After we took pictures, I went upstairs with Matt to check out the ballroom…

I honestly couldn’t have been happier at how it all came together. I had envisioned everything in my mind and to see it come to life was amazing. I had purchased all vases, branches and votives and hired a designer to put it all together. It looked incredible…

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Fall is on its way and it’s put me in the mood for deep and rich colors, like this burgundy and gold palette.  Build a wedding around this using ornate linens, filigree, velvety fabrics, chandeliers, and lots of gold accents.

Clockwise from top left: room styling with burgundy curtains and gold frames by Katya de Grunwald via Desire to Inspire, perfume bottle and necklace photo by Don Mears Photography via Little White Book, ornate gold, burgundy and brown office by Caroline Beaupere via Desire to Inspire, burgundy and gold bedroom photographed by Verity Welstead via Desire to Inspire, velvet and jewelled wedding invitation by Andrea Yung via The Bride’s Cafe (photo by Jennifer Skog), bride at the Ritz Paris photographed by Olivier Lalin, photo of gold and pearl necklace by Colin Cooke via Perfect Bound

Since the bridesmaid lookbook, two of the three bridesmaids have found their dresses.  I was honestly really afraid this would go badly.  Maybe they wouldn’t like the color options, or they’d insist on matching dresses, or my style experts (the bridesmaids) would say this was a terrible idea.  Unfounded worries, all of them.

Maid of Honor K. bought an Adrianna Papell cocktail dress.

It’s gorgeous in person, with a little bit of jacquard texture in the fabric and champagne pearls around the neckline.  K. is the kind of girl who would look great in a paper bag, but a great dress never hurts.

Bridesmaid C. just decided on hers, from an Etsy seller.  It’s champagne dupioni with a silver dupioni art deco bow at the waist.  C. is my rock ‘n’ roll bridesmaid - although I am not a tattoo person myself (between the permanence and needles there’s no way), I really love hers.  She also has a phenomenal rack.  (C. is now dying a thousand deaths, reading this.)  The square neckline will show off both nicely.

Our third bridesmaid is M., DJ’s brother’s wife.  She’s a teacher, and now is not the right time of year to go swanning around dress shopping.  She is a sweetheart and would shop now if it were important to me at all - but I like low-stress, we still have more than five months to go, and I think this is going amazingly well.  Whew.

Are your bridesmaids choosing their own dresses?  How did you go about making the decision?

Ellie and Dave’s reception was held at Atlanta’s Foundry at Puritan Mill, which is a truly blank slate and is perfect for a brown, green, gold, and cream color scheme. Ellie and Dave were so creative with their decor and really transformed the room into a unique and special place, and it was captured beautifully by Whitney and Jesse of Our Labor of Love.

Ellie’s father owns a furniture showroom and was able to provide all of the decor and lounge furniture that was brought into the space, including the lanterns that hung from the ceiling, the large containers of branches, and the wooden furniture.

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Indian weddings are such special affairs. For some reason, everything seems a bit heightened, from the bright colours to the reception dancing, the ceremony rituals to the emotions and nerves while getting ready, all aspects of an Indian-inspired event always feel just a bit more. Seema and Kristian had a stunning wedding here in Chicago that reflected and celebrating Seema’s Indian heritage while still incorporating Kristian’s family and embracing all traditions. When I met Seema, I instantly felt a special connection with her, and knew her event would be one that was unique and beautiful, but also personal and intimate. It was such a pleasure to photograph this stunning wedding at the lovely Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Chicago.

All of my clients know I love shoes and never pass up a chance to photograph them!

Seema designed the programs herself and had help from her friends and Kristian’s sister in literally tying up the loose ends.

Seema looked so beautiful in her makeup, full outfit and jewelry.

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So the first step of planning a wedding is of course the invitations. For us instead of having the same invitation the guy and the girl actually have different invitations. Since I made the trip to India to shop for the wedding I got to pick out both of them, which was actually a lot harder then it seems since there are so many choices. We had to have an invite that had several cards inside for all the different events which made it a little easier to narrow down. Our first wedding related ceremony was to write out our wedding invitations. The guy and girl have separate ceremonies for this since the first few invitations written are special ones normally which get dropped off at our temple to get blessed as well as those formally inviting the guys family to the wedding. Of course the guys family also formally invites the girls family as well!

Mine was fairly low key but I wanted to share the decorations since most of them were DIY things.

Red is a main color in Indian weddings, in fact we didn’t even use black ink to label our invites it’s considered bad luck. The fabric in this picture was just purchased from the local Joann’s and we just pinned some rose petals onto it to add a little color. The statue is one of Ganesh to bless the ceremony, Ganesh is also commonly used on wedding invitations which are called “kankotri”. Those gorgeous pots were hand painted by my mom and I have a few detailed shots of those later.

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We have such an uber-gorgeous, magazine-worthy wedding for you today featuring some of our favorite vendors.

Kristen and Sean were married at the amazing La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes, CA and the fabulous Next Exit Photography captured some of the most beautiful and romantic photos ever.  Rebecca & Miki from Duet Weddings worked with Kristen and Sean throughout their planning process to create a truly stunning event.

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Classic Black and White never go out of style. While you can’t go wrong with a traditional invitation of black Engraving on Ecru paper, why not update this classic and try the reverse with a touch of metallic gold? What you will end up with is a stunning invitation that sets the mood for an elegant affair.

We love subtle details of gold and white paired with touches of black create a combination that is both elegant and modern.

01. Gryphon Stationers, European Engraved Invitation; on Black Feltweave Paper Stock, with White and Gold
02. Earrings, Cathy Carmendy, on Grace Ormonde Wedding style
03. Vases, on Elegant Bride
04. Bouquet, Anthony Todd
05. Gown, Carolina Herrara
06. Table Setting, on Grace Ormonde Wedding Style

From Ashley Baber comes a montage from a gorgeous red wedding in Atlanta.  So elegant!

All photography credited to Laura Negri

Reader Megan writes in to say:

I am planning a wedding for this New Years Eve.  I’m trying to find ways to be inspired and I would LOVE to see what you might come up with for the color scheme I’m using - I’m using silver, whites and an apple green.  I’m going for a classic look, very festive but at the same time classically sophisticated.  Because it’s a New Years Eve wedding I’m hoping it will be on a grand scale - I’m marrying at a large ballroom with very high ceilings in Saratoga Springs, NY.  I’m using branch centerpieces with hanging votives, and lush florals at the base, and my dress is by Monique Lhuillier - a satin gown with a trumpet shape and silver french knotting on the bodice.  If you could provide any inspiration or even an inspiration board from these ideas, that would be wonderful!  Thank you in advance!

Megan I’m loving your color scheme!  Since your bridesmaids gowns are navy and your ballroom is gold, I added in some hints of both of those to your holiday affair:

Clockwise from top left: Amsale dress via Brides, Boutique Getaways via Desire to Inspire, I Dream of Letters, Brides, Hall of Springs via Joe Elario, British Wedding Magazine via Nibs, Marie Labbancz, Mi Belle, Paris Parfait, Housemartin, Martha Stewart

Megan, the blue and gold may be a bit heavy for your taste but I love the warmth it brings and mixing silver and gold on a holiday is always a great idea!  I also love the idea of incorporating clocks for your NYE event - perhaps your gifts for your groomsmen are pocket watches and your guest book table arrangement includes some clocks too!

E.

I love the mood that candle light combined with black and very dark red creates.  A little vintage, a little swanky, and a LOT of elegant.

Clockwise from top left: Katie Moos, Timwill Photography, Artfool, Laura Hooper, [b]ecker, The Wiebners, Mi Belle Photography, One Source Weddings, Sarah K Chen Photography, Brides via Weddingbee, Millie Holloman

Perfect for an old New York wedding in a supper club, yes?

E.

I, like many other brides, future brides, and little girls, have been a wedding fanatic since I can remember. I have issues of Martha Stewart Weddings and InStyle Weddings dating back to 1998– 10 whole years before my wedding day! I decided, on one rainy Saturday, to go through all of my magazines and start tearing out the images, articles, and advice that I really liked and felt inspired by. I wasn’t sure if I would ever use any of these ideas for my future wedding, but I was ready to get organized! I filed all of my ideas in binders with page protectors (nerd alert!) and used pretty color-coded dividers to get it all organized. 

A few years ago I found a little card in InStyle Weddings that said “dinner and dancing” in a beautiful Bickham script font and it was a pale pink and gold. I’ve loved that color combination ever since and that beautiful all lowercase font. This little card was my little piece of inspiration.

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