That better be chocolate on your pants.

"-- Every wall in the Godiva Decadence Suite is made of chocolate.

-- Two renowned pieces of art - Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" and a Jackson Pollock-inspired abstract - have been reinterpreted in chocolate by Godiva, exclusively for the suite.

-- A luxe daybed decorated with Godiva chocolate is the ideal place to indulge in a dark chocolate truffle straight from the pages of a literary masterpiece, many of which can be found in the suite's chocolate bookcases.

-- Additional chocolate decor highlights within the living room include a coffee table filled with chocolate designed to mirror Godiva's iconic Gold Box, fashionable chocolate "Pucci" armchairs and a chocolate fireplace.

-- The dining room, illuminated by a chocolate and amber crystal chandelier and several dark chocolate candelabras, boasts a chocolate mosaic table and chairs and a buffet toppling with an abundance of Godiva pieces, setting the mood for an incredible dessert weekend. "


photos: icydk.com, source: PRNewswire

Music to my years

I decided to go back to my own playlist. No offense...

De-flowered

My goal for the past 6 months has been to learn more about floral design and aesthetics. I wonder if I'll ever be ALL about it... Outlook not so good. Idk, I can identify what I want after I see it, but I can't quite visualize all the components of a beautiful bouquet or floral centerpiece, other than "Yeah, I want some pink in there.".

For any other floral bone heads out there, we should band together and use the tools that are out ther for us: Czech out theknot.com's Ultimate Wedding Flower Guide. A short, sweet, unscented explanation of types of flowers, their seasons and colors, etc. Nice.

In the spirit of my love of beautiful photos, I also like looking at To Have and To Hold Magical Wedding Bouquets by David Stark & Avi Adler. A lot of luxurious and fresh floral ideas.

This is my kind of arrangement... on the rocks

When all else fails, and I realize I just have an aversion to floral design, much like I do organizing my taxes, I just call up my industry peeps and let them have at it!

Some of my Charleston faves: A New Leaf Studio, Fleur, Tiger Lily, Lotus Flower, Jade Water Designs, Gathering, among others!


photos: amazon.com, marthastewart.com

Who you callin' fat???

Mardi Gras!!!! It's coming up-- well, the celebrations have already started in NOLA, and Feb. 5 is the actual date. If you've never been, and the only vision you have of Mardi Gras is Bourbon Street, drunkards and flashers, you are missing out.... that's cool for some tourists, but locals and those "in-the-know" appreciate the entire process of festivities and often celebrate for an entire month by decorating their houses in purple, green and gold, chomping on tons of King Cake, and subsequently biting that plastic baby's butt!

It's also pretty sweet that, in New Orleans, often Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) and Mardi Gras (Phat Tuesday) are paid holidays at work and people are encouraged to take those days off and participate in parades and balls, debutante balls, that is.

Mardi Gras celebrations date back to the 1580's in Europe, and the rich tradition of the mysterious and secret society Krewes and their Kings has been alive for over 150 years in America.

Krewe of Endymion parade float

It really is one of the activities you must partake in before you die; from Mid-City through the CBD, and Uptown there are hundreds of parades to catch, second lines to step to, and other lagniappe...but stay away from Bourbon Street if you're not into random boobs.



photos: flickr.com

Quiz-Maker-Upper

Wonder what it's like to be a quiz-maker-upper... I was on the 27 Dresses website, which, btw, my friend Maggie saw and says is very good, and there are quizzes on it like this one. This got me thinking about all the trust we put into them attempting to find out if we're "Mostly A's" or "25-38 points" beyond sane. Who makes these up anyway?

Whatevs, here are some fun (and totally relevant) quizzes you can take right now!

Do you take good care down there?

Which One Tree Hill girl's future fits you best?

Are You a Hot Challenge?

What kind of daughter-in-law will you be?

Anyway, I think this post was supposed to be about going to see 27 Dresses! Do it, ciao!

Before there was Titanic...

there was Romeo + Juliet, circa 1996, and that dang haunting Desiree song!

I know what's next in my Netflix queue!

Color wheel

Kathryn from Snippet & Ink blog will inspire you to think outside the box when it comes to choosing wedding colors. Her posts are board after board of collaged photos with whimsical titles (ex: A Jane Austen Wedding, Gatsby by Night, A Secret Garden Wedding) and delicious eye candy, to boot. Love it! Thanks Kathryn!

photos: Snippet & Ink

My new playlist

My handsome husband is the first to jump at the chance (I forced him) to let me borrow his playlist for some fresh tunes! His name is Greg, he's an amazing artist and adventure-seeker. Read his blog, being GB, HERE. It's a mix of sports, hospitality (his profession), art and all of his other interests.

portrait sketch in charcoal of Grover Cleveland

our first picture together at the Roxy in O-town (you know it, bra!!!)

ATLiens

LK of Sense and I went to the exhibit hall of The Special Event Show in ATL last week. We went on a full day marathon driving from Chas at 6:15am (ugh!) to ATL, where it snowed, and arriving back home at 12:30am. I caught a cold, but it was worth it, we saw a lot of great things, so here are links to some notable vendors:

Accent Decor - high end glassware, containers and accessories.

Knud Nielsen Company- dried flowers and materials, decorative items.

Original Runners - custom ceremony runners, from sleek and solid to uniquely yours.

Rosebrand- Specializing in stage fabrics, they have a great selection of chiffons and georgettes for tent lining and draping, and a lot of other tools to help you hang the stuff.

Paper Fetish- Paper accessories for events in 24 different suites. Things such as matching menus, table numbers, escort cards, etc.

photos: brides.com

Be my guest

I need to hear some new music and I'm so stuck in my own bubble I can't think of anymore songs. If you would like to create your very own playlist for my blog, I'll post it for a few weeks and a little profile of the playlist proprietor!

Just go to projectplaylist.com, register and start choosing your songs. The list can hold, like, 75 songs, but just put as many as you want on it.

After you're done, email me and I'll tell you how to get me the html code so I can post it. I love hearing people's personalities, thanks for your help, yo!

Woohoo!!!

Runway to Real Way: Wedding hair edition

Wedding Mag

High fashion feathers

My way

I got the feather fascinator from the Shelly Sheek Boutique on e-bay and

the vintage brooch was a gift from my BFF and MOH for our St. Patty's Day nuptials.

Wedding Mag

Fresh twist

Jesse's way

She got her hair did at Stella Nova in Mt. P by fabulous stylist Becca!
(Jesse got a pre-wedding confidence boost with "I am special" puff painted on the mirror by Sunday schoolers at the Unitarian Church)

Wedding website

Um...

Brit's way

She nailed it! Miss you girlfriend!

photos: theknot.com; brides.com, Ron Bailey photography

Love the Interlude

John Mayer plays the interlude to Justin Timberlake's Love Stoned. Magic fingers McGee!

Haven't done this in a while!

Is it wrong that my BFF and I think this former child actor is a cutie? I can't wait for the next Indiana Jones movie, and it's not because I really want to go see an action/adventure, if you know what I mean...

Lol, yes, the photo is from www.shiafan.com

Baroque-back

A room in the Hermitage Museum

Russia... a very mysterious place to me, but luckily my brother-in-law is very knowledgeable in this area. He lived and studied there for a while and gave me a few tips that would help me design an event that evokes Imperial Russia, but would allow room for a contemporary twist. For example, there was a heavy baroque influence in the architecture and design of the Russian city of St. Petersburg and we've all seen the many baroque-inspired whimsical design elements in decor that can have a huge visual impact on a party.

I chose red and black because I love how they feel a little bit enigmatic (like the KGB or something) when paired together. I found these red lucite candelabras, above, at everythingart.com and they provide quite a striking silhouette.




Left is a big, bold patterned linen made by Isle Design.

Below is a yummy mirror that would look Очень (very) cool with an Aleksandr Pushkin poem or quote written on the glass since literature is such a huge part of the culture.

"The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths."

or if you're feelin' sassy,

"Иллюзия которая возвеличивает нас, для нас дороже, чем десять тысяч истин"

And because in a perfect event planning world, we would be able to rent any and all types of chairs for a reasonable price, so here are some fantasy chair rentals, first in red from etsy.com (friggin' $1,800).

In black from a really neat antique reproduction website.

Finally, some other essential elements of this theortical Russian soiree would be, of course, vodka and caviar. To feel like a Tsarina yourself, serve up a Black Russian with Stolichnaya Elit, and make some caviar moons, if for no other reason than to say you did.

On the VIP list: "The Russian" Lord of the Dance, Mikhail Baryshnikov

I'm a liar

... this post is taking longer than I thought, it will be up tomorrow~!

Site Selection!

Woooooohoooooo! I am feeling really good for the second week of January, not only is the weather insane (-ly awesome), but I am getting my brand identity together and couldn't be more excited. My logo finally came together and my website is up, just a couple more days on the rest of the picture gallery, but otherwise I'm stoked. Okay, just a peek and I'll do my regular post in a minute.

New Post this afternoon!

I think it's gonna be a cool one, stay tuned.

Save this

Surfing around on Brooklyn Bride I saw the coolest hand made STDs (lol, I SO have a juvenile sense of humor). Check 'em.

photos: bklynbride.blogspot.com

August will be hot, in more ways than one

Okay, I was never the girl with the romantic idea of a Cinderella wedding, never paid much attention to flowers and wouldn't describe myself as über-crafty. So as I continue to expand my horizons, I'm having so much fun coming up with detailed design ideas for all these brides' different personalities. I'm loving planning a perfectly personalized party whether it's for the fairytale princess, the green goddess, or the flower child.

My friend Eliza's wedding is coming up in August and I would describe her and Dan (and the soon-to-be-introduced Lila Quinn) as "organic/rock-n-roll " - if you can gather that from their photo taken at my wedding. Here is the beginning of my design file for their wedding:

photos: TheKnot.com

Great in 2008 (we'll hear this all year!)

Here are some photos of Club NY at the Gaillard. PDA, Duvall and Obviouslee Marketing put on quite a show! You can check all of them on CharlestonPictureCompany.com's website HERE.

I'll leave with a couple of New Year's resolutions event professionals should heed, according to Ted Kruckel a writer for BizBash, here are a couple of my faves:

"Resolve to: Stop serving mini hamburgers, and also please stop calling them “sliders.” They are hard to eat, stick in your throat, and make you feel fat and guilty after the fact. Also, they are no longer new, which counts for something.

Resolve to: Never use plastic cups with a cheap rough edge. They make everything taste bad. Have you noticed these glasses get the most play at high-society stuff? "

Hmm.... what's mine? Professionally I think it's to be a little more detail-oriented. Working on a nonprofit event budget, it was easy to overlook or pass on the small details to get "more bang for my buck" in the essential areas. So this year I'll study up on the little things that make a party one to remember.

Photos: CharlestonPictureCompany.com