Belle Turned Bride: Choosing A Location

It is safe to say that I live for the summer sunshine. Spencer and I spend most weekends in the summer sprawled out on the beach playing horseshoes, reading countless books and cruising around on the boat. The toughest thing I need to do on any given summer weekend is bait lobster pots (gross)!

Luckily for both of us Spencer’s parents have a beautiful home right on the water in Duxbury, MA. Most summer evenings you can find us in their backyard sipping a glass of wine and watching the boats pull back into the harbor after a day on the water.

There truly is nothing better. When it came to deciding on the location of our wedding, his childhood backyard seemed like the obvious choice. However, there were a few major concerns. The first two were uniquely concerns for his property:

•Although the yard is very long, it is also relatively narrow. We weren’t sure that a tent would fit (for the amount of guests we wanted).

•The lawn is on a slight incline. Would we need a floor?

On top of that there were other concerns that are valid when planning many outdoor events.

•Did we really want to burden his parents with having an event of that magnitude in their backyard? The amount of landscaping, gardening, cleaning that they would need to do would be so time-consuming and tedious. We wanted them to enjoy themselves too.

•Would we care if it rained? If it POURED?

What was the tide schedule? We didn’t want guests walking in at dead low (stinky) tide.

•We started to find that the weekends were limited most by the tide schedule. There were only a handful of Saturdays when the tides were ideal. That handful was limited further because other couples in town had already scheduled their weddings on some of those dates.

Enter Leslie Barbini (wedding planning extraordinaire). Was it possible? Yes. Would it be expensive? Yes. Would we need a floor? Yes. Was it more than we wanted to spend? Yes. Were there other options that we liked as much? Yes.

Ultimately after much discussion we decided that the cons outweighed the pros in this situation. And although it was a tough decision to make, we got over it quickly enough. Our biggest concern was that we wanted our wedding to be uniquely ours, and although a backyard wedding is very personal, there was no doubt that we could make another venue equally as special. So Leslie, Spencer and I hopped in the car and headed to Cohasset, MA to check out the one venue I had made an appointment at. A spot with so much character and charm that I knew we just had to see it…

Needless to say we signed our contract the next day. Tune in next week to find out where!

Spring Table Design for Wentworth Hotel Tasting

Below is a Q&A session with Leslie about her latest table design:

What first inspired this table design?

SPRING! For most of New England, it has been a very long and snowy winter…I felt it was time to let a little sunshine and happiness in! Anything to bring about positive energy is the way to go.

Other than “Spring”, does this table design have any particular theme or purpose?

Of course! Having had the privilege of working at the Wentworth Hotel now for several years I have really gotten to know the Wentworth Bride. She tends to be an extremely modern and savvy bride that also has a love for the “old world” traditions. So with the Wentworth’s traditional feel and the bride’s modern sense of style, I wanted to show that you can bridge that gap.

Can you explain the different detail elements and how they accomplish this purpose?

For the most traditional element I chose the china....

The yellow invokes the spring feeling but the gold pattern and delicate edging definitely drives home the traditional feel. Also, choosing the Gold Flatware to accent the china pattern gives the table a sense of royalty, which every bride wants to feel on her wedding day! I wanted to pull green from the carpet in the Wentworth Ballroom to invoke that touch of spring. I was able to do so by utilizing green glassware which the table a sense of balance in the room.

The green glassware has a wonderful pattern involving circles and diamonds, which gives it a much more modern feel than the china and brings in the modern style of the bride. Bridging that style gap are the personalized menus. I designed the menus to tie everything on the table together. I chose the diamond shape to enhance the pattern of the glassware and by adding in the delicate and ornate border, it incorporates the pattern of the china. A perfect combination!

Given the Gold in your design, why did you choose a darker guest chair at the table?

I chose the Fruitwood Ballroom chair to ground the table. I felt that gold would have been too much alongside the gold in the china pattern. The trick is always having just enough but not too much. I also wanted to use the chairs to show that you can pull in many types of decorative accents to highlight them. Treatments on the chairs really tend to finish the table and let everyone know that no detail went overlooked. At this table I did four different treatments (two chairs of each design). Four of the chairs use two tones of yellow and four of the chairs use only one. I like using the different tones of yellow since it is such a vibrant color. Using the lighter shades doesn’t overwhelm the eye as sometimes too much vibrant yellow can simply take over!

The floral centerpiece is gorgeous! How does this finish off your design?

Traditionally at the Wentworth, all tall centerpieces tend be a round or ball type of centerpiece. This time, I wanted an asymmetric feel to this traditional ball. Obviously I wanted spring branches to invoke that spring feeling but I also wanted non-traditional touches to bring in that modern, asymmetric feel.

Hydrangeas and Roses bring in the tradition and the Bells of Ireland pull in the modern feel. I also requested my favorite color be included in the floral design, eggplant! It is a great pop of color, but I said that it could only be put in if it was a spectacular touch since it would be the only touch of eggplant on the table! The Eggplant Calla Lily fits this purpose beautifully!

In the end this is table is all about Spring, lightheartedness, happiness, celebration and a start of a new day, a new life! Thank you to BBJ Linen; Jardinere; Signed, Sealed and Delivered; and Be Our Guest for helping me bring my vision to life and providing all of the details of my table. Last but not least, Thank You to the Wentworth Hotel for allowing me to be a preferred vendor and to use your space as my imagination’s playground! No two designs are ever the same.

Final Images of Design Space!

Last Friday and Saturday we officially opened our doors and held an Open House for everyone to come and see our new home. Thank you so much to the vendors, clients (past and present), family and friends that took the time to come wish us well and celebrate! A special Thank You to Ambrosia Gardens for bringing in the “life and the green” to the space with all the amazing plants and flower arrangements! Thank you to Joya Beauty for beautifying the Belles! Another Thank You to Sperry Tents, for finishing off the design area with flair! What New England wedding is complete without a tent? What you once had to close your eyes and imagine…now you can see! Enjoy the photos of the finished product…Martin Haseman Photography…your images are beautiful. Thank You!

As you walk in...

Leslie's Office:

Belle's Office:

Custom tented area:

Sudden Closure of Nashua Radisson Hotel

We're offering special rates to clients affected by the sudden closure of the Nashua Radisson. 50% off of a 2 hour consult. If you book us for a package your consult is free. Let us help during this stressful time! Call 603-828-1525 to book.

You have a vision of your special day, but time, distance, resources or other factors may be challenging you. Avoid being overwhelmed with the planning process by allowing us to provide you with a two hour consultation to get you on your way.

Consultations may include the following (but is not limited to):

• Personal guidelines and checklists
• A list of quality Vendors
• Etiquette advisement
• Assistance with announcements
• Assistance with Save the Dates
• Wedding Website Suggestions
• Overall plan for Wedding Weekend

We would be pleased to address any other questions or concerns you may have, during this consultation session, as well. It is our goal to make this a pleasant experience for you, from start to finish.

Press Release: Winner of WeddingWire Bride's Choice Awards 2011!

Dover, NH - 1/27/2011

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce The Wedding Belle has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Planning Services! Recognition for theBride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation. The Wedding Belle stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year. “WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud The Wedding Belle for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.” We are happy to announce that The Wedding Belle is among the very best Wedding Planning Services within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011. For more information, please click here visit our WeddingWire Storefront today. For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com. About WeddingWire, Inc. WeddingWire.com, the nation's leading technology company serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 local wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge.

Belle Turned Bride: The Proposal by Spencer

I stood in line at the security gate in a cold sweat as a million thoughts raced through my mind. “What if they ask me to open my camera case and take the ring out? What if Emily sees what is in there? Oh my God, what if I end up proposing to her right here, in the security line at Logan Airport?!” To me, at this moment in time, these all seemed like very likely possibilities. I needed to act fast. Time was running out....

I turned to Emily who was standing behind me in line and said as I gestured over to the right “I am going to hop over to that line over there, it looks a lot shorter.” Emily looked towards the line I was referring to and gave me a weird look. The other line was just as long as the one we were in. “Ok…” she replied.

Phew, what a stroke of genius. I was saved… for now.

Emily and I were travelling to Italy together for a ten day tour of the country. This was the first time either of us had been to Italy, and we had been planning the trip for over five months. As we boarded the plane, both of us knew that this was the culmination of the many hours spent planning and the many sacrifices made in order to save up for the trip, and we were both brimming with excitement.

I, on the other hand, had been working on another plan for quite some time. I was going to propose to Emily on our vacation and was carrying with me the proper piece of hardware required to make such an effort. I had taken the day that we were leaving off from work for what Emily thought was a dentist appointment. As far as she knew, the dentist had discovered a cavity the week before and said I needed to get it filled before I left. The truth was that, after more than a month of searching for the perfect ring, I had arranged to finally pick up the one that I had chosen from the jeweler. Be at the jewelry store at 10am and on the plane to Italy at 6:00pm.... what could possibly go wrong!? Thankfully, I pulled it off!

Two days later, Emily and were walking through the narrow, winding streets of Capri. We were both in heaven as we twisted our way through the town exploring shops, trying different foods, and doing our best to get lost in the maze of interlinked, unnamed streets. I had not planned out how I was going to propose to Emily, but I had thought all along that Capri would be a good option. I thought that, at some point, I would realize that the time was now, and the place was here. Well, there we were, and I knew it was time to act… almost.

“Let’s get a glass of wine.” I said to Emily. So I needed a little liquid courage, big deal! We stopped in a wine bar and sat down for a glass of vino. We paid and left, and continued our journey. As we walked back to the town center, we found ourselves looking up at a staircase that led to a high street level. Two nuns were making their way slowly down. Emily wanted to see what was up there and I obliged.

As we reached the top of the staircase, there was a small sign that read “Vista Panoramica 100 Metri”. We decided to check it out. As we walked up the inclined street, we passed door after door. These were the entrances to people’s homes, nestled way up on a hill overlooking this beautiful island. “What a place to live” I thought. “How do they get their furniture up to these houses?” Emily said. Always the pragmatist, that one.

After walking for what seemed to be much more that one hundred meters, we came to an overlook that was partially obscured by branches from the trees that grew on the hillside. What a letdown. We took a few pictures and were about to turn back when Emily said “Let’s keep going, maybe there is something further down the path.” I agreed, and we continued onward.

After walking for another five minutes, we emerged from the tree lined path into a place that I will forever remember.

We stood on a terrace, hundreds of feet above the clear, blue ocean. The sun shone down gently upon our faces. We could see people below us that looked like tiny little ants milling about. In the distance stood two massive rock formations protruding from the sea, like sentinels charged with protecting the island from harm. I could hear soft voices in the distance and the faint clinking of forks against plates as a family settled down for a late meal. Emily peered over the edge of the terrace down towards the ocean.

I knew that this was the place. I had the ring. I had the courage. It was now or never.

Ditch the Pillow

A trend we've seen a lot of lately is ring bearers toting anything but pillows and we LOVE it! From moss to sand dollars to nests, why go old school? Here are some options we love...

Moss pillow surrounded by birch bark. Photo courtesy of Aphrodite Wedding Photography

Similar to the moss idea, but a different take...

Love this nest idea from Etsy seller thepaperynook

Or if you want to go the more traditional route with an actual pillow try spicing it up with these options.

Dupioni silk with a shimmery gold backing from Wedzu seller Maihar Design

A "green" ring bearer pillow in lush cable knit upcycled from an old (and laundered) sweater. Wedzu seller Lillian's Garden.

Or take a tip from one of our brides and use some fabric with meaning to create your own ring pillow, like a swatch from your mother's wedding dress!

Here's a tip: No matter what you choose to carry your rings, use fake rings instead of the real ones. Slippery ribbon + young kids = disaster! Make sure the ring makes it on your finger by having the best man hold onto them. Nobody will know the difference!