Just an FYI that we are in the midst of a very exciting redesign that we will be launching in about another month or so. We’re very excited about this, and have loads of really fun tips, stories and of course Real Weddings to share once we’re back up and running.

In the meantime, follow us on Twitter @wdngbelles or on Facebook here for updates, and more!

]]> http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/07/02/update/feed/ 1 Nina http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/06/10/engagement-shoot-by-studio-nouveau/ http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/06/10/engagement-shoot-by-studio-nouveau/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:02:19 +0000 Nina http://weddingbellesonline.com/?p=2585 ]]> So my super fab friend Erica and her hubby John (who are also stellar foodie bloggers) are getting MARRIED! Can you tell I’m excited? Well I was even more excited after I saw their amazing engagement photo shoot  from the super amazing ladies at Boston based  Studio Nouveau.

Engagement photos should be absolutely be 100 percent unique to you as a couple. Generic looks fat on everyone.  Just don’t do it.

Be you.  It’s so much more fun.
And , if you knew Erica and John… you’d know that these are absolute perfection.

Congrats E & J! Can’t wait for the wedding!

Laura and Don met through mutual friends seven years ago. The couple decided on a destination wedding because they didn’t want the hassle of planning a traditional wedding.

From the bride… We live in a small town where things can easily spiral out of control with regards to guest lists; also there aren’t many venues to choose from. We wanted something as unique as we are.  Donnie was always interested in going to Hawaii for a wedding and after talking to a navy friend who is stationed there, we started planning only in February for a may wedding…

The couple married Saturday May 8, 2010 at Wainmalo beach park by Hawaii Weddings, and is planning a 400 person luau in September with all the relaxed style of their destination wedding. They plan on featuring a picnic style reception at a golf course, allowing guests to filter in and out throughout the day.

From the bride… [Hawaii Weddings] were amazing with customer service; they provided license information, limo service, travel advice, etc….highly recommended…also, they are located away from the concentration of tourists, so the service was personal despite being held in a public setting (all beach access is public in Hawaii)

From the bride… The most important thing to us when we were plannning the entire trip was to keep everything from reaching planning overload. We went for simplicity and focused the day on us, not whether or not there were appropriate party favors and coordinating table linens.

From the bride… As far as vendors: Randi was the only photographer I considered from the start and was fortunate to be able to have her available on such short notice!  I bought my dress from David’s Bridal (from their destination wedding collection of course) but really complimented my style… it was custom altered by an independent Italian tailor in downtown Pittsburgh (I had worked with him before and he is absolutely AMAZING)

The thing I love about Laura and Don… they didn’t sweat the details. They wanted this wedding to be all about them, so the things that most brides stress over for months… they left until the last minute. How cool is that? Very cool couple.

From the bride… We did not purchase flowers or rings in advance to arriving in Hawaii. I used a foam hair clip sold in every convenience store in Waikiki…. also, jewelry stores were plentiful and extremely accommodating!

Another great thing about Laura and Don’s wedding, was good friends with good jobs. Laura’s friend Jen Show is an independent travel agent, and was able to work with her to secure a hotel, flight, car rental, and reception dinner reservations for their whole crew of family and friends!

From the bride… Jen made everything MUCH easier…. we would talk about my intentions, review prices, etc and she made it happen… I couldn’t have done it without her!!!

Special thanks to Randi Voss photography! Laura, thanks so much for sharing your beautiful wedding with us! Hope you had an amazing time in Hawaii!

(If you’re not a member, you kind of need to be invited- it’s all exclusive and fun so let me know (comment or email) and I will happily send you an invite to join!)

Check these out, and act fast. Sale ends in 1 day!

Right, everyone.

Yay! SATC2! More of Carrie & Co.,more of Mr. Big, and AIDAN!

Sorry. I’m pretty pumped about Aidan.

Honestly, when I first saw the trailer for the new SATC movie during the previews of Valentine’s Day (yeah I know. I went for Julia, NOT Taylor Swift, who I hate now because she stole my TV boyfriend, and butchered her duet with Stevie Nicks. Stop flipping your hair around and sing little girl, sing! She can’t. It’s not her fault.)

I digress.

Anyway… when I saw it, I told you, 100 women gasped at once and sucked all the oxygen out of the room, and the men let out a collective groan. The only thing I came away with was, “WTF are they doing on camels?”

BUT NOW… it’s getting closer. It’s like jumping on the October baseball bandwagon when the Red Sox actually make it to the World Series! Do it! I can’t help myself. That, and I walked by Bergdorf’s today on my way to work, and OMG. I can’t wait!

As Rachel Zoe would say, “oh my god… I die.” And I did.

So if you’re planning a SATC party to welcome back the ladies, here’s some fun plans to kick it off. First, from one of my super fav blogs Hostess with the Mostess, SATC printables! Napkin rings, cupcake toppers, perfect for the cosmos cupcakes! See below… delish.

Courtesy of Hostess with the Mostess

And if those cupcakes weren’t enough, check out these adorable Lily-inspired cupcakes from Jen over at Second City Soiree. These are too cute. You know in the trailor, when Lily turns and lays her red frosted fingers on Charlotte’s white skirt… GASP. These are just too cute for words. Oh, and Jen has super cute SATC2 printables on her site too. Check them out!

Photo courtesy of Second City Soiree

And finally… what’s a party without some cocktails. The ladies of SATC2 would more than likely get carried away with cosmos, but why not some bubbly? Check out these super fun character inspired champagne cocktails from Jeanne Benedict over at Celebrations.com. If you’re not into the bubbly, check out Charlotte’s Chocolatini, Samantha Stinger, and Carrie’s Wedding White Cosmo

Whatever you decide to do, wear something fabulous and enjoy being with your best girl friends, while we wait and see what the fab four are up to in the second SATC2 installment.

Just a little something to get you even more excited then you already are!

Laura & Jason (who have been together for 8 years!) were married at the Grace Bay Club in beautiful Turks & Caicos (also where Jason proposed) on April 3, 2010.

Before deciding on a destination wedding, the couple went back and forth trying to figure out what to do for their big day. They finally decided on a small and intimate destination wedding with immediate family, followed by a post-wedding reception back in New York City.

From the beautiful bride… It was important to us to have everything leading up to our ceremony be as easy as possible. As our coordinator in Turks and Caicos would say “easy breezy”.  Planning a party for  many people naturally comes with a certain amount of stress and anxiety. So doing it this way we didn’t have as much to worry about and we were able to focus on enjoying some time away, enjoying time with our families and most importantly enjoying the time together.

Yes. Stellar photographer Cindy Johnson is really, really amazing, and somehow always gets to go and shoot these incredible destination weddings. Seriously, what memo did I miss to have this not be my life? Sigh.

I was going to wait and show you these, but I can’t. I can’t, I’m just too excited! I’m just going to tease you with a little bit of heavenly wedding candy,  you only get three, and then you have to  go to bed and wait … Stay tuned.

]]> http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/05/19/sneak-peak-real-wedding-laura-jason/feed/ 0 Nina Laura&Jason-017 Laura&Jason-016 Laura&Jason-009 http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/05/18/little-miss-organized/ http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/05/18/little-miss-organized/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 21:39:41 +0000 Nina http://weddingbellesonline.com/?p=2514 ]]> Girl… please. I just got an email from the MOH for my friend C’s wedding. The Bachelorette party is this weekend, and ladies… if I could only show you these documents.

Names, numbers, maps, schedules, wardrobe…

Talk about a girl whose got her shit figured out. We are in good hands.

I’m not even joking. This is the most organized, well thought out bachelorette plan I have ever seen… and I haven’t even attended it yet. I have no doubts that this winery weekend in the hamptons will transcend paper and turn out amazing!

Now… what to do about this rain…

“Doing what,” you may ask.

Shooting this beautiful, amazing, magical wedding.

Sigh.

This is her job.

Jealous.

More to come.

]]> http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/05/10/sneak-peak-real-wedding/feed/ 0 Nina Photos Courtesy of Randi Voss Photos Courtesy of Randi Voss Photos courtesy of Randi Voss http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/05/10/guess-what-its-not-about-you/ http://weddingbellesonline.com/2010/05/10/guess-what-its-not-about-you/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 19:01:37 +0000 Nina http://weddingbellesonline.com/?p=2502 ]]> I just went to lunch with a couple of friends, one of whom is putting the finishing touches on her upcoming spring wedding, the other who is both attending and standing up in more weddings than is normal in life, and we started to have a pretty worked up conversation about all the stress that other people bring to the planning of a wedding. Of course there are exceptions to this, especially if money is involved. But for the most part, I really do think that brides shouldn’t be making too many concessions for the people around them. And I’m a really giving and accommodating person. I just happen to believe that a bride’s wedding day is just that. Her day. And she should be able to have the day that she has been envisioning. Not the day you have been envisioning.

It’s so sad to me when all the pre-engagement enthusiasm and excitement just disappears and is replaced with the constant stress and need for a bride to appease everyone but herself and her groom.

This is not typical stress brought on by her own indecision with bridesmaid dress colors, or table linens, or what song she will walk down the aisle to.

No, this stress is brought on by the “we thought this day was all about us” people.

Seriously?

You and your overbearing opinions…

Back. off.

I’m not even kidding.

You’re allowed to have an opinion if your bride wants to walk down the dress in a neon pink dress with a yellow sash carrying a bouquet of dead roses.

Actually no. You don’t even get an opinion then. You know why?

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.

Your role in this day is to be supportive, and helpful, and that’s it.

If she wants to know what you think… she’ll ask. And if she doesn’t, and is clearly happy in that floor length lace dress instead of a full on ball gown that you had your heart set on… keep it to yourself.

This is not your wedding. You had yours, or you’ll get yours, and you can and will and should do everything YOU want to do.

But this is not that day.

This is her day.

And what she really, really doesn’t need is you, guest of the groom’s brother calling, after receiving your invitation, to ask if it’s ok if you bring your new boyfriend.

You know the one you’ve been dating for three weeks?

Yeah…

No.

Not ok.

At all.

You either get a date or you don’t. And while I typically believe that after a certain age, most of the invites should land in the latter column, regardless, it’s expensive to have a wedding, and you can’t always roll the way you want to.

If you don’t get a plus one… you do not. DO NOT. go asking for one.

Besides if the person you were dating was special enough in your world, and you’re in turn special enough in the world of the person whose wedding you are attending… odds are they’d already be invited.

There is a reason you were asked to be in this wedding, or attend this wedding. It’s because the bride and groom think you are important enough to stand up with them, or be there to witness the most important day of their lives.

It’s not about you.

It’s about them. And it’s an honor, not a chore.

So quit your whining.