Belinda & Phyllis’ civil union at Centered Chef was unique in so many ways. The Buddhist ceremony included florals from Fab Floral that were all living, never cut.  To celebrate life, each guest took home the centerpieces with notecards describing how to care for their succulent and how to nurture the life to bloom. The couple invited their guests to be an integral part of the day. Multiple friends and family members were invited to speak during their ceremony. Guests also participated in interactive cooking demonstrations, from mocktails to crepes.

The simple and elegant design of the space added to the couple’s simplicity. Our designers used soft ivory fabric with amber lighting to create a focal area for the ceremony. The light emoting from the structure created the spiritual energy that the ladies were looking for. These fabulous photos were taken and provided by Liesl Diesel Photo.

Indian Wedding Ceremonies and Fusion Wedding Ceremony have very elaborate details that create lush environments full of love and passion. Whether the event is indoors or outdoors, the mandap is typically the focal point where all the tradition and rituals take place. Here are just a few of our favorite South Asian wedding set-ups; some are quick snapshots with my phone (…can’t wait to see the professional photos from those)

Red is the color of passion, desire, and love. Thus, it is a perfect color to be included in your wedding design plans. Whether it has a primary presence in your color palette or you offer your guests pops of red color in the small details, red is a very emotionally intense color.

• Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
• Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
• Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
• Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.

Wedding Design evokes feeling and mood for your guests to envelope themselves in while they focus on you, your marriage, and the love affair that’s in the air. Using red tones in your wedding designs can…

Pops of Red Color

Festive Red Details

Lush Royal Red

Modern Reds

Deep Deep Reds

Light & Soft Reds

Reds & Golds

Red Elegance

 To see more red inspirations, visit our Pinterest board just for you!

Recently, I designed an Indian Wedding ceremony and reception for a wonderful couple, Payal & Justin. The beautiful bride, Payal, had very definite ideas on the type of look that she wanted to create at The Harold Washington Library. For her, it was very important to see and feel all of elements put together before making her final decision. So we started with the basics. I created a sketch of the stage and fabric backdrop at our creative office, in order to figure out the look and feel that she envisioned based on the color palette that she had chosen. After her approval of the sketch, we made a trip together to a specialty fabric shop that carries a unique line of luxury fabrics. We went through aisles and rolls of luxe fabrics, laying them out on the large cutting tables to view what would be the best color palette and texture to create the envisioned backdrop. It was quite overwhelming for her as she would fall in love with a certain fabric and then find one that she loved even more. This is where the all important trust factor comes into play. I knew exactly what luxury fabrics would work for the wedding and guided her to the perfect selections. We found a gorgeous sheer white voile fabric with crystal beading, a stunning platinum crepe back satin fabric, and a vibrant and elegant purple wave fabric that we accented with crystal strands.

Ultimately, with design, it’s about choosing that perfect cohesive look, that when put together creates that “Wow” factor. In order to create this “Wow” factor, we brought all of these samples back to our creative office and put together a mock up of what the fabric backdrop would look like. It came out exactly as the sketch portrayed and it was truly perfect. The three fabrics worked together beautifully and added beauty and elegance to the ceremony. Also, the crystal beads and strands that we picked created not only texture but also a shimmer effect to the room as we enhanced with lighting. It is always a pleasure to create these one of a kind events and I feel truly blessed to be able to help make my clients’ event design a memory that will stay with them forever.

~Deborah Weisenhaus, President and Lead Designer at Art of Imagination

No we aren’t talking about brides that have affection for Julia Roberts… we’re talking Runway Brides. Brides that are taking inspiration from the fashion runways and incorporating fabulous designer dresses into their special day.

When meeting with a bride, my first question is “Do you have a photo of your dress?” This curiosity is two-fold. One, I have the pleasure of seeing my bride’s face light up with excitement, enthusiasm, and pride as she leans over for her phone to find that picture of the “one.” And secondly, I garner a sense of who this beautiful bride before me is and what inspires her style.

Here are two of our most recent brides and their runway-to-aisle fashion styles.

DENA – JENNY YOO

July 2013 at  The Rookery – Dena chose this beautiful strapless gown from Nabi by Jenny Yoo. Her Monarch gown is actually a convertible dress that offers fifteen different ways for a bride to style the dress. Our bride, Dena, added a bit more glam to the look with a beaded sash from Jenny Yoo.

The Monarch features a twisted strapless bodice that scoops softly at the center of the bust for a universally flattering look. The waistline hits just above the natural waist with soft gathers. The floor length skirt features an “A” line shape with full sweep. Skirt has two convertible panels in the front and four panels in the back that can create alternate necklines and skirt details. The dress is fully lined, with center back zipper. Available in Winter White

*Photos of Dena provided by Rebecca Marie Photography

ROSE – VERA WANG

June 2013 ~The Stan Mansion – Rose chose the Josephine gown from Vera Wang’s Fall 2012 collection. The collection offered many dresses in a unique color palette of soft bare nudes and rich textural blacks. The line’s alternative name was, in fact, Witchcraft.

Witchcraft
Light, airy, concoctions of froth…. inspired by black and nude undergarments, both mysterious and sexy, frivolous and fun, with transparent wisps of carefully organized tulle.

Photos of Rose provided by Roma Pictures.