Just Chic Events Blog

When I sat down for my consult with Yvette and Craig a year ago, and they told me about their vintage wedding vision set at Castle Green, I flipped!!   They showed me some Anna Griffin invites that they had already jumped on buying that exuded everything they wanted their wedding to be……..soft, romantic, vintage in tones of yellows, blacks and whites.  I couldn’t wait to get started!! 

Below, thanks to the wonderful husband and wife team over at Pix of Life, are a few of my favorite shots from the day:

A beautiful outdoor shot right after Yvette was done getting ready.  I loved the unique silhouette on her dress….the 3/4 inch sleeves screamed vintage beauty!!

A closer shot of her sweet bouquet from Blossom Floral Design, I loved the tiny berries that were hiding in the clouds of virbinium and roses!  Also, a shot of her custom blinged-out shoes!

Their first look moment, they were SO anxious to see each other!!

The reason I love Castle Green…..that staircase is to die for!!

Their ceremony had the most beautiful historical architecture as the backdrop:

I know, I know, I keep gushing about Castle Green, but it has so many cool spots for pictures!  This is sooo Vanity Fair!

Some of their vintage details included their faux burnt-edged table numbers and the adorable bow-adorned cake!

And I will close out with a super neat and unique moment from their reception!  Yvette wanted to infuse some of her Japanese culture into the day, so they chose to do a sake breaking ceremony.  They wacked the heck out of that barrel with that mallet and then shared a cup of sake together to symbolize their new union.

Please feel free to visit the Pix of Life blog for their wonderful slideshow of the day!

Yvette and Craig – It was such a joy to be a part of your wedding day!!  Yvette, for all the times you graciously said “thank you” again and again, THANK YOU for letting me help you plan this beautiful day.  You two are such an easy-going couple to be around, I can see why you are the perfect match for each other!

I am so thrilled to finally blog my totally GREEN, totally eco-friendly wedding of 2009!!  I had the pleasure of meeting my bride Erin, through her magnificient makeup artist sister, Annie Wolfson, from Blushing Bridal Makeup.   I adore Annie to death, so it was no surprise that I totally clicked with her sister Erin, and her mom as well, who was Erin’s right hand woman during the wedding planning process.

When I met Erin and her mom for their initial consult, I kept hearing from Erin that the most important priority to her and her groom, Sundi, was to keep the entire wedding completely eco-friendly, causing the least amount of impact possible to the earth and the environment.  Her mom, however, really wanted to make sure that we also kept the wedding elegant and beautiful, so the challenge began!  I think we ended up with the perfect meld of both visions, the garden wedding was touching, beautiful, and best of all, GREEN!!  Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day, shot by the fab newleywed photography team, Michelle and Josh Beller from MiBelle Inc Photography:

The adorable couple, right after their first-look moment:

The only cut flowers that Erin wanted at the wedding was her all-white rose bouquet.  And, in order to make it even more eco-friendly, she made sure that the roses were flowers re-used from an event the night prior!

There is nothing more romantic than a harpist playing the ceremony music!

A sweet moment during their multi-cultural (Erin is Jewish and Sundi is Kenyan) ceremony (PS: Erin made sure to borrow her veil from her sister as part of her eco-friendly movement!):

A great shot of the bride and groom entering their reception.  Erin’s dress was one of the first things she checked off her list when she started her wedding planning process!  The dress was perfectly infused with the feel of the day, relaxed yet SO sweet and pretty:

Erin flipped over the “Tree in a Box” favor idea I sent her, so she immediately bought her mini-trees for all of her guests and personlized them with a sticker of their wedding monogram.

Erin didn’t want to let her “no cut flowers” rule limit how fabulous her centerpieces could be!  A couple shots of the flowering plants that we used all over the reception.  Everything they had at the wedding was to be planted in her mom’s garden once the wedding was over!

Erin’s cake was a gorgeous and delicious nod to organic baking at it’s best!  Doan’s Bakery definitely delivered on all ends!

The guests were treated to a fantastical spread of different food stations, ranging from a SUPER salad bar to a Kenyan food station..  My favorite, by far, was the station that held these sweet little shots of tomato soup, topped with the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich bites!!

And I can’t finish the entry without including a picture of the DELISH gelato that was served at the gelato bar.  Hot weather + gelato bar = ecstatic guests!!

I’ll close out with one of the most fun moments of the reception, Debois Entertainment’s Entourage they had all their guests out of their seats!

Please feel free to visit MiBelle’s blog for more photos of this wonderful day!

Erin and Sundi – Your story is one of the most endearing stories I’ve ever heard, it was so touching to hear that you two met while doing what you do best, giving back to the world.  Erin, working with you and your mom was SUCH a pleasure, your family is amazing, as is Sundi’s, and I was so moved to see the lovefest between both of your families, right off the bat!!  I wish you all the very best!!

Some days I wake up and seriously can’t believe my luck……I get to do something I love every day, and to boot, get paid for it.   One day last March, I got a rain of marachino cherries on my already awesome sundae.   I got a call that went something like this….  “We want to do help us plan our wedding in Hawaii.”  My jaw dropped to the floor and I was already doing a happy dance before the call even ended.

I have known Dan for a while, being friends with his best friend/best man Alex, so when he asked me to help him plan his wedding to his long-time partner, Rob, I was over the moon ecstastic.  They quickly narrowed their search to Kona, Hawaii, and ended up deciding on the Fairmont Orchid as their venue for the big day, which was a perfect choice.   The resort had over-the-top gorgeous views and amazing service, so the choice was an easy one!   Their vision for the day was really to just let the beauty of the island speak for itself, so we went for a very tropical, vintage Hawaii feel.  Below are a few of my favorite pictures of the day, shot by my dear friend and AMAZING talent, Jordana of Hazelnut Photography:

I love how giddy they look in this shot!

I kept teasing Dan how GQ he looked that day!!

The boys embraced Hawaiian tradition and wore maile and tuberose leis for their ceremony in lieu of bouts:

What is better than a cocktail hour overlooking the ocean?  Cocktail hour that starts even before the ceremony!

Chocolate cake with macademia nut cream filling = the most mouthwatering wedding cake I’ve ever had!

And I’ll end with a few of the details of the day….including their very tropical fruit and flower centerpieces!

Please visit Jordana’s blog for more amazing shots from this very touching day!

Dan and Rob – You two are an inspiration for couples everywhere…..12 years and still going strong, it’s so touching to see!!  I remember feeling very teary-eyed to be standing on the sand, listening to the slat-key guitarist play Brother Iz, and watching you two really relishing in your wedding day.  I wish you two the very best, and I hope to see you and your crew very soon!!

Last week, I promised to blog about Paola and Sanjay’s Day 2 of their wedding weekend, and I am finally delivering!!   Day 2 consisted of their Catholic ceremony at Our Lady of Mount Lebanon Church, followed by a  fantabulous reception at the Olympic Collection.   By the time Paola hired me, she had decided on two things in terms of her wedding day…..the color scheme would be hot pink/fuschia and brown, and the theme would be GLAM.  She is truly a girly girl and wanted everything to look sparkly and pretty, and we delivered!!  Some of my fave teasers by their amazing photog, Yoshi Morimoto are below:

A shot of Paola in her uber-romantic La Sposa gown and matching veil:

I LOVE when brides wear fun shoes……..such an ideal place for a hidden pop of color!

Paola’s hot pink peony bridal bouquet, wrapped in a blingy rhinestone belt……definitely the perfect fit for a glam bride!

The funniest moment of the day…..Paola and Sanjay were really cracking up when she realized she was trying to cram the ring onto Sanjay’s right hand!!

A shot of the dramatic ballroom setup that Paola had spent over a year putting together.  Upgraded linens, pink uplighting, white dance floor with custom colored gobo….the works!  Her sweetheart table was draped in a gorgeously textured beige linen, flanked by two over-the-top crystal trees and a dazzling backdrop to boot!  All decor, linens, florals and lighting, provided by Flowers on Mars.

Paola’s tall centerpieces….a beautiful combination of roses and hydrangea, with a little bit of bling inside the vase to dress it all up!

A shot of her glamorous cake……each tier was decorated with a rhinestone belt, and we added a custom crystal cake topper on top, made by yours truly, to add even more bling!

And I’ll close with a picture that captured a  truly sweet moment:

Please feel free to visit Yoshi’s blog for additional shots of Day 2!

Paola and Sanjay – I can honestly say you guys were AMAZING clients to work with!!  I would get home from our meetings and realize that 3 hours had flown by, because chatting with you two was always like sitting down with a couple of friends.  You both are such fun, hilarious souls to be around, and I truly feel honored that I got to be a part of your wedding day.  It was so gorgeous and full of love…..it was truly touching to see how your friends and family love you so dearly, and how you two love each other as well.  I hope you had the best time in St. Lucia, and don’t be strangers, keep in touch!!!

Please excuse my huge hiatus from blog posting…….wedding season has officially begun and I’ve been super busy!!  The upside is that although my blog posts have been few and far between lately, that will definitely be changing over the course of the next few months!

I am so excited to jumpstart my 2009 wedding season with Paola and Sanjay, since I super puffy heart them both.   I first met Paola last May and knew we would be fast friends.  For one, she has the best name EVER, and I say this with no bias, really.   Secondly, Paola is just one of those people who feels like she is your BFF the first time you talk to her…….within 5 minutes of our consult, we were chatting about her wedding like we were old friends, and I was soooooo giddy when she emailed me a few days later to tell me they wanted to  hire me!  I got to meet Sanjay at our next meeting and I quickly saw how perfect they were for each other……he was just as charasmatic as Paola, and complemented her in every way possible.

In sitting down to discuss her wedding details, Paola informed me that this event would be a 2-dayer, since in addition to the Western ceremony and reception, they definitely wanted to honor Sanjay’s heritage by having an Indian ceremony and reception the day prior.    I’ll go into more detail about her glam fuschia and brown, Platinum-esque, Day 2 wedding in another entry, but below are a few teasers from the Indian ceremony and reception from Day 1, shot by the truly talented Yoshi Morimoto:

I had never seen a Lebanese gal rock an Indian sari so well…..I guess it doesn’t hurt that Paola is so freaking gorgeous!!

Sanjay, a groom worthy of his beautiful bride!

The bharat before the ceremony…..everyone was dancing, the dhol player was rocking out, the energy level was intense and amazing!

Sanjay presenting Paola’s mom with some special gifts before she comes out to officially greet him:

The ceremony officially began after the bharat……..this shot of Sanjay’s parents just warms my heart.   They were SO happy and SO proud!

And lastly, a shot of the Hindu ceremony……chock full of traditions and rituals, it was SO neat to be a part of it.  It was definitely tough finding a venue that would allow us to have a bonfire inside though!

Please visit Yoshi’s blog for more images of Day 1, and stay tuned for a super-sized blog entry of Day 2!!