Coveted Item: Dawes Design Bling!

Every Monday we will be featuring a new luxurious wedding/event related item that I would LOVE to own or use at an event...yes, unfortunately I have a long list of coveted items that I dream of - but it's all in the name of work, right? Well, as my luck would have it, I recently actually became the lucky owner of one of my coveted items, so I figured what better to start off our Coveted Monday's with!

I first came across Jennifer Dawes Designs on the fantastic blog Ecochic weddings (which you should all checkout!) The pictures of her designs made me check out her website immediately - and I was in love! Jennifer creates custom pieces of exquisite jewelery, using only recycled gold and conflict-free stones, which appealed to be immensely. We hit it off on the phone, and have worked up a great working relationship since then. When my husband said "why don't you order that ring already you keep staring at" I leaped at the chance - and soon Jennifer was searching for that perfect Peridot. For those of you who know me well, imagine when I saw this giant chartreuse colored gem stone perched on my finger (my love of the color chartreuse borders on obsession).

Once she found the perfect stone, she created the ring, and sent it my way- it was that easy! The setting is gorgeous, the stone AMAZING - I love it, and wear it anytime I don't have my fingers deep in floral arranging...

Next on my list of coveted items by Dawes Design? It would have to be the stunning diamond below - I can definitely see that on my hand! Jennifer has an online catalog that shows a lot of her great designs, and in addition, she will also custom-create items such as bridesmaids gifts (think orange sapphire pendants) or a special gift from the groom to his bride. I have talked to her about some of my brides, and she has come up with some fantastic ideas for the bridesmaid gifts!

Thank you Jennifer, for not only creating stunning jewelery, but doing it in a sustainable, responsible way that allows us to enjoy it guilt-free. I cherish my ring that you created.

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Wedding Resource Heaven

I've long been a huge fan of ElizabethAnne Designs blog, they feature amazing vendors, have beautiful inspiration boards, and are just one of the best all-around wedding blogs out there. To top it all off, they have recently taken the time to create one of the best resources of wedding vendors anywhere on the web, aptly named the Wedding Library. A huge list of fabulous vendors, organized by state - you can browse through the vendors in your area, or simply peruse vendor categories anywhere to get inspiration - grab a cup of tea or coffee, and settle down for a week's worth of drooling, learning and inspiration! Thanks Ami and Elizabeth, for this great resource for everyone- and thank you for including us, we were thrilled to find out we were among the first to be part of your wonderful resource. Keep up the amazing work!

Daniela

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It has been really unusually rainy here in Seattle this August (for all you non-locals, despite Seattle's rainy reputation, it never rains here in August - really!) So, before I look ahead to the yummy sumptuous colors of fall, I needed a slice of summer. This wedding was out at Kiana Lodge, and featured bright oranges and summery reds, which popped when paired with chartreuse and white. The Bridesmaids wore teal blue, and little accents of that same color were found everywhere from the brides bouquet ribbon to the places cards - and of course, the gorgeous water outside!

Hopefully the sun will come back out for all those outdoor weddings we have in September (and October!) cross your fingers!
Daniela

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Grace Ormonde Wedding Style

A couple of months ago we were invited to submit a photoshoot to Grace Ormonde Magazine - such a fabulous publication! I've been enamored with Wedding Style's glossy pages for years, so this was a huge excitement. We were honored to be a part of it and had a blast at the photoshoot!

You never know what will actually get printed, but here is a sneak peek - two of our tabletops on Grace Ormonde's Wedding Style Website... (you can also go directly to http://www.weddingstylemagazine.com/ and look under "Featured Editorials"

Photography by the fabulous Bradley Hanson, linens by Wildflower

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Featured Design Element: Lighting

Lighting - one of the most overlooked and under-utilized design elements in event design - in Seattle anyway! Lighting is one of those slightly intangible elements of an event - it makes a huge impact at the event itself, but as you are going through the planning and design process, it's not as tangible as lush flowers or textured linens. It is, however, one of the easiest with which to create the atmosphere or mood you want to establish for your event. Think of the 'power' of thousands of candles (no, not just the few votives your venue supplies) on the tables and window sills, or the magic of an LED lighting package that allows the color (and therefore the ambiance) to shift throughout the night. The picture above was from a June wedding at the beautiful Woodmark Hotel tent; while weddings there are usually focused on the waterview, this couple wanted a bit more warmth and ambiance added in to the typical pacific northwest wedding-on-the-water, so with some chocolate duppioni drapes and a few par lights lighting them up, we were able to add warmth and color to contrast with that beautiful blue water!

The picture below (Newcastle Golf Club, picture by One Thousand Words Photography) showcases the ambiance created by lots of candles (both pillars and votives) on the dining tables; as well as a few par lights lighting up a ruby red backdrop behind the cake to give it that extra glow.

We recently designed an amazing Indian Wedding at the Westin in Bellevue (where, unfortunately the walls are a grey/green color - not in the client's color scheme!) In order to keep the attention away from the walls, we actually shone the lights onto the walls, and completely saturated them with color. We designed a rich blue color to match the bride's sari, and a warm amber to add in that warmth (we love that color!) . The evening started out with a lot of candle light, muted overhead lighting from the three chandeliers, and muted LED lighting washing the walls. As the evening progressed, the overhead lights went out, and the LED was played up, becoming a bit more vibrant over time. The color changed with the music, (which was great bollywood-american fusion courtesy of Ajay of Kumba Entertainment out of Los Angeles...)
We also draped the backdrop of the headtable in gold duppioni, and had a color wash on it that subtly changed in color over the course of a few minutes; it was subtle enough to make everyone take a second look, and not crazy enough to be tacky. It was beautiful to see this color gently washing over the backdrop behind the couple, and I can't tell you how many guests tried to capture that on their video cameras!
Some additional advantages of LED lighting: 1) it takes up a lot less power, so the chances of blowing a circuit are greatly reduced :) 2) it's a lot cooler in terms of temperature (stick 35 par cans in a room and it will get HOT in there!) 3) it's a lot cooler in terms of programability - think lights changing over the course of the night - or even with each beat of the music (sounds like a bit much, but with a technician at the event, you can have the lights around the dance floor changing with the beat of the music...
So, for your wedding or next great event, at least consider lighting as part of your ambiance-creating magic! Daniela

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Bella Signature Design teams up with Wildflower Linens!

We are SO excited to annouce that Bella Signature Design has officially teamed up with Wildflower Linens out of California - their major markets are L.A and New York, and now lucky Seattleites can have them too! We have brought Wildflowers linens to a variety of events so far, from beaded overlays for an Indian wedding, to shantung silk for a beautiful northwest Woodmark Hotel wedding. We have featured them in several photo shoots (see more of that in upcoming posts) and can't say enough about these fabulous linens! We will be adding pictures of these gorgeous linens on the shop section of our website soon (ETA Sept 2008) so keep an eye out!

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Finally, Bella's Blog is here!

We meant well when we started our blog back in February, but then wedding season hit and we did not have the time to finish up all the items to make daily publishing easy - well, with some help I have finally figured things out, and the Bella Signature Design Blog is here! I so admire all of those amazing blogs in the blogosphere (check out our blogroll for some of my faves, and don't hesitate to email with ones I should add), and I hope to add a little beauty to your week with mine.
I am so passionate about my work that I finally realized a blog is a much easier way to interact with all of you more quickly, and to show glimpses of the things we create here at Bella. Our website, Bella Signature, will continue to be updated over the fall months with all of the amazing weddings we have had the pleasure of being a part of this year. Although I thought I'd have the time to update the actual website myself (ha!), I'm lucky to have Jason at Curvine do it for me when I get too behind! Look for updates from 2008 weddings in September, as well as our new "shop" page that will feature linens, customs chuppahs and more!
We are also adding video snapshots of weddings to our gallery page, all by mid-september!
Cheers,
Daniela

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