July Inspiration at The Rittenhouse!

To inspire you this month it was my turn (Josie!) to pull together the JP Event Inspiration for you this July. I wanted to bring new ideas to a more traditional look to try to bring some of the elegance back to weddings that have more and more become very modernized (not that there's anything wrong with modern either!).
The beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia served as a perfect and elegant backdrop to the inspiration. They were so helpful and we are grateful to them to showing such hospitality and letting us take over the magnificent Grand Ballroom for the inspiration.
Tina of Tina Jay Photography did all of these fabulous photos. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet and has such great talent to pair with her great personality! It's a great reminder to how important it is to get a wedding photographer that you like just as much as you like their photos.

The Rittenhouse Hotel has a classic and unique feel to it. The Ballroom is truely grand and has floor to ceiling windows ,which cast the beautiful natural daylight onto our table.


For elegant favors, Chocolates from a classic chocolatier, such as Miel Patisserie, are exquisite and unique.
Drinks are another great way to make your wedding completely your own. A signature drink, such as Blueberry champagne, will leave an impression on each of your guests.
The linens, silverware, champagne flutes and base-plates all came from the wonderful people at Select Event Rentals with a lot of help from Jessica from the company!
Invitations serve as a "sneak-peak" of your wedding to your guest. They should reflect what they will see when they arrive at your wedding.
These beautiful invitations came from the talented Rachael at Pistachio Press.
Centerpieces are a great way to catch your guests eyes as soon as they enter the reception. A tall glass centerpiece paired with a string of pearls can serve as an elegant way to showcase table numbers.
The Centerpiece and all the bouquet came from the wonderful girls at A Garden Party Florist in Southern New Jersey. Mary, the florist, was another great vendor to work with, not only did she create fanctastic arrangements, but she did all of this only a few weeks away from giving birth to a new baby!The bouquet was gorgeous! Mary pulled in the beautiful blues, pinks and peach used in the rest of the design and accented them with lovely little pearls strung over.
Cakes often become a focal point for guests. Everyone is always interested to see the cake, so its important to have it reflect your personality as well as be cohesive with the rest of your wedding.
The great people at A Sweet Life Bakery, in Southern New Jersey, created a beautiful cake design that incorporated the champagne pink color with the gorgeous design that was on the invitations. Jill, from the bakery, even invited me in to do a cake tasting like she does with all her wedding couples. Their cakes are amazingly delicious, moist and far beyond any cake I have had anywhere!
The gorgeous gown came from a great little shop right on state road in Bensalem, PA called Sadies Bridal. Danielle knew exactly what dress would be perfect without even seeing the rest of the inspiration design, and she was right! this gorgeous gown featured intricate beading all o ver that was breath-taking and would certainly catch anyone's eye.



Finally, I must thank our beautiful mode, Laura Elwell, who gave birth to a precious baby boy, only weeks before!

More from June at Appleford!

These photo shoots are so much fun to design and shoot. Our staff at JP Event Design comes up with original wedding and event designs to inspire you and then we bring them to life with the help of amazing vendors. Take a look at Sara's June Inspiration and GET INSPIRED!

Calligraphy adds elegance to any event. An outdoor wedding can be elegant by adding special touches like the butterfly place cards. Sara designed the cards and Amy Wilson from Amy Wilson Calligraphy did the amazing writing ad the place cards and table numbers.

Kate Miller looked stunning in the dress from Priscilla of Boston. This shot is a must at Apppleford - it looks like it belongs in a Bridal magazine! Her makeup was designed by the very talented makeup artist, Gena Forsyth - Gena did absolutely beautiful work.

Hanging table numbers are a trend we are going to start - I love the look! In this case we tied a lantern to the tree branch and suspended the table number from the lantern (insider tip - weight the table number - we actually used pennies inside the card to keep it from blowing in the wind :)

Flower pompoms add a 'wow' element to any event. Ilonka made gorgeous little green flower pompoms and we hung them with ivory ribbon from the branches.

Rachel (Rachel McGinn Photography) really took some great shots of Kate and this is one of my favorites.

June at Appleford

The flowers were stunning - they had a vintage feel with pale greens and pinks that complimented the rustic feel of the mansion. Ilonka at Ilonka Floral Decorator in Malvern did an amazing job with the centerpiece and the bride's bouquet.

Appleford Mansion on the Main Line is the perfect setting for a June wedding. Sara designed this look and it definitely had a light summer feel... don't you think? Our photographer for the day was the amazing and talented Rachel McGinn of Rachel McGinn Photography. All of the photos from our June Inspiration are curtesy of Rachel.

FAVORS FAVORS FAVORS

Trying to decide just what to give your family and friends once the party is over. What can you give that will be practical but cheap? Here are a few DIY ideas to help brides everywhere give the perfect favor and save a few bucks too.

One Cup of Love

Who doesn’t love home baked cookies? The wedding favor is perfect for a bride that wants to send home the warmth and love she felt the entire day! To make this favor all you need is jars (Amount depends on how many guests and who you will be giving them to). In each jar add…. 2 ¼ Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Salt

¾ Granulated Sugar

¾ Packed Brown Sugar

2 Cups of Chocolate Chips

Once all of these ingredients are placed into the jar, strategically of course, use a small piece of paper to type up the ingredients. On one side you can write the ingredients of your marriage; for example, 2 ¼ cups of love, 1 teaspoon of trust, 1 teaspoon of compassion and so on. On the other side type up the ingredients and add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 2 large eggs, and one cup of butter (2 sticks) softened. Preheat oven to 375˚ degrees. Combine all ingredients into one large bowl and scoop small balls out and place onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes (until golden) then remove and let cool for 5 minutes.

Add a piece of fabric to the top of the lid and a sticker with each of your initials. TA DAA! You have yourself a warm and heart felt favor that everyone can enjoy!

-Recipe from http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476.

Boxed Candle Poems

Candles will never get old. Whether you are using one to make the room smell great or trying to create the perfect mood candles are always great! Purchase your candles in bulk this way it will be cheaper and you’ll be sure to have enough. Once the candles have arrived print out different love poems and sonnets onto adequate sized paper. Some various poems you can print are Corinthians 13, Shakespeare’s sonnet 116, and many many more. Once each of the boxes is wrapped in these beautiful words, add a special touch by tying string to the box that has the beaded message of love. In the end you have a great and easy favor that looks fantastic!

Find this and many more great DIY wedding ideas at MarthaStewartWeddings.com

Renew, Redesign, and Reuse!

Hey everyone, I wanted to talk today about something that can both be money-smart but is also a “green” idea. It’s probably not what your thinking (okay, you might be due to the photo that’s with this post) bridesmaids dresses! Lets face it, almost no one re-uses bridesmaids dresses (maybe you remember Katherine Heigl’s movie last year where her closet was packed with bridesmaids dresses that never saw the light of day more than once?) and that’s because you picked it for them, plain and simple. If you’re going to have more than one bridesmaid then the chances are pretty high that you’ll also have more than one body shape, skin tone, eye color, hair color and everything else to consider besides the actual color of the dresses. So you’re bound to select a dress that doesn’t quite flatter at least one, if not a few, or all of them and they will be most likely be expensive, since they are specifically made for bridesmaids, and will never be used again.
A great new trend I’m seeing a lot of recently is that of these mix-and-match bridesmaids dresses. Setting the ground rules on the lenth and style and maybe even specific color (maybe giving each girl paint swatches of the color you can get from the hardware store to take with them shopping) and letting each girl choose their own dress. Or maybe not even one specific color, maybe each girl gets their own color that goes with the theme (maybe everyone wearing pastels or different shades of red-it’s up to you!). It might be fun to even make a day out of it – all go dress shopping together so you can okay it before it’s even purchased. In the end you can save the girls from being uncomfortable all day and then having the dress collect dust in their basement for the rest of their lives, just because the dress didn’t suit them to begin with.

Featured (clockwise from top left): J.Crew, Aaron Delesie, the image is found, and Sugar Love Weddings via Green Wedding Shoes)

Our Latest Inspriation - JUNE!

Hello! We just got fantastic photos of our latest inspiration shoot! Our designers have created this June design to totally inspire you - the photos were taken by the amazingly talented Rachel McGinn of Rachel McGinn Photography. We will have the complete shoot up in the next few days... we are SO busy preparing for Emily and Trevor's wedding weekend that we don't have time to put them all up today... but here's a taste of what's to come. Stay tuned!

Myth Buster

Hey guys! It’s me, Josie, again and I think I’m going to switch my focus just a little this week to talk about a myth I seem to hear a lot of. Many people think that the best way to save money while planning a wedding is to ditch the wedding planner. This is a complete myth that couldn’t be further from the truth! I know, I’m kind of partial on the subject but a few years ago I probably would have agreed with you, but oh how I see the light now!
Wedding planners (especially JP Event design, heh!) know the ins and outs of wedding planning. While this may be your first wedding, wedding planners may be doing one every other week, so they have a little more experience with things you may be unfamiliar with. Planning events is also all they do. While you may only have your lunch break to call and set up appointments with venues and caterers, they not only have the time to do this, but they have already worked with different vendors and know who would work best for your wedding and also your budget. A good planner knows where to get the best prices for the best services. You may not have the time to hunt down the absolute lowest prices on tissue paper and candy, but that’s what we’re here for (and yes! From working here I do know the cheapest place to get tissue paper!).
Wedding planners know the field, and know who you’ll get the best value from. They can steer you away from vendors they know are cutting costs by cutting services and show you ones that you’ll get above and beyond the money with. They can also suggest new money-saving ideas that can get your wedding looking like a million-bucks on a small budget. Me and the other interns here at JP Event Design do a lot of brainstorming for weddings. We spend a lot of our time looking at the latest ideas in wedding designs and are always trying to come up with ways to re-create them cheaper, but with the same visual impact. We’re also always looking for the best deals for each particular wedding. We get excited about being able to help bring a bride’s dreams to life without breaking her bank. It’s what we do- and we love it!
Your wedding is such a special day and it should be just as memorable as a high-budget wedding. Don’t let yourself think that you’ll save money just by cutting out someone who has the expertise in making beautiful events – talk to us and see how you really can afford a wedding planner and how we might actually save you money! And besides, whats more green then saving money?



**Also a special thanks to Allison for doing such a wonderful job on the blog!! You're the best!