Pink is for boobs.

First I would like to thank Sarah of Toasts and Tables for including SocialDesign on this important day of raising awareness in the blogosphere. If you are a blog fan you will notice today that many of your daily reads will be posting pink! October 1st marks the start of breast cancer awareness month. A few weeks ago I just heard story of a 24 year old girl who thought she should get checked and found out she had stage 4 breast cancer! So you are never too young and it's never too early to be checked. Your friends and family will thank you.

In regards to the pics, they are all from good old brides.com and theknot. Good old stand by's when you forgot to find a bunch of pink pics and remembered at the last minute.

Spread the word and do yourself some good and make an appointment to get checked!

Love, SD.

ooops one more thing....

Just had to post this before the construction begins. Nothing beats a cool way to say thanks. I think this is cool. Check it out at Saks.

Sorry to leave you hanging!

We are making some changes and things are going to be under construction for a little while. I know, no one likes construction.

In the meantime, enjoy the images from Joanna and Joe's wedding, designed by SocialDesign.
Great fab wondeful awesome couple.

Our favorite time of year and fave events!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, it's almost Halloween, the most joyous fabulous fun time all year. I don't think I can express how much we love Halloween and how much time we spend talking about Halloween. Here is why: Halloween is an event designer's dream come true. Totally over the top, no limits, complete with costumes! There are so many ways to work with Halloween in interesting and unexpected ways. If you feel even 1/8th as excited as we are, you MUST immediately go purchase Martha Stewart's Halloween Holiday edition of her mag. It is to die for. I almost bought a scanner just so I could show you all the fabulousness. Be prepared for plenty of Halloween posts in the upcoming month. Here are some pics to hold you over.

Photos credit of Grayson Bakula Design and Ron Wendt and Kim Vallee. Thanks BizBash for pics.

Real Weddings- Lisa and Andy

This one's for you Box! So this is wedding of a very good friend of mine. We both got engaged at a very similar time and shared so much of our wedding planning together. It was so exciting for me to see it all come together for her. This is one of those great high school romance stories. The couple has been together for years and years.

I loved so much of this event. Gorgeous Philadelphia city location, but they kept it personal by using a beach theme, which is where the couple got engaged. Neutral colors with pops of orange and an amazing bridal gown. The suits on the men were one of the highlights for me. And how great is that cake? Congrats Lisa and Andy! To check out their photographer, visit MLProductions

Great Event Design

We came across this Event Designer and loved his work. We were on the hunt for Halloween ideas (our ab fave holiday!) and found his site. He's worked for Chanel and the likes for corporate events but has also produced some amazing private events as well. Here are some of our favorite images. Take a look at Ron Wendt. We love his use of lighting (of course!) and his great use of color. That tone on tone blue event is to die for!

Blog Manners Matter

Hi fab readers. I was reading my Glamour mag last night and came across an article I wanted to share. Since we've entered this crazy world of blogging we've had some great experiences meeting all different kinds of cool people. We've also been surprised at the level of harsh words that can come through when you have the animosity of a computer between two people. For us and all the other wonderful people out there who take the time to create blogs with their ideas for readers, take a look at this article. 3 Cheers to Glamour for including it! Here is a snippet and the full article here.

The Internet is an emboldening, alternate reality—but it’s still reality. We need to apply our general rules of morality and civility to our interactions on the Web. I’m not advocating a pinky-in-the-air level of politeness, but Web users should stand behind what they say. I suggest this test: If you wouldn’t speak something to someone’s face, or sign your name to an angry rant, then don’t post it online. No more hiding behind the keyboard.
I never thought I’d say this, but the unmitigated and unintelligent nastiness has to end—on MySpace, over e-mail, on blogs and everywhere else. As soon as we realize that there’s a very real person on the other side of that LCD glow, maybe we can all start acting a little more human.

Color Color Color

We get a lot of questions about color. How to choose colors for an event, what colors work in our venue, what are the best colors for our season....etc.

I found this great article on color in home design and felt that it really translated well to working with color for your event. I'm posting the highlights and you can view the full article at Apartment Therapy. Take all of this with a grain of salt. Remember there are NO rules.

Warm colors are stimulating
The reds, oranges, yellows and all the off whites that tend to this direction possess all the qualities of warmth in that they are hot, stimulating and soothing to our emotions, which crave warmth. This is the reason red is the most successful color in our consumer society and found in such icons as Coca-Cola, Ferrari, and red lipstick.
Warm colors are therefore best in social rooms of your house, such as the living room, dining room and kitchen. (SD: Do you want a social, party with an exciting band? Go for these colors)

Cool colors are calming
The blue side of the spectrum along with cool browns and grays and the cool off whites possess all of the qualities of coolness in their ability to calm our emotions and focus our thoughts. While our heart may crave warmth, our head and our thoughts crave coolness in order to its best work. This is why the cool blues are the most popular color for men’s business suits and shirts, as well as police uniforms, why the old time bank teller wore a green visor, and why the Yankees are considered gentlemen in their blue pinstripes, whereas the Red Sox are emotional barbarians (not this year).
Cool colors are therefore best in the rooms where concentration and calmness are most important, such as the bedroom, office, and nursery

The 80/20 rule
Then use strong color sparingly to punctuate the room, not define it. I recommend 80% neutral colors and 20% strong colors. Just like a woman’s face is made up with bright lipstick in a small portion of her face and neutral colors in the rest, so should a room be balanced. For example, in a warm living room such as Mike’s, I would recommend off white walls (warm/neutral) to go with his rich, brown couches (warm/neutral) and then a deep red rug (warm/color) and colorful table lamps in either black, silver or reds to wake up the room. Small batches of color have a tremendous effect on the whole and will “wake up” and bring out the more neutral colors around them. (SD note: This is when you hear people talk about having "pops" of color. This is great if you're using white linens)

really? REALLY?

OK, we need to discuss this and I need feedback. Kohl's. Yes, Kohl's. I have recently been inundated with blog posts, mag articles, ads, etc in my face about Vera Wang at Kohl's. Part of me wants to be like, "ok, affordable, cute, stylish...done." The other part is like "Ok, Vera, we get it, bedding, dishes, lingerie, bags, and oh yeah, Bridal Gowns!" I do feel like she's selling her name everywhere on earth. But I have to say, some of this stuff is cute. But I have a bad impression of Kohl's in my head. Has anyone seen this stuff in person? What do you think of it. If you all love it, I will check it out immediately. Thanks!

As promised....

This is the link to our wedding podcast. I have to say it was a fun experience and it's a unique idea. I was impressed with the celebrity guest podcasts they have linked to the site as well. Take a peek at the site, lots of valuable info there!

I love anything you can customize!

Check this site out. I love home design just as much as event design. They are obviously pretty similar. So I'm picky about design/color, etc. This site allows you to completely customize bedding from fabric to color to pattern and it's very very detailed. You can pick colors of teeny tiny petals as well as the base fabric color. Best part is the price is totally reasonable! You have to go play around with it. I am bookmarking this for my house!

No posts today....

....take the time spent regularly reading this blog to remember 9/11

Shirt

One of my faves added a housing store!

Zara is such a great store. It has all the Europe flair of an H&M without being watered down. If you have a Zara near you, you are lucky. Zara has just added a home store. However us Americans are not that lucky yet. I'm crossing my fingers for one soon though! Write them emails and tell them we neeeeed them over here. Especially in Philadelphia! Anyway, check out some great layouts from the catalogue. Their affordability has crossed over into home design and therefor their accessories are affordable for events! Love them.

Running with the inspiration

We posted about Housemartin's inspiration from this window. They took the idea and worked it for a wedding they did. I love their pics of the trial run. It's look so oranic and those candles in the birdcage are as awesome as I thought they would be. Great job. Enjoy the pics!

Kinda neat

I saw these guys on Outblush yesterday. I love anything LED because so many events these days have venues that prevent the use of an open flame. These are cool because they don't look like little robot candles. They are made of real wax and the coolest part is you can switch them to blue if you like! How cool with it be to have lots of these on regular setting and then late night switch them all to blue. Also, they turn off if you blow on them! Check them out here

Deliciousness

We love food. We really love food a lot. We especially love food that is also in cute packaging. The ladies over at Pinko were gracious enough to send us some of their famous cookies. They came packaged so cute with pink confetti in pretty little boxes. We opened them up to taste some of the most delicious cookies ever. They were air tight sealed and survived quite some time at Fed Ex since I lost my license (long story). Since we got them the staff has been going nuts for them! An added bonus: Pinko donates portions of all sales to charity. Can't get much better than that. I would think this would be so sweet to send to bridesmaids to ask them to be a part of your wedding. Or to have as favors on guests plates maybe at a rehearsal dinner. Or so nice in a pile before guests hit the road to take with them. Check them out!

Had to share

I hope all of you had a great long weekend! I had to post this as I was over at the fabulous Jessie Claire's blog and saw this amazing ceremony set up. It looks so casual and romantic. I love the different levels and feeling that you get just from looking at these pics. If you have a chance go over and check out this whole post. The groom's expression when he first sees his bride is priceless. Enjoy!

Goodbye Summer, Hellooo Fall (fashion and festivities)!

Well this holiday weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. It's sad to think that days at the beach and tank tops will be faded memories of weeks past. But alas, Autumn is around the corner and we may as well embrace it, after all it is a pretty fantastic time of year. Time for great jackets, blouses, and high boots and other beautiful things...like parties!! We absolutely adore fall events. And although each affair is different and tailored to each couples unique style, we can't help but swoon over the beautiful imagery and inspiration that naturally comes from our Mid-Atlantic milieu. Fall, autumn, whatever you want to call it...make sure to take advantage of the beautiful colors, gorgeous landscapes and crisp weather. And maybe, just maybe your senses will be aroused enough to go for an autumn event. We sure hope so!

Make your own grooms cake!

Looking to save a buck? Have a groom's cake at your rehearsal dinner and make it yourself! This actually looks pretty easy. Thanks Outblush....check it out here

The new issue is out!

By far the best bridal magazine out there. They know it too since they charge almost a mortgage payment for it. Ok, exaggerating, but it's up there. Grace Ormonde is known for it's wonderful unique and over the top style. So fun to look at. Here are some great images from the issue. Which is your fave? I'm dying for this last black and white one. Anemone is one of my favorite blooms.