Anyway, I was going to hand the blog over to some of my guest bloggers for the week so that I could get a little r & r but what can I say, I am addicted. The minute that these babies landed in my inbox, I threw my vacation out the window so that I could get them up. They are just that good.

Belathee is this incredible photography team whose work I am forever in awe of. It’s so editorial, so unbelievably chic, it’s almost hard to tell that you’re looking at a real wedding. The girls are a rare talent to say the least. Here are a few notes from the Belathee about this affair…

Annabel photographed this couple from London who planned a mini wedding with quite a fashion statement here in NYC. They got dressed at the Gramercy Park Hotel and held a little ceremony in Gramercy Park.

Then they were off to South Street Seaport for some mesmerising images around the city. The designer behind the gown is Angelica Colarusso and both the bride, Nicky, and the gown got quite a bit of attention on the streets! Nicky, the bride, embraced the fact that it was getting dirty and thought it made it even more special to have leaves stuck in the tulle

This couple was sent to us via Fiona Leahy , a fantastic wedding planner based in London and  it was truly a treat to capturing such stylish clients and the big apple always proves as an amazing backdrop for any occasion.

More to come from this incredible shoot by Belathee in just a bit!

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Post tags: Belathee, gramercy park hotel, New York, NYC
Post categories: Wedding Photography

And like many celebrations, there is a life, a story behind the beauty. Here are some last details and a touching note from Laura, the gorgeous bride…

Due to my aforementioned obsessive planning trait, I would have normally chosen to give ourselves plenty of time to perfect every detail and incorporate tons of DIY projects. During our planning, however, life took a different turn: my stepfather, whom I think of my only father as he’s been with us since I was a child, was diagnosed with liver cancer. As many who have dealt with cancer can attest, there were many ups and downs… some times we thought he would beat it, and other times we were scared he wouldn’t make it through the week. Eric and I decided right away that we would do our best to make sure he would be there with us on our day, so we chose a winter date in the same year and ramped up our planning.

photography by Heather Waraksa and event design by Daughter of Design

The decision to move up the wedding turned out to be, far and away, the best one we made, and not just because my father made it to our wedding. In the months leading up the big day, his health began to fail rapidly and life became very difficult for him. But his anticipation of the wedding and his desire to be there to walk me down the aisle kept him going, and when I called him I could hear the joy and excitement in his voice even through the pain and depression he was dealing with.My mom described the day she took him to get fitted for a new suit (and a very dapper new hat and coat to go with it) as one of the happiest he had during that time.

My father passed away just a few weeks after the wedding. Thankfully, we had the warm memories from the wedding and the pictures showing the happiness and positive spirit that he had that day to ease us through this period. Eric and I are so extremely grateful that we were able to spend this time with him, show him the love that we have for each other and the promise of our future so that he could rest assured that I was taken care of. These memories are happy ones and we cherish them… and I know my father would be proud of that.

Near the end of the evening, after the photographers had left and things were beginning to wind down, it started to snow in Manhattan.  We – and our guests – all went out onto the roof deck and reveled in the magic of the city lights and the snow falling around us.  It was so breathtaking… as if the stars were aligned for us that night.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Daughter of Design, Daughters by Design, Eric and Laura, Heather Waraksa, Loft, New York, NYC
Post categories: Contemporary

And yet, just when you think that it’s all about the style, all about the chic…there is that bit of handmade charm that EVERY wedding needs to feel complete!

all photos by Heather Waraksa and the gorgeous event was designed by Daughter of Design

As a quick little sidenote, Laura loved the details so much that she launched her own event design company specializing in the finishing touches that turn a pretty wedding into a spectacular one! Definitely check out her new adventure, Make Merry Event Design Services.

A Bit More From Laura…

We served three kinds of really fabulous cupcakes and THE best banana pudding I’ve ever had, period, all from Sugar Sweet Sunshine.  Our caterer Yen Ngo of Real Food Catering, added macaroons and meringues to round out the dessert table.

We gathered wedding photos of our family and friends, printed them in black & white, and hung them from champagne and cream colored ribbons accented by hanging votives (our tribute to them as inspirations for our marriage).

Oh also, we followed the DIY project you posted from Kathleen – the hot chocolate and marshmallow bags. And it was a total family effort: cards printed by me, bags and hot chocolate purchase and put together by my mother, sewn by my aunt, and molasses cookies (family special recipe) added by my mother-in-law. We left these at the hotel for our out-of-town guests and also brought some to the wedding to give away to the others.

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Post tags: Daughters by Design, Laura and Eric, Loft, NYC
Post categories: The Blog

We did (almost) nothing that was traditional.  We served champagne before the ceremony because…well, who wouldn’t want that? We were married by a friend of ours that was ordained for the occasion.  With her help, we wrote the ceremony and our own vows, and although I’m biased, they were amazing and so completely ‘us’… many guests told us it was the highlight of their evening.

The songs played during the ceremony were rock songs, performed on an acoustic guitar and accompanied by a cello.  The same (amazing) guitarist performed with singer Juliana Riccardi during cocktail hour:  Jazz covers of rock, pop and rap songs.  There were no bridal party introductions, no cake to cut, and no bouquet thrown – we came down from cocktails and danced a foxtrot for our first dance (our only nod to tradition) to start the party, then had no further interruptions for the rest of the evening.

all photographs by Heather Waraksa

We asked our bridesmaids to pick out their own black and white cocktail dresses, and groomsmen to wear any dark suit they already owned or wanted to purchase. We loved the eclectic feel and, having been a bridesmaid on many occasions, I didn’t really want my girls to have yet another dress they’d never wear again.  To add some cohesiveness, we gave each groomsman a gray two-tone dotted tie (polka dots made appearances throughout the wedding), and gifted the bridesmaids with the pieces they wore in their hair. 

So much more to come! Oh and we’re hoping that Laura will gift us all the step-by-steps for her incredible hairpiece!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Daughter of Design, Heather Waraksa, Laura and Eric, Loft, New York, NYC
Post categories: Contemporary

the gorgeous photos are by Heather Waraksa

From the beautiful bride, Laura…

The ‘mood’ of our wedding was inspired by our venue: silver and crystal chandeliers in an otherwise plain white space.  We put together a vintage-meets-modern feel and decided the best way to decorate the loft on a relatively tight budget was not to fight it, but to complement it:  thus the colors were shades of white, black, silver, candlelight & champagne.  When Annie, of Daughter by Design, brought us down to see the space fully decorated, after cocktail hour, I immediately knew it was the best choice we could have made.

We went with very minimal flowers, mostly to save money but also because I wanted the candlelight to be the focus.  So we filled the tables with candlesticks (from CB2), floating candles in tall tapered glass vases, and tons of votives;  small arrangements of hydrangea and freesia were accents. I’m a designer, and I made all of the paper goods other than the invitations – menus, programs, escort cards, signs, etc.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Daughter by Design, Heather Waraksa, Laura and Eric, Loft, New York, NYC, White
Post categories: Contemporary