I'm sure many of you don't know this yet but I've been involved with a wonderful new wedding resource called Pink Blossom List.
Sometimes, it really isn't the flowers that can change the look but the linens, lighting, decor, and possibly - the "container".
Vintage, Old World Chocolate Urn
In my days, I've met many great people and heard many great stories of love, courage, and fate.Identity is a slippery thing, the detective, Michael Fabozzi, would later be heard to mumble.
At the time, however, it didn’t seem that way to the woman, Melinda Thomas.
“His messy hair and beard didn’t impress, he met my inquiries about his work in monosyllables, and he barely looked up from shoveling in hash browns,” she said.
Still, Ms. Thomas, then in her early 40s, single and working in Palo Alto, Calif., as the vice president for operations at CardioDx, a biotechnology firm, had resolved to accept every social invitation that came her way. “I wasn’t going to meet someone sitting on my couch,” she said.
“Her world was full, but she hadn’t met the person who really made her happy,” said Meg Dudley, the youngest of Ms. Thomas’s four sisters. “Melinda had several serious boyfriends. They were interesting, but they didn’t have it all.” She added: “The others couldn’t hold her attention. After a while, she would walk away.”
A committed Roman Catholic, Ms. Thomas tithed 10 percent of her salary and her latest beneficiary was the Carter Center in Atlanta. The ski trip, in which donors to the center had been invited to accompany former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter, was part of her resolution — so much so that before leaving she had told her mother, “I think something wonderful is going to happen on this trip.”
Yet the encounter with Mr. Fabozzi, from Staten Island, didn’t seem so wonderful, and he didn’t seem inclined to invite her anywhere.
Mr. Fabozzi, now 44, admits to being sour that morning, in fact on many mornings. His marriage to his high school sweetheart had crumbled. Separated since 2002, he was trying to imagine a future for himself and the two daughters from that marriage.
Ms. Thomas, now 46, recalled impulsively asking him to join her in looking at some items for a benefit auction for the Carter Center. “I felt possessed!” she said. “I have no idea why I asked him!”
Mr. Fabozzi, who was in Utah at a cybercrime training course, agreed, but his mood did not improve. Before hitting the slopes he scratched his e-mail address on a napkin. “I really didn’t expect to hear from her,” he said.
Back home in California, Ms. Thomas decided that Mr. Fabozzi looked too young to have achieved what was claimed. Doing a little detective work of her own, she found reams on his investigations, including how he had caught the busboy by leaping through the sunroof of the man’s car. His stories panned out, yet she couldn’t find a single picture of him online. “Wouldn’t it be ironic,” she wrote days later in an e-mail message to Mr. Fabozzi, “if you’ve stolen the identity of the identity theft expert?”
Mr. Fabozzi was ensnared. “I loved it that she had that thought,” he said.
He said he would be in the San Francisco Bay area in a few weeks for a lecture, and they agreed to meet. She picked out a pub, figuring a policeman would appreciate a beer, but he said he preferred red wine. When he showed up at her office, Mr. Fabozzi’s rough edges and scruffy look had vanished. This time he was polite, funny and charming. Ms. Thomas found herself unexpectedly at ease.
That date ended chastely, but the energy between the two ignited nightly phone calls. Similarities were discovered: their religion, their dedication to family, and — despite Mr. Fabozzi’s initial grumpiness — deeply felt optimism.
“Over the phone I found her to be more caring, loving than anyone I had ever met — and genuinely nice all the time,” he recalled. “She’s everything good.”
There were differences, too. Ms. Thomas, an avid outdoorswoman and world traveler who had bicycled through Vietnam, told the athletic but city-centric Mr. Fabozzi that being involved with her required a passport. Mr. Fabozzi had one ready when, several months later, tickets to Italy suddenly arrived. Despite the many long calls and cross-country weekends, the waiting between them was becoming unbearable — both wanted a forever in the same place.
In 2007, with his divorce behind him and having retired from the police department, Mr. Fabozzi proposed on bended knee on the balcony of her parents’ apartment in San Francisco.
On May 2, the couple were married by the Rev. John A. Harrison, an African Methodist Episcopal minister, at the Stanford Memorial Church in Palo Alto. Nine junior bridesmaids in pink taffeta attended, including Mr. Fabozzi’s daughters, Elizabeth, 16, and Madeline, 14, and seven of Ms. Thomas’s nieces.
Among the celebrants, it became clear this union would join two very different cultures. “I.P.O.” and “start-up” were buzzwords among the California contingent, while a New Yorker’s anecdote began, “Once he and I cut off a guy’s leg to save his life.”
The bride left CardioDx last month to be with Mr. Fabozzi, now a Staten Island-based consultant on cybercrime. But the bridegroom said that once his daughters are grown that he and the new Mrs. Fabozzi hope to live in California.
“People are genuinely nice here,” he said, nodding in the direction of his bride, “and there’s lots of parking.”
We did alternating arrangements for the table. All were in rustic containers that I found at Coast Wholesale. We used floating candles instead of pillars. It's a cost saving tip. These giant succulent are now widely available. In the past they were very hard to find. Found them at Brannan St. Wholesaler.
Maidenhair fern is a favorite of mine. I placed them in tall rustic pails and added bright green moss. My favorite shot of the wedding was this one of the long table and the guests. Lisa Lefkowitz always does a great job. It really catches the mood of what the couple was trying to do. We made the wedding feel intimate like a family dinner. The space was very large but when you see this photo, it feels just right....
Birch did the invitations and place cards. I love the idea of hanging them from the chiavari. A while back I first say Rebecca of Custom Event Groups doing this. She inspired me to try it. I used glue dots instead of cutting slit in the place cards. It's really easy. Since I've a perfectionist, I even glued the ribbon to the chair so that all the placecards would be aligned.
Guests sat on natural Chiavari chairs. The back row had kiwi green satin and organza ribbon tied to them.
My parents appeared unannounced on our door step in Seattle about two weeks later, having to break the terrible news to us that our wedding might have to be cancelled due to personal financial reasons and health problems. My first concern was of course for my parents, and then I was crushed and kept thinking in my head "but everything is planned!" After one or two miserable days, my fiancee and I were determined to still have the wedding as planned, even though that meant having only 1/3 of our original budget to work with. I snapped into action: |
Just know that it can be done and still look and feel like a million bucks.
I'll start with Nishka & Carl. It's a favorite because I love the color combination - aqua + poppy. Of course, without a great and trusting bride, it wouldn't have been so memorable.
Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley never looked so good. The modern lobby served as a cocktail area for guests.
I take no credit for the cones on the left. We just provided some red petals. The contrast of the petals with the aqua cones is vibrant. Have to thank my assistant, Nancy #2...we had such a great time at this wedding, we went out for a delicious Italian meal after the setup which I still remember!
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