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Featured Wedding – Sunshine & Grant

Last summer we posted the precious engagement photos of Sunshine and Grant by Thisbe Grace. Now we complete the circle with beautiful photos of their wedding reception under the stars at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Downtown Dallas.

Sunshine & Grant toasted and danced the night away with guests from all over the world. Under the direction of wedding planner Jordan Payne, it was a garden inspired wedding with autumn florals (her colors were purple, peach and ivory), including an array of foliage, bringing it all together with gold details throughout. It was complete with modern details like a white dance floor at the foot of the 40 foot garden sculpture and white lounge furniture under crystal chandeliers hung in the trees.

The ceremony was at SMU’s Perkins Chapel. Grant went to SMU, which made it more personal. They were married by one of their closest friends. According to Sunshine, her ceremony was the perfect balance between the celebration of the day and the reality of the commitment the couple was making. They almost vetoed the Nasher (even before they saw it!) because Sunshine didn’t want an outdoor reception, yet they fell in love with the modern art, the water, and all the beautiful trees once they saw it in person.

The idea of the three cakes came from a picture of three, single layer wedding cakes on cakes stands that Sunshine found. She and her sister found a store in Venice Beach with stacks of vintage glass cake stands and bought two for the wedding. The third cake stand belonged to Delicious Cakes.

Bridal Gown – Romona Keveza
Wedding Planner – Jordan Payne Events
Photographer – Thisbe Grace
Bridesmaid Dresses – Jim Hjelm
Entertainment – Andy Austin
Cake – 3 cakes by Delicious Cakes.

Rehersal Dinner – Sammy’s BBQ – We wanted to serve authentic Texas cuisine and our friends love to dress up, so the invite said “hats, boot and belts encouraged.”

Hair & Makeup – Mo Bowers of Fairy Godmother Bridal. About my Makeup – “I love purple eye shadow and when I saw a photo of a bride wearing it for her bridal photos, I was inspired to wear my favorite color, Beautiful Iris by MAC. Mo suggested a red gloss for my lips, and I questioned her suggestion, until a fabulous sales associate at Blue Mercury in Philadelphia helped me fine Chanel 106, which is my new favorite lip color.”

Capturing the Bride

Memorable shots of the bride can run from the more traditional photo of the bride looking directly into the camera, to one of her looking off in contemplation, to those expressing the emotions of joy, laughter, love. How the photographer creates that moment depends as much on the photographer’s style as that of their subject – the bride. Here are just a few of our fav StrictlyWeddings.com “just the bride” photos.

Carasco Photography – Chicago

Fred Marcus Photography – New York

Thisbe Grace Photography – Dallas

Fred Marcus Photography – New York

Gruber Photographers – New York

Jennifer Lindberg Weddings – Dallas and Austin

Courtesy of The Adolphus Hotel – Dallas

Jai Girard Photography – Chicago

Our Bride & Groom Photographs Capture the Moments

We just love how this post came together. We’ve captured poses from our Featured Wedding bride and groom showing love, joy, drama, playfulness … all the wonderful, exciting emotions that can be experienced during the wedding day.

We are so grateful for the amazing talents of our StrictlyWeddings.com photographers who made these moments possible – Carasco Photography, Brian Dorsey, Phil Farber, Jai Girard, Thisbe Grace, Gruber Photographers, Scott Hagar, Jennifer Lindberg, Andy Marcus.

Fall in love at The Dallas Arboretum

Fall in love at The Arboretum, Chase & Rachel did and Thisbe Grace photographed every sweet moment. From cobble pathways to fountain courtyards full of fall foliage and flowers, The Dallas Arboretum never ceases to offer a setting worth capturing with love. Let the suns rays peer through the trees and warm you as you stroll hand in hand, kissing at every turn. 

Every Bride Deserves to be a Princess

Or that’s how Dallas Wedding Photographer Thisbe Grace sees it, and we don’t disagree! This playful and engaging photo shoot of bride-to-be Sunshine Crump at Dallas’ Nasher Sculpture Center will bring smiles to many for years to come.

Bride – Sunshine Crump
Dress – Legends by Romona Keveza
Shoes – Valentino
Bracelet – Lulu Frost
Earrings – Bloomingdales
Engagement ring – 1920′s vintage from Lang Antiques in San Francisco
Wedding rings – Ll Pavorsky in Philadelphia
Eye shadow – Beautiful Iris by MAC
Lip gloss – 106 Chanel
Location – Nasher

Featured Weddings: A Love So Special – Rachel & Greg

Dallas StrictlyWeddings.com partner Thisbe Grace Photography shared this romantic wedding of Rachel and Greg held at The Mansion. The bride, Rachel, took time to share with us the couple’s “love story” as well as various wedding details.  Dallas wedding planner Paige Chenault was valuable in making the couple’s vision come to life.

It all began back in August 2004 at a local hospital in Detroit, Michigan, where an adorable man asked me, “Are you on my team?” I had no idea at the time how much this man would impact my life. I was a fourth year medical student, and Greg had just started his medical residency. First a friendship ensued, followed by a romance. We were madly in love and one year later began a long distance relationship between Detroit & Cleveland for three years, while we both completed our respective training. Here we are 7 years later, living & working in Dallas, with our 2 cats and dog.

We both wanted an intimate gathering of our closest family and friends. I grew up in Minnesota, and Greg grew up in Michigan, but we decided to have our wedding in our new home of Dallas. We decided to have a welcome party, following the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, in the gorgeous penthouse suite at The Stoneleigh Hotel, which reminded us of a beautiful historical home.

On Saturday, we had our wedding ceremony and reception at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. We visited a few potential sites in the city and ultimately chose this venue because we considered it to be quintessential Dallas. The location was just the right balance of luxury along with an intimate setting. I gave my bridesmaids customized fashion illustrations of them in their beautiful dresses, which were drawn by an amazing and talented artist, Dallas Shaw.

It was so comforting to see Greg before the ceremony and be in the arms of the man I love. As a Minnesota native, I loved the idea of having birch branches for our altar centerpieces during the ceremony. As a pleasant surprise, our fantastic florist went the extra mile and created magical centerpieces of crystals, white orchids, and candles, all interlaced and hanging from the birch branches to create two breathtaking trees around the altar.

Greg and I are from the Great Lakes and both share a love and appreciation for Lake Superior. We decided to purchase stones from Lake Superior, which we then shaped and polished for weeks in a rock tumbler. As each of our guests entered the ceremony, they were given a small stone to hold throughout the ceremony and give well wishes and special blessings. Upon exiting the ceremony, each guest placed his or her stone in a vase that we now keep on our fireplace mantle.

We hired a live-event artist to capture the scene of our first dance. The painting is absolutely gorgeous and is displayed above our fireplace as well. The reception tables either had cascading floral centerpieces or glass tops with flickering candlelight. The ambiance was absolutely romantic! Our custom white dance floor, a must for me, really made the center of the room.

Because of our love for Sprinkles red velvet cupcakes, by far the most delicious dessert imaginable, we decided to have the cupcakes designed to look like a tiered wedding cake, situated on a floating cake base. We ended the night with a huge confetti celebration to our song “Don’t Stop Believin”.  A very special thank you to our absolutely wonderful wedding planner, Paige Chenault, who worked countless hours in bringing all our ideas and loves to life. We will forever be thankful to all our family and friends, for travelling the distance to celebrate our wedding with us.

Bridal Gown: Romona Keveza – The Bridal Salon at Stanley Korshak
Bridal Shoes: Jimmy Choo – Stanley Korshak
Bridal Party Makeup & Hair: Absolute Radiance
Bridesmaids’ Attire: Bella Bridesmaid
Wedding Planner: Paige Chenault – Paige Chenault Events
Wedding & Reception Venue: Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
Rehearsal Dinner & Welcome Party Venue: The Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa
Florist: The Wildflower
Photography: Thisbe Grace Photography
Videography: Hakim Sons Films
Music: Beyond & Serenata Strings
Lighting: Beyond
Cake: Sprinkles Cupcakes
Invitations: Stamped Paper Company – Jill Efrussy
Décor/Rentals: BBJ Linens, POSH, & The Wildflower
Live-Event Artist: Posta Bella – Jaime Pickerell

A Wedding Color Palette that Pops

These beautiful photos from Thisbe Grace are courtesy of our Dallas StrictlyWeddings.com wedding planner, Jordan Payne.

The joy experienced by the bride and groom so obviously come through these wedding photos. Says Jordan, ” Megahn and Seth are passionate. fun loving and overall wonderful people! I had the great honor of working with them to plan and design their most special day and I will always hold those memories so close as I do with all of my couples.”

Megahn and Seth were married in the beautiful Cox Chapel at Dallas’ Highland Park United Methodist Church. The reception was held at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. It was a different color palette with coral, ivory, chartreuse (adding a pop of fun), gold and just tiny bit of black for some drama.

“Megahn’s dreamy Vera Wang gown was perfect,” says Jordan. “For the reception, we added the black satin and rhinestone encrusted belt and swept her hair up and over for a new, refreshed look. Something a lot of my clients are doing these days so they have the best of both worlds with their hair design.”

Photography: Thisbe Grace
Make-up: Mayra Rams-Sanabria
Hair: Sonia Trevino
Cake: Fancy Cakes by Lauren
Invitations: Paper & Chocolate

Featured Wedding: The Color Was in the Details

How they met … while living in Chicago, Rusty and Lindsay were introduced by Ben (The Best Man, Lindsay’s co-worker and Rusty’s college roommate). Ben had suggested that Rusty join the co-ed soccer team that Lindsay was organizing. Then Rusty ran Lindsay and her friend down at the 5K Corporate Challenge after he recognized her company name on the back of her t-shirt. He introduced himself as Ben’s friend on the soccer team. Lindsay’s friend insisted she go after him, because “he was cute and VERY tall.” Lindsay agreed.

One of the reasons Lindsay chose gray for the bridesmaid gowns is so that she could incorporate all sorts of bold color into the wedding details without worry.

Wedding Planner: Jordan Payne Events
Wedding Gown: Oscar de la Renta, Warren Barron Bridal
Ceremony: Christ the King, Dallas
Reception: The Belo Mansion
Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo
Lindsay’s necklace: Meridith Griffin, Warren Barron Bridal
Shoes: Ceremony – Vince Camuto heels; Reception – Corral Vintage boots
Photography: Thisbe Grace

Weddings Themes: Western Weddings with a Kick

With the recent wedding of Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton in Texas, we wanted to show off some of the wonderful western weddings that we’ve showcased here on our blog. (Lord knows we tried to find decent wedding photos of their wedding…the one below is the best we could find and it’s a scan from Us Weekly – sorry!).

What were some of the touches that Miranda Lambert brought to her wedding?

• The bridesmaids were wearing cowboy boots. Specifically, Old Gringo boots.
• Miranda let her bridesmaids have a little individuality. Each wore their own custom-made gown by Priscilla of Boston’s Mark Brower.
• Miranda wore the same ivory wedding gown her mother wore over 30 years ago.  Miranda said, quote, “My parents have been married for 33 years, so this dress is already a good-luck charm.”
• And Miranda wore custom-made Casadei cowboy boots

StrictlyWeddings.com Dallas partners photographer Thisbe Grace and events planner Jordan Payne provided us with some of the boot-scootin’ wedding photos below:

Featured Wedding in Santa Barbara: A Chance Meeting of Old Friends

Chance meetings can change your life. It did with this couple who knew each other throughout high school, yet it wasn’t until years later that a chance meeting at a hang out in Austin, Texas, where they both attended the University of Texas, reconnected them; this time forever.

Torri and Andy’s first date, a week later, was at Cedar Street, where they listened to the Spazmatics, the same band who, four years later, would be hired to play at their wedding! The proposal came on a Memorial Day weekend at the Chateau du Sureau outside Yosemite National Park with a beautiful, bended-knee proposal amid tea lights in the forest.

Torri’s wedding dress was a Lazaro, Spanish-inspired gown, with a Monique Lhuillier veil. She found the dress in Scottsdale, Arizona where her father lives, on a special trip with her mother. Final approval came after her Dad visited many bridal boutiques with Torri and helped her make the final decision – now that’s a special dad!

Torri and Andy chose Santa Barbara as their wedding location due to Andy’s father who was in Seminary at Old Mission Santa Barbara. The full choir performed throughout the ceremony.

Montecito Confections created two beautiful cakes for the event. The bridal cake was a 4-tier cake with Tiramisu, coconut and the traditional Southern Red Velvet Cake flavors. Persimmon colored Plumerias trailed down the edge of the white fondant cake. The groom’s cake was in the shape of a panda (the bride’s nickname for the groom) and was a bittersweet chocolate cake with white chocolate mousse filling.

The reception was an alfresco, family-style celebration held in traditional Italian style to honor the bride’s family, at a private estate, Terra Bella, in Hope Ranch overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Guests dined on antipasto with bowls of risotto and penne a la puttanesca passed around family style. For the main course, guests enjoyed filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Along with the cake, guests were treated to a gelato bar.

The reception began with Music from the local band, Luna Gitana. The reception continued well into the night with music by the Spazmatics.

Trolleys were on-hand to transport guests from the Mission to the estate and to take guests back to their respective hotels at the end of the evening with gifts of pashminas, Torrone Italian candy and jordan almonds wishing everyone, Buona Sera.

Our thanks to StrictlyWeddings.com Dallas photographer, Thisbe Grace, who as always, brought her own grace and style to these wonderful wedding photos.

Bride and Groom: Torri Hansen and Andy Ainsa
Date: September 25, 2010
Photographer: Thisbe Grace Photography
Bridal Gown: Lazaro
Cake: Montecito Confections
Wedding Ceremony: Old Mission Santa Barbara