Luxury Destination Wedding Planning

This wedding was featured on Carats & Cake in April of 2018.

What to say about this fun loving, super chill, smart, all around wonderful couple and refreshingly simple wedding celebration! Emily and Carlos met at work. More specifically - when Carlos interviewed Emily. Needless to say she was offered the job but don't read into this; she was running circles around Carlos in no time and technically he was not her boss when she came on board to the company.

Both hail from incredibly fun families that do not take themselves too seriously. Both their sets of parents ripped up the dance floor as you can see in photos. Even grandma busted a move and Carlos's mom got up on stage with the band to dance and she even sang a tune with them as well! Nothing better than a packed danced floor with three generations.

We have to give a shout out to Mama Mary Alice for being so much fun, gracing us with too many treats and always having the best attitude about planning her daughter's wedding. Seriously, while we were looking out for our clients she was always looking out for us and so appreciative, as was the whole entire clan. And they are a clan of loyal families these two - their love was busting at the seams on their wedding day.

Additionally, last year was another season where we found overlapping faces from that season, as well as, seasons past! It is always nice for us to see past clients, couples and wedding guests that we have seen at many previous wedding - it is icing on an already delicious cake.

Emily and Mary Alice both already knew of the adorable, sweet and kind flower man Andrew Pascoe who has been a respected staple on Long Island for decades. Simple white flowers with grass-green greens - the freshest you can find. That was the note and what he does best. Andrew does procure the freshest flowers from his wholesalers, like they had just been cut down the road and arrived arranged to the tent. Emily, Carlos and Mary Alice (MOB) are not fussy people, so too much going on was not necessary. They didn't need to blow people away with things they have not seen before but wanted to engage them, find personal touches and make sure fun was number one.

The cocktail hour had a beer tasting bar. Emily and Carlos are beer connoisseurs and went out of their way to procure beer from various places, some on their own and some with the help of the caterers they hired, Sterling Affairs. As an example, Emily and Carlos visited Other Half a few times to get enough of a particular brew that they limit customers to only buying a certain amount each time! This was a station separate from the main bar. We had a large chalk board describing the seven various beers, served as tasting flight or alone.

Another personal detail were the menus that had a back side with a custom made MadLib. There were four versions - one version for Emily and one for Carlos, then one in Spanish for both. We preset these with tiny golf pencils that had their hashtag printed on them. So freaking cute! These answered MadLibs made for great entertainment the next day at brunch which was held at Emily's charming childhood home, with perfect weather to boot.

Thank you to CSHBC! You guys were so flexible and willing to come on board our detailed insanity. It is not a club that hosts such weddings yearly - Gary and the team were truly hospitable! Not to mention the water being so damn blue right there! Love to CSH.

Thank you to Carats & Cake for featuring this wedding. Thank you to the vendors for a job well done. Thank you to Emily, Carlos, Mary Alice, The Boss FOB Michael, Carlos's Mom, Dad, and family for their spirit as well! We cannot wait to see you at more tables at other weddings soon! ;-)

See link to Carats & Cake HERE and more photos below, along with the participating vendors.

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Florals + Design | Andrew Pascoe Flowers

Photography | Karen Wise

Venue | Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club

Catering | Sterling Affair

Gown | Harbor Bridal

Band | LUXE from Hank Lane Productions

Hair | I DO! Glam

Make up | RJ West NY

Tent | Sperry Tents Hamptons

Rings | Van Busch

Invitations | Ipanema Press

Day of Stationery | The Printery

Rentals | Party Rental LTD

April 14, 2018

Instagram Obsessed vs Smart Consumers

April 14, 2018/ Ashley Douglass

Social Media is a part of our lives now like Netflix and brushing our teeth. We are use to being turned on and inspired by pictures wherever and whenever...harmless of course. However, small bits of information, photos and the non regulated flow of information on most sites, such as Instagram, is just that, a random unregulated flow of information.

When many people become engaged, such as maybe yourself, they become obsessed with all of it. And you make assumptions and draw opinions about choices and vendors, and everything under the sun because of what you have gleamed from these sites or photos. The thing is if this cumulative impression of a vendor's quality, as taken from social media and press alone, is a driving force in your decision making, you are bound to come up short a noticeable portion of the time. You are being sold.

Photos are not indicative of a job well done, nor is press, nor are followers. We know our social media presence and press is not a direct by product of our success with our clients, neither is it our definition of success and it should not be yours either. Having a consistently exciting social media presence takes time and attention, perhaps away from clients. If you are a blog or a product like a bridal gown designer that is different - social media may actually be your job, your money-maker and passion. If a company wants to be huge they will bring on additional personelle, an expense that only increases the cost of a vendor or planner or that company's volume increases. Granted we have gotten substantially better with social media so it takes significantly less brain space and time. Also, companies can purchase followers and likes, and do not think that they do not. Lastly, when some attend industry seminars, they whip out manuals, programs and brochures and follow each and every person that is also in attendance or speaking. There is nothing wrong with being wonderful with PR, in fact it is smart. A good first impression is irreplaceable but there is a mountain more to be putting above what little you gleamed from a vendors social media presence.

Why do we post this blog when we hardly blog at all? It is because talking with clients about why they should hire some vendors over others has become a larger part of the conversation since social media, in particular Instagram, has become more prominent in our every day life. We are all susceptible to being sold - gather information and make educated choices but do not believe everything you read or view.

You may be thinking we are hypocrites because since January we have been in print twice and had four blog posts on national sites. We also have three more weddings for print to come out prior to September of this year and three more blog posts on the horizon. Well, some of this is luck, the fact that these weddings were enough "on-trend", those clients' hired great photographs that are popular on their own, and the fact that many of these time demanding submissions were handled by those appointed to do so at the photographer studios or the photographers themselves. Oh and did I mention luck?

Some ideas to ponder...

A luxury wedding client is not looking at the larger industry media outlet listings of vendors so they are significantly less inclined to go online and review a vendor because they never joined such and such a site in the first place - the process is much ore annoying to begin with a profile you otherwise would not have made. Many would prefer to write a hand written note, perhaps send a gift, as a thank you rather than go onto a website. They also don't want to reveal their identity on such sites and don't want more spam! Furthermore, the luxury market puts more stock in referrals than reviews, made by random people, whose taste may be different than their own. The volume of reviews online should also not be a deciding factor.

Maybe a vendor does a kick back to the past client once they review them with five stars? Maybe if they do so a bouquet will show up at their door or another person's door, so they save reviewing the vendor until the day of their BFF's birthday so their BFF gets fresh flowers delivered to their door for free. These are all realities we have heard about and know to be a fact. You are smart - do not be sold but fluff!

There are photos out there that are lies. Planners posting as the full planner and designer on weddings they worked on starting three or four weeks out - this is a super common one we see all the time.

There are photos of events posted by various vendors that are not even weddings or events they have worked on. Make sure posts are very clear about what they did on such and such an event, and who did what. Taste does have value but not misleading posts, those are lies.

Hire vendors you know in your gut are straight shooters, have engaging conversation with you rather than just ask you what you want from them because they should already know the job and be asking you thought provoking logical questions.

Do not purchase a price tag or a package - Hire a person you want to be around that is highly passionate, experienced and competent, and with whom you feel heard.

This concludes our Saturday afternoon-wine-blog-chat. Happy Spring.

{Insert clever photo} Ha!

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January 22, 2018

JORDAN + ERIC | Westchester Country Club | Rye, New York | June 2017

January 22, 2018/ Ashley Douglass

This wedding appeared in the pages of The Knot in January 2018, on Inside Weddings, inside Westport Magazine, on Carats & Cake, Style Me Pretty and Westchester/Hudson Valley Wedding Magazine.

This wedding was a class act filled with creativity and smart choices! We LOVE the vendors we love and cannot say enough about how hard they worked with us on this wedding to make everything come together on point. And the spirit and love at this wedding equaled its beauty!

As most wedding decor, we started off with an inspiration board that came out of Ashley Douglass's first conversation with the beautiful and fun Bride Jordan. We both shared our love for home design, kitchens in particular, marble, mixed metals and pillows. You can see a screenshot of a portion of the first design inspiration board Ashley Douglass sent on to Jordan below. As you can see the wedding in the end did reflect some of these initial ideas, which is not always the case.

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Then somewhere down the line, once we have the florist contracted and in this case the lovely KDJ Botanica who we adore collaborating with, will get more specific on details and arrange a decor rehearsal day, the most fun you will have while planning! KDJ and us have the same taste and could at times finish each other's sentences and I think she would say the same. Not to mention how stunning her arrangements are and the quality of the flowers she is able to procure time and time again!

We played around with adding marble as an element or adding more grey/blue chiffon like runners and a zillion linens. In the end the result was a bit less romantic and more bright and a more refreshing take on modern for a wedding while still being happy and soft. The marble sealed the deal, as did the linens and then which shade of candle to be used. We love colored candles - so many options!

This crowd was a super passionate, loving and happy a crowd, and clearly knew how to bust a move on the dance flower with fabulous tunes and endless amounts of time on preparation by Starlight Music NYC.

We can't thank the Bride, Groom, and family enough for being open to ideas and having fun playing around until we got everything just right. It was a super fun night and thank you to the team at Westchester Country Club for accepting our endless back and forth with logistical ideas and details, and helping to make the planning perfect for both entire families.

This wedding was featured in PRINT in The Knot New York. Check out the fabulous (and large) three page spread below and on newsstands all throughout New York! Vendor credits below as well! Thank you, thank you! XO

The Knot 2018 SSNY Jordan Eric Melani Lust Ashley Douglass.jpg

Thank you to the fabulous team, including our own! Thank you Paige, Julia, Rachel, Page, Sarah and all!

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Florals + Design | KDJ Botanica

Photography | Melani Lust Photography

Venue | Westchester Country Club

Gown | Caroline Castigliano from The Plumed Serpent Bridal, Westport, CT

Bridesmaids | Joanna August from Bella Bridesmaids

Band | Starlight Music NYC

Cinematographer | Seaglass Studios

Lighting | Social Decor

Make up | Truly Happy Beauty

Tent | NY Tent

Rings | Diamond Cellar

Invitations | Bella Figura

Poster Sketch of Dog | Social Alchemy Design

Day of Stationery | GCD Weddings

Lounge Rentals | Gather and Lounge

Rentals | Borrowed + Blue

Rentals | Party Rental LTD.

January 12, 2018

NICOLE + TERRY | Glenmere Mansion | Hudson Valley | June 2017

January 12, 2018/ Ashley Douglass

Check back late Spring/early Summer as this wedding will appear in the pages of a national magazine. To be continued....

Nicole and Terry's wedding has made our blog or shall I say our "comeback to blogging"! We use to love blogging but over time it began to only take us away from our clients and real work. Yet, you've all asked, so we are responding! Besides 2017 was just a KILLER YEAR for our weddings and other events, how can we not share the love - the beautiful pictures, the stories of sentiment, the fun, the camaraderie and also, our great appreciation for the work that we do!

Nicole and Terry's wedding was off the charts, not because of its beautiful design, stellar vendor roster and exquisite venue (okay the venue is pretty stellar), but truly because of how much love and time Ashley and the staff put into this wedding with the mother of the Bride, Anita Donofrio.

Anita came to us after meeting with seven other planners which she reminded us of very often! We don't state this to not be classy but in doing so she emphasized that our skill set was apparent at our first meeting and also, more importantly, she felt that Ashley listened to her well. That is the take way and the biggest compliment on many levels. Anita, Ashley, and Julia, truly got on like best buds and major kudos to her daughter, Bride to be, Nicole, for letting go of the reigns in order to have a less stressful year as a full time professor and let her mother have fun! She gave into the element of surprise and in the end, happy she was! It did help some that Nicole and Anita have similar tastes in terms of aesthetics. We'd say Nicole only intimately knew about a good 25% of the wedding details, as they pertained to music and her own bridal preparations. In the end Nicole, Terry, and their children had a blast. It was irrelevant that this wedding was black tie and high end. The love was felt by all and the atmosphere was relaxed, warm and magical!

Thank you to all our wonderful vendors who are listed at the bottom of this blog post. First however, take a look at a look at the gorgeous photos below. To see more on this wedding you can also visit the Blog of The Day, formerly named Ira Lippke Studios. Photography of this Wedding + Reception was taken by Nathan Smith of The Day.

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