Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

Wishing you a Happy Easter (if you so celebrate)!  Here's to a day filled with chocolate eggs, jellybeans, and tulips!

Happy Spring!

Photo credits, clockwise from top left: aisle (The Knot), bride with bridesmaids (The Knot), manzanita trees (Elizabeth Ann Designs), lanterns, (Getmarried.com), boutonniere (Getoffwhite.com), cupcakes (Georgetown Cupcakes via Celebrations.com), escort stones (pacificbrideguide.blogspot.com), tablescape (Martha Stewart Weddings), floral centerpiece (Martha Stewart Weddings)

We love this Springy green inspiration board! Hoping to see lots more green soon!

Wordless Wednesday!

Okay, one word: WOW!

Rustic River Farm Inspiration!

More inspiration for outdoor Spring weddings!  Bring on the beautiful weather, lawn games and lemonade!

Sweet Hearts Patisserie!

We were so thrilled to be teamed up with Sweet Hearts Patisserie for the Engaged 2013 Show at The St Regis! Not only were their sweet treats gorgeous, they tasted amazing! (They were kind enough to sneak us bites before the show started.) This Annapolis-based bakery can create almost any type of treat for your wedding or event in the greater DC area so the next time you're looking for perfect petit fours, mouth-watering macaroons, or cute-as-a-button cake pops, be sure to call them!

Images by Steve Canning

Rooftop Romance at The Hay-Adams!

Enjoy an inspiration board from one of our pretty rooftop weddings with bright Spring colors!

Orange You Wild About This Table?

For the design of the Pavillion at The St. Regis D.C. for the Engaged 2013 Show, we went for a crisp, bright and whimsical look to go with the lovely Sperry Tent. Our very own Amanda McCabe of Engaging Affairs selected an orange palette and the fun details that made this look so much fun.

We used a white leather table from DC Rental and topped the table with an orange tree created by Jennifer Dolan of Fox Ventures. Bright oranges were piled on moss and glass pedestals around the tree base with pillar candles tucked in among them.

DC Rentals metal ribbon chairs with orange cushions were the perfect pairing for this gardeny look!

Gray and white striped base plates were topped with white waffle plates and orange circle plates upon which glass bottles of Stewart's old fashioned orange soda sat with gray and white striped paper straws. Uber-modern flatware, orange striped napkins and frosted glasses added to the cohesive design.

Meant to Be Calligraphy provided charming place cards in orange ink for each place setting. So much fun!  Thanks to everyone who contributed to this lovely look and thanks to Steve Canning for the great images!

We absolutely loved this table and had so much fun with it! It was the perfect look to herald in the coming Spring (and makes me thirsty every time I look at those ice cold bottles of orange soda!)

Engaged at The St. Regis {Stunning Astor Ballroom}!

The Engaging Affairs team had the pleasure of working with a fabulous team to design the Astor Ballroom at The St. Regis Washington D.C. for the Engaged 2013 show. Along with Hector Rubio from The St. Regis, Jeff Fox and Jennifer Dolan of Fox Ventures, Liz Waylan of DC Rental, Sweet Hearts Patisserie and Michelle from Meant To Be Calligraphy, we created a sleek look that used modern prints and textures but looked amazing in the classic room.

We built our design concept around the twinkle dance floor from Fox Ventures and used a black, white and blue palette to accentuate the blue lights.

Chevron is such a hot pattern this year and we used it on one long table and mixed it with a combination of glass beaded, traditional floral and modern striped china stacked and topped with glass domes that held gorgeous petit fours from Sweet Hearts Patisserie. Blue glassware created a fabulous dramatic accent.

The plexiglass chuppah from Fox Ventures was lined with candles and we tucked a romantic sweetheart table underneath flanked by a pair of ghost chairs.

A fluttery white linen was topped with an ornate gold charger, gold flatware and etched crystal glassware.

Ice blue raw silk napkins sat atop each place setting and were crowned with whimsically calligraphed place cards in blue ink by Meant to Be Calligraphy. Gorgeous!

Our other long table was draped in a black and white swirl linen and topped with blue glass plates.

Candleabras with cascading orchid arrangements ran the length of the table.

Each place setting of blue stacked glass plates was topped with a blue striped demitasse cup and saucer.

Fox Ventures created a plexiglass wall of cakes and cake bar to display the stunning cakes by The St. Regis's award-winning pastry chef as well as a plexiglass cube that held hors d'oeuvres.

What breathtaking wedding cakes!

Thanks to all our partners for helping us create an amazing ballroom design!  And special thanks to Steve Canning Photography for the beautiful images!!

Next up: our fresh, Springy design for the St. Regis Pavillion!

Engaged at The St Regis!

Photo by Steve Canning Photography

Just a sneak peek at the fabulous Engaged 2013 at The St. Regis! The Engaging Affairs team had a "Pick Your Pantone Palette" station where we helped couples design a color palette for their wedding using Pantone cards and inspiration boards then clipped their colors onto metal rings for them to take and use throughout their planning process. We had tons of fun and so did the many brides and grooms who stopped by.

The cool plexi table and chairs courtesy of Fox Ventures! More photos of the show and our table and ballroom designs to come . . .

The Elegant At-Home Wedding!

Our good friend and wedding planner extraordinaire, Janice Carnevale, has just released her fabulous e-book on planning at-home weddings. For anyone who has planned a wedding at home, you know that it is never as simple as it seems and there are SO many details to consider. If you're considering having a wedding at your home, please check out this invaluable resource. It is chock full of amazing tips to help you avoid common pitfalls and will make you think of things that never occurred to you.

Congratulations to Janice on creating such a great book and on its release! Check the e-book out now!

Join us for Tea With a View!

We're thrilled to announce a lovely bridal event that Engaging Affairs is co-hosting with The Mandarin Oriental Washington D.C. hotel. For all D.C. area brides and grooms (or brides can bring their mother or maid of honor if their groom demures) still in the midst of planning your wedding, please join us for an afternoon of tea, culinary delights, mini spa treatments and much more.

This is a RSVP-only event with limited space so contact Heather Mello at the Mandarin with your names and preferred "pouring" time to get a spot on the list: MOWAS-Catering@MOHG.com.

We hope to see all our newly engaged Bridal Bubbly readers there!

Gorgeous Wedding Indian Video!

ruchi + trushar from Belvedere Stories on Vimeo.

Gorgeous 3-day Indian wedding celebration planned and coordinated by our very own Christine Godsey! Enjoy!

Engaging Affairs Loves . . .

Just a few things the Engaging Affairs team loves!

Lazaro at Love Couture!

Miami Heat {Michelle and Kramer}

Make no mistake, Michelle and Kramer were kismet from day one.  In a whirlwind romance, the two fell in love and planned a serious celebration in less than a year so they wouldn't miss a second starting their lives together.

Our team headed south on Wednesday to start wedding preparations and in hopes to stave off Superstorm Sandy.  Luckily for our beautiful bride, the rains just dampered any sun we had hoped to get in the days before the festivities began and by Friday night's welcome reception guests were enjoying the sounds of steel drum under the stars.

Saturday morning brought a sun and calm that had been missing all week.  The beauties got dolled up while sitting in front of the most picturesque view of the ocean.

Our anxious bride and groom didn't let a windy beach keeping them from a photo session and exchange of feeling that brought about incredible emotion.

The sunset ceremony was perfect timing as the wind finally died down.

Following a cocktail reception in the property's Cabana Court, the celebration really began.  Greg Denard of the Greg Denard Orchestra brought the house all the way down until the Springsteen cover band took over.

Thank you to the team at St. Regis Bal Harbour, Tony Gajate Photography, Cabana Pictures, Dalsimer Atlas Floral and Sincerely Yours.

Sara