Ashley + Patrick

Ashley and Patrick were married at Bald Head this October at the Chapel and had their reception at the Harbourside Pavilion.  Rebecca from Millie Holloman Photography took these incredible shots! 

     

Ashley is a graphic designer for Coach in New York and has lovely taste, so she was very involved in the design process.  For her bouquet, she wanted bright oranges mixed with soft peaches and so we used a combination of ranunculus, garden roses, and regular and parrot tulips. 

 

For the bridesmaids, she wanted a softer palette of whites and peaches with some dark berries.  Privet berries (my normal dark berry of choice for fall) apparently did not mature in time this year and was still green.  So we went digging in the woods for dark berries.  Getting them to Bald Head in one piece was quite a struggle, but they were totally worth it!  

Ashley wanted something different than the traditional flower girl basket, so we made these little baskets out of linen and added a silver flower.  In my opinion, the white satin flower girl baskets from the craft store are NEVER acceptable, not when there are so many different possibilities. 

 

When you are an event designer, you get attached to some of your materials and vessels.  These are one of my favorites.  I found a whole bunch of these little tin pitch pots at a flea market in Raleigh.  I just love them!

 

For the reception, Ashley wanted a change of atmosphere and color from the ceremony.  So we lost the orange and peach and shifted to a combination of mustard, green, white, silver, and black.

Centerpieces were a mixture of white vases and silver candlesticks on printed fabric.  Ashley's family collected this linen fabric from Ikea's from NC to NY and sewed the tablecloths for the wedding.

This was one of my favorite guest books ever!  We draped the tent walls with white fabric and then hung cork boards of different shapes.  Guests wrote Ashley and Patrick messages and pinned them on the boards.  Again, no need for the the traditional white-covered guest book.  I love clients who let me think outside the box!

 

I will hate myself for posting this photo, but yes, we drug lounge furniture over to Bald Head Island for this wedding.  For those who are not familiar, Bald Head does not allow vehicles, just golf carts (except for contractors and only on weekdays).  So we had to hitch a ride on the commercial barge, buy road usage passes, and park the vehicle a very LONG ways away from the tent.  In other words, logistical nightmare!  But it certainly made for some good seating at the reception!  We draped the wall here too and hug photos of the couple's families.

 

Thanks Ashley and Patrick for letting us share your day!

 

NEWS

The fall wedding season is finally slowing down--next Saturday we'll finish the last of our major fall weddings.  We are definitely ready for a break!  This does not mean that we won't stay busy however!  There are so many exciting things happening and we are so eager to share them with you!

• Southern Weddings Magazine comes out this week and not only will one of our weddings be featured, but we will also appear in the advice from the wedding experts section.  Make sure to pick up your copy at the local bookstore! 
• Style Me Pretty has developed a great design challenge, where readers of the blog are able to submit inspiration boards to have a group of Little Black Book members create.  This week Style Me Pretty will be posting a challenge that we, along with Millie Holloman and Orton Plantation, will bring to life the week of November 20th!  It will be featured on Style Me Pretty's Blog the last week in November. Click here to design an inspiration board and enter the contest!
• We are busy preparing for Orton Plantation's huge grand opening at the end of February, which is an absolutely must attend event!!  The Gardens will be staged with four different areas, featuring local wedding vendors working together to design an event.  Guests will be able to travel throughout the Plantation to experience four completely different styles.  We will be designing a tent on the new property that Orton has opened!  This is not your typical wedding show-- think design challenge + wedding + Orton.  The result will be amazing!  More information to come!
• Finally, we are working on a top secret project, which will be announced in a few days.  Can't wait to share it with you! 

City Club Wedding

I stumbled across a Spring wedding of ours today on Kevin Millard's blog and thought I would post a few of the shots.  Lura and Babur were married in June at the City Club in downtown Wilmington. 

I am not typically a fan of pink, but I loved this bouquet, a mixture of cymbidium orchids, garden roses, hydrangea, lily of the valley, lisianthus, ranunculus, poppy pods, millet, and blueberries.  We went to a blueberry farm a few days before the wedding and cut the berries for the bouquets.

The City Club is very formal, so the decor lends itself to candlesticks and traditional greenery.  Lura collected all kinds of antique silver from her family to use as vessels for the centerpieces. 

Outside of the City Club there is a huge four-level garden, perfect for lanterns and seating areas.  For a traditional Southern Wedding, you cannot beat the charm of the City Club. 

 

A Few of our Favorite Flowers

We all have our favorites flowers and luckily, here, we are exposed to all kinds of new and different floral and non-floral fresh stems.  I asked everyone on our staff what their favorites are and somehow, even with everything they are exposed to, the girls still picked flowers that have been around and available for a long time.  We all had a hard time and could never pick just one, but these are a few of our top favorites!

ANNA'S FAVORITES

Ranunculus & Viburnum

 ASHLEY'S FAVORITES

Scabiosa & Anemones

JILLIAN'S FAVORITES

Peonies & Oncidium Orchids

SARA'S FAVORITES

Gloriosa Lilies & Cymbidium Orchids

JENNIFER'S FAVORITES

Sweet Peas & Tulips

Wrightsville Beach Magazine

When Wrightsville Beach Magazineasked us to design a fall table, I knew exactly where I wanted to set it up.  I asked Abi from Orton Plantationif we could put a table together in front of Elijah's Farmhouse on the new event space property and she, of course, said yes.  So Abi and I dug through Orton's collection of old furniture to find a table, some old trunks and a great old pew.  We set the table with an eclectic combination of plates, baskets of pears, lanterns and containers of millet, scabiosa pods, magnolia.  We hung lanterns from the trees that were already draped with Spanish moss.  The day was perfect for picture taking, and we were really happy with the result.  But we never expected the cover!  Thanks Wrightsville Beach Magazine for featuring our work and Orton for allowing us to use this gorgeous setting!!

Click here to read the article!