Thursday, May 2, 2013

Spring 2014 Wedding Gown Trends

The Spring 2014 Bridal Market took place in New York a couple of weeks ago and we love this time of the year where we get to see the new designs for next year and browse through the many selections to pick some of our favorites.

Top: Monique Luillier, Reem Acra (Martha Stewart Weddings)
Bottom: Ines Di Santo (Wedding Wire)
Short dresses are still in and we especially love the way the veil is incorporated at the Reem Acra show.

Top: Monique Luillier (Martha Stewart Weddings)
Bottom: Monique Luillier (Martha Stewart Weddings), Maggie Sottero (Wedding Wire), Oscar de la Renta (Martha Stewart Weddings)
Capes and wraps of various lengths and material are also the trend for 2014.Being a big fan of lace, we are still biased towards the pretty lace wraps :)

Reem Acra (Martha Stewart Weddings, Wedding Wire)

Claire Pettibone (Claire Pettibone)

Claire Pettibone (Claire Pettibone)
Dramatic backs are still popular for next year and these are some of our favorites, especially those by Claire Pettibone. In our opinion, she does the most romantic and exquisite backs of wedding gowns!

Vera Wang (Martha Stewart Weddings), Maggie Sottero (Wedding Wire)
What's a season without a surprise? Some designers are putting on black and white gowns to add a level of sophistication to weddings. Vera Wang has a few black and white options in her selection and also paired black opera gloves with some of her all-white selections.

Hope you enjoyed looking at our favorite gowns for 2014!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Our Styled Session is featured!


The styled session that we did last year is featured on the Utterly Engaged blog today! You can check out more amazing photos captured by Gerald Carvalho here.

It was a lot of fun doing that shoot and that was thanks to an awesome team of vendors who we collaborated with:

Photographer: Gerald Carvalho Photography 
Floral Designer: Pretty in Pink Events-Chic Designs
Cake and desserts: La Vie Douce Design
Hair and Makeup: Skyla Arts: Makeup | Hair | Skincare
Models: Garett Knight and Emmalee Froehlich

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Guest Blog: Beau-coup

Today I am very excited to introduce our first ever guest blogger Beau-coup! They are a local online company (based in Mountain View) offering high quality favors, gifts and supplies as well as exceptional customer service so that every celebration can be a once-in-a-lifetime event. I have personally used some of their products for my business before and can attest to the excellent customer service and quality of their products.

Beau-coup:

Spring is nearly here, and it’s time to start shaking off the winter weariness in favor of sunshine and sweet-smelling flowers. It’s a great time to get outside and revel in the sunshine, and what better way to celebrate than with a tea party? Tea parties are one of our most popular themes, and here are a few suggestions on how to make this theme your own!

Classic Tea Party
·        Bridal Showers – spring is the season of love, making it the perfect time to celebrate your upcoming wedding with those you love most. Getting outside in the garden with the girls gives everyone a chance to play dress up while daydreaming about the wedding details.
·        Baby Showers –spring is also a season of rebirth, which makes it an ideal time to take advantage of the warmer weather and celebrate mom-to-be’s blossoming belly and growing family.
·        Girl’s Birthday Parties – what little girl doesn’t dream of a tea party at some point? A tea party themed birthday party is a great way to celebrate a special day while making a childhood dream come true. Don’t forget the cute, frilly costumes and fun hats!

Customize it:
The classic tea party set up is essentially the same for each of the above parties, with some minor changes to make it more relevant for each occasion. For example, you can decorate for each celebration with colorful criss-cross paper lanterns, but make sure to show your appreciation for your grown up guests with heart-shaped tea infusers, while you delight little girls with bite-sized and scrumptious little petit fours.



Alice in Wonderland Tea Party
·        Themed Weddings –the bride and groom are already mad for one another. Why not show it with a whimsical Alice in Wonderland theme? This theme comes complete with colorful costumes and all kinds of bite-sized goodies.
·        Adult Birthday Parties–who doesn’t dream of escaping the world in favor of a more magical place? A themed birthday party is the perfect way to make that happen.
·        Masquerades–sometimes the best reason to party is simply because. The coming of the spring after a long, chilly winter is reason enough to hose a springtime bash! Why not use it as an excuse to throw a masquerade with an Alice in Wonderland theme?

Create it:
 Decorate the tables with whimsical topiary place card holders and encourage guests to get into the theme with colorful parasols. Beyond that, the sky and your imagination are the only limits!



These are just a few ideas to keep you occupied while you countdown to that first glorious jacket-free day in the sunshine. What creative twists on a tea party can you dream up? Tell us in the comments!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo credit: Burnett's Boards
Wishing all of you a special day of love, Happy Valentine's Day!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Inspiration Board ~ Emerald

Emerald is Pantone's Color of the Year for 2013 and I thought it's such a luxurious and opulent color that I'd like to pair it with black and gold for a sophisticated and more formal wedding. This rich color combination reminds me of the Art Deco period in the 1920s and 1930s, a period that represented glamour and luxury.

That time period is pretty prevalent on TV now; Boardwalk Empire on HBO is based in that period and so is the current season of Downton Abbey on PBS (which I am obsessed with now!). There is also the upcoming movie adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" depicting life in the Roaring Twenties.

Without further ado, here's my inspiration board, enjoy!

Photo Credits (L-R): Dress from Bari Jay, Necklace from Glit, Invitation from Etsy, Nail Polish from Essie, Dress from Glamazon Diaries, Shoes from oBaz, Tablescape from Every Last Detail

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Pantone Color of the Year - 2013

Pantone.com
So it's been revealed, Pantone's color of the year for 2013 is Emerald, "a lively, radiant, lush green". According to their press release, "most often associated with brilliant, precious gemstones, the perception of Emerald is sophisticated and luxurious. Since antiquity, this luminous, magnificent hue has been the color of beauty and new life in many cultures and religions. It’s also the color of growth, renewal and prosperity – no other color conveys regeneration more than green."

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on an inspiration board based on Emerald!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Fun and Whimsical Table Design

Since I am loving the Tangerine Tango color more and more these days, I decided to design my next Stuart Rental table with it as the main color, with accents of pink and green, based on the inspiration board I posted earlier this year.

I wanted to take a more fun and casual approach this time, in comparison to my previous design table. In addition to using Stuart Rental's Harmony Orange table linen, I also selected their Tafetta Chardonnay napkins to complement the yellow circles in the table linen. The rest of the rentals used are the Cheers China, Erte flatware and the Sphere glassware.

The centerpiece is made up of paper flowers using a variety of origami and scrapbook paper. Since I used clay flowers last time, I thought why not do something different and decided to try my hand at making those. They turned out to be relatively easy to make! Besides, I think it adds a nice touch of whimsy to the entire design.

For the stationery, I collaborated with Cards de Luxe again and Susanne came up with the lovely design for the table number, place cards and menu cards that are too cute for words!

I love the end result and I hope you do too!



Much thanks to Stuart Rental Company and Cards de Luxe for their collaboration in this table design!