What a nice surprise today to be featured on the fabulous "Grey Likes Weddings" blog! This was a super fun, stunning outdoor wedding on Bainbridge Island I designed this summer, photographed by the brilliant Bradley Hanson - here are the images from Bradley that Grey posted...we'll post more images ourselves soon! Thanks, Grey!
What if the bride's point of inspiration is another wedding? 
Gabriela and Tim were married at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel in Seattle on a windy, blustery rainy day. The weather did not faze them one bit however, they were stunning, elegant, and determined to have a good time. We first wrote about this wedding a month ago, to see the details of our design collaboration and other photographs, click on Collaborating with the bride
Gabriela was one of my rare brides who knew what she wanted from the moment she saw one of our weddings featured in a magazine. She so loved the aisle pieces and centerpieces from that wedding, that she wanted to hire us to do the same thing! Being a stickler to create something fitting for them (versus recreating from another wedding), we delineated what she liked about them, and then use those element to design HER pieces, but more fitting into her space. (The Garden Room an Spanish Terrace at the the Fairmont Hotel.) In addition, we had she had a color scheme of tangerine, ruby red, light pink and ivory...NOT an easy color combination! ) I love a challenge, though, so I knew we could make the colors work together, and make this wedding as unique as all our others.
The end result really fitted well within the space, exceeded her expections (I LOVE next day emails from brides!!) and was kept the elements of what she loved from her initial selection but improved upon it, with little details like the beaded petals and duchess rose bowls.
And of course, it was all perfectly captured by Tania from Azzura Photography!
Thanks Tania, for the beautiful photos, and Gabriela and Tim for letting me be a part of your special day - it was a pleasure to design with you and create beauty for your day!
Daniela
(images Garrett Nudd Photography)
Myself and Sylvia Weinstock
AH, I am still reeling from the whirlwind of The wedding Symposium, "Engage09, the Encore. "
Compared to Engage09 in the Cayman Island in June, this was more intense, a lot of information rolled into one huge day, and lots of networking on the other days and evenings. I was glad that I arrived a day early, not only to get the opportunity to create some fun floral arrangements for all the speakers, but to catch up with everyone that I had connected with at the last Engage.
(and to make 100 unique, orange cymbidium with slate gray feather corsages....ouch!) Yes, I offered to make corsages for everyone attending - which was a great idea in theory, until I spent my first day in Vegas up until 3am making them - thank goodness for my friends Stephanie at PartyCouture and Jennifer Ederer from Modern Day Floral for helping!! But it was a blast to see a room full of people wearing my creations!
The intensive day was tuesday - boy, was my head spinning by the end of that day! From 8am until 6:30 pm we were presented with business strategies, thought processes and advice from some of the brightest in the industry:
Rebecca Grinnals, originally from Disney Weddings, and now a consultant to the luxury wedding market, both for venues and individuals. Rebecca and Kathryn make up the Engaging Concepts team and have created these incredible symposiums! What a pair of brilliant, inspiring minds!
Sean Low, past President of Preston Bailey designs, and one of the most intelligent, best informed business strategists for creative businesses I have ever met. I have had the pleasure of of working with him one on one over the last few months, and boy, has it changed how I view and operate Bella Signature Design (Watch out Seattle!!) At Engage, Sean made a compelling point in how we as artists need to view our work in a business sense, and how best present our art to our clients.
Sean Low, myself, and Michelle Rago
Simon T Bailey was as inspiring as ever - actually, more than ever. This man is so full of inspiration, it's ridiculous. He speaks all over the country to bring out people's passions, ideas, and give them the confidence to follow through with their business. He always manages to put my life into perspective, from both a personal and business perspective
"treat your family as if they were your clients" (meaning, don't ignore them!) and
"What you don't deal with now, will eventually deal with you." Well said.
Todd Avery Lenahan spoke about his design sense, and how he creates his art - some of the most stylish interiors around...It was fabulous to see the process of someone so successful at creating their art, and managing that line between what the client thinks they want, and presenting them with something that exceeds their expectations...a hard line to balance. 
Read more...
Can I get an Encore? That’s right…Vegas in 48 hours!
I’m knee-deep in fine-tune travel prep for Engage ’09 The Encore…a luxury wedding business intensive which is happening this time Las Vegas (also see our review of our June travels to the Cayman Islands for Engage09)
Read more...
It’s no secret I’m in totally gaga for pretty things in all shapes, sizes and material! Being a wedding and event designer, it’s important to find high quality products that not only represent me as a person and designer, but fit every aspect of my designs – my brides & grooms – or that lush, swanky party I’m hired to design. There are a few things I’m totally loving right now – and by ‘totally loving’ I mean, texting my assistant immediately to order large quantities!
Ok, so these are a few of my favorite things (yep…insert humming here and singing if you prefer…) – first on my Absolutely Fabulous list is (drumroll…) Rosanna Inc. located in Seattle. They create beautiful tableware for every occasion...and we have been using Rosanna as our gift-giving source and recommendations to brides and grooms. (so if you are nice to us you may just get a fab Rosanna present in the mail...)
Every pre-wed couple does the popular china-picking-out Saturday where they spend a glorious day at Pottery Barn with that silly tool you get when you register for gifts – you know, the one that you scan over the plate or saucer and it tracks it to your registry? WELL, that Saturday just got a little sweeter for upcoming married folk with Rosanna Inc. inserted into the plan! Chic, modern and local to Seattleites –their press says it all (but they DO ship anywhere and have quite the national following!). Superior quality, fabulous colors and trendy designs? And the added bonus of not having the exact same set of Pottery Barn dishes that every couple in your supper club has? Seems like a no-brainer to us! Check out their site – you won’t be disappointed! At this very moment, I’m drooling over the Rocco Noir Pedestal; 
Like a better-than-basic black dress, this collection steps right out off the runway in the strongest color of the season. Reminiscent of the exuberant style of the mid-18th century, it sets the stage for accessorizing with gold, silver, platinum, white -- or anything you please.
Alright – moving right along…second favorite are the perfectly delicious votives from glassy baby, another Seattle business. We did a blog post on these artful vessels over a year ago on this blog (glassybaby post) and LOVE them. (especially chartreuse, orange and gray. Ahem.)
Their colors are downright scrumptious! Bella Signature uses glassy baby candle votives for many of our exquisite events. Hand-blown glass and very heavy, elegant quality, glassy baby is a must for every bridal registry(YES, you can register!! I have registered for my favorite colors!!) . Glassybaby are made through a multi-layered glass-blowing process and their color comes from different shaded color rods to produce a mix of opaque, translucent, and deeply colored glasses. This method creates a thick, strong piece of glass that has many functions and uses. And the story behind them makes them that much sweeter (go to their website to read!!)
image from lovely little things
And last but not least favorite by any means, my 3rd favorite of the day – a swank chartreuse and black apron ordered directly from a fantastic Etsy artist. When I’m knee deep in design mode, I often find myself scrambling for every little utensil or pin or glue or you name it! So, it occurred to me that I needed a tool belt of sorts BUT it had to look great too. Check out construction for all and see what I’m talking about – the sweetest little all-utility chic apron I’ve ever seen. I’m totally in love with this little piece! Pick your own fabric and the artist does the rest.
Ahhhh….life’s little pleasures (online shopping…). Keep your eye open for exciting changes to Bella Signature and the almost new “addition” Bloom by Bella!
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