Boho + Chic = Perfection

Another wedding style that I love to find pictures of is the perfect mix of bohemian and tres chic! Boho chic is a great combination of class and a free spirit. It's the feathers, relaxed/flowy wedding gowns, lots of candles. It's a gorgeous mix of perfection!
The mix of pictures I put together on our latest board are just a few of my favorites. Especially using the TOMS as wedding shoes. I bought a pair of the black sparkly ones to wear at the weddings we work at, but I love the pink, silver, and gold sparkly ones too! I love the concept behind it.. I can go on and on and I know we've blogged about them before :P

I think the idea behind a boho chic wedding is to be as green as possible and use a lot of natural products. Mason jars are a staple at boho themed weddings as well as candlesticks and lots of flowers! It's all beautiful and definitely one of my favorite kind of weddings. I hope you like the board I created and feel free to comment!

xoxo

Paris, J'adore!

One of my dream places to visit is Paris. I've always been mesmerized by the fashion, people, and culture. From Coco Chanel to Christian Louboutin, it's all so inspiring. I've never actually been to the city, but it's on my Bucket List! I know I'll make it to the city of love one day, no matter how long it takes!
So on to my next blog. All things French. When I took the language in high school and college, I never really cared to understand a deeper meaning of the French people. But now I can't help but love everything francais. The images of riding through the French countryside with a baguette in the basket makes me grin from ear to ear, so I thought I'd blog about it. I pulled some of my favorite French images and wanted to make an inspiration board out of it. Maybe you're interested in having a french themed wedding one day or maybe you love France just as much as I do and want to see what a wedding would look like.

I hope this inspiration board helped in making you fall in love with Paris...  I can't wait to travel this this city one day, and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Have any experience from a trip to Paris that you'd like to share? Ever been to a French themed wedding? Comment now!

More blogs to come...

xoxo

DIY and YouTube

Nowadays most of our brides incorporate some kind of DIY (Do It Yourself) project for their wedding.  Even the most sophisticated bride wants to save some on some aspects of the wedding as well as channel their inner Martha Stewarts (I know their are even some crafty grooms out there!) Everyone loves Etsy and I most recently wanted to make baby bows for our newborn girl Eden, so instead of purchasing these awesome hair bows and bands on various sites I YouTubed "baby hair bands" and got a ton of videos for me to DIY.  Not to mention my near by Dollar Tree and Michaels had a ton of plastic flowers and supplies to help me get started.  What is your DIY project for your wedding?  I bet YouTube has a video to teach you and maybe even your local Dollar Tree has some supplies you'll need!

Just Can't Get Enough - Monique Lhuillier

I am absolutely in love with all of Monique Lhuillier's wedding dresses! Every season, she comes out with the most unique dresses and they are such different styles and so intricate... down to the petal pleats to the feather skirts. Here are some of our favorites

I love the tea length gown! How gorgeous is that?! I love all her dresses, and can't wait to see what she comes out with next season!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Let's celebrate our country's independence with some BBQ, an ice cold drink, and some spectacular fireworks. Living in the Nation's Capital, I've always wanted to avoid going downtown to see the amazing firework display. And this year it's no different. I'm going out to the country this year to see a good band and fireworks, and I'm very excited! It's not that I'm not proud to be a DC native or anything, I just prefer smaller crowds and the beautiful star filled sky when I see fireworks!

I hope you all enjoy your long weekends and have a great Independence Day!

JCrew & Ann Taylor - Bridesmaids Dresses

There are some really great bridesmaids dresses out there that you can find at your local mall! Some of my favorite places to go are JCrew and Ann Taylor. They have something for all tastes and body types! Click the links above to see some really great dresses, or look below for some of Sweetface's Faves!

JCrew

Ann Taylor

These are really great dresses perfect for the Spring, Summer or Fall and is fit for all body types. I'm already a huge fan of the classic styles JCrew and Ann Taylor have. They're very sophisticated and I love every one of them. Especially the long dresses and I'm still so in love with pockets!

Kristyn and Richard King - The Morrison House 4.30.11

We'd like to thank Kristyn and Richard for giving us a great wedding experience at the Morrison House in Old Town Alexandria, VA on April 30, 2011.  Their wedding was picture perfect.  From the guests and wedding party, to Kristyn's dress and white peonies it was an evening to remember.  Their family members traveled from near and far to celebrate their special day.

 Shout outs to Jeff at Wedding Ceremonies By Jeff, Victoria and her team for exceptional service at The Morrison House and Cynthia Roelle Photography for her amazing shots.  It was seamless through and through and we couldn't of asked for a better team to work with.

2011 Wedding Season

With wedding season in full swing, we are now getting doing to the nitty gritty! We are so excited to be working with all of our brides, and can't wait for their big days. I think we've been so blessed to work with some really great brides and it makes us so happy! 

We had our first wedding this past weekend at The Morrison House in Alexandria, VA and it couldn't have been more perfect! The weather was beautiful as was the entire bridal party! This boutique hotel is located right in the heart of the City of Alexandria, and I must say their property, along with staff was beyond amazing to work with. They were very accommodating to Sarena and me and working with tight timelines they were a dream to work with!

We'll be posting pictures soon so keep following us as we go through 2011's wedding season!

In the meantime, I'll share some pics of really great ideas! Enjoy

We are so pumped for these weddings! Can you tell how excited I am :P

xoxo,

Nicole

Another Great Wedding Song!

I know I shared Train's Marry Me, and everytime I hear that song I still get a little misty-eyed. So I thought I'd share a song that is a little more fun and something you can groove to at your wedding! 

The song is called Marry You from Bruno Mars. It's such a fun song that is so catchy and one of those "can't get out of your head" songs. I first heard the song when it was performed on an episode of Glee! I love this song! Enjoy it :)

Here's the Glee version too :)

The Royal Wedding!

We can't NOT blog about the royal wedding coming up on Friday 4/29/2011.  For those of you brides who are getting married on that date, how great for your wedding anniversary to be annually aligned to this honorary and respected couple. 

Who's going to get up at 5am Eastern standard time to watch this historical event with us on TLC?  Princess Diana's wedding had over 750 million viewers.  The second most watched wedding, was Luke and Laura's on General Hospital (I am old enough to remember the hype from that one!-Sarena). 

Excited to see Kate's wedding gown and all the wedding attire included.  I hope that the Beckham's appearance will not steal the show.  What will be your favorite part?

Create Your Own Photo Booth

Photo booths are almost a must have at most weddings now a days.  For you DIY brides, steal this idea from Martha Stewart.  Pretty cool! If it were my wedding I would do it in black and white and have your names with wedding date on the canvas.

Happy Easter

Sweetface is spending time with family and friends today on Easter.  I wish our decorations looked this good.  Happy Easter everyone.....!

Tom's Wedding Shoes

This spring season, we are absolutely in love with these Tom's glitter shoes for everyday wear and a great shoe for your wedding day.  Check out the Tom's glitter shoes...a must have this wedding season for sure.  Nicole and I just ordered ourselves a black glitter pair...we'll be wearing them to all our weddings this spring!

Pick of the Week & In Love with This Song

Ok... I came across this song today and have been listening to it non-stop all day. It would be a great wedding website song, first dance song, or even a great song to propose with! It is the latest song from Train called Marry Me, and it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.... Pretty much put me to tears today, but I loved it! 

Here's the link and enjoy. I think my favorite part of the video is the beginning when the couples are telling their love stories. Call me a sap, a romantic, or a nerd... but I loved it!! It's definitely on repeat on my Ipod..

Enjoy!!

Washington Bridal Showcase

Ok we did it! We were one of the booths featured at the Washington Bridal Showcase on January 23rd... And what an experience that was! We met and spoke with hundreds of brides (AND grooms) and we loved every minute of it. After the first hour I really thought my voice wouldn't make it throughout the day. But I powered through it and even though I came out with a bit of a "man voice" it was all worth it!

One important thing that saved us was that we brought a cart to wheel everything to and from the booth! At the end of the day, a woman saw my wheeling a bunch of stuff to the car and she said, "Oh! I should've brought MY radio flyer!" It was so funny, but it was definitely a lifesaver. It beat making many trips to the car, so it was a great idea to bring it.

It was such a wonderful thing to get to meet all these other wedding professionals and meet some really great brides!

It was such a great experience, and I can't wait to do it again, hopefully soon!

Here are some great pictures of our booth and us in action... Enjoy!

Hard at work!

Say What?!? Did Someone Say Contest?

Ok people... Here's the deal! We are giving away a pair of tickets to Sunday's Washington Bridal Showcase!! The expo is taking place at the Patriot Center located at George Mason University from 11:00am - 5:00pm on January 23rd...

So what do you have to do? All you have to do is "LIKE" our Facebook page and comment on this posting and give me your e-mail address. Winner will be chosen at random and I will contact them to get mailing information.

Good luck ladies (and gentlemen)!!!!!!!

Here's our facebook page Sweetface Events - Facebook Page

*no purchase necessary*

Why Use A "Day Of" Coordinator?

All brides have a budget, that's a fact.  Let's get real though, that budget pretty much goes out the window once you find your dream venue, wedding gown, photographer and don't forget that photo booth or black and white checkered dance floor that you just can't live without!  We understand the challenges of trying not to overspend.  At the same time, we know the once in a lifetime chance of having everything that's really important to you make your wedding day truly "YOURS" and unique from the last wedding you went to!

Most brides overlook the importance of hiring a Day Of Coordinator for their wedding simply because they didn't make a budget for it.  With that in mind, most brides can get away with not hiring a coordinator because of the venues they work with.  For example, if you choose any of the big banquet hotel chains, they have an Event Planner on hand to take care of the cocktail and reception details and they will even line your bridal party up for the big intro.

But what about all the millions of details before the reception?  Hiring a Day Of Coordinator not only gives you the peace of mind that you have a hands on advisor in most cases months before your wedding, but it allows you to have less worries from the second you wake up on your big day, until the last box of decor is packed away after the big celebration. 

A Day Of Coordinator is simply your right hand 'behind the scenes' man on your wedding day.  This is the person that will handle all the things you don't want to even think about, as you enjoy every second of your big day.  What bride wants their bridal party or Aunt Martha putting together the last intricate details of their centerpieces?  Who knows all your vendors by name, has your timeline memorized, makes sure the corsages are put on correctly, knows the layout of the reception hall, knows exactly when to change the lighting and has a hands on back up emergency kit just in case your dress rips, or one of your bridesmaids breaks a heel?  Call us J-Lo in the Wedding Planner, but that's exactly what we're equipped for!  We've just replaced J-Lo's head set for our walkie talkies :o) and thank the Lord none of our brides have ripped their dress or had anyone fall in the ceremony (the reception is a whole other story).....!

Some reasons where I believe you MUST have a Day Of Coordinator:

1. Having your wedding at a B&B, winery, or historic landmark: Most of these venues DO  NOT have a planner on site, which means you would have to rely on your caterer and DJ to make everything flow. Do you trust your DJ and caterer enough to handle that job?

2. Having a wedding guest list of 150 or more: Most catering directors rely on their staff to manage sections of the wedding guest seating.  They will be too focused on getting the food out on time and any decor malfunctions or guest seating mix-ups will not be their priority.

3. If you have intricate decor/centerpiece setups: Most florists help with flower centerpieces but they may miss any detail requests on table cards, favors, and any additional decor you have on tables and the around reception hall.  

Overall, your coordinator would make sure you get exactly what you envisioned your "dream day" to be.  Maybe a full time Wedding Coordinator is not in the budget, but don't undermine what a Day Of Coordinator could do...to help make your wedding day run smoothly!

             

Sweetface Events Day Of Coordinator: $$$

Peace of Mind: Priceless!

Wedding Expos: Our Experience and What To Expect

I remember when I was planning my own wedding, the thought of a big show room with thousands of other brides did not sound appealing.  I just knew though that it probably wouldn't hurt to attend one (considering my wedding was only 7 months away and I had nothing!).  So what should you expect at a Wedding Expo?

1. Location: Pick one that's close to your home, no need in driving 40 miles out of your zip code and you are disappointed when you get there.  Most vendors will travel to get in front of local brides and most of the DC area shows are jam packed with almost everything you need under one roof.

2. Don't Go Alone: Bring a family member or member of bridal party - I probably would not have gone myself if I didn't have my sister (MOH) or Mom with me.  (Advice: bring someone that has good taste and will help take the pressure off!) But also, don't bring too many people with you. It is already hectic as it is, and bringing your 10 bridesmaids may just add stress to your already full plate.

3. Cost, Is It Worth It? -paying $10 at the door may sound like a rip off, but there are a ton of highly esteemed vendors on site. The advertisers there are making an investment in the show, which means they are business savvy and are willing to pay lots of money to meet with sophisticated brides like you. Also there are a ton of giveaways if you don't mind giving your email address out. Which brings me to my next point...

4.Register for a separate email account for your wedding research. For example: sarenabakerwedding@gmail.com, after you go to a wedding expo you might be kicking yourself after realizing how many vendors you actually gave your email address to.  This way you can keep track of everything and you won't be inundated with spam or junk mail in your work or home email account. You will be able to keep track of all the vendors that you want to stay in contact with.

5. Dress cute and comfortable.  Bring a bag that you can carry all the paper and hand outs that you get.  Sometimes the Expo bags may not be sturdy enough.  Also bring a camera, just in case you see that "Must Have" item that you can keep record of.

6. Make a list of vendors you want to speak with and don't be afraid to go up and talk to them.  A lot of the time, this can act as your first meeting (this will save you a lot of time in the long run) and the first impression you get tells a lot about their business and product.
7. Last, but not least. Make sure you enjoy yourself while you're there. You only get to plan one wedding, and you have to make the most of your experience in the planning process. Enjoy meeting all the vendors and get all the goodies you can! Get there early, and travel to all the booths you need for your wedding.

If you have any feedback, let us know! What were your experiences at a bridal show and what were the things that you enjoyed/disliked?

Sweetface will be at the Washington Bridal Showcase at the Patriot Center on 01.23.11... Stop by our booth if you're going!

xoxo