Lindsay's Baby Shower

My latest creation: Rubber Duckie made of Flowers.



We at ATB had a couple weeks off to work on the next big event in the Steadman family, which is another baby boy to arrive on 8/8/08. Under a tent in our back yard we had a marvelous baby shower to welcome little Kole Andreas Wanberg. ( His daddy is a Swede, therefore the typical spelling of Cole is changed.) The shower theme used 'rubber duckies' in remembrance of our beloved Grampy who passed away before knowing that Kole was on the way. He would always squeek his rubber -duckie over the phone to his little grand-daughters before he would say good-by on his long distance calls. (sniff-sniff-boy do we miss him!)

Our guests signed a framed poster of colorful rubber-duckies for the nursery with good wishes.

Aunt Amy painted the letters of his name for his nursery shelf.

Decorations included a clothesline with hanging baby clothes . The onesie in the middle says: " Party in my crib :2am." The tiny camo-gear is from his Pop-pop who can't wait to take his grandsons hunting and fishing someday!

One element a little "off-theme" was the cake. The reason being that Erik (daddy) says he just can't wait to buy toys for Kole; like diggers and trucks. So I bought this little digger set and took it to Rosie of Rosie's Creative Cakes and told her to be creative! This was the biggest hit of the shower! She made rocks and boulders of delicious chocolate fondant. She wrote "ground-breaking addition" on the barricade, added grass, and little orange caution-cones made of fondant! Everyone said it was the most delicious chocolate cake ever! Visit her website at http://www.rosiescreativecakes.com/. Her wedding cakes are beyond beautiful and always delicious!

Then as the guests said good-bye, they took a little rubber duckie along home that had a colorful glycerine soap from Bath & Body Works attached. We put them in this antique baby bath tub that I bought at an antique auction. We also had a baby-bottle shaped sugar cookie wrapped to go.

My three lovely daughters- Jessie, Amy and soon-to-be-mommy, Lindsay.

Hugs to our 'other daughter' Erika Hengst for the great photography and for taking care of all the shower games. She should be in the picture above. She's a very special part of our family .

Whether it's showers or weddings, we love the details......and we LOVE our little babies!!

This week we're back to work with 4 weddings and a 25th anniversary bride's bouquet. Some really fun tabletops will be in the next post!

Hudson

This is a wedding blog but I just can't help sharing this picture of my 8 week-old grandson, Hudson. He's the light of my life. He melts my heart when he smiles at me.... and to think that we will be adding another little boy to our family in August. All I can say is that God has been doubly-good to me.

Gena and Andy

Started out a rainy, dreary morning but till wedding time the sun was shining and it was beautiful for Gena and Andy. With that rain, I know they were happy they weren't being married outdoors (as was I:). It was at the beautiful, historic Lancaster First Church of God, where the Pastor is a happy Leprechaun-talking chap. He was a lot of fun talking to while setting things up. Gena looked so beautiful in her ivory dress. The bridesmaids wore lavender street-length dresses and carried bouquets of lavender and light green roses with purple Alstromeria.


Gena and Andy are such a nice couple. Andy wasn't afraid to say how much he liked the flowers-not something we usually hear from the Groom. His mom reminded me that he's a landscaper so I guess that's not so surprising after all.
Unfortunately most of my pictures aren't very good, accept this sweet little flower girl. She is very much a girl-y girl, says her Grandmother, and was feeling very pretty and happy today. She carried a sphere of chartruese Yoko Ono poms with purple Tissue Statice accents.

I really appreciate the knowlege and skill that it takes to be a first-class photographer-especially after taking so many pictures of this wedding and only being able to use one of them. They are really worth the money you pay for your wedding pictures.

Taking a couple weeks off for a mini-vacation and baby shower prep for daughter Lindsay. I've figured out how to make a Rubber Ducky out of flowers for the table decor. If my photography improves enough I'll post pictures. And................getting ready to launch a brand new website. So much fun!

Thanks for reading!

Two Lauxmont Farms Weddings

Saturday was a beautiful, but windy day for Liz and Luke's wedding at the Pretty Pastures of Lauxmont Farms.

Look how perfectly this bridesmaid's dress matches the color of the skies.......

After 2 times setting up the canopy, and one time of picking it up and re-assembling it with the help of the Groom, Groomsmen, and a very helpful farm hand (thank you-thank you!) who quickly found 4 stakes as tall as I am, a sledge hammer and rope-we finally got it to stay up. The wind up on that hill finally calmed down by wedding time. Thankfully the Bride never knew the stressful time we had.

The most awesome thing about Pretty Pastures is that the sound of the harp could be heard all the way around the farm. It was so beautiful, as was Liz, the Bride. For once, I was able to catch a photo of the Bride and Groom after the ceremony. Thanks guys!

Sunday's wedding was back up at Lauxmont Farms at the Sunken Garden, then over to the Rotunda for the reception. Both weddings had the same color dresses: beautiful sky blue. I wasn't able to get a picture of the couple; but here are some shots of the flowers and reception details. Bridesmaids Bouquets were South American Blue Hydrangea, white Spray Roses and a tiny bit of Million Star Gypsophilia.

Melissa, the Bride chose ivory Roses with fragrant pearl-studded Stephanotis

Groomsmens boutts. were light blue Bella Delphinium and Bear Grass.

Renee of Bella Manse Artful Wedding Cakes did amazing work on this blue wedding cake : a beautiful decorative focal point in the Rotuda. http://www.bellamanse.com/

The vases were an identical match to the striped ceiling of the Rotunda. Believe it or not, that was not intentional.

I had the pleasure of working with the girls of EPN. (Event Planning Network)

http://e-p-n.com/ from the Harrisburg Area.

Sisters Tina and Melissa make a great team of hard working planners. They say they are best friends and you can tell that's the truth! They laugh at each other and work as hard as men, lugging heavy cases of beverages and ice up to the pool area while taking care of the bridal party and reception details all at the same time. Great job girls!

***Next week's wedding of Gena and Andy features lots and lots of lavendar and green Roses.

Elizabeth-Jane and Steve's wedding flowers

The rain all day didn't dampen the happiness for Elizabeth-Jane and Steve. They were married on Friday at St. Joseph's Church in York. Everyone in the bridal party was very mellow and relaxed even though it was pouring buckets outside. I didn't get any pictures of the bride and her sister since they weren't ready when I delivered the bouquets to the bride's parent's home, but if you check Leslie Gilbert's blog , you can catch some pictures of happy couple, I'm sure. http://sullivanstudiosphoto.com/

The Bride's bouquet was White Peonies and white Hydrangea. We had to import the peonies from the Netherlands since they aren't quite in season yet. Elizabeth-Jane's grandmother's crystal rosary was attached to her bouquet to keep her close to her as she walked down the aisle.




Her sister was her Maid of Honor, and only attendant. She wore a black knee-length dress and carried all pink Peonies. So pretty.
The Bride's Mom and Groom's Mom carried tiny posies of pink Roses and Orchids.

The centerpieces were : Pink Peonies and Roses of course!The reception was held at Outdoor Country Club in York. The colors in the ballroom were perfect for their decor. Believe it or not the carpet is pink and green! The bride and her mom didn't realize that when they chose their flowers, but it really made the room look beautifully dressed, especially since Special Occasions supplied beautiful mint green linens. Check them out at http://www.specialo.com/

Scott and his staff are wonderful to work with. Outdoor Country Club is a great place for a wedding reception! www.odcc.com

3 Memorial Weekend weddings coming up this week. Lots of blue Hydrangeas!

Coming soon............ a brand new website. So excited about that!

Wedding Stylist's Design Dilemna Vol. 1 Napkins

One thing to consider when designing your guest table decor; which is so often forgotten, is the dinner napkin. This photo is focused on the centerpiece of roses, but honestly, when first entering the room, it looked like 120 blackbirds landed on all the tables! Fancy-folded napkins are great to add character to a table that simply has a single taper candle in a plain glass candlestick. But napkins popping out of wine glasses, or shaped into little boats, teepees or hats is not so classy for a wedding.

A simple flat-fold placed over the edge of the table linen looks as handsome as a gentleman's necktie, and allows the centerpiece to be the focal point of the table.

One well-known Harrisburg venue made a flower fold with a beige napkin in all of the coffee mugs! It didn't work with the centerpieces at all. Not having time to re-fold 200+ napkins, we added a bright green pom to all the napkins at the bridal party's table. Thankfully Cali was a fun-loving bride and she didn't mind. She loves green!

If your napkin color blends in with the rest of the decor then a simple triangle -fold works nicely; like this coffee- inspired Bridal tablescape. The napkins are barely noticable.

See how the black triangle-fold napkin disappears into the black linens in this black, white and platinum color scheme? Love the look of those long feasting-style rows of tables! Big impact. My favorite way to fold a napkin is in an envelope. Clean, simple, elegant. Perfect for displaying the menu card. Embellished with a single blossom-you've got something classy that doesn't take the eye away from the centerpiece.

Now here is a classy way to dress up your place settings. A simple fold with a ring of copper wire and pearl accents. This one will be featured in the Knot magazine this fall. Kris McElligott, http://kmphotographywedding.com/ submitted pictures of our work and we're so excited for the issue to be released in the near future.

So be sure to discuss with your wedding stylist or florist about the color and fold of your napkins to make sure you love the final tablescape look. Then show your venue a sample of the way you want your napkins folded. Don't let your napkins upstage your centerpiece or other beautiful table details.

* This week's wedding features pink and white Peonies.

Flowers for MOB's and MOG's

AKA: Mother of Bride and Mother of Groom.

Many times moms come along with their daughters for their floral consultation. They often say to me; " I don't want to pin anything to my dress, and I'm not going to the Prom, so I don't want one on my wrist,... do I have to wear flowers? " Well, I'm on the same page on that one, and the answer is 'no'.

In my opinion, pin-on corsages are great for Grandmothers; (which I proudly now am, but he's much too little to be a groom)- but the young, contemporary mom sometimes has a strapless dress, or just doesn't like corsages. And the big problem with wrist corsages is that they get bumped and damaged so easily, which can be so disappointing for your mothers.

Why not pin her flowers to her shoulder bag or let her carry her corsage in the form of a tiny bouquet that we call a 'posey'. It's no larger than the size of the top of her fist. It's so easy to

carry, and having it gives honor to her.

Here are a few examples of the ones we've recently made..........................

Ask your mom if she likes these better. I sure do.