Something Borrowed...

Your mother’s pearl necklace, your grandmother’s diamond ring, your best friend’s beautiful lace veil…. These are all “something borrowed” you can use for your big day! A fun idea and something that can be used for years to come is to create a handkerchief that is used among your group of close girlfriends. As each friend gets married you can get their name and wedding date monogrammed on the handkerchief. It is a unique “something borrowed” that can be passed down through the years….even to the daughters of the original brides. The “something borrowed” item gives you, as the bride, an opportunity to be as creative as you see fit. Other than symbolizing happiness, the “something borrowed” also reminds you, the bride, that you can always depend upon your friends and family. ….what better way than to bring your best friends into your special something!!

Happy Borrowing!!!

Map it out...

Brides always want unique items for their wedding...whether it is having a unique favor for their guests to having their reception at a unique place... brides crave individuality!!!  I love reading wedding blogs to find new and different items to suggest to our brides.  I found a map, similar to the one above, a few years ago in a magazine.  The price for the customized map was a little ridiculous to me so I've never suggested it to a client.  However, when I ran across this map on one of my favorite blogs today, I had to share it!!!  The creator, Laura Hooper, is based in Los Angeles and owns LH Calligraphy.  She is so talented and her work is beautiful....as well as, UNIQUE!  She sells her customized maps on Etsy.   You can hire her to do your calligraphy through Etsy or contact her directly.  

Happy Mapping!!!

"Something New" to Dallas and you...

What will be your “Something New?” For most brides, their bridal gown is what they consider to be their “Something New” on their wedding day. What better to serve as your “Something New” than the most beautiful dress you’ve ever worn, unless of course it is your mothers and is serving as your “Something Old.”

Dallas has a “Something New” that we are so very excited about…. Bridal gown designer Carolina Herrera is not only a fabulous designer with one of the most famous runway collections, but has also become a new addition to the Dallas area. She just opened one of three (let me repeat…1 of 3!!!) bridal stores in the United States. The Carolina Herrera Bridal Boutique is located in Highland Park Village with many of our favorite stores…. Tory Burch, Anthropologie, Warren Barron, Scoop….a girl could spend hours at HPV! We highly recommend visiting the boutique if you are in search of a wedding gown or if you just want to be inspired. The gowns are absolutely stunning and have personalities of their own. The store carries the designer’s bridal runway collection as well as accessories by profound designers including Nancy Gonzalez, Manolo Blahnik and Judith Leiber.

Trunk Show. July 24-26, 2008
Store Hours. Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm
Call to make your appointment with bridal consultant, Elison Presser at 214.219.6060.

With their fabulous selection of gowns presented throughout the overwhelming 3,600 square feet store you are bound to find the “Something New” that screams you for your special day!

Happy Shopping!!

**photos from www.carolinaherrera.com

Preston Bailey comes to the Big D!! (and we got to take a picture with him.)

pictured above: Jessica's twin sisters & maids of honor- Helen & Heidi, Preston Bailey, Jessica (our fabulous bride), Angie and Kristin

Celebrity florist and event designer, Preston Bailey, spent an evening of luxury with future brides and vendors in the bridal industry at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel on Wednesday, June 17th. We happened to bump into him as we were wandering the halls and ended up riding the elevator with the wedding guru. We chatted the entire ride about the wedding of the beauty in the middle of the above picture, which is one of our fabulous brides. Mr. Bailey was kind enough to take a picture with us, which we will treasure and Jessica, our wonderful bride, can add to her wedding book.

Preston Bailey has created events for such celebrities as TomKat, Donald Trump, and Oprah, just to name a few. Mr. Bailey gave a wonderful speech about all the lessons he has learned from his 27 years of business…the great ones and the not so great ones. He was very honest in saying he has made mistakes with business and design, but learned from them and will not repeat them.

He offered a few tips to making an event grand and creative…
Every 15 minutes create a different ‘element of surprise’ for your guests. How... You might ask… by creating theme changes during the various events of your wedding (ceremony, cocktail hour, reception and exit), to lighting that changes throughout the night, to adding scented candles to a room. OOOLaLa. Preston is also a fan on taking a space and completely transforming it to look like you are somewhere else. He is a design genius and we are so glad he made a visit to Dallas.  

We encourage you to visit his website to see all his fabulous work.  Also, his blog is where he gives you design inspiration and how to’s on décor and other fun items.

Happy Creating!!

Something Old

For most brides today, wearing your mother’s wedding dress is not an option for your “something old”, whether it is because the dress is out of style or that it will never fit…no matter what crash diet you try. There are several other creative options that have been substituted and still carry the same sentimental values. One option recent brides have chosen as their “something old” has been to use a piece of fabric from their mother’s dress and make a handkerchief to carry the day of their wedding. Another fun idea is to wrap the wedding dress fabric around the bouquet. Other brides have chosen to carry or have one of their bridesmaids carry their family Bible at the ceremony. If you are fortunate enough to have heirloom jewelry in your family incorporating it into your attire is another great option.  Another recent bride we worked with used her late grandmother’s broach on her bouquet. Our bride stated, “It is like my grandmother is right here with me on my special day.” Get creative when thinking up ways to bring your “something old” into your wedding day.

Happy heirloom hunting!!!

Stamp of Approval

I am crazy about personalizing gifts for my friends, brides, bridesmaids, my family…the list could go on. ☺ I am a firm believer that a gift is treasured for years to come when it is made for a specific person. As I was going through our inspiration book (a book full of article clippings, pictures and anything inspiring to our team) I ran across a fun gift that I am crazy about but had lost in the shuffle of other wonderful, inspiring things. The article had been pulled from a Martha Steward Wedding magazine about a year or so ago….but it is still just as fabulous as the day I found it.

Here is what the editors of Martha Stewart Weddings had to say about the great stamps:

“Custom rubber stamps, each bearing a bridesmaid’s name in elegant script, let you- and your attendants- make a good impression. Ask a calligrapher to pen the women’s names, then have a specialty vendor or office-supply store turn them into rubber stamps. Use the stamps to imprint names on pretty box tops; place stamps inside with ink pads nestled in tissue paper. Calligraphy by Elizabeth White-Pultz.”

Of course, we have been researching ways to get this done. We spoke with our favorite invitation designer, Alyssa Reeves – founder of Paradise Design Co.- who said she would be able to help us create a stamp. There are many great calligraphers and script writers in Dallas that can come up with the signatures. Once you have that…you are off to create your stamp. Martha Stewart Weddings had their stamps made at Stampworx 2000. You can also google office- supply stores in your area and I’m sure they would be able to help you, as well.

Happy Stamping!!!

Puerto Rican Influenced Rehearsal Dinner

Our team loves creating fun, different events….especially when we get to use cultural influences. Recently we had the opportunity to design a fun Puerto Rican themed rehearsal dinner in San Diego, California. The location was the Loews Coronado Bay Resort on Coronado Island. Our backdrop was the beautiful Pacific Ocean and the Coronado Bridge. The groom’s mother is originally from Puerto Rico and she wanted to have a Latin flare for her son’s rehearsal dinner to bring in their heritage. The setting could not have been more perfect and all the touches we added made it special and unique. Kathy Wright and Co. transformed the area into a tropical oasis.

We wanted to bring in special touches that would stand out and make the event extra special for the bride, groom and family. Instead of a normal guest book, guests took pictures with a Polaroid camera, filled in information about where they had traveled from to be with the couple, cute stories they had about the bride or groom and advice for the couple. One touch that was special to the groom was using his late grandmother’s Puerto Rican recipes for some of the items on the menu. She would spoil her grandchildren with her cooking and as a surprise we were able to give the chef at the Loews the grandmother’s recipes. The groom said, “it was like she was here with us, and the food tasted just like hers…made with love”. We also incorporated a specialty drink to fit the theme of the event and they were styled with cute stir sticks. The stir sticks were imprinted with the name of the specialty drink. One of our favorite sites to get stir sticks, napkins, coasters and other items to personalize your event is www.foryourparty.com. For the favor at the end of the evening, we created a ‘garden of love’ with tropical cookie flowers. Within the wheatgrass we tucked hibiscus, orchid and plumeria shaped cookies. Bags and stickers were provided that said ‘Buenas Noches’, which means Good Night in Spanish.

When planning your wedding, rehearsal dinner or any event, make sure you have little surprises throughout the night. Also, incorporate anything that is special to you, like fun recipes that are family secrets, or traditions that are from your culture.

Happy Planning!!