The wedding last weekend was nothing less than spectacularly put together by four wonderful Pittsburgh Wedding Experts: Mosaic (table linens), Allison McGeary Creative (florals + decor), Andy Schick of ADS Lighting and Simone Hudson of 5Senses Events Design (event designer).  These four businesses and the talented people who own and operate them are some of THE best Pittsburgh has to offer for creating spectacular events!

Simone Hudson of 5Senses Events Design was responsible for creating the look and feel of the room merging Carola + Shawn's ideas and dreams into actuality.  Simone chose the chairs, linens, and designed the menu cards, table numbers and seating charts!  Beautiful, Simone; simply bellissimo!

There, high atop the 31st floor of the old Alcoa building, now the Regional Enterprise Tower, a typical conference room with a fabulous view of the city was transformed into a haute couture wedding reception that was, to quote Simone, "Fierce!"  Indeed it was, Simone; indeed it was! 

Here is a small sampling of images that depict the result of the bride and groom's vision and the planning and execution of that vision by these spectacular and reputable wedding event experts.  You see, if you have the right people doing what they do best the results will be stunning!  Wonderful work, everyone...BRAVO!  I highly recommend all of these businesses so when you meet with them, please tell them I sent you their way - they'll appreciate that!

The bonus last Saturday night: there was a ballgame at PNC Park and fireworks followed!  My images of the day/night are, well, to quote Simone again, "Fierce!" 

Last photo seen is of Simone and our wonderful couple, Shawn + Carola.  More images of Shawn + Carola and details of their wonderful day will follow soon!  ENJOY!

YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE WOMEN!! 

These are the women of Mosaic who MAKE your event, I promise!  They are: Susie Perelman (owner), Stacey Mehalik and Jill Pampena. 

Mosaic provides linens, etc. for hundreds of events locally and nationally.  The women of Mosaic have linens to meet every need, mood and style!  Their service is superb and they will make your dreams and visions for your event come true! 

Scroll over the images on the right to view a sprinkling of their tremendous creativity, talent and success taken from the Children's Hospital Gala earlier this year!  The Mosaic showroom is the third image in.  Impressive, yes?

Connect with them...now!  You won't regret it.  And tell them I sent you their way; they'll appreciate that.

Destination: Loretto, PA...you see, we don't have to travel far for a destination wedding...  ;-)

Jenna and Jason had a lovely ceremony in Loretto then held their reception in Altoona, PA.  Interwoven between, we were given special permission to use the beautiful grounds of the Charles M. Schwab Estate in Loretto (which is now the local Franciscan Friary) for photographs of the wedding party.  There wasn't enough time for me to photograph like I wanted to, so it was a good thing we had already pre-planned to photo there again this Fall.  We'll be headed back there soon for a post wedding romantic session where we are going to take our time to photograph, just the three of us...I can't wait! 

I really dug the architecture of the church: Holy Name Catholic Church - it was way retro and looked like a flying saucer!  HA!  Seriously, it was so cool!  1970s all the way...BUT the ceremony was simply lovely and delightful...and beautiful too, with so many special touches like Jason's twin brother singing and Jason's father singing and playing the guitar - lots of creative talent in that family, I'll tell you.

The reception at the Ramada Inn and Conference Center, Altoona was PINK to the max!  You've got to be a secure guy to deal with all that pink all day long!  I'd say that Jason being surrounded in pink was a clear indication of how much he loves Jenna - enough to let her dreams come true on their wedding day!  Jenna's Uncle, Greg Persio took excellent care of his niece and Jason - great job Uncle Greg!

I fell head-over-heels for Jenna's mom - oh my goodness!  She is one of those little angels walking on the earth!  Careful Jenna, I'm thinking of adopting her!!!  Here's a photo of Jenna w/ her mom - so cute and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, now, does it...

Music/DJ expertise at the reception was provided by none other than the FABULOUS Jeremy Ganss of Jeremy Ganss Productions  He rocked the night away like the spin-doctor he is!  Club it up, baby - nice musical job!  You'll find one of my artsy images of Jeremy spinning at the end of the images below!

Hope you enjoy the images below and don't forget to comment below here on the blog too!

I've come to know a number of angels walking the earth and just so happened to be blessed enough to be born to two of them and equally blessed to be able to say that I get to talk with both of them every day...lucky, lucky, lucky ME!

This is my Daddio; his name is John.  He calls me "Cheerio!"  I like that a lot.

He's quite a handsome fella and a great catch!  Like those blue eyes?  They are all-knowing and filled with compassion and knowledge beyond belief.

He was a Staff Sergeant in the 5th Armored Division, 387th Battalion D during World War ii.  He, and my mother are two of the reasons we have a great country to live in - she worked in a factory at GE during the war assembling parts used for bazooka guns...another future topic of discussion somewhere here...

I could go on all day about the pride and love I have for my dad (and my mom), but will just leave you with this...  Ever since I was a kid I recognized the goodness and the value of having wonderful parents, even if I did rebel a bit as a teenager.  I've always wished I could share my father with those who didn't have a good father or a father at all because he is such a good man.  My dad is absolutely, hands down, the best man I have ever known in my life.  My wish is that every little or every grown-up girl can say those very same words about her own father too!

Both of my parents INSPIRE me to strive to be a better person every day.  I am so very fortunate and so very blessed.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I thought I'd elaborate a bit more on what exactly Dear Gigi is...

Dear Gigi is me.  You see, Gigi is the Italian derivative of my name Joanne = Gianna = Gigi, the shortened form of my Italian name.

When I move to Italy some day, I'll change my name. Until then, I thought it would be fun if Gigi could offer some tips AND opinions on diverse topics that will deal with the multitude of her interests - from weddings to commitment ceremonies, from fashion to design, from love to remorse...but mostly all from love!

Gigi wants to hear from YOU too!  So, if you have a question that you'd like answered, mild or controversial, ask Gigi and let's see what she comes up with!
 
I hope you enjoy Gigi's colorful thoughts and opinions, and feel free to chime in with comments on the posts yourself, as your feedback and input is important to me...er, I mean Gigi!

Let me know what you think!  ENJOY! and...

Ciao Bella!

Grande Amore, Gigi