A New Year's Eve Celebration

Below is a great wedding highlight video from the New Year's Eve wedding of Jessica and Cody at Drees Pavilion. Beautiful work by Steve Zugelter at Studio + Z Films .... you can really feel the emotion in this!

I can't share this without pointing out a few favorite details...

First: the vows: wow! I love when couples personalize their vows. Their vows were so honest and touching.

Second: Jessica's hair piece is completely adorable! The way the netting scoops over part of her face is so classic. She looked beautiful and her pearls finished her look.

Finally: Her bouquet-- you can't see if very much of it, but Jessica is carrying the same bouquet design that her mother and grandmother carried in their weddings : Spray of Gardenias, Lily of the Valley, and Stephanotis (bouquet by Timothy's).

Cody is decked out in his military uniform and is looking snappy! Thank you, Cody, for serving our country!

View on ExposureRoom

Jaclynn + Joey

Wow, I've had a busy several weeks (more on what's been occupying my time later, but I'll give you a hint... just 2 letters... P&G [events]).

I wanted to share a special event with everybody: it was a lot of fun for me, and a real joy to see two people so in love be united in marriage. On August 9th, I had the great pleasure of being a part of (beautiful!) Jaclynn and (sweet!) Joey's wedding (sorry, Joey, I just can't call you Joe!).

One of my favorite moments of the day was seeing how excited Jaclynn was to give her wedding gift to Joey. She sent it with one of her bridesmaids before the wedding. (J+J chose not to see each other before the wedding - it's a romantic tradition, I think! We can all be a bit dismissive of traditions these days, but if you want to do this, please don't let your photographer talk you about of it! It can be a fun anticipation-builder). She gave him tickets to see the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New England Patriots. How great is that? (Go Indy!)

He gave her diamond earrings (!), which she put on immediately and wore for the wedding. Very nice move, Joey.

Below are pictures of their beautiful day (the weather was amazing!) courtesy of Laura Leppert, a fantastic photographer (defined by me as not only a great shooter with an artistic eye, but also someone very easy to work with)!!


I loved the detail in Jaclynn's dress!

I also thought their cake was so refined and classic-looking, while still feeling modern.

Below are pictures of the beautiful and classic table settings with garden style flowers, ivory specialty linens and gold chiavari chairs.

Aren't they great-looking? Imagine getting to be part of beautiful events like this every week, and you get some idea of what it's like for me and my team. How great is this job?


Here is an amazing note I received from Jaclynn when she returned from her honeymoon:

"Thank you so much for everything. The wedding was perfect and even the hours before seemed effortless because you were there to take care of everything. Joey and I decided that you were the best wedding decision we made (other than to marry each other of course). Thank you, thank you, thank you!"


Wow, I must say that hearing things like that make this job even more gratifying... It's so amazing to be able to have an impact in this way on such an important day in people's life! I love it!

The Quest for the Cake to End All Cakes

I like cake.  When it's done right, it's rich and moist and sweet and delicious.  Cake is good.  I like it.  But I don't love it.  I learned the difference this week...

I'm working with some fantastic clients, Angie & Michael, producing a dream wedding for them next year.  I'm very excited about it. I remember in our initial consultation, Angie told me about her deep LOVE AND PASSION for cake... in her list of wedding element priorities, cake trumped them all. I don't guess I fully realized what that meant.... until now.

Angie began to describe to me what she was after, and it sort of blew my mind.  But I love tall, audacious requests!  So I tenaciously set about finding someone to help our Cake Dream come true.  Lo and behold, after some scouring, I found the perfect bakery in Columbus, Ohio. They're taking on the incredible challenge to create Angie's piece de resistance: an elaborate, over-the-top eight-foot wedding cake. 

Yep, you heard me... EIGHT FEET TALL.

Jan Kish with la petite fleur has risen to the challenge. She took one look at the inspiration photo we brought (I love having a load of inspiration photos, swatches, music pieces, and anything else that will convey a feel, a style, or a vision) and said, "No problem, I can do it."  This idea, mind you, had stumped every other baker I'd shown.  Wow.  Jan Kish don't mess around.

So, here's our cake inspiration photo, from the none-greater-than Colin Cowie (I'm a bit obsessed with Colin Cowie's design ...not his ego :) --see my Beautiful Sites list to the right).

Keep in mind, now: our cake will be even more wonderful, more fabulous, and more elaborate... but you'll have to wait until September 2009 to see a photo of it!

la petite fleur's cakes are as delicious as they are beautiful. Jan even has a particular wedding cake that runs up to $45 a slice. Yowza. That's some kind of cake, baby.  (At that price, it should shape your tummy and buns for you and produce natural mascara from your eyelashes!)

So the story of the King of the Cakes is unfolding.  I had my moments of doubt about this one, but it's still true: viva bella's never seen the request or dream we couldn't produce!  Bring on the cake!

Shaedyn & Alex in the Press!

News flash! viva bella clients Shaedyn & Alex had their beautiful wedding published in Cincinnati Wedding Magazine! The wedding was last summer, and I remember it well (they are a TERRIFIC couple). It was a Navy/New England themed wedding. Below are some additional photos and details that didn't make the magazine...

The escort cards were placed in sand, reinforcing the New England theme.  A really elegant touch that communicated refinement.

Cake cutting with a sword is less frightening when you're marrying a Navy man.

As Shaedyn and Alex exited Armstrong Chapel, they were given the 'Oar Detail', which is a corridor of oars from Navymen.  A unique, stylish, and memorable moment!Some other great ideas from their wedding:

-Their guest favors were custom painted tiles with New England images of lobsters & crabs (We placed them at each setting and tied organza ribbon in a square knot that draped perfectly off the table).

- As guests departed the late reception, they received a New England nightcap of milk & sugar cookies to go! The cookies were made by Shaedyn herself, and were lobster shaped with red icing.  

On another note, this was the first wedding I can remember where the groomsmen's bowties weren't pre-tied, with a hook-and-loop closure... these had to be hand tied, old-fashioned-style. Ever tied a bow-tie? Yeah, no one else had either! I did my best to communicate with the wedding party just how to tie those darned things. It's much harder than you think! But we made it through, as always, and my men looked like Royal Officers at the last!

Congratulations to Shaedyn & Alex for having their beautiful wedding celebrated in print.  I know it's gratifying for them, and it's certainly fun for me.  Have a beautiful life, guys!