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 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.

Last weekend, Eclatante was honored to play a role in planning one of the sweetest proposals we have ever heard of.

The story goes like this:   We were contacted by Tamar, the sister of Tali, the unsuspecting bride-to-be to help pull off an incredibly romantic surprise proposal.   Yoni, the ever-so-handsome young man doing the proposing was far away, in Israel, where he had been for quite some time.   Yani, the beautiful bride-to-be, didn’t expect to see him until next month.

But Yoni had gone to great lengths to surprise the love of his life.   Unbeknownst to Tali, Yoni created a wonderful photo montage to be shown on the Piazza’s 30′ screen. sent it here, then boarded a plane to Philadelphia.

Yoni arrived from Israel just in time to build a wonderful snowman on the Piazza stage then make himself scarce for the big reveal.   Under a great pretext, Tamar brought her sister to the Piazza where Tali saw the montage and believed that her amazingly romantic boyfriend had arranged for the best Valentine’s Day gift ever – the display of that montage.    Here it is:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJFXvo8L6iA

Man!  Tali was stunned beyond words when her Yoni stepped before her and got down on one knee   Honestly, I don’t think there has ever been anyone so surprised in the history of proposals!   Of course, she said YES!

We arranged to have the wonderful Heather Fowler on board to shoot the scene as it unfolded.   It really doesn’t get any more romantic than this!

The Philadelphia Inquirer picked right up on this story, as did 6ABC.

I can’t wait to see this wedding happen!

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!

Welcome back to Kelly & Liam’s wedding.  Hope you enjoyed Part 1.  This Part 2 is about their very special Quaker ceremony on the private beach at her mother’s summer home in Bethany Beach, Delaware.   Only these amazing photos by Amy Deputy can even begin to tell the story of how beautiful and romantic the ceremony and its setting were. Amy’s genius is in capturing the magic in every moment.

When guests arrived they were offered these refreshing lemon/limeaid beverages

Guests were then invited down the lovely boardwalk accented beautifully with blue ribbon and glass lanterns

Guests were offered seats in the lovely Quaker Meeting House setting we created on the beach for Kelly & Liam's wedding ceremony

In case you don’t know, a Quaker ceremony is a bit different than a typical wedding ceremony. The guests will gather for silent worship.  Then, as they may be inspired to do, individual guests may stand and give their own messages to the couple and the other guests.    Afterwards, the couple signs the marriage license and the guests are invited to do the same.   This certificate becomes the couple’s treasured possession.

At Kelly & Liam’s wedding, the couple and their immediate family members sat under an absolutely gorgeous structure created by Beautiful Blooms that perfectly reflected the stunning setting. The words spoken by many of the guests – some of which in a truly melodic Irish brogue — were incredibly warm and loving.   It was, in all ways, one of the most beautiful ceremonies I have ever seen.

The adorable flowers girls carried these perfect flower baskets created by Beautiful Blooms

Kelly enters the beach with her brother

After the ceremony,the guests were welcomed into the cocktail hour on the beach

Really nothing like a cocktail hour on the beach!!

We had these absolutely perfect pinwheels created to serve as the seating cards for the guests. Guests just LOVED them!

While the guests enjoyed their cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, Kelly & Liam spent some time basking in their first moments and husband and wife.

There is one more amazing part left to show you about Kelly & Liam’s wedding.   The wedding reception was as much fun as it was gorgeous.   Just wait!

Kelly & Liam are an extraordinary couple.   Therefore, of course, they had an extraordinary wedding.  Everything took place at Kelly’s mother’s summer home on the beach in Bethany Beach, Delaware.

Amy Deputy was the incredible photographer that brilliantly captured every facet of this wedding. There is no way to do this wedding justice in just one post.   Soon you’ll see why.

Kelly & Liam met when Liam was working on Kelly’s home in Philly.  Liam is a true Irishman – with a sweet brogue and an amazing soccer game. Once they met, it was all over. They got engaged in June of this year, came to Eclatante in July and got married in September.   And what a wedding it was.

Carolyn of The Papery got right to work to create the perfect invitation for Kelly & Liam.   Totally reflective of the wedding being planned and Kelly’s elegant and clean style, the invitation was the guests first look into this amazing wedding.

We planned this stunning beach wedding (all the parts to take place on the sand with the reception in a tent) in a matter of weeks – and it came off without a hitch. That is not to say that there weren’t a few scary moments.   On the Monday prior to the wedding, the weather reports cited an 80% chance of heavy rain, complete with lightening and thunder.  But by Friday, there was not a cloud to be found.   They say it was Kelly’s grandmother’s wedding present!

As the story goes, Kelly wonderful grandmother passed a way a couple years ago.   Before she died, she told her family that she was going to become the Angel of Weather.   Well, most of us turned into believers that weekend and think that Kelly’s grandmother gave her granddaughter the best wedding present either.

Here are just a couple “before” photos (from my iPhone) taken as we were setting up the tent on Bethany Beach during the days before the wedding.

Tenting by Party Center - Photo taken with Kendall's iPhone

Photo by Amy Deputy

I think I’ll just start posting photos and let the story unfold.  (All the rest of the are Amy Deputy’s.)

There's nothing quite like a wedding rehearsal on the sand.

On the morning of the wedding, Liam’s family were were playing in the water with delight.  It was the perfect beach day.

Even Lulu, Kelly & Liam’s fun-loving golden retriever was having the time of her life.   A totally calm Liam had a great time in the water playing with Lulu just hours before the ceremony.

While Liam and Lulu were playing on the beach, Kelly was up in the house getting ready.

Of course, eventually  Liam did come in from the ocean to get ready for his wedding. His boutonnière created by Beautiful Blooms was the great final touch to his perfectly chose attire as was his best man’s.

Then the moment came for Kelly & Liam to see each other for the first time.    Kelly grabbed her beautiful bouquet created by Beautiful Blooms – with her beloved late father’s class ring attached – and headed downstairs to see Liam for the first time.

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  This is a lovely shot of Kelly's bouquet (A hand-tied bouquet of white mini callas, white spray roses, white dahlias and an accent of soft blue delphinium) and Liams's great tie!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Kelly & Liam’s wedding.   We created a Quaker Meeting House ceremony on the beach.  It was absolutely beautiful!

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!

With the expert and indispensible help of the Beautiful Blooms team, Eclatante worked with the Dolls at Two Paper Dolls to create our very first Celebrating in Style™ event at the Dolls’ studio in Wayne.   We transformed the Dolls’ office into a great event space, the goal of which was to demonstrate to the great hosts of the Philadelphia area how we can help them throw an amazing party anytime, anywhere – not just weddings and other large scale social events. We actually planned five parties in one for our guests — each of which could be a great home party — and each one with its own interactive element!

Take a look at some of the fabulous photos taken by Mike Kehr and Jana Bannan at Mike Kehr Photography!  Thank you so much Mike and Jana!!

First up:  our wine and cheese pairing and tasting!   The expertly chosen wine was provided Frank’s Wine Mart.   Carl (from Frank’s) gave our willing guests advice on how to choose wine and cheese for their next home party.   Beautiful Blooms created gorgeous florals in rustic wood boxes.  The wine was divine and the cheese, provided by Provence Catering was to die for.   I could have hung out there all night, but there was much more to come!

Then we designed a simply gorgeous holiday dinner party with more scrumptious delights provided by Provence Catering.  Eclatante sought out and provided the perfect table settings in compliment to the painted table at Two Paper Dolls Studio.   Beautiful Blooms created the long table arrangement —  perfectly suited for a dinner table where you want to talk easily across the table to your guests.

Outside of the holiday dinner party room, Beautiful Blooms demonstrated the art of creating beautiful arrangements for your home.   People just loved it!

Moving along, we created a warm and wonderful yellow and grey baby shower that featured a stunning baby photo printed on large piece of fabric and hung over the gift table.   Laura Novak is an extraordinarily gifted photographer of beautiful babies and has created magic with her innovative ways of giving new parents the gift of a lifetime.  Beautiful Blooms filled vintage milk glass containers from Donna’s personal stash with a variety of carefully chosen flowers.  Look at how pretty the presents look in coordinating colored paper from Two Paper Dolls.

Next door to the Baby Shower was a very interesting birthday party designed by Maya of Beautiful Blooms and Leila of Eclatante.  With all of the buzz around the Twilight and True Blood series, these two good friends created a very special party based on an “ageless creatures” theme. What a perfect way to celebrate a birthday!

Beautiful Blooms created arrangements in sleek black glass vases from red, burgundy and deep eggplant colored flowers.   Along the perimeter of the room, we placed black wrought iron candle stands with deep eggplant pillar candles.   We also chose perfectly coordinated linens and drapery.   And look at that cake — Provence Catering caught the vision perfectly when they came up with this rich red cake with black lace sugar icing.   Gorgeous!

Craig Neier Associates provided a mind reader that people are still talking about!   How the heck did he know that stuff?!?!?!

Craig Neier also provided a duo of musicians that were just wonderful,   We loved how they fit right in and helped create the perfect atmosphere for our very eclectic party!

Moving downstairs, we were able to give our guests quite a treat!   We created a fabulous 80’s-themed party as a great inspiration for a mitzvah or other fun celebrations of just about anything!

Craig Neier provided a super-fun 80’s trivia game that thrilled everyone for hours!

And there’s nothing quite like an 80’s theme photo shoot (by Mike Kehr Photography) to make a party a little on the crazy side.   Love that backdrop Taylor (of Eclatante) created for the occasion!

Finally, we come to the “Man Cave” where Scott from Two Paper Dolls showed our guests how the huge letterpress printer works.   Very very cool.

Then we had the greatest thing of all — Craig Neier Associates installed a real Craps table with real Craps dealers who taught everyone how the game is played and how to really have fun with it. That table was crowded all night long with people playing craps and having a fantastic time.

A truly GREAT time was had by all.   We just love love love a successful party!

We’ve got something old, something new, something gorgeous and something blue for this month’s fantasy party!  We invite you to join us at this fun and elegant cocktail party where the colors of sapphire, orange and gold bring to life a festive October Color Story.

The venue for this month’s story is the reflecting pool on the grounds of the lush, glorious and historic Winterthur Museum and Country Estate nestled in the heart of Delaware’s beautiful Brandywine Valley in Winterthur, Delaware.

Photographer Marie Labbancz works wonders with her camera to bring you these breathtaking shots!

As you can see, the bar takes center stage at this sophisticated and extraordinary party!

We created a double-level bar draped in a rich krinkle sapphire blue taffeta. On the lower level of the bar, we used a beautiful Obi Belt made of luxurious orange and gold silk for a runner.  On top of this fantastic runner we placed beautiful florals by Beautiful Blooms created from drop dead blue roses inside gold cube vases, along with square votives.

We draped our side cocktail table with gorgeous orange linen with gold accents.   The arrangement on the table consisted of a dome vase with blue stones and orange callas.

What’s a party without fun signature drinks in carefully chosen tinted glassware.

And check out the gorgeous dresses our models are wearing – all provided by Gabriella New York Bridal Salon!

Forget the little black dress! Angel Sanchez is the designer of this amazing little white cocktail dress worn by our host model! Douglas Hannant designed the purple cocktail dress that our guest wears.

Claudia Seyler of Claudia Seyler Hair and Makeup gave our model a romantically styled 60’s type hairstyle reflecting the style of that incredibly chic cocktail dress!

Next up:  our November story – a stunning and romantic ceremony set in silver, purples and grey.

Sometimes you have to share.

I stumbled across this photo on Amy Deputy’s blog as I was gathering things for an upcoming blog entry on a wedding we did together.   It stole my heart.  I couldn’t resist sharing it with everyone I know.    While not from an Eclatante wedding, it certainly is a photograph worthy of every accolade I can think of.