Sunday, June 14, 2009

A simple Barn Wedding in New York

I found this blog about cool weddings on greenweddingshoes.com. Being a horse lover I just loved this theme. Check out the cake. It was made by Lulu's Cake Boutique in New York. What a great story! The wedding took place in 2008. Check out more at www.greenweddingshoes.com




Simple Farm Fresh Wedding at the Blue Hill बर्न

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Christina and Andy live in Brooklyn, but spent many weekends traveling to the Hudson Valley and the Catskills for day hikes, long weekends, and fresh air. They also love good food and appreciate the chefs that use local, organic food. They found the perfect place about 50 minutes outside of Manhattan.

The Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant sits on grounds owned by the Rockefeller estate, not far from Manhattan, in Pocantico Hills. The surrounding farm produces all of the produce and food for the restaurant, and the restaurant's menu fluctuates, depending on what's available on the farm. They have a 22,000 square foot greenhouse where they grow all sorts of lettuce and other vegetables. It is the largest greenhouse that exists for the purpose of supplying organic produce for a restaurant in the entire country.

This wedding isn't necessarily IN a barn like the others this week, but there is a beautiful working barn there and a great farm setting, plus she has some great details, that I just had to share! Christina also documented her planning process on her blog, so to learn more details, please check it out!

Christina and Andy wanted a simple and heartfelt evening...and they succeeded. I hope you enjoy the photos and details of their farm fresh wedding as much as I did.

Thanks to Christina for letting me share this with you all! Photography by the talented Sarah Sloboda.

Blue Hill Wedding

A friend of Christina's, Tawana Schlegel, volunteered to be the floral designer. Christina showed her the inspirations (many from her blog) and told her that she wanted everything to be very simple with a "farm meets the forest" idea. She used kermit mums and white clover for the men, and the ladies had lady slipper orchids. Christina's bouquet was all white ranunculas (I love this flower!! ) They are so clean and fresh, but all of those petal layers add an element of lushness.

Blue Hill Wedding

Christina was planning to get married outside, but because of the rain, she had to switch plans. The day ended up feeling stormy and romantic indoors. Tawana (her floral designer) came to the rescue and found logs to place around the windows with flowers - so romantic!

Blue Hill Wedding

Christina downloaded silhouettes from a copyright free image site and made the escort cards herself. Christina made the animal table markers and many of the vessels (ceramic). Jenna Hein (who addressed their invitations) wrote the names on the place cards.



One of the couples favorites things to do was to go to Breezy Hill Orchard in the fall to pick apples. They couldn't think of anything better to send their guests home with, so they decided on a local fruit medley with a canvas tote as send-offs. The fruit was wrapped up in the burlap sacks. They attached mini Moo cards to each burlap bag. The cards had pictures of the couple with a message "Andy and Christina love you" on the back.

Blue Hill Wedding

From Christina "The food was heavenly. We really didn't know much about wine, but the Blue Hill sommelier did a wonderful job. We learned a lot about the food we served when we were designing the menu. The staff at Blue Hill was amazing." I love that they use the freshest ingredients the farm has to offer and will work to make sure your menu reflects you.

Blue Hill Wedding

Their cake was vanilla cake with a layer of dulce de leche and a buttercream frosting. Many of the guests went back for seconds! (Always a good sign) The cake was from Lulu's Cake Boutique. For the cake topper Christina found two horse models (an "Arabian" stallion and mare) that were marked with the year they were born. She put a little white paper posey by the ear of the mare to give it a little bit of "bride".

Blue Hill Wedding

The invitations. Gorgeous calligraphy by fellow Brooklyner Jenna Hein. (photos below taken by Christina)

Blue Hill Wedding

Her ring was custom made by Hannah Clark. His is a Marian Maurier band from the Clay Pot. Christina also made the ceramic piece to nestle them in moss.

Blue Hill Wedding

Wednesday, June 3, 2009


Did something on your Wedding Day turn wedding bliss into a wedding disaster? Would you like a chance to do it all again? Send us a video clip of your nightmare in action, or just send us a clip telling your wedding disaster story, and you could win a complete wedding redo! You must be 18 years old to enter. The Deadline to enter is Wednesday, June 10 at 10am. Presented by weddingwire.com

ENTER NOW

Submission Guidelines:
Video must be 2 minutes or shorter.
File formats accepted: wmv, mov, mpg, flv, 3gp, 3g2.
File size limit: 20 MB.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Media Opportunity for Wedding Vendors


By now, you may have heard about the buzz with Petals By Xavi and Sternberg Productions. Petals by Xavi has been selected to have our own TV show. Each episode will feature different weddings from start to finish, emphasizing on the coordination and design of the wedding at different venues and different design elements of the wedding.

We started filming March 27, 2009 and have to say, it was a huge success (enjoy a few pictures from the shoot below)! It was a long day starting with the Flower Market in LA and ending with a consultation party with several wedding couples at La Soie Bridal (in Tustin). It went so well, in fact, that the VP of development wants to feature different venues and vendors once a week. On this endeavor, we would love to feature you and your venue.

This is an opportunity to get all of your brides on tape, and an excellent opportunity to feature your venue/studio.  We are scheduling consultation parties once a week and would love to feature you. What this entails, is contacting your brides or having us contact them and let them know about the consultation party at your studio or your facility, we will set up about 4 tables with beautiful linens and centerpieces, let them know Sternberg Productions will be filming and schedule all the brides to come in either at the same time or in shifts of about 4 or so at a time.  Sternberg Productions will have their cameras rolling featuring your venue and the buzz of all the coming and going of your brides. It will create hype for your facility so we are encouraging you to invite your unbooked brides as well, basically sending the message that if they book with you and Petals By Xavi, they will have their wedding featured on TV. Cameras will be rolling at the consultation party so most brides at the “party” will be featured anyway, but individual airtime and featured weddings on TV is exclusively reserved for brides who obviously book with both your venue and Petals By Xavi.

Last week La Soie lined up 9 brides between 4pm-9pm who had not chosen a florist yet (and brought in some of our own brides for hype). The camera crew took shots of each individual bride’s consultation, the store manager was interviewed, they got footage of the brides trying on gowns, cameras featured La Soie and filmed our consultants doing floral consultations at the front of the store.  It was such an awesome experience; we are looking forward to sharing it with you!

All you would need to do is send out a blast e-mail to your booked and unbooked brides with the attached letter (Dear Bride and Groom) and a quick note like the one below and your phones will start ringing off the hook! Take a look at what one of the catering managers sent out to her couples this week:

Dear Wedding Couple,
One of our vendors has been selected to be on a series for TLC
television.  If you have not yet selected your florist they are great
and this would be an opportunity for you to have your wedding televised.
 
Congratulations!
 
Valerie T. Lehman  |  Catering Manager
Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles
506 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90071, USA
 
P:213.612.1529  |  F:213.612.1573

The response she has already received has been overwhelming!
This is a great opportunity to showcase your venue, as we will be working hand-in-hand with you and your venue on the show. The more of your brides that book with Petals By Xavi, the more your venue will be featured on TV.
If you would be interested in being featured on the show, would like to set up a meeting for more details, or setting up a consultation party do not hesitate to give Petals by Xavi a call! (866) 551-2199

Need More Leads?


Unfortunately we are in a recession and we all have to scrimp and save and more importantly work harder to make less! Are you looking for more leads in Orange County or even Nationwide? Check out AFWPi -- The Association for Wedding Professionals International.

As you well know, it has been difficult to find a great networking group for the bridal industry in our area. Let me introduce you to AFWPi, an international bridal networking group. I have been a part of AFWPi since 2002. They have been servicing the bridal industry since 1994. In addition to the large amount of hits they get on their website, the owners are also bridal show producers attending numerous bridal shows through out the year, increasing the member’s exposure. They also produce a yearly conference for members only. I have attended conferences in places such as Jamaica , New Orleans , San Antonio , and Ventura in addition to participating in a bridal show in Ireland a few years ago. These networking opportunities are priceless!

Based in Sacramento , they have been starting up chapters in other cities nationwide over the past couple of years. The Orange County chapter is set to have our first meeting in March and I will be the Committee Leader. We will have monthly mixers on the last Wednesday of each month. The location will change monthly. If you are a restaurant, hotel, or golf course and would like to host a mixer, please contact me at (714) 970-6380. We would be happy to feature your facility.

Added benefits include bridal lists that the members receive consisting of up to 8000 leads nationwide. About 200 – 250 of those are in our immediate area. That comes out to be about .5 cents a lead. AFWPi also works very closely with several media companies and presents monthly media opportunities to its members. And because of the size of the organization they have been able to negotiate deals on many services that we as business owners use on a daily basis. Lots of leads, opportunities, and savings included with this membership!

If you are a facility or restaurant and are interested in in hosting a mixer you receive these benefits ....

Your name and location mailed out to over 1,000 of the areas wedding professionals in a 4 color invitation
The ability to have many wedding professionals tour your facility & taste your food!
The link to your page from AFWPi site for up to 3 years or more.

Check it out at www.afwpi.com

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