It has been literally for. ev. er. Since I posted one of my tabletops. Shame on Manda. Bad, bad Manda. Sorry about that guys! It’s not for lack of photos or lack of trying… it’s just the time! But, you can only love me now because here come two [well, one kinda two] tables right atcha!

I became obsessed with the cool, modern pallet of poppy pink, yummy warm orange against a stale, slate grey backdrop. The 3 together became absolutely drool-worthy! I knew I wanted to use poppies “sprouting” from grass for the centerpieces and the idea of a dual centerpiece became equally appealing to me. Two trays, the same size, shape and color. Filled with grass, then poppies bursting out towards each place setting. Fabulous. Of course, what’s better than having a bud and budlet tucked into each napkin! I chose to do a modern style long plate [which I love], with a modern take on the classic “menu fold” napkin that we all see these days- wrapping the plate. I did a salad plate above each place setting and to the right, leave the glasses lined on the left. So modern, simple and chic. That’s what I’m all about. LOOK at those classy flutes! Ugh, it’s love!

I chose a different colored flower for each napkin. That may be THEEE best part about buying poppies: it’s a mixed bag of color. SO organic, natural, and wild!

As a favor [on that salad plate we mentioned] we opted for a fresh, ready-to-gobble option: a trio of mini cupcakes. Not only are they modern and gorgeous, but they’re deliciously one-bite satisfying!

The whole table. What a DREAM, right? It turned out so well!! By the way- this was one of my first times taking care of a centerpiece by myself… I wasn’t thrilled with my droopy poppies at first but the more I look at them, the more I love them. It’s like they were meant to be that way!

Love this angle:

And LOVE the sun hitting the blooms:

And now… [are you ready??] for table #2!! For this specific look, I opted to add in the idea of a “kid’s table”. Kid’s-only tables are great because you can vary your decor to suit them, and really have fun with the look. It exploded into it’s own little world of table and I love it ever-so-much!!

Same linen. Same colors. Pizza for dinner!! I came up with the idea of using mini pizza boxes and turning dinner into a craft time full of fun. Provided that your catering company will be flexible with it, I basically filled this mini box with cut outs like the toppings they could put onto their own pizza: veggies, pepperoni, extra cheese, sausage, pineapple. I know that kids love a good activity! We also switched their plates to white square plastic ones to be more kid-friendly.

I loved the idea of giving each kid a balloon, tied to the chair. The more you can do to make them feel special, wonderful, and loved.. the less they’ll care if they’re in the corner or even in another room! The pink trays that you see on each seat are lap trays- coloring books and crafts provided for them are easy to use since they have a place for everything!

Switch out those mini cupcakes for a box-o-goodies, kid style! From bubbles to candy to slimey sludge, it’s a good time all in one place! And don’t forget the centerpiece…

Creating a smaller centerpiece will give the kids more room on the table to make a mess [and isn't that what all kids love doing??]. I swapped the poppies for large round suckers in cotton candy flavor- a crowd pleaser [... especially for my husband!].

I gave each place setting a sparkling fruit juice so that when the toast arrives, they’ll feel just as special with their bubbly… and of course, the straw attached is the easiest way to dress up ANY cute bottle/can! Behind the plate is the plastic craft box that we filled with goodies- easy to move and then take home at the end of the night!

My favorite thought/aspect of the kids table has got to be the bedtime basket. Since most weddings these days have just a handfull of kids, and most of those kids end up by 9pm sprawled across 3 chairs out like a light… why not make it a bit more comfy for them? Ribboned together is a small pillow and blanket for them to grab when they get that sugar coma we all know they love. Plopped in the corner near the kids table, it’s the perfect ending to a great evening for the kiddos!

All in all, the table came out beautifully and was captured even MORE beautifully!! Here’s the list of people who I now owe at least a kidney to, for their time, energy, efforts, and love!

Rentals provided by Signature Party Rentals
100% CUSTOM linens by Dress My Chair [yep, she made 'em to match my vision!]
Venue setting was at Rancho Capistrano
Adorable mini cuppies provided by Once Upon A Cupcake
Suckers for the kids from Ju-C Suckers
And last but CERTAINLY not least… for the visual stimulation: Hazelnut Photography and KimLe Photography

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful… right? Now- leave me comments on this seriously. Because if I don’t get any, I’ll assume you hate it. And if you hate IT, then you may as well just say you don’t like me. SO yucky. And I know [well, I think we all know] that you love me. :)

Have an ab fab Thursday!

xoxo!!

A.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU to my good friend, Carrie, who’s always got my back. I never would have found this but low and behold, one of my tabletops was featured in a design board that was inspired and featured some time ago SOMEWHERE on The Knot.

If anyone finds a specific link/article… oh man, I’d love you. I’d take a “screen shot” of that baby SO fast!

Finally, the person who wrote the article that went with it featured it on HER website as well, you can find thatHERE.

Carrie actually found this board over at Lucky Me and I followed the trail of links back and back. Fun to do at 8am! For sure.

Here’s the design board, in all it’s glory. Note the lower right hand picture and HOLLA for me:

And okay- so we’ll talk about it! This past week I’ve been ignoring my blog and I’m SORRY! I have been so tremendously busy and even more filled with butterflies about my fun weddings approaching. The lovely Brittany will be blogging another of our weddings from last weekend and we still have a 3rd to post, too. It’s a fun time, spring, for all of us!

We love you. You love us. We love love. You’re IN love. Works perfect.

xoxo,

A.

So, I haven’t previewed my tabletops for any of you yet. I did 4 earlier this month. I had two fabulous photographers there and I am still waiting for pictures to float in. But apparently I cannot wait any more. Why, you ask? Because one of the photographers blogged them.

That’d be Jordana Hazel. She blogged about a week and a half ago. And since that blog, it’s been pretty consistent. Once a week, I’m featured somewhere out there in the internet world. And because it’s not fair to keep YOU, my lovely readers, in the dark whilst the rest of the wide web roams and frolics with my tables…. here’s a preview of where they’ve been featured. More details to come [as I'll be showing them off once a month on their own, just like I did last time], but I am so so SO thrilled on the pre-buzz BUZZ they’re already getting.

Humbled. Honored. Flattered. I can’t believe my eyes [says my heart]. Thanks for being you, and letting me be me. :)

The lovely bride over at East Coast Wedding gave a short rant about kids at wedding while featuring my killer mod kid’s table [as a compliment to my poppies, below]:

With This Ring posted about my tuscan warmth of a table early last week, with Jordana’s collage:

And then, just today on Green Wedding Shoes Blog was this lovely collage dedicated to my happy, modern, clean poppy table:

I am so so SO thrilled that my clients have been seeing my name all over the internet. It’s crazy, really. Have you seen them anywhere? If so, let me know! I’m thrilled to be featured and I hope that one I finally DO feature my tables, you’ll all fall deeply truly madly in love!!!

Have a weekend beaming with sunshine and kisses- rain or shine!

xoxo,

A.

A little link love for the day. How fun that things I am involved in are getting to be important parts of design inspiration boards. Here’s one from today that included one of my fun tabletop centerpieces:

I am dying- DYING- at the color scheme and would love to work a hip, pretty, freshly springed [that's not a term, I know, but doesn't it sound so much like a romantic walk on a cool day??] wedding like this. The aqua and yellow make me swoon- especially for guys in grey suits to match [even if that isn't what's pictured... hmm, maybe I should make my own freshly springed tabletop??]

Thanks for the love, as always, from everywhere!

xoxo,

A.

I can’t wait to show you all the fruits of my labor over the past month. My new tabletops are going to ROCK off your faces before you can even take the time to squeal out loud [at work, preferably] with utter delight!

But until I get photos back from the fabulousnesses that they are [top secret until I decide to reveal...], here are some quick pics I snapped on MiPhone in the heat of the drama last Wednesday:

I’m so, so pleased to say that my humble little [booming] business name was dropped in the brand new issue of “I Do For Brides” magazine [Georgina, Tennessee, and D.C./Virgina's issues]. They featured one of Kristin’s gorgeous centerpieces from our tabletop shoot early last year! The shot they chose was terrific and looks so classy on the page [and don't think I didn't notice that we got the biggest picture space... hellllls yeah!]!

To see more of the wonderfully playful details from the fab Orange and Yellow tabletop, CLICK HERE!!!!

I’m ecstatic about this and cannot wait to see who becomes a blog stalker from it, and more than that, it encourages me to keep doing what I’m doing… doing what I love, every day! The centerpiece of that table really is just the tip of the iceberg so if you haven’t seen the rest of the details, you won’t be let down if you check them out. It was truly such a pleasure from concept to reality, and I’m so thrilled that others have found love for it, too!!! xoxo!

I must admit: this is probably my favorite table top! From concept to actual, I love this look! First off, the color scheme of brown, black and white. Every year it seems like one color is paired with black and white to make a smashing impact on guests. I love the warm, cocoa brown we chose to use as inspiration! As always, thanks to my lovely vendors, Jonilyn for photography, Kristin at The Treasured Petal, Signature Party Rentals for being all around awesome, and Elegant Design Specialty Linen for providing the base black linen for this look. Now, here it is!

The black and white, thick striped extra-durable-and-washable satin was found and made into a table topper by moi! It’s truly incredible to the touch. The brown “new damask” runner was also found and made by me, including the matching napkins, which I loooove the look of! I bought the white vase collection at Ikea and they didn’t need a thing to dress them up to fit this look. Kristin stuffed them full of creamy white flowers including these funky heart-shaped brown pods that I provided her with. I really wanted something textural for the florals in these. We included a mini little bud vase with a single stem and incorporated the table number right onto it! We wrapped the napkin between the two square plates and resting on top was a folded black and white napkin with their licorice skewer as a mini favor! For the real favors [pictured below] modern shaped Chinese To-Go boxes were filled with carmel waffle cookies and spreadable chocolate for dipping, all packaged with a monogram and a plastic knife! Here’s some detail shots for you all:

To see more, and there are definitely more details to see, visit the Tabletop Gallery on my site! Hope you love it as much as I do!!

WOW! I cannot believe that it’s taken me all of September to get one of these out to you guys, but none the less… here are some gorgeous pictures compliments Jonilyn Photography!!

This classic color scheme seemed to pop out in my mind as one that could be developed dynamically through textures and continue the richness throughout the table. I adore the way it turned out!

The idea with this tabletop was to be detail heavy but keep layering on pinks into the table and accenting with gold [like the funky vase, chairs, and smaller details]. I found vintage-inspired glasses in a blush color at Anthropologie and set them in place of the traditional water goblet, adding a special touch to each setting. A pink capiz shell frame held our vibrant table number. Favors were mini pink-on-pink tonal journals with a cute fuchsia pen attached and ribbon with a gold ribbon. For this setting, I actually mocked up some escort cards, which were simple assorted pink cards hung with ribbons and attached to a fabric/paper covered foam board [with pink headed pins of couse!]. Simple and gorgeous! The bottles of Francis Coppola’s Pinot Noir Sophia blush wine one either side of our centerpiece was a great way to tie in color and style! Additional chocolate truffle favors [white chocolate, brushed with raspberry to be exact, to bring in that rich warm pink tone again] were packaged two by two in gold truffle boxes wrapped with a velvet baby pink bow. These boxes were placed on top of our oh so cute salad plates from Z Gallerie, with a wide hot pink rim and gold trim! Kristin at The Treasured Petal [whose blog is equally if not MORE stalk-worthy than most] killed it with the florals- whispy and flowingly pink!! Time to indulge in some close ups…

As always, you can browse through the eye candy on my Tabletop Gallery on my site!! Plenty of detail pictures to quench that undying thirst! More to come once a month, every month!! xoxo!