2.05.2010

Wedding at the San Francisco Ferry Building

This past weekend we had the ultimate San Francisco style wedding at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. The couple was wed by Mayor Gavin Newsome in the middle of this beautiful San Francisco landmark. They were surrounded by a circle of 150 guests during the ceremony, which included readings by several close friends and family members.



The floral design was done by Radeff Design Studios, combining high and low arrangements of all white flowers with bunches of greenery and vines thrown in. To clearly define the main entryway to the building, they placed stunning white hydrangea arrangements around the "white carpet".




The food was delicious, as was the adorable cake, all provided by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering.




Stephanie and Jim provided traveling guests with these adorable welcome bags, filled with delicious organic treats they bought from the Ferry Building Marketplace, including apples and oranges, gourmet popcorn, yummy chocolates and some great body treatments by Juice Beauty Organics.




What made this wedding really different for us was that the couple wanted to be sure that all of the children in the family were very involved in their wedding day. So, we made it our goal to ensure that all 32 of the kids who attended had an absolute blast at the wedding. We hired Sophie's Stress-Free Soirees to not only babysit the kids, but also keep them entertained with magic tricks, a clown, arts and crafts projects and a hula hooping hour. Here's the before and after photo of the kid's play area, which was complete with comfy bean bag chairs and a quiet movie zone, where kids could snack on grilled cheese bites and jellybean topped cupcakes.




Here's a before and after shot of the reception space, which is usually just a long office building hallway. Piping and draping made the space feel really warm, combined with just the right amount of candle light, gorgeous LaTavola linens and soft, romantic white flowers.





Congratulations and best of wishes to Stephanie and Jim!




xoxo,
alyssa

1.29.2010

Hartmann Studios Open House

Last week we attended an open house event thrown by Hartmann Studios. We rent furniture, linens, dishes and more from them for a lot of our events. The open house provided us with a tour of their warehouse and a peek at some of their new rentals as well as stock items, so we thought we'd share the experience with you...

We are loving the new wood wall panels and the brown couches are pretty great too.





Here are some linens we loved. I'm really drooling over the red and white print for cocktail or accent tables...






Speaking of fabric, we thought it was pretty neat to see the laundry department and the process they go through to remove each and every stain by hand before they wash, dry and press the linens.






Hartmann started out as a prop house, so they have tons of whacky set designs and props. We actually used the gigantic gold statue for a wedding we did a while back. The theme was "Beatles go to India," so the gold icon fit right in.








Here's a glimpse at the greenhouse area, which is full of great shrubbery options. We are loving the yellow bushes...








Hope this post inspires you... or, at the very least, gives you a better sense of the crazy rental world.



xoxo,
alyssa

1.22.2010

New Press! Martha Stewart Weddings

Check us out in the winter 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, there's a lovely feature of the wedding we planned and designed for Jodi and Jon last winter on the slopes of Sundance Resort. The wedding was really unique and beautiful, with both the bride and groom hitting the ski slopes in full wedding gear. Grab a copy off your local newsstand to read the full story about this adorable couple that shares not only fourteen years of friendship, but a great love of skiing.











These photographs were shot by the amazing Thayer Allyson Gowdy.