Modern elegance in Mankato

I had the pleasure of working with a mother-of-the-groom this summer to rent decorations for her son's reception in Mankato. She just shared two photos from the event. I think the Manhattan centerpiece, the mirrors, and the beaded votives worked perfectly with their gorgeous linens and overall look of the reception.

Amazing, amazing orchids

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of helping the wonderfully talented florist, Molly, decorate her client's reception at the Westin Galleria in Edina. This was my first time at this space and I loved it. Simple, elegant, and modern...but oh boy did Molly's flowers brighten up the space; it was breathtaking after we finished decorating. Molly and the bride decided on using mostly orchids...lots of varieties and colors. They were amazing. The precious flowers floated in water in two different cylinder groupings, along with a third setting of a tall floral. Incredible. I wish I could have been there at night to see the candles glowing and the flowers shining through the glass.
In the pictures below, the tall set of three cylinders are new items I now offer for rent! They are 12", 16", and 24" glass cylinders. They are heavy-bottom, high quality glass cylinders that are perfect to get some height into your reception and to mix and match with another centerpiece setting. The cylinder groupings sat on rented 14" round mirrors.

Beauty in Purple and Gold

For Jaci and Paul's 9/26/09 wedding, I had the pleasure of working with my friend Carra at La Petit Fleur to use MBellish pieces to accent her gorgeous flowers. Because the bride wanted purple and gold, she used the purple bubble votives around Carra's fabulous hurricane designs and used the Venice piece as one of her three centerpiece groupings. Wow!

University of St. Thomas Reunion

On October 10th I decorated, and attended, my 10 year reunion at the University of St. Thomas. It was a really fun event, held at our south campus cafeteria. The MBellish pieces really turned the cafeteria into an elegant affair! I used the Manhattan centerpiece as one setting and three beaded votives on a 12" round mirror as another. Thank you to Molly for suggesting I kick things up a notch by adding the purple dendrobium orchids.

Pretty in Pink in Hastings

On July 18th, I enjoyed decorating at my friend Angie's reception at the Little Log House Pioneer Village in Hastings. It's a charming hall in the middle of the country - really quaint and fun. Angie jazzed up the hall's basic linens by adding hot pink runners. They looked great! She used the Santa Monica centerpiece on 12" round mirrors, with lots and lots of flowerpot votives scattered on her guest tables and head tables. Photos by Michelle Huber.

Total class at the St. Paul Hotel

I thoroughly enjoyed setting up for the reception of Megan and Ramsey at the St. Paul Hotel on July 25th. Megan, along with the help of her florist Molly, did an amazing job selecting three different centerpieces to decorate the intimate ballroom. She used one floral centerpiece in a gold square vase, the Venice centerpiece (with the brushed gold stand), and the Sausalito centerpiece (which has a soft gold rim and ivory mosaic) accented by pink orchids . These three pieces coordinated together beautifully and made each table warm, interesting, and stunning. Check out these amazing photographs by Studio 188. I'm so grateful to Erica at Studio 188 for sharing these beautiful pictures!

Classic Beauty

Crystal and Andrew wed on a particularly rainy June day in Minnesota, but their beauty and happiness shined through in these amazing pictures by Eliesa of Photogen Inc. Their wedding had such a lovely, vintage feel, which is why Crystal selected the Venice for her centerpieces. Here are a few awesome pictures Eliesa generously shared from the reception at Bayview Event Center.

To see more pictures from the wedding, see Photogen's blog entry.

New Item - Square Vases

We are excited to offer a new centerpiece option! Our square vases offer a clean, modern look that is perfect for all of your tables or wonderful to mix-and-match with another piece. They are heavy, handblown glass pieces. The group of three consists of the following sizes: 4"x4"x4", 4"x4"x6", and 4"x4"x8". A 3" floating candle fits perfectly in these pieces. They can be rented as a group or separately.


These pieces were first used on May 2nd at the Habitat for Humanity Hard Hat and Black Tie Gala held at the Marriott City Center. MBellish donated rental items for this event and helped coordinate and organize their decorations. They had 70 tables and went with three different centerpieces. One grouping was the Manhattan with orange roses and green mini-orchids. The second was the tall square vase (with an orange tulip and a floating candle) with two Beaded Votives, accented by green and orange rose petals and green mini-orchids. The third was a grouping of the three square vases (one with a green hydrangea, one with decorative silver wire, and the third with decorative grasses) and two Beaded Votives, accented by green and orange rose petals and green mini-orchids. The lovely flowers were provided by Serendipity. Photos by Peter Kowler.

I Do Vow To....reduce wedding waste

I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Amy Rubins of Fete Perfection. She is a passionate, intelligent, and highly motivated event planner in the Twin Cities.

I applaud her recent efforts of creating the blog site and the general mission of "I Do Vow To." The efforts and communication she is hoping to foster are in regard to eliminating unnecessary wedding waste. Many weddings and events create dumpsters full of garbage after the event. We both challenge those planning events to think through how things they use in their events can be used for other purposes after the event.

I'm proud that renting decorations is a small way to help make your wedding "green." With renting, no new packaging is created, nothing is thrown away after the event (or stored in your closet for years to come), and the pieces can be re-used and enjoyed by others.

I am grateful to Amy for writing about MBellish on her popular blog:

"Local Resource = Big Savings

...and it's eco-chic. What could be better than this?

Gosh, I'm getting ahead of myself I better explain - I'm so excited to be working with Mari Bern of MBellish a wonderful company she founded over four years ago {and ahead of the eco-friendly curve I might add} which rents unique, stylish and reusable wedding decor.

She is located in Newport {a St. Paul suburb} however will come to you with her beautiful samples which is an added bonus when you and your wedding planner are selecting linens on the other end of town and having a hard time imagining how everything will coordinate.

Many of these pieces can be stand-alone or MBellish-ed with flowers... they're lovely either way. Two GREEN thumbs up to Mari Bern of MBellish for her contribution to the eco-chic world of weddings and providing less wedding waste."

Do-It-Yourself Flowers - Sat. February 21st

Please read the below message from Sadie's Fine Floral Design:

Sadie’s Fine Floral Design is proud to offer classes for Do-It-Yourself Brides to teach you the technical aspects of designing flowers for your wedding. If you have already decided that you are going to do your wedding flowers yourself, we will teach you how to design your boutonnieres, corsages and bouquets as well as be able to answer any specific design questions you may have. Class space is limited to 10 participants each so we may be able to offer you the individual attention you may require. The first class offering is Saturday, February 21, 2009 from 12:00 – 4:00 pm. We will also have supply kits you can purchase following the class that you can take home and use for the big event. Class fee is $150.00 per person, which will cover the instruction, snacks and beverages as well as supplies to work with. If you are interested, please e-mail sadie@sadiesfloral.com to sign up!

Tulips in Manhattan

I had to post this stunning picture of tulips placed in the Manhattan centerpiece. How beautiful! Flowers by Sadie and photo by Cari McGlynn Photography.

Taste of the Nation Event

On September 14th, MBellish donated decorations for the Taste of the Nation event. This is a wonderful event to raise funds to work toward ending childhood hunger. The event is a "foodies" dream - each table has their own celebrity chef that prepares a multi-course meal. This year featured chefs from such places as B.A.N.K., Oceanaire, Restaurant Alma and W.A. Frost. It was held at the Graves 601 Hotel where they used the Manhattan and Sausalito centerpieces, beaded votives, and mirrors to decorate the space. Here are a few pictures from the event, taken by Ariana Murillo Photography.