If you haven’t seen the post on the launch party for Wish Upon a Wedding St Louis chapter, see it here.

After the chapter officially launched, it wasn’t long before we were granting our first Wish.  The young couple was Dani and Tony, who wanted nothing more than to make their commitment official before Dani’s illness would ultimately take her life.  The gorgeous wedding designed and coordinated by Sarah Grus was held on September 1st. Dani peacefully passed away on September 31st.  Details on the wedding can be found on the Wish Upon a Wedding blog, here.

Because we like to make things for our clients with our bare hands, and because we are a wish granter, we were asked if we could come up with an idea for a wedding favor, and provide them for the wedding.  Immediately our little wheels started turning!

We decided to give everyone the gift of new life!  Inside a clear 3″ box, was a single hyacinth bulb. We included instructions for how to plant it, and in Spring ’11  it will be the first bloom in their garden, representing Dani’s memory and the special time everyone had with her and her new husband Tony on their wedding day.

The front of the box read: “May the new life this flower brings always remind you of this wonderful day.” Above it had their names, and below their wedding date.  Keeping with the wedding theme of Parisian Chic that Sarah and Dani created, we placed a ghosted Eiffel Tower or Fleur de Lis behind the text on the tags.  The boxes were tied with aqua ribbon and a cream colored flower, and tags were in black and white to keep with the wedding colors.

Look at these exquisite linens from Sitting Pretty Party Arts.

And the beautiful bouquet from Festive Atmospheres.

Thanks to Signature Studio for the gorgeous photos and to Pam for donating her time for Dani and Tony’s engagement photos and to their whole wedding day. Amazing!

Gabriella turned One, so her very first birthday party was kind of amazing.

Luckily there are some fantastic photos from Rita with Halo Photography, so little G can look back and realize how good she had it.  Because we’re pretty sure she isn’t actually going to remember how awesome it was. Rita did a great job with the photos for us, like we knew she would, because she does amazing baby portraits.  Seriously.  Go see for yourself.

Onward.  Here are some pics from the Candy Land birthday:

Yes.  A Dots runner.  You remember Dots, and eating half candy/half paper. Mmm!

The candy path across the floor for games, and general navigation to the Candy Bar.

We made this custom candy banner of Gabriella’s name using different candies for each letter.

The candy path reappears on the red velvet cake from Whipt Cream!

A very happy Ring Pop-wearing guest.

And here’s the birthday girl in all her “this is all for ME!?” glory.

Note the outfit that says she is shy and hates all the attention (she is not sitting in a bunch of extra tulle – that is a tutu!)  Adorable, yes??

Vendor List:

–Photography – Rita Jokuti at Halo Photography
–Cake - Whipt Cream
–Invitations – Pretty Prints
–Linens  - Cross Roads Party Rental
–Design, theme, decor, favors, paper – Events Luxe

Tiff & Trae got married!

Trae is from Nassau, Bahamas, born/bred/raised.  But the wedding was in St Louis:

Enter the “island chic” theme.  Pretty different and unique when taking place in the Midwest, with no big beautiful bodies of water to speak of.  The theme was incorporated by the use of colors (aqua for the color of the sea, red for coral, and white for the sand) , subtle motifs (coral, starfish), and food (tropical flair).

“ME  n  U”.  Aren’t we clever?

Check out this surprise groom’s cake and the “Ring Bear” who posed for it.

And the Red Carpet style photo booth got a lot of love!

Vendor List:

–Photos and Red Carpet Photo Booth – Michelle Ross of Under Grace Photo
–Photos (2nd shooter) – Gail Fleming
–Ceremony Venue – Missouri Botanical Gardens, Japanese Garden
–Reception venue and catering –  Forest Park Lindell Pavilion (also known as the Visitor’s Center and Trolley Room) and Catering St Louis
–Reception lighting, Gobo, ceremony lanterns –  Exclusive Events
–Invitations – Paper Cut Invites
–Wedding cake – Beck’s Gluten Free
–Groom’s cake – Celebrating Life Cakes
–Flowers, centerpieces, ceremony urns –  Rachel Roman Speh, Rachel Flowers
–Design, planning, theme, monogram, centerpiece design, favors, Save the Dates, styling, red carpet photo booth, paper goods- Events Luxe

Oh-our-gosh.

Tiff’s niece was turning 13, and just like every summer, she was in town from Rome. She is slightly, if not completely obsessed with Cold Stone Creamery so it was decided to throw her a surprise party, a la do-it-yourself Cold Stone-style.

First, it was necessary to set up “Shoppe”.  Decorations were placed carefully around the house, including this fabulous custom banner from The Banner Sisters (and by the way, they turned around this baby for us in, I think, 2 days – score).

Too adorable. Yes?

Ice cream came in 3 flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and coffee, and toppings were not in short supply.

Because pink is niece’s favorite color, we made sure to have pink sprinkles, pink lemonade, fresh home-made pink whipped cream (you betcha!), and we even found Oreo’s that had pink filling.  Check out photos from the fun night next.  Needless to say, the party was a huge success for kids and adults, and we had way too much candy leftovers.  Double score.

These out of town welcome bags were a blast.  The color of the bags and tissue went perfectly with the couple’s color scheme, a coral motif that we designed went behind the guests name tags, and a custom and personal welcome tag was printed and tied on as well.

Goodies from Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate co!  YUM.

The bags also contained other local treats:

-Fitz’s rootbeer, orange soda, grape soda

-Alive Magaizine

-Gooey Butter Cookies

We also included bottled water, bride & groom travel tissues for the emotional moments, and trail mix and other snacks for hungry moments.

We were so privileged to be part of the design and planning committee for this party.  Events Luxe is a Wish Granter for Wish Upon a Wedding as well, and if you are in the industry and would like to be one , you can become a wish granter here.

We decided to make the event Caribbean themed, so EL contacted the Lumen Private Event Space in downtown about hosting this event.  They immediately and graciously obliged us and did a fantastic job helping with necessary donations, and more.

We also booked a psychic to read tarot cards at the event, which was a huge hit.  Food and desserts were provided by some of our favorite places, including Mosaic Modern Fusion and Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate, co, who were happy to help the EL girls with the event.  And when our band fell through at the last minute, Millennium Productions stepped up.  So a big Thank You to them!

Check out some of the photos below, provided by photographer Kelly Park.

See more of the event on the Wish Upon a Wedding blog, here.

Here we are in the photo booth, provided by the always-entertaining GoodEye Photoshare:

The Amazing Event Planning Committee!:

See you at the Gala in November!

In May 2010, we were lucky enough to work with the talented Stephanie Zettl, of Zettl Photography to get some headshots to share with you all!

Stephanie and Peter Zettl are fab wedding photographers, and we had a great time working with Stephanie on a gorgeous day in the Central West End.

Mother’s Day is a time to make things really about Mom, and the brunch table is no exception!  Our table was a very upscale feminine and floral theme, very cheerful yet playful.

Our selection of colorful flowers

Each mom could find her place at the table by looking for her name card.  Only the mom’s got name cards!

We utilized the length of the table by arranging the fresh flowers in a line, placed on top of a floral runner.  We used mostly clear vases but also incorporated a few cream colored honey pots to anchor the arrangements.

The table settings were also clear glass, placed on top of a coral colored charger.  The colors screamed “MOM!”

The name cards were cut up the middle and placed onto the water glasses.

Wondering how to survive wedding season as a guest to so many different affairs?  The Girls Guide to the Galaxy has your answer, and they interviewed Tiffany about some pointers. Check it out here and leave some comment love for Carlie over at the Girls Guide!

How fun is it to prepare for a 1st birthday?  Pretty awesome.  How about a 1st birthday for puppies?  FANTASTIC!

This party was held at Dog-Gone Furbabyz, a doggy daycare located between downtown and Soulard.  The doggy digs are cage-free, so the pups feel more at home.  It was a fun place for a party and both the 4-legged guests and their 2-legged owners had a really great time.

There were two guests of honor for this Fiesta, one boy and one girl.  So we made two separate invitations because the dogs roll with two different crowds.  The blue boy invitation went to his friends in Downtown.  And the pink girl invitation went to her pals in Soulard.

All of the four-legged guests loved their “Doggie Bag” on the way out.  Until the end of the party, they were kept securely behind a fence, since the bags contained delicious treats like Milk Bones, rawhide lollipops (oh yes indeed!), various squeaky toys, rough-and-tough rope toys, and other fun thank-you gifts.

A young family member hand-wrote all of the guests names on the bags, and placed pup stickers around the Thank You sticker that we made.  We love crafty planners-in-training!

And the sticker that was placed on the outside of every Doggie Bag:

The awesome pinata was of-course doggy-friendly, filled with Milk Bones of different colors, and the kids in attendance were in charge of breaking it.  It was so funny to see the dogs lined up at a safe distance, wagging their tails in anticipation! They had been smelling it all afternoon:

You gotta love happy guests!:

Bailey

Lily

Sadie

Birthday Girl!

Birthday Boy!

We made these save the dates for Tiffany’s wedding, and they consisted of a 2-sided flat card, hangtag with wedding website, shimmer red envelope, wrap-around address label, and custom postage.  The wrap-around label was fully customized, including the hand-drawn “doodle” next to the guest’s address.  The custom postage showed the couple’s wedding date, while the hangtag magnet showed their wedding website.  The shimmer red envelopes twinkle in the light, adding a romantic feel to the modern design.  And of course, the Dog of Honor who will walk down the aisle had to be featured!

The engagement party that followed this invitation was oh-so fabulous at the Four Seasons St Louis Sky Terrace in May 2009.  If you haven’t been up there yet, you have to check it out!  When that Spring weather comes around, it’s the perfect way to enjoy a specialty cocktail and embrace the best downtown view of the arch.

This party was a lot of fun and allowed us to include many elements into the overall design.

The main focal point was a custom designed square acrylic bar, backlit in red with the corporate logo adhered to each side with a vinyl graphic.  The bar was show-stopping in itself, but still we used the bar to encircle a gigantic display of red roses right in the center.

Custom corporate gobos were projected in red onto opposite walls that were washed in a vibrant blue hue.  This was a great contrast with the stark white vingnette seating areas with custom-made gray pillows, bearing the corporate logo.

Seating areas had simple yet striking centerpieces of candleholders of varying heights, all filled with water, submerged orchids, and floating candles.

Fun elements, such as the custom-made glow-in-the-dark ice cubes were a huge hit that guests took home with them as fun souvenirs.

Ballroom before

Ballroom after

This company obviously knows how to party. It was easy putting together something fun for this group, using some print materials for tables with candles, cute custom t-shirts for the servers, and creating a super-tasty signature cocktail with a colored and flavored sugar rim that became a quick a serious party icon.  Guests knew they had arrived at the right place by the huge glass wall covered in the company’s logo, and had to be on the list to gain entry.  A simple white gobo was projected onto the wall inside in the VIP area and the logo was also displayed on every flat-screen LCD TV around the bar.

Yep! Tiffany got to enjoy the party too!

This was a fun one, a wedding that took place just after Christmas.  The bride wanted traditional and formal, in only a few months.

In addition to general planning and design, Events Luxe provided the bouquets, centerpieces, and programs.  We scored with the venue, Powell Hall, that it  was still decorated for Christmas, so we utilized the already provided decor as part of the holiday theme.

Professional photos by Trotter Photo.

And not-so-professional photos by us

The bride had thee-most-gorgeous Kenneth Pool gown – SWOON.

The chandeliers just spoke for themselves.  They added such a romantic touch to the evening!

And the night ended with a great farewell!