handwrite your guests’ names (or have them calligraphed) and slip the notch over rim of water goblets or wine glasses for a lovely dinner party accessory.

This winter was one for the record books — not just for the record snowstorms, but the amazing weddings we were honored to be a part of.    Carolyn & Steven’s wedding happened during one of those famous snowstorms, but nothing put a damper on their incredibly wedding day!  The photographs by Marie Labbancz truly show you how wonderful that day was — in spite of the weather!

Their engagement photos showed no sign of the crazy weather in store.

But when their wedding day arrived, Mother Nature gave them a truly romantic snowy day.  As it turns out, this special winter bride secretly wished for snow on her wedding day. She said that the lace on her gown reminded her of snowflakes, which was why she chose it.

Carolyn was beautifully prepared with this pair of amazing snow boots!

Carolyn and her girls got ready at The Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia.  Claudia Seyler did a beautiful job on everyone’s hair and makeup.

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The beautiful bouquet created by Beautiful Blooms was all about Carolyn.  It was perfect for her!

The couple met in the lobby of the Four Seasons for their romantic moment before heading off to Waterworks on the Schuylkill River.

Thank goodness Claudia was able to stay throughout the day so that Carolyn could be touched up after bracing the elements.   Of course, part of the romance of the day was the warmth the couple gave each other throughout the pre-ceremony photo session!

Stay tuned for Part 2, where Carolyn and Steven com ein from the cold for their beautiful ceremony at St. Clements Episcopal Church and fabulous reception at the Franklin Institute.

The bunny, as a symbol of fertility, has been associated with Spring for thousands of years.  So we’ve adopted this little bunny to express how excited we are that Spring is FINALLY HERE!!

Likewise, the art of decorating eggs.  For many thousands of years, eggs have symbolized life, rebirth and renewal.  While decorating eggs is often thought of as an Easter tradition, truth be told, it is also a beautiful way to celebrate the smell of Spring in the air and all that means.

So, to honor Spring (and Easter), we’re selling these beautifully decorated eggs. Each light, wooden egg is individually decoupaged with love using Japanese yuzen chiyogami papers and a water-based sealant and acrylic.   The eggs are is 2½” long and 1¾” in diameter.  They are really, really pretty and they’re only $8 each. Incredible!

The blue origami eggs are beautiful and elegant.

We love these Cherry Blossom eggs!

These teal paisley decoupage eggs are absolutely delightful.

MAKE YOUR OWN SILK TIE EGGS!!

For those of you who want to decorate your own eggs, here is something so incredibly innovative that we just had to share it with everyone we know. Dye your eggs using old silk ties! What a fun project this is, not to mention inexpensive and very creative.   These kits are only $20 – the result is a dozen gorgeous eggs that you made yourself and had a great time doing it!

You will find the following in each kit:
12 pieces of 100% patterned silk (from discarded ties – talk about reuse!)
12 pieces of cotton fabric thrifted from pillowcases
12 twist ties
Instructions

You will need to supply:
1 dozen large eggs
White vinegar
Unreactive pot/water/stove

Of course your results will vary, but that’s the creative part, right?

So, hop on down to the Eclatante Boutique to gather up your eggs or pick up any of the other beautiful Spring things we have for you.  You know where we live!

Click here for directions

Along with cherry blossoms (from my DC roots). among my favorite things about this time of year is the emergence of tulips.   I just adore them. According to Persian legend, the first tulips sprang up from the drops of blood shed by a lover and for a long time the tulip was the symbol of avowed love.

So, while thinking about doing a “one of my favorite things” blog post, the first thing that popped into my mind was the glorious onslaught of spring tulips.   I really don’t have to say much about them   Their beautiful faces pretty much say it all.

Tulips are one of the few flowers that I think translate well directly from their natural setting to a vase.

These amazing photos were taken by and are courtesy of Bill Schodowski from Delaware Valley Wholesale Flowers.  Right now, all beautiful tulips are waiting here in these incredible fields in Holland.   Aren’t these colorful rows of tulips incredible?

The floral designs and bouquets are, of course, from the team at Beautiful Blooms.

Photo by Marie Labbancz

Photo by Tracey Williams

Photo by Marie Labbancz

Photo by Maggie Wallace Cullen

Photo by Marie Labbancz

Photo by Scott Lewis

Photo by Marie Labbancz

Photo by Jason Varney

So, welcome to Spring 2010.   I hope it’s filled with tulips!

Four years ago, today, was my wedding day.   That whole day, I was happy, calm, drinking mimosas, getting my hair done, hanging out with my girls, running around Rittenhouse Square with Marie Labbancz getting photos with Phil and climbing into a limo to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to marry the love of my life. It was a very, very good day.

Claudia Seyler did our hair and makeup.  Like I’ve always said, having Claudia there on the day of your wedding is like having a great bottle of wine — perfect for the occasion, relaxing and not the least bit overbearing.  She did a great job on everyone’s hair and make up — my mom, my daughters (this is Meaghan), my sisters and me.     Three generations of beautiful hair and makeup.

Phil and I saw each other for the first time that day on the steps in the Rittenhouse Hotel.   He had tears in his eyes.  YAY!

Two Paper Dolls created our invitations. We reproduced Phil’s favorite painting at PAFA.

I absolutely ADORE this photo of my youngest daughter, Katie, lovin’ on my mom, who was 85 at the time.   We’re throwing Mom’s 90th birthday party this summer.

A Broadway choir sang “Seasons of Love” from Rent right before I walked down the steps.  It could not have been more perfect.

That’s it.   We’re married.

Here are the famous shoe and hat box tablescapes by my buddy, Donna O’Brien of Beautiful Blooms. And the “table paintings” instead of table numbers (by Two Paper Dolls, of course).

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Here are my girls (from left to right):  Meaghan, Kendall, me and Katie.

Our first dance.

This is one of my favorite photos of Phil — ever!  He really was having the time of his life.

Everyone had a blast, which, of course, made Phil and me even happier!

One of our favorite parts was the desserts of chocolate stiletto shells filled with scrumptious mousse by the pastry chef at Jimmy Duffy’s.  Four years later, people are still talking about them.   My shoe fetish was very well represented!

I don’t want to overdo the photos of my own wedding, so I’ll stop here.   Hope you enjoyed them!  Happy Anniversary, Phil.  ¡Te amo!

As this new astrological year begins, I thought it would be fun to share the very cool little piece I stumbled on when I was perusing through the latest issue of Food and Wine Magazine.

What a fun way to celebrate a birthday, eh?

When we last talked about the planning of Faye & Matt’s wedding, you were asked to chime in on the difficult choice between two wedding gowns that were beautifully designed and custom created for Faye by Janice Martin Couture. Here is the stunning winner:

Now is your chance to decide between two really beautiful  floral centerpieces created by the incredible team at Beautiful Blooms.   You can vote on Philly.com for either of the two beautiful pieces below.  Faye and Matt love both, so it really is up to you.

By the way, these photos were taken by Kevin York.  Faye and Matt are extremely lucky to have Kevin as their wedding photographer – it’s a certainty that their photos will be AMAZING!

Design#1  (“Organic Chic”) is created from an organic mix of hydrangea, protea, frog’s eye euphorbia, stock, hypericum berries and curly willow.  I just love how the colors compliment each other in the shades of apple green, purply blue and yellow. It will look stunning on the square tables dressed in a great purple pintuck linen with accents of yellow.

Design #2 (“Fishbowl Fashion”) has a more modern feel and was created in a large fishbowl. This arrangement is a combination of plum calla, yellow protea placed on a base of green split peas.   This centerpiece will look equally beautiful on the purple linens.

Hurry.  You only have until Tuesday night to vote for either of these gorgeous pieces.

After the centerpieces are decided, you’ll get to vote for the beautiful wedding rings from Safian & Rudolph.

In Part 1 of Brierley & Andy’s story, we told you about how much we love these guys and how the amazing craft of sailing played a signtificant and beautiful role in their wedding.   The very talented Sarah & Tony DiCicco were absolutely masterful at capturing this beautiful day.

We are now at the stunning ceremony, which took place at the Student Gallery of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I LOVE it when a couple decides to have their ceremony there.

After the ceremony, the guests were guided to the magnificent seating card table.  They were thrilled by the origami sailboats the whole family made to serve as seating cards. And just take a look at the gorgeous floral design executed by Beautiful Blooms.   LOVE!

PAFA is a great, GREAT place for photos. Such amazing artwork!

The guests were guided up PAFA's magnificent staircase into the beautiful cocktail area.

I love this photo of Brierley & Andy on that incredible staircase.

After the yummy cocktail hour (where guests were treated to, among other things, a very tasty cheese spread from the couple’s home state of Vermont), the guests were invited into the stunning reception. It was simply gorgeous. Beautiful Blooms did a fabulous job of creating the perfect look right out of Brierley’s head.   Brierley is not an extravagant young woman.   She has a very sleek, but warm style and appreciates details that are organic, rather than manufactured.    We managed to create a look for her tables that was simply lovely, just like Brierley herself!

Their guests had a truly great time.

The food was absolutely incredible.  It was a major priority to Brierely that her guests be served amazing food.   She is an editor at ” Eating Well Magazine” so we classify her as a world-class foodie, and as such, she had very specific, truly unique and wonderful ideas about what and how to serve her guests.   Jimmy Duffy’s was absolutely on board to make all her food wishes come true.  (Little fun fact:   Brierley’s parents used Duffy’s for their rehearsal dinner in the 80’s.)   The guests raved about dinner.   Then dessert arrived and they were totally stunned.    Duffy’s pastry chef created gorgeous red sugar apples and filled them with to-die-for ganache.

And the cake was PERFECT!   Simply and beautifully decorated with perfect red raspberries.

And O.M.G., the dancing!  It went on all night long.  The Sultans of Swing kept this very very happy crowd on that dance floor having the time of their lives.   AMAZING music came pouring out of these guys!!!   They are incredible and we love them!

Finally, there comes a time when we all must just take our shoes off.

As the parting shot, I literally fell in love with this mother-daughter photo.  It is a beautiful photo of this duo who truly love and respect each other.  It was pure joy being around them — we’ll certainly never forget them!

Again, thank you so much, Sarah & Tony.   Your photos really captured the essence of this wedding and we love you for that!

Lucky Faye!   Her wedding gown will be custom-designed and created  by the famous couture dress designer and dressmaker,  Janice Martin. The gown is now down to two stunning designs.   And you get to choose which one Faye will wear on her wedding day!

When we last talked about the planning of Faye & Matt’s wedding, you were asked to vote on the invitation by Two Paper Dolls.   And the winner is:

Now, we’re on the wedding gown, and so far, the voting has been unbelievable.   The dam has opened and votes are pouring in.

At their first meeting, Faye and Janice got to know each other so that Janice could design the dress to not only to suit Faye’s beauty and style, but her personality as well.  Eclatante was there for the fittings of the muslin versions of each evolution of Janice’s designs. We were so impressed by Janice’s compassion and ability to figure out exactly where to begin and how to make Faye feel completely at ease with the process.  By the time Faye’s gown is complete, there is absolutely no doubt that it will be a one-of-kind couture wedding gown that was made to fit and suit Faye absolutely perfectly.

These two drawings depict the two designs by Janice that were created for Faye.

GOWN #1

This is a halter style fitted gown with a layered train. The fabric will be a cotton/silk blend and the gown will have a slight blue cast to it. The train starts higher in the front, lower in the back. The dress may have small covered buttons down back of gown. The train is of layers of chiffon or organza, so that each layer will “flow” or “float” evoking waves. The gown may also have a blue sash at waist to complement the bridesmaids dresses. Blue was chosen for two reasons:  First, Faye’s amazing eyes; and, second,  because the ceremony will take place at  the rotunda that juts out onto the water outside the Independent Seaport Museum.   The effect of this gown is “light and airy”. The halter style gives Faye’s figure support and her shoulders more definition.

Gown #2:

Same silhouette as Gown #1, but is a strapless fitted gown of shirred silk satin. This is a much more “formal” fabric. The train is layered with a “bubble” type effect, so that overall the gown would be more sculptural and elegant.  Both gowns are very “body conscious” so either will show off Faye’s lovely curves. Both gowns will feature blue in the construction to give depth and richness to the gown and flatter Faye’s skin tone and eyes!

So, just like you did with the invitations (thank you!), please log onto Philly.com/weddings to cast your vote for either Gown #1 or Gown #2.   Hurry, though.   Faye is very anxious to find out which gown is hers!!

Next time, you’ll be asked to choose between two amazing centerpieces from Beautiful Blooms.

Brierley & Andy will stay in our hearts forever. We so adored every minute of planning this wedding that sometimes I wish we could go back to when we were talking to this family and this incredible couple all the time. To say we miss them is really an understatement.

One of the most interesting facts about this gorgeous couple is what Andy does for a living — he’s a professional sailboat racer (as in, The America’s Cup and a gold medal in the Pan American Games).   I mean, really — how does that happen?   Well, he comes from a family who loves to sail and it just took hold. He started sailing when he was six and proposed to Brierley on his father’s sailboat, “the “Thistle” (which will re-emerge in Part 2).  And from there, we just had a great time incorporating little sailing elements throughout the wedding.

Brierley’s very cool profession finds it’s way into the reception.   Her life is all about incredible food.   More about that later.

The amazing photography was beautifully accomplished by Sarah DiCicco. I LOVE LOVE LOVE working with her.   Not only does she produce incredible photos, but she is a total dream to be around.

Here are some great shots of Brierley and Andy getting ready

We love the font of their invitations.

Brierley's yummy Monolo Blahniks

These cool wine bags that held the wine Andy gave to his groomsmen were were made from recycled sails.

While the girls were getting ready, Andy took the guys bowling at Lucky Strike.   It really is a completely different thing for guys that day!

Although she wasn’t bowling, Brierley was way cool in her hotel room as things were getting started.

Claudia Seyler’s incredible artistry with hair & makeup and her wonderful, calm persona was the perfect fit for this low-key, but fun-loving crowd. Brierley looked absolutely amazing.

Brierley steps into her stunning Romona Keveza gown, with a beautiful light blue, crystal encrusted sash around the waist.

This is one truly happy bride!

Back from bowling, Andy was relaxed as could be while getting ready.

The gorgeous bouquets from Beautiful Blooms arrived at the hotel and Brierley was ready to see Andy for the first time.

Brierley & Andy wanted to take some photos in some very Philly places – so off they went to the 30th Street Station and of course, they had to stop for the famous Broad Street photo!   Sarah was very accommodating with a few game-day changes.

I love this picture of Brierley and her mom, Lindsay. It's not hard to see where Brierley got her looks, eh?

Stay tuned.   Next up will be the stunning ceremony and reception at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. You will love.

This is truly amazing.   The Beautiful Blooms team knocked it out the park big time at the Philadelphia Flower Show.  Some think (as do I) that it was the most innovative and exciting exhibit at the Flower Show this year.   Maya came up with the original concept of creating a topographical map of a sea to glacier terrain out of hanging glass vases filled with colored water and perfectly chosen flowers.   From that freaky concept, the Beautiful Blooms team designed and planned a truly stop-in-your-tracks stunning exhibit.   Every time I walked by, there were people lined up, taking photos and talking about how amazing it is.

Here are some great photos by David Mielcarek of CINEMATICbyDavidM.

Small wonder Beautiful Blooms won the Flower Show’s “Award of Excellence,” eh?

Here are the initial drawings — I thought you might find this interesting:

We introduced you to Faye & Matt in an earlier post.   They are the amazing couple that won the Love of a Lifetime wedding at the incredible Independence Seaport Museum on May 23rd.

Here is your opportunity to vote for the invitations designed by Two Paper Dolls that will be going out shortly.  Both are beautiful!

Here’s how it goes.   Each element of the wedding will be voted on by the public on the website hosted by Philly.com.  So far, the perfect menu and food service from Culinary Concepts has been chosen.  (YUM! – Philadelphians have great taste in food!).  Now it’s up to you to choose between the two amazing invitations created by Two Paper Dolls.   Here they are.

Hurry up and cast your vote for either one of these.   I have my favorite, but that hardly matters!

After the invitations comes the two totally custom-made wedding gowns from Janice Martin.   We’ve been going to the fittings and I’m sure you will adore what’s being created for Faye.   Deciding between the two might be a problem though.

Sometimes people create things that I love and just have to share.   My latest obsession are these great letterpress neighborhood cards created by the girl wonders at Two Paper Dolls.   I LOVE THESE.   But I need them to do one of Northern Liberties, yes?

You can get these from Two Paper Dolls at the place in Wayne or Pressed55 right here in the Piazza.   Or from their cool Etsy shop.