While working on the new site for the Wedding Connection in Fort Wayne, IN I ran across this compilation of wedding bloopers.
Oh my, have a laugh on me.
(h/t to Temo7 and the Wedding Connection)
Franklin Bridal Ball
posted by 1 Comment
Last night was The Franklin Bridal Ball. I was there to see what was up and catch any trends I could. As you can see I was in great company. Those are two really good friends of the Dish, Vicki Sanders of Branching Out Event Florists and Ashley King-Carter creator of Ashley’s Bride Guide. Yes, we apparently all got the memo: Green is tonight’s color!
There were many beautiful things there but I was inspired by some of the tabletops and centerpieces. It seems that ‘Shiny” is in! I’ll have more dish on the people and things for last night in the days to come. Stay tuned.
Wedding Jewelry Inspired by YOU!
posted by 1 Comment
Good friend of the Dish, Mandy Greenan is at it again. This time she is designing a line for her company Tigerlilly with YOU in mind.
Mandy is looking for 20 brides to inspire her; send her your story and your ideas and you may just be one of them. Ladies if you are at your wits end finding the right pieces to garnish your wedding day look, here is your chance to have one of the best custom design your dreams.
I find inspiration everywhere – in nature, music, fashion…
But one of the things I enjoy most and find most inspiring is working with you.
Brides have so much passion and excitement,
I just love to collaborate and come up with custom pieces that are the perfect
accent for you, your style, your day.With that in mind, let me introduce the first season of the Inspired Collection,
a group of 20 designs that are created for 20 brides. Tell me about you, your
wedding, your gown, your style, your dream accessories, send me pictures,
and we’ll come up with your signature piece.You’ll be part of our first ever Inspired collection – you help me design it,
name it, and even model it if you’d like!We’re starting this collection with 20 designs, 20 brides. If you’d like
to be a part of it, please email me at mandy@tigerlillyjewelry.com!
We’re working with all budgets, and we’re looking for a wide
variety of designs, from simple to over the top statement pieces!I can’t wait to hear from you!
So give Mandy a shout and tell her I said Hi.
Wedding Cake Topper to Make You Go awwwwwwwwwwwwww
posted by 1 Comment
As a former cake decorator I have never been too keen on cake toppers. Most of the one I have seen are tacky. Then of course there are the new breed that are just offensive. I always tended to lean toward using sugar sculptures to match the rest of the artwork on the cake. But this one just makes me go awwww. I would actually use this. In fact now I want to design a cake to go with it.
Let’s see. 3 tiers in fondant with classic curved top edges. Make the fondant on the base tier the faintest robin’s egg blue, fade the middle tier down to almost white and make the top tier a pure white to match the birds. For a base border, in a dark straw/light tan combination pipe random woven bits with maybe a number 4 round tip to resemble a band of birds nest. Do a board to match in just the next shade darker robin’s egg blue and add maybe a tuft of grass or a two as an accent on the base.
Inside, hmmmm…oh I know! The vanilla pudding pound cake I used to make with a passion fruit ganache filling; add a touch of Le Grande Passion liquor to the soak and the butter cream base coat. Oh drool. Love it. Almost makes me want to bake again!
DIY Madness
posted by 4 Comments
Every now and then I run across a DIY project that makes me nuts. This is one of them. It is a ring bearer’s pillow made of stephanotis. Yes it is beautiful. Yes it will smell fabulous. Yes you CAN do it yourself. Should you? Well let’s take a little look at what they don’t tell you.
First off the let’s look at the flowers themselves. Stephanotis is beautiful alright but they are one of the most fragile flowers out there. They must be handled much differently from other flowers. As cited in the article there are special cotton tipped stems that must be used to keep them fresh. First you remove the natural stems and insert the moistened cotton tipped wires which you then wrap in floral tape. That is not as easy for a novice as it sounds since steph’s will discolor from the slightest touch. A florist knows to only touch them on the back side of the bloom. It’s also very time consuming.
The article calls for 150 to 175 blooms. I checked yesterday and the current wholesale price is $1 per bloom. Unless you have an inside connection to the floral wholesalers they aren’t going to sell to you. That means you will be paying retail, more like $2 per bloom. I’m betting that you aren’t going to find these bad boys at Costco either; so be prepared for a bit of sticker shock.
The second glaring inconsistence in the article is the use of floral foam. Makes sense on the surface but falls apart in reality. Literally. A 6” x 6” x 1” block of floral foam, once soaked will snap in half from its own weight. So now your little 5 year old nephew is carrying a very fragile, heavy, drippy thing that turns brown where ever he touches it. Good times.
Not only have you got a mess on your hands but it’s a mess you didn’t need in the first place. Remember all the work you did to remove the stems and replace them with the cotton tipped wires? Think about this for a minute; if the blooms have no stems how are they possibly going to soak up water from the foam? Besides, wasn’t the whole point of replacing the stems to give each bloom its own water source?
There are a lot of wonderful DIY projects out there; this my friends, isn’t one of them. Save your money and your sanity and find one that you can do in advance. In fact, this one might just be do-able out of silks. Now I’ll bet that is something you never thought you’d hear your Wedding Diva say. I did kind of shudder as I typed it.
The article is in the Aug Sept 2008 issue of Modern Bride, page 178. Sorry guys, but you know I call them as I see them.
Pretty Hair Jewlery
posted by Leave a Comment
I received an email update from Lonni Tanksley to highlight these adorable new hair coils. Wouldn’t they look like tiny stars tucked into an updo? The coil design will see that they stay there no matter how much you dance the night away.
Lonni is an indie artist that with a shop on etsy.com. If you haven’t checked out her work you really need to give it a look. Her pieces are so light and airy that they make a perfect addition to not only your summer wedding look but for any time you want to add a little sparkle to your day.
The Heart and Soul of Bridal
posted by Leave a Comment
The preview of the 2BeBride line was held in at the historic Union Station Hotel right here is sunny NashVegas in conjunction with 2Be University.
This is an annual gathering of all the salons that carry the line to connect and learn. In addition to a first look at the upcoming styles the salons are gathered to give input into any changes or additions that they feel their brides are seeking. I don’t know of any other line that is designed with this much input from the trenches. In a lot of ways, the gowns that ultimately make the cut and get into the line are a direct reflection of what you, the brides, are telling your bridal consultants that you want. How cool is that?
Another facet of this conference is education. Every year there are seminars and round tables on how to better serve you. Owners from around the country discus their triumphs and concerns in creating happy brides. High on the agenda this year was customer service. So much so that an expert was brought in to remind everyone that the whole reason brides shop at a salon is FOR the service.
Face it, you can buy a gown anywhere from the internet to that big box retailer; the reason you choose a full service bridal salon is because they make you feel special. They treat you like a queen and enhance this whole part of your planning experience. Really, isn’t finding your gown a huge and memorable part of your wedding planning? Or let me say, shouldn’t it be? If you don’t remember that moment when you saw your reflection in that perfect gown in that giant mirror for the first time you are missing something special.
If your salon doesn’t make you feel special, go find a 2Be salon.
Of course it wasn’t all work. You can not get a group of women together with this much in common with out having a little fun. That’s Terri’s assistant Kelly pouring the brew. Damn, I want an assistant.
2Be Bridal Spring 2009 Collection
posted by Leave a Comment
I was invited this week to view the Spring 2009 collection from 2Be Bridal and all I can say is WOW! This is a line that has absolutely transformed since Terri Hilferty took over as the designer a little less than 3 years ago. Full of beautiful fabrics like silk satin and point de spree, gorgeous beading and amazing pleats, the line is one of the most diverse you will find.
2Be is a private line available in less than a hundred salons in the US and poised to launch in the UK with this collection. One of the things about a private line is that Terri is able to stay in close communication with her stockists and get feed back on what today’s brides are looking for but not finding.
I asked Hilferty what inspired her and she said versatility and romance. When she says versatility what she is talking about is that she finds out what today’s brides are asking her salons for and uses that as her jumping off point. So truly, Terri Hilferty has designed the 2Be line for the modern American woman. Terri believes that every bride can be cover girl beautiful in the right gown.
With today’s woman in mind, the collection is in the moderate price range and all of the gowns are available in sizes from 2 to 22, with a large part of the collection available in woman’s sizes up to 28W.
I’ll have more on the collection in the days to come, including the Nathan Taylor line of Social Occasion and Bridesmaids dresses.
Oh and yes I know my pictures leave a lot to be desired, I’ll have the studio shots for you later this month. The fashion shoot was only last week.
