A Fieldtrip to The Roundhouse at Beacon Falls in Beacon, NY

On Friday, November 18 I took a little field trip just down the road from our studio space to visit the site of a new 250 person event space, hotel, restaurant and spa in our town! The 200 year old buildings on the campus were old factories that are being remodeled for a renewed purpose!

The first two photos below are of the event space in the making- the rectangular openings will be large glass windows overlooking the falls and the beautiful landscape. This location offers a spectacular outdoor setting for wedding ceremonies with the sound and sight of the Beacon Falls in the background and views of the mountain tops surrounding the buildings. Alternatively, the main event space doubles as an indoor ceremony option for inclement weather. The architecture and design of the space is outstanding - exposed brick and wood beam ceilings, rustic barn wood doors and cement flooring are just some of the unique and edgy features of the space.

You have to see the renderings to appreciate how amazing the event space will be for wedding receptions:

These two buildings in the photo below will become luxurious hotels and a spa!

The next photo below shows the location for the new fabulous restaurant. A couple of overnight suites will be available to guests on the upper level!

Here are more photos of how all the buildings will look once complete! Click Here

If you're newly engaged and looking for a truly unique venue for your wedding ceremony and reception, you must know about The Roundhouse at Beacon Falls located in Beacon, New York. Bookings are already under way for weddings as the event space is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2012!

Kristen Cronin, Marketing Manager, and Meghan McAlpine are welcoming couples to make an appointment to take a tour of the site and view the renderings of the finished spaces. They thought of everything to make this venue a one stop destination to truly relax and enjoy your wedding weekend!

To learn more about the space, visit http://www.roundhousebeacon.com/ or contact Kristen Cronin at 845.440.3327 x 306.

After booking your wedding with Roundhouse, come see Engaging Floral Designs about creating an unforgettable atmosphere with our unique floral designs, lighting and specialty rentals. If you are looking to relax on your wedding day, trust in our local planning company NY Engagements to tie all the loose ends together for one seamless event.

Winter Wonderland Wedding in October

Here are some photos from a wedding that took place at The Garrison, in Garrison, NY on October 29, 2011 during the snow storm that almost brought this wedding to a hault!
It was an ironic sight to see - a fall theme wedding with over a foot of snow seen through the windows of the venue.
It was a challenging day for us as coordinators having to battle against the elements. Several of the band members from NYC were stuck driving up from NYC due to the state of emergency situation. Therefore, the band turned into a dj group for the evening. Four shuttle buses filled with guests for the wedding were stranded on the road for over 3 plus hours coming from the hotels where the guests boarded (normally the travel time would take just 20 minutes). It was a relief to see the guests arrive at the venue safely and the ceremony began soon after. But we weren't out of the clear... a bridesmaid ended up getting sick at the last minute just before making it down the processional.

Once down the aisle, it was a beautiful ceremony and the bride and groom handled the challenges with such grace even cracked a joke or two about the less than ideal weather. As the evening went on and the snow kept falling, we learn that the bus drivers were not allowed to leave until the roads were clear and the state of emergency was lifted. Therefore, all the bus drivers and guests taking the bus had to remain overnight at the venue. At the end of the event, guests retired for the night beneath tables, and used seat cushions as mattresses! The dj played some music for a while after the wedding ended since they were stranded as well for the time being. One of our assistants was at the venue overnight as her ride was stuck in the snow for 8 hours trying to get to her.

The next morning when we returned to pick up my other assistants' car and check on the load out, we were happy to see the buses finally plowed out and ready to load up with guests to go back to the hotel. The best part was that all the guests seemed to be in good spirits along with the company of the bride and groom. It was a wedding we'd never forget!

June 4 wedding in Cold Spring and at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie, NY

The ceremony took place at Our Lady of Loretto Church in Cold Spring, NY. The mossy curly willow pillar rental pieces are exclusive to our company and is something a little different than the traditional urn arrangements. The bride chose all white pieces to keep them toned down vs. what was to come for the decor at the reception!

The bride's bouquet was an all white peony bouquet and the handle was wrapped with her mother's wedding dress fabric. Beneath the bouquet hung 3 small photos of her family there in spirit. The bridesmaids held small posies of hot pink peonies and vibrant orange roses to pop against their eggplant purple dresses.

At the cocktail hour at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie, NY, the bride selected floating flowers in the color scheme of the reception - hot pink open roses and purple dendrobium orchid heads. After the cocktail hour, these floating flowers were then moved to the reception tables to accent all the low centerpieces.

On the escort card table, our signature manzanita rental tree greeted guests as they found their table cards. The tree was draped in purple dendrobium orchids and hanging votives.

In the main ballroom, an impressive room of 20 oval tables in a purple, orange and hot pink color scheme awaited the guests. Half of the tables were low centerpieces containing orange asiatic lilies, hot pink peonies, purple stock, hot pink roses, and other flowers.

The tall centerpieces were designed in tall trumpet rental vases filled with clear beads and submersible lighting and a strand of purple dendrobium orchids hanging inside. The top piece was a very large display of purple hydrangeas, orange asiatic lilies, hot pink roses, curly willow tips, purple dendrobium orchids, lily grass whisps, stock, and other flowers.

The combination of tall and low pieces worked well in this very large room. At the end of the night the top of the arrangements could be removed for guests to take home along with all the low centerpieces.

A beautiful day for a wedding - June 3 at the Howland Cultural Center and Bear Mountain Overlook Lodge

It was a spectacular day for a wedding on June 3 in the Hudson Valley! This bride had a beautiful vintage wedding dress that looked stunning against her romantic bouquet of anemones, poppies, peonies, cream roses, stock bupleurum and other local greenery.

The groom wore a peony boutonniere.

The bridesmaid dresses were a very soft pale pink color, so the bride chose to enhance some of the pink tones to make them pop against the creamy pink background.

The ceremony took place at the Howland Cultural Center. To decorate the site for this wedding, the bride chose 2 wreaths to adorn the pillars in front of the center. The wreaths will preserve nicely as well!

Inside, the ceremony area was marked by a set of ceremony arrangements on our white pedestal rentals inside the room.

At the Bear Mountain Overlook Lodge, the tables displayed a natural soft arrangement of peonies, garden roses, hydrangea, tulips, and local greenery. On each cocktail table was a single pale pink floating peony. And on the bridal party table, the bride's mother spent months collecting vintage mini bottles to scatter down the table with some of the bride's favorite flowers such as poppies, anemones, peonies and other seasonal flowers.

Another memorial day weekend wedding

Fortunately, the Engaging Floral Designs team beat the anticipated traffic for memorial day weekend festivities to deliver bouquets, personal flowers and ceremony arrangements for a wedding at West Park Winery today. A small order, but the selected pieces will go far in creating the overall look for their pink, white and green color pallet at the winery. These pieces await the bride when her and her party arrive shorty. In the meantime, the pieces are staying cool inside as it's been a brutally hot weekend - flowers hate to be too warm!

A beautiful Club Wedding in Rye - Pink, White and Green Tones

Engaging Floral Designs was proud to be a part of a beautifully designed wedding featuring a soft color pallet of pinks, whites and greens for a summer wedding in the Westchester area. The bride's bouquet was an absolute jaw dropper - a hand picked bouquet feel...everything from astilbe, ranunculus, wax flower, veronica, peonies, spray roses and bupleurum fit into this cascading piece. Very romantic!

The reception was held at the Coveleigh Club in Rye, NY - one of our favorite clubs to work at!

Photo Shoot for Luxury Lifestyle Magazine Featuring Engaging Floral Designs!

Coming Soon to Luxury Lifestyle Magazine - A Summer Garden Themed Wedding designed by Engaging Floral Designs in Beacon, NY and NY Engagements, LLC. The photo shoot took place at Bykenhulle House in Hopewell Junction, New York. It is a hidden gem for an intimate wedding venue outside of the norm with beautiful gardens, a nostalgic Bed and Breakfast and sunny ballroom with it's own unique charm. The photographer for the shoot (and for all images posted on this blog page) was Jackie Pfefer of Click Pictures located at 544 Main Street in Beacon, NY.

We are Recipients of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011!

Beacon, NY– February 9, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce NY Engagements, LLC. & Engaging Floral Designs has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Planning Services and Floral Design!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

NY Engagements, LLC. & Engaging Floral Designs stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Sarah Lusardi and team at NY Engagements, LLC. for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that NY Engagements, LLC. & Engaging Floral Designs is among the very best wedding planning and floral design companies within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today!
For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit http://www.weddingwire.com/.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire.com, the nation's leading technology company serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 local wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives local businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. Businesses that join the WeddingWire Network appear on WeddingWire.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), ProjectWedding.com and Weddingbee.com (both part of eHarmony), and Celebrations.com (part of the 1-800-Flowers family of brands, NASDAQ: FLWS).

2011 Bridal Show Schedule - See NY Engagements / Engaging Floral Designs for yourself!

Recently engaged and looking for ideas or is your wedding fast approaching and you're in search of a floral designer or day of coordination company to tend to the details of your day? Come visit our two companies, Engaging Floral Designs and NY Engagements, LLC. in person and see for yourself why we're a top 5 star rated, award winning team at your service! Don't forget to pre-register to get discounts off your tickets or call (914-393-2295) or email us for a complimentary ticket (while supplies last)!

Bosco Bridal Show: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Villa Barone Hilltop Manor
466 Route 6
Mahopac, NY
6:30pm-9:30pm
Tickets: $5 if you pre-register, $10 at the door
Register Online and Save $5
We have one complimentary admission ticket to the show - be the first to contact us via email and we'll send it to you and see you at the show!

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11th Annual Westchester County Bridal Expo: Saturday, January 29, 2011
Westchester County Center
198 Central Avenue
White Plains, NY
Tickets: $8
11am-4pm
Visit us at booth #:65 near the food area
Register Online to Receive $1 off your entry fee
We have 6 complimentary admission tickets to the show - be the first six brides to contact us via email and we'll send it to you and hope to see you at the show!

Come for the fun, get inspired, feel like a pampered bride to be, and start booking your wedding professionals! It's a great feeling to check items off your wedding to do list - the shows make it easy for one stop shopping for the busy girl on the go!

Looking Back - 2010's Weddings and Event Highlights....

A Chilly December wedding - Personal flowers for the ceremony at Our Lady of the Rosary in Poughkeepsie, NY and Reception at The Grandview

Flowers by Engaging Floral Designs

The boutonnieres were wintery sprigs with spray roses and the groom's boutonniere contained a ranunculus flower. Sarah helped the guys pin on their boutonnieres. The church was beautiful and set back - such a beautiful gem of a place for a religous ceremony.


The bridal bouquet was stunning - a wintery purple and silver look using purple hydrangea, juniper berries, purple peonies, white ranunculus, and purple roses and spray roses.

Here are a few words sent in an email from the bride to Engaging Floral Designs after the wedding:

***

Hi Sarah,

Sorry I'm just getting back to you now. We just got back recently from our honeymoon. Chuck and I both would like to say thank you SO much for doing such a wonderful job with the flowers. I loved my bouquet and some of my favorite pictures are the ones that highlight my bouquet. The bridesmaids bouquets were wonderful. The white hydrangeas really popped against their purple dresses. All the flowers lasted really well throughout the day too! I loved that there were peonies in my bouquet and the silver berries were perfect. You do beautiful work! My mom also wanted me to tell you that she loved her corsage. It was the perfect size.

I attached a preview picture. My aunt took this picture after we came out of the Church and after the rice throwing. I love how it shows off the bouquet :)

Thank you again and Merry Christmas!

Aimee

***

Looking Back - 2010's Weddings and Event Highlights....

A Natural November Wedding of Purples and Reds at the Bear Mountain Overlook Lodge
Flowers by Engaging Floral Designs

The perfect setting for a natural woodsy favored wedding is at the Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain in Orange County, New York. The ceremony took place at the Cliff House on the premises.

The bouquets were red and purple tones of flowers.

At the reception, the centerpieces were displayed on birch rounds to give it a more natural look: