Thursday, March 11, 2010

DIY Wedding in Mexico Beach

Here's the formula: Mexico beach + lemons + adorable DIY projects = the cutest wedding shot by Tec Petaja. It's my guest blogging day for Style Me Pretty so head over to catch more shots of this incredible DIY wedding.


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Australia Vintage Wedding Shoot

This wedding is an absolute treat. There are times when I come across a wedding and it stops me (or my mouse) dead in my tracks. This amazing Australian wedding definitely falls under that category. The second I laid eyes on the photos below I hounded Trish from Tea Lily Photography, the gifted photographer behind these photos, to pass them along so I could share them with you. (You're welcome)

The inventory below is amazing: First of all there's cupcakes, which is always a crowd pleaser! Then there's the cute vintage furniture, the scrabble game, the AMAZING style of Jesse, the bride. It's an all-out onslaught of all your favorite things in one post!







It's a whole lot of goodness, I know. I'll have another killer wedding from Tea Lily Photography up next week, and let me tell you...it's pretty much awesomeness times a million. Thanks to Trish, our Sydney photog friend for sharing your incredible work with us!

Jesse and Paul's Vendor List:
Shoot Location: Parramatta Park
Flowers: Avanti Florist
Wedding Dress: Collette Dinnigan
Bride’s Shoes: Mimosa
Hair and Makeup: Emma Attenborough.
Groom’s Suit: Yaly Couture.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

California Engagement Shoot with Animals!

I'm an animal freak. I love anything and everything with fur. Typically I cry most in movies when animals die. The youtube video of Christan, the lion being reunited with his human "parents" makes me bawl. Every. Time. So, this California engagement shoot that involves animals is pretty much my favorite thing ever.

This cuteness is brought to you by Sara from Onelove Photography. Clearly she rules for coming up with this concept. Her pictures are incredible. The lighting is killer.

Enjoy these fun-loving pictures and go pet an animal or two today.






Monday, March 8, 2010

Georgia DIY Wedding on a Budget!

It's feeling particularly Spring-like in my neck of the woods so I'm happy to start the week off with this vibrant Georgia DIY wedding shot by Timwill Photography. Sara and Aaron's wedding is a great example of a classy DIY wedding on a budget. It CAN be done. Without sacrificing style too. I'm loving the colorful bridesmaid dresses. It's a refreshing change from the usual, isn't it?

For many brides, opting out of a few "traditional" wedding items is a fact of life. Sara and Aaron took many wedding duties into their own DIY hands - and then opted for a cocktail/desert reception to help keep costs down. I personally love a cocktail reception since you usually aren't too stuffed to dance! At the end of the day, it's the celebration with your friends and family that is the main focus. And how you decide to execute that is your choice!

Sara filled us in on some details from her day. Enjoy her story along with these amazing, artistic shots by Timwill Photography...





Aaron and I met at the University of Georgia- he is from Augusta, GA and I am from Marietta, GA. We both love Athens and decided to start our lives together and get married there. We both graduated in 2008 and were paying for most of the wedding so we were on a very strict budget. Also, we bought a house and wanted most of our money to go towards that. I was the low-maintenance bride that just wanted to get married- I had not envisioned my dream wedding beforehand and am not one to read bridal magazines. I had friends give a lot of input and just went with what I could make work with my budget.

Our budget forced us to get pretty creative with the wedding and we luckily have super talented friends that helped tremendously. Our rehearsal dinner was a casual BBQ at an outdoor pavilion in Winterville where Aaron used to live right off of the old town’s square. The wedding was not until 7pm on Saturday so we got to spend a lot of quality time with friends and family.




Our goal was to throw a fun and memorable party for the people we most love and care about. We wanted it to be as relaxed and carefree as possible with dancing as the main focus of the reception. We are both blessed to have friends that are like family to us and families that are very supportive. Aaron and I wanted the day to be a celebration of how joyful and happy we are together and show our loved ones how thankful we are for them.

I think the wedding turned out exactly as intended. It was a crazy dance party and Aaron and I had a blast. I wouldn’t change a thing.


Sara and Aaron's Vendor List:

Venue: State Garden Club at the Botanical Gardens in Athens, GA
Wedding Dress and Veil: Formally Yours
Wedding Hair: Elements Salon in Athens GA
Caterer: Publix and Cecilia Villaveces
Invitations: Morgan Cogswell.
Florist: Rebecca Hybl
Photography: Timwill Photography

Friday, March 5, 2010

Malibu Vintage Engagement Shoot

A sweet Malibu Engagement shoot with a country vintage vibe. Sigh. Me likey.

Looking over these pictures it's easy to see that Melissa Brandman, the wonderful photographer behind this shoot, puts a lot of heart and soul into her work. Taking into consideration that her couple, Bradley and Janelle, had a love for the South (Bradley hails from Texas) Melissa helped them develop their southern vintage theme by taking them to Malibu Creek State Park and the Paramount Ranch. The latter is where a lot of the old cowboy movies from the 40's and 50's were shot. Amazing right? VERY wild west.

And how much do you love the Prince Edward "love bird" chair prop. It's lovely.

Enjoy these pics and the rest of your day!



Thursday, March 4, 2010

Belfast Wedding. Texan Bride.

Irish blood, Texan heart. (Sorry Morrissey. Butchered that one.) I'm really excited about this Belfast wedding for a few reasons: 1. It's the first Irish wedding that we've featured. 2. I know the groom, Derek. 3. The wedding was shot by my friend, the amazing Monique Weston based in Montreal. Phew.

I would classify this wedding as classic and elegant. April, the bride, is really graceful isn't she? Love the Scarlett O'hara-esque shot on the stairs. Hands down, the look on that guest's face when she sees April walking down the aisle is one of the best shots. EVER.







What April had to say about her day:

Since Derek is from Belfast and I’m from Dallas, we had a large engagement party in Dallas and then wanted to keep the wedding in Belfast small and intimate. Planning was a challenge with us living in separate countries and we had to keep to a pretty strict budget as obtaining visas and moving countries was expensive enough and we only had six months to get it all done! We enjoyed doing a lot of things ourselves, the invitations, individual menus, seating chart board, table place cards and we put the ceremony, dinner and dance music on an IPod. It was a little nerve wracking as most of the supplies came from Dallas, including the table linens, and I had to ship or have family bring them over in their luggage but all went smoothly.

As for the flowers, I was fortunate to find a brilliant florist via the web that did exactly what I wanted from phone and email conversations and one in person meeting. I had a difficult time finding a wedding dress I really loved and could afford but we found the Morilee dress from a trunk show and was able to get a great deal on it, same with the veil. However, it was an antique cream color instead of the white I always imagined wearing and that changed the color scheme. I wanted the flowers to be bolder and the bridesmaid dress color and style to be classic so it didn’t become too busy or overwhelming. I was also able to order extra material from Jim Helm, to match the dresses so the guys could have matching cravats. I bought spools of matching ribbon and pieced cards and invitations together for table numbers, seating charts and place settings I found from Michael's and Stardust Celebrations, they all matched perfectly and really tied everything together.

Our photographer was a long time friend that does amazing work in Montreal and we were fortunate to have her travel over as well, really made the picture taking easy. With the exception of a few missing family members that weren’t able to make the overseas trip, it was an absolutely perfect day in every way!

Derek and April's Vendor List:
Venue and Caterer: Malone House, Belfast
Wedding Dress: Mori Lee / Terry Costa
Shoes: Bakers, Dallas
Wedding Hair: Rogue Hair
Wedding Makeup: Tawny Buttrill (make up artist based in Dallas, TX)
Bridesmaid Dress: Jim Helm Couture
Menswear: Parsons Hire Belfast
Wedding Cake: Marks and Spencer
Florist: House of Elliott Flowers
Bridal Veil: Terrycosta
Photography: Monique Simone Photography

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Portland "Bet On Love" Wedding Contest!

Attention brides-to-be! Interested in getting married on 10/10/10? In Portland, Oregon?!

Well, I have the BEST contest to announce, care of the Jupiter Hotel in Portland! The Jupiter is an incredible urban boutique hotel smack in the heart of Portland. The wonderful, chic people over there have rounded up the finest wedding vendors from the Portland area to create the Bet On Love contest for the TenTen20Ten event. An ENTIRE wedding planned for you...at what cost? Well, that's up to you! The Jupiter Hotel has decided to let the contest be as democratic as possible so the winner will be the highest bidder on...EBAY! Yup, that's right!

So what exactly are we bidding on? Let me tell you, the team over at Jupiter have thought of everything PLUS a ton of decadent extras:
  • Complete access and use of all Jupiter Hotel’s event spaces
  • Furniture
  • Cocktail Tables and Linens
  • Coat Check Room
  • Set Up / Tear Down
  • Industrial Propane Heaters for all of the Outdoor Spaces
  • All day, all night use of the DREAMSuite
  • Five (5) free guest rooms
  • $69 nightly rates for all other wedding guests
  • Case of champagne
  • Complimentary champagne glasses
  • A Jupiter-style gift basket for the bride and groom



Oh. And there's more! The winners will have access to all of these huge discounts, only available through this package :

And much more!



AMAZING pictures, right? Head on over to the official TenTen20Ten website for more contest details. The wedding of your dreams could be just a few clicks away!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Toronto Vintage Wedding

Black tie + vintage = ohhh yeahhhh. This is my kind of wedding. Oh, and did I mention it's in my home town? Love Toronto weddings! I've noticed a whole crop of cool new venues popping up now in Toronto. Seems like people are thinking outside the box a bit, using cool restaurants and lounges as their venues. I think it's amazing. A smaller space can definitely lend to a warm and quaint vibe for your wedding, not to mention a better party atmosphere.

The amazing photography below comes care of Joseph + Jaime Photography. If you're in Toronto and looking for a photographer, these guys are stellar. Or, if you're not, and just want some eye candy - check out their site. It's cool.







Weren't their flowers gorgeous? They jumped out at me right away. They're amazing. Congrats Christina and John!

Christina and John's Vendor List:


Venue: Mercatto
Florist: Stemz
Invitations: Snap & Tumble
Photography: Joseph + Jaime

Monday, March 1, 2010

Santa Monica Vintage Wedding - Guest Blog for Style Me Pretty

Today is my guest blogging day for Style Me Pretty. And honestly, this wedding is just so spunky and vintage that it made my day. Between the colors and the bikes and the effort put in by every single guest, hands down this is one of the most creative weddings to date!

Head on over to Style Me Pretty to read my full post on this amazing California vintage wedding.



Photography by Sights + Sounds.

Friday, February 26, 2010

SMP Next Week. And La Belle Bride News

Friday...yesssss. Here in Toronto we got a huge dumping of snow and I have to say, I kinda like it. A good day to catch up on work, stay in and watch a movie later.

HOWEVER I have exciting news to impart to you all. I feel like it's as good a time as any to announce that La Belle Bride is going to be shedding its blogger skin and revamping into a new, oh-my-gosh-I-love-it, super cool site. Better images, better functionality, not to mention some super amazing treats like DIY invites and other surprises I have up my sleeve. The goal of the new site will be to bring the same amazing weddings to you brides, showcase our talented vendors AND provide some amazing tools to help with the whole wedding planning process. Exciting! The new site will take awhile to create so we're hoping to have it up by some time in April. Yay!

Ok, back to this week...my Style Me Pretty post for this week got pushed to next week so instead of scrambling around for today's post I'm going to just leave you guys with a teaser for next week's feature and wish you all a great weekend!



Photography by Sights & Sounds