Inspiration to Reality: a candy coated daydream

Inspiration:  a candy coated aqua and peach daydream.  This board is ultra feminine, romantic and soft.  It combines the best of a few worlds:  the chicness of Paris, the salt of the surf and sea, and the whimsy of a vintage carnival.  There is one place in the world that I've been that actually comes close to being a real, live place that resembles this board (minus the beach)....the summer carnival inside the Tuilerie Gardens in Paris.  Magical!

Reality:  here's a peek of the booth we designed at the St. Regis for the Engaged Magazine show back in March around this ethereal palette.  The name of the table was "From Paris, with Love" as an ode to the Tuileries which this inspiration board so reminds me of.

We used shiny white flooring to cover the hotel carpet.
And don't you just love the chandelier + lucite coffee table?

The custom tablecloth overlay was made from beautiful sheer and beaded fabric I purchased in the Indian District of NYC.

Mini Cakes from The Cake Courtesan

Hair by Remona/Gown by Chevy Chase Bridal

I love using opal and milk glass - so ethereal.

From Paris, with Love - Paper goods provided by Little Bit Heart

My assistant Colleen, and myself during the show.

Also a big thanks to DC Rentals as well as Perkins Productions for all their help with lighting/draping + florals!  

Pinterest

From their site: "What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a social catalog service. Think of it as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can post collections of things you love, and "follow" collections created by people with great taste." 


You can "pin" any image, from any website. The best thing about it is once you pin something, it saves the original link. Say I want to pin a picture of a gorgeous bouquet that would be perfect for one of my brides... I just click my "pin it" button on my toolbar, select the image I want, what board I want it to save to, and I'm done. 2 months later when I am in the meeting with the florist, I find the image, click it, and it takes me back to where the picture was originally posted.


The other best thing about it is that you can follow other people boards, and see what pretty stuff they found. If you really like it, you can re-pin their image to one of your boards.  You can search keywords for anything - I like searching by category or color.  Long gone are the days for hunting for swoon-worthy eye candy.  This site makes it really TOO easy, and there is just so much to look at you sometimes don't know where to start!


I've found it's best to keep my board categories pretty specific. You can create any type of board you want, as many as you want. I'm still a newbie so I've only made 5 boards so far, but because Pinterest is so addictive, I'm sure that number will skyrocket in no time.  The three categories I have been pinning most to: Wedding Inspiration, Living Pretty (home decor) and Fashion Icon (outfit inspiration).


Here's a look at a few of my boards...each image is a "pin" that I have assigned a category (seen in the upper left-hand corner.)

And here's a specific pin... if I click this image it will take me back to where it was originally posted - Lovely Bride's blog which contains so much more eye candy!

Ready to get started? You can request an invite to join Pinterest (it's a free service!)... since it's fairly new and a bit exclusive there is a waiting list - it took me about a week before my invite was accepted and I've heard of others taking longer.  BUT, since you're reading this post, I'll send a direct invite to anyone who comments on this blog post, "likes" our Facebook page and follows us on twitter!

Warning: Once you start pinning, you can't stop. 

Click here to follow me on Pinterest!

London in Love

Photo Credits:  Delightfully Engaged, Segerius Bruce, World Tourism Place, Masterfile, Sodahead

Our inspiration board in honor of the royal wedding tomorrow!  The first image (one of our favorites) is from a fabulously fun photoshoot featured on Delightfully Engaged blog - visit their site to check out the rest of the amazing pictures!

Will you be one of the expected 2 billion people to watch the royal wedding live?  Are you getting up at 5am (earlier CST time!) or DVR'ing it?  Any special parties or celebrations?  Let us know how you are commemorating this historic event in the comments!

Red + White Inspiration

It seems people embrace the color red more often during the latter part of the year - first with the changing of the leaves during fall and Thanksgiving, usually paired with caramel and burnt oranges.  Then comes Christmas where our beloved red shares the stage with emerald green.  The holidays are shortly followed by Valentines day, where it's perfectly paired with pink.  However, I think red makes for fabulous summertime soirees too.  It's such a bold, vibrant color and I created this inspiration board to show how lovely it is when paired with crisp, stark white.  I have a thing for stripes and think red and white stripes easily pave the way for such a nostalgic, carnival-esque affair :)

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Cherry Blossoms!

Cherry Blossom festival around DC makes me feel giddy, like a kid again - and not just because my birthday falls around this time (although sometimes I do feel like those beautiful pink trees are God's way of celebrating my birthday ;)  It has become an annual tradition to do a high birthday tea at one of my favorite places in DC, The Willard Hotel.  They serve a special cherry blossom tea which is quite an experience, and if you have never participated I strongly suggest making reservations here.  Many other great restaurants in the city are serving special cherry infused menus to commemorate the celebration, and it's a great excuse to get out and try a new great restaurant or visit an old favorite to try something fun and unique.

For a wedding or special event, there could not be a more beautiful natural backdrop or time to bring in out of town guests to see our great city.  I put together two very different inspiration boards...a chic daytime brunch and an over the top, glamorous evening soiree.  Both themed around cherry blossoms, of course.