Board #7 – Preppy Navy, Olive, Ivory, and Gold

Clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

For more images with this similar color palette, check out my Pinterest Board! And congrats to my newly engaged friend, Amy Cook, who I made this board for!

Angel Sanchez Bridal Spring 2014

This man is a vortex of some of kind of insane creative energy. There is much to be envied about him in the bridal world. He takes risks, while still maintaining a very commercial appeal. There isn’t a single one of these dresses that is too outlandish to imagine not being worn by some real bride out there on one of my gajillion wedding blogs I follow. I love him. Look at the cube thingy on that girl’s head. I mean, really? What’s NOT to love?! Maybe it’s the architect in me, but this guy has GOT it. Whatever IT is.

Enjoy this journey of gorgeous bridal fashion and when you are done, tell me which is your favorite. I think this is one of the best collections I have EVER seen. Maybe you can help me decide because I simply do not know how to pick one.

Carolina Herrera Bridal Spring 2014

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I felt it truly best to just leave out my idiotic commentary in this post and let the gowns speak for themselves. She’s really outdone herself. So much detail, so much range of styles. Look at them again and again. You won’t regret it. My personal favorites are the first two gowns. Which are yours?

Carolina makes me swoon. For those of you who don’t know, my gown was Carolina, and I got it for $1,200. CRAZY. This woman is my inspiration. She’s a goddess.

Spring 2014 Bridal

A few of my favorites from recent bridal shows. I only picked one from each runway, with the exception to Angel Sanchez and Carolina Herrera, who will get a whole damn post. Cuz they are that good. I took all of these images from Women’s Wear Daily’s Spring 2014 archive. Leave a comment and let me know what your faves are!

Nicole Miller – what a unique sexy this is! I love how it hugs her body and reveals a little bit of her ribcage area for a subtle sex appeal.

Oscar de la Renta – so, the volume of this dress makes it! It totally has a Victorian bustle-esque pouf on the back and I love that! Don’t even get me started on the gorgeous cascading embellishment on the front. Swoon.

Reem Acra – oh, me and Reem walk a fine line. Some stuff I adore, and other stuff I cannot stand. I happen to adore this one. The plunging sweetheart and illusion neckline is stuff dreams are made of.

Rivini by Rita Vinieris – Her collection was quite disappointing. I chose this dress because it reminded me of Jen Aniston’s somewhat controversial Valentino Oscars gown. It works well for bridal!

Temperley – ok, honestly, Temperley just does not do it for me. I don’t get it. This was the only halfway decent one of the bunch. The rest looked like honeymoon nightgowns.

Vera Wang – do yourself and look at the rest of the collection. Black and white, really?! Girl, get back to your normal awesome self. I do quite like this gown, such intricate detail on such a modern silhouette.

Amsale – I’m pretty much in love with this. I can’t say I’ve seen it before. It’s great. Look at the baby bow!

Anna Maier-Ulla-Maija gown – love the silhouette and details on the bodice. The waist kind of points up and the sweetheart kind of points down, no? Very slimming effect.

Lela Rose – such a clean and urban silhouette for Lela! Usually she’s all about some lace so this was a refreshing addition to her mix.

Rafael Cennamo – this is a really unique take on lace. It has a sexy lingerie look – definitely not appropriate for a church wedding!

Romona Keveza – seriously, what’s not to love about this?! SUCH a showstopper. So sparkly and ethereal!

Legends by Romona Keveza – this hearkens back to the 50′s. Check out the sweet little swiss dots in the skirt.

Theia White – this is a very unique texture. Is it some kind of lace? It’s breathtaking.

Christos – this would be so great for the beach. I love the touch of sparkle on the bust – and a plus, no wedding diet necessary! It could even be a maternity gown!

Kenneth Pool – no offense to the guy but he’s probably one of my least favorite bridal designers. I find most of his gowns uninspired. That being said, there are a few exceptions and I have seen one girl take a Kenneth Pool dress and make it AMAZING.

Marchesa – This dress is so over-the-top glam. It is Grace Kelly’s with a twist. It’s just, fab, in a word.

Monique Lhuillier – this woman just knows bridal. I adore this dress. It’s modern and clean, but still sweet and dainty. The neckline and the peplum detail is such a nice touch.

So readers, which do you love?! I think the Marchesa, Romona, and Oscar are my favorites, but Oscar edges out the rest with that bootie bustle!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 23,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Anne Hathaway in Valentino Wedding Gown – I die.

Can we please discuss the absolute perfection of this custom Valentino gown Anne Hathaway wore at her wedding this past weekend? I mean, it’s a floaty, cloudy, heavenly dream.

“According to a rep for Valentino, the design team created a strapless ivory silk point d’esprit tulle dress, which includes a pink hand-painted shaded train embroidered with satin flowers. The 1920s-inspired veil consists of a lace ribbon with a large flower, adorned with small crystal beads.” – Original article found here.

And then it gets even freakin’ better. Check out the sketch from Valentino himself.

Die. Seriously. Total perfection.

That is all.

Southern Bride of the Month – Molly Gee

My wedding hairpiece / garter designer and now email buddy Molly Gee is the Southern Bride of the Month over at Southern Weddings! Check out the post here. She is an AWESOME designer and is very inspiring – to be so young and have your own business! Talk about chasing your dreams!

I shared photos of the garter and hairpiece she made for my wedding below. Photos by Stephen DeVries Weddings.

 

 

Reem Acra Resort 2013 Collection

I spotted a GORGEOUS pair of mint gowns on one of my blogs yesterday and learned that it was part of the Reem Acra Resort 2013 Collection. I knew I had to google that collection RIGHT AWAY and boy am I glad I did. There was SO much gorgeousness packed into one collection, I knew I just had to share with my readers! Let’s dive in, shall we?!

Um, hello gorgeousness. These were the gowns that caught my eye, and for good reason! The color, the sashes, the necklines, the lace, the draping…truly flawless!

Here’s some more of my favorite looks. Notice the color palette (some jewel-tones, some nude, some metallics, the details, the elegant use of sleeves, and the abundance of lace. It’s no wonder she’s an incredible bridal-wear designer as well.

This dress above is very similar to the dress Julie Bowen wore to the Golden Globes this year. Olivia Wilde has also worn this gown.

GORGEOUS.

LOVE LOVE this one. Such a unique neckline!

SO so honeymoon resorty glam.

So what are your favorites of the bunch? I love the last one, the mint green ones,  the pair of nude ones, and the pair of coral ones the very best, but I really love them all! Don’t forget to view the ENTIRE collection here. You won’t regret it for one second!

 

Pinterest rings I love

Radiant cut white sapphire – .75 ct. The band is a REAL TWIG set in 14k recycled gold. It’s only $785 too! Click on the image to go to the seller’s site.

Classic brilliant cut diamond with a pave setting and pave wedding band.

The groom MADE his ring. Whoa. And the bride’s rings are custom by a place called Virtu in Chicago.

I love this band. Love. This. Band. $1,920 for 22k gold.

Gorgeous ring. I couldn’t find the image source!

This is a classic setting with a contemporary twist, set in rose gold. Love!

Bezel set brilliant cut diamond flanked by two round sapphires. I love the bezel set diamond wedding band too. This is so unique and gorgeous!

Gorgeous pink engagement ring. I’m not sure what this stone is, but I love the color of it against yellow and gold and diamonds. Stunning.

Cushion cut diamond flanked by a trilliant cut diamond on each side with a brilliant cut infinity band. OH MY GUH.

Antique style engagement ring. Lots of brilliant cut diamonds = expensive!

Classic and stunning. I have NO idea what this cut is. It’s similar to emerald but much more facets..

Such a unique and beautiful 3 stone ring. I’m in love with the proportions of the side diamonds to the center stone.

This is so beautiful! 3 stone brilliant cut diamonds surrounded by pave diamonds.

I saved the best for last 3 pear shape diamonds. I love how the side pears are turned sideways. So unique and blingy!

These are just some of my favorites from my pinterest boards. Trust me, there are many many more!

 

Sisterly Love

I probably don’t tell her this enough, but Whitney, I love you and I thank God for you every day of my life. All photos by Stephen DeVries Weddings.