The Wedding Row- a myKPW recap!

So, yesterday I drove down to Clinton, CT to visit the Wedding Row, a group of 5 fabulous wedding industry professionals who have their studios and storefronts right next to each other on Main Street (104 and 110 East Main Street to be exact.) They official title, Wedding Row. Great style. One destination, says it all. The five companies that make up the Wedding Row are:

Bridal- The White Dress by the shore www.thewhitedressbytheshore.com

Paper- Stonington design+paperie www.stoningtonpaperie.com

Lingerie- Beneath the Gown www.beneaththegown.com

Beauty- Jennie Fresa Beauty Library www.jenniefresa.com

Events- True Event www.trueevent.com

I took some photos of the event on my Iphone, so you will have to forgive the lack of quality in the following images....

Starting at No. 110 East Main Street...

I started my tour at the Beauty Library... what an adorable space! Fresh and full of so many fun things for a bride to look at and try.

Here's the woman behind the Beauty Library, Jennie Fresa herself! She was showing me her new treatment room where she is going to offer one simple and comprehensive and exclusive service, the Fassage. Combining a facial, massage, and a pedicure, what more can a girl ask for?

This adorable space separates the Beauty Library from True Event. LOVED this tablecloth provided by Rentals Unlimited.

In the next room is the studio space for True Event. With a very vibrant wash of yellow throughout the details of the room, you can see the past work of True Event as well as some of Sarah's daily inspirations...

Had to get a group photo with Sarah True accompanied by Justin and Mary Marantz (members of the myKPW family) and Kristen from Sugarbelle in Glastonbury... what a fabulous group of wedding professionals who all came out on a Sunday to support the Wedding Row!!

Then to No. 104 East Main Street....

I am now realizing I didn't get very good images of Christine Toner's space for Stonington design+paperie... sorry Christine! This image does show, however, that there were a LOT of people at this event and everyone was enjoying bits of food and drink wherever they went!

This space is also where brides can schedule appointments to select their bridesmaids dresses.... loved the depth of purples in this display!

Here, Beth Chapman of the White Dress by the shore is visiting with Kristen of Sugarbelle and her sister-in-law who is actually a bride to be herself!

Although I didn't have one of these since I was driving 3 hours home, people were sipping these left and right so Perfect Parties was doing a fabulous job with the food and drinks for the event!

Couldn't resist taking this shot- that's so myKPW aqua!! LOL

The reception area at the White Dress by the shore, with a fabulous floral arrangements by Hana floral design.

Now, in between the two studio spaces was a fabulous Sperry Tent and inside the tent were some very fantastic vendors and guests....

Chamard Vineyards was gracious enough to offer wine to everyone and I heard they had a rockin' Halloween Party the night before....

One of my favorite parts of this event was the fabulous music by Loukoum! They were actually playing music from the move, Amelie, which I was blown away by! Nothing like a bit of old French music on a fall afternoon in New England! You can listen and learn more about this group at Divina Strings.

Another fabulous example of Hana floral design's work... what fun!

Perfect Parties showed off some of their beautiful wedding cakes in the tent and their desserts they were serving as I left were incredible!

Okay, I'm going to get in trouble for posting this image I bet... but I had to give a shout out to DD Nickel and Lindsay Maurath of Fresh Lime Events. We met for lunch before coming to the Wedding Row and DD was so kind enough to do both Lindsay's and my makeup. I said "Hot Mess" right before I took this, hence the laughing shot... LOL

The husband and wife duo of Ryan Designs in Rhode Island... check out their event rental options... great new company! Their website will be launching soon, check out their FB fan page in the meantime!

Now, to finish this post, I have to give a direct shout out Geoff Gordon of Photo Booth Planet. I just met Geoff at A Thyme to Cook's 25th anniversary party two weeks ago and he was showing everyone his fantastic photo booth at the Wedding Row all afternoon. I didn't know you can select color, black and white, and even sephia tone for your images... here are some samples including the hilarious Bruce Plotkin of Bruce Plotkin Photography (member of myKPW) and Linda Sample of A Thyme to Cook (member of myKPW)

Some of these vendors have already joined myKPW, some are joining as we speak, and some are just fabulous and we wanted to mention them to you. We are all about supporting our wedding community, and we are SO happy for the Wedding Row and were glad we got in the car and drove the 3 hours to see everything at their open house. Thanks so much ladies!

KP

my Kate Parker Wedding is a new online wedding resource guide launching in January 2010 geared toward directing brides to quality vendors based on their price range and state.

A summer KPW wedding on Squam Lake

Megan was one of our favorite clients this summer and I think you'll understand why after you look at these photos. We usually work with brides who want a fairly simple and subdued design but Megan was the exact opposite. She came to our studio with Pucci fabric and sapphire blue bridesmaids dresses in mind and we were in love! We wanted to keep the wow factor somewhat of a surprise throughout the ceremony decor and cocktail hour, but as soon as you entered the ballroom at Church Landing in Meredith, NH you were shocked with deep sapphire blue dupioni silk table cloths and Pucci-inspired toppers on each dining table. Hope you enjoy the images! Plus, could Megan and Josh have had better weather for their entire wedding weekend... I don't think so! KP

The people who made this wedding happen:

Wedding Planning and Floral and Event Design, Welcome baskets, Paper Products: KPW studio

Photography: Emilie Inc. (myKPW member)

Welcome Party, Pre-launch Reception, and Sunday Brunch catering: The White Apron, Dover, NH (myKPW member)

Tent for Murphy Residence: Sperry Tents Seacoast, Portsmouth, NH (myKPW member)

Restroom Trailers for Murphy Residence: Dave's Septic, Bedford, NH

Ceremony Music: Woodwind quartet for the ceremony through Cuzin Richard Entertainment, Portsmouth, NH (myKPW member)

Cocktail Hour and Reception: Holy Cow! Band

Rentals: Custom linens provided by Indigo Moon, New Rochelle, NY

All other rentals: Be Our Guest Party Rentals, Boston, MA

Ceremony Location: Chocorua Island Chapel, Church Island, Squam Lake

Ceremony Transportation: Wolfeboro Trolley, Squam Lake Natural Science Center- pontoon boats, Puffin III 1928 Fay and Bowen

Reception Location: Church Landing, Meredith, NH

Cake: Something Sweet by Michelle, Worcester, MA (myKPW member)

Hair: Hair that Moves, Berwick, ME (myKPW member)

Makeup: Joya beauty, Dover, NH (myKPW member)



All of the fabulous images are from Emilie Sommer of Emilie Inc. Photography.



We started the wedding weekend Friday night at the Murphy's home on Squam Lake- where the famous On Golden Pond movie was filmed. We created a casual and fun cookout with a fantastic Sperry tent that we figured we should reuse for the pre-launch reception for the ceremony on Church Island. This might be the most beautiful lake in NH, what do you think?



These are Megan and Josh's welcome bags we put together for them... notice the hints of blue throughout but without overwhelming the guests... wait until you see the reception photos!



We love reusing flowers when we can so Friday nights flowers were all sunflowers and we changed a few containers and the layout of the tent for Saturday's pre-launch reception.



Had to post this.... Megan's younger brother was in charge of shuttling some of the VIP guests and some vendors to the ceremony island and he couldn't stop himself from feeling like James Bond- how often do you drive a speed boat in a formal tux? :)



I told you Squam Lake was beautiful...



Sometimes weddings are all about logistics... Megan and Josh's wedding was no exception... having almost 200 guests coming from all over the country, all driving or being shuttled to a private home in Center Harbor, NH to get on two different fleets of pontoon boats to make it to a 4:00 pm ceremony.... ahhhh! In order to make this run smoothly, Megan's mother Lauren suggested we give everyone tickets to differentiate between the first and second boat runs... To make everything match, we found tickets that were blue and purple which we thought made the perfect statement!



Because we had two pontoon boat runs scheduled, and because the trip took almost 15 minutes each way, the first group of guests were left on the island for a bit of time. Megan's mom suggested we give these folks something to do so we made copies of one of the recent NY Times crossword puzzles, bought some golf pencils, copied the history of Church Island, and brought lots of bottled waters for their enjoyment as they passed the time.



Megan arrived at Church Island in a classic 1928 Fay and Bowen Lake antique boat which we will show you in a bit... The hard part is getting to the island without wrecking your hair style... Megan embraced a bit of old Hollywood and wore a pashmina to cover her hair.. love it!



Now on to the ceremony... this was an interfaith ceremony so we had a pastor who happened to be a family friend of the Murphy's and rabbi present and we enjoyed the service so very much! Here are a few images of the aisle adornments and the huppah, which we adorned with the bridal veil of Megan's grandmother and Josh's grandfather's Tallis. We love adding these personal touches to a ceremony!







Here are the ladies as they prepare to walk down the aisle! Such a beautiful royal blue bridesmaid dress color, right? We wanted Megan to have all the color in her bouquet so we reversed the palate and gave the ladies all white flowers.



Another close up of the personal flowers.





Right after the ceremony, we had Megan and Josh sneak off in the Puffin III for a few minutes of alone time... Here they are returning to the island for their photos.



After the ceremony, Emilie and J gathered all the VIP guests for formal and informal photos on Church Island while the guests left for the reception.



Now onto the details of the reception and to reveal the color scheme we've been talking about.. The first place we revealed the infamous Pucci-inspired print was right on Megan's bouquet...



Here's the place card table that turned into the favor table at the end of the night... here are images of the table with the favors adorning it.





We must make mention that the favor's were hand made by Megan and her family as she is famous for making the best fudge in town!





We LOVED this deep sapphire blue dupioni silk... it catches the light so beautifully.



Here's a close up of the Pucci-inspired table toppers.



In addition to sapphire blue, Megan loved yellow so we added these callas to each of the napkins for a bit of color emphasis.



We always like to bring something special in for the bride and groom's place setting so we had two custom chair sashes made for their chivari chairs.





To complete the modern transformation to the ballroom, we brought in our white lounge furniture and replayed Megan and Josh's video montage from their welcome reception on a large plasma tv.

So last but not least I thought I would finish this post with my favorite shot of the entire wedding... this is why you want to hire a photographer who makes you feel completely comfortable and relaxed like Emilie... could Megan have looked more happy and peaceful?



Seriously....

Thanks for reading! KP

Introducing Three New Members to myKPW!

We'd like to welcome and introduce three vendors to the myKPW family!

A Thyme to Cook
Owner: Linda Sample
Website: www.athymetocook.com
myKPW State and Budget: Connecticut $50-80k and $80k+

d.d. Nickel Makeup Studio
Owner: dd Nickel
Website: www.ddnickel.com
myKPW State and Budget: Connecticut $50-80k and $80k+, Vermont $80k+

Sperry Tents
Contact: Bancroft Potter
Website: www.sperrytents.com
myKPW State and Budget:

- $25-50k for Maine and New Hampshire
- $50-80k for all states
- $80k+ for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and NYC/Westchester County