Here is the last little bit from Parker J…

Well Pretty people, this is my last blog entry. I wanted to share a few images from the last wedding I photographed. Mandy & Chad  were married on the amazing Biltmore Estate right here in my town of Asheville NC. Most of our weddings are destination events, so it was great to photograph right here in my own back yard! Here are a few images..

Chad is a pilot and was due to ship out to Iraq 2 weeks after the wedding, so the emotions were running high. This sequence of images with Chad and his parents right after the ceremony tugged at my heart..

If you would like to see the entire wedding through my eyes click right here! Thank you for stopping by all of you PRETTY people!

Thank you so very much to Parker J for sharing these beautiful tips and images with us today…your work is absolutely flawless!

Here is a bit more from the oh-so-talented Parker J…

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Hello again all of you PRETTY people! I wanted to share a few thoughts about the importance of finding a photographer that is the perfect fit for you.

First, find a photographer that has the exact styleyou are looking for. Your choices aren’t just traditional and photojournalistic anymore. There are many different styles to choose from. Find one that fits your personality.

A photographer that puts you at ease and lets your personality shine through is also very important. Make sure you and your photographer click. We develop an instant friendship with every one of our clients, and more often than not, we get together with them several times before and after the wedding day to have dinner or drinks and catch up.  We believe keeping that connection is very important.

Another thing to look for is a photographer that makes consistently great images. With all of the beautiful moments at your wedding day, anyone can get a good shot or two. But can they make great emotional images all day? Ask to see their complete interpretation of the day.

Here is one of ours that was a real challenge as it rained all day. Amy & Allan didn’t let the rain put a damper on their wedding day though. We played in the rain before the ceremony and they ended up having to move the ceremony into the wine cave! What a great day! (click on the image for a full slideshow of this gorgeous wedding!)

Don’t settle with your wedding images. This day only happens once. This is a day that you have been dreaming of since you were in pigtails. This is a day when you will see your father cry for the first time. This is a day that marks the beginning of a new life. This is a day that will never happen again. How will you choose to remember it? An image should not only be seen with your eyes, but felt in your heart.
A writer I am not, a photographer I am, so on with the images…

Oh…I so love these images. Absolutely gorgeous. More to come from Parker J!

Parker J is one of those photographers that I envy. He is able to capture the most intimate portraits in the most beautiful way, filled with personality, spunk and style…so needless to say, I am THRILLED that he is guest blogging today!

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Hello all of you PRETTY people! I want to thank Abby and Michelle for giving me this amazing opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Parker J and I am a photographer. Although I shot my first wedding in 1984 (sophomore in HS!) and my work is mainly wedding related, I wouldn’t consider myself a wedding photographer or a portrait photographer or even a photojournalist.

I am a photographer that has worked in all genres of photography and have blended them together to create a unique interpretation of your wedding day. I think this blending of style can be easily seen in my work by clicking on the image below…

I am fortunate enough to be one of only a few photographers in the world that have been selected by Canon Inc. to represent their Explorers of Light and Printmaster programs. I teach workshops and seminars around the world on seeing wedding photography differently.

Photographing a wedding is not work to me; it is my passion. Every wedding day is unique in love, in personality, and in style. Here are a few images that I hope express that…

Okay, the image with the little boy…um, so stinking cute!!! So much more to come from the incredibly talented Parker J!

Here are a few more tips and ideas from Ceci New York!

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Another style is the pocket folder – instead of a book with many pages, you just have a cover that opens and presents your invitation – all your necessary info cards are held neatly off to the side in the pocket. Everything is organized perfectly for your guests. Take it a step further and add something different than paper – I had these hand sewn envelopes out of canvas material to create an unexpected detail for the envelopes. I tied them with a lovely cluster of real sea shells and a tag personalized with each guest names – it’s all about the details!

If a book or a folding piece is too much for you, and you prefer a flat invitation – dress it up with all it’s wrappings like below. Send your invite in something spectacular and unexpected…

Thank you so much to Lisa Hoffman of Ceci New York for this incredible guest blog!

I have to say, for me, Lisa just might be the most inspiring person in this industry. I typically scour her site once or twice a week to see if she’s added any new work and am continually floored by her insanely creative visions and perfectly executed invitations. Even if Lisa’s work is out of your price range, you will ABSOLUTELY, unequivocally be completely inspired by her designs…from her gorgeous color palettes to her innovative approaches with each piece that she craft. Everything she does is total eye candy for any bride!

Here are a few tips from Lisa at Ceci New York on designing an invitation based on a destination wedding…something that is so incredibly popular these days!

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Destination Desire

Executed right, a destination wedding is one of the most unique ways to celebrate your marriage. It transforms your wedding day into a memorable “mini-vacation” for you and your guests and provides a wonderful opportunity to bring friends and family closer together. But with that, comes some essential “informative” requirements which begin with the invitations.

Picking the location was most likely the easy part – now it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty and and start getting the word out. Don’t be afraid of the task – the more you put it off, the worse it gets. Especially with destination weddings, the sooner you get your save the dates and invites out the better off you will be! Typically, I recommend 6-8 months or earlier for save the dates, invites 3 months before the big day. (TIP: If you want to work with a custom stationer, remember to allow ample time for design and production – so start booking your stationer at least 3-4 months before you want to mail them. Rushing is never fun and is quite costly!)

Think about all the information you need to provide your guests, then think about which is the best way to put it all together to present to them. I’m a big fan of organization and making things as easy as possible for your guests. The last thing you want is to invite your loved ones to travel and make it tough on them. That would defeat the purpose of all your hard work! Below are a few of my recommendations on how to do it right. Pick one that works for you and you can’t go wrong.

Ceci Luxe: When a flat card isn’t enough – send a special book! Each page allows ample opportunity to provide your guests with all the information they need to plan their trip properly…

This next book was used for save the dates + welcome tag + welcome book recapping events for an absolutely incredible wedding in sri lanka…

More destination tips to come!!

A bit more from Lisa Hoffman at Ceci New York!

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Personalized style shines through with this punk rock invite below. “Dare to be different” is an understatement with this piece. Inspired by a DADA art collage, the back of the invite is full of personalized phrases and words that represent the couple and their relationship. Silk screened in charcoal grey and black with a pop of hot pink, the collage shows through the smokey plexi glass when the guests take the invite out of the envelope…

Accents of hot pink dabble throughout the invitation suite – showing the couple’s true colors! Don’t forget to finish your look. Don’t skimp on the calligrapher – make sure they’re good at what they do. This piece is a perfect example of how the calligraphy added the perfect finishing touch…

More to come from Ceci New York!

Before I dive into today’s oh-so-fab guest blog, I wanted to thank Lucky Magazine editor, Dawn Spinner, for featuring SMP as her favorite “almost beauty related blog.” What a great shout out from such an awesome blog!

Okay, let’s get right to it! It’s no secret that I am a HUGE fan of the invitation design firm, Ceci New York…Lisa Hoffman, the owner and creative force behind the brilliant designs, is ALL talent so I am so excited that she is guest blogging for us today! I don’t want to blab on, as Lisa has so many great ideas to share!

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Plexi Perfect

Don’t we all love to break the rules every once-and-a-while? After all, being perfect every day is a tough task to upkeep! These days modern brides are breaking every rule and going for something totally unique and awe inspiring for their wedding invitations. Gone are the days where black engraved script on ecru paper are required. Today, I love that brides are allowed to express themselves in a different one-of-a-kind, creative way. Remember, the invitation is the first impression of what your event is going to be like. Sometimes we get so focused on all the day of details that we forget the invite is really the most important part. It’s the element that your guests sees first and provides them with the excitement to actually “accept” to come. Go ahead and send an invitation that represents you and your style – after all this is your moment to shine!

A big trend I’m seeing is glamour meets graffiti punk rock. And I love to do that look on plexi. Don’t be afraid to play up your wedding theme to make a dramatic confident statement. And think beyond paper – I love mixing printing techniques and different materials in my work. Below are a few of my recent works that do just that.

TIP: A great way to save on costs but not skimp on color is to start with the color as the base. In this case above, I chose yellow plexi. White ink is silkscreened on the front and hot pink on the back. I mixed and matched the pink and white ink throughout the suite and accented with the graffiti stamps to bring the pink in on the yellow envelopes. I love taking personalization a little further in my designs – the hot pink back is a hand illustration scene depicted in graffiti style of the day of the engagement. The groom proposed on a park bench in NYC. The design presents the wedding theme but also has a deeper meaning for the couple. A great keepsake documenting the special day!

More to come from Lisa at Ceci New York!

Here are a final thoughts from the amazingly talented Julie Hill at Elysium Productions…

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HOT TREND: SAME DAY EDITS

One of the hottest trends for wedding receptions this year is the Same Day Edit. Guests have seen photo montages, love stories, etc. at other weddings, but this style of video is so new & so cinematic, that it simply leaves the wedding guests speechless! We started producing them two years ago when, on a whim, I decided to bring my computer to a wedding that I was scheduled to finish shooting after the ceremony, and try to edit a quick highlights piece in a matter of hours. It was such a hit that now about half of our couples request this.

It’s one thing to experience the wedding, and then another to watch a cinematic piece displayed from earlier that day right before your eyes! So imagine these two highlights played on a big screen right around cake cutting time with the music blaring… I’d say that’s the icing on the cake :) What’s really cool is that immediate streaming on the web allows the couple to share their wedding with family and friends who couldn’t make the event almost immediately. Isn’t the internet so cool?

Here are two Same Day Edits. Both of these weddings were coordinated by our good friends (and fellow SMP Little Black Book members) Details Details.

Christy & Chris

Christy & Chris’s Fabulous Montecito Wedding from Julie Hill on Vimeo.

Cari & Stephen:

Cari & Stephen’s Same Day Edit from Julie Hill on Vimeo.

Thank you so much to Julie Hill at Elysium Productions for sharing some behind the scenes ideas and inspirations with us! The videos were absolutely gorgeous!

These Vendors are members of our Little Black Book.
For membership information, click here

Elysium Productions

View Portfolio

More from Julie at Elysium Productions

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EMOTIONAL IMPACT

Everyone always asks me why I became an event cinematographer and I have a simple answer… because I love to create viewable moments that cause someone to FEEL as if they were there and EXPERIENCE the emotions of such a momentous day. One of the ways we do this in my line of work is through the power of music. Imagine the last scene of E.T. without the amazing John Williams score? Weddings are emotional events, so creative editing powered by an amazing soundtrack equals a cinematic film that allows the viewer to not only watch the wedding, but experience it again.

Another great thing about cinematography is not only does it capture beautiful moving images, but also captures something that photographs cannot… the audio from the day. Check out this Arthouse™ Edit from Betty & Joel’s wedding in Sonoma, CA. It’s around 20 minutes long so it’s best to let it load first before viewing. The ceremony was full of emotion and so were the speeches!

And I know it’s already been posted before on this blog, but I’d love to share my personal favorite film that I’ve ever edited… our 2008 demo reel (length: 6 minutes). I always wait until I find the best possible music selections before editing this (sometimes yearly) piece… although I’m still searching for 2009 (but am storing up those clips though so stay tuned!)

These Vendors are members of our Little Black Book.
For membership information, click here

Elysium Productions

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Elysium is far and away one of the best cinematographers out there. Their work is intimate, it’s artistic but most of all it’s real. I know that many of you don’t necessarily have the budget for a cinematography, BUT if you can make it work…you absolutely should. I pull out my own wedding video all the time…it helps me to stay connected to my husband and to a day that I put so much love and energy into.

I could babble on forever, but instead, I’d rather introduce you to Julie Hill at Elysium Productions!

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FILMING DESTINATION WEDDINGS

In the span of a year, we will be traveling (or have already traveled) to Hawaii, Cabo (twice!), Canada, Las Vegas, Indiana, New York City, San Fransisco, Louisiana, Florida, and Puerto Rico for some fabulous destination weddings. We are so thrilled that these couples value what we do so much to include us in their day. And we love it because we are able to approach these events with a whole new pair of eyes!

Here’s a highlights from a super fab wedding we shot last September that was also featured on “Platinum Weddings” on the WE channel. Be sure to watch this entire 6 minute piece… this wedding was FULL of surprises!

If you check out our website early next year, we will have the fabulous wedding of Roselyn Sanchez & Eric Winters’ wedding in Puerto Rico!

More to come! In the meantime, check out the Elysium blog…filled with tons of bridal inspirations!

These Vendors are members of our Little Black Book.
For membership information, click here

Elysium Productions

View Portfolio

I hope that everyone is having a GREAT holiday weekend. I wanted to take a minute to announce the winner in the Beau-coup giveaway…with the great prize of $500 towards any Beau-coup product. Here is the comment that we chose…

1. I would love to see more ways to adapt beautiful weddings with outrageous budgets and turn them into the same beautiful wedding (if not…more beautiful wedding!:) with a smaller budget! Like in magazines, you see the spluge -vs- steal sections. Something just like that only with truly beautiful wedding items. For instance, I ADORE all of these beautiful branch centerpieces, full of blossoms and hanging candle holders but on my budget…it’s not possible. You don’t know how many times I’ve looked at the tree of my front yard and contemplated buying a saw!

2. If I had a $500 gift card (after shrieking, and I’m sure crying a little…I’ve hit the emotional stage of planning) I would get online and purchase the beautiful natural rattan candle favors on beau-coup.com. It would be a fantastic favor and a reminder of our special day every time our family and friends looked at them in their own homes!

Thanks so much to Jamie for her entry! We actually started a splurge vs. steal feature a while back,  but it has definitely lagged a bit! We’ll start working on trying to incorporate all of your ideas…more DIY, more approachable real weddings and more tips on how to turn a beautiful idea into one that can fit any budget!

Some of you might already be familiar with this story…but it is just so heart wrenching, I wanted to make sure that I was helping to spread the word. The lovely and enviable Stephanie Nielson and her husband, Christian, of the blog Nieniedialogues were recently in a terrible plane crash that killed the pilot and left both Stephanie and Christian with severe burn injuries. If you are a fan of their blog, as so many of you are, you already know that Stephanie and Christian are absolutely shining examples of family, of adventure and of creativity. It is our honor to help them in this time of great need…

If you’d like to help with the household expenses during their recovery, you can donate right here, at the Nie Recovery site…

I love this next set of catering ideas by Blue Plate Catering…

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Eat, Drink and Be Married

Innovative passed hors d’oeuvres can provide a quality, budget-friendly alternative to a sit-down dinner. Taking a more creative approach to culinary and imaginative presentation truly impresses guests. For instance, the Quail Vesuvio served in a mini white china skillet or the Lobster Thermidor on a miso spoon is a delightful surprise for your guests.

When your guests taste the sweet potato off the chrome tasting spoon they’ll be sure to ask about the secret ingredient–homemade marshmallows!

No matter what your culinary vision happens to be, Blue Plate’s experienced culinary team can help you do it with style!!

Thank you SO much to Blue Plate for guest blogging on Style Me Pretty!!

Next, Blue Plate is offering tips on choosing just the right venue…oh, and make sure to scroll to the bottom for a quick but easy SMP request!

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How to Choose the Perfect Venue

As you know, picking a reception location is one of the biggest decisions you will have to make; the venue sets the tone and theme. Just like the wedding specialists at Blue Plate can guide you to a venue that perfectly complements your needs and desires, you should always check with your vendors to see what their favorite venues are…

For instance, one of the wedding consultants from Blue Plate recently guided a bride and groom through an array of venue choices, ranging from intimate gardens, historic museums, grand ballrooms, and iconic restaurant locations.

The wedding consultant fully understands budgetary limitations and can lead you to your perfect location with budget conscious options.

More from Blue Plate to come! In the meantime, we’d love to hear what YOUR favorite hometown wedding venue is…whether it’s a gorgeous farm, a stunning hotel, an old loft…anything goes!

We really don’t write about catering ideas as much as we should here on Style Me Pretty…the creativity and innovation that you can infuse through the food that you serve, is pretty unbelievable. So, I am really happy that our next guest blogger, Blue Plate Catering, is offering up some tips and ideas for the best wedding food…

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A Modern, Fresh Wedding Theme from Blue Plate

Creatively weave your theme into every aspect of your wedding–from décor and atmosphere to your choice of menu. A dedicated wedding consultant can help you make your vision and theme a reality. You don’t have to jet to the east coast to experience a Cape Cod wedding. This eastern, sea shore wedding took place in Chicago and was created by Weddings by Blue Plate.

An underwater experience was created with Lucite tables at the head table and food stations, courtesy of our friends at Kehoe Designs.

The modern Cape Cod affair inspired the menu–small plate samplers and stations. In a tribute to the New England style, guests tasted Cumin Crusted Diver Scallops, Seared Halibut and Red and Yellow Beets.

YUM!! More from Blue Plate throughout the day!

Here is another real wedding by James Abel!

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I believe when you get married, it’s the one and only time you’ll have that particular group of people together, so your wedding should reflect who you are as a couple.

When Elyse and Joe came to us for their wedding in an old Broadway Theater in Manhattan, we were able to take advantage of their love for the theater and the uniqueness of the event site.

photos by Andreas Rentsch, invitation photo by James Abel

We set the tone of the wedding with the invitation, which we handmade to look like a theater, complete with a red silk curtain. The tables were named for Broadway shows — as opposed to numbered — and since the theater was Art Deco, we used deep reds and classic silver containers to style the lobby where the cocktails were served. It was very old school. Inside the theater for dinner, the look played off the rich golds in the space and the dramatic crystal chandeliers. We capped off the evening with a candy bar featuring Elyse and Joe’s favorite candies. Guests made their own gift bags filled with M&Ms, Snowcaps, Juju bees and Skittles to name a few.

LOVE IT! Thank you so much to the oh-so-talented James Abel for spending the day with us and sharing these incredible weddings!

James is back to share some incredible ideas behind one of his favorite real weddings…

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These days when it comes to weddings you can get as creative as you want to. It’s perfectly acceptable to make your wedding as unique as you are.

When NYC restauranteur David Massoni and his fiance Rachel Bergman came to us to plan their October wedding, we decided to do a true New York wedding with a non-traditional twist. She was from Michigan, he hailed from Maryland, but New York is their home so we wanted to showcase who they are as a couple. The planning of this wedding was a balance between utilizing New York as a backdrop for the event and pulling together the details that were most important to the client.

all photos by Whitney Old

The ceremony was held on the water with views of the Statue of Liberty in the distance. With food and wine being so important to David, we allocated more of the budget to the menu. We decided to have a Sunday morning brunch at a park venue. This allowed us to keep the feeling of the event intimate and elegant. We kept the decorations simple because the setting was spectacular — the venue had large windows overlooking the New York harbor and the park proved the perfect spot for wedding photographs.

It’s no secret that I LOVE James Abel. I actually met him years ago at the Stationery Show and we have been buddies ever since. It’s more than his absolutely gorgeous work…it’s his lovely personality and passion for what he does that really blows me away. I always look forward to a James Abel event and today, he is sharing some of his personal ideas and inspirations. Can’t wait!

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Flowers by James Abel Events

With all of the many decisions to be made for your wedding, don’t stress over your flowers. Instead of complex mixed arrangements or bouquets, why not keep it simple? I find there’s a sweet and elegant sophistication to using one type of flower per container and grouping them together.

I like to use flowers of varying heights, colors and texture, such as hydrangea, tulips, orchids, bells of Ireland and roses. You can create tight bundles or just keep it lose and airy. These individual groupings add interest to any table, plus, it’s a great way to utilize the vessels themselves as part of your table design.

More to come from James Abel Events in just a bit!

I thought that I would take a minute to check in with everyone! Today is a great day for me…not only do we have a new baby girl, Audrey Elizabeth (born a week ago Monday), we are also celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary! My husband, Tait, is incredible and I have fallen in love with him all over again since the birth of our little girl.

So, to celebrate life, love and everything weddings, we thought we would take today to announce our latest giveaway! Together with Beau-coup, the incredible favors company that we are featuring today, we are offering one lucky reader a $500 gift card to buy their favorite favors! All you have to do is answer a couple of questions that will help both SMP and Beau-coup understand what your bridal loves are…

1. In SMP’s honor…what would you like to see MORE of on SMP? Real Weddings, DIY projects, Inspiration Boards or more practical tools like printable checklists and such. Anything goes, we are just looking for good, constructive ideas!

2. And in Beau-coup’s honor…what will you buy with the $500 gift card to Beau-coup? We love to get a feel for what our readers are loving, so spend a minute browsing the Beau-coup site to see what you would put your money towards!

I love, love, love the products that Beau-coup is putting out there. They have a huge selection, and I have to say, a really beautiful array of favor ideas. Here are some of my favorite wedding favor picks…

And, the gift packaging ideas are awesome. LOVE the nests below…

Winnie, of Beau-Coup, will choose the winner over this next weekend so make sure to get your entries in by midnight (PST) on Friday. Both questions must be answered to qualify. We will announce the lucky bride or groom on Monday!

A bit more from Winnie at Beau-coup!

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Wedding Favors Assembly Parties

There are a great many readily available wedding favors to choose from. But for some of us, the best part about doing wedding favors is actually doing them! I love getting together with the girls for an afternoon of yummy treats, good conversation and fun crafts. It’s a great way to bond with your bridesmaids!

Some tips for a successful Wedding Favors Assembly Party:

* Prepare to have enough scissors, hole punchers, rulers…whatever you need to make the favors so that you don’t waste time taking turns

* Wait until you have all of your wedding favor components before sending out the invitation. Sometimes items in the mail get delayed and it would be a waste to have everyone over and nothing to work on.

* Do a run-through and take note of how long it takes, how much candy goes in a jar, how much ribbon goes around the box, etc. And then make sure you have enough of everything

* Calculate the cost of your favors. Sometimes the little pieces add up and you could be spending more than you expected

* Lastly, make it fun! Prepare food, have some drinks and put on some music so your friends have a good time (…and don’t go home spreading rumors about you being a Bridezilla)

Here are some wedding favors packaging ideas from Beau-coup:

For my friend’s recent brunch bridal shower, we gathered together to assemble her wedding favors. She’s a nature girl…I’m talking Prius-driving, works-for-an environmental-non-profit, barters-for-produce-at-the-farmers-market, nature girl. She’s awesome and she makes green look great.

Her favors were lavender sea salt and rosemary sea salt from her favorite farm (she’s the only person I know who has a favorite farm), Eatwell Farm. The salts were packaged in spice jars from Beau-coup and tied with hand cut, hand written hang tags.

At the wedding, tent cards were set out on each table with a note from the bride and groom about their favors, “We love to put the salts on popcorn, fresh heirloom tomatoes, as a marinade for meats and vegetables and scrambled eggs!” Yum!

By the end of brunch we had 100 wedding favors assembled with love and care. And of course the gracious bride sent us home with bridal shower favors that she made – a CD of her favorite music.

Thank you SO much to Winnie at Beau-coup for all of these great favor ideas! Defintiely check out the site if you have some time…there are so many more really great products!