Well, we are back and lots of progress has been made on the new office rennovation… Here are some updated pics, but we are still working on it… I’ll post more once the furniture is back in place and we are fully organized, so as they say, please pardon our mess.

our “holiday” windows, with our beautiful new book cover

we stripped down the old floors and refinished with a high gloss varnish

the new “french” doors leading from the front meeting room back to the offices, now have glass panes that really open up the space

you can’t tell well here, but the walls are now a beautiful metallic shade of champagne inspired by the inside of some mercury glass vases here, new bead board chair railing gives us a custom look

we custom built floor to ceiling book cases along the back wall with beadboard backing, still organizing here

our new pendant lamp that replaced a krusty old ceiling fan never used, which looks great with the light grey walls

the picture window wall that our new desk now faces brightens up the room with the pop of orange, our desk top is a large slab of marble used at one of our weddings this year

all of the ugly (printer, fax machine, copier, etc.) is now hidden behind this custom beadboard cabinet

Tara’s Tidbits

I am thrilled to have been chosen as the “Expert” in Martha Stewart Weddings’ “Ask the Expert” column, which will be featured in the Spring 2010 issue. So, be on the lookout for all of my expert tips when the magazine hits newsstands.

Cheers to a Happy New Year!

Be back next week with lots to report… Stay Safe!

Soiree definitely works mostly with brides and planning weddings, but sometimes we get to do other events which keep things different and interesting around here, like our Darkness to Light Gala which was featured a couple of weeks ago.

Here are shots from a Bar Miztvah we did a few years back… The theme was sports- you should have seen a team of ladies coming up with the ideas on this one!

the father wore a basketball yarmulkes in honor of the sports theme

colors were a deep red, gold, and black and white, so these deep fall dahlias were the perfect hue!

walls of inflatable balls were the focal point behind the bars

view of the room for the dinner portion

each table top had a sports theme, here is the golf section even with astro turf as the topper! table numbers were printed on the flags.

wall of inflatable baseballs behind a bar

the tag line for the night: It’s Game Time!

black and white striped pendants mimicked referee jerseys, and centerpieces were flower “balls”

the invites were wrapped in paper that looked and felt like foottball leather, and were even hand laced, so we kept that theme for the menu cards

our shadow box bars were all filled with different types of sports balls

Thank you to Squire Fox for all of the photos…

Walk With You…

Finding a first dance song and a father/daughter dance song always tends to be a tough point for a lots of brides.  We had a father from our wedding in May,  who worked with the surprise performer (Edwin McCain) to write a song for his daughter.  Edwin has now recorded it, and it’s a really lovely song- listen to it here.

Tara’s Tidbits

As we have mentioned before, our new book: Weddings by Tara Guerard will be out on January 1st!  What a great way for us to kick off the new year.  I have several appearances scheduled where we will be selling the book here in Charleston, Atlanta, Charlotte, New York City, and Nashville.  Here are some confirmed dates to come by and purchase your copies and have me sign them.

Jan. 9th:
11:00am-12:00pm
Maddison Rowe Bridal, Charleston, SC
171 Spring Street

Jan. 23rd:
3:00pm
Social Graces, Nashville, TN
1704 21st Ave South

Saturday, Feb. 6th:
2:00pm
Vieuxtemps, Charleston, SC
180 King Street

Tuesday, February 23rd/Feb. NACE Program
5:30pm
The Library Society of Charleston
164 King Street

Saturday, March 6th:
1:00pm
Charleston Wine and Food Festival, Marion Square

Scene And Heard

A couple of wedding related snippits that I’m excited about right now gearing up for next year’s spring wedding season is the debut of Glamour.com’s wedding edition.  Click here to read more.

Also, Martha Stewart Weddings Destination Weddings and Dream Honeymoons magazine, now on newsstands. Both Charleston and New York City were chosen as top city destinations, and Kiawah Island, SC was chosen as a great beach honeymoon spot.

The spirit of the season has finally arrived! For all of us that are scaling back those large over the top Christmas parties, I wanted to share some shots that may inspire your home holiday decor.

We love it when our past wedding clients call us to do other parties for them.  This 2008 party honored the Garden Club of Augusta members… a former mother and father of the bride hosted this holiday fete at their home, and it was a pleasure getting to work with them again!

Bride in Chief

We were so happy to work with Charleston Magazine, Editor in Chief, Darcy Shankland on her recent cozy winter wedding to Wally Seinsheimer… We’ll post more pics when we can, but here was what the Chief herself had to say on her recent blog post.

Tara’s Tidbits

I’m so excited about our new logo and website, that I hope to be able to share with you soon. We were so inspired by the colors in our new look, that in the process of redesiging our office we decided to bring in those colors as well.  Here is my color palatte:

the first two are from Sherwin Williams, the orange is a Martin Senour color, and the last is a metallic paint that we are all lady Gaga over…

Wrap It Up..

We are so lucky to have a new boutique intown that is so fashion forward. Pearl opened earlier this year and carries designs from Jason Wu, Temperley London, and Anya Hindmarch along with many more.  Allison Gilchrist being the fashion maven she has her holiday windows in full force.  She managed to make custom designs for her manequins out of holiday wrap and accessories- LOVE!

Of course, amongst their real collection, they also have what I want for my “holiday” outfit…