More Jeannie and John

here are more photos.. I would like to thank www.Mibelleinc.com and www.Jessicalewisphotography.com for all there amazing shots of this wedding!!!

JEANNIE AND JOHN!!!!!

NICO HERE!! I am so excited to share Jeannie and John's wedding with you. These are some of my most favorite shots. ( there will be more to come) It was a very hot palm springs day at The EPIC Parker Hotel. These kinds of days STRESS me and my flowers out!! After hours of babying my precious blooms, everything was a successful KNOCK out. (The flowers were fine Im just over dramatic.. he he) I had so much fun with this wedding. Jeannie and John were cool, hip and open to awesome crazy "Nico" ideas. Visual properities such as gold bird cages, authentic vintage milk glass (from the 50's), carnation garlands, gold birds, cut limes, gold branches, and rhynstone buckles were some of the few eye catchers. Flowers used were, coral and blush peony, pale yellow and pink tulips, orange ranunculous, pale pink hydrangea, and orange cymbidium orchids. WE HAD A BLAST!!!

Flower Power: Fair Bianca Garden Roses

Nico Here! Well I am so excited to announce that Garden rose season is amongst us!! We slowly have to start saying our bye bye's to Peony and hello to all the great stuff that grows in the summer; Dahlias,millets, bells of Ireland, sunflowers, tropicals, amaranthus,chocolate cosmos, and GARDEN ROSES (just to name a few). I'll be paying tribute to all the different varieties of garden roses over the next several weeks, and I want to start with my absolute FAVORITE, The Fair Bianca. This feathery , glorious, creamy, rose with a very light fragrance has become an all time favorite amongst Brides to be. Its resemblance to the famous and popular peony is erie and a great substitute, if you are summer bride. YAY Summer is HERE! (almost)

GIRLY MONDAYS by jasmine schoch

Do you know what you're putting on your skin?

For my GIRLY MONDAYS blog post this week, I want to cover the basics of skin care and make up. Although a lot of ladies are unaware of it, there are actually two different grades of skin care and make up available on the beauty market today: cosmetic grade and pharmaceutical grade.

Cosmetic quality is what department, drug and grocery stores sell. These include the big and expensive brands and the cheaper ones. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows cosmetic grade products to contain up to 30% bacteria. This means that ingredients may only be 70% pure. It is a large breeding ground for bacteria, which can lead to contact dermatitis, an itchy red rash. This is why makeup packaging tells us to throw away any unused product every 90-180 days. And 95% of the skincare industry is cosmetic quality and unregulated by the FDA. Cosmetic companies are not required to register their products with the FDA, while cosmetic products are subjective and do not reflect or require scientific testing.

Pharmaceutical grade skin care products are FDA regulated. The FDA requires that pharmaceutical grade products be 99.9% pure ingredients. Products must contain 0.1%, or less, of bacteria. Only 5% of the skin care industry is under the regulation established by the FDA and considered pharmaceutical grade skin care products.

So now that you know all this fantastic new info, be sure to check your products before applying them to your face and I will definitely have more makeup and skin care tips to follow next week :-)

Source:

Phillips, Lisa. "Pharmaceutical vs. Cosmetic Grade Makeup." 2007. 1 June 2009 http://www.skincareful.com/content/skin_care_articles/pharmaceutical_cosmetic.html

http://http://www.weddingcelebrations.com/directory/beauty.html

http://http://www.kathleenhagan.com/contact.htm

What moron decided that dessert should'nt be first??!! - Nico

For those of you who know me, know about my huge sweet tooth. My luck , I'll end diabetic or something.. Anyway I wanted to send some BLOG LOVE to my dear dear friend, Jessica Foster of Jessica Foster Confections. Jessica is AMAZING and her chocolate truffles are to DIE for. I had the unforgettable chance to spend an afternoon with Jessica in her kitchen. She fed me samples as I watched her, (covered elbow to elbow in chocolate) go through the several step truffle making process. Jessica, puts her heart and soul into each dainty delicious treat and you can taste it in every single bite. Her chocolates are a perfect favor for your wedding guests and her "favor" presentation is ADORABLE! She will match the ribbon and the box to suit your wedding theme.You'll find unique flavors like "White Chocolate Rose" and "Milk Chocolate Cinnamon Apple" I just LOVE HER!! Check out her website at http://www.jessicafosterconfections.com

I'M IN LOVE by jasmine schoch

An Unforgettable Love Story

I came across this marriage tale as I was browsing my friend Susan Schneider's web page. Susan is the author of "Unforgettable: Vignettes of Love," a book filled with personal accounts of engagement and wedding stories from around the world. Besides being an accomplished writer, Susan also works with numerous wedding photographers, offering to eloquently type up the couple's love story so it can be placed in their celebration album along with the other event photos.

Enough about my brilliant friend Susan and on to the most wonderful love story I have heard since Cinderella. The tale is about Pam and Paul, as told by Pam. They were married in 2004 in Harrington, Delaware. She was 44; he was 38.

A fairytale is a fictitious, highly fanciful story. Our story of how we met is very true and very real even though it culminated in a fairy tale happening. My last name is “Galyean”, and I was married to a wonderful man named Dan Galyean before he died in 1996. I have a daughter and a son. In 1999, my son finally talked me into buying a computer and stepping into the 20th century. When I setup my email account, under the name of 'pgalyean', I was told the name was already being used. I thought to myself, “Now how many 'pgalyean's' can there be in the world?

I wrote to this person, asking who he was and if we could be related in some way. The person who wrote back was named Paul Galyean, and he lived in Arizona. We sent emails back and forth for a few months, finding out about each other and trying to figure out if he was somehow related to my late husband's family.

As it turns out, Paul's stepfather adopted him when he was 18, and Paul took his last name, “Galyean”. Paul told me he had three children and was separated. We not only had the same last name given to us by special men, but we each had a son with the same name, Michael. Too weird.

We sent emails to each other every now and then after I had to change my email address since Paul had 'taken' mine. We lost touch for about a year when I heard from him in a strange way.

When I setup my Yahoo account in February 2001, there was a name I didn’t recognize in my friend's list. When I instant messaged this person, I learned it was Paul again, using a nickname from school. I learned Paul had moved back to his hometown of Dallas, Texas and was now divorced. We started chatting and I learned that his stepdaughter had recently passed away. I was writing a term paper for my psychology class about the stages of grief, and I was able to offer my help to him and his youngest daughter. Having experienced grief myself, I was able to tell him and his daughter what emotions to expect. We formed a very close bond through this experience. We began to send each other emails every day, and we chatted almost every night on the computer and occasionally on the phone. Finally, after three months of talking every day, I decided to take the next step. I asked Paul if it would be okay for me to come to Texas to meet him. He said of course. I knew I was taking a lot of chances. Some might have thought this a stupid idea, but something told me that I needed to do this; that this guy was special.

We planned on marrying and had heard of a contest being run by the Delaware State Fair. It asked couples to submit a unique “fairytale story” to win a fairytale-style wedding. We entered the contest. The day of the winning announcement came and we dressed hoping that someone would be at our door between the allotted hours. No one showed, so we figured we lost, changed into grungy clothes and started doing household chores. While changing the toilet in the bathroom, we heard the doorbell ring. We opened the door and were shocked to see a TV crew standing there to surprise us with balloons and an envelope with the appropriate paperwork to give us a fairytale wedding! We were thrilled!

On our wedding day the groom and wedding party were escorted in horse-drawn carriages, and my father and I arrived in a horse-drawn pumpkin carriage – just like Cinderella! We were married on the fairgrounds, during one of the largest events in Delaware with everyone celebrating with us.

Source:

Schneider, Susan. "Unforgettable: Vignettes of Love." 29 May 2009. www.unforgettablevignettes.com For book information please contact Susan at unforgettablebook@yahoo.com.

It was a "Pure Joy"

Last night I had the privilege to join my fellow event colleagues at a grand celebration at Pure Joy Catering, honoring their two newest event managers , Toby and Patrick! I had the best time. They graciously served us mango margaritas (I had too many..), Wine and delicious passed hors d'oeuvres. We got to hang out in the kitchen as Chef Jerry served us right out of the oven, in their beautiful new building! Lynette La mere, (owner) has truly made her mark as a business women and her love for food and people generously shines through. Personally, I just love the heck out of her!!!! Pure Joy's buffet presentations are always so beautiful, and as a designer I always appreciate it. Please visit Pure Joy on the web at http://www.purejoycatering.com/ and set up an appointment, you will NOT be disappointed.