Style Me Pretty: Wedding Blog for the Style-Obsessed Bride

Hotels + Resorts Weddings

Settings

Styles

Montecito, California Wedding from Stone Crandall

From the gorgeous bride… Kevin and I had been friends for many years before we started dating, and our friendship mostly consisted of skiing and camping together. We love being in nature, we love the mountains, and we love staying active. We spend a lot of the winter in the mountains skiing, and a lot of the summer camping and taking road-trips to national parks. Having our wedding in the mountains was really the only option we even considered. We looked into both Snowbird and Sundance for our wedding because we both very attached to those resorts, but Log Haven is so charming that we ended up choosing it in the end.

Kevin had always dreaded his wedding day thinking it was going to be long and tiring. My goal was to make it as enjoyable as possible for him. He was busy studying for his med-school board exams during wedding planning, so I tried to add as many of his favorite things to make the day special for both of us. He LOVES desert so I chose his favorite cake from Magleby’s Fresh, as well as his favorite, Cafe Rio, for our luncheon’s food.

I was more worried about the decor. I wanted the floral to be the main focus with accents of candles, globes, and photography. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling abroad, so I had travel as a minor theme with small accents of maps and globes all over. Everything ended up coming together perfectly, and turned out just like I had imagined it.

We both wanted our wedding to be fun. We have been to so many boring weddings, and we didn’t want ours to turn out like that. The highlight of our wedding was having my uncles band ‘Joe Friday’ play. They play a lot of oldies cover songs, and are the perfect band for a wedding. Everybody can enjoy their music. It wasn’t just our friends dancing, but our parents, and their friends, and all of our families. It seemed like everybody was getting involved and having a good time. It was one of the only receptions I’ve been to in a long time that everybody stayed until the very end. When Kevin and I finally got out of there, it was still packed with people.

Here at SMP, there’s truly nothing that touches are hearts deeper than the stories. The heart behind the pretty weddings, and the meaning tucked between every detail. So when we heard this Montecito bride held her Big Day at the same venue her late best friend once worked for, it made us love this gorgeous wedding even more. She brought on top notch vendors like Stone Crandall, James Tull and XOXO Bride to help bring her dream day to life and the gallery is waiting with so much more.

Colors

Seasons

Religious Institution Villa

Settings

Styles

Pear & Sparkling Cider Holiday Cocktail

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/55873980 600 338]

From the Bride… I decided to share the best day of my life with SMP for one reason – my amazing vendors deserve the recognition. They were the most hard-working, caring, wonderful people and I hope many of the readers choose to use them! Adam and I met during a beach volleyball tournament in Rosarito, Mexico at a romantic little establishment called Papas and Beer. Right next to the mechanical bull, we took tequila shots, danced to George Benson, and fell for each other.

For two years Adam and I long distance dated between Santa Barbara and San Diego. During that time I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease called Alopecia Areata and for the next 2 years Adam stood by me as all of the hair on my head (including my eyebrows and eyelashes) fell out. He was the most supportive, loving, amazing boyfriend I could have ever dreamed of and no matter how many times I tried to push him away, he never gave up on me or on us.

Adam proposed on a sunny, winter day in February at the Santa Barbara Mission, where we had one of our first dates. We laughed, we cried, and on a blanket under that beautiful Spanish church, decided Santa Barbara was where we wanted to get married.

In the fall of 2007, my roommate and one of my best friends, Annie, was crossing the street in Santa Barbara when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver. She was the wedding coordinator at the Montecito Country Club so having our reception there was an easy decision. As we walked across the grounds and watched the sunset after the ceremony, Adam and I knew she was smiling down on us.

Saralee Franchi from XOXO Bride is a machine. Our wedding day went so smoothly, you would think she had a team of 10 working with her. Saralee really helped pull my vision of “1920’s Spanish meets clean and modern” together, and she also recommended most of my vendors, who I loved and saved us tons of money!

Adam and my number one priority was the music. We wanted to make sure everyone danced and had as much fun as we were planning to. My good friend Micah from the band Iration sang “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison for our first dance and then the Kevin Miso Band took over, which lucky for us, is THE BEST WEDDING BAND OF ALL TIME. They went so above and beyond our expectations in every aspect – from cocktail hour to “Don’t Stop Believing” bringing the house down at the end. Seriously – hire this band!

I met Patti Joyce when I finally lost all my hair to Alopecia. She has been my mentor, my inspiration, my guardian angel, and like a mother to me ever since. She chose, custom cut, and styled the wig for me that you see in the pictures. She is amazing!! My makeup artist Romina is just that – an artist. My makeup was flawless and Romina even stayed until after the ceremony to touch up my makeup before photos at MCC.

Flowers were one of the lowest priorities on my list and boy, did Cathy Bardos change my opinion on flower power. I gave her almost no budget and she created the most stunning centerpieces I could have hoped for. I think I got more compliments on the flowers than anything else. You can truly tell she loves what she does and it shows in her work.

Jennifer from Sweet Time Desserts blew me away with how delicious and inexpensive her cakes were. The gourmet funfetti and peanut butter chocolate cakes were so good, we ran out! No cake for us on our one-year anniversary, we will be drinking the giant bottle of wine that you see in the wedding video instead.

Our videographer and photographer are geniuses. Hands down.

My one piece of advice to all of you brides out there is to make sure and take lots of deep breaths, step back, and try to take as much in as you can… the day goes by so fast and every minute is magic!

One of my favourite parts of the holidays is all of the delicious cocktails that happen to come along with it. And now that we’re coming up on Thanksgiving, OneHope’s pear & sparkling cider number has my name written all over it. A splash of this, a squeeze of that, your closest family members and a roaring fire? Well, that’s happiness in cocktail format.

Pear & Sparkling Cider Cocktail

prep time

cook time

total time

Ingredients

2 cups chilled pear nectar
2 cups apple cider
2 cups ONEHOPE Sparkling Wine
4 ounces bourbon whiskey (we used Knob Creek)
1 pear, unpeeled and cored cut into thin slices lengthwise
2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cinnamon mixed for rimming

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.
Rim chilled martini glasses with graham cracker crumbs.
Pour mixture into glasses and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon
Cheers!

Recipe & Photography: OneHope

Jacquelyn Clark

Little Borrowed Dress

My dears, I must admit, I’m having a bit of a “I wish a was still a bride” moment. Why, you ask? Three short words: Little Borrowed Dress. This online wedding boutique offers beautiful, locally-made bridesmaid dresses for rent starting at just $50! So not only does it give brides the chance to choose the dresses they’ve dreamed about, they’re actually affordable for their maids! And get this, if you’re loving your rented dress so much you just don’t want to give it back, Little Borrowed Dress sells their styles starting at just $150! Amazing, right?

Made of high quality materials in New York City’s Garment District, Little Borrowed Dress offers shapes and styles to flatter all figures, and with built-in adjustment points, you can be sure it’ll be a perfect fit. The assortment of colors couldn’t be prettier (check out the new colors coming for 2014 here), and the process? Easy as can be. Simply place your rental reservation online, and the dress will arrive two weeks before the big day ready-to-wear! After the party’s over, drop the dress in the pre-paid package, pop it in the mail, and you’re done! Worried about ordering the right size? Fear not, lovelies, because every order comes with a free “back up” size — just in case.

Smitten yet, my dears? I know I am. Little Borrowed Dress even sends free fabric swatches to ensure a perfect color match (order here)! To see some of the gorgeous Little Borrowed Dresses in real life, head over here! And get this — Little Borrowed Dress is coming to a city near you! Check out their pop up schedule to see these pretties in person! Be sure to get all the updates + news by following Little Borrowed Dress on Pinterest (here), Facebook (here) and Twitter (here)! Happy shopping, lovelies! xo

Photo Credits: Elizabeth Messina / Floral: Flowerwild / Hair and Makeup: Erin Skipley

document.createElement(“img”).src=”http://at.atwola.com/adserv/3.0/5113.1/2821223/1/16/AdId=4886528;BnId=1″

Rustic Swiss Wedding from Celine Chhuon Photography

Switzerland has long been on my list of vacation destinations I need to visit ASAP. And even though I have been obsessed with the idea of cozying up in a little Swiss cabin for as long as I can remember, it just hasn’t happened yet. This, my friends, is my friendly little reminder that my ticket needs.to.be.booked. Because if one week in a Swiss paradise is anywhere near as awesome as this lovely little day captured by Celine Chhuon Photography, my life will be complete. Join me in the gallery for all of the pretty.

Colors

Seasons

Backyard Destination Eatery

Settings

From Celine Chhuon Photography… Sarah and Nicolas got to know each other during a one-year around the world trip. Both are fans of trecking and it was after a long climb to reach on of the highest mountains of Mount Cook region in New Zealand that Nicolas proposed to Sarah! And was then naturally that they decided to seal their love at 1,600 meter high in a nice Swiss chalet on top of a mountain in Switzerland where they’re both from. They both wanted something rustic and simple, decoration was subtle and they chose to have lots of wild flowers as main decoration. The couple spent months to hand-decorate hundreds of vases with lace, pearls, raffia and hemp strings to hold the flowers on the guests tables. Table cloth were hand-sewn too. Sarah and Nicolas are very close to their parents so they wanted to celebrate their own parents’ love by displaying their vintage photographs that they spent months to look for in the attic archives!

The day ended by lanterns in the Swiss sky with mountains as a backdrop, and a song sung by the groom for the bride!

St. Helena Farmstead Wedding from Christina Richards Photography

This is a wedding that makes you smile; a day that is sooo full of awesome, grinning from ear to ear is completely unavoidable. It’s also a wedding that was perfectly styled by Your Event by Erin and features a breathtaking Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch setting and one moment after another of pure love and personality. In other words, it’s a trifecta of amazing and you can see every last ounce of pretty captured by Christina Richards right here in the full gallery.

Colors

Seasons

Claire Pettibone Shoot at The Market At Grelen from Jen Fariello

Settings

Rustic Weddings

Styles

Casual Rustic

From The Bride + Groom… If our wedding day had been anything like the day we got engaged, Matt would have been covered in red wine (he accidentally shattered the bottle just before popping the question at the top of Nevada Falls in Yosemite) and Agnes’ ring would have been too small (her fingers were swollen from the altitude). But thankfully our wedding went much more smoothly than Matt’s proposal (which all in all went pretty well, considering Agnes still said yes)!

When we started planning our wedding we had a very specific vision in mind. We wanted something simple, yet elegant. We wanted great wine, great food, and great music. We wanted an event where our guests could relax and have an awesome time. That was where our good friend Erin Donoghue, who also happens to be a fabulous event planner, floral designer, and the owner of Your Event by Erin, came in. Erin took our ideas and turned them into a wedding better than we could have imagined. Erin sorted through the countless Pinterest pins and SMP entries (Agnes blog of choice, of course) Agnes sent her to create a day that was just so wonderfully and completely us.

Agnes was lucky enough to fall in love with the first venue she saw, Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena, California. Matt knew it was the perfect spot when he got a text from Agnes while sitting at his desk at work that said, “Hey babe. How is your day going? I think we are getting married June 15th!” And as luck would have it, a beautiful, quaint Catholic church just three blocks from Farmstead was also available for our ceremony. To top it off, Erin found us the perfect transportation to and from the church and Farmstead: a big yellow school bus. Between the ceremony and reception we sent our guests on a “wine crawl” with three cocktail and wine tasting stops on the short walk from the church to Farmstead. (They loved it!)

Our wedding was a very small and personal one, with only our families and closest friends, and since we wanted to make it a budget-friendly affair, everyone really pitched in with a lot of DIY elements to make it perfect. The YAY flags, programs, and escort cards were all made with love by friends and family.

One of the things that made our wedding feel incredibly unique was the cast of priests. Agnes was born in Poland, and one of her closest family friends is a priest who lives in Rome, Italy. When Agnes was a young girl, Father Waldek had promised her that when she got married he would go anywhere in the world to be a part of the ceremony. Father Waldek kept his promise and made the trip from the Vatican with another priest friend, Father Francisco, a soccer-loving, Real Madrid fan. Together Fathers Waldek and Francisco presided over the ceremony (with good humor) along with Father Emmanuel, Agnes and Matt’s San Francisco parish priest, blessed dinner and brought tidings and gifts from the Vatican. Father Francisco and Father Waldek were the absolute hit of the party, and made the day more special than we could have possibly dreamed.

Agnes’ instincts about the venue were right; Farmstead was the perfect spot for our reception. We chose to have the wedding dinner served family-style, both to create the feeling of an intimate family dinner and so our guests from all over the world would really interact and get to know each other. Farmstead is a farm-to-table restaurant, so all of the food was local, seasonal, and prepared right on site. It was incredible. We have had numerous guests tell us that it was by far the best food they have ever had at a wedding. Farmstead is so full of natural beauty that we wanted to highlight that. We didn’t have any wedding colors, deciding instead to keep everything in neutrals, which was perfect for a space that has vineyards, gorgeous flowers, apple orchards, veggies, and herbs on-site.

After dinner we danced the night away while our guests sipped wine and played bocce under the bistro lighting that had been personally hung by Agnes’ best friend of twenty-eight years and co-maid of honor. We even managed to get in a game of horseshoes! So fun.

The day was perfection (have we said how perfect it was yet?) and we had such a fabulous time that it is really hard to pick favorite moments. But mine (Agnes) include turning around to walk down the aisle for the first time as husband and wife and seeing the sea of YAY flags go up, and the surprise of receiving three touching, and inside-joke-filled cards from Matt throughout the day, delivered by various groomsmen at the most unexpected moments. And mine (Matt) was our first dance to a song by my favorite band (whom Agnes now also loves), Augustana. When it was time for our sparkler send-off, both of our faces hurt from smiling so much.

It truly was the best day ever.

Be Loved Pr summed up this shoot beautifully: “The Market At Grelen is a place where you can root your love, watch it flourish, and grow it steadily.” I couldn’t have said it better myself and quite honestly, Autumn never looked so good. Wearing delicate Claire Pettibone designs, accompanied by equally intricate florals from Southern Blooms By Pat’s Floral Designs, we’re graced with a gallery from Jen Fariello so pretty, you’ll never want to leave.

From Be Loved Pr… Central Virginia is a destination for brides seeking stunning outdoor wedding venues. Our most popular venues embrace nature and provide gorgeous backdrops for timeless images. When we were introduced to The Market at Grelen, set on an expansive 600-acre tree nursery nestled in Somerset, Virginia, we knew it would quickly become a beloved location for beautiful weddings and events. We immediately envisioned late fall or early winter brides swooning over the vision of a nursery wedding that could be celebrated in such an idyllic and luscious location. A team of Central Virginia’s best wedding professionals, including Jen Fariello Photography and Southern Blooms by Pat’s Floral Designs, joined us to bring our vision to life.

The Market at Grelen is a place where you can root your love, watch it flourish, and grow it steadily. It is a space comfortable to both the bluegrass-loving Southern bride and the traditional, preppy city bride. The Grelen bride loves clean lines and simplicity, wears pearls, but craves time in her garden, enjoys growing herbs on her windowsill, but attends black tie events and country club soirees. She and her groom love to hike, have a dog or two, and will honeymoon in Southern America or Asia. The Grelen bride loves fall and spring, when nature is at it’s finest, and chooses a color palette to reflect all aspects of her love story. Green is, of course, a natural color to represent a nursery, but when mixed with soft pinks and muted reds, it’s an indicator of non-stop passion, elegance, and energy!

At the center of it all were Claire Pettibone’s fresh and luxurious gowns. The Amaryllis dress, with elaborate guipure lace flutter sleeves and a lace-embroidered train, came fresh from the runway at Bridal Market. Perennial favorite Brigitte is a delicate v-neck lace dress with capped sleeves and a silver guipure belt over a full lace skirt lined in pearl silk. A Claire Pettibone dress added just the right touch of nostalgic romance and organic beauty to our nursery celebration!

[dotted]

Photography: Jen Fariello | Wedding Dress: Claire Pettibone | Cake: Favorite Cakes | Stationery: tucked | Shoes: Harriet Wilde via BHLDN | Catering: Real Food | Make up: Rouge 9 Make up Studio | Hair: Top Knot Studio | China: L’Object via Folly Home Furnishings  | Florals: Southern Blooms By Pat’s Floral Designs | Greenhouse/Market: The Market At Grelen | Jewelry (Bracelet): Jude Frances Via Lynne Goldman Elements | Jewelry (Necklace): GotRocks By Tricia Humphreys Via Lynne Goldman Elements | Jewelry (Pearl Earrings): Got Rocks By Tricia Humphreys Via Lynne Goldman Elements | Jewelry (Ring, Two Tone): Jude Frances Via Lynne Goldman Elements | Jewelry (Ring, White Gold): Alishan Via Lynne Goldman Elements | Jewelry (Silver Earrings): Mars And Valentine Via Lynne Goldman Elements | Specialy Drinks and Barware: Beggar’s Banquet | Styling & Coordination: Be Loved Pr

These Featured Designers are members of our Look Book.
For membership information, click here

Wedding Dresses

Claire Pettibone

Couture Bridal

Fall 2015 Romantique

View All Collections

The Secret Garden Inspiration Shoot from White Willow Photography

For those of you completely obsessed with The Secret Garden, today just got seriously awesome. And for those of you who haven’t lost yourself in the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, prepare to be very, very intrigued. Because this stunning photo shoot isn’t just an ode to one amazing piece of literature, it’s a breathtaking session chock-full of pretty. Think lush florals from By Sharpe Design, yummy treats from Picco’s Creations and a whole lot of fabulous captured by White Willow Photography. See it all in the full gallery.

Colors

Seasons

Garden Weddings Outdoor Weddings

Settings

Styles

Romantic

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden has always been very inspiring for me. Its a sort of moth to the butterfly type of tale, where an unhappy girl finds a garden, watching it transform from something untamed and unkempt, to something beautiful and full of life. As the garden blooms she changes, learning to love and finding pure joy. Before the start of this project we sat down to watch the movie after many years of not seeing it. We found it interesting that at the beginning of the movie “Mary” the little girl always wore black and dark colors and as she discovered the garden and it started to bloom her wardrobe became lighter always wearing whites and ivories. And so we decided to style the session with that in mind, starting our wedding with a black bridle, including a wonderfully different Bouquet like never seen before, using sticks, mushrooms, and of coarse Blubs, to help create an images of something absent of life.

Following the movie further, Mary meets a little boy, “Dickon” who is the son of one of the servants. He teaches Mary how to plant her first bulb and then the garden begins its transformation into full bloom. And so many years later we decided to carry on with the story, creating the wedding of Mary & Dickon!

“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that ‘she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow’.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Fiji Wedding from Jonas Peterson

I’ll be honest. Fall is my favorite season. And I long for cozy sweaters, yummy hot cocoa and curling up by the fire for pretty much the entire year. That is, until I lay my eyes on a tropical love-fest like this darling day captured by Jonas Peterson. Because this, my friends, is a sun-filled masterpiece set against the breathtaking land known as Fiji… and if every last glorious image doesn’t make you want to pack up some flip flops and catch the first flight out, I don’t know what will. See it all here.

And a little film magic from Zoom Fiji? I think we will.

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/65718647 600 338]

Colors

Seasons

Spring Weddings

Settings

Country Club Destination

From the Bride… I grew up dreaming about getting married on a tropical island and Fiji was the perfect place to make this dream come true. Fiji holds a special place in both of our hearts as Dave surprised me by proposing and organised to fly out to Fiji the next day for an amazing holiday. We both fell love the Fijian culture, the Fijian people are so happy and friendly and we always feel so welcome there. We decided on the Intercontinental Golf Resort and Spa on the Coral Coast, such a beautiful place. We wanted an intimate wedding with close friends and family to share our special day. We wanted to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere where our guests could kick back and have a great holiday! What was special was being able to hang out with our guests leading up to the wedding, cocktails by the pool, snorkelling on the reef and great dinners. My wedding planner Jane at the Intercontinental Golf Resort and Spa did the most amazing job taking care of everything. Dave and I didnt have to worry about a thing! As we were getting married overseas I still wanted to put my special touch on our wedding so I had a ball designing our wedding invitations. I just wanted something casual and fun to reflect the day.

Were so happy with what the resort provided in terms of flowers and decor, we were lucky our family were able to help talking decorations etc over to Fiji. It was important to us for our guests to experience some Fijian culture so we incorporated Fijian dancers and a fire show, all of our guest really enjoyed this, it really made the night so special. We also had serenaders playing before the ceremony and during cocktail hour. I also had the privilege of being escorted to the chapel by two Fijian warriors. Our reception was held at the Intercontinentals signature fine dining Navo restaurant which overlooks the lagoon and the island of Navo. Dave and I organised a special cocktail for all of our guests on arrival, it was a coconut mojito, our guests really enjoyed this special touch. I loved my orchid bouquet and the beautiful pink ginger bridesmaids bouquets, they tied in perfectly with their Amsale dresses. The guys did well withstanding the heat wearing suits in the heat!

One thing that was really important to me was our wedding photographer. I had done my research but my heart was set on Jonas Peterson. I was not disappointed, he captured our day so beautifully, we both love our photos and will cherish them always. I also flew over an amazing makeup artist from Sydney, Christina Clearly who had been to Fiji many times so I knew I was in good hands. She did such a great job and we all looked so beautiful, our makeup stayed on all day and night. I sourced a local hair team from Fiji, I was not disappointed, they knew exactly what I wanted and their knowledge working with hair in the Fijian heat was incredible! We also had the pleasure of working with Zoomfiji, they also did such a great job capturing our special day. Everyone went above and beyond to make our day so amazing.

The staff were incredible at the Intercontinental and nothing was too much trouble for them. They really made sure that they looked after us and we had the day we had always dreamed about! Vinaka!

Nashville Wedding at Mint Springs Farm from Teale Photography

A Nashville destination wedding is one idea that I can most definitely get on board with. I mean, not only is Nashville one of the coolest cities on earth, it also happens to be a pretty amazing place to host a wedding. Case in point? This pretty little affair captured by Teale Photography, a rustic meets romantic celebration with the perfect amount of whimsy. I’m talking a gorgeous pink Elizabeth Dye gown (YES), lace table runners and peonies a plenty. Start your swoon-fest right here in the full gallery.

Colors

Seasons

Connecticut Berkshire Wedding from E. Broderick Photography + Experience Events

Settings

Rustic Weddings

Styles

Al Fresco Rustic

From the Bride… While I had cherished every single moment we had ever shared, I’d been waiting six years, four months, and four days for this one – I got to say “I do” to my very best friend and it couldn’t have been more perfect! The road to get here was long, filled with beauty, adventure, mystery, and a few forks, but worth every mile. Chad and I have been surrounded by the most wonderful family and friends along the way, and to be able to share this most special celebration with them meant the absolute world to us. We knew we wanted this day to be one big LOVEFEST!

Chad and I had separately moved to San Diego about seven years ago, leaving behind many friends and family on the east coast, and making many new ones on the west. We decided the best way to get everyone together in one place would be to have a destination wedding. Music has had a large influence in both of our lives and so it wasn’t long before we decided that Nashville had exactly what we were looking for – somewhat centrally located, a city with an enormous energy, and beautiful landscapes in every direction!

We knew our venue was “the one” before we even entered the property! With its rolling hills, immaculate barn, crystal clear lake, and countless chandeliers, Mint Springs Farm just took our breathe away from start to finish. They executed each and every detail with such beauty and perfection. Despite the difficulty of coordinating a wedding from out-of-state, Brandy, our Mint Springs liaison, completely captured the Rustic-Chic vibe we were going for, just based on my Pinterest board and a few conversations. The tables were filled with vintage books, containers of all shapes and sizes, romantic floral arrangements complimented with beautiful mint green succulents, and lots and lots of peaches! We chose to use postcards from all of the places we’ve visited together as table names and more peaches as escort cards – one of my favorite DIY projects from the wedding!

But as much as I loved all the little details, I must say that it was the moments throughout the day that made our wedding so special. From our Beatles-themed ceremony music as a tribute to my late father and our extremely personalized ceremony, to walking down the aisle with my mom by my side and having a family member as each ceremony participant (including my brother as the officiant), to having Chad’s mom be able to join us via FaceTime for the whole ceremony and reception as her health did not allow her to be present, to being the subject of the worlds most amazing FLASH MOB and to all the laughter created from our DIY photobooth – we were able to share our love with all those around us, which is what we wanted most. Our love, our adventure, has always been deepened by the people we have gotten to share it with. We are so grateful to all of our incredible vendors for helping us create and capture memories that we’ll all share for a lifetime!

This is what casual wedding goers dreams are made of. No need for a stiff tie or ball gown, but just as beautiful as anything you’ve seen in a hotel, and with a dance floor beckoning barefoot feet. A party and a celebration of the most exciting love, all rolled into one. With Experience Events behind the helm and E. Broderick Photography behind the lens, the gallery is quite possibly the most fun you’ll have all day!

Colors

Seasons

Settings

Tented

Styles

Kansas City Wedding from Emily Steffen

From the beautiful bride… When my husband proposed, there was never really any question as to where we’d tie the knot. For four generations, my family has spent its summers in the woods of Salisbury, Connecticut, the foothills of the Berkshires and this is where we wanted to be. The reception was on the site of an old iron forge, just steps from the lake.

The real question was how to blend our backgrounds and very disparate geographies- I was born in Texas, grew up in Connecticut, and my family has deep Louisiana roots, while my husband is from New Hampshire- to give our guests a true experience of what the merging of our lives means.

The setting: quintessential New England woods. The flowers: soft peach hothouse roses, thistle, and ferns. The food: New England farm-to-table meets Louisiana soul (think: alligator meatballs, grilled watermelon, collard green egg rolls, my family’s crawfish etouffée recipe and tons of local vegetables, cheeses, and breads, and cinnamon sugar cider donuts to top it all off). The music: my dad’s favorite Cajun band, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, who miraculously agreed to fly to Connecticut from Louisiana for the reception.

We wanted to be sure that the decor wouldn’t overpower the setting so we chose soft colors and fabrics and tried to keep things organic. We also wanted to be sure that our guests felt that they were at a celebration, not just an event. We wanted them to have some truly good fun. We encouraged an informal atmosphere. We hoped that if they wanted to dance barefoot, they would. We set up a fire pit with marshmallows for roasting and chairs for resting tired feet in case they needed a break from dancing. I turned around at one point to watch three of my young cousins rolling down a hill together and I felt that we’d accomplished our mission. By the end of the night, the dance floor was packed and our guests clapped and stomped until the band agreed to play an encore. It couldn’t have been a more perfect night.

So many people will tell you not to sweat the details when you’re planning your wedding- that the day will arrive and you’ll wonder why you were obsessing over what type of silverware to use in your place settings. I don’t know that it’s possible to truly understand and appreciate that advice until your day arrives, but it’s true. It’s impossible not to give in to the love you feel in the moment. It’s a feeling of impenetrability and invincibility that I have never felt before. That is what a wedding- and maybe life – is all about. The people you love, the memories you make, and the perfection in all of the imperfection.

Pink + gold make my heart happy. Period. It’s the one color palette that can’t be beat, and when paired up for a feminine fête like this Kansas City stunner – it’s magic. The utterly fabulous Emily Steffen captured the whole shebang behind the camera, and if you ask me, the resulting gallery is a little slice of girly heaven.

Colors

Seasons

Hotels + Resorts Weddings Religious Institution

Settings

Styles

Bedford Post Inn Wedding from Melani Lust Photography

From the Bride… We planned a southern inspired, formal, summer evening; focusing on family and friends, and set in a white and gold hued space in the Hawthorne House. We fell in love with the Hawthorne house because of it’s southern charm and gorgeous white palette inside; which married well with the rest of our wedding ideas! The ceremony was held at my childhood church, Holy Trinity Catholic Church in historic Weston, MO. The color palette included strawberry reds, blushes, corals, and peaches and gold with accents of creams and whites. I wanted the wedding to be formal with a touch of glamour! My favorite accent was the sparkly gold table linens at the reception!

We are midwesterners at heart! But we both have been influenced by our life on the east coast, which was subtly included in our decor, food and attire. I worked with a designer and had my wedding dress custom made as well at Matt’s suit custom made as well to fit our personalities!

Our food at the reception started off with a cheese bar for our guests and ended with a dessert bar full of our favorite sweet treats! My mom also made homemade buttermilk biscuits with local peach butter and strawberry preserves!

We had a live band, which was awesome, for our evening of dancing and fun! The best part was the my uncles decided to sing a few songs in honor of my late Grandfather during the reception!

These Featured Designers are members of our Look Book.
For membership information, click here

Ivy & Aster

Through the Forest

View All Collections

I love a wedding that has an air of simplicity. One that truly allows the love of the two people saying I do to really shine through. And even though the gown is stunning, and the details are divine, it’s the couple that really sparkles. This beauty from Melani Lust is the perfect example of just such a day, and every moment sitting in this gallery proves my points that sometimes simple is oh-so-sweet.

From Melani Lust Photography…I love a small wedding, with the focus on family, closest friends, beautiful details and the most delicious award winning food. This one, tucked in a corner of Westchester County at Richard Gere’s Bedford Post Inn, focused on the bride and groom, without a formal wedding party. The couple discovered the Inn while on a hike, which is something they love to do together as the proposal was at the Temple of the Sun in Machu Picchu, Peru.

While the wedding was influenced by the Gatsby era, it was not a Gatsby wedding. The bride’s dreamy Fillmore gown set the stage for casual elegance. The rain ebbed and flowed allowing dragon flies and flowers to flourish, within a dreamy atmosphere, guests enjoyed the charming property and the romantic tent ceremony.

How To Entertain in a Small Space

I happen to live in a smaller home, and when it comes to entertaining it often takes some serious creativity to make an event go off without a hitch. This shoot was inspired by entertaining for the holidays in a small space. The key is to take advantage of every square inch available, and don’t be afraid to go buffet style. Don’t be fooled, you can still entertain in style without having a formal sit down dinner! For more, head on over to my blog, Christina Loucks!

DECORATE WITH TOOLS. To make the most of my space, I used some functional items as art on the wall such as the apron, platter and serving piece. In a small space, storage can be an issue, and why would you hide all that beauty behind a cabinet door anyway?

MIX NEW WITH OLD. When it comes to decor, don’t be afraid to blend some of the new pieces with some passed-down-from generation items. It adds warmth, interest and character to your table. Here I even mixed in some plastic and melamine pieces with crystal; you really don’t need to tie yourself down to multiple sets.

GO BUFFET STYLE. With a buffet style (or a buffet brunch as seen here), it is easier on the host so she can enjoy her company instead of being in the kitchen serving food. It is really a nice balance of formal in dress and presentation, but also conveying a more relaxed vibe than the formal dining room holidays from years past.

I hope you’re inspired to go entertain in your small space! At the end of the day, it’s all about gratitude, good food, good friends and lots of laughter. Happy Thanksgiving SMPers!

Christina Loucks

Contributing Editor, Lifestyle + Entertaining

Christina Loucks

Paris Engagement from Sansaara Photography

This, my friends, is exactly the reason why Paris engagement sessions are beyond beautiful. The reason why one uber-gorgeous couple after another flocks to the City of Light to snap up their pre-wedding bliss in the unofficial land of love. Put simply, it’s a city that makes for one seriously show-stopping backdrop… and this beauty captured by Sansaara Photography? All kinds of awesome. Click here for sooo much more.

From Sansaara Photography (Bijal and A.Y. Shah)… We had the enormous good fortune to photograph Anne and Michiel in Paris earlier this year. It was unusually cold for May, but as you can see from the images, they could not have cared less. We walked about the streets around the Latin Quarter and then made our way to the Pont Des Arts. It may be thoroughly cliche to put a lock on the bridge, but almost nothing else in Paris will make two people madly in love smile more. All images were captured on our medium format film cameras.

Photography: Sansaara Photography (Bijal And A.Y. Shah)

Summer Harvest Wedding from Emily Scannell Photography

Oh to be a guest at this wedding. Hosted at the gorgeous Campovida and coordinated by Kelly Cloney, it’s the type of fête I spend my days dreaming about. With a talented bride at the design helm, and Emily Scannell capturing every picture perfect moment, it goes without saying being a guest in this gallery is one fabulous way to spend your day. See it all here.

Colors

Seasons

Sarah Crawford’s Home Tour

Settings

Outdoor Weddings

From the Bride… From the beginning, my dream was to have a casual, yet elegant garden wedding. When we stumbled upon Campovida, it took our breath away. We loved that the garden was broken up into sections: a beautiful grape arbor, which we decided to hold the ceremony; windy pathways filled with lavender and apple orchards; a dreamy wisteria garden with a lovely fountain in the middle, which became the reception; and most importantly, a vegetable and herb garden which inspired the theme for our wedding. Aaron and I really value fresh, local produce and so we came up with the idea of harvesting herbs and veggies on site with all of our guests. Food is a great way to bring family and friends together and it always tastes better when you’ve picked it yourself! I loved the idea of having all of us partake in our wedding feast.

As a graphic designer, I found this as an opportunity to go all out and really have fun with the design. For the Save The Date, I placed a dried edible date into a box with a note “Save me!” On the back contained the info for the wedding. Keeping in line with the food & harvest theme, the invitation was screen printed onto light gray tea towels. I designed a local food wheel as part of the invite, where it showed the different fruits and vegetables in season every month of the year in San Francisco. Along with the tea towel, I included seed packets in witty custom designed pouches (like “Lettuce entertain you!” and “It’s Thyme for a feast!”) and a set of engraved wooden utensils to be used as plant markers. Finally, as part of the RSVP, I asked each guest to submit their favorite summer recipe. My ultimate goal was to make a cookbook out of everyone’s recipes and hand them out as favors. Since I love sweets, I couldn’t pass up on handing out some homemade berry crumble bars. They were placed in printed muslin bags, labeled “Thank you berry much!”

Most of the props were gathered over time at flea markets and vintage stores. I found an adorable wheel barrow that I decided to use for the harvest station. It was so much fun looking for vintage baskets! For the welcome table, we displayed everyone’s handwritten recipes. Instead of having a traditional guest book, we had our guests find their recipes and leave us a note on the back. As a result, we have a box full of precious notes & recipes we’ll treasure forever.

Our wedding day was magical. I was worried about the layout and presentation but I managed to let go and trust Kelly Cloney, who did an amazing job coordinating and making it all come together. The flower arrangements by Dandelion Floral were so beautiful, especially the peonies! Both Aaron and I typically get nervous around cameras, but Emily Scannell was so wonderful to work with. She really made us feel comfortable and we couldn’t be happier with the photos. We were also really glad to have found The Speakeasies, a quartet band, who played right from the beginning (the ceremony) to the end (dance party). Live music adds so much to the experience, especially for our first dance, Fly Me To The Moon. I am so happy that our wedding turned out the way I had envisioned and grateful that we were able to share our special day with an intimate group of family and friends.

I swear to you, Sarah is the only girl in the entire world who can deck her house in all out pink girliness and still manage to make it look totally elegant and lovely. Her home is absolutely amazing and I had the most difficult time trying to hone in on the images I wanted to display. White Loft Studio outdid herself on this one and there is so. much. more pretty (and frenchie action) in the gallery. Definitely take a peek!

From Sarah… ‘Style takes heart’ is the name of my website but also my approach to decorating. Most everything in our home means something more than meets the eye. It is filled with recognition of our favorite people, places and things {mainly our twin daughters and two french bulldogs}. There are plenty of not so friendly reminders, too. Haha. Young children and dogs manage to leave their mark one way or another and our home never ever looks perfect!

Coco Chanel said “the best things in life are free, the second best are expensive”. So as extremely appealing as living in a grand pristine house sounds, at the end of the day I’ll choose the home with healthy, happy, and loving inhabitants. {And hopefully we manage to spare a few of the second best things along the way!} Welcome to our world, where chiang mai meets chocolate milk stains and the custom chaise lounge is tattered from our naughty french bulldog, George.

C’est la vie!

PS – Check out Sarah’s Behind the Blog feature from earlier

Photography: White Loft Studio | Bedding {Girls' room}: Amazon | Beds: Amazon | Gold Piggy Bank: Amazon | Lamp shades: Shades of Light | Lamps: Stray Dog Designs | Monogrammed Pillow Cases: Amazon | Oval Frames: Obrien Schridde | Silhouettes: Carter Kustera | Wallpaper {Bar}: Thibaut | Wallpaper {Girls' room}: Thibaut | Wallpaper {Playroom}: Amazon | Windows {Girls room}: Amazon

Jacquelyn Clark

Fig and Florals Shoot from Belle and Beau Fine Art Photography

Because of photographers like the super talented Belle and Beau Fine Art Photography, I had no idea you fabulous Brits were having a hard time finding the light and airy composition we super heart on SMP. Go figure. But if you were one of the doubters, I’ve got a treat for you today. A bit of beautiful fine-art style wedding inspiration from the aforementioned Belle and Beau. It’s more than enough to convince me you’ve got it going on England (not that I needed convincing)!

From Belle and Beau Photography… It took place this summer at Coombe Lodge in Somerset, UK and was based on the theme of figs and florals. The shoot was created to show that truly beautiful fine art style weddings and light-filled photography are possible for brides in the UK too as many brides over here in England love looking at Style Me Pretty weddings and but feel that they can’t be recreated in England!

We wanted to keep it simple and to showcase stunning florals, beautiful dresses and and gorgeous tableware and to show that a little, simple DIY crafting can go a long way to creating something beautiful! It was also important to come up with something new and original for the crafting and styling which is where using different colours of wool to decorate the cake and cutlery came about. Simple, but genius!

Irish Castle Inspiration Shoot from Chris Isham Photography

I’m about to embark on a week-long trek through the Emerald Isle, so quite frankly, this shoot couldn’t have come at a better time. And while it may not be set in Ireland itself, with genius styling by Statice Couture Florals + Event Design and film captures from Chris Isham, you’d probably never know the difference. Remedy Wedding Films whipped up a fun behind-the-scenes video, and prepare to get whisked away to the land of luck via the complete gallery over here.

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/77409682 600 338]

Colors

Seasons