Our Newest Member – The Athenaeum
About The Athenaeum
The significance of the Athenaeum is threefold: it is a fine example of classical revival architecture, one of only two in the City of Alexandria; it has a long and colorful history of occupation; and it is home to the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association. The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all forms of art, and to establishing programs that will enrich the cultural life of Northern Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Why Go High Def?
Jessica Piscitelli, of Jessica Pi Productions, started offering HD packages to brides this year. Over time, she has found that most people still have a lot of questions regarding how to decide between HD or standard video for their wedding video production.
Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about HD.
What is the difference?
Quite simply, High Definition(HD) is better quality. HD is a bigger image (standard size is 720 x 480 and HD varies but is usually 1920 x 1080), HD has more lines of resolution (think higher thread count), and has a higher color depth(deeper shades of color are visible).
Please note the two example videos below were compressed for the web and so neither is at it’s optimum playback – but you can see some of the basic differences from these examples. Read More
Bliss Visits The Athenaeum
The Bliss Collection recently visited a wonderful venue in Alexandria – The Athenaeum!
Christi Lopez, of Bergerons Flowers & Events, brought along a little gift, as you can see from the photo, when we met with Jessica Lewis, from the Athenaeum board.
The Athenaeum is located in the heart of Alexandria, right on Prince Street. The main reception room is light and airy, with a high ceiling, and art lines the walls, as the site is an art gallery. The room itself offered convenience married with beauty and would make a wonderful reception site, but there was another secret little reason to love the Athenaeum – the courtyard garden!
The garden was peaceful, pretty, and separated from the Alexandria bustle by a brick wall. Now, it only holds about 25 people, but would be perfect if you wanted to have a small outdoor ceremony with the reception following inside for your 80 or 100 guests.
I would like to quickly point out that we did not bring one of the wonderful Bliss Collection photographers on our tour, so forgive the photo quality. It does not do the venue justice.
Along for the tour:
Christi Lopez, Bergerons Flowers & Events
Jessica Piscitelli, Jessica Pi Productions
Mary Supley Foxworth, MallowDrama
Tracie Rosales, Makeup Artistry By Tracie
If you’d like more information about The Athenaeum, go to their website, www.nvfaa.org or call them at 703.548.0035.
Bliss Takes a Tour
Four members of the Bliss Collection recently spent an afternoon visiting some of this area’s beautiful venues. As part of our continuing effort to increase education among members, we are touring venues to learn about their offerings so we can keep our brides and grooms informed of all the best things this area has to offer.
On the tour:
Christi Lopez, Bergerons Flowers & Events
Jessica Piscitelli, Jessica Pi Productions
Mary Supley Foxworth, MallowDrama
Tracie Rosales, Makeup Artistry By Tracie
And we got to see some sites! Each one of the following venues deserves it’s own post, so there will be more to come, but in the meantime, here’s a brief overview of our tour.
Venues Visited in Alexandria:
Hotel Monaco
Lee-Fendall House
Carlyle House
The Athaenium
The Westin
We focused on Alexandria on this tour and got a really great idea of the different types of wedding days available in one particular area of Northern Virginia!
Destination Weddings
Jessica Piscitelli, of Jessica Pi Productions, recently traveled to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic to videotape a destination wedding.
This video includes footage from Rome, Venice, France and the Dominican Republic. Where you go to say “I Do,” make sure you have a professional there to document your journey.
Here’s why hiring a professional videographer for your destination wedding is important.
1. Video is necessary. There will come a time when you look at your photo album and wonder, what made me laugh in that photo? What did he say that brought a tear to my eye? You can play your video 5, 10, or 20 years from now to find out.
2. Many destination hotels offer on staff photographers and videographers. Unfortunately, this usually means that you don’t have a selection – that there is only one choice. That person may or may not be a professional in the field he will be booked for your event. It is hard to attain assurances in advance when the person is not local.
3. Once your video is taped, you will want it to be edited. This takes a lot of time and a lot of correspondence to make sure it is being edited to your taste. Working with someone in another location could entail language barriers, format issues, or just a lot of long distance phone and shipping costs.
4. I have a BFA in production from NYU film school. I have been professionally capturing events for the past 11 years and have traveled many times with my camera gear. You want to be sure you are in good hands and don’t have to worry about anything going wrong on your wedding day. Hiring a professional will take one more concern off your shoulders.
5. If the worst should happen and you need to take legal recourse, it is easier to pursue that with a business that is registered in your home country or state. Hopefully, it would never come to that, but it is better to be prepared if something should go wrong.
Here’s a short video by Jessica Pi Productions of a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic.
Don’t Bust Your Budget: Bergerons Wedding Flowers Calculator
High Stakes by Bergerons
Planning your big day? The last thing you want to do is bust your budget. Wedding budgets are about as diverse as the people who are making them – from the simplistic to the extremely extravagant.
Looking for a simple way to find flowers that fit into your budget? Check out Bergerons Wedding Flowers Calculator – an easy tool to determine which flowers fit into your budget.
Our Wedding Flowers Calculator allows you to get an idea of how much you’ll be spending on flowers for your wedding, before you even come into our shop. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate total costs according to the quantity you estimate for each item. The spreadsheet includes categories for economy flowers, most popular flowers and more expensive flowers.
Many of you ask, “Which flowers fit into each category”? Well, that can depend. If you were concentrating chrysanthemums, dianthus (carnations), alstroemeria (Peruvian lily), or asters~these would more or less be considered in the economy price point. So, if at any point you mix these flowers with some of the more expensive flowers, then you would be lowering the cost of your flowers. Roses, freesia, gerbera, tulips, etc. are considered among the most popular (medium) price point. And, just to name a few of the higher price point flowers~we have orchids, calla lilies, peonies, and hydrangea to round out the list. Although, there are hundreds of flowers to choose from, this will give you just a snippet of what each category includes.
Keep in mind that while the Wedding Flowers Calculator is a useful tool for estimating and calculating a floral budget, it doesn’t take the place of an in-depth consultation with our knowledgeable bridal designers. It is, however, a good place to start when determining cost options.
Bliss Members in the Washingtonian
Every year Washingtonian Magazine comes out with it’s list of the top wedding vendors in the area. This year 4 Bliss Collection members made the list!
Congratulations to the following members:
Myrna Grossman – For All Occasions, Inc.
Maureen Chandler – Blush Bridal Boutique
Jessica Piscitelli – Jessica Pi Productions
Lynn Iannizzi & Priscilla Trimble – The Finer Points
The Vendors of The Bliss Collection
The Bliss Collection recently staged a wedding in order to show what all of the vendors in the group had to offer – and to present a view of what a “Bliss” wedding would look like.
This video, by Jessica Pi Productions, shows the behind the scenes workings of putting on a wedding.
You can also view a promotional video about Bliss taped on the same day on our Learn More Page.
A Bliss Bat Mitzvah at Lansdowne
Another successful event, planned by The Finer Points, took place at Lansdowne Resort with a spectacular Bat Mitzvah. The main ballroom was transformed into a winter wonderland by Fandango with tables draped in silver linen with silver chiavari chairs, a skating rink dance floor, glowing kids’ tables and a spectacular lighting display of swirling snowflakes. A snowboard simulator, alpine skier, greenscreen photographer, and a caricature artist from Entertainment Connection kept the kids entertained while the band, Nightlife, had the guests dancing late into the night and Jessica Pi Productions captured every fun moment on video.
Bliss Members at Nature House
When not making wedding and groom’s cakes, Mary and David from MallowDrama also bake up creative cakes for social, corporate, and community events. This past weekend, they donated a cake for the grand opening celebration for Reston’s Nature House.
Jessica Piscitelli, of Jessica Pi Productions, serves as the marketing chair on the Friends of Reston Board. Friends of Reston has successfully raised over $1.5M for the design and construction of Nature House. Nature House is a year-round environmental education building located at Reston Association’s Walker Nature Education Center. Nestled in the woods at this beautiful 72-acre park, Nature House is a model of sustainable design and green construction. Nature House is LEED Gold Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The cake for the celebration included 4 tiers, featuring the Nature House logo, a tree inspired by Reston Association’s logo, an oak leaf in fall colors, and a three-dimensional acorn. In addition, there were edible sculptures of a squirrel and a turtle, and edible fall leaves made from fondant. A variety of techniques were used to decorate the cinnamon spice cake that was filled with caramelized apples: hand-painting with brushes, sponge painting, cake carving, and hand sculpting.
The line for cake was long, with about 175 slices served that afternoon.