Wedding Wednesday: Eastern Shore Virginia Wedding Details

A few weeks ago we announced my moms wedding...and each week we have been sharing a few little details about her big day. Today, we are sharing dress inspiration. I can tell you who her designer is and even share a few images of the vibe we are going for...but definitely no pictures of the real dress!


My mom has literally put all of the planning into my hands. Including the dress...but here are the details that I was looking for when picking the perfect dress for my mom:
1. It had to be flexible.
2. It had to flow.
3. It had to be comfortable.

I loved the Fluttering Sleeves of this dress:

Mon Cheri Bridal: Mon Cheri Wedding Dress 19232S

I loved the length of this dress:

Anne Barge

 I loved the comfort in this dress:

J. Crew Wedding Gown Principessa

Now...Drum Roll: I chose an Alisa Benay gown for my mom. I loved it for a few reasons...First, Alisa is amazing and I have loved her work for a long time (you can see another post we wrote on her last year here). Next, she let us customize my moms dress 100%. Finally, she isn't a designer that a lot of our local clients use as she is more of a boutique designer from Colorado. I loved that my Mom wouldn't have the same dress that everyone else has.

Marion and Matthew: Alexandria Wedding

In October I had the pleasure of planning and coordinating a wedding in Alexandria at the George Washington Masonic Temple for my dear friends Marion and Matt. I was honored when they called me and asked for planning help. I have been in the wedding world for a long time now but I never want to step on toes or assume friends want my help...So of course, I was stoked to travel to their wedding and help in anyway possible. Marion and I randomly found the G.W.Masonic Temple while researching venues online and instantly fell in love! I believe her mom actually booked it without any of us seeing it. It was beautiful!

There are always a few set backs when we travel out of the area...and one main one is choosing vendors that will take care of our clients without ever having worked with them before. DC isn't hard as we work up there a few times every year...but this time, we were looking for a great lighting design company in the Alexandria area and couldn't really find one that fit Marion and Matt's style...so of course we went to our old backup (and fabulous company) Blue Steel Pro Lighting and brought them with us.

We also had the pleasure of working with Bialek's Music, Petals Edge Floral, Sinplicity Catering and Alexandria Cupcakes. These Beautiful images are from a the great Julie Ann Woodford (old pal and pro photog of Marion).

 Matt and his Groomsmen...a group of hilarious men...and a few are great friends of ours as well! 

Marion's bridal party was Beautiful! 

George Washington Masonic Temple

 The Groomsmen above see this view below...

Marion's wedding colors were Navy and Gold with a historic vibe to the entire wedding. I love the way that the bouquets above really popped off of her classic colors. Look at the flowers on the dresses below. we LOVED THIS!

The one thing that Marion and Matt didn't love about their venue was all of the red in their ceremony room. But to be honest, this is one of the things I loved. The ceremony room at the GW Masonic Temple had such a vintage vibe to it when we added the simple ceremony lights on the stage. 

One of my favorite shots from every wedding is right after the Bride and Groom are pronounced

 husband and wife. 

Marion has great classic taste. These Calla Lily arrangements were so simple, yet made such a statement.

All of our guests found their tables with their names attached to these cute Mt. Vernon Bells. You might remember we featured their engagement session at this historic venue. 

For each wedding we post I try and include our favorite event memory....and the next series of images are truly my very favorite moment from any wedding for all of 2010. Marion and Matt had a private last dance...no one was in the room except the DJ, Photographer (and me hiding in the corner)...Their last song was a moment to reflect on the day, enjoy themselves for a few moments and just decompress. Most of our clients have a last dance song with all of their guests...but we had to do things a little different for them and I absolutely loved it. You can see the true joy and elation in these images. What do you think? 

Marion and Matt...we love you now more than we did before. Thank you for letting us help guide you throughout the most important day in your lives thus far. 

Engagement Story!

We are wedding planners...and there is really only 1 way you need a planner...when you are getting married. So of course we love engagement stories because it brings amazing clients to the ACE Studios. I saw this sweet engagement online today and wanted to share it with all of you.



Courtesy of the Ellen Degeneres Show (www.ellen.warnerbros.com)

Wedding Wednesday: A Few Details

The other day I mentioned that my mom is getting married this Spring, and that details would be coming.  The first element I want to share is the theme we have chosen for her wedding.  As this marriage is the blending of two family trees, we thought a tree/wood theme would be a great representation of this event.  This look lends itself to the casual affair they are looking for, and it suits the venue perfectly.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the look we are going for:

Branch Invitation, Birch Candle Holder, Wooden Place Holders

A Wedding In the Family: Cape Charles, Virginia Wedding

As some of you know, and many of you don't, my mom is getting married in a few short months. It has kind of been a whirlwind experience...grasping that she is finally tying the knot to a man we have grown to know and love and also planning in the midst of another blessed wedding season in the ACE Studio. It has been a bit overwhelming to say the least, but we are very excited.

We write a series on our blog entitled: Your Mom is not a Wedding Planner...and this morning, we received a response to these blogs from my mom (which was unexepected to say the least). Over the next few weeks I'll share some details about her big day... But I want to share them with you little by little...as she has no idea what's happening. (and I kind of like it that way).

My mom in the center with Myself and my Marci. image courtesy: Trey Tesoro of Trivium Studio

Here is her post:
As many of you know, my daughter Antonia Christianson is a wedding planner. Well she wrote this wonderful blog on your “Mother is Not a Wedding Planner” So as my upcoming wedding approaches, I thought I would write this answer to her blog.



If any of you know our family background, you would know that we all worked in the family business, which was supplying food and catering supplies to many of the finest restaurants up north. So it was not that far a jump for Antonia (Missy to us) to go into the wedding planning business, after all she grew up watching this all going on.


Well it is now my time to plan my upcoming wedding. First of all, it is not easy to let someone else take over the reins. But in my infinite wisdom, Mike and I chose Spring break this year to finally get married after 5 years. So what sounded like a perfectly good idea, started to run into some glitches. First of all I work 2 jobs and Mike is back in Canada. Second of all, I have to work until the day before the wedding without a day off. So with American Express card in hand my beautiful and very organized daughter has taken over.


First of all she contacted a well known Designer to make my dress. Next knowing that we wanted everything to be simple and family oriented, she rented us a beautiful house on the bay to spend the week. There is plenty of entertaining room for the whole family, (5 children, 5 significant others and 8 grandchildren). That is besides the extended that family we also consider important and spend every family function with. Next Missy and RSVP designed lovely personal one of a kind invitations. She ordered the cake while we were having lunch, booked the DJ, arranged the menus, and visited the venue.


So all in all, my daughter “The Wedding Planner” has got it all covered.


I cannot say how proud I am of her. Without her help and love Mike and I would be able to get married as soon and to be able to share this very special day with the whole family.

Two Fashion Finds We Love!

During the search for bridesmaid dresses it can be difficult to find a design you love in the right shade for your wedding. The Dessy Group at http://www.dessy.com/ helps with this very dilemma. Dessy offers bridesmaid dresses and accessories, as well as other wedding fashions, in rich Pantone shades. Dessy also sells a Pantone Wedding color fan available with nearly 200 colors from the current collection. Colors are organized according to color family so it is easy to determine which shade is your favorite- not all blues are the same after all! This device is small enough to fit in your purse and can be helpful when shopping for wedding attire and coordinating colors. We keep our own color fan in office so we can help our brides synchronize flowers, stationery, etc. The Dessy Group can be a great tool in planning and coordinating the entire look of your wedding. 

When it comes to customizing your wardrobe, milk & honey is "a dream come shoe".  Milk & Honey is a unique shoe company based in Los Angeles that allows you to design your very own custom-made shoes. You can design any kind of shoe you want, but we think this is a fun way to do your bridal shoes! The website is easy to use as it guides you through the design process.  You are given choices on style, heel height, material, color, and more! Can't get the design exactly how you want it? Milk & Honey offers live chatting to assist customers and will also discuss questions over the phone.  Milk & Honey even has a great variety of ready-to-wear styles. Another great thing about this company is that they offer several non-leather products in an effort to support vegan clients. I had lots of fun designing all kinds of shoes, now go try it for yourself at http://www.milkandhoneyshoes.com/!



Images obtained from http://www.dessy.com/ and http://www.milkandhoneyshoes.com/. 

Wedding Wire: Brides Choice Awards 2011

 

We love January for many reasons....it's the beginning to another amazing year and also the month that both The Knot and Wedding Wire award their "Best of" and "Brides Choice Awards". You know why we love these honors so much? Because these are given to us by our Brides! 

So, All I have to say is this...Thank You Clients, Former Clients, Friends and Colleagues. It's an honor to know you, to plan for you and to grow with you.