Style Me Pretty

Featured :: Shelby & Paul’s Picturesque Autumn Wedding on Style Me Pretty

0 · Apr 28, 2017 ·

It is really interesting working with a bride who shares your name. All day long I kept hearing, “Shelby!” but no one was talking to me. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I answered and then was immediately embarassed. This day was not about me. This day belonged to another beautiful bride.

While I have yet to feature Shelby and Paul’s wedding here on my own blog, it was featured last month on Style Me Pretty but unfortunately I somehow missed it and am so sad that I’ve delayed in sharing the most picturesque of autumn days. This October day was one that will reign in my memories for many years to come. The colors, the warm sunshine and the barnyard animals that surrounded this 19th century barn made my heart sing. I’m getting tingles just thinking about it, which means you should probably head on over to SMP right now to see catch just a glimpse of the magic that I witnessed that day.

Style Me Pretty Bouquet Breakdown :: Nautical Lake Michigan Wedding

0 · Mar 21, 2016 ·

Building a bridal bouquet is so much more than just gathering a handful of flowers and binding them with a silk ribbon. It’s an artful composition of design. It’s a process of sourcing the right ingredients, crafting the perfect recipe and then weeding out any blooms that don’t quite meet the cut. And then the labor of love truly begins.

I remember the day that Becca send me a gorgeous, white mounded bouquet with the caption “this would be a dream”. I would never copy another artist design – there are a number of logical reasons behind this, but for the most glaring of those is because I wouldn’t be true to myself, I would be relying on someone else’s creativity and it might actually rob not only the other artist, but also the bride of having a piece that’s a one of a kind treasure that’s designed solely for her. The bridal bouquet is an artist’s floral interpretation of each bride, their story written in flowers.

So I asked, “What is it that you love so much about the bouquet?” After a little thought, she determined that it was the way that it was white, and yet had the tiniest tinge of pink scattered amongst the petals. It was so subtle and barely noticeable, and yet, there it was.

Becca was a very elegant and chic bride, so her bouquet was designed to be a reflection of her. It was just a touch nautical, perfect for a beach wedding. The blue hint in the greenery blended with Lake Michigan’s shoreline and the wild dune grass which prevalent all around. Then a couple anemones were added to tie in the nautical navy of the men’s suits. I chose to make the clematis and its silky smooth petals, the star of the garden rose infuse bouquet. This provided a resting place of the eye to naturally fall and also nodded to Becca’s appreciation of simple, clean lines.

Photography: Clary Pfeiffer Photography

You can read more about the individual floral ingredients and inspiration behind the bouquet here, as it was featured on Style Me Pretty over the weekend. You can also see the full St. Joseph wedding here as well from its feature back in December.

Featured :: Nautical Lake Michigan Wedding on Style Me Pretty

0 · Dec 11, 2015 ·

On the sand in St Joseph, Becca and John said I do. From the flowers to the ribbons to the setting, the entire day was picaresque. Lake Michigan will always hold a piece of my heart, no matter how far my travels may take me. The soft tones and nautical touches were some of my favorites from this past wedding season. The fact that the celebration remained unplugged made nature’s beautiful shine all the more. And today you can see the entire celebration featured over on Style Me Pretty.

Style Me Pretty Bouquet Breakdown

0 · Nov 5, 2015 ·

A couple month’s ago one of the awesome ladies from Style Me Pretty reached out asking if I’d mind breaking down and sharing all the ingredients to Christina’s lovely autumn bouquet (you may remember Tim & Christina’s wedding was featured on their blog here last spring). It was so special being asked, as I feel like Tim and Christina’s wedding was a break out moment for me and I will forever think of their wedding day with the warmest memories. I had done other floral arranging, I done other weddings but I knew in my heart of hearts that theirs was something special. They entrusted an incredible amount of faith in me. Their wedding wasn’t only going to be the start of something incredible and new for them, but it was going to be the start something big for me as well.

I was right.

This was my big break and the largest scale event that I had tackled to date. My love affair with flowers grew. And it continues to grow. I stretched my wings and did something scary and reaped huge rewards. I proved myself worthy – not to the world – but to myself. So when I was asked to describe this bouquet and the flower it… it was hard to know where to even start. Their wedding was a beautiful finale to the end of the 2014 wedding season.

It was my first time using Peterkort Roses. It’s a bit nerve wrecking any time you use a new supplier. Simply put, I had nothing to be nervous about. Their roses do not disappoint. As always, I had set aside my favorite blooms as I was processing and unpacking flowers. Special blooms for a special bride. Her bouquet was one of the last projects I tackled late that Friday night. I think that was my biggest bucket of “favorite blooms” I have ever collected.

It was dark and quiet in my Grandpa’s garage. The rains fell on the red tin roof and the wind was roaring outside on that cold October night. But what I remember are the flowers, the awe, and how I loved each and every stem that I placed.

Friends, here’s the bouquet (captured by the ever amazing Kelly Sweet Photography) and here’s the recipe, you can read more about it all these magical romantic roses over on Style Me Pretty.

7 Stems of Helga Piaget Garden Roses
5 Stems of Romantik Antike Garden Roses
3 Stems of Champagne Roses
2 Stems of Talea Roses
3 Stems of Pink Majolica Spray Roses
2 Stems of Pee Gee Hydrangeas
2 Stems of Peach Stock
Italian Ruscus Foliage
Variegated Pittosporum Foliage

Enjoy!

Getting Published

0 · May 19, 2015 ·

Last week I had another one of my real weddings published on Style Me Pretty. The wedding itself was a dream and I could look at the pictures (and video!!) over and over again and never tire of them. And having your work featured on such a large platform is forever an honor – even though it may not have been the motivation of working on this particular wedding, it’s always nice when the wedding industry comes along and gives you a pat on the back, recognizing your hard work.

Photo: Kelly Sweet Photography

But let’s turn and look at this from a bride’s point of view. Was your wedding pretty as a picture? Do you dream of millions of people watching you and your man say “I do?” Want to be the envy of the neighborhood (and everyone’s Pinterest board)?

Do you want to see your wedding published? How do we make that happen?

It is okay to say right from the start that it’s your dream have your wedding featured on XYZ blog. You’ve been reading it for years, have 1,000 of pins from them and now that your big day is finally arriving, you want it to be showcased front and center. Sure, your wedding is really about love and commitment, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty. So my first piece of advice is to be up front with your planner, your photographer and your florist. While lots of other vendors are definitely involved, these tend to be the key people in making your vision come to fruition, and getting it featured.

If you have a specific blog or publication that you’re aiming for, share that information. Different blogs feature weddings with different aesthetics. As a bride, you might know that you love everything you see on XYZ blog but not even be aware of why it you like their style so much. Maybe they only feature film photography, rustic weddings or flowers that are very textural and loose. Your planner should definitely be able to help you identify what is so special about that blog.

Then choose vendors that have been published before. They’ve had real weddings published before. Real weddings are much more challenging in that they have to be functional, as well as pretty – things can’t just be morphed for the camera. If they’ve been published on your dream blog/publication then they earn major bonus points since they already know what it takes.

And then you have to trust your vendors. Why are featured weddings so special? The make us covet their prettiness. They make us say “wow, I wish I was there”. Details are unique, the photography is extraordinary and everything flows perfectly together and feels very cohesive.

With all of this being said, it doesn’t mean that you have to have an over the top budget to make it happen. I can’t stress how important it is to have confidence in your vendors and how key it is to hire an amazing photographer. It might seem strange, but splurging on an incredible photographer could actually save you money. They just know how to capture things in a way that takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. $1,000 worth of flowers suddenly looks like $5,000. Sometimes the photographer is truly the only reason (in my opinion anyway) that certain weddings even get published. The event doesn’t necessarily have to be super trendy, just well documented. It’s all in the details.

Make sure you’re timeline allows for extras. You’re going to need pictures of the reception “untouched”. The ceremony site needs to be captured before the guests arrive. There needs to be time to photograph the invitation suite, the bouquet by itself, the cute boutonnières and maybe even a centerpiece or two off of the table. If everything is rushed, it’s far less likely that your stylist and photographer can get creative together a “stage” a couple extra pretty photos (yes your favorite weddings had tacky salt and pepper shakers on their gorgeous reception tables and their boutonnières probably arrived in plastic containers, not on that gorgeous silver tray – it’s all about staging).

Trust your planner/stylist to guide the decision making process. While cheap plastic folding chairs might be fine and serve the purpose, it’s rare that I see them featured on a national publication. Upgrading the chair rentals and going with a more standard linen might be in your best interest to achieve your goal. They know where to best focus your monies to get the most bang for your buck.

Do you want to get your wedding published? Me too! I’d love to work together to make your dream day a reality.

Featured :: Style Me Pretty Michigan

0 · May 14, 2015 ·

Talk about sweet surprises, I knew this day was coming but I didn’t know when. So when I saw this gorgeous wedding pop up in my feed it just took my glum morning and turned my busy frown up side down! I LOVED this wedding. And I know that I’m not supposed to play favorites, but this one totally has hold of my heartstrings and seeing it again today on Style Me Pretty makes so so excited for all the lovely in store for this coming wedding season.

Kelly Sweet captured the romance with absolute perfection and the video from Coastline Studio is not to be missed. Northern Michigan, I can’t wait to come back home!

Here’s the feature which shows full vendor credits and I’ll also be sharing more in the future… this is a beautiful blog post in the making.

Featured :: Style Me Pretty Midwest

0 · Jan 12, 2015 ·

Last winter Rachel, of Sincerely Ginger Weddings, and I were inspired to create an inspiration shoot based on this scene.

We’re all so familiar with Lake Michigan’s summer views, but the winter is just a breathtaking. We thought about the soft lilac tones which subtly shift from periwinkle, to sky blue until they reach the boldness of a navy nighttime sky. Leland made the most perfect backdrop anyone could ask for and today you can see the shoot in it’s entirety on Style Me Pretty Midwest.

Enjoy!

Featured :: Wedding in the Woods on Style Me Pretty

0 · Nov 17, 2014 ·

I have goals, both in business and in life. I’m not very vocal about these goals even though I’ve heard from numerous sources that voicing them will help you to achieve them. I’m the exception to this rule. I’m the girl who just feels even more miserable about herself when I fail and feels like a fool for having to publically broadcast my failure, which makes me never want to set another goal again. Period.

But one of the silent goals that I have for my little business is being achieved today. It has been a long time coming with lots of hard work and tears and a constant strife to be better and challenge myself more, which I feel is helpful not only to oneself but also to my clients. So here I am – The Day’s Design – published on the front page of Style Me Pretty.

Someone pinch me please!!

Florals + Event Design: The Day’s Design | Photography: Kelly Sweet Photography

I cannot wait to share the inspiration and design in its entirety on my blog in the near future but for now, head on over to SMP to see this gorgeous Alice in Wonderland inspired wedding in the woods.

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