Wedding Planning | The Liberty Hotel | The Tasting

I will never forget the day that my bride Carissa called into my office to discuss her wedding. From that moment close to two years ago, each and every time that I have been with her, or talked to her on the phone, we have grown a little closer. Each time we have expanded on our own personal jokes and sense of humor. She and I nearly died of laughter when our very first morsel graciously served by the Liberty was tuna tartar. It sparked a funny memory that came up in the course of our planning and set the tone to a very relaxed and exciting day.

I adore both she and her fiance and her whole family for that matter. It is hard not to, they love humor as I do and they trust me completely to do the work that I know I am meant to do. They have all been more than effusive in their praise of my work and involvement in the wedding. For that, I want to take a minute to personally thank them.

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with my bride and her family to discuss her wedding at The Liberty hotel, the decor details and of course the amazing menu that I worked on with Carissa's mom, Corine. She was the voice of reason at the table as Carissa, her handsome brother Chauncy and I gossiped and chatted like school girls at the table over the planned details to the wedding mixing in banter over all of our lost dreams of great tennis careers. In our heads, I think that Carissa and I saw ourselves as a pseudo Sampras, Williams match up. Our effusive chatter was made a little easier with our serving as the official libation taste testers. We loved the blueberry, pineapple, golden signature cocktail.

Over our SUPERB lunch I recalled the story to Carissa's father, of how I had no idea who he was in the world of sports. I know my die hard Red Sox fans are reeling right now. I have a lot of respect for great accomplishments in life but to be honest,  I am much happier to have met the charming and dapper Jim Rice as a proud father of the bride and doting grandfather.

The details to the wedding continue to evolve, I promised my bride Carissa and her mom and my friend Corine that I would deliver a once in a lifetime celebration. With the help of The Liberty Hotel, Ten 31 Productions, Person and Killian Photography, Rentals Unlimited, Praez Occasions and the many talented hands that make up the chad michael peters team, we will deliver the height of this Summer's fashionable weddings.

 

W Hotel | Boston Wedding

  

W is for women, who love each other and got married tonight in Boston, Massachusetts. W is also for ultra chic and modern hotel. Fabulous evening does not even begin to describe the night that I have just come from. A beautiful and intimate wedding for two southern ladies who chose the city scape of Boston as their destination wedding backdrop. There were so many surprises for them both, I know that I just blew them out of the water and as I write this they and their guests are having the time of their lives.

I wanted to give them a special surprise when they wake tomorrow as newly married wives, a story here on my style blog that would bring them right back to the minutes and moments that made up their fairytale wedding. I have wiped away many happy tears tonight on such a joyous occasion. Karen and Caroline you and your guests have stolen my heart. I am so very proud to have been with you both as you committed your hearts to one another. Congratulations to you both, you are lovely brides.

Many thanks to The W Hotel, Jenny's Cakes, 10.31 productions, Praez Occasions and last but not least my amazing assistant Bethany.  Without each and everyone of you working as a well oiled machine, tonight would not have been possible. Thank you all so very much for what you do, it is so appreciated.

Chatham Bars Inn Wonderful Fall Wedding

 

Boston Wedding Planner at The World Trade Center

                 

Summer Wedding Classic

 

It has been a busy few weeks here in my studio and offices. I always want to be on top of getting out the gorgeous photos from the weddings and parties that I work on, so you too can see how amazing some of these details are, sometimes writing the stories that go behind the photos comes a few weeks after.

I got the great chance to work with long time Rochester friends on the wedding of Mary and Barrett. It was so fun over the course of the year and a half planning out her details such as flowers, and menu, chit chatting about this escort card style and what type of table numbers should be laid out for the guests. As a wedding planner I always want the details to be beautiful AND reflect the personalities of the bride, her family and the groom. This wedding was just that. With a love for sailing and a backdrop of the Beverly Yacht Club and the groom's amazing sailboat as a backdrop for formal pictures it just all came together so amazingly well.

I first want to thank not only the staff on our floral and decor team but also our ever faithful staff at CMP transport and their late night efforts to get the bride's guests home safely. We rolled out the vintage Rolls Royce to transport the bride and the groom, a shiny ten passenger limo for the wedding party and our shiny town car for the parent of the bride. Seamless, effortless and gracious service. Thank you CMP Transport.

Of course it goes so well because of the incredible vendors that are involved with such an event. It was so my pleasure to call on Russ Morin and his fine team to deliver a world class meal by world class staff and the cake, the cake that they baked was literally one of the best morsels of food that I have ever had in my mouth.

And last but certainly not least to Lauren from Person and Killian Photography. Her photos which are showcased here in this story are just amazing. The weather was not working with us that day but she managed to get the photos out on the boat for the bride and did so with amazing work. She and I had such a good time chit chatting and styling bridal bouquet photos in the house while we were waiting to send the bride off to the church to be married.

Tickle My Fancy

I have loved working with my bride Lindsay on her upcoming wedding. The process of creative discussion, to drawing my original rendering, to doing up demo flowers, tweaking the design, to delivering a knock your teeth in wedding for me is a creative thrill time and time again. With this bride and her mom, it has been a true pleasure. Her mom is one of my biggest digital style blog fans. Every wedding, every detail she has looked at, to say the least it is flattering. She assured me the minute that this is published she will be one of the first people to read it.

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to see my original rendering come to life for the bride. Gorgeous phaleonopsis orchids, crystal trimmed candles and lush mounds of flower in mercury glass on platinum ruffle table cloths looked amazing laid out for my bride. There wasn't a change to be made. Happy high fives all around. We are now on the countdown to the wedding to be held at The World Trade Center in Boston. I can hardly wait to share the finished product with you. Cheers !

Lucky Girl

 

I adore the movie "Pretty in Pink", who doesn't right ? When I started working with my very special client, Lucky Girl on celebrating her high school graduation, I knew that this would be a perfect opportunity to throw a party, that was fresh, flirty and elegant just like Lucky....filled with lots of pink accents.

The family has an amazing home for entertaining with terraces, verandas and sprawling lawns. My favorite, the pool house, with it's own kitchen and media room was the perfect VIP access only area of the party. What happens in the pool house stays in the pool house right? The grounds of this grand estate are filled with gorgeous roses and peonies all planted in pink in honor of this fabulous party and it's incredibly gracious young hostess. I love mounds of English garden roses and in shades of peony they provided the perfect pop of color through out the party. The perfect pink accessory to the party was of course Lucky in her short pale pink party dress which had such an elegant overlay of the finest lace.

I love any and every opportunity to hire and work with the very best in the industry. On this party, I knew that I just had to work with my very favorite catering team at Russell Morin. There have been too many, countless times that we have worked together to throw the very best in parties here on the south coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

They, as always, were perfect in the planning process helping me and my client to come up with just the right choices for their guests. From the pink hued bar glasses to the staffs friendly faces, the got it so right, perfect in fact.  I just have to say that my favorite was the cake, that the baker at Morin's created for us. Tipsy, topsy, and filled with fun patterns, it was a perfect accompaniment to the Coldstone Creamery ice cream station that was the absolute hit of the night.

 

It was so fun to have planned such an incredible party for this amazing family and their daughter, who I am happy and proud to say is one of my very good friends. The details could not compare to the fun that was had by all. I can hardly wait for the next celebration........where will lucky take CMP next? 

 To see all of the photography from this event please visit my facebook page by clicking here.

Indian Summer

 

Any wedding or event at Eastover Farm in Rochester, Massachusetts is a special one. Having spent some time in India, I was totally excited to get a call to host a wedding this past Saturday night for an amazing Indian family that has lived here in Massachusetts for the past twenty five years.

I knew right away that color would be the key. Ladies in Saris were the inspiration and there were so many guests that came to the party in these traditional Indian ladies garments, just stunning. We hosted the guests for cocktails by the pond at the farm. Blackstone Caterer did a superb job with a fresh fruit juice bar and yummy appetizers from watermelon and feta to coconut shrimp.This was followed by a sit down dinner in another tent with a choice of traditional vegetarian or a delicious chicken dish with jasmine rice, thumbs up, way up !

  

Here you see my original design rendering for the event. Bright, bold, Indian color was the cue from the very get go. I just adore seeing these sketches come to life.

The farm is so stunning and with close to seven hundred acres, the choices for how to host your party there are virtually unlimited. We were very lucky that it had rained so much in June. Normally July is a dry and dusty time in any field. This year, the gardens were lush and the fields were long and luckily with all the rain we were able to light the bonfire to welcome the guests to dinner.

The Indian Goddess of dancing, greeted the guests as they made their way into the dinner tent. So appropriate for a party that was about to rock.

As a special treat to the American guests, I had yards and yards of bright and auspicious yellow garlands made in India and specially flown in for this party. Many hands and thousands of flowers worked overtime to pull off this stunning look. Guests could hardly believe that they were real.

Because it had been wet this past month, I got lucky and was able to light the fire for the guests. The smell of wood smoke and the purification and balance of water and fire was just so perfect as guests moved and celebrated through out the farm. My absolute favorite part of the night was when the lights went down. The candles, the luminaries and the custom lighting depicting the national bird of India, the Peacock and the good luck lotus were the talk of the night.

Congratulations to the Chowdri family on the marriage of their son Siddhartha to Arati. Cheers!

For more information on hosting your wedding or event at Eastover Farm please click here.

Coco's Candy Bar

I love candy and so does a client of mine. When she called and said that she was moving into her summer house, christening her daughter and that same daughter was celebrating her first birthday party all in one weekend, I knew that  it was time to throw a soiree and candy was the perfect inspiration.

We started with modern inspiration and the bold colorway of my favorite candies, "Good and Plenty". I chose pucci' esque linens and clear chairs for the guest to sit and mingle. I chose gorgeous flowers from the Boston Flower Market in shades of pink, purple, lavender and fuscia. I knew that they would pop against the bold black and white linens and modern furniture. I layed out a fabulous candy bar filled with some of my favorites, including both "Good and Plenty" and "Pop Rocks". I got all of the details done just as the first guests started to arrive. Perfect timing.

Happy Birthday Coco. I hope that you had a heck of a time. 

 

 

Disco Divas Destination Wedding

Planning a destination wedding is a dream come true. To do it again in Provincetown, Massachusetts was just thrilling. I knew that it would be beautiful. I just wondered what might pop up in this artsy, east- coast gay community. When Dottie, Julie and I started planning this wedding, we knew that the disco chic vibe would be perfect at the famed Crown and Anchor Resort.

We all felt strongly that if we were going to show off P-Town, we were going to do it in a way that have never been done before.

The weekend started for the guests on Thursday with a welcoming dinner at a local restaurant. From there, Friday night's rehearsal dinner showed off the best of the area, the local seafood, with a lobster bake for family and friends.

Saturday night was the night that all the stops were pulled out.

This was all about two ladies and a celebration of love, happiness, family and fun, all with a disco vibe. We had started working a year ago to make sure that the disco vibe, was still pretty. I am excited to see my original sketch of the two gals and to see it against the finished work of their wedding. I could see it in my head all along, drop dead gorgeous, disco fabu.

The brides chose the Crown and Anchor to host their ceremony and reception. Famed for their drag performances, this club brings world class to campy entertainment. Of course, we could not have a wedding there with out surprising the bride's guests. Cher (Thirsty Burlington) stole the show in  her stunning Mackie inspired gown and showstopper performance of Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe". She was amazingly gracious as Cher and really brought that 70's glamorous, anything goes,  feel to the party.

The room looked so amazing with bold, bright summery colors. With the modern clear chairs and disco lighting touches. We could have been in any major nightclub around the world. Just short of coming in like Bianca Jager and famed stories from the heyday of Studio 54, these ladies gave their guests an amazing night that I am sure they will be talking about for years to come.

OMG, we had so much fun shopping for the dresses that made up the "outfit change" portion of the celebration. When you are a disco diva, you change to impress your guests. These dresses were to die for from the moment that we saw them. The guests went crazy and the party went to the next level the moment that these married gals made their grand re-entrance. Who would have known that Ms. Cher would end up inspiring the look to these dresses. I love that they are vintage, but look so today. Ladies, I told you that you would look stunning. GO Girls!

Of course there is no better way to end the evening than with a sweet treat. This double trouble bridesmaid looks stunning against the display of yummy pink candy. We had a blast when we got into Provincetown checking out the local penny candy displays in the stores. We got just the perfect blend of pink, orange and a touch of blue to carry out our color way. Love the pashmina and the hint of blue in the compostion.

Many thanks to Bryce Vickmark for his incredible photography of this world class wedding. His photos of Cher, the candy bar and the gals in thier disco frocks leave me wanting more. He has put together a slide show that will knock your socks off, to view it please click here. I am just in love with his photography and I am happy to call him a friend and a signature partner here at my creative firm, chad michael peters. I so look forward to working with him again soon !

Beautiful details with amazing vendors

 

I am really lucky to have a select group of vendors, my "A-team,"  to work with on my weddings and events. Over the years our relationships have grown along side the growth of my business. I am proud to work on world class events with such talented people; they never fail to make me look good and it is so very much appreciated.

I have gone at this creative endeavor of mine with great passion. There have been moments of struggle, pride and pure joy as my visions have come to life more beautifully than I could ever have imagined. I have had shivers up my spine and tears welling in my eyes at the completion of the beautiful environments that we have created together. It is an amazing creative collaboration of vendors that makes it all possible and I am thankful not only to the vendors mentioned here, but to each and every one of you who have helped make my dream possible.

Carinna Raznikov of Raznikov Photography is one of those amazing vendors. She is of a rare breed of photographers who bring a pure eye and 15 years of photo journalist experience to the wedding arena. She was doing it before it was chic and has been published countless times in all the major wedding magazines. Her great success has limited her schedule, and I am so thankful that she still makes time to cover my events. I count her as not only one of my favorite photographers, but also as a true friend. She and I spoke recently and she was kind enough to send along the detailed photos that you see here of an uber exclusive wedding that my company, chad michael peters, produced last season.

For this event I called in one of my best friends, Mark Abdelnour of Chase Canopy in Mattapoisett. He and I have been friends since the seventh grade and he has always outperformed himself on the many weddings that we have worked on together. He drives me crazy, but I love him and I know that he too is passionate about his work. For this event,  I wanted to use new products, as an ordinary tent just would not do. Mark worked tirelessly to source all of my requests. We had a collection of modern, clear frame tents for the ceremony. For the reception we kept the clear theme, but decided on a more decorative rope and pole tent. With many changes, including the ever unpredictable New England weather, right up to the last minute, Chase Canopy exceeded my expectations. They are always my first choice for tenting. 

 

The table tops were a masterpiece in subtle color and style.  My friends Larry Soloman and Stephanie Penn of Rentals Unlimited are always on my speed dial to provide best of class rentals for my weddings and events. Through thick and thin, their unsurpassed attention to detail and their dedication to getting things done has always impressed me. I look forward to partying with them for many years to come.

 Many thanks to my wedding planning and floral team for pulling off this amazing event. We logged close to a thousand hours in the grand production. When I think of the guests and their effusive commentary over the decor I still get goose bumps. Thank you, thank you; you all make me so proud.

CMP Company Showcase

It is hard to believe that my passion for flowers and love of things beautiful would bring me and my company, chad michael peters to where we are today. Each layer of my creativity has been challenged and built on to bring the very best to the work that I do. I hope that you will take a moment to view this gorgeous showcase.