ABCD Design Sketch Book | milestones in life set the tone » Wedding Planning

Mix and Match Place Settings {Love This Tabletop Look}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:22:32 +0000

Earlier this week, I attended the Newlywish Re-Patterned event at the Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton showroom in NYC at the New York Merchandise Mart. The two companies have partnered with a handful of wedding professionals who they have named tastemakers in the wedding industry. Each tastemaker has picked coordinating patterns and combined them to create their very own personal place setting.The idea of mixing and matching china patterns isn’t new – I have been doing it on my own tabletop for years. Newlywish has put a fresh spin on the idea, allowing you to plan for mixing and matching while registering for your wedding china. Instead of buying entire sets of china over the next several years to mix and match, you can now register at Newlywish for a specific re-patterned china set through the tastemaker tabletop collection.The Tastemakers: Lord Wedgwood‘s collection is Quintessential British Elegance - it would be absolute perfection in The Country House! Dress Atelier owner Mark Ingram is Classic with a Modern Twist. Stationer Ceci Johnson is Modern Graphic - oh how I love blue and white. Add gold? Even better! Eventiste Marcy Blum‘s collection is called Rhapsody in Blues. Event planner’s ‘Always a Bridesmaid‘ selected the City Chateau set – I would want to make this re-patterned set work in The City Apartment. I mean really, why wouldn’t these colors work with black and raspberry? Wedding blog founder Abby Larson (Style Me Pretty) is Vintage Chic, and Wedding Dress designer Jorge Perez has taken on gifts, and is Entertaining with Style.Mixing and matching china gives your tabletop a lived-in, layered, cozy, approachable, collected, un-decorated-yet-stylish feel. As I mentioned before, I have long done this with my own tabletop designs, but it is fun to know that if a bride wants that look and doesn’t have the confidence to mix and match on her own that the professionals have already done it for them.

Flawless Foundation {ABCD Designs Flowers}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 18:12:44 +0000

The Otto Kahn and The James Burden Mansion is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever stepped foot in. I didn’t stop to stress out about the magnitude of this party before the actual event – but it’s pretty incredible that I had the opportunity to arrange flowers for a space that was so beautifully ornate and where the food was catered by chef David Burke. Had I paused to take it all in beforehand, I would have been a nervous wreck!Considering I haven’t worked with flowers on a regular basis since 2006, this was quite a way to get my feet wet. I will be forever grateful to Tamara from Nest Nest Nest for believing that I was the gal who could get the job done! Not to mention, I had a wonderful time teaching her the art of hand-tie and having her as my assistant – what a fun job it was! P.S. The Otto Kahn and The James Burden Mansion would make for a knock-out NYC wedding venue, don’t you agree? Wowza.

Flower Arrangement Redesign {more bang for your buck}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:40:59 +0000

Last month I showed you the mock-up floral designs that Tamara and I did for the Flawless Foundation ‘Perfection Party’ scheduled for April 9th. They loved the arrangements, but due to how many have RSVP’d, the number of tables for the event has grown from 10 to 15. This means the budget per arrangement changed. We needed to come up with a design that would allow us to eek out another 5 table arrangements.By using all of the same type of flower in an arrangement for an event, you can get a lot more flowers for less money per stem. We’ve decided to use my Suzanne Cummings flower school training and create 15 hand tied flower arrangements as center pieces for the Flawless party. It’s going to be absolutely flawless, don’t you think? For inquiring minds: These are Vendela roses. They’re a lovely shade of creamy white and are the go-to white rose for brides who want a white wedding decor palette. These arrangements will pack a whole lot of impact for relatively little money.

Suzanne Cummings Flowers {do you know?}

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:50:37 +0000

Suzanne studied the artisan craft of hand-tie flower arrangement at Jane Packer‘s floristry school. (If only I knew that a school like this existed when we were living in London! I’m absolutely heart-broken to have missed such a wonderful opportunity.) What Suzanne learned from Jane is an art – no if’s and’s or but’s about it – floral design is akin to being a sculptor, but you’re working with living material. Some would say it is an even more challenging art form.Not only does Suzanne make the most exquisite floral designs in all of Chicago, but she also teaches floral design classes at her handsome floral atelier. You can check out her website, like her on facebook, or follow her on Twitter. I think you’ll find that Suzanne has a heart the size of Texas and that it is a pleasure to follow her as she creates a beautiful body of work. And who said Twitter is useless for business connections? @SuzanneCummings and I made friends through our 140 character message exchanges. When the holiday season rolled around this year, I had the great pleasure of being tapped to design her holiday card! We worked within the style of her graphic design aesthetic to create a luxurious, yet fun letterpress card that she sent to her extensive list of elite clientele. Let’s just say… we all know at least ONE Chicago resident who will be receiving an ABCD Designs Bespoke holiday card in their post box! Stay tuned to the ABCD Design sketch book tomorrow as I’ll show you a few pictures of the finished project.

The A-B-C-D’s of planning a wedding

Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:36:32 +0000

I always love when my wedding and interior design worlds collide! Maureen is an interior designer who is getting married in a few weeks. To celebrate her upcoming nuptials, she is doing a Ten to Wedding Bliss series on the Inglenook Decor interior design blog. Maureen asked me to write a guest post and share my tips for brides-to-be. I decided to be a wee bit cheeky and write my tips using the ABCD’s. Please stop by Inglenook Decor to wish Maureen congratulations and good luck on her wedding day – and I hope you enjoy ‘The A-B-C-D’s of planning a wedding!’