Saturday, February 13, 2010
When brides drool over the weddings featured on ABG, Style Me Pretty or Bride magazine, most don't realize that many of the elaborate and gorgeous weddings featured were "styled". Don't get me wrong - some brides have super creativity and can pull it together amazing big and small details. But, let's be honest - most cant.
What is Event Styling?
An event stylist is like a movie set designer. They bring a director's vision into fruition (in this case, your vision). The stylist gets to know you and your fiance - learns your desires, your style - and creates a signature wedding look for your day.
What is a bride (who wants a designer wedding) to do? Hire an event stylist, a fabulous wedding stylist like Latrice of Opulent Couturier!
Today, Latrice is here to educate us all a little more about event styling, her expanded company, and share (much anticipated) photos from her recent photo shoot, exclusively with ABG readers...
Welcom Opulent Couturier, Nashville Wedding Sylist!
www.opulentcouturier.com
I am so excited to share with a recent tablescape photoshoot with ABG brides! I wanted to start the 2010 wedding season with a new look & new brand. Many of you know my company as Bridal Opulence however recently I launched Opulent Couturier Event Styling & Planning as an expansion of the Opulence Brand.
The focus of event styling is to offer Nashville brides a new personal concierge experience in planning their weddings, showers & other important life parties! Event Styling allows you & I to work one on one to determine your wedding style/theme, create fabulous inspiration boards and truly bring your wedding to life. My goal is to infuse your personal style with our creativity with the details such as lighting, speciality linen, stationery selection and many other decor elements that will ultimately tell your story.
The Classic Couture Inspiration...
The Classic Couture tablescape came to life after creating this inspiration board: The colors black, white and red are such classy colors. I wanted to inspire ways to be creative while still using a classic yet sophisticated color palette!
Image Credit: Row 1: Left - lindsey-turner.com, Middle - flickr.com, Right - http://www.stuartrental.com
Row 2: Left - contemporarylivingsolutions.com, Middle - do-it-yourself-invitations.com Right - herecomestheblog.com/ Row 3: Left - getmarried.com, Middle - babyphat.com, Right - amazon.com
The Result...
Taking the inspiration above, I designed the following red and black tablescape. This wedding design would be great for a classic bride, one who wants to look back at her wedding day in 20 years and appreciate the timeliness,elegance of her day. It would also be ideal for a bride who got engaged on Valentine's Day and wants the color of love accented throughout.
A huge thank you to:
Donald Yeager Photography, Brocade Designs - florals, Connie Duglin Linen - linen, LePenn Designs - menus & placecards, Swoonoverit Calligraphy Studio - calligraphy chair signs
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Posted by Opulent Couturier |
Filed under: Details, Design & Florals, Inspiration & Trends, Luxury Wed Finds
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
We had so much fun at the Nashville Lifestyles Bridal Show at the Hermitage Hotel. The weather had started to improve, the sun was shining and the turnout was quite good! Lots of brides looking for great ideas and inspiration who attended with their moms and friends. We even saw a couple of grooms and that's always a good thing!
Photo source: NashvilleLifestyles.com
The highlight of the show was the luncheon with Tara Guerard. You might recognize her name from the books Southern Weddings: New Looks from the Old South and Weddings by Tara Guerard; It was exciting to hear what she had to say and she filled us in on her favorite wedding ideas and gave us predictions of trends to come.
The Hermitage Hotel - bridal registration desk
General wedding ideas / answers to attendee questions.
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Traditional weddings are back! Modern weds are on the decline as couples return to the basics, focusing on important ingredients
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It's a party! You want your guest to really enjoy the event. Have flip flops (summer) or wraps (fall/winter) so your guests are comfortable.
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Rehearsal dinner should incorporate what the groom likes - sports, music, maybe at his favorite venue. It should also be very different (menu, vibe) than the wedding reception. If you are doing a seated dinner for wedding, try a buffet for rehearsal.
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Guest books rarely get looked through by couple. Try a signed picture, wishing well or something more creative.
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Most brides are sporting two wedding dresses - their wedding dress and something short for the reception.
She encouraged working with local vendors (we second that!) and thinking locally - for example, when thinking of your menu try to stick to locally product, and to be as environmentally sound as possible, create your menu with seasonal items. Which brings us to a topic I hold dear...
Food:
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Small is the new big. If serving hors d'ouevres, make sure they're actually small enough where just one bite is all your guests need to take. Mini ice cream sandwiches are also a neat addition.
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Provide bags for your guests to take wedding cake home (but of course, save some for yourself!)
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Minimize clutter and eyesores and instead of having ugly chaffing dishes with a buffet, have serving stations or work with your caterer and florist to make the food stations pretty.
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Food in martini glasses are out!
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Signature drinks are still very popular and make the reception more efficient by minimizing waiting lines at the bar.
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Consider station cocktail parties versus seated dinners.
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Try to minimize lines by having a huge bar with ample servers and bartenders. Tara suggested one bartender/server per 50 guests.
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Candy bars are still in, which we love:). For one event, she used rolling carts to travel to guests during reception.
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Some great finds based on Tara's wedding forecast - Clockwise: Ice-cream sandwiches from marthastewart.com, easy bite hors d'oeuvres from Chef's Market, candy buffet by Rhonda Patton Weddings, snazzy serving station by A Catered Affair
Tara chatting with moms. Photo source: NashvilleLifestyles.com
Color:
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"Blue is out" and lavender is still a hot color.
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Pinks and pale peaches making their way back into color schemes.
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In the fall, expect to see more jewel tones.
Do-it-Yourself:
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A huge proponent of DIY, Tara had fantastic ideas for favors. She suggested using etched glass as place cards which, at the end of the night, turn into unique favors for your guests! Don't have the budget to offer every guest an etched glass? Just do etched, monogrammed glasses for the bridal party.
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Monogramming is a lovely, traditional detail, and can be even more meaningful when you know an aunt or you have a grandmother who knows how to embroider. Have her monogram some linen napkins just for you and your groom. Or monogram the ribbon that's going around your bouquet for a sentimental touch.
Clockwise: Monogram hanging floral by Enchanted Florist, DIY getaway car decorations and etched glass place setting from MarthaStewart.com, DIY program by The Thirty Something Bride (thirtysomethingbride.com)
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For out-of-town guests, keep it simple and print the information booklet yourself. Provide a small container or mints or just a small bag of candy and include bottles of water with labels you made yourself vs over the top, out of town guest baskets. Spend the money elsewhere.
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Something creative and economical that I've seen brides do is recycling their ceremony flowers and incorporating them into reception decor but one thing I've never seen that Tara suggested was using pew markers, ribbons and all, to decorate the getaway car!
A point she reiterated was to think locally and to really work with your vendors especially your caterer and your florist - really involve them in your planning so everything goes together perfectly.
Speaking of vendors, we got to see several of Nashville's premiere companies present at the show too. Some of them made great use of their space. Wedding 101 (wedding101.net) turned their area in the hotel's lobby into a romantic seating area. It really welcomed you to their space.
Social Graces (socialgraces.com) used antique manequins and furniture to display their custom stationery.
We saw our favorite lighting company, Nashville Event Lighting and got to chat for a bit. Models glided around dressed in the prettiest gowns from the Cotton Mill while harpist Phyllis Taylor Starks filled the rooms with classic wedding music. Also there were Maples Wedding Cakes (maplesweddingcakes.com), Classic Party Rentals, the Governor’s Club (thegovernorsclub.com), King Jewelers (kings1912.com), OSHi Flowers (oshiflowers.com - fabulous florals), Feria Cinematic Imagery and American Laser Centers (http://www.americanlaser.com). We truly were in great company that day.
Tara will be speaking this May at The Wedding Experience, by StudioWed, which could be a great excuse for a weekend get-away!
Thank you to all the brides who came by to say hello, it was such a pleasure to meet you all! If you picked up a 2010 Bride sticker from us that day, don't forget to submit a picture of you with the sticker on your bumper! Remember: each picture of a bride and her sticker on her car means another $5 to our relief fund to help Haiti. You can find more details about that here.
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Posted by Tabitha |
Filed under: Bridal Shows & Events, DIY & Budget Wed Finds, Inspiration & Trends, Luxury Wed Finds
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Monday, January 4, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Happy New Year Nashville Brides!!!
For our first blog of 2010, we thought we'd share some of our favorites to give you some instant inspiration as you plan your 2010 (or 2011) weddings. There were way too many great ones but here are a few to get you started.
One of Our All Time Favorites from 2009
The year went by so quickly! We saw so many beautiful Nashville weddings, each as spectacular as the next but the one that just stands out, the one that is still our favorite for 2009 is the wedding of Savannah and Ryan, a.k.a. the "Red Chuck Taylors" wedding as so many readers like to call it.
Jonathon Campbell Photography captured every great detail from the customized wine bottles to the groomsmen's red Chucks. This wedding is proof that you can stick to one color and make it really work. No need for fancy combinations or varying shades - pick a color, stick to that color and really give it pizazz.
Check out Jonathon Campbell's blog for a full recap of Savannah and Ryan's wedding and more gorgeous pictures.
Our Favorite Candy Bar of 2009
What else was hot in '09? Believe it or not - candy bars and cupcakes were still hot. Here's one of our faves...
(photo by McLellan Style - mclellanstyle.com)
See more from this fabulous candy bar on the A Delightful Day blog where you can also find the team that created it.
Our Favorite Floral Design
Leave it to a wedding planner (Kristin of Simply Stunning Events) to have the most envious wedding design ever! Kristin hired Brocade Designs to create this ahh-maazing floral centerpiece below.
Our Favorite Bridal Party Ensemble
When I saw these fun yet elegant bridesmaids outfits, I did a double take. This wedding, photographed by Phindy Studios (phindystudios.com), was stunning.
Our Favorite DIY / Budget Savvy Weddings
Who says you can’t plan a wonderful wedding and stay within a modest budget? You totally can! It’s certainly not easy but these gals made it look like a breeze…
Jessica & Eric
Louise & Candyman
Past Favorites
Over a year later, two weddings continue to receive rave reviews and interest from brides. Check out our most popular weddings from 2008:
Beth & Ravi
Jerry & Meagan
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Inspiration & Trends
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Who better to tell us about posh options in wedding stationery than a woman who knows her subject? I reached out to Shannon Kelley of Southall Eden Paperie who shared some ideas on how you can capture the opulence of your upcoming wedding right from the start with stationery.
Guest blogger: Nashville's Southall Eden Paperie specializes in unique, custom wedding stationery.
1) Silk boxes and folios
If you have ever watched celebrity weddings on TV, chances are you may have seen these. They come in many shapes and forms, but all have one thing in common: pure luxury. They are available in a rainbow of colors, and many times are adorned with rhinestone buckles, as seen here. But of course this kind of fabulosity does not come cheap. Silk box invitations can easily cost you $12-$25 per invitation or more, and of course their weight will require extra postage. But if you are looking to announce that your wedding is going to be the event of the year, this is surely the way!
2) Luxury trims
Embellishments continue to be a hot trend in wedding stationery and a favorite amongst brides wanting to make a statement. Elaborate apparel trims are a great way to introduce glamour and color into your invitation. Nothing says luxury like a little BLING! (or a lot!)
3) Bride calling cards
Do you feel like preparing for your wedding has become your full-time job? You’re not alone. Why not make it official with your own personalized bridal calling cards. They are an easy and classy way to give out your digits and wedding info to potential wedding vendors. And just think about how cool you will look when you whip one out of your purse!
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Inspiration & Trends, Invitations & Paper Goods, Luxury Wed Finds
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Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009 Nashville's very own Dulce Desserts was featured in the November issue of SOUTHERN LIVING!! I'm so happy for Juanita, the owner, and her lovely staff.
If you've never been to the Dulce Desserts bakery, you should (go!) and know that what's really neat about Dulce Desserts is that they offer wedding cakes and other desserts too. (You should check them out for your Thanksgiving sweets.) I love that she regularly attends culinary classes in NY to keep a pulse on what's hot in pastries/desserts. This means that Dulce can bake your wedding cake but also provide pastries for your reception, rehearsal or guest favors. So, what's new with Dulce Desserts? I reached out to Juanita because I always like to know what ABG site sponsors are up to. Plus, she's always willing to take a few minutes to share the latest trends in Nashville weddings. The dessert buffet aka a "buffet of deliciousness", per Juanita:) Love it! A Nashville bride to Juanita that she wanted to do something different. BUT, she still wanted to keep the tradition of having a wedding cake. Juanita worked with her to create a full buffet of desserts. This was a new take of wedding cake, other way to think "sweet" and overall, a great way to maximize her dessert budget. Juanita said that she's been getting a lot of requests for the dessert buffet because every bride (not just bargain brides) is looking to be a bit more budget-conscious. And while your dessert buffet can be as lavish as you'd like, the goal of this dessert buffet was to give the bride everything she wanted and be budget savvy as well.
mini desserts - tartletts, monogrammed cookies, etc
Sugar flowers that fool pros! Juanita shared a funny story about this recent Nashville wedding that took place at the Schermerhorn. She set up the cake (that accompanied the desserts) and the florist said, "I didnt bring orchids". He thought the orchids were REAL! But, they were sugar flowers that looked so real they fooled the pro. I had to see and share the cake - so she sent the following pic of the sugar orchids.
3-tier, sugar orchid cake that accompanied the mini desserts at the Schermerhorn
Cakes and desserts that uniquely express you Here are some other neat cakes by Dulce Desserts that she also shared.
Champagne satin finished cake with lace highlights and bows
Strawberry shortcake cake at the Schermerhorn
Ganache finished oval cake with sugar coral and shells
"Corrugated fondant with satin banding, sugar anemone and ronunculus".
That's Juanita's description, not mine:). My words are much simpler, "pretty and yummy".
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Cakes & Catering, Inspiration & Trends
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