Fuji Instant Camera fun!

This weekend our son and his girlfriend came to visit us in NYC! She brought her Fuji Instant Camera and it was so much fun.

As a Wedding Planner, I always look at things with the perspective of how we can use this at a wedding.

These photos are "business card" size and would be great to put in a "guest book". Your guests could take their picture and paste/tape it directly into a book of your choice.

Erin found the camera on Amazon for about $67 and the film is about $13 for 20 photos! Have fun!

Congratulations to Luis and Katie!

This weekend I had the privilege of coordinating Katie & Luis' vintage, chic wedding at the Plantation Golf & Country Club. Todd Blanton and his staff did a great job with the set up, arrangements, food and service. Sue Bain from Signature Florals, brought beautiful flowers to finish off the amazing decor that my beautiful bride, Katie, planned for months. Here are a few pictures of the details that included birds, birdcages, feathers, candles, moss, etc. The name cards were placed on the napkins at each place settings and the alphabetical lists were framed and hung on an antique door - it was so beautiful. The flowers girls carried birdcages and sprinkled feathers down the aisle. Our friends, Kelly and daughter, Lauren put the candy bar together and Whitney who interned with Kelly McWilliams helped tweak all the details for me while I dealt with the guests and wedding party. It was a great team effort - Katie & Luis have great families and a great group of friends who love them very much. It was a wonderful day that honored God which was the bride and groom's goal!!! More photos were posted by the photographer, Marie Glassford (mariaglassfordblog.com). Maria was a lot of fun to work with.

Happy Anniversary Lauren & Bill!

Lauren and Bill tied the knot on 3/1/08 at Naples Grande. It was the most amazing wedding that I had ever been involved in and the wedding that launched Chandelier Productions! I love this couple and their families. It was a blessing to be a part of this celebration!

Lauren's mom designed and had the fireplace built. It was quite the construction project that started during the day on Friday and went late unto the night (early morning). Matthew and Zoe from 50/Fifty Floral Design provided the most amazing flowers. My favorite was the "trough" of cherry blossoms with hanging tea light lanterns that was the "background" for the wedding procession and additional decor for the reception.

The ceremony was held in the Vista Ballroom. Orlando Cabrera from Summit Church officiated the ceremony and as always, did an amazing job. He had us all crying! After the wedding, guests were ushered out to the Sunset Terrace for a cocktail reception with a signature non-alcoholic pink pina colada!

Background note, the ceremony started at 5:00pm and at the same time, the pool was closed and transformed into the dinner venue - the hotel had a little over an hour to accomplish this task - they did an amazing job along with the staff from 50/Fifty!

Bill & Lauren took advantage of the hotel's beautiful surroundings and had all of their photographs taken before the ceremony along with the bridal party and family. During the cocktail reception, the wedding party dashed down to the beach for a few sunset pictures taken by Cher Hanna and her husband!

The dinner reception took place around the pool with amazing floral and table designs. Matthew also had the most unusual and beautiful decor item installed - floating 6 foot "balloons" with images of pink peonies projected on them. I'm still not sure how they did it, but it was amazing. It was a cool March evening and the bride's mother provided white shawls from Ikea for all the ladies - a great, much appreciated, detail to the evening!

During dinner, we transformed the ceremony site to a "lounge" area for the rest of the reception. We brought in furniture, an awesome band "Vintage Vinyl", set up the most beautiful candy bar that I have ever seen and changed all the lights from white to pink. Guests were directed back up to the Vista Ballroom for the remainder of the celebration.

The chef at the Naples Grande baked the cake and had words to the song that Bill wrote for his proposal to Lauren written around the sides of the cake - it was beautiful and delicious. Late in the evening, after lots of dancing, cake and more signature pina coladas the hotel staff served little hamburgers and french fries - so fun!

Frost Lighting and Draping provided additional decor for the ceremony and reception. They were amazing to work with and a lot of fun! There were so many details to this wedding. We worked two 17 hour days to coordinate this wedding - it was awesome and so memorable.

So began Chandelier Productions! Happy Anniversary Lauren & Bill, we love you! (Amateur photos - taken by me - Mary)

Elizabeth's Lake Placid October Wedding

I'm spending the evening watching TV with my husband and searching the internet for inspiration. I'm working with a beautiful bride and new friend Elizabeth on her wedding in Lake Placid, NY in October. Elizabeth is engaged to our dear friend, Steve. Elizabeth has chosen a deep purple/eggplant color and matching it with apple green - its going to be gorgeous. Here are a few pictures I found to inspire us!

Merry Christmas from the Hines family to yours!

Christmas is always a great time to catch up on everyone’s life. It’s the time that we sit down and document what has happened over the past year. Well, I’ve been thinking about what has happened in our lives over the past 26 years– I’m only including the highlights and there is a point!

It was January 1983, Jim Hines was seriously thinking about moving to NYC, it was his dream. Mary Mahler was planning to move back to DC, in the meantime she was assigned to work as a temporary secretary at the office where Jim was working. They met on January 18^th, went out on their first date on January 25^th, and were married on June 25^th.

Michael was born on 10/26/84. Mary became a follower of Christ in early 1985. Sarah was born on 1/26/87. Jim became a follower on Christ in May of 1987. Charlie was born on 12/19/88. The Hines Family moved to Naples in 1991. Michael married Sarah Lynn Riger on 8/13/2006. Soren Paul Hines was born on 12/24/2008. Jim became Executive Director of SCPI (www.scpi.org) Saturation Church Planting International 6/1/2009. Jim, Mary & Sarah moved to NYC on December 2^nd!

Our odyssey is an amazing God story. He has been in the center of everything that we have done. We can honestly say that God orchestrated the events in our life so specifically that we know He wants us in NYC. Obeying Him and deciding to go was easy, trusting Him with all the details is hard. We miss Charlie, Michael, Sarah & Soren, we miss our friends, we miss our washer & dryer, etc. Naples has become our vacation destination of choice and we plan to visit often.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. (He rules and we can rest) And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor (He knows and understands everything we are going through), Mighty God(He is powerful enough to handle our struggles), Everlasting Father (there’s no end to His love), Prince of Peace (He alone can give us peace that is not dependent on our circumstances). Isaiah 9:5-7

This is why we celebrate Christmas and we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year! Jim, & Mary Hines

We've moved to NYC!

Long story - short .... circumstances orchestrated by God led us to move to NYC on December 1st! The move went well, everything is unpacked, we hosted our first guests this past weekend and today I'm hanging pictures. Its cold, I can't deny that, but our apartment seems to be retaining some heat! We are heading back to SWFL for the holidays and then back to the big city. I don't know what this move will mean to Chandelier Productions, but I'm looking forward to discovering the city, the NYC wedding business and making new friends!

This would be so cool at a garden reception!

I was at Waterside Shops today and they were having a party to celebrate the opening of the Romero Britto museum. DJ Ceron was playing the tunes, the weather was awesome and THEN there were walking trees and orchids.

My pictures aren't great, but you can look at pictures and videos at Thelivinggarden.com. They were amazing and I thought they would be totally fun at a wedding reception.

The costumes were beautiful and the "dancers" were fascinating how they interacted with the audience, fellow "plants" and the architecture around them.

Check out the website!