New Years Eve 2011

It's no secret that we're in love with weddings here at As You Wish, but who doesn't love a good party? Now that all of the presents have been opened, and family has departed it's time to focus on the next big event...New Years Eve! Again, while we at As You Wish love oogling over bridesmaid and bridal gowns we also love a great party dress! Here are a few of our favorites for New Years Eve 2011



Take a peek at the As You Wish inspired look we put together for your New Years Eve party



Aren't those Louboutins fabulous? You may have noticed we didn't include a cocktail ring in the picture. It's also a fabulous look to get engaged in, don't you think?

With so many hot spots in Hampton Roads there is no reason for you to be all dressed up with no where to go this New Years Eve! We suggest heading on over to One Fish Two Fish for an amazing dinner date, and ringing in the new year with Roger Cruz, one of the hottest DJs in Virginia Beach!

Wherever you decide to spend the evening, have a wonderful time and be safe!

Seasonal Centerpieces

When planning a winter wedding, or even an intimate dinner party your options are endless when it comes to a seasonal centerpiece.




Earlier this month we had the opportunity to create a fun seasonal centerpiece, and were thrilled to design and execute a vision of our own! The goal was to create something fresh and fun. By combining common seasonal elements like peppermints, carnations, and a little imagination we were able to create this gorgeous centerpiece!








We accented the main centerpiece with votives and smaller vases filled with red rock candy. By placing a floralyte towards the top it created a gentle glow and from a distance looked like a tall pillar candle.



The carnation pomander was really easy to make and the rock candy vases doubled as a mini candy buffet at the end of the evening. Win-win!

Wine Wedding Favors

A while back we did a really fun wine themed wedding at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach. The bride alternated tables with these fun centerpieces she had put together using a wine bottle with a custom wine label.




There are so many ways to personalize your wedding, and make it original and unique, and wine is a great example! Brides and grooms can select a standard batch of wine to be bottled, or create their own personalized batch of wine to bottle and give to their guests. Wine wedding favors not only make a great gift, but the actual wine selection process is a fun night out as a couple, or for the entire bridal party!

Carafe Wine Makers

in Chesapeake Virginia is a local winery that caters to brides and grooms wanting to create a personalized wedding wine. It's definitely more fun going into the store to create and order your wine, but you can do it online too if you're in a pinch, or don't want to brave the chilly weather.



When it comes to the wine label you can use a standard label, or create one that falls into your overall wedding theme



If you're already using a graphic designer for your invitations and other printed materials ask them about incorporating your theme into the favors. If wine wedding favors are too pricey consider gifting a wine bottle stopper with a personalized tag.
If you're looking to carry the wine theme over into other aspects of your wedding consider having a wine and cheese tasting station during the cocktail hour, using wine corks to hold your escort or place cards or even using wine glasses in place of traditional votive holders



You can find these "Cherry Blossoms" Vellum Wine Glass Shades and many more fun wine themed wedding gifts and accessories at

Get Married

Use the Get Married promo code SHOPGIFT for 15% off your order of $99 or more. From all of us at As You Wish, happy shopping!

The Hottest Wedding Color for 2011

Pantone is an extraordinary world-renowned company known for their expertise in color, and they've announced the 2011 color of the year. Drumroll please......it's Honeysuckle!


We could not be more excited to see this scrumptious color hit the wedding scene! We had a lot of fun creating this color palette


Our absolute favorite is honeysuckle on black. Make that honeysuckle pop!

When planning a wedding it's always important to create a color scheme, and an inspiration board is a great way to start the process. Here is a honeysuckle themed As You Wish inspiration board that we put together in honor of Pantone's most recent announcement!


Inspired yet? Keep reading, it gets better! Check out

The Dessy Group

to order your personal Honeysuckle Pantone swatch card, or any of the other 200 color options. The swatch card can be divided into 14 swatch chips for you to give to the individuals that need to color coordinate with your wedding, i.e. your coordinator, best man for the tux rentals, pastry chef, designer, rental company, maid of honor for the bridesmaids' dresses, florist, stationer, etc. With a Pantone color swatch in hand there is no confusion on shade or color terminology. Dessy also offers their own line of Pantone coordinates, making it easy for brides to match the bridal party's attire to their personalized color scheme. It's the perfect way to color coordinate your wedding day!

As You Wish is over the moon for Pantone's 2011 color of the year Honeysuckle. Goodbye 2010! We're moving on to bigger and brighter things!

Rasheeda and Kahlil

We had the privilege of taking part in Rasheeda and Kahlil's beautiful fall wedding, and truly enjoyed every minute we spent working with this wonderful couple! The reception was held at the Suffolk Hilton Garden Inn, which was beautifully lit by Blue Steel Pro Lighting. Rasheeda put an exceptional amount of time, thought, and energy into the mechanics of her reception to ensure that she was captivating and engaging her guests from start to finish. From a professional standpoint, we couldn't have been prouder of Rasheeda's intuition and attention to detail, and we were absolutely thrilled to make this day perfect for her!
The guests entered the cocktail hour and were greeted by the beautiful melody of a talented saxophonist.

Guests checked in with hostesses for their table assignment, and ushers and usherettes were also on hand to direct guests to their tables when the ballroom doors were opened for the reception to begin.
The ballroom had a beautiful autumn themed decor with corresponding uplighting around the perimeter of the room. Blue Steel did an exceptional job!

Rasheeda gifted each of her guests a Yankee Candle votive in an autumn scent which we placed at each table setting, giving each table a splendid fall aroma.

We love brides that think outside of the box, and Rasheeda was definitely one of those brides, surprising her guests with a mime performance to the song "Let Go" by Dwayne Woods. The guests absolutely loved it and so did we!

Later in the evening Rasheeda and her sorority sisters surprised guests with another performance ">

Rasheeda and Kahlil, we really had a wonderful time getting to know you and being a part of your special day. You are a beautifully blessed couple and we wish you all the best!



Images courtesy of Wade Studios

Thankful!

Here at As You Wish we have a lot to be thankful for, and I just wanted to take some time out this morning to reflect.
I am so fortunate to have such a fulfilling career that I am passionate about. I love meeting with a bride for the first time and hearing her love story and watching her glow as she tells me about the man of her dreams, who she is so in love with and cannot wait to spend the rest of her life with. I love helping my brides plan the biggest day of their lives and am so thankful to be a part of the planning process. I feel so fortunate to be able to truly get to know so many families and see them come together on a wedding day. I love seeing a father spend those last few seconds alone with his daughter right before he walks her down the aisle.

I love all of the behind the scenes work that wedding vendors, my team, and myself put in to make the wedding day absolutely flawless. All of our hard work, stressing, planning, etc. pays off the moment our bride walks down the aisle, or sees the reception decor for the first time.

While I appreciate the gratitude a bride shows me being a part of her wedding day, the truth of the matter is that I fall in love with each and every one of my brides and her wedding, and I should be thanking her as well! I realize that I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful that all of my past, present, and future clients trusted me with such a momentous event! I am thankful to have the opportunity to be right in the middle of it all, enjoying every second. It's absolutely magical!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, friends, and loved ones. I know I will! ♥ Julie

Get Married in Times Square on New Years Eve!

Get Married is one of our favorite sources for all things wedding related. If you haven't yet been to their site you're missing out, and if you're not already a Get Married fan you're about to become one! Take a little trip on over to www.GetMarried.com, check out our As You Wish listing, and sign yourself up for one of their complimentary wedding websites while you're at it! Interested in receiving one of their magazines? Let us know and we'll deliver one straight to your door courtesy of As You Wish and Get Married!

And now for the exciting news! Get Married is throwing one lucky couple (Bethany & Geoff) an amazing wedding in Times Square on New Years Eve and they're inviting YOU to be a part of the planning process! Get Married readers have been having a blast voting on fun wedding elements including the couple's invitations, attire, wedding bands, favors, menu, and even the honeymoon!

Check out http://www.getmarried.com/times-square/vote to cast your vote! Wedding elements currently up for debate are the bridesmaids' gowns, wedding rings, tuxes, favors, and gifts for the bridal party.
Here are the three wedding band options awaiting your vote:







Pictured below is the winning invitation and bride's gown




Join in the voting fun and happy planning!






Images courtesy of Get Married

Entertaining children at the wedding reception

Reception entertainment is a common concern among our brides, and rightfully so. You want your guests to have a great time at your wedding reception which is why you hire a dj, a band, or another form of musically inclined artists to provide the entertainment at your wedding reception.
When our brides are partially concerned with entertaining children at the wedding reception we suggest setting up a children's table, or area where we display games and crafty items to occupy the kids while the adults enjoy the reception entertainment. Recently though, we have encouraged our brides to embark on a new entertainment development. Welcome the game PODs. These are the newest form of reception entertainment to hit the wedding industry since the photo booth. You can keep kids occupied for hours with these things! They come with a touch screen, oodles of games and options, and are even internet compatible! Not only are they functional and fun, but they are very price effective as well.



We highly suggest any bride who is concerned with entertaining children at the wedding reception to check out Hyped Gaming PODs. Contact Jon Shoemaker, Regional Sales Director at Hyped Gaming - Solutions by EBS Office: 757-631-0590 jshoemaker@hypedgaming.com www.hypedgaming.com It's an investment that will pay dividends on the day of your wedding. Your guests will LOVE the PODs! Trust us! Ask Jon about Hyped Gaming PODs for adult gaming as well!

Unique Accents

At As You Wish Weddings and Events we believe that every wedding should be as unique as the bride behind it all. So when we first stumbled across the Cute & Unique online boutique we fell head over heels in love! How many weddings have you attended where the bridesmaids' hair broachs matched the groomsmens' ties? What a fun idea!!

This peonny clip had us at first glance! Isn't it stunning?



These custom made clutches make a wonderfully thoughtful gift for your bridemaids, and can make their debut during the ceremony processional in lieu of bridesmaids' bouquets!






If you're looking for something unique, beautiful, and handmade for your wedding day head on over to Cute & Unique and take a look at their delightful pieces. And remember, it's ok to window shop!





Be sure to mention As You Wish when placing your order for a sweet deal!

Wedding Cake Toppers

One aspect of the wedding where a couple can have a lot of fun, and show off their uniqueness is with their wedding cake topper. At As You Wish we always encourage our clients to have fun with the wedding planning and enjoy every aspect of planning the actual wedding day. While it's encouraged to honor tradition when it comes to certain things, at As You Wish we also encourage our brides to get a little crazy and think outside of the box when it comes to other aspects of the wedding. The wedding cake topper is a perfect example! Some couples prefer an elegant, beautiful cake topper that compliments their cake (and personality) perfectly. The couple that chose this topper


was a spitting image of the lovebirds they chose to adorn their cake with. Such a sweet, loving couple, and it came as no surprise to us that their wedding cake topper would resemble those same beautiful characteristics.

What a lot of couples don't realize is that there are a lot of options out there for wedding cake toppers. You can do monogrammed letters, plastic figurines, flowers...these are all very beautiful traditional, classic options for a wedding cake topper.

For couples looking for something a little more unique and customizable feast your eyes on some of our favorite wedding cake toppers we've had the pleasure of coming across:












and lastly



Happy wedding planning!