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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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 Kevin York

Can you imagine how excited you would be if you won a $90,000 wedding at the amazing Independence Seaport Museum? Four hundred and fifty contestants were all vying for this incredible wedding on May 23rd (of this year!), but in the end, after more than 21,000 votes, it was Matt and Faye (and their adorable little bulldog) who cinched it.   Video: Matt and Faye win Love of a Lifetime giveaway!

Photo by Kevin York

The “Love of a Lifetime” package is absolutely amazing and covers everything from the rehearsal dinner to flowers, catering photography, a custom gown, rings, a fabulous cake, and, of course, event planning & design by Eclatante!  We LOVE working with everyone involved.    Our incredible friends at Culinary Concepts have done a terrific job of getting all of us involved and on the same page.  We LOVE THEM!

How this wedding turns out is up to you guys; the public is going to be voting on the details of their special day. It’s up to you to make all sorts of decisions about things like the menu, what they will be wearing, flowers and decor, and their cake! Just visit their blog at philly.com/mattandfaye to register and you can be a part of this amazing journey all the way up until May 23, 2010!

Matt and Faye Interview on FOX29 News

Again, congratulations Matt and Faye- we are SO excited to be a part of this!

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!