The Finishing Touch — Weddings, Events, Design, Paperie

We recently had the pleasure of working with our past clients, Gabby & Mike, on the baptism for their beautiful daughter Amelia. We had such a great time working with them for their wedding day we were thrilled to be on board to work with them on this special event. Baby Amelia looked adorable in her gown, shoes and head band! The baptism was held at the beautiful St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Princeton – the same place Gabby & Mike were married.

After the beautiful ceremony, guests headed over to Camillo’s Cafe for the reception. A Manzanita branch arrangement was set up to display the custom escort cards that were hung with pink ribbon on each of the branches. The room was decorated with pink and white floral arrangements at each table along with custom table names and menus that were also created by our design team.

For dessert, TFT designed a pink, white and silver candy bar for guests to take home a sweet treat. Another great addition to the table was mini cupcakes from The Bent Spoon. Guests also received a favor box to take home a memento from this special day that was wrapped and adorned with coordinating favor tags.

Congratulations to Gabby, Mike and baby Amelia! We wish them all the best!!

Special Thanks to Jenn M Photography for these great photos!

We have had the pleasure of working with our lovely bride-to-be Rosemarie over the past year in bringing her big day together – so when we were asked to provide some decor for her beautiful bridal shower we were beyond excited! The TFT team created a custom candy bar and signage to complement the pink, sage and gold theme. It was an amazing event to be a part of and it was so great to see the bride-to-be so happy. Check out some pics of the dessert table and signage designed especially for Rosemarie’s bridal shower!

Wishing all the best for Rosemarie and Robert and looking forward to their big day on June 16, 2012!

We had a blast planning a baby shower for Ailyn and Janine last year – so we were beyond excited to plan their son Aiden’s first birthday bash! We couldn’t believe how quickly the time went and that he was already turning one! Ailyn and Janine wanted to have a super fun Curious George themed party so we went right to work. We designed a custom invitation featuring palm trees, bananas and of course one mischievous monkey!

When the big day arrived we started bright and early and headed over to the venue to begin set up. The party was held at St. George’s Parish Hall in Maplewood, which features a perfect space for events and parties as it has a great room, a full kitchen, stage and more. As guests entered, they were greeted with vines hung around the door way along with a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner. They then had the chance to meet Curious George and take a picture with him under some tall balloon banana trees provided by Life O’the Party.

In the ballroom, tables were set with red, blue, green and yellow napkins on white linens as jungle vines hung down from the chandeliers. The centerpieces alternated by table with blossoming silk banana trees and  custom hand painted Curious George illustrations. The children at the party enjoyed coloring on TFT designed coloring sheets that read ‘Happy Birthday Aiden’ while they viewed episodes of the Curious George show on the big screen. Lunch was provided by Rustic Food and they did a fantastic job! With choices like chicken paillard, salmon fillet, butternut squash and of course chicken fingers, every guest was surely satisfied.

 Once lunch had ended, Arlene Britt of Celebrate with Music came to sing songs, dance and play games with everyone. As you can tell from these photos, everybody was participating and having a great time! Then it was time to pull the pinata, where all of the children pulled strings to get individual bags of goodies.

After all of the dancing and singing, it was time for dessert! Our good pals Stephanie and Pam at Confectionary Designs created yet another masterpiece with this fun Curious George cake design.  The bold and colorful cake featured Curious George causing mischief and writing on the cake just as he was on the invitation we had designed! Aiden’s smash cake was another a great sight to see – he certainly had fun tasting it. Guests were also treated to custom designed cookies from Confectionary Designs.

By the end of the party, everyone was tired from all the playing, laughing and fun. As guests headed home they were given a goodie bag with a plush Curious George doll, bubbles, stickers, puzzles and more.

We had such fun organizing and designing this event and we hope Aiden had a great 1st birthday!!

Special Thanks to Our Vendors:

Venue: St. Georges Episcopal Parish Hall

Catering: Rustic Food

Rentals: Party Rental LTD.

Cake/Dessert: Confectionary Designs

Balloon Decor: Life O’The Party

Entertainment: Celebrate with Music

Character Appearance: Character Visits

Photography: Photography by Melissa

Audio/Visual: Absolute Media Productions

Recently we shared some unique wedding guest book ideas with (the newly engaged) Laura Adams from (201) Bride. Check out some of the ways you can incorporate a unique guest book on your big day!

Hang It Up: Beautiful branch arrangements are always eye catching so creating a guest book out of one is sure to grab your guests’ attention! Work with your planner to coordinate a branch arrangement that is complementary of your wedding decor. Using ribbon tags, the written well wishes will hang from the branches and will “blossom” with kind words by the end of the night.

Piece It Together: A puzzle guest book can be custom designed and cut just for your wedding day. By customizing the shape and design to be something significant to you and your fiancé such as hobbies or activities makes it even more memorable. Your guests will love to write notes and sign their very own piece of the puzzle. This is a great alternative because it’s a fun activity for your wedding guests and a piece of art you can frame to enjoy everyday.

Mail it Out: In place of a book, have your guests fill out custom-designed postcards where they can write their well wishes. The postcards can feature images that are special to you, such as photos of you and your fiancé, places that you have traveled, your custom monogram – the options are endless! Have guests place the postcards into an actual mailbox set nearby that you could even use for your new home.

Read more about unique guest book ideas on (201) Bride’s Exclusive only on Bergen.com!

Happy First Day of Spring!!

While everyone is out enjoying their free Rita’s Ice (don’t miss out on that!) we thought we would share some of our fave Spring weddings and provide a little inspiration for our Spring brides-to-be. Check out this short video we created and enjoy!

One of the latest trends for Spring and Summer weddings is posing with some picture perfect parasols! These beautiful pieces can create unique and memorable photo ops at any location. Not only do they provide fabulous photos, but can be a great addition to offer to your guests. If you are having an outdoor affair where the sun may be a factor, consider having one available for each  guest to use -these make for a great favor or keepsake!

Looking for an eye catching color to provide some contrast with your bridal party? Talk with your planner about coordinating your parasol selections so they will be sure to complement your color scheme. For 2012, some of the hottest colors are pastels such as lilac and celedon as well as bright and vivid hues like electric pink and of course, Pantone’s color of the year tangerine tango. Check out some of our favorite shades that can be found on Cultural Intrigue.

We love the addition of parasols at weddings and events as they certainly add a very special touch! This great shot was taken by our good friends at The Studio Photographers at Mallard Island Yacht Club – how much fun is that?!

Brooch bouquets are all the rage and we love that we are seeing more and more all the time!

This winter, many brides heading down the aisle will be carrying these personal and stylish bouquets.

Check out these brooch bouquets that we adore for winter weddings!

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This brooch bouquet captures the winter with white, silver and a dash of blue. We love the handle wrapped and tied with beautiful beading.

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This classic all white bouquet features floral brooches mixed with snowflake pins for an elegant yet subtle winter theme.

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Deep red, black and white is a stunning color palette for a winter affair. Check out this brooch bouquet that incorporates real red roses, feathers and silver pendants.

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Also donning feathers, this beautiful bouquet has a crisp wintry look that would compliment any wedding gown during the season. This bouquet combines feathers, pendants, pearls and crystals with the handle wrapped in a satin bow.

Looking for color at your winter wedding? This royal purple is an amazing choice for a bride looking to stand out on her day. Incorporating shades of purple complimented with silver and black, this bouquet is one to surely be remembered.

We had the amazing opportunity to plan and design the annual New Jersey ‘Cocktails and Connections’ event for The Knot last October! Click here to check out The Knot’s feature on this fun vintage circus theme event held at Stone House at Stirling Ridge!

For more photos and details of the event, check out our post-event break down blog!

Special thanks again to all of the fabulous vendors involved!

Venue & Catering: Stone House at Stirling Ridge

Floral: The Little Flower Shoppe

Entertainment: In the Mix Entertainment

Photo Booth: Vanessa Joy Photography

Videographer: Rob Adams Productions

Stationery: Graphic Grace Designs

Cake: Confectionary Designs

Dessert: Dimestore Candy Buffets

Favors: Gourmet Popcorn Creations

Raffle Items: Yefsi Desserts

The look of freshly fallen snow…the smell of the crisp, cool air…the coziness of a toasty warm fire..the feeling of family and friends bundled up and gathered together..

There are so many reasons why The Finishing Touch loves a winter wedding!

Check out this short video featuring some of our favorite past winter weddings that we adore!

Our beautiful bride-to-be Rosemarie, who serves as the (201) Bride Blogger on (201) Bride online, shares her excitement on the completion of her custom made wedding invitations!

We were excited to work with her the past few months to design and create her dream invitation for her upcoming 2012 wedding.

Check out what she has to say regarding the invitation process and follow her planning progress on (201) Bride!