Elegance & Simplicity

Katie Martin with Elegance and Simplicity did an amazing job! We couldn't have picked a better vendor to put together our special day. She was a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend Elegance & Simplicity hands down. Thank you so much for all your hard work!

Katie was great. I had no idea about the flowers and she walked me through everything.

Kate Martin of Elegance & Simplicity was a dream to work with. We gave only minimal direction and she got us and our vision right away. We knew we were in good hands and didn't have to fuss or worry about how beautiful the floral decor was going to be on our wedding day. She worked with us through a few changes and budget saving manuveurs without batting an eyelash. We couldn't have been happier with the final product and execution, truly above our expectations.

Katie was incredible. I went to her without knowing a thing about flowers, but having a particular style and she got it immediately. My flowers (and chuppah) were absolutely beautiful, and the room was incredible (she provided lighting too) - exactly what we wanted. We liked her so much that when my mom decided she wanted a day of planner, I said only if it's Katie. She is responsive and seems to know everything about weddings, what works, and what doesn't (but she won't push you into anything). Having her there alleviated much stress and truly enabled us to enjoy every moment of our wedding (which we so did). I strongly recommend her for flowers and wedding planning services.

Katie Matin is extremely experienced and a wonderful person to have by your side throughout the planning phase to the day of the wedding. Her calmness and good humor is infectious. She has a good eye for detail and responds quickly to queries. The flowers were outstanding in freshness, color and design.

I have never seen bouquets for a wedding so beautiful. My mother-of-the-bride bouquet lasted almost two weeks after the wedding. Katie is professional and a great person to work with.

Maybe I am biased (strike that - I know I am) but I think I had the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen at a wedding thanks to Katie.

Not that everything in wedding planning isn't daunting, but spending hours googling wedding flower arrangements was making me batty. I decided to just give up the quest for the perfect on-line find and hire a professional. I met with Katie, gave her a general idea of what I was looking for along with a few of my google's, and what she came up with was spectacular. My bouquet was so beautiful that I didn't want to put it down to eat! The arrangements at the church as well as the reception were also a wonderful mix of traditional and modern that my guests couldn't stop raving about them!

Katie's company also did the lighting for my reception and I thought the whole ambiance was lovley.

I would recommend Elegance & Simplicity without hesitation. Thank you Katie!

Our flowers were so pretty! I loved my bouquet and the boutineer (no idea how to spell that) was very classy looking and not too big. I also really loved the favors/plants that they provided for our centerpieces at our reception. No complaints.

We LOVED working with Katie Martin at Elegance and Simplicity. We used her for wedding coordination services and for flowers and decor.

The wedding coordination services were great - we found Katie helpful for answering lots of little logistical questions, and her help with itinerary planning made a huge difference in how our day ran. I have been a bridesmaid in many weddings where everyone was going crazy at the last minute, but she helped us plan our day so that everything went smoothly and the day of the wedding was actually calm and relaxing.

Katie did our flowers and we also rented linens through her. I don't know the first thing about flowers so just told her what colors I wanted and told her to go for it. My bouquet was gorgeous and all of the table settings and centerpieces were perfect.

Katie was extremely professional and on top of things, always getting back to my emails promptly and answering all of my questions. She was also just a pleasure to be with and a practical and calming force in our wedding planning process. She was great to work with and we recommend Elegance and Simplicity and Katie Martin to everyone.

One more thing - the bustle of my dress fell apart at the wedding and Katie and her assistant literally took a needle and thread and sewed it back together. Couldn't ask for more!

Katie Martin was extremely helpful and calm throughout my wedding planning process. She guided me to budget-friendly options without sacrificing classiness and style. Her years of experience and her network with the wedding scene in DC gave me confidence that I was making informed decisions about vendors. My bouquets were beautiful and the centerpieces were gorgeous - received so many compliments! She was very flexible with my last minute changes - she simply took care of things! Working with Katie was a wonderful experience.

I hired Katie and her team at Elegance & Simplicity to hang lights and lanterns under my tent at my reception site. Because I did not use a florist, I had a ton of trouble trying to find a decor business that was willing to just do the lights/lantern decorating, however, I was then lucky to find Katie.

After a swift positive email response to my inquiry - Katie was fantastic to work with and the execution of the decor was INCREDIBLE. I had a very specific image in my mind of how I wanted the globe lights and lanterns to look (the lanterns to be hung in the center of the tent over the dance floor like a sort of chandelier) and her team exceeded my expectations completely.

Katie was extremely flexible with allowing me to provide the lanterns and lights, dropping them off ahead of time, and leaving the rest up to her. It took a HUGE weight off my shoulders, and like I said, things looked fantastic when I arrived!

I absolutely loved working with Katie Martin and her crew at Elegance & Simplicity. They provided flowers for the bridal party and for our reception and they did a spectacular job. We met with Katie shortly after our engagement to decide on arrangements, and she had some amazing ideas that fit both within our personal style and our budget. We chose to do a mix of low and high centerpieces incorporating fresh fruit, branches, lanterns, and beautiful hydrangeas - she made all of our plans come to life and the arrangements were more beautiful than I could have imagined. Additionally, she helps us conceptualize the girls' bouquets and the boutonnieres for the men, and all were beautiful. Katie was VERY helpful in keeping us within our budget and she had some great ideas about how to make the most of our arrangements. Her staff was wonderful to work with and they delivered and set up everything perfectly. I can't say enough wonderful things about Elegance & Simplicity, and I'd recommend them to any DC-area couple looking for a great florist (additionally, I do know that they can do decor and other event planning for weddings, but we did not utilize these services).

Flowers were beautiful and exactly what we ordered. Katie provided the look we had envisioned and we were so happy.

katie gave us an elegant and fun wedding!

They provided beautiful lighting and decor for my wedding and are wonderful to work with! They will definitely make your special day one to remember!

Katie from Elegance & Simplicity did the flowers for our wedding. Overall we were really, really happy with all the products. At our initial meeting, we were a bit disappointed to not receive more suggestions from her based on our color scheme/vision (not knowing the names of all flowers, we didn't even know where to start!); thankfully our wedding planner arrived and was able to help us out. We loved the mix of short and tall table arrangements that Elegance and Simplicity provided. The bridesmaids green spider mum bouquets were beautiful... I also loved my white calla lily bouquet, but the edsges of the flowers started browning pretty quickly. Was also disapointed that when we asked for four orchids for the bridesmaids to put in their hair we were charged $25-- we thought this might be complimentary after all of the money we were spending with Elegance & Simplicity already.

Overall Katie was easy to work with (how much of that is also due to our wedding planner, I don't know) and we loved the look of our flowers.

The flowers were simple and beautiful. Simply beautiful. Thank you Katie

My husband and I were married on August 14, 2010 and I am just now writing this review... a true testimony to my own procrastination. Planning a wedding takes a ton of patience, time, and planning. From the moment I first met Katie Martin, I knew she was the right person for the job. We used both her floral and day of planning services. Hands down the best and easiest decision we made when hiring her.

Katie was there every step of the way from our first meeting until the last moments of our reception. She listened to our needs, worked with our budget, and dealt with my multiple emails regarding changes I wanted to make. The week before the wedding was relaxing and I felt 100% confident in her abilities to get the job done and get it right. The wedding went without a hitch and was a huge success! Dozens of compliments on how beautiful everything was and how at calm and at ease the bride and groom were. Again, best and easiest decision ever! Thank you Katie and to her team! -Liz and Andrew S.

I just had my wedding this past weekend and could not have been more pleased with the entire day, by far the best day of my life. I was extremely busy during the planning process because I work full time and am working on a Masters. Katie was great at getting back to me and took care of every single thing that I needed for the wedding. All of the vendors we worked with were spectacular, and Katie was able to put me in touch with the people that we needed to make our wedding exactly what we wanted. As someone who does not know a lot about flowers, Katie helps me pick out the right type of flowers for what we wanted and even created a unique piece for the altar for us. I received so many compliments on my bouquet, the altar, and the centerpieces! From the beginning, I trusted Katie with any floral needs I had - she also did the flowers for my bridal shower and rehearsal dinner that week.
I also have to put a comment in about the week of the wedding. My wedding was on a Saturday, and once the escort cards and table seating were done, I was completely at ease the week of the wedding. I was not even the least bit stressed or nervous. The day of the wedding went exactly as planned, from the ceremony starting on time, to each part of the day being executed when and as it was supposed to. Katie also really helped make our wedding the unique experience it was. My parents even commented after the fact that the wedding was spectacular due to my wedding planner (my sister had had issues with hers a few years prior). We have received so many compliments about how our wedding was the best wedding anyone has been to, how the details were perfect, how it was the most beautiful wedding, etc. and I have to say it would not have been the same without Katie! Thanks so much!! :)

Loved working with Katie and her team. Couldn't have asked for a better experience. My flowers were so beautiful!

They were a great service and accommodated to all my needs for flowers and decor. I am grateful for their service.

Whimsical, magical and beyond every wildest dream… my wedding. Of course, none of it would have been possible without Katie Martin and her amazing company, Elegance & Simplicity. From the moment I met Katie, I knew that she would be the perfect woman/rockstar to help me plan this wedding. My fiancé (now husband!) and I decided at the outset of this bonanza that we would need someone to help us with our big day; we are both extremely busy with work yet had vision (ok, it was my vision, and he went with it) of how we wanted our day to be – fun, warm, joyful, and even sparkling. Interestingly, those words also describe Katie and everything Elegance & Simplicity.

From the very first meeting through every breath and smile on our wedding day, I never felt anything but confident and calm that Katie and her associates would make those lightning-fast hours special. She is truly experienced in the wedding industry, alive with ideas and tiny details that really help in making a wedding anything but standard. She collaborated with me on everything from colors to linens to décor, pulling in resources and contacts that she seemed to have at her fingertips. Katie’s referrals were tremendous for make-up, photography, lighting, cake, and the DJ, not to mention flowers. Yes, we used Elegance & Simplicity for our wedding day flowers, and they were beyond stunning – branched centerpieces with hanging votives, escort cards perched in wheatgrass, the flower girl tossing orchids from a custom wooden box… I can still smell the peonies in my bouquet…

The week leading up to the wedding, people kept asking whether I was getting stressed, and when I gave them an honest answer – nope, not really – they were clearly surprised. Isn’t a bride supposed to be freaking out, losing sleep? Well, I really wasn’t … that’s what happens when you have utmost confidence that your consultant will ensure that the vendors will arrive to your wedding site on time, that your tables will be arranged the way you discussed, that any last minute snafus are dealt with seamlessly (I still don’t know if we had any!). Katie and her team did not disappoint. In fact, they exceeded every expectation that I could have ever had, top to bottom and start to finish.

Growing up, I was not the little girl who dreamed of the day she would be married to her prince. I never had visions of white and pink and horse-drawn carriages. What I did know is that I wanted to fall in love, marry my love, and live happily ever after. Without question, my wedding day was the start of that effervescent dream, orchestrated by Katie and the fantastic Elegance & Simplicity.

Both Kevin and I wanted to review Katie on wedding wire as she is the only vendor that blew us away! She was always responsive and was within our budget and we loved the fact that she is a green vendor. She literally made our small wedding beautiful!

We had a very small wedding but high expectations for flowers since my father is a florist. We could not believe what we saw when we arrived. She literally went above and beyond our expectations and even brought an extra vase of flowers for the bathroom! She was so flexible and knowledgeable and she is green. Our wedding was Eco-friendly and there really isn't anyone else in the area that knows about Eco-friendly flowers as much as she does....believe me...we checked!

The wedding wouldn't have been the marvelous occasion it was without Katie-

Elegance and Simplicity, specifically the creative mind of Katie Martin, brought my wedding day vision to life. Planning my MD wedding from out of state could have been incredibly stressful, but Katie's experience and organization put my mind at ease from the start. The value of a good wedding planner comes from their knowledge of and reputation with the best local vendors. Rather than spending hours searching on-line for a company or venue, Katie will narrow the search for you with high quality professionals whose work she knows well. When you want your special day to be amazing, this kind of reassurance is priceless. Additionally, E&S did the florals for my wedding and they were spectactular. I highly recommend looking at the pictures on the E&S website to get a sense of Katie's design style and the level of work you can expect by using Elegance and Simplicity.

Katie is the consumate professional. We originally hired her as our flowerist. She was fantastic. Highly attentive, very creative, all with a great sense of taste. E&S did an amazing job with the flower arrangements -- so much so that family and friends are still commenting about them weeks later. Our only mistake was not fully appreciating that she also provides Wedding Coordinator services until about 3-4 weeks before the wedding day. We could've saved ourselves a lot of headaches by hiring her as a wedding coordinator/planner much earlier than we did. She also hooked us up with the best cake maker in the metro area that we would not have otherwise discovered (Kendall's Cakes). Our wedding day was spectacular and greatly appreciate all that Katie/E&S did for us on our big day. We highly recommend Katie Martin / E&S!!!!

The flowers at our wedding looked fantastic.

They did a good job with the Chuppah at the ceremony, and kept everyone in line throughout the ceremony. Katie was great and we loved working with her.

I simply cannot say enough about Katie Martin and her staff...I wish I would have found her earlier in the process, she would have made my life easier form the beginning. My flowers were so beautiful and her coordinating staff saved my sanity the day of the wedding!

Katie Martin is THE BEST at all she does! She made the entire process so easy and enjoyable. Instead of having to look at 100 venues, Katie was able to direct us to 4 places to choose between, based on what we told her we wanted. The DJ she recommended was first class, the caterers served the best food, and the wedding ended up being so joyful since Katie took care of all of the behind the scenes details. The flowers and other arrangements Katie produced are still talked about amongst out friends and family. They were so lush and beautiful, our guests were seen taking pictures of the centerpieces! Trust Katie to make your day uniquely your own, then simply enjoy the event. It will come together flawlessly! I am a fine jeweler, and I recommend Katie to all of my newly engaged couples.

Katie Martin, owner of Elegance and Simplicity, was a true delight to work with. She listened to what I wanted to do with flowers but couldn't quite express, figured it out, and made wonderful suggestions. My bouquet was so gorgeous that I cried when it was time to dry it. She definitely knows how to make a bride happy. She also makes suggestions on how to get more flowers for your budget. We loved working with her and the tables, bouquet, corsages and boutineirres, and chuppah were unbelievable. Seeing the table flowers and my bouquet for the first time was one of my most favorite parts of the wedding day.

I was so excited to work with Katie Martin. When I arrived for our first meeting, I had a picture of a specific bridal bouquet that I wanted. I was head over heels in love with this bouquet. It featured giant calla lillies peeled back, with a small bunch of Lilly of the Valley atop the center. I used this as my inspiration for the rest of the flowers. She assured me this was something she could recreate.

The day of the wedding, when I walked into the bridal ready room and saw the flowers, I was heartbroken. They were calla lillies and lily of the valley, but not at all arranged in the way I had asked for. The flowers themselves were healthy and beautiful, but arranged nothing like the picture. The centerpieces were lovely as well, but I really had a hard time looking past my bouquet. When I finally spoke to Katie, she said the first flowers she ordered (in the larger size needed) were not healthy looking and so she had to substitute.

A simple note or a quick phone call to share this with me before the wedding would have greatly assuaged my disappointment.

In addition, she had agreed to substitute a sweetheart table centerpiece with two of the guest table centerpieces when our final headcount revealed we need two less tables than originally planned for. When I arrived at the City Club, there were empty vases on the sweetheart table for the bridal party bouquets. Katie placed the blame on the City Club, but they were so spot on with everything else, it's hard for me to believe that they would have removed a centerpiece placed on the table by the florist's delivery person.

If you decide to work with Katie, I suggest asking her to communicate with you before the wedding to see how things turned out so you are not surprised if something has changed.

I met with Katie once at her office in Georgetown and found her very easy to work with and exchange ideas with. I pretty much knew the style and colors I wanted (modern/tropical in red and gold) but was open to what type of flowers would work. I found E&S to be one of the few that was comfortable working in a more modern (some florist called this ?high-end?) design/look. I showed Katie some pictures of the style and flowers I liked and she then suggested others as well. She drew up an estimate at our meeting and emailed it to me right away. We communicated via email thereafter regarding all the details and she was very prompt with responses. I also changed my centerpiece design and she was very willing to accommodate that. She also was able to work within my budget after fine-tuning the flowers selections. I also liked that she would email photos of events she does to her clients so we can see the latest and greatest. The day of the wedding, she delivered the bouquets, bouts, and corsages to my hotel room on time and the flowers were just gorgeous. All the flowers lasted at least for 5 days after the wedding and stood up well in the hot summer heat the day of.

Absolutely wonderful to work with!

Elegance & Simplicity has so much to offer you! Superb event design! Detailed event planning! Phenomenal floral decor! What more could brides- and grooms-to-be ask for? I say not much! And the icing on the cake? They are a super duper eco-friendly company top to bottom! If you care about spending your dollars in an eco-friendly way, this is the company for you.

I've been working with Katie and her staff for years and years, she designs amazing weddings and takes care of every need of her clients!