Alice Padrul first made her presence known on SBW in the ever gorgeous Little Princess Shoot, which let’s just say, captured my immediate attention.  If your not familiar with Alice’s work, let me give you a touch of background.  Alice, born in Moscow Russia, has quite the decorated background in the world of fashion from attending some of the world’s top fashion institutes to working with some of the top leaders in fashion.  Like most designers, through her own career path, Alice honed in on bridal couture as her design weapon of choice.  Alice’s designs offer a uniquely feminine feel with a sense of flirty touch & whimsy.  While Alice strives to create new collections that embody her signature look, she is also willing to work with brides on costume gowns, crafting their dream wedding gown vision together.  Below is a look into Alice’s 2013 Collection which is filled with French Chantilly Lace, Organza, Swarovski Crystals, & Silk Charmeuse just to name a few.  All the right elements, combined with Alice Padrul’s sense of design, to create the most female empowering collection.

‘Bella’- Cotton Belgian Brugge lace, organza sash and organza flower

‘Daisy’- Silk organza with hand made organza flowers & Swarovski crystals

Whether you are a mermaid/trumpet gown gal or not, its hard to ignore the beautiful strap work on Daisy.  When straps are done right on a gown, they begin to take on a life of their own and there is no exception here.  Any bride looking to bring forth a show stopping & playful look, this is the gown for you.

‘Adele’- 3 D lace over nude silk charmeuse lining with trapunto sash, hand made crystal buckle

I have 2 big loves when it comes to Adele.  Firstly, I completely adore the choice to work with a nude underlay & trim.  The nude works to create a more fashion forward feel all the while giving dimension to the gown as a whole.  The element that really pulls the look together is the trapunto sash in nude.  The wide quilted sash not only works to give shape to the bride’s waist but it creates the most gorgeous structured bow.  Perhaps the element that I love the most about the sash & bow is the fact that it is not centered & just a touch rotated to the left, I completely adore this fact & how it gives just the right dash of whimsy to the overall feel of the gown!

‘Carina’- French Alencon lace ,decorated with cutout flowers and Swarovski crystals

Carina is that perfect lace gown for the refined bride looking a more conservative look in the front allowing for a bit of a more relax feel in the back.  The shear lace straps serves to give a sweet flirty feel, backing a way a bit from such conservative touches.

‘Emma’- Fine French Chantilly lace over silk organza, Swarovski crystals and hand made flowers

‘Poppy’- French cotton Chantilly lace with detachable Swiss net peplum, hand made organza flowers

I must admit at times I am torn on the whole peplum design craze.  This is a case however, where I am not torn in the least!  Serving as the focal piece of the Poppy gown, the peplum in Chantilly lace is utterly dream worthy, particularly with the unique shape & feel that it gives to the back of the dress.  Poppy is the perfect gown for the more reserved bride who is looking to take a step on the more adventurous side of things, all the while firmly holding onto the hand rail.

‘Dahlia’- French Chantilly lace and Italian organza, lace embroidery sash

I  must admit I have saved my favorite gown for last, on purpose naturally.  I want this beauty to be the thumbprint that remains in your mind after reading this post!  This is actually the gown that caught my attention when Alice released the collection.  There is so much working for this design that I really feel that it could transcend a few different types of bridal personalities.  The sweetheart neckline & Chantilly lace bodice set the tone for the dress, while shear lace straps with ribbon adornments create the frame work for the stunning open back to the gown.  The result is a back that is a focal point of the dress being both incredible sensual yet innocent all at the same time.  The embroidery sash along with the plumbs of organza give the dress the bump it needs to take it from a sweet, demure gown to something riding the line of a more artistic & couture styled piece.  The beauty of this gown is that it is accessible enough to be absolutely divine at a manor wedding, all the while holding its ground in a rustic barn wedding with the right styling & bride.  Not many gowns can stand up so lovely to such different environments.

*All Photographs by Codrean Photography

When the hubs & I were planning our wedding, there was one area in particular that plagued us & you might be rather surprised to know which.  Believe it or not, dealing with a Wedding Registry was a major source of pain for us.  You see, the hubs and I were over 30 when we got married.  What does that really have to with a wedding registry right?  As you can imagine, we had been living on our own for well over 10+ years at that point, already set up in our respective apartments complete with dishware, appliances, you name it.  The idea of a wedding registry began once upon a time in effort to aid the couple in setting up their household, which is nice & all for couples actually doing that, but what about those that already have their homes established?

We operated under the misguided unfortunate idea that if we basically ignored the whole, where are you registered question, guests would default to giving cash {it’s not like it’s really acceptable to say we just want money}.  Turns out, we were quite wrong.  See, here’s the thing.  People like to give something and often feel that the gift of money is a cop out, like they aren’t trying.  Moreover, people feel an obvious dollar value puts a literal amount on how much they value you, so often people give literal gifts to avoid all this potential awkwardness.  While this is all well and good, we still didn’t need another set of dishes, that second toaster, & so on, so what to do?  Well like I said, we screwed it up for ourselves, but it turns out, there IS another way to go that I think will make a lot of people happy!

What if I told you that you could create your own registry, with helpful suggestions OR completely from scratch ideas, collect gifts from your guests in the form of payments toward those things, thereby avoiding the awkward, “Give us money”, all the while making your guests happy!?  Wedding Republic  is exactly that, a glorious forum for you to create, completely customize & {the best part} personalize your wedding registry.

I hope the weekend has treated everyone well!  I am kicking things off with a bit of Floralspiration!  Our good friends Floral Rush have put together a super fun bouquet with a very interesting point to keep in mind!  While its always nice to have an idea of what you want going into your floral meetings, real exposure to a variety of flowers is in truth, hard to have.  Unless your a bit of a closet flower nut, my guess is you know most of the basics, especially considering our exposure in the floral area is pretty repetitive within the wedding world.

When heading into your meetings with your florist, let their superior knowledge & exposure to all things flowers guide you.  During the throws  of summer, there are many unusual and small lot flora are available one would not normally consider or have exposure to for example.  It’s important to have close communication with your florist and if your flexible, they can create a very unique and inspiring bouquet for your wedding!  Many unusual flowers are available for a very limited time which can create a one of a kind bouquet for your wedding.  Its great to remain open and try to love a  ”look” and not just a flower.

Our unique Floral Rush Bouquet today is made of some wonderful limited time available fauna!  Nestled in this warm hued bouquet is Salmon Colored Vanda Orchid, Viburnum Berry, Asclepia, Succulents, Yarrow (Hot Pink), and Smoke Bush.  I dont know about you guys, but this particular arrangement, to me, evokes a sense of warmth, fire, passion & love!  I also love the berries incorporated into the bouquet!  What do you guys think?  Are you a fan of this passion hued arrangement?  Will you be seeking out limitedly available flowers to make your day as unique as it truly can be?!

FloralRush is less like a floral shop and more like a boutique gallery of living art. In addition to being home to some of the freshest selection of flowers flown in from all over the world, we offer an array of designer quality gift items that can be the perfect keepsake to accompany your chosen arrangement. Come visit us. You’ll see what were talking about as soon as you walk in. We are located conveniently on Sunset Boulevard, between Fairfax and La Brea, in West Hollywood.  Follow us on Facebook!

Happy Friday!  Feels like a mega TGIF right??  Ugh, very happy this week is on its way out, or at the very least on its way into 2 days of bliss.  We need it over here.  Big hugs to my boy Casey Fatchett for stepping up to bat for me today with a post today that…well  lets be honest, we all think about:  Now that I have you dear photographer, what do we do?  Join Casey as he helps breakdown what to do with the between booking & wedding day.  PS-Casey is a total gas & you should totally be following him on Twitter if your not already!

After a couple books their wedding photographer, there tends to be a bit of confusion as to what to do next. Depending on how far in advance you sign your contract, there might be a lot of downtime, but that does not mean that there is not some planning to do. Remember, planning ahead means better photos and less stress on the day of the wedding. So what can you do?

I know that there are literally hundreds of ‘checklists’ out there for couples to look at, questions to ask when they meet with photographers as well as ‘shot lists’. These lists are pretty generic, so I am going to discuss some specific things to do before the wedding that will help you get better photos and avoid stress. (Aside: While this is written from the perspective of wedding photos, it also applies to pretty much any scheduled photo shoot – engagement photos, family portraits, headshots, etc.)

1. Be very clear about who you MUST have pictures of at the wedding and assign a ‘point person’

So, you haven’t seen your Uncle Joe in years and you really want to have some great shots of him at your wedding. Well, your photographer might not know who Uncle Joe is, let alone recognize him. So discuss who the VIP’s are with your photographer and assign someone who knows who they are to point them out on the day of the wedding. This could be a member of the bridal party, another family member, a close friend – as long as it is not you! You have enough things to deal with on the day of your wedding. They will also help corral people during the family/group portrait portion of the wedding day.

And when it comes to the group photos, every couple is different – so don’t assume that your photographer will know which groups of people you want to have your pictures taken with!

2. Tell your photographer about any potential ‘friction’ between guests

Parents divorced and don’t talk to one another? Two sides of the family make the Hatfields and McCoys look tame? One group of friends still mad at another faction for alleged cheating in a trivia contest 8 years ago and won’t let it go? It would be best to let your photographer know so they don’t try to get these people or groups together for a picture at any point on your wedding day. The resulting drama could put a damper on things.

3. Streamline your shot-list

They say that if you love some one, set them free. Show your photographer some love and free up that overwhelming generic shot-list and include the things that are really important to you. If your photographer is really worth their salt, and I hope they are, they will know to get pictures of the first kiss, the first dance, cake cutting – so you probably don’t need to put those on your list . If your photographer is particularly on the ball, they might use a smartphone app such as “SECONDSHOOTR” to organize your “must have” photos and information.

If there is something that has particularly special meaning to you (“I am hanging cameos of my grandparents on the ribbon of my bouquet,” or “My mom did all of the flower arrangements.”), discuss it with your photographer so they can focus extra attention on those things. (Ha! Focus! Sorry, excuse the terrible pun.)

Also, if there is something out of the ordinary happening (“We are doing a ‘death-drop’ dip at the end of the first dance!” or “Oh, did I mention we are going to take a flamethrower to the wedding dress at the end of the night?”), let your photographer know about it before the wedding so they can plan appropriately and get the best shot of it.

(caveat: if your photographer does not have much experience, it would be best to give them the full list just to be safe)

4. Talk to your photographer about how much posing you do or don’t want to do when you say “I Do”!

Okay, I admit, I used the word ‘do’ way too much in that sentence. Moving on, each couple has their own feelings about posing. Some people love to do it, others are uncomfortable with it. You need to talk to your photographer about whether your portraits (by yourself, as a couple, with your wedding party, etc) are going to be candid or arranged/posed. While you may want candid shots of most of the day, when it comes to the portraits you might want some Vogue-esque lighting and glamour. Or you might not want your photographer directing you at all and if they start telling you how to pose it might make you feel uncomfortable and that comes through in your pictures. Either way, your photographer will need to be prepared, both in regards to equipment and mental readiness, for whatever type of photos you are looking for – so be sure to discuss it with them.

5. Get on Pinterest!

Okay, Pinterest can be a little bit addicting – it is easy to get lost in the endless parade of pictures. However, I cannot think of a better way to communicate your personal aesthetic to your photographer (and other vendors, for that matter) than by sharing other pictures that you like. That way, your photographer knows what YOU like and can plan appropriately. They can also let you know if what you are imagining is practical or not. So add your photographer on Pinterest and share your ideas with them!

I hope you found this post helpful – now get out there and get planning!

Casey Fatchett is a wedding, event, and portrait photographer from New York City who travels wherever in the world his camera is needed. When not taking pictures, he dances like a lunatic to entertain his wife and wrangles their dog and cat. For bookings and inquiries you can contact Casey at photo@fatchett.com or  212.875.7599 or through social media.

I am super excited today!  Why you ask?  Well I love flowers.  Not that any showed up at the office (that would elicit big big smiles, Instagram pics, & so on, just sayin!) mind you, rather that we have teamed up with the ever amazing LA favorite Floral Rush, who will be, on an on going basis,  sending gorgeous inspiration our way to help get your creative floralspiration juices flowing!

*Arrangement & Photograph-Floral Rush

To kick things off they’ve sent along an ultra gorgeous modern piece that I am in love with.  While the pink dutch vanda orchids themselves are divine, what truly pulls me in however is the use of flex grass, steel grass and split flax that have been used to create an ultra modern architectural delight wrapping around orchids.  Whether you realize it or not, this thin greenery also servers to give the arrangement a sense of movement, which I love.  Finished off in a hand blown glass vessel, this is not your everyday stodgy arrangement, let me tell you!

The designers at Floral Rush envision something like this for a bride wants something outside the box.  This inspiration piece would look great for a wedding in a gallery or large open modern space.  It would take centerstage amongst white walls or stainless/modern interior elements.  Also, modern/mid-century homes or venues with ample natural light would look great and allow the Vandas to “speak” for themselves.  Brides looking to do a more ethereal style wedding would find these to be perfection!

This is a gorgeous idea which I am a big fan of!  What do you guys think?  Is this something you would be willing to go for?  We’d really love to hear your feedback!  Perhaps it is my exposure to the New York City market, but I adore how greenery is used in arrangements.  They are no longer simple fillers so much as commanding their very own moment of attention.  My gallery brides, how dreamy would these lovelies be at your wedding!?

FloralRush is less like a floral shop and more like a boutique gallery of living art. In addition to being home to some of the freshest selection of flowers flown in from all over the world, we offer an array of designer quality gift items that can be the perfect keepsake to accompany your chosen arrangement. Come visit us. You’ll see what were talking about as soon as you walk in. We are located conveniently on Sunset Boulevard, between Fairfax and La Brea, in West Hollywood.  Follow us on Facebook!