Kelly Chase Couture in Naples!

Today after meeting with clients at The Ritz-Carlton Naples Beach I stopped by Mercato to check out the newest restaurant, Masa.  The atmosphere is great for a causal fun night out with friends and the menu - I wanted to eat everything.  They also have some great spaces that would be good for a rehearsal dinner or gathering space for a pre-wedding party.

 Anyway, I know- what's this got to do with Kelly Chase Couture?  As I was walking back to my car, I walked by The Kelly Chase Flagship salon.  It just opened a few weeks ago, so I decided to have a quick look.

 I am so glad that I popped in!  Kelly (the designer) and Chase (the president), happened to be in the salon and greeted me at the door.  Both were absolutely wonderful and welcoming.  Kelly was gracious enough to give me a personal tour and show me the newest collection.

  The salon is beautiful with white floors, and voluminus paper flowers on the walls.  The flowers reminded me of the Paper Posey Designs I saw at the Martha Stewart Market Party.  There were dozens of wedding dresses. The gowns are from her current line and she also has dresses that are discontinued and available to purchase right off the rack.

 The price ranges for most of the Kelly Chase line is $2000-$6000, but there are a few that were less or more.  Besides the wedding dresses she also carries mother of the bride dresses, jewelery, veils, boleros, belts & sashes and purses.

 If you're looking for a dress and are in the Naples area, I highly recommend that you stop by!

Bridal Portrait art and tips for your bridal session

A bridal portrait is the perfected image of you in your wedding gown.  Traditionally,  the photo session is scheduled a few weeks prior to your wedding, so that a print can be framed and prepared for the wedding day and/or wedding announcements.  Last week I was introduced to another phenomenal idea for using your bridal portrait.  Enter artist Diane Bronstein.  Diane takes the bridal portrait image of you in your wedding dress and paints a watercolor or pencil "gown painting".

From the frame-able gown painting she can then also create thank you cards. Aren't they stunning?
To have your gown portrait made, her fee is currently $185.  She does offer options for oil paintings, digital scans and reproduction rights.
I wanted to include a few bridal portraits in this post so that you could have an idea of what portraits can possibly look like.  So I reached out to some of our photographers and had them send a few favorites over.  Between the images below, I will also give you a few tips, how-to and why to have a bridal portrait. Imagine these images as a watercolor or sketch!

Above Photo Credit: Impressions Photography.
Tip: One of the best things about having your bridal portrait taken in advance is that it will cut out a big portion on your "photo" time on your wedding day.  Its a good 30-45 minutes that you can free up on your already packed wedding timeline.
P.S. This is our bride Lindsay from this past fall- couldn't you just die over her dress? The train was detachable.

 Above Photo Credit: Ashley Brockinton Photography
Tip: You can have your portrait taken with or without a bouquet.  You can also choose to have your portrait taken in a studio like this one, or outside.
P.S. This is Christy, the winner of the 2011 Grand Wedding!

 Above and Below Photo Credit: Nancy Cohn Photography
Advice: Don't be afraid to be yourself.  Yes, I think you should absolutely get a classic image.  But how about something fun too (below)?

 Above Photo Credit: Audrey Snow Photography
Side note: Notice that in this image she's holding her bouquet.  Personally, I do think it adds to the bridal look.

 Above Photo Credit: Mike Moreland Photography
Side Note: This is Brittany, one of our brides from this past spring.  Be sure to pick up the Occasions Magazine (Winter 2013 Florida or Georgia issues) to see her stunning white wedding wedding feature!

Above Photo Credit: Maria Glassford Photography
Tip: Bring your mom or a friend with you to help you maneuver in and out of your dress.  One person is enough though- your session should not be turned into a party!

 Above Photo Credit: Tonya Malay Photography
Advice: Your bridal portrait day is also a another great opportunity to fine tune your wedding day look.  Be sure to have your hair & makeup done for this!

Lace Wedding Dresses: Little or alot?

This morning I woke up to the most beautiful wedding dresses on Pinterest courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings.  Are you a little bit of lace or a cover me in lace kind of girl?
Amsale and Monique Lhuillier seen below. PS, I love the necklace with the Amsale Dress!:

Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Martha Stewart Weddings on Pinterest

Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Martha Stewart Weddings on Pinterest

Fashion. Its coming to wedding tidbits!

Last fall I attended New York International Bridal Week. For as much as I love fashion and weddings, I rarely blog about dresses or all the the accessories that go along with your wedding weekend ensembles. Until now.

  I'm not sure where this new avenue will take me, but I am so looking forward to it.  I figure the best place to start is with where it all started for me, at the market & runway shows.

Let me say thank you in advance to Krista from Impressions Photography for accompanying me to so many of the shows and capturing the amazing designs we were seeing. The pictures above are from the Junko Yoshioka showcase.  It was my first time seeing her designs in person and I was was immediately enthralled by the textures and treatments she had in each dress.

This wasn't the finished design...but it turned out amazing!

While I was in New York, I met with one of my clients at her fitting with Christian Siriano.  I will confess, I would have paid money just to play dress up in his studio.  I love his designs.  It was really quite inspiring to see him at work; it was obvious that he really does know what he's doing and he has such a dedication to his craft.

Kleinfelds hosted the Pnina Tornai show.  Prior to the show starting, guests (including the likes of Colin Cowie and Housewives of Atlanta's Kim Zolciak) were offered a great signature drink made with Pearl Wedding Cake Vodka.  I for one loved it, yum.  The dresses were incredibly dramatic.  You could see how much thought was put into each and every inch of them.  Amazing is an understatement.

I could post a hundred images of all the gorgeous dresses we saw at the shows.  Here are a few more of my favorites.

 Anne Barge

 Claire Pettibone

 Ines Di Santo

I want Kate to wear this dress to the Royal Wedding. Bold, statement, I know.

I have an opinion.  So sue me.  But I am really excited for the royal wedding and so I am going to soak up every bit of it over the next week or 2 or FOREVER.
Okay, so here is the dress I have picked out for the ceremony:

This Ellie Saab gown (Nerta).  I have always loved lace and I feel like its been far to absent in royal wedding gowns.  Well, maybe not completely absent, but I would like to see more of it.  And yes, I did have to fight the urge to pick a ball gown.  Ball gowns are very "royal" when you think about it, but Kate, she's modern too.  She's not 19, and well- I really think this would be perfect.  Kate will no doubt smile more than this model.  I wish the models smiled more. Beside the point.
Next up- the reception dress.  Yes, I think the new princess deserves a new dress.
If you're looking for more information on next weeks Royal Wedding, here is the official link: http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/

Why You Should Get Engagement Photos

If you are engaged and planning your wedding I highly encourage you to have engagement photos. Not only are these photos a great keepsake and so fun to do, but they have come such a long way since the traditional staged portraits from the '90s. They are now so much more fun and creative.Check out Aly & Michael...
 

Photos by Concept Photography Save the Dates created by Minted.

Reason #1: Getting engagement pictures done will give you and the photographer the opportunity to get acquainted before your wedding day. This means one less stranger that will be in your face wedding day. Plus after working together once you will feel much more comfortable being yourself.

Reason #2: While you will love your wedding day photos, there will come a time that you wish you had another great picture of you and your groom outside of your wedding dress.

Reason #3: Engagement Pictures provide a great picture for your Save the Dates and for wedding websites. They are fun, corky and totally natural.

 Here are a few more Engagement Pictures from our clients that we are dying over!

Christy & Keith our 2011 Grand Wedding Couple. Photo Credit Maria Glassford

Kate & Ryan. Photo Credit Ashley Brockinton

Aly & Michael. Photo Credit Concept Photography

Liza & Todd. Photo Credit Maggie Stolzberg Photography

Nick & Sara our 2010 Grand Wedding Couple. Photo Credit Riversedge Lifestyle Photography 

Anthropologie Wedding Dresses. Could you die?

Anthropologie Wedding Dress found via @iwedding

I know.  You're confused because I rarely talk about wedding dresses on this blog.  They're for sure something I would put on It's Pretty Splendid. But this I feel is a monumental moment in weddings, so its going here too.  I caught 1st glance at these darling dresses on the Bridal Fascinations Blog.

For more on these beauties.  These lovelies. These dresses that I am dying to see in person...click here for the BHLDN website.

Cover Beauty, Weddings Unveiled

I die over every Weddings Unveiled cover.  Until this issue I couldn't really figure out why though.  And then as I was reviewing some notes from a brides panel at a wedding professionals workshop I hosted earlier this year, it hit me.  What I love about it is that its just the picture.  A stunning image.  Weddings Unveiled doesn't cover the photo with all the story headlines- just like our brides confirmed at the workshop, "I buy the magazine if I like the cover photo".  You'll find more about this issue on the Unveiled blog.

Styling: Brooke Thomas and Terri J. Ireland. Photographer: Brooke Thomas Gown: Reem Acra

 So the dress.  Yes, Reem Acra, her designs have always been amongst my favorites for always being glamorous.  I wouldn't mind in the slightest if one of my clients this year waltzed down the aisle in this lovely.  Elated.  That is more likely the emotion I would have.

Apparently you love pretty dresses

Understandable.  It's kind of one of the best parts of having a wedding.  This blog however is more about everything except the dress.  So, I would like to point you in the right direction when it comes to dresses.
I love Style Me Prettys Look Book.  Hello Marvelous.

Adele by Amsale 

No worries, I haven't forgotten that I still owe you one last post for the Key West Series.  It is coming!

The New Years Bride Series

We started the year off with such a great wedding.  It goes down in history as our coldest wedding ever, and I have to confess, I hope that it stays that way.  These pictures below are not pro pics, they're ours, but I couldn't wait to show off this great weekend at South Seas.  As soon as we can share the images from the super cool Tonya Malay, we'll post away, and then you'll just drool,  I'm sure.

 

These beach chic welcome bags included customized koozies, bottled water, gum, ibuprofen, key lime cookies, and  pretzels.  The basics are always a hit with destination wedding guests.

 

It was just too chilly to have the rehearsal dinner out of the deck like we planned, but the indoor table for 24 ended up looking just as great indoors.  We used simple potted orchids and bougainvillea with lanterns and beach rocks on a linen tablecloth to have a completely natural tablescape.

 

This is me and the groom, Mr Prince.  We bumped into each other on the golf course (it runs right next to the ceremony site at Sunset cove beach) when I was checking on ceremony set up.

 

Could you die over how cute this hanger is?  You can find one like it on Etsy.

 

I recommend to all my clients to have make & hair done professionally for wedding day.  If ever there was a day when you wanted to look perfect and be pampered...this is it.  Heather Longshore did an outstanding job on Mrs. Prince's hair & makeup as well as the rest of the bridal party.

 

Um, yeah, I dream about these shoes. Not even going to lie.

 

Here's the kicker with the sash and this gorgeous embellishment on it.  Mrs. Prince told the designer she didn't want a sash.  When the dress arrived, it was included as a surprise.  It totally made the dress.  See below...

 

Told ya.  Sash is awesome.

Make sure to read all the posts in this series because I have an awesome ending care of the masters over at AMC video.