After a wonderful event in Princeton, I decided that it was too late and I was too tired to drive all the way home, so I spent the night at a friend’s house in Princeton.   Donna (of Beautiful Blooms fame) and I took Sunday morning off and hung out in super-charming downtown Princeton.   We stumbled across a fabulous little garden, outside of an adorable bar, filled with zinnias where we could sit and drink coffee.

I forgot how much I loved zinnias.   I took some photos with my brand new iPhone 4 and I was pretty impressed with the colors!  Just looking at them makes me happy, so I thought I’d spread the cheer.

I stumbled upon these when doing some research and I fell irretrievably in love.   I simply had to share!  I found them on dieline.com.

Look for these in Eclatante’s future!

We’re very happy to share this post on the ultimate wedding blog –  Style Me Pretty – of one of our very favorite weddings in 2009.   We invite you to explore this very very pretty wedding (Part 1 and Part 2) and our favorite Maid of Honor toasts of all time,  Beautiful Blooms did an outrageous job with the florals. Gorgeous.   Marie Labbancz was thir photographer.

Assuming your mother is extraordinary, we thought you would appreciate it if we brought a few amazing gifts that would suit your mom perfectly.

From Emersonmade, we are selling some of the most amazing gifts that will likely thrill your mom no end.  The hand-dyed and hand-stitched blooms and accessories are simply beautiful — like nothing she’s ever seen.  And everything comes so beautifully packaged.   You won’t want to wrap it!

Who wouldn't love these wonderful shoe flowers? They are amazing. We fell in love with them at first sight and have already placed our first reorder so we'll be sure to keep up with the demand for Mother's Day! And they're only $36 for the pair.

Next up, this wonderful little fabric clutch adorned with one absolutely beautiful dahlia.   LOVE!    For only $58 (and they won’t die in week!)

We absolute ADORE these tiny floral “poppers.”   We’ve thought of several ways your mom could use them.   As a super-cute lapel pin or even as a napkin adornment.   (They also make unbelievable tie pins — perfect for Father’s Day — hint, hint).

These wonderful fabric handmade flowers are $9 each or a beautifully boxed set of six for $56

Finally, we just fell totally in love with these linens.   The table runners are amazing, as are the napkins.

We have “E A T” linens and napkins in the Boutique now, but we can order whatever you want!

The table runner is $58 and the napkins are $42 for a set of six.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Our love of spring continues with our favorite candles of all time.   People adore these candles – and we couldn’t agree more.  They smell absolutely, but subtly, delicious.   We have to reorder and restock these candles more often than almost anything else in the Boutique, just to keep up.   But we don’t mind.   We’re happy to share our discovery.

Voluspa was founded in 1999 by Troy and Traci Arntsen, both of whom have a great passion for the art of fragrance.

Heather Fowler took this great photos the of the Voluspa candles in the Boutique so we could share them with you.   Thank you so much, Heather!!

Soleil – 3 wick tin $18
Dahlia Orange Bloom – 3 wick tin $18
Panjore Lychee – 3 wick tin $18

Hawaiian maile vine – 4oz tin $8
Sake lemon flower – 4oz tin $8

Santiago Huckleberry – 4.5oz $8  and ceramic pedestal $16
French Cade & Lavender – 4.5oz $8  and ceramic pedestal $16

The rest of the photos were taken by our own Maggie Ruder — who just seems to have a wealth of hidden talents!

Laguna 2-Wick Tin $15

Lemon Lily Boxed Mini Ceramic Candle $12

Truffle White Cocoa Mini Tin $6.50

Pagoda Boxed 3-Wick Opulence Bowl $36

Theses candles are perfect housewarming or hostess gifts — even if they’re warming your own home.   Come visit us and pick up a few.   Don’t worry about us running out — we can get more!

Click here for directions

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!

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:

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.

We are so excited about the first time an Eclatante event gets published in an international magazine.   And in Ireland, no less – a country rich in beauty with the most wonderful people I’ve ever met.

B Weddings Magazine, which is published in Dublin, Ireland caught wind of this gorgeous event we designed and planned at the Independent Seaport Museum which took place last April.  The client wanted to take their guests to the most beautiful cities of the world, so we set about to create a look, taste and feel of an around the world adventure for each of their amazed and delighted guests.

The team at Beautiful Blooms did an incredible job with the florals – Donna has traveled and lived in different parts of the world so she brought first-hand, true floral representation to the different table floral pieces.  You can see from the magazine’s pictorials that we executed a plan where the tables came from all over the world.   Even the table numbers reflected the style of the specific city we were representing on any particular table.   We did the same thing with the food, the entertainment and many of the amenities throughout the entire event.

We even had old European-style street performer that thrilled the guests to no end as they walked into the doors.   People are still talking about this extraordinary celebration – one of my favorites of all time!

Of course, for the international world to take notice of this incredible party, we had to have a great photographer, so we brought the fabulous Marie Labbancz along to capture every amazing moment.

Photo by Cliff Mautner

Photo by Amy Deputy

Photo by Tania Lezak

Photo by Tania Lezak

Photo by Laura Novak

Photo by Sandor Welsh

Photo by Therese Marie Wagner

Photo by Marie Labbancz

Photo by Marie Labbancz

Photo by Maggie Wallace Cullun

Photo by Tania Lezak

Photos by Alison Conklin

We have a tone of these amazing photos of kids at our weddings.   We might do this again someday!

We were so excited to be asked to showcase ourselves to the brides of the Please Touch Museum.    It is such a wonderful, unique and fun place in Philadelphia to have a really spectacular celebration.   It’s unusual to have a place in the City (other than a hotel) where so many people can be seated with room enough for a good size dance floor.   Plus, the place is just gorgeous and is a joy to work in.

photo from the Please Touch Museum website

What more can I say?  Oh yeah, it has a carousel!!

Sofia Negron took some wonderful photos of the table we created for the occasion. We did something a little different this time and people really loved it. Thank you so much Sofia!

We often get asked by our clients to create tablescapes instead of centerpieces — which is one of our very favorite things to do. We think these lovely red flowers (provided by Beautiful Blooms) are the perfect floral accent when you don’t want the flowers to dominate the decor.   And the napkins rings are perfect – they have a little hole to insert a single flower stem.   You can get a set for yourself at the Eclatante Boutique.

Lately, we’ve seen a bit more family-style service on the dinner tables. Here, we’re serving dessert family-style, on pretty plexiglass platforms filled with petals. Just a little different. And it gives the table some dimension and interest.

These individual little butterfly seating cards are among our favorite things in the Eclatante Boutique.  The birds are adorable, too.   People really really love them!   And guests are totally enchanted when there is one at their placesetting.

By the way, it’s taken me a long time to like stemless wine glasses.  I know I’m behind the curve on that, but I’m finally here.   I actually like them now!  Especially since we got a gorgeous set for Christmas.

Thanks to Kelley, Scott & Kimberly at Max & Me Catering!  It is pure pleasure working with everyone at Max & Me who really put this whole thing together!  Not only is their service and food absolutely amazing, their people are GREAT to work with!

We’ll do a more complete blog on the Please Touch Museum soon.  There is so much to that incredible place!

Come visit us at the open house for Max & Me Catering held at the Please Touch Museum on Wednesday, January 20th from 6-8 pm.   The Please Touch Museum is so amazing and unusual, I just don’t know where to start – but let’s got with this:

It has A REAL CAROUSEL you can ride!!!

We’ve been fortunate enough to have planned and designed a few weddings at the Please Touch Museum.  It’s an amazing place to have a wedding!   Check out some photos of some of the other fun things we’ve done there.

If you’re looking for the perfect venue and an amazing caterer for your wedding, you should plan to stop by this Open House next Wednesday.

Please RSVP to Kimberly at 215.578.5188 or kim@MaxandMeCatering.com.

One of our favorite parts of designing events is when we get to scout out great musicians and talented entertainers for our clients’ extraordinary celebrations.   That part of our jobs isn’t anything like work.  We get to sit down and listen to some incredible music.   How hard is that?

You’re welcome to come along on our next venture out to hear some amazing musicians perform.  We’re going to Beat Street in Manyunk  on Sunday (January 10th)  where Elan Artists will be showcasing some of their best musicians.   If you’re looking for some truly sophisticated, fun, great music for your affair (with absolutely no “LET’S PARTAAAYYY” cheese goin’ on),  you’ll find it there.   Trust me on this. Each band performs a cross section of music from classics to contemporary.  Hip, sophisticated, cool – just great, great music that you might just fall in love with.

Sunday January 10^th 2010
Beat Street Station

Prompt Start 5pm

Email info@elanartists.com to RSVP.

Beat Street Station
4401 Cresson Street
Manayunk, PA 19127

888.800.3526 or info@elanartists.com
Admission Free – RSVP Requested

www.dancebandshowcase.com

Preview groups at www.elanartists.com

The holidays can bring out the best in us.   It’s the perfect time to step just a little outside of the box and give people unique gifts that they may not be expecting.

One of the great advantages to having a little boutique is that we only have the items that we really love.   Chances are, you wouldn’t be able to find them anywhere else.

Take, for instance, this gorgeous back and white 5 x 7 frame ($35.95).   And one of our new favorite things in the Boutique is the Lotus hands tealight holders ($20).   They are really beautiful.

For stocking stuffers, we have totally fallen for these handmade flower brooches.   Everyone who sees them loves them.   People walk in the Boutique and buy them immediately — at $20, they are pretty irresistible.

And how cool is this?  It’s a fruit pyramid (ornaments look pretty amazing in it, too!).   It’s a great, chrome-platted spacesaver and  looks very chic on a counter or a table.   $24

These rose tealight holders are absolutely lovely. We have theme in light creme and bronze.   People are buying them up at $16.   Small wonder – they’re stunning.

As a truly elegant gift, we recommend this stunning Peacock Tray from Fringe ($55).  For your people that truly appreciate beautiful things, this tray will absolutely thrill them.  Likewise, the mercury glass gold apothecary jars are just gorgeous.  We have them in two sizes, 13″ ($33) and 16″ ($43).

Here’s another fun stocking stuffer – these little scottie salt and pepper shakers are adorable, and incredibly priced at $10 for the pair.

Finally — our latest obsession — Totally organic, 100% bamboo robes.   Not a synthetic thread to be found. So incredibly plush, you won’t want to take it off!   They feature a detailed shawl collar, cuffed long sleeves, two front patch pockets and they’re extremely durable.  You’ll also find them in luxury hotels and resorts. We couldn’t resist putting a few in the Boutique for the holidays!   A truly wonderful price at $70.

We have them in white and in chocolate brown.  

Of course, these are just a few of our favorite things.   We have so many more unique, fun and beautiful things at the Boutique.   You should come visit us and see it all!   We located at 1031 North 3rd Street on Liberties Walk, right next to the Piazza.  Parking is a piece of cake.  Of course, if you already know you want something, just give us a buzz at 215.925.9911 or email us at celebrate@eclatantedesign.com, and we’ll send it out to you.

Oh, and don’t forget to come down for the Holiday Shopping Crawl here in Northern Liberties on December 19th from 11 am to 8 pm. Just about all the shops are doing something really special for you, including offering some interesting incentives that you definitely make you very very jolly!   Our Boutique is going all out — as usual.   We’d love to see you!