LDE Featured : Trump Wedding : Every Last Detail

It's such an honor when one of LDE's weddings is featured in a magazine or on a blog! Recently, we got the news from one of our fave photographers + friend, Kat Braman, that Libby + Jon's Trump wedding was featured on Every Last Detail!

This truly was a fabulous wedding - certainly one of my favorites from 2010. A crew of Florida's finest was assembled to produce this epic celebration for an awesome couple and their equally as awesome friends + family!

Check out all the great insight the bride shared and see the post in its entirety here. And show some love to these amazing vendors who made it all happen:

Event Planning & Styling: Lauren Daversa Events

Cinematography: Cabana Pictures

Photography: Kat Braman Photography

Venue + Cake + Florals: Trump International Golf Club

Lighting: Uplyte

Lounge Furniture: Hitched

Band + DJ: Fusion from Rock With U

Paper + Stationary: Lauren Daversa Events

Hair & Make-Up: Team Beauti

Bridal Gown: Badgley Miscka

Real Events : Dana + Sunil

Thanks to Blue Studio Miami for sending us a preview of Dana + Sunil's wedding at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. Check back soon for a full wedding recap, including the feast fit for a king + queen, prepared by the couple's friend who just so happens to be celebrity chef, Michael Schwartz!

Current Music : Matt Dusk

Anyone who checks in regularly with LDE knows that:

• I work really long hours and tend to have Pandora playing in my office.
• I love music. I mean, I absolutely love, love, love music. It's always on. It's on when I'm working in the office; it's on when I get ready to attend an event; it's on when I'm driving to my meetings; it's certainly on during all of my special events + weddings (from set up to break down); it's on when I'm cleaning the house; it's on when I cook; it's even on during the few hours when I sleep. Point made? Think so.
• I am a sucker for jazz, big band, standards, swing music - yada, yada, yada.
• I thoroughly enjoy finding new music.

So, when Matt Dusk popped up on Pandora tonight, I seriously did an inner-back flip! He is awesome - very Buble! My favorite song is hands down Back In Town. And I mean favorite like - I LOVE it, like put-it-on-repeat-for-an-hour love it. Great song with a bit of big band, mixed with a little bit of pop, a touch of the standard and a hint of Madonna's "Back In Business" from Dick Tracey - hell ya, I just referenced Dick Tracey, a soundtrack I proudly own and still break out from time to time!

So, Mr. Dusk is the perfect artist to put on your wedding play list. Look him up and enjoy!

Real Wedding: Lisa + Cole, Jupiter Beach Resort

In February, LDE first introduced Lisa + Cole to everyone when I shared their breathtaking engagement session shot on location at Cole's family farm. Well, I am just so proud to now be able to share that their wedding was even more amazing then any one would have ever imagined -- except of course, myself ;-)

Focused on Forever was able to capture all the beauty of this special day and here is a sneak peak of the wedding - the beautiful bride, Lisa and her lily-pop bouquet. SIDE NOTE - this might be the largest, most amazing bouquet LDE's has ever seen!

Check back for more images from Cole + Lisa's special day, or visit Focused on Forever. Or, read all about it in the February issue of Jupiter Magazine, who loved Lisa and Cole's wedding almost as much as we did and they decided to feature it in their upcoming wedding issue - set to hit stands in February of 2012.

Rachel + Anil

Meet Rachel + Anil.

In three words: they are amazing. Truly beautiful inside and out. And their love for one another is incredible. We began planning their destination wedding in September of 2010 and what a fantastic time we had!

In April, Rach + Anil spent the afternoon in New York City with Trent Bailey for their engagement session. What an awesome shoot. Anil even serenading Rachel in the middle of Central Park. Honestly, LDE has the most romantic grooms out there today. I'm not even adding fluff to this post! It's so inspiring to be around as it's proof that romance is absolutely alive + kicking.

Here are a few shots from their shoot. Check out all the photos and much more on Trent's blog AND, be sure to check back for pictures from their wedding at the historic Chesterwood Estate in the Berkshires!! And FYI - Anil's is going to score even more points once I post more about his romantic gift his new bride...can't wait to share!

Vanessa + Camilo

Meet Vanessa + Camilo!

This couple is not only gorgeous but they are the sweetest pair I have ever met. The love they have for one another is inspiring. We began planning their wedding in January and I can honestly share that I had a blast every single time we got together. The bride, the bride's awesome mother and I would meet almost every two weeks for bridal planning sessions. However, we would not do anything wedding related until we sat for a while and enjoyed our coffee!

In August, Vanessa + Cami had their engagement session with Cengiz, the unbelievably talented artist behind Adagion Studio. I can never say enough about Cengiz and his talent. Once again, I am so proud of his work. The pictures represent the passion and love between these two and of course the amazing pulse of the Design District in Miami.

Enjoy this shoot - you can see all the photos and much more on Cengiz's blog AND, be sure to check back for pictures from their Platinum Wedding at the Ritz Carlton - South Beach!!

What LDE Friends Are Up To : Coolinary Cafe

One of the coolest aspects of my job is meeting people, and I can honestly share that my clients are just the most talented, impressive group of people I've ever met. And this is no lie. Take for example Tim Lipman.

You may remember when I posted the breathtaking pictures of Tim and Jenny shot by Jessica Lorren. Well, that was almost two years ago, which is when Tim first called Lauren Daversa Events for help with his wedding to Jenny, his (then) beautiful fiance. First, no you're not reading this incorrectly. I was indeed contacted by the groom for wedding planning help. LOVE IT! Second, Tim was a groom who knew exactly what he wanted and he was not afraid to share. So what did he want? You will love this, prepare to have your heart melt: Tim wanted to make sure Jenny got everything she wanted on her wedding day. Insert your sigh here!

So with less than three months to go, we quickly got to work creating their dream wedding, which was a gorgeous family style affair set in the beautifully landscaped backyard of one of their closest friend's homes. And on a late November night, Tim and Jenny exchanged vows and then dined under the stars in a glowing cabana that featured long flowing drapes, wrought iron pendant lanterns and a feast fit for a king.

Now this was no ordinary feast as, at the time, Tim was the very talented, very passionate, executive chef at Leftovers Cafe in Jupiter. SIDE NOTE, Leftovers just so happens to be one of my favorite restaurants. Chocolate nutmash - that's all I have to say. His enthusiasm for his culinary gift is truly awesome to witness. And now, his ability to harness both his enthusiasm and his gift to make his dream come true is impressive. Yup, that's right, my amazing couple are living out their dreams with the opening of their first restaurant, the Coolinary Cafe.

This American contemporary restaurant will feature a gourmet menu based on the farm-to-table concept, infusing local products with flavorful influences from around the globe. In addition to the yummy food, the Coolinary Cafe will also feature craft beers, loose leaf teas, and handmade sodas. How awesome is that...handmade sodas!

It is incredibly exciting for me to follow my clients on the path that they are carving out for their life together. It is this path that was created on their wedding day, a day that we planned together. So it is with such joy that I can share these successes :-) Be sure to visit the Coolinary Cafe, located at 4122 Parkside Drive in Palm Beach Gardens (561) 315-0410.

Congrats, Tim + Jenny!

L | D Finds : Swarovski Comb

To quote Rachel Zoe, "I die." Surfing the Internet tonight brought me to Untamed Petals. Score! Then surfing Untamed Petals brought be to a Swarovski hand-embellished rhinestone flower. Double score.

Okay, it's $398 bucks but hello...it's amazing. Talk about infusing a little glamour into your wedding day. The petals are hand wired and then encrusted with Swarovski flat back rhinestones. The piece is then attached to an alligator clip for easy placement. AND, it can be customized. Certainly worthy of an L | D Find!

LDE Featured: Custom Laura Hooper Map

I can not say for certain exactly when it was when I was first introduced to Laura Hooper, however. It was definitely a love at first sight type of thing. Seriously, her calligraphy is amazing and her maps are iconic. So I was especially ecstatic when one of my March 2012 bride's shared her desire to have her very own custom Laura Hooper map to use as a save the date.

This custom map features Fort Lauderdale, the future city for my bride's wedding. And what would a LH map be without all sorts of fun, Florida inspired details like alligators, shells, crabs, flamingos, Disney World, the famous Las Olas Boulevard, and the historic Bonnet House, which is the setting for both the ceremony and reception!

What a pleasure it is to be able to work with such talented artists like Laura. If you are not familiar with her work...wow, are you in for a serious treat as it's really one-of-a-kind, super personalized bits of goodness!

Signature Drink Club : Watermelon Cocktail

Happy Fourth of July! As I finish up a little office work and prepare to spend the holiday with friends + family, I knew it would be the perfect time for a Signature Drink Club post - and what would be more fun + appropriate than a Watermelon Cocktail, courtesy of Drink of the Week.

4th of July Watermelon Cocktail

Ingredients

• 7 1/2 pounds seedless watermelon, rind removed, fruit cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 teaspoons superfine sugar
• 8 ounces silver tequila
• 12 basil leaves
• 12 mint leaves
• 2.5 ounces Cointreau
• 6 cups ice

Directions

• Make watermelon ice cubes by putting 24 pieces of cubed watermelon on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.
• Freeze for one hour, covered.
• Take the rest of the watermelon plus the sugar and puree until smooth.
• Strain into a bowl.
• Put the tequila, basil and mint in a pitcher and muddle.
• Stir in Cointreau and watermelon puree.
• Pour mixture into cocktail shaker with ice and mix for each cocktail.
• Put watermelon ice cubes in a glass and pour cocktail in.
• Garnish with herb sprigs and enjoy!

Real Wedding : Sara + Drew, Sole East

You were first introduced to Sara + Drew when I shared their incredible NYC engagement shoot shot by internationally acclaimed photographer Cengiz of Adagion Studio, however. I was introduced to Sara, the bride, by another LDE bride whose wedding stationery I designed. At first, we shared emails for a few months until finally setting up a meet 'n' greet during one of my monthly NYC business trips. Though my day was fully packed, I squeezed in just enough time to cab it over to the west side on a rainy yet humid fall day to meet with this most awesome couple!

By January, Sara + Drew officially became an Lauren Daversa Events bride + groom and gave me 5 months to help plan their big day. And oh, what a day we planned!

Shot by my all time favorite wedding photographer, Cengiz of Adagion Studio, this wedding was alive with emotion, family, delicious food, love and lots of unexpected fun. Here is a sneak peak at a few of my favorite images from Sara + Drew's special day.

Photography: Cengiz Ozelsel from Adagion Studio

Location: Sole East

Event Styling + Coordination: Lauren Daversa Events

Dress:Blue

Shoes:Vera Wang

Wedding Cake: Sara Landis

Ceremony Music: Larry Macri

DJ: DJ Big Drop

Cinematography: West Front Productions

Tent Rental: American Tent Rental

Stationary and Invitations: à Deux

L | D Finds : Valentino Sandals

These shoes are simply fabulous; expensive, but still oh, so fabulous! Valentino is not messing around with their leather + tulle-embellished mesh sandals with four inch stiletto heels. If you've got $1,250 then they can be yours! Available exclusively at Net-a-Poter.

What LDE Friends Are Up To : Adagion Studio

It came as no surprise to me to read Junebug Weddings amazing feature on Cengiz of Adagion Studio. Cengiz is a simply brilliant photographer able to capture the pure emotion of a wedding in a way no one else can. He is one of the top photographers in the world and I am ecstatic to work with him! Congrats, Cengiz! Looking forward to wedding season this fall!

LDE Press: Lauren Daversa Events in The Knot Magazine

Lauren Daversa Events is proud to finally announce that one of our custom designed weddings is currently featured as a Real Wedding in the Summer - 2011 issue of The Knot Florida Magazine!

That's right, The Knot loved our oceanside Key Largo wedding so much that they decided to share Daryl + John's amazing celebration with everyone! Please check out their full wedding post here! And thank you to Ashley and Phillip of 1313 Photography for their beautiful shots and to all the vendors who helped in creating such a memorable event!

Featured : Junebug Weddings

Not once, but twice, this fabulous couple has had their engagement shoot - shot by the acclaimed Adagion Studio - featured on a major blog. This time their urban NYC rendezvous is the center of attention on Junebug Weddings. Hello...this is ah-ma-zing! It was a great week last week when I received the email they were to be featured on Merci New York and now Junebug Weddings! Seriously...incredible!

Here it is...Sara + Drew + Cengiz are all incredibly fabulous - and this is exactly what happens when you bring it all together.

A very big thank you to Junebug Weddings for showing Cengiz the love he deserves! He is truly a talented artist, I am absolutely in love with his work and I am honored to be able to work with him.

Lauren Daversa Events is literally dotting our i's and crossing our t's with all the final preparations for Sara + Drew's wedding celebration. We are less than thirty days away so be sure to check back soon so see his amazing artistry with this most epic wedding in the making!

Featured : Merci New York

You know it's going to be a great week when you receive an email that your clients are going to be featured on Merci New York! My dear friend Cengiz of Adagion Studio emailed me just moments ago to share the news about our most amazing clients, Sara + Drew, who I literally just introduced last week. Sara brought the amazing-ness with her red shoes and Drew rocked a pocket square - they are all sorts of right!

Now all of NYC and the blog-world can enjoy Adagion Studio's simply fabulous engagement session, which really is the perfect fit as a feature on the chic and stylish Merci New York blog. A big thank you to Merci New York for the love and please check out the post here...and try to contain the anticipation for Sara + Drew's big day, which is only weeks away!!

Sara + Drew

Meet Sara + Drew!


Introduced to me by a client - thank you Andrea :-) - it's been amazing since our first telephone conversation. We only started to plan their May wedding in the very beginning of 2011, and are now we are almost 4 weeks out from the big day!

This past weekend, they had their engagement session with Cengiz, the unbelievably talented artist behind Adagion Studio. I am so proud of this e-shoot, and like a proud mama, I literally showed them to an entire room of people when the pictures popped up on my phone last night.

So, takling the fact Cengiz turned it around in less than 24 hours - seriously, who does that? - the pictures are absolutely fabulous. The city is alive in each and every image, and Sara + Drew even more so as they run wild throughout the concrete jungle - the two love nuts they are!!! The energy between them is perfectly captured. Their happiness, their comfort, their style (hello, Drew rocks a pocket square!).

Cengiz, you have serious skills. I can't wait for the beautiful Montauk wedding...4 weeks and counting! For now, enjoy each and every part of this classic shoot, and be sure to check out all the photos and much more on Cengiz's blog!

Real Events : Behind The Scenes of LDE

The last few months have been on fire with the most amazing special events + weddings. I am incredibly blessed to be living my dream as the owner of a thriving event planning company. As The Daversa Group gears up for the Maker's Mark experience tent at Barrett-Jackson + Taste of the Nation and Lauren Daversa Events puts the finishing touches on our spring weddings at The Norton Museum of Art, Sole East, Chesterwood and Trump - I am pausing for a moment to enjoy the fun images Sara + Jason of Concept Photography shared with me from a recent Colony wedding on Palm Beach. Everything was outstanding, from the custom first look picnic I created to the final moments when the groom shared his air guitar skills as he rocked out to Rush's Limelight!!! Enjoy and be sure to check back for more photos!

Lauren Daversa Events and the happy couple, Krissy + Rob. The wedding was an amazing success!

Yes! It's Ben Bailey of Cash Cab! He grew up with the groom! Jason couldn't resist stepping in front of the lens for a pic!

Lauren Daversa Events + Rock With U who kept everyone on the dance floor all night!

Current Music : Luisito Quintero

It's no secret that life at Lauren Daversa Events has been moving ahead at full speed for quite some time. What most of my readers probably do not know is there is also a corporate division in this little company 'o' mine -The Daversa Group, which has also been moving ahead at lightening speed! Many people, actually, most people ask me at some point how do I keep it together. Besides being composed of pure, good ole' awesome-ness, LoL, I'd have to say music. Music is such a huge, HUGE part of my day. I can honestly say that I always have music on, where ever I am, whatever I am doing. That's one of the reasons why I like to take a few moments out and share what I'm currently grooving out to in the periodic Current Music posts.

Lately, I have really been into percussion. Just can't get enough of it. It it were up to me, I would enhance all of my events by pairing recorded music with live percussionists. It's just bad $ss - and Luisito Quintero is bad $ss! Born in Caracas, Venezuela, he traveled extensively with Oscar D’Leon and has worked with the late Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Richard Bona, Jack Dejonette, Willie Colon, George Benson, Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock, Nuyorican Soul, and Masters at Work to name a few. Listen and love!!!

Featured LDE Wedding : Weddings Unveiled

I was ecstatic to receive an email from Kirstin at Weddings Unveiled Magazine sharing the good news that one of my 2010 weddings with Jessica Lorren Organic Photography was going to be featured on their blog Completely Unveiled. This was a truly gorgeous wedding for a really awesome bride and I was so happy to be a part of her special day.

Check out the post here

Real Celebrity Wedding: James Wieland + Jennifer Dalla Riva

It was a hot August day in 2009 when Lauren Daversa Events first met with WPTV-Channel 5 weatherman James Wieland and Palm Beach Post advertising rep Jennifer Dalla Riva to discuss plans for what I knew would be an unforgettable wedding celebration.

Almost two years + countless hours of meticulous planning later, I'm happy to announce the wedding was a complete success! Not only was James + Jennifer's wedding an extraordinarily significant moment in their lives, but in mine as well...and you can see why after viewing the breathtaking images shot by Shannon Mathis of Mi.Amore.Foto. With such grace, Shannon captured the overwhelming emotion and love the beautiful couple radiated the entire day.

James + Jennifer are so incredibly in love and their enthusiasm for each other and for the wedding never ended! I was honored to be chosen to plan the most special day in their lives and will remember this always. Enjoy Shannon's sneak peak, and be sure to check back for more of Shannon's work and Cabana Picture's trailer!

Signature Drink Club : The Melagrana

Wow...I am not proud to admit it but I've dropped the ball with my Signature Drink Club. It's been almost 8 months since an entry, and it's not because I've been out sampling all the featured drinks! Lauren Daversa Events has truly been blessed with being busy. No complaints here, however, the fun little ideas I used to be able to write about morning, noon and night have certainly suffered.

So great news...I've just discovered a new member of the club that will make up for the long absence: The Melagrana courtesy of Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria. Here is why I like this drink: one of the main ingredients is prosecco, and I just so happen to be prosecco's biggest fan. And then for a little twist, the drink features yuzu juice, Pama pomegranate liqueur and a splash of Tanqueray. Right on! Absolutely perfect for a signature drink. Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of Serious Eats