Style Me Pretty

Wrap It Up Pretty + Winners!

You know we LOVE to wrap up the week with a big ol’ bang here on SMP – and today we have a little something special up our sleeves.  Yep, thanks to the oh-so-talented team of Ciara Richardson, Stephanie Brinkerhoff and ILY Couture, you’re Friday evening is about to take a few giant leaps up in the happy department… and all because of a fabulous bundle of oh.em.gee gorgeous hair trends, perfect for that Spring wedding, garden party or night out with your honey.  So, clear your calendars and call every single one of your friends.  This tutorial is PERFECT for a girl’s night in.

From Ciara Richardson… Every bride has a certain style she leans towards. Some brides may be more classic while others more boho. We picked a few of the top hair trends that each covers a different genre. For the boho we included a 5 strand braid with loose wavy curls. For something more romantic and whimsy we did a wispy updo. We did a classy side swept to keep things timeless. And for the more elegant we did a beautiful chignon. All styles equally beautiful and unique.

Boho Curls - Braids, twists and beachy texture are very trendy right now. This look is perfect for the laid back bride.

1. Take a small section off of your part and wrap it around a curling iron towards your face. For this type of curl you can use any size curling iron.
2. Without letting go of the piece you just curled, unwrap it from the curling iron and re-wrap it around the barrel again, this time wrapping the opposite way, away from your face.
3. Hold it until the hair just barely gets hot on the outside.
4. The result is a not quite curly, messy wave.
5. Proceed to curl all of your hair this way, taking bigger sections on bottom and smaller sections on top.
6. Once it’s curled, use your fingers to fluff it up and soften the wave. I also like to add a little spray wax for texture.

Airy Updo - A soft, airy, wispy updo is romantic, but also a little whimsical. High buns are also very trendy right now.

1. Start by loosely curling your hair with a 1 1/2 inch curl iron.
2. After it’s curled, backcomb it at the roots and use hairspray to add volume and texture.
3. Run your fingers through your hair to make everything nice and fluffy.
4. Loosely pin up the curls in the shape of a big, messy bun, high on your head and slightly off center.
5. Once it’s pinned in a shape that you like, add a big flower or another type of accessory to balance it out.

Sleek Chignon - Nothing is more classic for a bride than a chignon. No one will ever look back on their wedding and wish they hadn’t done a chignon.

1. Section out both sides and clip them aside for later.
2. Starting in the back, backcomb everything at the roots to add body and give the bobby pins something to grab onto.
3. Loosely twist sections of hair, some smaller, some larger, and pin them at the lower right side of your head by your ear, forming a chignon.
4. Once the chignon is formed, release the opposite side of your hair by your left ear, twist it across the back of your hair and pin it under the chignon.
5. Finish by releasing the left side, loosely twisting it and draping it on top of the chignon, securing with bobby pins.

Voluminous Waves - Curly hairstyles are still a really popular choice for brides, voluminous waves in particular this year.

1. Curl all of your hair with a 1 1/2 inch curling iron, securing each curl with a clip to let it set in place.
2. Once all of your hair is curled, take out the clips and gently brush your hair, forming the curls into big waves.
3. Do a small twist braid across the back of your head from left to right, ending just behind the right ear.
4. Smooth out the curls and add shine with serum or pomade.

Photography: Ciara Richardson / Hair & Make Up: Stephanie Brinkerhoff / Bridal Hair Accessories: ILY Couture

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to our newest Little Black Book members…

Verbena Floral Design
Mielle Boutique
Bella Sera Bridal
Roberts & Co. Events
Bella’s Desserts
Shannon Leahy Events
Bare Root Flora
123 Djs
SB Beauty
Julie Renee

To apply to become a member of our LBB click here. We’d love to hear from you!

An oh-so friendly reminder…

California brides, mark your calendars for Kirstie Kelly’s trunk show featuring her new collection from June 1st – June 3rd!  This is one event you don’t want to miss!

And last, but not least, we have some winners to announce!

Three winners were randomly selected for the Le Soirees Weddings & Events giveaway of a custom designed Love Logo/Wedding Monogram. Congrats to Mary C, Joshua, and Laura!

Congrats to NY Reader, Kristina, for winning a $100 voucher toward an album compliments of The Album Room!

Jalaina is the lucky winner of the stunning hydrangea brooch bouquet from Blue Petyl Bouquets!

SMP Australia hosted a giveaway for a free bridal bouquet from Petal & Pod. Congrats to Melissa! And Australia brides, Petal & Pod is offering a 15% discount off of the total purchase cost of your order through the end of June 2012. Use the code SMP Bride when ordering your flowers to receive this discount!

Liz is lovely that gets to claim the Bella Figura letterpress Giveaway!

Have a happy, happy Mother’s Day weekend, lovelies!  We’ll see you back here Monday morning! xoxo

Backyard LA Wedding by Gia Canali Photography

Yifat Oren & Associates who is the master designer behind some of the most fabulous soirees in the history of soirees, including some major A-listers, has outdone herself with this backyard beauty. It’s boasting peonies for days and days and the most beautiful images a wedding obsessed girl like myself could ask for. But I would expect nothing less from Gia Canali Photography. She has a way of making even the ordinary insanely beautiful. Through her camera, we’re getting a peak at wedding magic. See it all right here.

Click here for the FULL wedding!

From Gia Canali Photography… I have a soft spot for backyard weddings, to be sure, but for so many reasons, this wedding is going to go down (in my books, at least) as the best backyard wedding ever. Not only was it all of the things I love about backyard weddings  — full of warmth, intimacy, and personality (in spades!)— but every detail was flawlessly conceived and executed. The energy of this wedding was extraordinary. I can tell you about the tangible elements of this wedding, but I’ll never be able to properly explain what it felt like to be there with this couple as they vowed to each other, as their friends and family toasted them, as they dined and danced in a backyard filled with lanterns and mica fairies (it felt like a garden of fireflies!).

As with most at-home weddings, making a home space into an event space — much less one that will accommodate all the folks you want to invite — is quite a challenge. Yifat Oren & Associates turned their attention to this, making the most of the space available, installing a sub-floor in the front yard to create a space for the ceremony and in the back yard over the pool to create a dance floor.  The other trick, of course, is designing the event in a way that highlights the existing personality and design of the space. The huppah, for instance, was built underneath a pepper tree in the front yard and used grapevine branches and peonies. The groom’s mother made a quilt to cover the huppah. Each detail complemented the natural elegance of the existing trees and the space. 

Sometimes it’s the actual words of a wedding that make it special, as was certainly the case with Julia and Eli’s ceremony. You can see Eli’s vows on my blog. On a more serious note, the mother of the bride, Hollywood producer Laura Ziskin, has since passed away after a courageous battle with cancer.  The foundation she started, Stand Up To Cancer, raises money for collaborative cancer research.

Wedding Photography: Gia Canali Photography / A Private Residence in Los Angeles, California / Wedding Planning: Yifat Oren & Associates / Floral Design + Huppah Decor: Krislyn (Now Closed, Visit Little World Design) / Wedding Stationery: Tiny Pine Press / Catering: Lucques / Huppah Quilt: DIY by the Groom’s Mother / Entertainment: West Coast Music / Wardrobe Styling: Nina + Clare Hallworth / Wedding Dress: Carolina Herrera / Mother of the Bride’s Dress: Carolina Herrera / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Diane von Furstenberg / Hair: Chris McMillan / Groom’s Suit: Tom Ford

Sweet Designs by Amy Atlas + A GIVEAWAY!

Everyone knows Amy Atlas. She’s the pretty blonde genius behind the the dessert buffet craze that has literally changed the wedding industry. For the far more delicious of course. Well, not everyone knows that aside from crafting some of the loveliest sweets a girl could ever imagine, she is also one of the loveliest of women who just happened to write one of the loveliest of books I’ve ever seen. And she’s chosen SMP to debut this inside peek at one of her (and my) favorite chapters! Oh and did I mention there is a recipe involved? And a GIVEAWAY? Sigh.

The book, Sweet Designs, takes you behind the scenes and gives you a front row seat to Amy’s crazy skills. She shares recipes, design and presentation ideas and seriously steal-worthy concepts for planning and executing your own Amy-inspired dessert table. It’s every dessert lover’s dream come true and quite honestly, I can’t believe that Amy is spilling all of her too good to be true secrets. Like the recipe for lemon bars, so good, that just might make you cry.

all photos by Johnny Miller

“I’ve served these gorgeous squares with and without the powdered sugar, as the perfect ending to any dinner that calls for a zesty dessert. They maylook fragile but they hold up well when transporting.” –Amy Atlas

Makes 16 bars.

FOR THE COOKIE CRUST:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar plus extra for dusting
teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces

FOR THE LEMON FILLING:
1½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ cup fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and pre-heat oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8- × 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil in the bottom of the pan, allowing excess foil to hang over the sides. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles coarse wet sand. Don’t overmix or let mixture come together into a dough.

3. Firmly press the dough into the bottom of the pan, using the bottom of a measuring cup to firmly press the mixture down. Chill dough in the freezer for 15 minutes.

4. Bake until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

5. Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and cornstarch until combined. Add the lemon juice and eggs and whisk until combined. Strain the mixture into a bowl.

6. Pour the filling over the baked crust and bake 30 minutes more, or until the filling does not jiggle when tapped. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then refrigerate at least 2 hours to set.

7. Cut the lemon bars into 16 equal squares. Use a small offset spatula to remove them from the pan. Tap a bit of confectioners’ sugar through a sieve over the top of the bars. Arrange 5 or so on an oval platter and set on the table. Replenish as necessary. The lemon bars will keep, tightly covered, in the refrigerator up to 1 week.

Thank you so much to Amy Atlas for sharing this with us! And now for the REALLY good part! Amy is giving away 1 book to a very, very lucky SMP reader. And if you simply can’t wait, you can buy the book right here. Okay, here’s how you enter:

Prize: Sweet Designs by Amy Atlas

To Enter: TWEET the following – I want to win a copy of @amyatlas book #SweetDesigns from @stylemepretty. You can add a second entry by  sharing this post on facebook. Just click the share button under this post!

Winner: We’ll choose a person at random from the tweets and shares and the winner will be announced next Friday, May 18th!

xoxo, Abby