A while back, The Knot (national) asked Eclatante to design a southern, Gatsby-style table scape using deep blues and greens.   Beautiful Blooms did their usual amazing job with the flowers! After a really great photoshoot in the studio of Antonis Achilleos, a great NYC photographer, The Knot published the fabulous results in their national magazine.

Here’s the article:

We just loved creating this amazing tablescape.   It all came together beautifully!

Look for some of Eclatante weddings in upcoming issues of The Knot.

What better way to kiss 2009 goodbye than by throwing this month’s fantasy New Years Eve Wedding party at the gorgeous Conservatory of Winterthur Museum and Country Estate in Winterthur, Delaware!  Through these gates a magical fantasy celebration awaits featuring the colors of onyx, gold and emerald.

These magnificent photos are compliments of our good friend and photographer Marie Labbancz who beautifully captures our step-back-in-time to the days of glamour and lavishness!

As you can see, our unique table design flows seamlessly in conjunction with this venue and the outdoor scenery. We absolutely love this striking centerpiece cone Beautiful Blooms created out of gardenia leaves with a burst of extraordinarily lush, black feathers.  Who doesn’t love feathers in winter?

Our table was decorated with cut crystal candleholders and gold pillar candles. We’re crazy about how the linens coordinate beautifully with the rims of each plate and cup, then brought together with perfect napkin rings!  Then, of course, the ultimate last touch with the feather placed inside each napkin.

Beautiful Blooms really outdid themselves with this unique bridal bouquet made out of green cymbidium orchids, green prada carnations and black feathers.

This absolutely stunning boutonniere was made of orchids and black feathers.

The fabulous bridal gown designed by Matthew Christopher and provided to us by Gabriella New York Bridal Salon (we love them!) is reminiscent of the glamorous and lavish styles of the 1920s and 30s – the era of gorgeous Hollywood starlets and incredibly extravagant parties.    Your eyes immediately follow the feather details along the back and length of the gown unveiling its sensational drama, softness and femininity.   Our model wears pearls to accentuate the vintage qualities and period style of this gown.

Claudia Seyler did the hairstyling and makeup for our bride capturing the essence of this time period by using pearl accents and bright red lipstick.

We hope you enjoyed our 2009 color stories as much as we enjoyed creating them and sharing them with you  Stay tuned for our January color story when we bring you our first beautiful surprise for 2010!

This month’s color story features a spectrum of purples and greys.

Step into our ‘secret garden’ – an enchanting and intimate setting where romance blossoms and floral beauty abounds!  Welcome to Eclatante’s November fantasy ceremony where the colors of silver, purples and grey illustrate an ethereal story on the grounds of the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate in Winterthur, Delaware.

Our friend and photographer Marie Labbancz beautifully captures the stunning radiance and elegance of this romantic setting!

To set the stage for romance, a platform was created to line the aisle with purple vases from the Eclatante Boutique filled with a cloud of purple hydrangea by Beautiful Blooms.

At the base of the arrangements, Beautiful Blooms placed silver mercury votives and candleholders of different sizes then covered the base with lavender rose petals for even more ambiance!

This fabulous archway was enhanced with sheer grey fabric with rose petals applied to it!

Our gorgeous bride carried a bouquet created from silver grey brunia berries, dusty miller and magnificent purple hydrangea.

The groom’s boutonniere is made from a plum calla lily with a silver grey brunia berry detail to look like buttons.

This amazing bridal gown provided by the Gabriella New York Bridal Salon is reminiscent of the vintage details that women wore in the 30’s and 40’s. The designer is Matthew Christopher.  The style may be formal but placing this dress in such an ethereal setting provided the contrast required to bring all of the elements together.

Claudia Seyler of Claudia Seyler Hair and Makeup styled the top of the bride’s hair to complement the era of the gown.  The bottom part of her hair was left down to add a delicate flow just right for this garden setting!

We’re getting in the holiday spirit for our December Color Story!  Stay tuned!

Our warm and luxurious August Color Story embodies the end of summer and transitions beautifully into the feeling of autumn with its warm, inviting colors created out of hues of orange, red and yellow.  You can just the feel the magic in the air with this fantasy celebration! 

The venue for this month’s fantasy party was the elegant Elkins Estate, an amazing grand mansion just a few minutes outside of Philadelphia sitting on 42 acres of graceful rolling hills among beautiful ponds and a tranquil retreat center.  Our friend and photographer Marie Labbancz worked her magic once again behind the camera to bring you these amazing and stunning shots!

One of the most unusual things about Elkins is the fact that you can actually host hundreds of people for a sit-down dinner within the estate itself – a true rarity among the stunning Pennsylvania estates that serve as venues for the areas most beautiful celebrations!

The foundation for this elaborate table design is a wrought iron structure with soft colorful fabric creating soft puddling and hanging birdcages. We’ve been thinking lately that creating a smaller romantic setting for two within the wedding reception would be perfect for a couple’s first dinner together on the evening of their wedding.  And the Elkins Estate was, as you can see, the perfect place to implement this vision!

Rian of Eventions was the master behind the lighting and draping that brought out the magic of the entire design! 

We absolutely love the floral arrangement by Beautiful Blooms created out of a birdcage with a beaded dragon fly accent (from the personal collection of Donna from Beautiful Blooms) and filled with lush Alaskan pink peonies, early season virburnum berry, yellow roses and butterfly asclepius.  

Our couple’s table was decorated with a painted martini glass from Anthropologie,  Michael Weems’ green etched wine glasses, vintage plates and Anthropologie bowls. 

Notice the charming monogrammed votive candle from Eclatante’s Boutique placed at the couple’s placesettings.

And how absolutely fabulous is the bridal gown by designer Kenneth Pool, thanks to Jennifer’s Bridal in Wilmington, Delaware!  Our gorgeous model, Paula, was styled beautifully by Claudia Seyler of Claudia Seyler Hair and Makeup.   Claudia also provided the exquisite jewelry including this perfectly suited dangling drop bracelet and headband.   

As you can see, Claudia is a pure genius at what she does!   She also did a beautiful job of creating the perfect soft, flowing hairstyle and subtle makeup as the perfect look for this month’s story creation.

Our bride carried a beautiful hand tied bouquet of Alaskan pink peonies and early season virburnum berry expertly created by, of course, Beautiful Blooms!

Next up:  our breathtaking September color story of rich deep purple and yellow!

For some reason, don’t ask me why, I get hung up on certain flowers for a period of time.   I do the same thing with colors or color combinations, and certain articles of clothing or even scents I want to be around. 

Today I realized that I LOVE blue delphiniums.   They’re just so pretty.   You’ll find them in an array of blues from sweet light blue to a deep rich color bordering on purple.    

They’re been around for some of the best events we’ve seen — see how pretty they can be?

Photo taken at Cairnwood by Marie Labbancz.   Beautiful Blooms executed a fabulous arrangement we designed for the inside of a fountain.

These lovely bouquets created by Beautiful Blooms were photographed by Tania Lezak at a wedding at the Avalon Yacht club.

And look at this amazing cuff made of delphiniums by Beautiful Blooms.  Simply gorgeous!

Okay, that’s it for today’s obsession!

When one of our favorite weddings gets featured in a great wedding magazine, we all get really excited.   The bride & groom and their families put so much of themselves into their wedding and it’s just wonderful when they get recognized because the choices they made were really just as special as we thought!   Amy & Dustin’s romantic and beautiful wedding was just such a celebration – with a zillion little details dreamt of and created with love!    Michael Branscom did an outstanding job of capturing all that was really special about this wedding!

Amy is a former equestrian from St. Davids (who speaks Spanish like a native!) turned lawyer DC. Dustin is is a former Top Gun pilot with the U.S. Air Force who is now a consultant at a firm in Northern Virginia.

Aside from occurring in one of my favorite Philadelphia venues, the F.U.E.L. House in Philadelphia, the wedding’s color combination was stunning!   We used copper, super green, blush pink and ivory. We placed deep copper linens on the tables with handmade green dupioni silk runners. It just looked amazing. The flowers arrangements, created by the amazing team at Beautiful Blooms, were gorgeous bouquets and arrangements of perfectly blended tulips, peonies, tulips and sweet peas — and, of course, cherry blossoms! The invitations, seating cards and table numbers from the Papery were perfectly coordinated with green bands and copper ribbon. And, thanks to Lotus Cake Studio, the cake was a beautiful and delicious representation of the great invitations — proof positive that you don’t have to sacrifice a delicious cake to have a beautiful cake. (Read: you can look at your cake and eat it, too!)

Because the father and the groom (who was from Kentucky) shared an admiration of great bourbons, the guests were treated to a truly one-of-a-kind bourbon bar and handed mini-bottles of Knobs Creek bourbon at the end of the evening.

The bride and groom are also big movie buffs so they had a great time coming up with movie titles for table names while Amy’s mom went searching for the perfect movie posters to hang in the great upstairs bathroom.

We hope you get a chance to pick up the latest issue of The Knot, Pennsylvania!

FINALLY!!!!  

. . .  Spring is almost here!   We can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to present our enchanting April Color Story created out of hues of Robin’s Egg Blue, White & Pink.

Welcome to the first wedding of Spring!

The absolutely adorable “City Garden” of the Please Touch Museum provided the perfect backdrop for our beautiful spring wedding.   And, of course, the incredible talent of Marie Labbancz made it possible for us to bring the best of our work to you.

Bill and Donna of Beautiful Blooms really outdid themselves with the very pretty arrangements of tulips, peonies, hydrangea and pink quince in luscious white milk glass containers and white cylinder vases.  

We found perfect paper mache robin’s eggs on Etsy, which became very charming additions to the table nestled in nesting straw in milk glass containers.

 The boys of VU- Events hung a lovely blue birdcage and metal lanterns and mini painted lampshades from Anthropologie, along with providing exactly the right lighting for our beautiful table.

Two Paper Dolls came through for us beautifully – as always – by creating the perfect invitations to the first wedding of Spring!

The linens were just exactly what the table called for, thanks to The Total Table.   And the beautiful place settings were provided by Party Rentals Ltd.

We just adore the bridesmaid’s gown Mary Helen Ranieri (owner of Suky Occasions) styled for our wedding.   Claudia Seyler (Claudia Seyler Beauty) styled Oksana perfectly with exactly the right hairstyle, makeup – and amazing jewelry.   

And just look at that amazing bouquet created by Bill at Beautiful Blooms.

David Robison, Max & Me Catering’s Executive Chef and Theresa Linskey, the Sous Chef, prepared a divine feast complete with blue margaritas!!!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our April Color Story as much as the whole team enjoyed bringing it to you!   Stay tuned for our next installment!

When we last saw Roseann & Paal (Part III), they were running around the city (in a serious rainstorm) with their ready-for-anything new BFF photographer, Marie Labbancz.   Laughing like teenagers, Roseann & Paal finally arrived at their final destination for the night  –   The F.U.E.L. House — a totally cool urban gallery and event space in Old City, Philadelphia. 

Roseann dreamt of a truly hip but classic and sophisticated wedding that glowed with the falls hues of copper and sapphire.    She also wanted her guests to have the time of their lives.   See for yourselves how Roseann’s dreams came true!

Throughout the venue, Beautiful Blooms placed a mix of glass cylinder vases with submerged orange flowers such as cymbidium orchids, gloriosa lilies, mokara orchids, copper wire and floating candle accents.   

The amazing cake, created by Lotus Cake Studio, was surrounded by more cylinder vases filled with flowers and other ones filled with coffee beans, metal shavings, and metal “industrial pieces”.  

Feastivities just outdid themselves with a magnificent feast of scrumptious food stations and the coolest and most colorful martini bar ever.  

F.U.E.L. has an awesome bathroom upstairs – with several closets.  We filled one closet with some of Paal’s college athletic gear, another one with evidence of Roseann’s love of shopping and great taste.   The third closet had Roseann’s mom’s wedding gown and pix from her wedding to Roseann’s late father.     We also had wonderfully plush towels embroidered with Roseann & Paal’s initials and hung them in the shower. 

Roseann & Paal’s family and friends were a seriously dancing crowd and the band — Dreamtime — gave them everything they needed to dance the night away and have a truly fantastic time!   

Can you imagine a happier couple?  It was truly a great, great wedding!   I don’t think anywhere who was there will ever forget it.

The inspiration for our March Color Story was my own wedding, which happened a few years ago in late March.  I’m still thrilled with the colors we chose, but, of course, new twists and turns are part of everything Eclatante does.  So, here we go with what I believe is one of our most beautiful color stories ever!  

The venue for our March Color Story was the absolutely enchanting Carousel Room at the Please Touch Museum.    We all had such a great time in there (how could we not? It’s a real carousel!).  (These two photos are courtesy of the Please Touch Museum.)

So, with this as our backdrop, we brought in an amazing team of professionals who, together, worked and played so well until the way-late at night to bring you this month’s color story.  We were, again, truly fortunate to have Marie Labbancz photograph our story so that you can see just how beautiful it was!

The drop-dead gorgeous wedding gown (designed by Monique Lhuillier) and the adorable short lace party dress Oksana was wearing were delivered and styled by Mary Helen Ranieri, the owner Suky Occasions.   Claudia Seyler (Claudia Seyler Beauty) created the absolutely perfect look for Oksana, our beautiful model. 

Bill and Donna of Beautiful Blooms were the ultimate perfectionists creating their gorgeous florals that adorned this fantasy perfectly.  The centerpiece consisted of three vases wrapped in white lace paper filled with a mixed arrangement of purple hydrangea, deep plum tulips, blue curiosa roses, purple double lisianthus and muscari. At the base of the vases were smaller vases with lace accents filled with muscari. The whole table was accented with navy blue skinny taper candles.  

Two Paper Dolls masterfully stepped up to the plate with gorgeous periwinkle and white lace table numbers and seating cards – absolutely perfectly suited for our story.   They always get it right! 

The beautiful finishing touches, including all the elegant table top pieces, and those amazing “ghost chairs” by Party Rentals Ltd. and the wonderful and perfectly coordinated linens from The Total Table – made this Color Story absolutely flawless. 

Another captivating detail were the multiple streams of periwinkle satin ribbon painstakingly hung by VU- Events, who also did a fantastic job of lighting our beautiful table.  

Beautiful Blooms created a lovely hand-tied bouquet of lavender hyacinths, blue curiosa roses and purple double lisianthus with a lace ribbon detail on the bouquet. 

Finally, the food and wine were nothing short of phenomenal — created and beautifully presented by the chefs at Max & Me Catering.   David Robison, Max and Me’s Executive Chef and Theresa Linskey, the Sous Chef, prepared a feast of Seared Foie Gras with Ginger Cassis Sauce and Silky Onion Puree.  Unbelievable!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our March Color Story as much as the whole team enjoyed bringing it to you!

Stay tuned for our April Color Story – another stunner!

When we think of February, our next thought is, naturally, Valentine’s Day.  And our favorite February parties are the bridal showers and girls’ soirees we get to throw for our brides with upcoming weddings.   So, this month, for our fantasy party, we decided that our color story would be hot and cold running PINK! 

Color Palette

Inspiration Board 

The team totally outdid themselves this time!  And, once again, our praise and thanks go out to Marie Labbancz, our wonderful friend and photographer.   It is truly rewarding to see one’s work so perfectly captured.   

We shot this gorgeous color story at the enchanting Please Touch Museum in Fairmount Park. 

(The Septa bus Oksana is exiting from is actually part of the

“Roadside Attractions” exhibit!)

Now, let me tell you how our February story begins – paper flowers. I’ve wanted to have a party with paper flowers forever.   So, Beautiful Blooms indulged me and created these really pretty flowers out of white iridescent and soft pink paper that we strung from strands of peach and white pearls over the table.    Vic and the boys from VU-Events masterfully hung all the paper flowers and lit our pretty pink table perfectly!

For the centerpiece, Beautiful Blooms filled apothecary jars with layers of rose petals, hydrangea petals, light pink cut glass, white sand, dried ivory roses and  pearls.  They also filed glass vases with swirled pearls and floating candles.    Light pink tapers in footed candleholders completed the centerpieces perfectly.

The gorgeous linens came from our friends at The Total Table.  The darling favor boxes were created by our favorite geniuses at Two Paper Dolls.  We filled them with a mix of Good & Plenty, Hershey’s Kisses and a variety of pink and ivory candies from The Lil’ Candy Shoppe in Northern Liberties. And the stunning place settings (notice the great glassware), table and chairs came from Party Rentals, Ltd. 

Max and Me Catering did a fantastic job of of coming up with food and drink that was coordinated perfectly with the décor.   Just look at those irresistible cosmos and glasses of pink champagne and wonderful white wine.   They also created a beautiful entrée of Diver Scallops with a Celery Root Puree and Citrus Beurre Blanc.   Our kudos to David Robison, Max and Me’s Executive Chef and Theresa Linskey, the Sous Chef.   The Girls Only Party was not only gorgeous, it was also incredibly yummy!   

Mary Helen Raneiri, the owner of Suky Occasions came by and styled Oksana in a scrumptious pink party dress. Claudia Seyler of Claudia Seyler Beauty did a fantastic job on Osaka’s hair and makeup.   Beautiful Blooms created the perfect nosegay of peach spray roses with pearl accents for our guest of honor. 

Stay tuned for our next Color Story.  March: the end of a long winter’s night’s dream.

Eclatante Event Design and Beautiful Blooms announce a great new joint project – monthly color stories.   

November Color Story

There’s no use fighting it with pastels – November was created for great rich and interesting colors.   And lately, we’ve been craving plums.   So Eclatante imagined a wonderful color palette and designed a fantasy table party perfectly suited for a cool and brilliant November celebration.

After creating our color palette,

 we came up with our inspiration board:

Once we lined up the perfect home for our photo shoot – the classically modern F.U.E.L. House in Philadelphia — Eclatante could start the design process in earnest. 

Our first idea was to design widthwise table runners to be made out of paper.   Our dear and talented friends at Two Paper Dolls created these awesome paisley table runners (with color-opposing table numbers) that were perfectly matched with the gorgeous plum linens we found at Wild Flower Linens.    We found just the right coordinating glass chargers and tinted flutes at Party Rentals Ltd.    The masters at VU-Events flawlessly executed our drapery and lighting design. 

Finally, Beautiful Blooms’ amazing floral design: The centerpiece of the table is a vintage green glass container with a dome design of sterling roses intertwined with a cage of plum calla lilies. Green glass rectangle vases are filled with a pave of purple anemones and aqua glass bud vases filled with stems of magenta phalenopsis orchids.   Every napkin is accented with a single orchid bloom.

We were thrilled when Feastivities came up with the perfect entrée for a fabulous November party — pan-seared duck breast with olives, braised plum tomatoes and grilled asparagus.  YUM.

And the whole thing was expertly captured by the amazing photographer – Marie Labbancz.   She is such a genius!

We’re really excited that The Bride and Bloom Magazine asked us to design this photo shoot for their Spring/Summer 2008 issue. We had a great time with Donna and the gang at Beautiful Blooms and with Marie Labbancz — photographer extraordinaire! And the dolls of Two Paper Dolls did their usual amazing job of providing just the right touches with their printed material.  Such creative dolls they are!

Take a close look at those great little boxes of flowers that were our “seating cards/favors” for each guest — little mini flower arrangements to take home. And another one of my favorites — tea cups! I’m really hoping this takes off — they finish tables off beautifully and it’s another way to present a stunning, unusual table.

You really should take a good look at this great bridal magazine. It consistently provides brides with interesting and creative ideas and is full of drop dead gorgeous stuff. I get completely lost in it every time I pick one up. This issue is on the newsstands now. Grab one and tell us what you think!

Now, I know this may not be the first time you’ve heard that “Yellow is the New Pink” but I really did write that down in the notebook I keep beside my bed long before I found out that it’s been said before. I guess I heard it subliminally somewhere or maybe it just came from nature or in the great patterns I’ve been looking at lately. Take a look and see if you’re inspired to step away from pink and see what the color of sunshine can do.

YELLOW BLACK AND WHITE

BRIGHT BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL!!

1st Row: Brides.com 50 Best Cakes, Nicole Miller, Wildflower Linens, photo on File
2nd Row: Pattern by Two Paper Dolls, Anthropologie Homepage (center), photo on file
3rd Row: Bev Hisey rug, Ink + Wit artwork
4th Row: Anthropologie Rug, Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (3 remaining photos)

YELLOW AND GRAY

The colors of chic in 2008

1st Row: Anthropologie, The Paperie (wrapping paper),
2nd Row: Print and Pattern (both)
3rd Row: Anthropologie Bowl, Peter Som 2008 Collection

YELLOW AND PURPLE

There’s a reason why

they’re a butterfly’s favorite color

1st Row: Lotus Cake Studio, Botanical Garden
2nd Row: Michael Kors, J. Caroline Creative
3rd Row: J. Caroline Creative, Michael Kors

So, Donna O’Brien (from Beautiful Blooms) and I teamed up to create some great table and event shots based on the color yellow for a photo shoot at Turbine Hall

How gorgeous are these?!? I can’t wait until a bride takes the bait and says, “Kendall! I want a yellow and purple wedding!”
By the way, the photography for the shoot was expertly accomplished by none other than our great friend, Marie Labbancz. As usual, Marie, your work is just unbelievable! We are so lucky to have you in our corner!
And those amazing place cards, menu cards and table numbers? You know who that was – Two Paper Dolls of course!

Stay tuned for information on the publication of the photos.