Renaissance Floral Design

Charcoal & Yellow // Wedding Trend

2012-02-14T13:35:59Z

Well, here it goes, my first of many Trendy Tip Tuesday posts focusing on wedding and style trends.

Charcoal & Yellow

Not normally what you would think of for wedding colors but it has a hot-like-lava trend flow for 2012. As the planning stages for style and trends were in full bloom for 2012 weddings, the swatches and pantone chips started hitting my desk.

The movements of restoration style work, antique shabby chic and platinum settings have given the gloomy mood of charcoal and grey a much-needed style makeover. The silver-lining, cloudy tone makes a subdued canvas for yellow to POP! I’ve found pink and coral also have a stronger presence when framed with shades of soot. Take the same elements, surround them with white and their richness fades, but they become more animated.

French Bouquet by Renaissance. Mimosa, dahlia, dusty miller, rose, tulip, and freesia, in Italian pewter by MATCH

As with most movements, it’s a slow burn to get momentum, but if you look at the latest runway trends of such hot names as J.Crew and Vera Wang that are in production now, and there you have it. Sheen seems to have left the building for now. Still present in many of the mass design houses, but more predominant are the softer more organic style fabrics like jersey, muslin and organdy let the shadows flow.

Soft Victorian tones of flesh, taupe and peach that were so hot in 2010, 2011 are still in play. The pop of yellow balances the gloom and lands in a contemporary styling of what is deemed fresh in 2012.

As a designer/stylist, I look forward to the trends.

Still, the key is to make it all appear timeless so years from now, when you look back on your big day, you won’t say, “What was I thinking?”

This trend will always read as subtle and sophisticated as long as your yellows are not neon and you balance your yellows with butter and flesh tones.

Let me know what you think. I look forward to your comments.

Pinterest is Blowing UP

2012-02-13T20:37:21Z

Pinterest has become the hottest new thing in the wedding planning and social media circle, and man is it on fire! If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, check out my Pins.

Pinterest is a great way to collect images from other “Pinners” like me to showcase what you love and what inspires you. It’s a great way to keep a collection of ideas. You can look at gazillions of pictures and then “pin” them on your own boards. This is a MUST HAVE for those who are looking to gather ideas for their wedding, redecorate a room, collect garden ideas, capture hot clothing trends and everything hot when it comes to style and design. So if your tired of ripping out pages of magazines and trying to organize a scrapbook of ideas I think this may be your answer.

Membership is free, but it’s by invitation only! Not my rules, but happy to help you out. Leave a comment of why you would like an account and I’ll send you an invite if you’re not already on the Pinning Wheel.

Seriously, I love this. It’s a huge help to understand my clients and what turns them on. Only problem is, it’s public. I hope that some day they will create private boards so you can keep your inspiring ideas collected, but also have some boards you can keep to yourself, until you’re ready to share your Own Design. Come up with a cool profile name to keep your boards more private if you like.

If you see something on my site that you want to pin on your board its EASY! Just hit the “PIN IT” button. Not many sites have this feature, but I think it will catch on soon … Stay Tuned!

Don’t forget to comment and ask me to invite you if you need an invitation. If you have an account and want to follow me, click on the “P” on the upper right of this page, and you’re in!

Valentine's Day // February 14th, 2012

2012-02-09T11:59:15Z

Valentine's Day is Tuesday, February 14th, 2012!

We have some custom and traditional creations to help you show your better-half how you feel... get the details here!

Would You Like to Get the "411"?

Some of you are here because of a recent email update that we sent out ... if you'd like to get emails (like this one), let us know! You can send us a quick email at mailinglist@renaissancefloraldesign.com or use our contact form ... be sure to say "add me to your email list!"

WARNING:

Sending flowers from Renaissance Floral Design may cause all or any of the following side effects:

Office envy (Co-Workers can be bitter and turn shades of green)
Potential of a "Face Rape" upon arriving home
Sleep depravation due to early onset affection activity after floral delivery
Days of appreciation may result from sending the very best

Please notify Renaissance Floral Design if symptoms don't last more than two weeks.

Stacey & Rich // January

2012-01-25T15:00:40Z

I LOVE Winter Weddings!

What a fantastic event we did Saturday night in Cooperstown, NY at the Otesaga Hotel. For those of you who have never been to this location, it is a BEAUTY!!

The super-organized Christine Wheat gave Stacey and Rich my info when they hit a brick wall trying to get their design on with the florist and rental company they were working with. They had a design in mind and were having trouble finding the right person to pull it all together.

The day we meet, we hit it off. I was really pumped about the wedding because I love working with winter design. Stacey had been put through the ringer with the first few venders she met with. By the end of our meeting she was so excited about her big day again!

In late September when Christine and I went to the property to meet the couple, I almost came undone ...this is a STELLAR location! It reminds me a little of The Shining, but in a good way. The couple had to book the entire hotel because it is closed in the winter. Good thing they did, because Mother Nature dropped many inches of blessings on us for the day to make sure the winter wonderland was complete. Bless her cold, cold heart! All four of our drivers were white-knuckling on the back roads leading to the hotel, present company included!. How nice for the guests though to be able to enjoy such a beautiful celebration and then just take the elevators home.

Stacey made these amazing snowflakes for the photo booth that were nothing short of awesome! I cannot imagine how long it took her and her crew to make these, but what an amazing effect for the photo booth. Luke Walker got some amazing images for this couple. This entire event was a blast for us and I loved every second of working with them.

I'd like to send a special thanks

...to my staff of 10 who helped me pull this one off... the staff of the Otesaga for putting up with me ... Garland from Soul Session for helping us shine by lending us some lighting for the escort tree, and lighting up the room. CPRC for driving all the way to Cooperstown to deliver the silver chiavari chairs that completed the look for the day. Thanks for the Great pics Luke!!To Christine Wheat from CW Events Firm for hooking me up on this one,"I owe you big!"

Stacey and Rich, "Congratulations!"

Check out the blog from Luke Walker on his site with more amazing details Clark + Walker

Kara & Paul // July // Saratoga National

2011-12-07T14:53:01Z

My father's construction company and our family has been buying Chevys from DePaula Chevrolet for over 20 years. When I got the call from Kara that she was getting married and wanted to meet with me about her flowers, I was a little excited ... OK, I was A LOT excited ... . She came in my office with (what seemed like) a gallon of Red Bull and gave me the skinny. Kara wanted black, white, and HOT pink! I had a great time chatting and talking about all the options. The next meeting was with Kara and her mom, who I have to say I adore. We had a lot of laughs and many meetings to pull this one together.

Kara and Paul are fun people and that's what they wanted the wedding to be ... FUN! and it was. I flipped a few things around with the helpful staff of Saratoga National Golf Club. I added a black and white dance floor in the center of the room, draped the entire room in white to make the LED lighting glow like a club when it was time to get the groove on. I placed the head table where the band normally is because it would give the bridal party their own swank little area to hang.

This was an awesome event and FUN, just like they wanted.

Thank you to the staff of SNGC, Total Events, the Elario's for the pictures they provided, and my team for helping me make sure everything was just right.

Kara & Ed // June // Altamont Manor

2011-11-24T17:56:50Z

Kara's mom actually booked me before I met the bride. This couple decided on a smaller wedding at a bed and breakfast-style property in Altamont, NY. During the second meeting, we lined up the details, budget, and I finally met the bride. The last meeting was with Kara and Ed.

For the last meeting, Kara and Ed brought some items they had been busy making for the wedding. They had these really sweet little bird cages that were gilded in gold with parchment paper in them to display table numbers and Ed had been making origami cranes as place cards. They were having trouble figuring out how to display the cranes. Together we came up with a tree concept. I made a tree for Kara and Ed to hang the birds. After the guests found their origami place cards, the tree would be reused as a well-wish tree. That way the couple could take the tree home to keep forever.

Kara loved peony and roses. We added freesia, lavender, weigela and a few other elements. To show off their flowers, we used our sweet little wood compotes for the first time and finished off the look with a bit of gold bouillon .

Thank god for beautiful days.

Brea & Patrick // October// Canfield Casino

2011-11-18T23:36:03Z

Brea and Patrick were working with a "do-it-all" caterer. They were not feeling the caterer's in-house design team. Brea was having serious doubts that the vision in her mind would come together with the caterer's designer, so they came to me. I could not have been happier. This couple was so great together. They had such a nice vibe with each other. I love that kind of energy. By the time Brea left my office, she was relieved, and once again, VERY EXCITED about her wedding.

We had another meeting a few weeks later to pull it together. This couple was doing a lot of traveling and wanted a head start on firming up the details. A month or so before the wedding, I got a call from Brea wanting to know if I could do linens for her. I said, "Sure!" She loved the pewter crushed satin I had shown her a few months prior. The soft tones of faded summer colors blended beautifully with the linens, mercury glass vases, and tall pewter stands. We added lots of candles which also helped create the warm glow that Brea and Patrick wanted for the wedding. This is a perfect example of how you can have a warm fall wedding without the standard yellow, red, and orange.

The design came together beautifully and I could not have been happier with the end result. The ceremony was at St. Mary's in Ballston Spa and the reception was at the beautiful Canfield Casino.

Another favorite photographer of mine, Matt Ramos, was achieving! I love this guy! Matt gives "Good Photo" without an attitude that makes you feel like you have to bow down before him ... . Thanks for all the great pics Matt! I really appreciate you capturing my work and the additional images of one of my favorite 2011 Couples. I love those socks!

Thank you Brea and Patrick! Matt Ramos and his back up team, the staffs of the Casino and St. Mary's, and to my team, especially Manny, who had to go back to the Casino at midnight to collect our linens and containers so they would not be missing the next day.

Marika & Paul // Early October

2011-11-02T01:55:58Z

What can I say? I loved creating this wedding. Marika and Paul were so great to work with. They gave me ideas and let me bounce with it. I could not help but go the extra mile. Everything on this wedding was a custom design. From table lamps, dance-floor, linens, overlays, debut of a brand new escort card layout, and left-align menu cards, to ghostwood meets lily of the valley. Yeh, it was October and Marika carried lily-of-the-valley, because it's her favorite. She wanted her flower and her favorite color, periwinkle, to be the foundation of the day, and we built from there.

I am so proud to list this as a featured event on my site. This design started on graph paper in my office. I knew there would be obstacles to bring it to life, but as you can see, it was perfect.

This was one of three weddings in a row on Columbus Day weekend at the Hall of Springs. I cannot thank the Hall of Springs and Clifton Park Rental Co. enough for all the help and support they provided to take these three-in-a-row to perfection. Each one unique, and specialized to the requests' of our clients.

For Marika and Paul, I custom made each table lamp and all the linen for the event. The Pink Orange hooked up M+P with beautiful stationary, and did me a few favors along the way to make a couple of my ideas come to life as well.

Thank you Katie O for introducing me to M+P. Thanks to team FABULOUS for hair and make up, to Rebecca at The Pink Orange, to the tolerant crew of CPRC, to the Mazzone group for flavor, to Alisha from Clark and Walker for the images and to my crew.

For more details check the M+P Blog.

Betsy & Michael // Early October

2011-10-20T00:34:25Z

This was the first of three in a row weddings we did at the Hall of Springs on Columbus day Weekend 2011. When Betsy came to my office, we had the usual introduction and talked about her wedding. The more she talked, the more I loved her. At the end of the meeting I said, "If you decide you would like to book me ..." she said, "Stop right there, I knew you were doing my wedding before the ring went on my finger!" So yeh, I love her. She was so into her wedding, she had every detail ready to go. She and Mike worked with CPRC to get the set rolling and I came in at the end to finish it off. They even had a custom lounge created so there was a swank area for the crowd to hang during the Dance off after dinner was served.

We had our new pewter tulip stands made for this event. We covered all the tables in crushed pewter linen. Betsy insisted on having our Delano sofa for she and Mike to sit during their first dinner as man and wife. We added all the crystal chunks, crystal table number frames, aisle runner, dance floor -- the whole shebang that made the room sing!

Congratulations, Betsy and Mike! Can't wait to see more images from your photographer.

Special thanks to the Hall of Springs crew, my A-Team and CPRC. But mostly to Betsy, for being one of my all-time favorites!

Jodi & Kirk // Mid October

2011-10-15T21:40:21Z

I still can't get over how beautiful this wedding was. It was at the Hall of Springs on Sunday of Columbus Day weekend 2011. I love every picture. Jodi was the perfect bride -- PER ... FECT!!! She was so easy to work with. She gave me the guidelines and let me do my thing. Her mom was awesome and the day was a blast. This was the third of three weddings in a row at the Hall of Springs, and man, was it a great finale to the weekend.

I love when people say, "fall" and I say, "sunset." This is an example of a version of sunset ... let's call this one Melon. I never go for the red-orange-yellow version of fall. I just don't get it. Every gas station, grocery store and toll booth have the fall ROY going on, and I hate it. I always say pick a side ... Option One: "Sunset Tones" ... butter, yellow, melon, peach, orange, coral. Warm. Romantic. Glowing. Option two: "Go for the Jewels" ... red, green, purple, crimson, raspberry -- deep, rich, and what we call "Elizabethan".

Jodi had her colors together. And take note on how warm and fresh a fall wedding can be with out ROY!

Jodi, I adore you. Kirk, it was great meeting you on your wedding day, and holy smokes did you win the lotto with Jodi!

Awesome working with the crew at HOS, Niki Rossi Photography and, of course, my boys at Clifton Park Rental.

Check out the Blog for Jodi & Kirk!

Jill & Derek // October

2011-10-04T02:18:20Z

I met with Jill in late spring of this year. She and Derek met via "It's Just Lunch!" What a great match these two are!

JIll and Derek had a vision, but they just could not get it to come together with the vendors they had hired. She came to me and asked if I could help make it right. She decided to make some changes in her team and together, we got their Design On! The design Jill always wanted.

The location, Lake Placid Golf Club, was beautiful. The staff was awesome to work with! What a beautiful room. The views are just spectacular, but the weather was not in our favor. Mim Frantz, wedding coordinator, helped get the walls up and heat pumped in to the space while we shifted the design to the rain plan.

We provided flowers, linens, candles, table number frames, head table, chairs, napkins, and glass chargers.

Thank you to the staff of Lake Placid Golf Club and to Mim for helping us get the design on for Jill and Derek. To the Make me Fabulous Girls, you rock! Looking forward to pics from Paul.

Congratulations you two!

Candace & David // Late September

2011-09-28T04:39:39Z

Awesome couple!! You have to read my Blog to understand how this wedding snowballed into perfection. Regarding the details ... I have worked at the Inn at Erlowest since the ballroom was opened. In fact, I styled three of the room layouts for the photo shoot that introduced the room. Last year alone, we did 17 weddings in that space. Each beautiful ... but ... something about this one created a perfect storm of detail.

When I worked with Lindsay Landman a few weeks ago at the Sagamore, she had rented bar wraps for the event. They were great, but very difficult to move (SO HEAVY) and arrived in huge boxes that took three people to carry. I loved the idea and how crisp the bar looked. So, I built one! Once I wrapped it in cream pleather, and added a custom logo, it was SMOKING HOT!

The newly-built bar was set up in the ballroom at Erlowest for the wedding. We created a lounge area using a pit-style seating group, gold charivari chairs and pin spots, courtesy of my boys at CPRC. Then we added some killer lamps from my store and two Alice Chairs to help align the modern look of the pit group with the bones of the room, and ... this event's design was ON.

Flowers for the event were nothing short of the season's best, with a splash of product from Holland that we had flown in the week of the wedding.

Our design on this room included: flowers, linen, napkins, chargers, furniture, lounge, lighting and layout coupled with a selection of other professionals that were the perfect fit for this client.

Congrats. David and Candace! And, thank you a again, to Valerie Bleser of Northeastern Fine Jewelers for making the introduction.

Also, I'd like to thank Ben at IAE for letting me steal the collar stays from his shirt for the groom. I'm sending a package your way as an apology for violating your shirt ... you saved the day.