57 Grand is in Martha Stewart Weddings!

Our favorite new line has hit the newstands in our favorite bridal magazine -- great minds think alike. It's the Riverside, and you can find it in NYC at the Wedding Library.

Happy Holidays!

As this year draws to a close I am taking a moment to reflect and be grateful for the friends and family who surround us, the clients and artists who support us and the triumphs and challenges that form our history and future. Thank you all, and the happiest of holiday seasons from my family to yours!

Announcing the Wedding Party!

It's baaack! We are excited to announce the Wedding Party is on Sunday, January 29 -- so don't forget to save the date. We also are having special pre-sale pricing of tickets to help you out on your holiday shopping. ($75 for one ticket and $125 for you and a guest). A perfect present for your favorite bride!
Click here to see our list of confirmed participants to date...(plenty more surprises to come!)

57Grand in the House!

We are so excited to be the new flagship for 57Grand, a young, fresh and "downtown" dress line for our hippest bridesmaids! We love that it's a hometown collection inspired by New York City and that these dresses are available in super cute, bright colors and wonderful fabrics. Make an appointment to check out the newest addition to our family.

Style Me Pretty Feature Today

I love planning a classic wedding. And this one embodied the quintessential elegance of a "picture perfect" event. On Style Me Pretty today, check it out.

Wedding Auction Package

This is too good to miss. I've teamed up with Darcy Miller, Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta and more to offer a wedding package for auction, benefiting the Martha Stewart Center for Living, a service which promotes and facilitates health care resources for older adults. It's worth $12,000 and includes a $1,500 White by Vera Wang gift certificate, bridal shoes, engagement photos, a meeting with Darcy and planning services from me! I just checked the bidding and right now it's a bargain -- check it out yourself. If you're getting married, this sounds like the best deal in town!

Bidding ends on November 30, so don't wait!

Calling all Wedding Vendors!

I am delighted to invite all Wedding Library Vendor Members and their guests to hear about how small business owners manage growth and build companies on their own terms. The wedding industry is full of talented, passionate artists -- this is an opportunity to learn how to balance that creativity and love of weddings with running a business. Amy Abrams and Adelaide Lancaster have just published "The Big Enough Company" where they profile small businesses (like the Wedding Library) and reveal the lessons learned by these entrepreneurs. Join me and your peers as we discuss creating a business that works for you.

Amy Abrams and Adelaide Lancaster are the founders of In Good Company, a collaborative workspace for women business owners in New York City. They also work as consultants and business advisors, and their work has been featured in The New York Times and MSNBC. I've known these ladies for many years; they have a true insight into the entrepreneurial spirit!
Here's the book, it's available at Amazon, and at our event!
The event is this Tuesday, October 25 from 3-5pm.
There will be a special guest introduction by
Darcy Miller, Martha Stewart Weddings Editorial Director

Special Note: "The Big Enough Company" got too big! Due to (much) higher response than expected, we will email all respondees with the change of address:
Same day, same time, but we'll be at the lovely
Townhouse at Park Avenue Autumn, 100 East 63rd Street (at Park Avenue).

One Dress, Four Ways

I absolutely loved working on this project for New York Magazine's current Weddings issue. Four stylists were given this simple wedding gown to style in any creative way. I love the juxtaposition of high/low, simple/outlandish, leather and lace. My look is the biker chick (chic). Click on the image to see the details better. I paired our wonderful feather collar by Dana Michele with a leather tuxedo jacket -- it has tails!! Giant crystal stud Balenciaga earrings balance off the glam Untamed Petals sash. Gabriella New York helped us out with the shoes -- altogether a cool look, no?

One amazing part of the experience was working with the hair, makeup and model. As you can see, she is completely transformed in each look. The stylists whipped the model into shape in minutes and really captured the vibe I was looking for. Makes me think every bride should try out a bunch of looks for their big day...

Amsale Trunk Show, Get Excited!

A Nutty Favor

So, I might have gotten my bug and butterfly obsession out of my system now that it's fall. Plus, I have a new idea I can't get out of my head -- nuts. Well, nuts and seeds. I am finding acorns all over my property and I am remembering the little acorn creatures I made as a child. While brainstorming for a winter wedding, I came up with the idea of nuts and a custom nutcracker as an in-room gift. I would love that!

When I ran across these chocolate nut favors, I went (forgive me) nuts. You can find them and the little bags on etsy. Or you can get a rubber stamp and print your own muslin bags. Then you can customize the bag with your monogram, wedding date, or a cute image of a squirrel...

Chocolates from Andies Specialty Sweets and the bags are from Quotes and Notes.

Felted Pom Pom Arrangements

As winter weddings creep closer I am charmed by the idea of these felted pom poms as a cocktail table arrangement and this sweet acorn placecard idea.

WellWed Hamptons Feature

WellWed Hamptons has launched their Fall/Winter Issue and it's lovely. I mean really lovely. You can get a complimentary copy at the Wedding Library but here's a sneak peek of a piece on my collaboration with Hampton's planner Corinne Strauss and a spread on a styled piece I created in shades of red and white. Yippee!

Photo of Corinne and me by Philippe Cheng and photoshoot images by Mel Barlow.

Butterfly Cake

As a wedding planner, I have been seriously influenced by "everything Martha" for well over a decade. This holds true for many of my clients, too, who come to me clutching tear sheets from the magazine. Sometimes all they have to say is "do you remember that cover with the butterflies" and I know exactly what they're referring to. I see a lot of real weddings clearly modeled on images and ideas from the magazine, with varying degrees of success. An upcoming wedding client wants the butterfly cake shown on the cover here which I promised to deliver. When I saw Wedding Star where you can purchase butterfly kits that capture the spirit of the cover cake, I was delighted to find an easy resource to "get the look". What do you think?

I love the butterflies in shades of green, or any graduated hue!

What great execution!

Rehearsal Dinner Search, Check!

At long last! The genius behind NYC's Eataly, Joe Bastianich and Gilt City have teamed up to offer Dine Private -- a very simple way to find, research and book private dining rooms in 100 top New York restaurants. Clever, very clever.

Surreal Underwater Inspiration

Creative ideas are all around us. I was reading the New York Times today and was stopped short by this Credit Suisse ad campaign featuring the fashion designer Jen Kao. When I went to the bank's site to find images I discovered short videos on the creative process -- I am really inspired by both the process and the end result.

Love the idea of a floating, woodland, undersea dinner party!

The Art of Sabrage

Last week I had the double pleasure of enjoying the perfect pairing of champagne and chocolate at my favorite sweets store, La Maison du Chocolat. And at this event, the North American CEO of Christofle, Nicolas Krafft, demonstrated the technique of beheading a bottle of champagne with a gleaming saber.

A few years ago I planned a wedding with a dramatic sabrage demonstration. It's one of the most glamorous wedding moments I've witnessed. What a way to start off your welcome toast. And you can learn it on-line if you're brave enough to do it yourself!

Reprinted from Martha Stewart Wedding's Brides Guide.

Group Photo Idea

Having a photographic record of everyone who attended your wedding is wonderful, but even the most diligent photographer may not catch an image of every single guest. And of those pictures, not many are likely to end up in your final album (some candids are just not meant to be showcased!).

When my clients are game, I love to capture a group pic, such as the one below (the guests flew in from all over the world!). The resulting photo is the perfect shot with which to end your wedding album, and it can also be converted into a beautiful thank-you note. How do we do it? The photographer and I gather everyone together right after the ceremony when all attendees are already in one spot.

How do you plan on remembering everyone who came to your wedding? (For mine, I kept everyone's RSVP cards and the sweet notes that were included.)

Reprinted from my article for Martha Stewart Weddings Bride's Guide. Photo by Karen Hill.

Sotheby's Important Jewels

Yesterday I had the distinct privilege of a private tour of the Sotheby's Important Jewels sale by Lisa Hubbard, Chairman of Jewellery for Sotheby's. Wow. What an experience. Over 500 jewels, each with the history of a prior owner. Turn of the century hair sticks, contemporary bangles and diamonds, diamonds, diamonds.
This is an amazing insider place to find that perfect dangle earring for your wedding, or a gorgeous engagement ring. Lisa shared with me that most jewelry sells at auction for about a third to a fifth of retail store value. Diamond prices are more normalized, but I think it's still really romantic to raise a paddle for a coveted bauble.

What's more, the consultants encourage you to try on, to browse, to ask questions and indulge. I tried on everything in sight -- a girl can dream!

My biggest "take away"? Some of these treasures are downright affordable. See for yourself at Sothebys. But the items I tried on, including the catalogue cover piece are quite "one of a kind".

"Tutti Frutti" bracelet, Cartier, circa 1928. Estimated at $200,000-$300,000

Platinum and diamond tassle earrings. I can picture these with a certain Vera Wang bridal gown...

For those of you doing your color, cut and clarity research: This 5.56 center stone is D color, Internally Flawless, Excellent Cut, Polish and Symmetry -- very rare and estimated at $725,000-$825,000. Perfection indeed!

The auction takes place tomorrow, September 20, 10am. Online bidding is an option... See you there!

Destination Surf's Up!

We love seeing guests using their personalized totes, wearing their bespoke baseball caps, and sipping from their bottled water printed with custom labels during destination wedding weekends. These little elements help friends and family feel (and look) like part of "the wedding crowd."

My friend Laura Lobdell has come up with these "Longitude & Gratitude" Surf Bracelets that I would love to receive as a bridal-party member or as a guest of the wedding. They are printed with the coordinates of popular locales such as Montauk, Laguna, and Malibu, but they can also be customized with your wedding's specifics -- or anything else you'd like to say. Pop them into each guest's welcome bag, or use them as a favor or napkin ring at each place setting.

Reprinted from my article on Martha Stewart's Bride's Guide.

Wedding Library + Dessy Group = Perfect Match!

When we think of the most fabulous bridesmaid dresses in every color under the sun, we turn to none other than The Dessy Group. Featuring designers such as Lela Rose, Dessy Collection by Vivian Dessy, After Six, Alfred Sung, and Social Bridesmaids, the Dessy Group has a little something for everyone.

Just take a peek at all these gorgeous frocks:

Lela Rose – whimsical and ever so chic!

Dessy Collection by Vivian Dessy - how about the ol’ bridesmaids style and color mix & match

Social Bridesmaids – Modern and oh so glamorous!

After Six – never too early to think spring! We’re in a garden state of mind!

Alfred Sung – Going mad for these short flirty styles!

The possibilities are endless.

Exclusively just for our lovely brides, we’re offering 25% off all these darling styles and more! Just head over to our online store (www.theweddinglibrarystore.com) and enter promo code WLSUN11 for all the styles and savings!

Brides hurry – offer ends soon!

Paper Garlands

I am crazy for a sweet paper garland. Small and delicate, they nonetheless pack a design punch when used as a backdrop or table decoration. So I was delighted to see the garland how-to on the Bride's Guide.

I've never made them myself but use the pretty ones offered by Kate Greiner on etsy. I love her rainbow color choices and her options of different shapes, sizes and even customization.

Here I've used them for a ceremony "frame" with tissue paper pom poms, and even as cake decor.

How would you use them?