Click here for the FULL vow renewal!

From the bride… When my hubby asked me to re-marry him, I was beyond thrilled!  Our wedding was such a fantastic time, but as everyone who has ever been married would tell you, there are always a few things you’d change. As photographers, we are blessed with having seen a million weddings. That made planning a wedding in one week not too difficult. With the help of one of the world’s best wedding planners and our favorite dress shop in town, we had the absolute best time with our vow renewal. We wanted to plan it through our daughter’s eyes. It’s so amazing to see how a wedding unfolds from a kid’s eyes — truly a fairy tale.  Redoing a wedding allows you to change the things you didn’t think were that high on your list, but end up being later in life. No more BIG wedding party, no huge guest list, much more elegant attire (thank you, Vera Wang and Anna Bé!), plated dinner instead of buffet, etc.

We just wanted this to be a very intimate affair, and we allowed so much input from our little girl. She wanted sweets. Why not put together a marshmallow chandelier? Why not include root beer floats, hot chocolate and powdered doughnuts? Instead of real rings, we exchanged little ring pops. So we could get a little elegance, Kara added in a lot of texture and details. We bought a vintage truck as our chariot and borrowed a horse from an 11-year-old down the street from our venue, The Manor House.  

I really particularly enjoyed the intimate time that I got to spend with my mom and my daughter getting ready. Basically, all the things we missed the first time around … we got right this time. But one of most beautiful moments was when my hubby surprised me with a song he wrote for me, and I managed to surprise myself with being able to write and say my vows without too shedding too many tears. As photographers, pictures are such an important part of our life that we spent days putting together our old photos and hung from a thin rope that we hung all over the chandelier. It allowed for great dinner conversation while we feasted on all of our favorite food and drinks. We finished off the night with some very silly moments at our ever-so-famous Brinton photo booth. All in all, I think we would all agree it was perfect … very us!

Photography: Brinton Studios with Two One Photography / Venue: The Manor House in Littleton, Colorado / Flowers, Event Design + Event Planning: Kara Delay of Love This Day Events / Rentals: A Vintage Affair Rental / Dress: Vera Wang via Anna Bé

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Post tags: Anna Be
Post categories: The Blog

Click here for the FULL wedding!

From the bride: Michael and I are both from Tulsa, Oklahoma, but we met and fell in love in Denver, Colorado. I attended college in Nashville, Tennessee and lived in NYC for several years, so between those two cities, Denver, and Tulsa, we realized any wedding would be a destination. My parents and grandparents live part time in Kona, Hawaii, so over the years we’d both spent a bit of time there. With just a little convincing, I had Mike sold on our destination.

From the moment I first visited the Club at Hokulia I knew it would be an amazing place to be married. The open-air teak wood pavilion just resonates Old Hawaii with oversized fans, tiki torches, and an incredible ocean cliff view. With a backdrop as gorgeous as Hawaii, you need only add to the beauty, not clutter it. We knew we wanted the flowers to be the main event. Even the simple burlap table runners and champagne colored bridesmaid dresses were meant to enhance the beauty of the flowers and the surroundings.

As a graphic designer, I spent a lot of time envisioning the entire wedding, but especially the paper products. I picked bright, bold colors for the invitations and incorporated Hawaiian words (with accompanying translations). I designed everything from the programs to the menus (which included fun facts about us on the front!) I was all about the details: custom cocktail napkins, stirrers with our initials, and even parasols straight from Hong Kong for the ceremony to provide some shade. There were lots of DIY touches including the favors (handwoven boxes with chocolate turtles inside) that doubled as escort cards and the little hand-made flags on the cake. The entire day was absolutely perfect. The sun literally started setting behind us right as the ceremony began. Everything turned out more amazing than we could’ve imagined. We felt so fortunate and loved to have so many (61!) friends and family members travel such far distances to spend time with us and see us get married.

Photography: Toby Hoogs Photography / Flowers: Flowers for Mama / Ceremony & Reception Location: The Club at Hokulia / Invitations: Pumpkinhead Paperie / Shoes: Valentino / Dress: Anna Be /Earrings: Penny Preville / DJ: Hawaii Sound & Vision / Ceremony + Cocktail Hour Music: LT Smooth / Caterer: Paradise Catering

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anna Be, Destination Wedding, Flowers for Mama, Hawaii, Hawaii Sound & Vision, LT Smooth, Paradise Catering, Penny Preville, Pumpkinhead Paperie, The Club at Hokulia, Toby Hoogs Photography, Valentino
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Destination Weddings, Hawaii Weddings

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From the Bride…If I wasn’t a graphic designer, I’d probably be a wedding planner. I’ve always had a passion for party planning….I love the creativity and the attention to detail that is involved in planning an event. In a way, graphic design has a similar process – you have an idea or a vision, brainstorm on what will/won’t work and slowly put together the puzzle pieces to form an end result that is cohesive, unique and pleasing to the eye. This is why I was thrilled to be able to combine my two passions – graphic design and party planning – into one very special project…..our wedding day!

My initial inspiration came from a plant. A succulent to be exact. I have always adored everything about succulents: the blue/green colors, the variety of shapes/sizes, the connection to the southwest and the fact that they are not necessarily a cactus, a plant or a flower – but some sort of beautiful and unique combination of all three. In my wedding research, I came across a beautiful bouquet that incorporated succulents – along with billy balls (craspedia), white peonies and scabiosa pods – and I knew this would be the basis for our entire wedding theme. “Casual, rustic, elegance” – were the terms I used in describing my wedding day vision. My husband, Kji (pronounced Kye) and I are both laid back, outdoorsy types – who shy away from anything formal and stuffy – so we knew our wedding needed to have a casual and relaxed atmosphere. We chose Bishops Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa in Santa Fe, NM as our venue – for it’s rustic, ranch like setting and it’s ability to host both the ceremony and reception and allow all our guests to stay where all the events were taking place. I grew up in Santa Fe and my family still lives there – so it holds a special place in my heart and I felt it embodied the “casual, rustic, elegance” theme perfectly.

All of this hard work and planning lead to the most beautiful, most perfect day of our lives. There were certainly some set backs – like the fact that the entire state of New Mexico was basically burning down from all the forest fires in the vicinity (there was even a fire that popped up the DAY of the wedding only 5 miles from the wedding site!) – but none of that really affected much (except that we got an amazing photo with a smoke plume in the background!) and the day went off without a hitch. Brett Butterstein’s did an incredible job documenting the day …his focus on light and shadows combined with the unique New Mexico architecture, created the most breathtaking photos and really captured everything perfectly. All in all – it was the best wedding we’d ever been to (though I suppose we could be a bit biased) and I couldn’t have asked for more!

Wedding Photography: Brett Butterstein Photography / Flowers: Margaret Bost Floral Design / Ceremony + Reception Location: Bishops Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa / Invitations + Paper Products: Sweet Nature Designs + Etsy / Bride’s Shoes: Seychelles / Wedding Dress: Watters via Anna Be / Band: Missed The Boat / Photo Booth: Photo Booth Rentals of New Mexico / Hair + Make-up: Rock Paper Scissor Salon / Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew / Groom’s + Groomsmen Suits: J.Crew / Flower Girl Dresses: The Briar Patch / Accessories + Jewelry: Etsy / Pies: Chocolate Maven / Custom Pint Glasses: Custom Glassware +  Sweet Nature Designs

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Post tags: Anna Be, Bishops Lodge Ranch & Resort, Brett Butterstein Photography, Chocolate Maven, Custom Glassware, Etsy, J. Crew, Margaret Bost Floral Design, Missed The Boat, New Mexico, Photo Booth Rentals of New Mexico, Rock Paper Scissor Salon, Santa Fe, Seychelles, Sweet Nature Designs, The Briar Patch, Watters
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Destination Weddings

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From Chad Morgan Photography…Brooke and Greg pulled together an organic, whimsical affair, full of vibrant blues, coral, and natural tones. All of the guests at the ceremony were provided with coral fans and parasols. The programs were DIY, natural-papered, cards with coral tie accents. The reception included delicate flower arrangements on each table that carried the theme perfectly, without overdoing it. The dessert table, including cookies, cakes and treats, all spoke to the overall design. Extra touches, such as cocktail stir sticks, personalized cocktail napkins, lanterns, candles, lights, and personal photographs really completed the concept.

Most importantly, what made Brooke and Greg’s wedding so meaningful is that every detail had significance to them–each one expressed a small piece of their personalities as individuals, and as a couple. The gifts they gave each other, her dress, his suit, all of the amazing colors and flowers, and all of the little details they pulled together for the reception came together to create a truly beautiful atmosphere!

Wedding Photography: Chad Morgan Photography / Wedding Dress: Anna Bé / Floral Design: The Perfect Petal / Reception Location: Artwork Network / Ceremony Location: Regis University

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Post tags: Anna Be, Artwork Network, Chad Morgan Photography, Colorado, Denver, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Modern, Regis University, The Perfect Petal
Post categories: Contemporary, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, The Blog

Pitter patter, pitter patter. Seriously heart, quiet down a bit. But come on, could that board get anymore romantic? Could that blush color combo be more perfectly matched? Sofia, you playing with my inspiration board loving heart strings. And of course it doesn’t end there. No, no. Let’s continue all the pitter pattering with the outrageously dead on styling of Sapphire Celebrations, the breathtaking photography by James Christianson Photography, a ravenously romantic cake from Intricate Icings Cake Design, perfectly pretty floral design by Bella Fiori, and seriously stunning stationery by The Paper Guppy.  Top top it all off, you get to see it all go from inspiration to reality thanks to the talents of Rising Moon Video Productions. Ok, ok I’ll stop the gushin’ so you can get to scrollin’…

Click here to see the entire image gallery!

If you need a way to inspire your Friday even more, I am telling you this video is where it’s at:

Style Me Pretty – Inspiration to Reality from Rising Moon on Vimeo.

From James Christianson… Janine and I had been talking about doing a styled shoot together for some time. With us both being Little Black Book members in Colorado, we decided that we’d create an Inspiration to Reality shoot using as many other LBB Colorado members as possible.

As we were contacting the vendors we wanted to be involved in the shoot, we still needed to figure out what inspiration board we wanted to use to drive our creation.  Janine had the fantastic idea of contacting Sofia of Brancoprata to see if she would be willing to develop a custom inspiration board for us to use for the shoot.  Sofia has such a talent for creating unique inspiration boards that we knew whatever she came up with would be beautiful fuel for our imaginations.  With the image of our selected Vera Wang gown from Anna Be, Sofia didn’t disappoint with her creation.

Quickly the team gathered and starting working on pulling together our ideas for making this inspiration a reality.  The feminine feel of the inspiration board would be the perfect contrast to the masculine and natural of the Sanctuary, our selected venue for the shoot.

Photography: James Christianson Photography / Venue: Sanctuary Golf Course / Floral Design: Bella Fiori / Wedding Cake: Intricate Icings Cake Design / Paper Goods: The Paper Guppy / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang via Anna Bé / Cinematography: Rising Moon Video Productions / Event Design and Coordination: Sapphire Celebrations / Makeup, Wardrobe, Styling & Creative Direction: makeup by janine / Hair Styling: Hilary Hackney, hilhac2000@aim.com / Model: Sophia of Wilhelmina Denver / Linens: BBJ Linen / Rentals: Event Rents

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 51 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anna Be, BBJ Linen, Bella Fiori, Blush, CO, Colorado, Denver, Event Rents, Hilary Hackney, Inspiration to Reality, Intricate Icings, James Christianson Photography, Makeup by Janine, Paper Guppy, Pink, Rising Moon Video Productions, Sapphire Celebrations, The Sanctuary, Vera Wang, White, Wilhelmina Denver, Winter Wedding
Post categories: From Inspiration to Reality, Photo Shoot

Click here to see the entire image gallery!

From Talia Events… This photo shoot was born out of an email exchange between Denver-based makeup artist Janine Schmenk (makeup by janine) and myself.  She was interested in creating a mid to late-winter photo shoot and I had an idea that had been rolling around in my brain, figuratively and literally.  After a bit of discussion, we decided to design an inspired shoot that incorporated yarn in a modern way. We thought it would be fun to create a contemporary wedding-scape out of a simple, easily obtainable, everyday material like yarn. I kept returning to the idea of creating the kind of modern you want to live in, not just look at in a shop window or magazine.

First, I created a chandelier by clustering a handful of yarn globes together. It was reminiscent of light, airy snowflakes.  To balance the airiness of the chandelier, I rolled balls of yarn of different sizes to cluster together in the center of the table. I wove in metallic threads to create depth and add a hint of sparkle befitting of a wedding. The motif was continued by crossing strings of yarn over a round table covered in a creamy ivory textured linen—the table became a third rendition and a ball of yarn all on its own.

Joining the balls of yarn on the table were glass cylinders of varying heights that had been slipped into the sleeves of sweaters. Each held a candle or a tightly-packed cluster of white flowers. The flowers added texture and freshness while the glow of candlelight through the knit of the sweater added warmth and interest.

With vision in hand, Janine and I called in a team of amazing local talent to bring it all to life and add their inspired touch to the concept. Keri Doolittle did an amazing job of capturing the details, mood and each member’s contributions.  And contribute they did! Janine lent her artistry in makeup and wardrobe styling to create looks that befit a bride getting married this time of year. Hilary Hackney pulled out all the stops and created a veil out of model, Lianna’s, actual hair. Rachael from Intricate Icings, created a dessert bar incorporating a cake decorated with quilting and yarn details. She also baked and decorated individual yarn ball cakes for each place setting—they were complete with a heart made out of a single sting of fondant yarn. Alicia from Bella Fiori Events incorporated several small balls of yarn into a highly textured bridal bouquet and created the compact floral centerpieces scattered in amongst the balls of yarn on the table. Julie from JS Design Custom blessed the entire thing with her paper loveliness. She created yarn-wrapped tubes with a bit of lace and button flair for the flatware and a round, felt-wrapped place card for each guest. Event Rents provided the components for the table itself. Anna Bé shared one of their beautiful, elegant and unique wedding dresses with us and Space Gallery provided the perfect setting of white walls, original artwork and an alley full of freshly fallen snow.

As I said on the day of the shoot, the final product went far beyond the boundaries of the original vision and design, it was delightful to see it all come together and an absolute honor to work with such amazing local talent.

Photography: Keri Doolittle Photography / Floral Design: Bella Fiori / Venue: Space Gallery / Event Rentals: Event Rents / Wedding Cake and Dessert Table: Intricate Icings / Makeup + Accessories + Wardrobe Styling: makeup by janine / Wedding Gown: Monique Lhullier via Anna Bé / Bridesmaid Dress: Jenny Yoo via Anna Bé / Table Accessories: JS Design Custom / Place Cards: JS Design Custom / Hair Styling: Hilary Hackney / Model: Liana for Wilhelmina Denver / Event Design and Styling: Talia Events

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Post tags: Anna Be, Bella Fiori Events, Colorado, Denver, Event Rents, Hilary Hackney, Intricate Icings, Jenny Yoo, JS Design Custom, Keri Doolittle Photography, Makeup by Janine, Modern, Monique Lhullier, Neutral Colors, Photo Shoot, Space Gallery, Talia Events, Wilhelmina Denver, Winter, Yarn
Post categories: Photo Shoot

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First, we have another dream team lined up ready to make one of your fabulous inspiration boards come to life. For this next challenge we have the fantastically talented crew of James Christianson Photography, Carissa Beauty, Sweet Letter Press, RSVP Shindig, Anna Be Bridal Boutique, Delilah’s Flowers of Denver, and cinematographer Kevin Von Qualen. Our vendors will be choosing the winning board on Monday, December 21st, so head on over to the Style Circle and design to your little heart’s content. Make sure to tag and name your board Inspiration Board Challenge #9 to be considered!

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And now… we have the pleasure of sharing with you the winner of Monday’s Inspiration to Reality Challenge…Congratulations Sticky! This completely amazing, completely chic board, appropriately named “ampearsand” caught the eye of our vendors and they just couldn’t resist its colorful, whimsical charm. This design will come life at the hands of style gurus Gina Barber from A Thyme to Cook, White Dress by the Shore, Steve DePino Photography, Stonington Paperie, Dana Bartone, Jessica’s Country Flowers, and Buzz Media.

Loving this color scheme… this one is about as irresistible as they come, but we’ll (try to) wait patiently for it’s unveiling after the New Year.

Credits include: Justin Marantz / vi.sualize.us / Paul Rich Studio / Surface Magazine / Painting by Carol Marine / Kate Spade / Fresh New England / Nick Sherman / Veer.com / On Paper / and Cunningham Photography.

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Last, but most certainly not least is the winner of the vintage car banner from A Bride’s Ride. Renee is giving one very special SMP reader one of her fabulous getaway kits just for stopping by and telling us about their favorite banner and garland. But that’s not all, she is also offering FREE shipping on orders until Jan. 31. So just head on over to her seriously cute site and simply mention Style Me Pretty when purchasing.

Enough talking… it’s time to announce our winner Laura, who said…

Yay! I’m in love with the “Love” banner with the pink flower garland. We’re getting married on my parents farm up in a field of wild flowers by the apple orchards. We’ll be having a yellow and pink lemonade stand and an old yellow antique car up at the ceremony site (complete with those giagantic balloons, of course!)…these banners would go perfectly with the vintage car and is the lovely little finishing detail for a fun-whimsical theamed wedding! Adorable

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Brides Ride, A Thyme to Cook, Anna Be, Buzz Media, Carissa Beauty, Dana Bartone & Co., Delilah's Flowers of Denver, Inspiration to Reality, James Christianson, Jessica's Country Flowers, Kevin Von Qualen, Pears, RSVP Shindig, Steve DePino, Stonington Paperie, Sweet Letter Press, The White Dress By The Shore
Post categories: Contests, From Inspiration to Reality

Before we get to the heart of the wedding though, you’ve got to see Paige’s gown … a Lela Rose design from the lovely ladies at Anna Bé in Denver …

photos courtesy of Jennifer Davidson of LUCE’

And now … a bit of their story from Paige …

John works Burton Snowboards so when we got engaged in Sept 2008, it was pretty clear that we would probably have a winter wedding. Zach’s Cabin is one of our utmost favorite spots…located half way up the mountain you take a snowcat from the Ritz Carlton in Beaver Creek to get to it.

After figuring out that our guest list had close to a 50:50 ratio with local and out of town guests, we decided we wanted our wedding to really be an experience.

The Thursday before, we invited our parents and our wedding party to Churchill Winery to personally bottle (and drink) delicious wine which we then gave out as our wedding favors.  Yes, our wedding party was quite lopsided … John had 6 close friends he wanted up there as his support system (5 as groomsmen and 1 as our officiant), and I was happy to keep it clean and simple with only my maid-of-honor.

On Friday, we invited all of our out of town guests to a wine and cocktail celebration at a wine bar -Vin48, in Avon. And of course, all days – yep, including the big one – we spent the days up on the mountain snowboarding! We skipped a Sunday brunch and had one last ‘shred session’ with anyone who had a later in the day flight. Overall it was a lot of fun and really great to be able to have time outside of the actual wedding to spend with all our close friends and family.

I wanted the day to feel really intimate so I made as many small touches and details as I could and sourced out friends to help as well. A close friend and her mother created all our florals, including the great topiary trees we used in the ceremony. She also had the awesome idea to create a cotton bouquet which worked perfectly for the winter setting and with my dress.

John has a metal fabricator that he does business with for displays, so he designed and had a large metal frame created which held 10 of our engagement photos. I laid out craft tags for people to sign as our “guest book”.

For our centerpieces, I bought apothecary jars in a variety of sizes (from saveoncrafts.com) and filled them with unscented filler (from Target) and typed out 2-3 sentences telling about our “firsts”. First Date, First Road Trip, First “Meet the Parents” – each table had a different story and ‘first’. I also bought food storage containers and mason jars to hold candles which I simply tied pieces of yarn around to keep a cohesive look.

I absolutely LOVED our placecards which also were another take-home for guests. I bought preserved aspen logs from a local florist (The Perfect Petal) and cut them into 1″ thick slices, then hand-stamped with a metal stamp kit the guests names on one side and “eat, drink, get married” on the other.

For our wedding favors, I created wine labels that looked like an aspen and drew out a P + J in a heart to attempt to look like it had been carved in the bark. Putting in the time to do things myself definitely took a lot longer than I expected but I am so glad that I did it.

* * *

Paige sent us a link to their wedding video by Danielle Yuthas of Unleaded Productions. SOOOOO sweet! You can see LOTS more details of her dress (Lela Rose from Anna Bé) … and her cotton bouquet  … and the flower girl shaking her wand with cotton in it!  Really good stuff!!

* * *

Congratulations to Paige and John! And to their wonderful photographer, Jennifer Davidson at LUCÉ, a HUGE thank you!!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anna Be, Beaver Creek, Colorado, Cotton Bouquet, J. Crew, Lela Rose, Luce, Ritz Carlton, Snow, Unleaded Productions, Vin48, Winter Wedding, Zach's Cabin
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Little Black Book Blog