Daina found me through Wedding Wire and boy, I am sure glad our paths crossed! Not only did I have so much fun, I also got a rare opportunity to witness "a little divine intervention" and I find it very much meaningful. ^_^
Daina and Ale, her mother, were so pleasant to work with and we definitely clicked from the start. They definitely made a good wedding planning team. ^_^ Her wedding was considered a large one because she had about 14 bridal party (and add the families on top of that) and about 22 guest tables. We were working on quite a tight budget, however, since Daina was very flexible and open to ideas, we made it work!
Daina chose Burnt Orange, Green, and Fuchsia to match this particular shade of Dark Teal fabrics that she used for her bridesmaids' dresses. I think those colors compliment each other very well and most of all, I think they are the best representation of her bright and cheerful personality. ^_^
So for her bridal bouquet, we used "MILVA" roses (it's a darker shade than "Orange Unique"), "Mango" mini calla lilies, green dendrobium orchids, green hypericum berries, fuchsia alstroemerias, hot pink gerbera daisies, and purple statice as accent.
As for the bridesmaids' bouquets, we kept it simple by using "Mango" mini calla lilies and lily grass loops.
Simple design is definitely key when you try to cover a lot of ground. So for her centerpieces, we split the design into 2 (two) styles - tall centerpieces for half and floating centerpieces for the other half.
Each tall centerpiece consisted of DRIED curly willows and half got paired up with fuchsia alstroemerias, the other with orange mokara orchids. Daina purchased the dried curly willow in mahogany color from www.driedflowersrus.com (they are one of my favorite vendors and John Wisdom rocks! ^_^) and the tall vases as her mom planned to give them away to guests.
The floating centerpiece has few orchid blooms (in fuchsia, green dendrobium orchids and orange mokara orchids) with a circle of steel grass and pebbles on the bottom. Daina got the glass container (it's actually a salad bowl!), floating candles and pebbles from IKEA.
For her place card table, we did one tall centerpiece and placed fuchsia, green dendrobium orchids and orange mokara orchids as "borders" for the place cards. They had such lovely effect and made the place card table looked cheerful! ^_^
All the above designs are DIY friendly as you can see. Very simple and absolutely doable for brides on budget!
You can always contact me if you need advise on the above designs. ^_^
Daina and Matas are both Lithuanian and so it's so cool to see them honoring their heritage in their wedding. One of them is the special wedding "cake", called Šakotis. This "cake" smelled so much like belgian waffles (in this case...it also smelled like dark chocolate...)! It's definitely not your ordinary cake! its texture is like... between a biscotti and waffle, can't really describe it. It's harder than a cake for sure. Therefore... here's my little tip for those who are interested in decorating Šakotis in the future: wire your flowers. Make sure the wire is thick enough so they can "poke" through the hard surface. ^_^
Design wise, I just thought the dark chocolate covering looked so much like a waterfall, so I just designed the flowers as if they were falling on a waterfall. ^_^ I think it's simply... awesome! ^_^ And if you visit my blog often enough, you know how much I love, love, love unique ideas! ^_^
The lovely venue is the Collingswood Grand Ballroom in Collingswood, NJ and catering was provided by Barry Catering. Both have friendly and professional staff, definitely would love to work with them again in the near future. ^_^
For more pictures from this wedding, please check out Papertini's online album.
Now, speaking of the "little divine intervention"... I must admit the weather on Daina and Matas' wedding was, unfortunately, not the best. Not only it was humid, it also rained. It was pretty much raining when I got to the church to drop off the flowers. Then the choir came in and started practicing the wedding songs. As soon as one of the ladies sang "Ave Maria" (she sang so, so, so beautifully), I am not kidding you, the rain stopped! Just like that! It was so bright outside, you couldn't tell the sky was raining just a few minutes prior! The weather pretty much stayed bright and sunny afterwards. It was such a divine moment that it took me a while to process in my little head. I mean, there's no other way to describe this experience! And for this, I am humbled and forever grateful. ^_^
Congratulations, Daina and Matas!!
Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity
to be a part of your special day!
Many Happy Wishes for You Two Always! ^_^