Friday's FAB Finds! Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Holland Photo Arts

Friday’s FAB Finds {010}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Green Weddings

Finding a few more fabulous Green finds on our Fab Finds {009} got me excited to find some more for this week. Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!

Ideas We Love – Eco-Friendly Honeymoons

This great idea comes courtesy of Brides.com blog, Wedded Bits (fun name!) for couples who are looking to be more eco-conscious on their honeymoon trip and who wouldn’t want to do that? 🙂

Courtesy Brides.com

Burning fossil fuel is unavoidable if you want a tropical wedding or honeymoon, but you don’t have to give up on the green lifestyle entirely. There are many new resorts that have taken earth-consciousness way past the point of asking guests to sleep on the same sheets for a few days. Tammy Levent, CEO of Elite Travel, shares some tips on how to have your cake, and help the planet too.

Many properties are billing themselves as “green” and it can be hard to distinguish the truly eco-friendly resorts from the ones that are mostly talk. Look for resorts that state specific and verifiable eco-efforts, like these: Calibishie Cove in Dominica has only four suites, all overlooking the ocean. Hot water is provided through solar power and the suites are designed to make the most of natural breezes and sunlight. Food and activities are not included in the price, but the staff can point you in the direction of the best nearby restaurants and local fruit vendors, and you can easily book independent tours. Rooms start at $120/night from June through November, and $135/night from December through May.

Aqua, a new resort opening soon in Nicaragua, has treetop villas made from sustainable hardwoods that are elevated to reduce the footprint on the forest floor. This means that you get to enjoy the same spectacular views of the coastline as the native monkeys—when you’re not cooling your feet in the surf with the flamingos. Aqua offers many nature-based activities as well as classes in organic gardening and earth-friendly eating habits. Aqua is so new that resort prices have yet to be set.

The Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort on Vanua Levu island in Fiji has won numerous awards for its environmental activities, like starting the island’s first recycling program and its innovative wastewater system that uses coconuts and recycled bottles to ensure clean water in the lagoons. The resort keeps a marine biologist on staff who gives lectures on the local flora and fauna. Don’t miss the Saturday morning trips to the farmers market, Fijian language classes, and lessons in Fijian basket weaving. All activities, meals and non-alcoholic drinks are included with the price. Rooms for two start at $669/night. —Tammy Levent

InStyle Weddings found another eco-honeymoon destination for us!

Courtesy InStyle Weddings

When you think of luxurious honeymoon destinations, Fiji, the Maldives and Turks & Caicos probably come to mind. But what about the Bahamas? Yes, you can add that to the list, too, thanks to the Tiamo Resort (tiamoresort.com) on South Andros Island.

Nestled among coconut palms and sea grape trees, the property is comprised of 11 gorgeous beachfront bugalows that have king size beds, open-air showers, wrap-around porches, and morning coffee delivery. Unsurprisingly, water activities abound at Tiamo—the resort offers you use of their kayaks, sailboats and snorkeling equipment. Explorers can also take guided ecological trips under water or on land. The lodge, the main hub of Tiamo, serves up delicious daily meals including dinner served on white linens by candlelight.

As if that weren’t enough, Tiamo is also eco-friendly! Tiamo is the first full service resort utilizing 100% alternative energy for its electrical needs, including a commercial kitchen. And, all the hot water used by the resort is created by thermal hot water heaters—no electricity or gas is used.

So maybe Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon knew something we didn’t when they eloped in the Bahamas, but now, the secret is out! —Jeanine Edwards, Associate Editor

Links We Love – WedVert

The Martha Stewart approved WedVert has a funny name, but is truly “the modern bride’s guide to green wedding” and as promised, they uncover expected and some not-so-expected green ideas.

We love these reclaimed barn wood table numbers from a green wedding that our lovely friend Tina Carter photographed!

Photo by Kristina Carter via WedVert

Or how about this unique, eco-friendly idea. A Charleston couple had themselves (and their guests!) transported from the church to the reception via pedicabs! Of course you wouldn’t want too much distance between the two locations, but how fun for the two of you to be able to wave to people on the street as they shout their congratulations to you! (Bill and I took a ride around the French Quarter in a horse-drawn carriage after our New Orleans wedding and it’s something we will never forget. So much fun!)

Photo by Charles Bordner via WedVert

While we don’t personally have any experience with these companies, we found a few DC based pedicab companies you may want to check out. DC Pedicab offers pedicabs adorned with Just Married signs for you and your new spouse and National Pedicab maintain a large fleet of state of the art pedicabs. What a memorable way to celebrate your memorable day! 🙂

Be sure to check out WedVert for more easy, fun and affordable ways to green your wedding!

Oh and if you missed it, be sure to check out FAB Finds {005} for a ton more unique and fabulous Green finds!

Friday’s FAB Finds {009}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Green Weddings, Weddings

Happy Friday everyone! Let’s get right to the good stuff!

Ideas We Love – Sweet Treats to Go

We absolutely love the idea of wedding guests being able to take home a little something from your wedding with them and if it’s of the disappearing variety, what could be better for their stomachs or the environment?!? I saw this great idea on Martha Stewart a while ago and had bookmarked it for just such an occasion. We’ve seen cupcakes as parting gifts before at weddings, but I LOVE the idea of putting it in a jar rather then a box. Guests can reuse the mason jar then, whereas the box would just get thrown away. The label and wooden spoon are a really sweet, and much appreciated touch, too.

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

“Sticky desserts as favors? Yes, you can. Our solution: Cushion a vanilla cupcake between a layer of raspberry jam and a dollop of cream-cheese frosting in a classic canning jar. Pair it with a wooden spoon, and voila — you’ve got a pudding-rich, mess-free treat that guests can easily take home.

Don’t forget to top the lid with an “Enjoy” label downloaded from our website. (A 2 1/2-inch mega circle punch will make the project a cinch!) French terrine (No. 748090), the Container Store. Wooden spoons (No. 12893), Fairway Market.”

You can use your favorite cupcake recipe or borrow this one from Martha!

You may remember Jennifer & Bill’s wedding from earlier this year. They, along with their awesome planner, Pam Barefoot, packaged up yummy chocolate chip cookies *and* bottles of milk, which had labels saying “Sweet Dreams”, for their guests to pick up as they were departing!

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Joan and Ben hand made passion fruit-flavored hard candies and packaged them in mason jars with a personalized thank you label. The orange candies tied in perfectly with their unique orange and sky blue wedding colors!

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Mary and Shawn wanted to send their guests home with a favor that paid homage to their new hometown of Cape Cod so they had chocolate lobsters on sticks stuck in sand! LOVE it!

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They also add a dessert bar filled with autumn themed treats. Their guests couldn’t wait to to sink their teeth into these, but you could always have some pre-wrapped in cellophane for those that want to take one with them for later. For a less expensive option, don’t include the bling! ;-D

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We love these different and unique spins on favors. And if you missed it, be sure to check out this previous Fab Finds where we highlighted more out-of-box dessert ideas!

People We Love – Helen Olivia

We were first introduced to the vastly talented Marianne of Helen Olivia floral design (her grandmother’s name) back in 2007 when we photographed the wedding of one of her then-employees, Katharine and Saad at the peaceful River Farm. We were, as you can imagine, completely wowed by what we saw at their wedding and from that point on looked forward to every wedding she had a part in. Her work speaks for itself, so we’ll just show you some of the fantastic images from the past several weddings we’ve been lucky enough to be a part of alongside Marianne. If you’re on the lookout for a creative florist who will wow you and your guests, check out Helen Olivia.

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Thanks so much for visiting today and keep your eyes peeled to this space. We’ve got some great weddings we can’t wait to share with you in the coming days!

Friday’s FAB Finds {008}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Weddings

Oh, hello. I didn’t see you there this morning. Is already Friday? Again? ;-D Well, thanks for stopping by again after our brief break last week. As you can tell by all the recent blog posts, we are wonderfully in the middle of the Spring/Summer wedding season which, not surprisingly, has left us precious little time to find some fab finds for you all. But, rather than go on a little hiatus, we’re hoping you don’t mind too much if the finds are a bit fewer, but of course still quite fabulous!

Ideas We Love – Tissue Pom-Poms

A while back we saw this idea on a great wedding inspiration blog, Green Wedding Shoes and just knew we had to share it with you. Jen saw some of these hanging in store window and thought they’d be a wonderfully fun wedding detail. We have to agree and we aren’t the only ones – Martha Stewart shows us just how simple they are to make. Even if you aren’t having a ceremony or reception where these might be appropriate, we can totally see them at a laid-back rehearsal dinner.

Courtesy Cookie Magazine

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

Courtesy Little White Book

We had actually seen a twist on this idea in a real wedding featured in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. They had a great close-up in the magazine of these paper rosettes hanging which showed them much better, but you get the idea of how well they can go in just about any setting.

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

They also hung mini ones on shepherd hooks lining the ceremony aisle.

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

See the directions here and be sure you check out all the photos from Jayme and Chris’s absolutely adorable wedding, too!

Links We Love – Etsy

If these look like too much work, guess what, you can find ones already made online! One of the best places to find unique, hand-crafted items, is Etsy. It’s one of my favorite sites when I’m need of some day-dreamin’ time.

Check out the Pom Love store for a wide assortment of colors and styles.

Courtesy Pom Love

Etsy is a great place to find bird cage veils, too. Just look at all those beautiful choices!

You may have noticed that a few of our lovely brides have been rockin’ the bird cage, as well. We love them!

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And how cute are these cloth and paper butterflies I found on Etsy? I have a special affinity for these delicate, winged creatures, so I was especially excited to find so many fun and beautiful ways to incorporate them into wedding design. I can totally see these as napkin, cake or drink embellishments or hanging from simple strings or fishing line, from the trees or ceiling. What can you see them used for?

Courtesy KelliKathleen

Courtesy katrinchen

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

Courtesy Brides.com

Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

And how cute is this DIY flower girl headband I found on Once Wed?!

Courtesy Once Wed

Well, today’s fab finds just make me smile. Hope they did the same for you. Have a FAB weekend!!

Friday’s FAB Finds {007}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Talent, Weddings

Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone is planning a fun Memorial Day weekend celebration to kick off the un-official start of Summer. We have two FAB and fun weddings this weekend, so with no time to waste…the latest installment of FAB Finds!

Invitations We Love – Diana & Rob

Diana & Rob are getting married and we absolutely adore their invitations! Their rehearsal dinner invite is so fun and sets the perfect mood for a low-key, down-home BBQ, while the letterpressed wedding invite suite lets guests know that they’re in for quite the elegant party on the wedding day.

Places We Love – Hope & Glory Inn

In honor of Memorial Day, we wanted to highlight one of our absolute favorite getaways. If you’ve never been to the quaint little town of Irvington on Virginia’s Northern Neck, the exquisite Hope & Glory is the main reason to go. The inn, owned and lovingly run by Peggy & Dudley, is a old converted school house and is the perfect place when you’re in need of some relaxation. All of the rooms and cottages are simply chic, adorable and wonderfully unique – we’ve never seen another Inn or B&B like it. Their outdoor bath, under a massive canopy of leaves, is truly divine. Take one of the shiny, chrome bikes for a spin over to the Tides Inn for lunch on the water and if you stay on a Friday during the Summer, you’ll definitely want to reserve a space on their boat, Faded Glory, for a yummy, sunset all-you-can-eat crab cruise!

We’ve also been lucky enough to photograph a few weddings there over the years. Here are a few of our favorites…

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People We Love – Petal’s Edge

We’ve gotta to know Gerry & Rebecca at the FAB Petal’s Edge over the years and are always excited to work with them. In fact, we are thrilled and honored when Rebecca commissioned us to photograph her intimate wedding ceremony with her husband Chris last year! The happy couple has just welcomed their first child into the world, a healthy boy, and we couldn’t be happier for them. If you’re looking for the perfect florist for your DC-area wedding, be sure to give Gerry & Rebecca a call!

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Links We Love – Weddings Unveiled

Regular blog readers will definitely recognize this lovely wedding blog since we’ve been honored to have a few of our favorite weddings featured on it, as well as in their gorgeous magazine! You’ll want to add this fashionable blog to your RSS reader for sure! Not only do they show stunning real weddings with beautiful images, exquisite details and great ideas, they also have amazing giveaways. Seriously, one lucky blog follower had the chance to win a Vera Wang gown! That is pretty darn sweet. Head over now for you daily dose of inspiration!

And here are a few of our FAB couples who love gotten some Completely Unveiled love!

Happy holiday weekend, everyone! If you’re traveling we hope you have a wonderful time and and a safe journey. What with the holiday on Monday, we’ll have a short week next week so Friday’s Fab Finds will return on June 5. We’ll see you then!

Friday’s FAB Finds {006}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Talent, Weddings

This week, probably thanks to multiple b-day celebrations for Anne (yea!), we have sweets on the brain, so without further ado, let’s get started on this weeks FAB Finds!

Ideas We Love – Twists on Candy Bars + Dessert Bars

We’ve been seeing candy bars at weddings for awhile now and they are always such a hit with guests. Kids of all ages love them and it’s easy to see why. What better way to end a spectacular and memorable evening! Lately, though we’ve noticed some fun twists on candy & dessert bars being highlighted in wedding mags and blogs and wanted to share a few of our favorite ideas with you.

First, some of the fun candy bars we’ve had the pleasure of photographing (and experiencing!). Seriously, who can’t resist turning into a kid when presented with a candy shop?!?

Laura & Tim’s candy bar featured many classics – Swedish fish, M&M’s, licorice and malted milk balls

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Jenny & Jim’s custom built(!) Candy Corner featured favorites such as Whirley Pops and M&M’s (in their wedding colors, of course!)

Meghan & Matthew’s pretty spread included pink candies such as Jelly Belly’s, Good n’ Plenty’s and small bags of cotton candy, not to mention cupcakes brought in from Magnolia Bakery near where the couple lives!

Speaking of cotton candy, why not bring in a cotton candy machine!? Even if you’re not having a fair or picnic themed outdoor wedding, freshly spun cotton candy is a treat sure to bring a smile to your guests faces!

We *heart* this idea from Martha Stewart Weddings:

Bring out the kid in your guests with a confectionery classic. To take cotton candy from state fair to wedding-worthy, have your caterer match the frothy spun sugar to your palette by adding food-coloring powder to granulated sugar. For an extra-sweet surprise — and retro-chic handle — swirl the delicious fluff balls around sticks of rock candy.

Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Or treat your guests to a old-fashioned ice cream float/sundae bar!

Courtesy of Brides.com

Ice cream is a fun, delicious and unexpected way to end an evening. Check out this idea we saw from planner Tara Guerard in the premiere issue of Southern Weddings magazine.

“Sure, if you’re serving ice cream at your reception, you could just place the tub in a cooler packed with ice, but it isn’t the most elegant look in the world. Karly and Judd had their favorite ice cream, a brand called Graeter’s [editor’s note: best mint chocolate chip ever], shipped in from her native Ohio. Because it only came in tiny pint-size narrow cartons and because, by happy coincidence, the design of the tubs went very well with our color scheme, I wanted to find a great way to display it. I designed a very simple ice sculpture–basically, just hollowed-out blocks of ice that allowed us to showcase the tubs of ice cream, while still keeping them adequately frozen. It actually became a really cool (pun intended!) focal point at the reception.”

Image by Liz Banfield, courtesy of Southern Weddings magazine

We’ve actually had the pleasure of having Graeter’s ice cream (thanks Graydon & Heather!), which is a cult classic out of Cincinnati, and it’s amazing. They ship anywhere and everywhere in dry ice and your crowd is guaranteed to enjoy such a unique treat! And if you’re having an outdoor, laid-back affair, we think coolers or large tin buckets filled with ice would be just fine to display your ice cream favors.

Another recent trend is one-color candy bars. Imagine an all-white dessert bar with homemade marshmallows, coconut macaroons, and white chocolate truffles, just to name a few. Well, here, now you don’t have to!

Image courtesy of Grey Likes Weddings

And of course to satisfy most any sweet tooth you can bring in a donut bakery, just for your wedding. Charlottesville-area couples have the luxury of being able to hire Carpe Donut to make all-natural, made-from-scratch donuts all night long for your wedding guests. Now how fun (and cute) is that?!

Image courtesy of Carpe Donut

Links We Love – Retro Treats

Now that you’ve decided that you want to do a fun, retro candy or dessert station, where do you find what you need? We’ve come to the rescue with some websites that stand ready to help you outfit your sweet treat station! When my brother and I were growing up, we were lucky enough to have a Pop Shoppe just a short drive away in Alexandria. We were thrilled to see that while that store is no longer, this Canadian company has enjoyed a popular resurgence online and will ship their tasty concoctions to where ever you are.

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Also, to find rock candy on a stick, Whirley Pop’s and other retro goodies, head on over to the Candy Warehouse!

People We Love – the event company

We get to work with some great wedding planners, but two of our favorites come from Charlottesville’s the event company. Jessica and Sheila are incredible at what they do–truly skilled at making dreams and visions come true – and are just darn nice, genuine people to boot! If you’re in need of a talented planner, you’ll definitely want to check them out. They even have a frequently updated blog featuring some of their past (and future!) creative events, as well as some of their favorite planning tips.

We recently had the pleasure of working with Sheila at Angela & Webster’s stunning Summer affair at Veritas Vineyard. We loved the rustic, linen-free head table, brown candles and of course, lighting by the a.v. company. (Thanks also to rock paper scissors, who did the invitations, Pat’s Floral Designs and Cakes Unlimited, too!)

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Jessica was Tessie & Matt’s planner for their lovely Winter wedding at the Clifton Inn. The vine wrapped clear tent, strung with lanterns was especially gorgeous. (Lighting by the a.v. company, invitations by Watermark Design and floral design by Pat’s Floral Designs.)

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Hope you enjoyed this installment of Friday’s FAB Finds. We’d love to hear your comments/thoughts. Happy TGIF and have a great weekend!!

Friday’s FAB Finds {005}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Green Weddings, Talent, Weddings

This week we interrupt our regular Friday’s FAB Finds with a special themed installment – Green Wedding Ideas! We’re all trying our best to be more environmentally conscious in our every day lives (hopefully!), so why shouldn’t that commitment also translate to one’s wedding? Aside from the some of the more obvious suggestions such as moving your ceremony flowers to use at your reception and using recycled paper for your invitations (bonus points for using soy-based ink!), thankfully it’s getting easier and less expensive to be “green” in a stylish, innovative and fun way. Don’t believe us, just see for yourself! 🙂

Ideas We Love – Fan Favors

This just might be the perfect favor for a Summer wedding. Put them out on the ceremony chairs so guests can use them if they get a little warm during your vows, like Lindsey & Tripp did for their August wedding.

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Photo by Eric Kelley for Holland Photo Arts

Or have them in a basket at the reception, like Daniela & Matt. Theirs also paid tribute to Daniela’s Spanish heritage!

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Ideas We Love – Tea Towel Save-the-Dates

This FAB idea comes courtesy of inaugural issue of Southern Weddings magazine. How adorable are these recycled cotton tea towels from Chewing the Cud and what a great way to announce your wedding date?! Perfect for an outdoor affair or a barnyard reception. (A few years ago, we had a wedding where the guests sat on silk-covered hay bales for the couple’s ceremony that took place on the bride’s family’s farm!) Your family and friends will certainly enjoy reusing these towels in their kitchens if they’re anything like me! Be sure to check out their stunning letterpress invites printed with soy ink on 100% Cotton rag.

Ideas We Love – Chalkboard Menus

I found this awesome, eco-friendly idea in the latest issue of In Style Weddings and thought of a few different ways you could use the idea. One, have a mini-chalkboard for a guest’s individual menu with a note at the end to take the chalkboard home as their favor. Their kids will love using it for their drawings and they’ll come in handy in the kitchen for shopping lists. Even better, use the chalkboard for its original idea and write ever-changing love-notes to your spouse! If you have a larger wedding you can just have one chalkboard menu for each table, as seen in the example below. (By the way, how cool are the terrarium centerpieces?)

Photo by Red Loft Studios via InStyle Weddings

Another option would be to have a few large chalkboards on easels stationed at the entrance to your reception, listing the evenings menu. Or use them to show them the table layout & names/numbers so your guests can find out easily where they are sitting.

Christy Murray Photography via The Knot

Chyna Darner Photography via The Knot

Use chalk to illustrate your board with your logo, theme or items on the menu. Consider having your calligrapher or an artist friend do this for you. And while our examples here show only white chalk, why limit yourself? You could easily write in your wedding theme’s colors.

If you can’t find large chalkboards that you like, simply take any large frame you like and paint an insert with chalkboard paint found at most hardware supply stores. We’re partial to the black chalkboard paint for its neutrality and ease of re-use, but any colors you like (your wedding colors, perhaps!) could be fun.

Invitations We Love – New Orleans Suite

Here’s another FAB Find courtesy of Southern Weddings. Since we were married in the Big Easy, we’re especially partial to these gorgeous New Orleans-themed invites from Kenzie Kate. Ten percent of the proceeds from this invitation suite go towards the Green Project, a nonprofit that encourages environmental sustainability in New Orleans!

Places We Love – Ronald Regan Building and International Trade Center

If you’re in search of a wedding venue, you’ll want to be sure to check out the gorgeous RR/ITC building on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown DC. You can read more about their green initiatives here, but the lowdown is their amazing chefs are committed to offering an organic menu and donating leftover food. Their sustainable building is based on “a four-point ‘green'” strategy that includes: (1) sustainable landscaping, (2) recycling, (3) environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP), and (4) employee ride share programs. We’ve had the pleasure of photographing several beautiful events at the RR/ITC and we adore working with their incredibly friendly, competent and professional staff. If you’re planning a wedding, be sure to contact Rachel Berbeza and her team today!

Carissa & Farrell chose ITC for their late Fall wedding. Such a cool space!

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The ceremony took place in the dramatic Pavilion room.

Photo by Eric Kelley for Holland Photo Arts

This photo below by Bill was published in Susie Coelho’s gorgeous Style Your Dream Wedding book!!

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Emily & Rob’s beautiful cake took center stage at their Spring reception.

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Places We Love – Woodend Sanctuary at the Audubon Naturalist Society

Another of our favorite wedding venues is Woodend Mansion in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Holding your eco-friendly event there only solidifies your green commitment, as part of the rental fee goes towards their environmental education and preservation of open spaces and their clean air and water preservation programs. They’re don’t just practice what they preach either and have dedicated themselves to ensuring green practices are in effect at their facilities, such as using lighting timer devices, installing energy efficient heating and cooling systems and recycling all paper, cans and bottles. Read about how one couple planned their green wedding in their Audubon Naturalist Newsletter (printed on 30% post-consumer waste paper!) entitled “Green Weddings: Great Ways to Start a Marriage”. Feel free to contact Rebecca Robinson if you have any questions and would like more information on hosting your event at Woodend.

Kelley & Rick chose Woodend for their April affair and had an incredibly beautiful day.

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Sara and Nadim married at Woodend on a lovely May day.

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Links We Love – Eco Chic Weddings

Emily Anderson, founder and creator of the popular Eco Chic Weddings blog, doesn’t accept advertising and fills her site with stylish, fun ways to make your wedding more green. She’s been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings and Town & Country Weddings and she’s recently taken her fab tips and ideas and compiled them into a book of the same name!

Links We Love – Great Green Wedding Blog

Another great, up to date source for many green wedding tips and ideas!

Holland Photo Arts is also committed to partnering with companies who enforce sustainable practices. The following are just some of eco-friendly efforts we and our album companies we work with are committed to:

Paper and binder board made from recycled materials or highly renewable plants rather than forests of trees
Paper made from cotton-linters, which are a by-product of the textile industry
Paper scraps and partially used materials are donated to local elementary schools for art projects
Biodegradable, recyclable foam peanuts in album shipments
Partnerships with paper mills who use hydroelectric power by using their own water source, which preserves the public source
Man made micro leathers that have a sumptuous leather look and feel
All office paper, cans and bottles used within the offices/kitchens are recycled
Additionally, to offset our travel-related carbon footprint, we are investing in renewable resource projects and will be completely carbon-neutral in our wedding-related activities.

In that vein, we’re proud to be an inaugural member in the invitation only, Virginia Green Wedding Consortium! Visit the consortium for more ideas and information on how you can make your wedding more eco-friendly!

Other eco-friendly ideas include:

Ask your caterer and cake baker about using local, organic and in-season ingredients in your wedding cuisine and check to see if they’ve been recognized by the Green Restaurant Association. Occasions Caterers was recently certified as the nation’s first off-premises catering company to achieve their highly sought after environmental certification.
Using eco-friendly makeup and hair products (Aveda, Sephora, etc.)
Providing transit such as a bus or local trolley for your guests so they’re not all driving their cars to your event
Use local and pesticide-free flowers and donate table flowers to a local nursing home or close-by hospital
Buy a vintage dress or consider recycling your new gown to Brides Against Breast Cancer
We recommend hiring a planner for most events anyway, and you can find one who specializes in green celebrations such as Katie Martin or Aimee Dominick
If bridesmaids can’t or prefer not to wear their dresses again, encourage them to donate them to the Glass Slipper Project, which distributes gowns and accessories to disadvantaged girls for their proms
Use clean burning soy candles over petroleum based paraffin
Opt for bar spirits made from organic grains such as Square One Vodka and organic wine and beers. Serving locally-brewed beer not only reduces the transport-related emissions but literally gives your traveling guests a local taste.
Inquire with venues and caterers about recycling paper goods instead of throwing them away. Reward those who practice sustainability by giving them your business.

So those are just a few tips and ideas to make your wedding a more green affair, but there are obviously many, many more. Don’t be “green” with envy – we’d love to hear what eco-friendly things you’re doing! Thanks so much for joining us this week and have a wonderful weekend!

Friday’s FAB Finds {004}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Talent, Weddings

Happy Friday everyone! Without further ado, our next installment of FAB Finds for your TGIF pleasure…

Ideas We Love – Grooms’ Cakes!

How could more cake ever be bad? I don’t think it’s possible, so needless to say, we love seeing Groom’s cakes at weddings. Especially popular in the South (gotta love those Southern Weddings!) the second “wedding” cake is often dedicated to the groom and often highlights one of his favorite hobbies. As some of you know, we were married in New Orleans (one of our fave cities!) and on one of our site visits there, the event coordinator at our little courtyard hotel asked where we were getting our groom’s cake. Not being very familiar with this Southern tradition, we told her we weren’t having one. I wish you could have heard the gasp she made and the look of horror on her face! She was mostly joking (we think!), but exclaimed, “you gotta have a grooms cake if you get married in the South!”. Well, alllllrighhtyy then! What can I say, it’s not difficult to talk us into the idea of having more cake! So Bill was surprised that day with an absolutely delicious chocolate cake from Swiss Confectionery on St. Charles Ave, the same bakery who did our main wedding cake. We HIGHLY recommend them – we’ll often order a cake when we visit the Crescent City – they’re that good!

I chose two football helmets facing off since that was the first professional football game we had attended together and watching football is something we love to do together. Go Saints! AND ‘Niners!

Photo by Johnny Chauvin Photography

And a few of our faves from past weddings:

Lindsey surprised Tripp with a cake of their dog, Stella! Cake by A Cake to Remember.

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Tessie surprised Matt with a cake from his families favorite baker and decorated it herself with a mini-getaway car complete with custom made clay cans!

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Emily and Stanton’s grooms cake was a nod to his love of golf.

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And last but certainly not least, Kathleen really surprised Kyle with his groom cake – a car filled with some of his favorite things. Cake by Charm City Cakes.

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Above photo by Eric Kelley for Holland Photo Arts

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And speaking of awesome cakes….

People We Love – Ace of Cakes

We fell in love with Chef Duff and the amazingly talented gang at Charm City Cakes a few years back after becoming big fans of his Food Network show, Ace of Cakes. So we were super excited when we found out CCC was doing the cakes for Kathleen & Kyle’s amazing August wedding at the Mellon Auditorium.

We’re absolutely thrilled and honored to be included, too, in his soon to be released book, Ace of the Cakes: The Book, written and produced by his uber-talented brother and manager Willie Goldman. We’ll be sure to blog about it once it comes out later this fall!

Their fabulous, six-tier creation for Kathleen & Kyle

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And since we were chatting about Southern Weddings earlier….

Blogs We Love – Southern Weddings

There’s just something about them we love and we’re not the only ones! The fabulous minds behind Bliss Event Group, a wedding event design business based out of North Carolina, created a hugely popular wedding blog – The Southern Weddings Daily Blog. In fact, the blog turned out to be so popular, they recently published their first actual magazine. Now that’s a twist, online first and then in print! (Wonder if we could get Domino magazine, which recently folded, much to my dismay, to become an online design blog?)

We adore the look and feel of this wedding blog, and they choose some fantastic real weddings from around the country to highlight. It’s home to serious eye candy and some truly gorgeous, and more importantly, unique weddings. In fact, one of our favorite couples from last year Jennifer and Brigg’s recently had their fantastic and sweet Southern wedding highlighted! Be sure to check out their feature, if you haven’t already. Even if you’re not getting married in the South, you’ll want to add this one to your RSS feed!

Thanks for joining us! Have a FAB weekend and let us know of your own FAB Finds in the comments!

Friday’s FAB Finds {003}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Talent, Weddings

Yea, it’s Friday! You know what that means, more of our Fab Finds! Hope you enjoy them. 🙂

Ideas We Love

Unique Table Names or Numbers! Naming or numbering tables is a necessary detail so your guests can find where they’re sitting quickly and easily, but no one said they had to be boring. Many of our couples throughout the years have put their own unique spin this sometimes overlooked element, either by naming their tables after some of their favorite vacation spots or tying in their theme of their wedding stationary on the identifying paper stock. Here are a few of our more recent favorites from past weddings, as well as a few that we’ve found online and fell in love with:

Tessie & Matt named their tables after their Grandparents

Jess & Matt chose some of their favorite places in DC

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Monica & Glenn named their tables different types of wine

Kelly & Joe went with snapshots of themselves at various points throughout their lives

Kathleen & Kyle used vintage postcards of some of their favorite places

Martha & Steve’s table numbers used the same font and graphics found on their invitations, menu cards, and escort cards

Liz made their table numbers to tie in with their wedding colors at her wedding to Scott

Marcie and Garrett’s unique design complimented their escort cards

Following photos and links courtesy of The Knot

Libby and Dave created table cards with the phrase “Better Together” and images of activities they love doing as a couple like remodeling houses, wine tasting in Napa, and snow shoeing the Cascades.

Libby and Dave’s Real Wedding

Photo by Red Loft Studios

Tables were named after trips Janeene and Serge had taken or plan to take — like their honeymoon to Bora Bora.

Janeene & Serge’s Real Wedding

Photo by Ira Lippke Studios

Since the couple has moved around the country so much, they decided to name their tables for all of the different places they had lived. The mother of the groom created artwork for each address, which was displayed on the tables as well as the escort cards.

Suzanna & Derek’s Real Wedding

Photo by Matthew Tennison Photography

The bride’s friend, Meredith, created table cards with various San Francisco neighborhoods.

Katie & Eric’s Real Wedding

Photo by Angie Silvy Photography

Blogs (& People!) We Love

Lunchtime often finds me in front of my computer, but I love it. It’s the perfect time for me to catch up on a few of my favorite wedding blogs and The Bride’s Cafe is always one of my first visits! Janie, the mastermind behind TBC is an incredible floral designer in her own right, as well as an all-around sweetheart, so it’s no surprise that she’s put together one of the prettiest and most popular bridal blogs out there. Even her logo is delightful (and makes me long for a frothy drink!)

We are honored to be members of her national vendor directory, Crème de la Crème, as well. Janie features some of the most beautiful Real Weddings (you may remember seeing Laura & Scott’s lovely UVa chapel and Veritas Vineyard wedding from last Fall highlighted recently!) and she has some of the best contests on her blog! Recent giveaways have included jewelry, books, custom monogram rubber stamps to an ultimate free wedding to one lucky couple! How amazing is that?! Stop by often for your daily dose of inspiration and be sure to leave a comment or two for Janie!

Invitations We Love

We are getting excited for some wonderful May weddings this year and Ann & Justin’s is most certainly one of them! (We recently did their engagement photos at the cherry blossoms!) They’ll be marrying in the gardens at the gorgeous Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg and recently shared their lovely invitation with us. I love the unique design motif and the fun pink and orange graphics accented with brown cardstock and type!

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Invitation by Invitation Consultants.

Wedding Movies We Love

And now for something completely different! 😉 Anyone who knows us, knows we LOVE movies, so of course, we have enjoyed a few wedding movies over the years. Of course, Father of the Bride ranks right up there, but one of our all-time faves, has to be Muriel’s Wedding. This little indie from Down Under features Toni Collette in one of her first feature film roles and it is absolutely hilarious. And if you like ABBA, you’ll absolutely love this movie! Add it to your Netflix queue today!

Thanks so much for stopping by and we hope you found a little inspiration for your own wedding!

Friday’s FAB Finds {002}

Friday's FAB Finds!, Weddings

Happy Friday! Welcome back to our next installment of our wedding Fab Finds.

Weddings are a blast for (hopefully) everyone involved! But what we love most about weddings is, of course, what they mean. Two people pledging their commitment to one another in front of their family and friends and celebrating not only their love for each other, but the love between them and those witnessing. The marriage is truly what it’s all about and we love documenting such a meaningful and intimate time in a couple’s lives. And in that vein, the ceremony readings you choose can be a wonderful way to illustrate and personalize your ceremony to your personalities and tastes.

Ideas We Love

Lately we’ve been seeing more and more couples getting creative with their chosen wedding readings. Corinthians certainly has its place, but unique ceremony readings can be very special, as well and can often better define you as a couple. What a wonderful thing and certainly a trend we like seeing. Your wedding should reflect you as a couple. Who wants a cookie cutter affair for their big day?!?

Jennifer & Briggs, who married this past Fall, chose an increasing popular excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams.

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“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.
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If you’re looking for ceremony readings, the internet is a wonderful tool. Our friend and colleague, Claire Goodman, one of our favorite officiants (she also runs the Charlottesville Wedding Blog, among her many talents!) recently shared one of her favorite readings sites with us: Wedding Ceremony Readings. Happy reading!

Blogs We Love

You know how they often say the original is the best? Well, we’ve been honored to be have been invited into Style Me Pretty’s fabulous Little Black Book since it’s inception in Fall 2007. The LBB highlights a select few, handpicked wedding professionals across the region and selections are peer reviewed within each region.

It was one first wedding blogs especially for the “style obsessed bride” and Abby has done an incredible job (and inspired many others to start similar wedding blogs!) showing brides what is possible when they think outside the box a bit and find that inspiration can be anywhere. We love that so many of her features are DIY in nature and within the reach of the creative bride. If you’re planning a wedding, be sure to check out both SMP’s main blog and their Little Black Book blog which features the work of LBB members exclusively. And even if you’re not, it’s a great place for eye candy!

Magazines We Love

Martha Stewart Weddings magazine is one of the preeminent wedding publications out there. Its absolutely gorgeous design coupled with drool worthy photography is made even better with the DIY theme that runs throughout it. Nor surprising given whose name is on the masthead!

After I was married, but before we began exploring our passion for photographing weddings, my only lament about my nuptials was that I no longer had a “good” reason to read MSW! Well, thankfully now that I have a business reason, I’m as happy as a clam again. But, I think there may be more than a few of us married chicks who still somehow get our hands on an issue here and there. In fact, one of our 2006 brides recently commented on her Facebook status about the looks she got sitting on the subway reading the latest and greatest issue of MSW, because she’s 9 months pregnant! Too funny!

And speaking of chicks…one of my favorite sections is Good Things. I found these Bird’s Nest Favors a while back and love the cool, unique twist on the venerable Jordon almonds as wedding favors. How fun for a Spring wedding!

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“In these lovely favors, sugar-coated Jordan almonds masquerade as robins’ eggs in a delicate faux nest, while parchment paper threaded among them acts as a simple place card. The almonds are available from confectioners in a range of colors — the nests are from a floral-supply company. Cut 3/4-inch-wide strips of paper long enough to reach across a nest, and write a name on each strip, finishing the ends in an inverted V.”

Places We Love

Another cool thing about our jobs is that we get to visit and photograph at some amazing locations. There are so many wonderful venues around, we’re sure it must be hard for couple’s to choose the perfect place to say their I Do’s. One of our favorite places, though, has to be The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia.

As many of you know, we’ve been lucky enough to shoot some beautiful weddings there, but we recently visited in a different work capacity. We took a few days early this Spring and got out of the office on a company retreat. Yep, there’s just two of us, but it really helps, when you live and work at home, to get out of the office when you want to brainstorm, plan out work goals and re-energize before the main wedding season kicks in. Each day we took a little time out from our work schedule to enjoy a few of The Homestead’s many delights. We can especially give high marks to the Spa and their entire staff. It was the perfect blend of work and play! While we didn’t take any photos this time around, we hope you enjoy a few of our favorites from previous weddings. We can’t recommend it enough for a wedding or retreat spot!

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Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful weekend!

Friday’s Fab Finds {001}

Friday's FAB Finds!

As many of you know and can see in our work, we absolutely adore shooting weddings. We also love reading about them! In our copious amount of “research”, usually via magazines and blogs, we often come across ideas that we love, but have wondered how best to share them with you.

So welcome to the first installment of Friday’s FAB Finds! Each and every Friday we’ll be sharing some of our favorite and fun ideas, as well as featuring some of couples’ ideas. We love getting our clients invitations in the mail prior to the wedding, so we may feature a couple of our favorites here, too. Lastly, as an extra bonus, we’ll often include one of our favorite fabulous wedding vendors (and venues) that we’ve have the pleasure of working together.

As always, we’d LOVE to hear your feedback, as well as ideas you’ve found in your own research and/or experience with featured vendors/venues, so please feel free to leave a comment or two. Enjoy and see you next Friday!

Ideas We Love

Button Place Card (courtesy Elegant Bride, Spring 2009, photo by Eric Cable)

“Even the most formal wedding reception should be fun for the couple and all who attend, so it helps to inject a bit of humor. At one black-tie celebration coordinated by Portland, OR’s Emee Pumarega of EJP Events, the bride used her best crafting skills to create novelty buttons for each guest and pinned them to the escort cards. She used books of clip art to find the perfect whimsical illustration to match the interests of each friend and relative (vintage cars for one auto-mobile enthusiast) and used a craft-store button maker to assemble the pins. When guests arrived at the wedding, they happily picked up their cards and many added the buttons to their formal wear. “Everyone loved them,” Pumarega says. “They were the perfect conversation starters.”

Blogs We Love

Courtney over at Little White Book has created a wonderful resource for Richmond area brides. We’ve had the privilege of having a few of our couple’s weddings recently featured and she has a great eye for style and beauty. Even if you’re not getting married in Richmond, check out her inspirational blog for some awesome eye candy and helpful advice.

One of our favorite recent posts was a three- part guest blog series by our dear friend and colleague, Mel Worthington of Worthington Photography, on hiring a wedding photographer. It was chock full of information and helpful advice to anyone planning a wedding, no matter what your location. Check out Part 1 of the series here.

Invitations We Love

Sally-Anne & Michael will be getting married next month at the beautiful Woodend mansion in Maryland and they recently shared their gorgeous invitation suite and unique bookmark save-the-date with us. We absolutely adore letterpress. If we didn’t shoot weddings, we’d probably be running a paper press. The vibrant pink and green along with the hydrangea and bird motifs really give their guests (and their photographers) a great idea of what they can expect to see and experience on their wedding day. We love when that happens!

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Invitation and Save-the-Date by Dauphine Press, Seals by Kyra Poulos of Bliss Papers

People We Love

And last, but not least, when it comes to having fabulous invitations, look no further than Jennifer Carroll Designs. Jennifer, also of Jennifer Carroll Events, is wonderfully creative, especially when it comes to paper products for your wedding and coordinating your wedding theme into them. Her custom invitation website is currently in the works, but you can contact her via her web site.

Here are a few of our favorite from a recent shoot we did of some of her gorgeous designs.

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Thanks for stopping by! We would love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to leave a fabulous comment or two. We look forward to seeing you again next Friday for another installment of Fab Finds!