Bouquet Alternatives

Today I received an email from one of our brides with photos of her looking amazing in her gown. Robyn is a jewelry artist and made all her own jewelry for the wedding and then commisioned a local glass blower to make her bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets! How cool is that?! I was so inspired by this I decided to look into some other bouquet alternatives to flowers.

Here is Robyn in her San Patrick Wedding gown and hand blown glass bouquet!

Some other bouquet alternatives. The top three are all from Etsy.com From the left: a hand cut paper bouquet, a felt bouquet and a fabric rose bouquet. The bottom three consist of Felt and Buttons, A crystal and wire bouquet in the shape of a heart and a vintage brooch bouquet.

And of course you know my absolute favorite ladies from Emplume make the most fabulous non-floral bouquets. The bouquet on the left is the bouquet from my wedding! The center bouquet is made with the most beautiful Champagne colored feathers and the far right photo is from a vegan wedding made from all recycled paper!

Best in Detroit

We have been nominated again! Thanks to you, of course. The last 4 years in a row we have come in 2nd place and this year we want to win! So please vote for us, have your bridesmaids vote for us, and anyone else you know who loves shopping in our store! Thanks in advance and I have a feeling this year is going to be our year!

Love to you all!!

Stella makes it big!

Our little store mascot Stella has got the national recognition she deserves! haha!
Check out this article from PeoplePets.com

Ties that don't suck....

...that's the tag line for an Etsy.com store called ToyBreaker, and that is one true statement. In our world we don't focus too much on the boys, which they very graciously understand. However, when I saw these ties I just had to share them with all of our brides.
Cyberoptix Tie Lab is a Detroit based company makes custom ties to suit just about any color palette or theme. And they are super reasonable. If you are looking for ties for your groomsmen check out this site.

Cute Gift for your Guy!

So they say the first step is admitting you have a problem...so here it is I am addicted to Etsy. haha! Seriously though I LOVE this website. First of all I love the quality of everything I have ever ordered from there and secondly I love being able to support USA artisans. Etsy.com rocks. If you haven't been on it you should check it out but beware because you will get hooked!

Anyway while I was crusing on Etsy today I found these really cute collar stays. Now I am sure you are thinking Who cares about collar stays? But most of our hubby's or hubby's-to-be have to go to work in business attire which means if you are anything like me everytime you do the laundry you find these things in the dryer! Well these super adorable collar stays can have a special message put on them. How cute would it be to secretly put these in your guys shirt and let him find them, or because our better halves are not always that observant, you could slip a note somewhere he would find it and tell him there is a secret under his collar. I love it! I am totally going to order these for my husband.

Stainless Steel Collar Stays

Join us this Sunday April 18th!

Hello Ladies (and any gents that also read my blog), We are participating in the 2010 Spring Bridal Show at the Howell Opera House this Sunday, April 18th. If you would like to join us for some freebies and fun as well as wedding planning ideas and vendors, like yours truly :-) Print out this flyer and get 2 free tickets. I hope to see many of your familiar faces at the show. Come and visit us, really what do you have to lose...it's free!

Flower Power!

The hottest trend in bridal fashions right now are FLOWERS from head to toe! And we aren't talking about your Granny's silk flowers. Today's flowers are made from the finest fabrics and we love them most when they are made out of feathers! Adding flowers to a simple dress is an easy way to add some personality. You can make a dress totally romantic and a little bit whimsical by adding flowers. These types of gowns are perfect for an outdoor ceremony or a summer wedding. If you don't want to commit to having flowers on your dress it is always amazing as a hair accessory or how fantastic are these shoes?!

Wedding Dress, Wedding Dress w/Flower Belt, Wedding Dress & flower veil, Shoes, Hair Flower

You will even find bridesmaids dresses with the beautiful blooms on them! From the left: Bridesmaid Dress, Flower Headband, Bridesmaid Dress, Bridesmaid Dress, Flower Necklace, Bridesmaid Dress

So now that you have seen how Fabulous flowers can be and you want to add some to your dress don't hesitate to let me know. Customizing your wedding dress to be unique to you is one of my absolute favorite things to do!

Feeling Blue....

With Wedding Season in full swing I am sure many of you are thinking about those last minute items. Like bridesmaids gifts, your accessories and the traditional Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue...So as a little inspiration of what you could do to add some blue into your wedding day, I picked a few photos to start your thinking.

But first I know you might be wondering "what is the significance of the Something Blue?"

Blue has been connected to weddings for centuries. In ancient Rome brides wore

blue to symbolize Love, modesty and fidelity. Christianity has long dressed the
Virgin Mary in blue, so purity was associated with the color. Before the late 19th

Century, Blue was the most popular color for wedding gowns! As evidenced in the
proverbs like "Marry in Blue, Lover be true"

Necklace, Purse, Shoes, Earrings, Compact, Cocktail Ring, Panties, Hair Flower

Forget the french pedicure and go for blue on your toes!

So be sure to add something blue to your wedding day, it may just be a silly superstition but in today's day and age we can all use any extra help we can get!

Photos from the Vegan Chic wedding!

A few weeks ago I blogged about a Vegan wedding I was helping my good friend Shannon from Emplume with and I wanted to share a few of the photos I took. I took these with my phone so I am sorry that the quality isn't the greatest.

These were the centerpieces on all the tables. All the paper used was recycled paper and the base you see under the vase was a slice of wood from a tree.

The cans on the tables had tea lights in them to light up the hole punched table numbers and different designs each one of them had. The brides grandfather made each one of these by hand. I think she told me it took him almost 3 months to do all of them!

This was the groom's boutonniere, made out of the same recycled paper as the brides bouquet

The Card boxThe place cards

And last but not least the bride! Wearing a custom made hemp gown.

It really was so fascinating to me to spend the day with not only such nice and caring people. But people who are so environmentally and socially conscious. I learned what a huge responsibility Kim and her Husband Tom take on by being Vegan. I really had no idea all that it involved. Thank you both for allowing me to be a part of your wedding day. It truly was a unique and memorable experience and thank you for all that you do to make the world a happier and more beautiful place.

The Perfect Palette!

So since of of my best friends got engaged I have been a little wedding obsessed (yes even more than normal!) and I have been looking for inspiration to share with her for her destination wedding. When she told me she was thinking of the color Coral for the bridesmaids I immediately hit Google images for wedding inspiration in that color and stumbled upon this great website that I thought would be really helpful to our brides. It's call The Perfect Palette and they have some really fun and unique color combinations as well as lots of inspiration photos. So if you're having a hard time coming up with a color combination or just need some help visualizing the colors you're thinking together go to this blog, trust me you won't be disappointed!

Here are some of the inspiration colors that came up when I was looking for my friend Cherie.

Vegan Chic!!!

A few weeks ago my dear friend Shannon of Emplume asked me to help her with her brother in law and soon to be sister in law's wedding. The couple are Vegan's so all the decor, favors and even the wedding dress are made from eco-friendly products. I even got to sample some Vegan beer last night...it was pretty tasty! When I got to Shannon's house yesterday I was stunned at all of the beautiful things she had put together. The bouquet is amazing, made out of all recycled paper.

I had no idea what to expect but leave it to Shannon to be able to make just about anything into something Fabulous! I am really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together on Friday and to post some more pictures...hopefully I can snap a few shots of the bride in her custom made Hemp wedding gown!

Our Bride Allison is featured in The Knot!

One of our favorite bride's Allison was recently featured in The Knot Michigan for her fabulous wedding. Check out the online link to some more of her photos and their story. Allison & Matt were married at Heavenly Scent Herb Farm on a gorgeous September day. Their amazing photos were taken by Ksenija Savic who captured their day in a sort of fairy tale way. It is alway so fun to see familiar faces in our local bridal Magazines and makes us so proud to have been a part of their day!

Cherie and Nathan are Married!

Ok so this story is straight out of a movie....A year ago we had a bride by the name of Amy and she had a lovely sister named Cherie. Amy was marrying a very nice Aussie named Mark and who had a brother named Nathan. Cherie and Nathan were the maid of honor and best man at their siblings weddings. Well needless to say they hit it off! So Cherie took a trip to visit her sister at her new home in Australia and also got a chance to spend some more time with Nathan. Within 6 months of their first meeting they were engaged and I was so excited when she came in to purchase her wedding gown from us! And in December (almost 1 year exactly from their first encounter) they tied the knot! So my sister brides married brother's...How fun is that!?! Here are some photos from Cherie and Nathan's big day taken by their Australian photographer Amy Neeson.

This is Cherie and her sister Amy...these girls really are the best of friends

The Beautiful Bride....Such a classic beauty

So fun!

I have been MIA!

But I am back now...It really has been a crazy month! First of all the Bridal Show was a huge success. You can see some of the photos from the day on our Facebook page. I am looking forward to a bigger and even better show next year! Then I got to spend last weekend in the Windy City for Bridal Market! It was, as always, so fun to see all of the latest and greatest in Bridal Fashions. As I expected we saw lots of one shoulder gowns, flower accents and lots of color. And when I talk about color I am not talking about bridesmaids dresses I am talking about bridal gowns. Pink is the new white! We saw lots of wedding gowns in various shades of pink and champagnes. I am excited for the new pieces to hit the store (which will be around the end of summer) so all you 2011 brides, hold on to your veils because the new dresses are GORGEOUS!

So I promise I will post some more, I have some new brides photos to share so stay tuned! ;-)


Much Love,

Gina

Marry Me in Milford Bridal Show!