To follow up with the photo shoot we did a couple of weeks ago I wanted to revisit Arianna's real life wedding and do a side-by-side of some of the images. When planning I find that making choices about colors and themes and big decisions can be extremely difficult because there are always the "what-if's" that creep in.  These posts are just a way to show how one person can vision their day in multiple ways and that whatever is the ultimate choice, it will be beautiful no matter what. 

And Arianna is just plain lovely and you'll undoubtedly be wowed by her wedding photos. Zack and Arianna wed in a beautiful old bank, the oldest bank in Oakland County actually. It's high, ornate ceiling and mezzanine make it a very dreamy place to hold your ceremony and reception. I should also note that Arianna fully embraces her love of everything girly and glitzy and you'll see that this event and her shoot will reflect this personality very well! 

Photos from both the reality and reimagined are by Sonshine Images, Michelle is so very, very talented. 
Reality
Reimagined
As you can see both the reality and the reimagined were girl and glitzy, but the indoor and outdoor settings change the overall theme. I also made sure to carry over the table numbers as they worked well in both themes. What is your favorite aspects of these photos? Loving the pink peonies or the purple gladiolas? 

Sources:
Images: Sonshine Images
 
When we got married last November I thought that I could plan all of my wedding events by myself, with the help of Vince of course. We certainly did succeed at this, but I lost small parts of my sanity in the process. Thankfully we had a week long honeymoon in Puerto Rico where I could reclaim this sanity and relax and bask in the sun and bliss of being married. 

This photo (as you may have guessed) was snapped by my sister-in-law Michelle at our rehearsal. I think our faces communicate our feelings that night--I'm stressed but smiling, Vince is a little nervous maybe? What happened that evening  was that people were late, I wanted to wait for them to be there to begin, plus I wanted to talk to everyone that was there and things were running behind. I had laid out exactly how I wanted the rehearsal to go, instructions on paper that were not communicated well to anyone else. My bad. 

Thankfully my dear friend Kelly was able to get things on track and she ran the show for the night. She got everyone in line, and organized and got the ball rolling. For this I am eternally grateful because without her I don't know what might have happened to our rehearsal, we certainly would have gotten to eat a lot later than anticipated.

And this is where I wish I would have hired a wedding planner to coordinate the rehearsal and the day of the wedding. It would have meant the planner being on the phone with people, that same planner would have gotten the show on the road so that Kelly would have been able to enjoy the experience with us as we prepared for our wedding day, and that planner would have told me to take a deep breath and take it all in.

This is what I want to give to you as a planner--peace of mind that the details are taken care of, that every "t" is crossed and "i" dotted and that those that need to know also have this information, and most important: that you get to relax and enjoy what you have worked so hard on. 

If you want to enjoy this but don't need help with the planning process, I have a wonderful Day of Coordination package that you will be interested in, contact me and we can set up a coffee date to discuss it!

Former brides out there: Did you hire a wedding planner or day of coordinator? If you didn't, do you wish you would have? Was there any wedding hiccup that a planner could have averted? 
 
Last week I showed you Michelle's Green Goddess shoot, but today I wanted to show you the real vs the reimagined. Michelle and Trevor married in a beautiful farm wedding complete with hay bales, a photo booth inside the barn, and a goat and legless pig that just couldn't be hidden. It truly was one of those unique weddings that people talked about for a long time, actually almost two years later people are still talking about it.

Why?  This blog post on how to make your wedding fun (I love A Practical Wedding and Lowe House Events) nails why their wedding was memorable. Amazing location that people knew was a farm so they could be prepared, super meaningful ceremony that got everyone emotionally invested in the reason for the event, good food and on time, and then capped the night off in the party. 

Anyway, on to the pictures! Photos of their wedding day are from Elaine Von Photography, they are stunning, check out her site for more images and information on how you can book her!


Reality
Reimagined
She's good, right? Check her out on Facebook!

Sources:
Elaine Von Photography, by Ashley Elaine
Sonshine Images, Michelle Todero
 

Happy Friday! I'm so excited to be able to share the second part of the photo shoot I did last Sunday with my sister-in-laws. Please welcome the newest Mrs. Todero to the blog! Arianna and Zack married in May of this year in a beautiful ceremony at 30 North in Pontiac. For this shoot we decided to go a little bolder with color choices and still make it super girly which is Arianna's favorite. I also decided to enhance the "we're in a fancy garden" feel with a thrifted silver tea set.  Here's the original inspiration board that we came up with together:


And here's how it came alive with photography from Sonshine Images.  Arianna is gorgeous as ever with her hair loosely back. And her headband? Turns out her dress originally was one shoulder and she decided she'd prefer strapless for her wedding so she had her seamstress cut it off. So glad she saved it though, how lovely is it as a head piece?
We made the moss covered table numbers for Arianna's wedding, they are available to be used for your wedding or we can DIY your own version with different color base or font for the numbers. 

The flowers used in this shoot were super affordable, all from the grocery store (Kroger) or from the bush in front of my work apartment. They feature purple gladiolas, white hydrangea, pinkish-purple mums, pink statice, blue-purple limonium, and a giant hosta leaf. The table arrangement also includes a couple of white dahlias. All came to nine dollars total!

 Gladiolas may just be my new favorite wedding flower for this time of year, a huge bunch is less than 3 bucks. If you did a large gladiola centerpiece (easy to arrange yourself!) you'd need 2 bunches so 6-8 dollar investment, on half of your tables, say you have 24 (240 person wedding) you're looking at $70-100 plus vases for half of your centerpieces. And they come in a wide variety of colors. 

What's your favorite part? The flowers or her dress strap turned head piece? That lovely braid across her crown? Do you have suggestions for my next shoots or want to do your own Flip the Dress shoot? Let me know!

Sources:
Flowers: Kroger Floral Department, arranged by HT Events
Linens: C & N Party Rentals, Royal Oak, MI
Photography: Michelle Todero, Sonshine Images
 


 When I started dreaming up this business I decided that I would hold as many promo photo shoots as I could but I wanted them to be collaborative in nature; not just my ideas but working with the "bride" to incorporate their ideas in a manner such that I would collaborate with YOU as a client of mine. So while brainstorming I came up with the idea of a "Flip the Dress" series where former brides would work with me to design a tablescape and theme for a photo shoot and then we'd make it happen. I just needed to find someone that would want to play dress up, dream up an alternate wedding theme and then make it all come together, her in her dress, with a table set up. Fun for the girl, fun for me, plus pictures for this website so you can see what I am capable of. 

So who would go first? Well....when I married Vince I also married into his family, his large family, which has been amazing. He is the oldest of five kids and two of his brothers also got married recently, in fact we had THREE Todero weddings from September 2011 to May 2013. This means I not only got four new siblings but also two more beautiful newly Mrs. Todero's to enjoy in the journey of life together. So I asked them if they'd be down to play and of course they said yes because they are just that awesome. 


Today I bring you Mrs. Michelle Todero! Michelle is a wonderfully creative soul, there's basically nothing that she can't do when it comes to artistic endeavors. She is a photographer and has her own business Sonshine Images. We came up with a "Green Goddess" theme and I developed this inspiration board: 


So greens, gold,  peach and pink were the plan. I also wanted to incorporate some unique elements in the florals, hence the artichokes and red cabbage in the centerpiece. And Michelle being a photographer, she agreed to take the photos and her husband Trevor took the ones that she is in. So without further ado, the images!

So what do you think? Love the artichokes or hate them? Michelle will be posting these and probably a few more on her Facebook page so be sure to go there and show her some love! 

Sources:
Flowers: Purchased at the Farmington Farmer's Market and arranged by HT Events. 
Linens: C&N Party Rentals in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Photography: Michelle Todero, Sonshine Images.