In my search for a truly inspirational tablescape for a destination wedding to take place at the breathtaking Seaport Hotel in Boston, I visited one of my very favorite sites and came across this simple, elegant and luxurious tablescape designed by the one and only; The Wedding Library out of New York!
Seriously, this tablescape is simply amazing to say the least. It speaks volume to the bride who wants to make a statement but wants to keep it clean, simple, scrumptious and luxurious. What do you think about this table? Can you picture your wedding with this kind of décor? You know I would love to hear your thoughts.
Inspired by The Wedding Library,
Violaine Diogene
I love the very simple, white orchids on the clear acrylic table and chair. There’s something so stunning about the contrast between the color arrangements. Notice the several different lengths of glasses on the table which adds simple drama.
Seeing the whole table from a few feet away really allows you to take in how truly beautiful it is.
I love the brown chargers under the crisp white entrée plate with the dark cream salad plate. The colors are simply stunning. Did you notice that the only linen on the table is the white napkin? I love that.
I simply adore how all the very simple details were attended to. Instead of a traditional napkin ring, they used this very modern, crisp platinum sea seashell to keep the napkin in place.
This simple little statuette of the sea horse simply finalizes this tablescape.
Like wedding gown, your wedding cake and other aspect of your wedding; your centerpiece should certainly reflect your sense of style, personality and should make an impression on your guests. One of my current bride really knocked me of my seat when she decided to go opposite of everything she’s ever known. I’m talking about completely opposite and every one of her guests will not believe she had this person in her.
Kelsie (a destination wedding in Boston this summer) is as quite as they come, as simple and un-elaborate as a bride can be! This week while going through magazines and photos of reception décor, she came across a website and fell in love with these daring centerpieces and called me up screaming “V, I MUST have one of these centerpieces”! Well, if she MUST have them, then she will have them and in the next few weeks I’m heading to Boston to meet with the vendor to finalize the décor.
I’m sharing this with you because I want to remind you that this is your wedding and you’re able and allowed to do whatever it is that you want. If’ you’re a bride like Kelsie and you want to just shock your guests upon their arrival at the reception, by all means make it happen. There is no rule to what and how you should do your own wedding decor. Well, you know what I mean. I don’t want you to go crazy with your colors or anything but I just want you to keep an open mind about what’s available to you. Be creative, step out of the box and surprise the most important guest of all; you!
Below are some of the most amazing centerpieces I’ve ever come across. I love, love and love the very first one as it just took my breath away. This actually more than a centerpiece as every other table were graced with handmade canopies of birch and vines which featured dripping votives. While mossy pots overflowed with garden flowers with wooden lanterns and votives to punctuate each lush table. Do you hear that? That’s your guests gasping in amazement as they step foot in your reception!
How do you envision your reception décor? Like to contact the florist responsible for such amazing work? Davinci Florist and Stone Blossom would love to speak with you. Let me know your thoughts on these daring centerpieces.
Daring you to be daring,
Violaine Diogene
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Ok, this is almost kind of embarrassing to admit only because I’m a wedding planner and all, but I’m not exactly, no scratch that, I’m not a flower expert at the very least! There, I said it and yes, I’m breathing in sight. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I LOVE flowers and I absolutely love picking out a few flowers to make an arrangement but I couldn’t tell you about their names, meaning and all that, and that’s fine because I leave figuring out what’s in season and what’s what to my favorite floral vendors.
Because I don’t know much about flowers, I’m thinking it’s a great idea to for us to educate ourselves about these wonderful, simple pleasures of life. On Brides.com there’s this amazing Flower Finder and it’s a great place to get all the flower facts your little heart can handle. I’m thinking in the next few weeks, I’ll feature 10 flowers per week for us to get to know.
You know the deal, let me know your thoughts on this post and if you find it useful.
Happy flower learning,
Violaine Diogene
Muscari
These delicate, tightly clustered flowers, also called grape hyacinth, burst from bulbs in spring; small-headed, with supple stems, they’re easily wired into head wreaths for flower girls.
Color
purple, blue
Style
beach casual, classic, romantic
Cost
$$ = medium price
Season
spring
Size of Bloom
small
Hyacinths
This winter-to-late-spring bloom has a strong scent and a fresh-from-the-garden appeal; use the stems in small centerpieces or planters, or pluck a couple of individual flowers for a boutonniere.
Meaning: constancy
Style
beach casual, classic, romantic, modern
Color
red, blue, yellow, pink, orange, white
Size of Bloom
large
Cost
$$ = medium price
Season
winter through spring
Alliums
Like fluffy lollipops perched on tall sticks, these perfect globes of tiny petals create eye-popping displays, but don’t put them directly on your buffet-they smell a bit like onions.
Meaning: unity, humility, patience
Color
purple, blue, white, lavender, violet
Size of Bloom
large
Season
summer
Cost
$$$ = expensive
Hydrangea
Gardens burst into life with these poufs in late summer and fall; in shades from pink to lavender to green, they look modern when massed in bouquets and large arrangements.
Meaning: devotion
Style
beach casual, glamorous, classic, romantic, modern
Season
year round
Size of Bloom
large, medium
Color
blue, pink, green, white
Cost
$$$ = expensive
Sweet Peas
Skinny stems mean you can gather these frilly favorites in a bouquet, and it will still be featherlight. More good news: While it looks delicate, this early spring bloomer is deceptively hardy.
Meaning: delicate pleasures
Color
purple, red, lavender, pink, white
Style
glamorous, classic, romantic
Season
fall through late summer
Size of Bloom
small
Cost
$$$ = expensive
Peonies
This voluptuous, ultrafragrant flower has a fleeting season—late spring to early summer. Bunches of these chubby, old-fashioned favorites are beautiful placed in pretty pitchers.
Meaning: bashful
Style
beach casual, glamorous, classic, romantic
Color
red, burgundy, pink, white
Size of Bloom
large, medium
Season
late spring
Cost
$$$ = expensive
Roses
These are the classic long-stemmed roses that you see in the florist’s shop every Valentine’s Day. A perennial wedding choice, their petals can be plucked to carpet the ceremony aisle.
Meaning: love and passion
Color
red, yellow, pink
Style
glamorous, classic, romantic
Season
year round
Size of Bloom
medium
Cost
$$ = medium price
Lenten Roses
When is a rose not a rose? When it’s this five-petaled flower—more accurately called helleborus—that blooms in the Lenten season; it adds a springy bounce to bouquets.
Color
purple, pink, green, white
Season
early winter through spring
Style
beach casual, glamorous, bohemian, romantic
Size of Bloom
small
Cost
$$$ = expensive
Gardenias
With a scent to swoon for, this stem less flower can be floated in water or wired into a bouquet; though edges turn brown when handled roughly, it’s a stunningly retro-glam hair ornament.
Meaning: joy
Style
glamorous, classic, romantic
Size of Bloom
large, medium
Season
spring, summer
Cost
$$$ = expensive
Color
white, ivory
Eremurus Foxtail Lillies
Each stalk of this long-stemmed spring flower can have hundreds of star like florets; it can last for up to three weeks in a vase, so it’s great for make-ahead arrangements.
Style
beach casual, glamorous, bohemian, modern
Size of Bloom
medium
Cost
$$ = medium price
Season
spring, summer
color
yellow, pink
A perfect day in the office for us at André Winfrye Events is when we make a bride’s day by showing her something completely new and she has her “WOW” moment. Today, such a moment came when I introduced one of my brides to a new concept of cake stands! Yes, I said cake stands!
My bride Melisa is planning her dream wedding which will reflect truly her personality and style. Melisa is sexy, fun, stunning, elegant with a hint of funky and I love it. Everything so far as far as her décor goes is out of the norm and I thought her cake stand should be the same. And that’s when I logged onto Raise the Cake to show her what I had in mind for her amazing cake. Melisa was floored by these beautiful and amazing work. These are not your average cake stands!
With these amazing work of arts, you will see how your wedding cake will take center stage with these custom cake platforms. Brightly colored and textured cake stands can match your wedding theme and feature the attributes of your confection, making an elaborate tiered cake even more so or enhancing a small, simple design with added height and interest. Raise the Cake allows you to design your stand by selecting a fabric, color and embellishing it with an assortment of broaches, ribbons, pins and buckles.
As you know, it’s my great pleasure to show you my personal favorites in anything I recommend! I had a hard time choosing between the platforms but the first platform had me at the first sight of burnt orange, soft satin fabric and beautiful broach. What won’t this go with? You can tie this look into your wedding gown, your chair covers and anything else your amazing heart feels like. My second favorite features the stunning silk dark green fabric with hand-cut flowers and tiny little green crystals. Can you see how stunning your cake will look being displayed on one of these pieces of art?
As always, I what do you think of these cake stands? How are you displaying your cake? You know I would love to hear from you.
In love with anything wedding,
Violaine Diogene
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By now, I trust that you know how much I love to make a statement. I love accessories that screams elegant, I love a dress that is classic and certainly I love flowers that are bold and colorful. Some of the most memorable events I’ve attended included the nicest centerpieces that will remain with me for the rest of my life. When going through my photo album of the weddings that I’ve been fortunate enough to plan, I went on the knot to see what else I can show you to bring your creative side out.
Below are some of the nicest arrangements I’ve ever seen and it is my hope that these arrangements will inspire you to think out of the box when it comes to picking your centerpieces.
Did you just ask if I’m going to tell you which ones are my favorites? Don’t be silly, off course I am! What kind of planner would I be if I didn’t tell you which one truly had me at first sight? The first two are most definitely my personal favorites. Wow for the first centerpiece for being one of the most creative centerpiece ideas I have seen in a long time! Heffernan Morgan Designs designed this masterpiece by using classic lampshades and glass vases filled with water and small strands of white orchids. In each lamp was a pink light bulb which provided the soft glow. To finish them off, each centerpiece was lit from the bottom up using a mirrored light box. A fairly involved set-up, but very scene-setting!
My second favorite was achieved by using three cylinder vases were filled with sea glass and LED light cubes which provided that stunning but soft glow. Your eyes can’t help but stare at blush cymbidium orchids, cream peonies, white hydrangeas, lisianthus, and roses.
Well, what do you think of these centerpieces? How will you use these to inspire your décor? Did you choose your centerpieces already? I would love nothing more than for you to share your pictures and your thoughts with me.
Hoping to inspire you,
Violaine
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One of the nicest elements of weddings is the bouquet the bride’s maids will walk down the aisle with as anticipation builds up to the bride’s grand entrance. Regardless of wedding size, intimate or grand, the bouquet is trademark of décor which will reflect the style of the couple about to exchange their vows. When designing a bouquet, brides always assume they have to stick to a particular color to match their bridesmaid’s dresses and that, my darling brides is the furthers from the truth.
When thinking about your flowers, it’s perfectly ok to go outside your girl’s dress colors. It’s ok to mix the colors up to reflect your style. One way to do this is to use the flowers as an “accent” color. One of my recent bride’s colors were black with “accent” colors of pink and silver. The bride wore her Ivory gown, the bridesmaids wore black dresses, and they carried solid bold fuchsia bouquets wrapped in silver and it was stunning! Looking through my albums I thought I would share with you some of my favorite bouquets and I hope you’ll find some inspiration in them.
As always, I would love your feedback and thoughts on these bouquets. What are your colors? Are you mixing them up? How are you going about in designing your bouquet?
Inspired by you,
Violaine Diogene
This past weekend, I travelled home to Boston for a well deserved long weekend with a few of my closest friends. Upon my arrival to my cousins home I instantly felt at home and welcome not only because it was her home, rather because of the steps she took to ensure that I would feel at home. In the guest room which was carefully prepared for me was a note on top of the pillow letting me know just happy she was that I took the time to come and visit her and a single rose accompanied the note. How sweet and thoughtful was that? After I smiled from ear to ear, naturally my mind wondered into “wedding/event world”!
Yes, I know that it’s time consuming and with all the planning and running around a bride and her mother and others have to do, it leaves very little time (if any) to be leaving personalized notes and putting roses on one’s pillow especially for guests that are not staying at your home. But that’s why you’ve hired a planner. Your planner should be able to assist you with all those minor tasks at hand or to the very least make suggestions to you on how to handle such situations.
I know that you all know of the “welcome bags” that are often given the guests upon their arrival at the hotel or guest house. But rather than just a standard “thank you for sharing our weekend” note, why not take the time to personalize the card or note to each of your guests? Why not take a few minutes to share a quick memory with your guests about you and your future spouse? Why not take a few minutes and scribble something silly or a favorite memory tailored to the person who’s taken the time to attend your wedding, or your first child Bart Mitzvah?
Can you imagine your how your girlfriend from college would feel when she reads a card in your handwriting letting her know how blessed and special you feel that she’s travelled 100 miles to see you begin your new journey in life with the man/woman of your dreams? One small touch, yet a grand gesture!
Until next time,
Violaine
