All-White Weddings, Crystal and Silver Accents, Larger–than-Life Centerpieces,
& Vintage-Inspired Wedding Gowns will be amongst the hottest trends for 2012

Brides' fantasy weddings came to life as The Wedding Salon in New York unveiled the ultimate in weddings for 2012. The Wedding Salon showcased the trends that will take over weddings in the upcoming year including all-white weddings, crystal accents, vintage-inspired gowns and more.

Design by Shawn Rabideau, Photo by Spelman Studios

"We were thrilled to showcase some of the most over-the-top glamorous trends in weddings for 2012! The Wedding Salon came to life with fantasy reception tables, a couture fashion show and the top names in the industry including Colin Cowie, Carlo’s Bakery of Cake Boss, Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings and St. Regis” says Wedding Salon Founder and renowned Celebrity Event Planner, Tatiana Byron.

The Wedding Salon showed that “Glamour is back for 2012” with numerous event designers showcasing the all-white wedding with silver and crystal accents. David Tutera showcased this trend with an elaborate table designed for Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings. This sky-high centerpiece featured white orchids and white ostrich feathers dripping with crystals accented with touches of silver. Gabriela Wakeham stayed on point with her all-white wedding table with silver accents creating a chandelier-inspired table with orchid and crystal garlands floating from a chandelier structure over a base of white orchids and hydrangea accented by silver linens. Honora Winery also sought inspiration from the all-white wedding creating a tree-like structure with crystals & branches stretching toward the ceiling, filled with all-white roses.

Design by Honora Winery, Photo by Spelman Studios

Victorian Elegance and Old-Hollywood Glamour were other trends seen at The Wedding Salon. Celebrity Event Planner, Shawn Rabideau looked to the Victorian Age as inspiration for his reception table.  Rabideau used English Lace, Lily of the Valley and white roses with lavender accents for his English-Royalty-Inspired reception table. Thru the Looking Glass looked to Old Hollywood Glamour for their black-and-white table with white roses, silver and crystal accents.

Jenny Yoo wowed brides with a couture bridal fashion show showcasing their vintage-inspired form-fitting looks for the timeless bride. Jenny Yoo also unveiled a series of tea-length wedding gowns with lace detailing for the 2012 bride.  The colors of the rainbow will be all the rage for bridesmaids in 2012 with Jenny Yoo highlighting ruby red, deep blues, silver and orange shades of bridesmaid gowns.

Showing that a beach honeymoon will never go out of style, The Wedding Salon featured the biggest names in Destination Weddings and Honeymoons including St. Regis Bora Bora, The St. Lucia Tourism Board, Guatemala  and The Mexico Tourism Board highlighting Puerto Vallarta, San Miguel de Allende & Cancun as the ultimate go-to destinations in 2012.

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article courtesy of The Wedding Salon | photos courtesy of Real Life Weddings

Cookie-Cupcakes, Natural Accents, Colors of the Rainbow, Attention to Detail & Fashion Inspired Weddings, Amongst the Hottest Trends for 2012

Brides' fantasy weddings came to life at The Wedding Salon at The W City Center. The nation’s premier luxury bridal event showcased the hottest trends for 2012 including Nature Inspired Accents, Attention to Detail and Wedding Trends Straight from the Paris Runway.

"We were thrilled at the success of The Wedding Salon in Chicago and the trends that were unveiled for the upcoming year!  The Chicago Market came together for one night, showcasing incredible fashion-forward trends," says Wedding Salon Founder and renowned Celebrity Event Planner, Tatiana Byron. 

The ultimate trend for weddings will be looking to nature and the local landscape for reception tables. Chicago's finest event designers showcased reception décor inspired by nature. Telluride looked to the Colorado landscape pulling birch wood accents for a natural wedding look. Additional décor trends for 2012 include elevated centerpieces inspired by architecture and mismatched looks incorporated into table design.

Telluride | Town and Country Gardens

Jenny Yoo wowed brides with a couture bridal and bridesmaid fashion show showcasing the trend of colors of the rainbow with teal, yellows and greens gracing bridesmaids on the runway. For the bride, Jenny Yoo unveiled a classic collection for 2012 with fitted looks accessorized to perfection.

Jenny Yoo

New attention to detail and simplicity will also be a key factor in the upcoming year. From flowerless canopies, showcasing nothing but rich, flowing linen and velvet runners, weddings will showcase regal linens in new and inspired ways. Couples will add detail to their wedding in never-before seen ways showcasing their individual style. Yanni Design Studio unveiled the new trend of etching menus onto charger plates for the bride & groom to keep as memorabilia.

Yanni Design Studio

Avant Gardenia

The Candy Bar trend of previous seasons will shift towards cookies in 2012 with the introduction of cookie–cupcake towers by Cookies by Joey. Engaged couples enjoyed this never-before seen cookie cupcake with stacked cookies in cupcake liners topped with freshly made buttercream & flowers for a new alternative to the wedding cake. A twist on traditional cakes, Oak Mill Bakery revealed that brides are no longer looking to the wedding gown for inspiration for the wedding cake; instead they are modeling cakes after their favorite couture designer. Wildflour Bakery also looked to fashion by recreating hand-painted silk flowers and origami flowers on their delicious exotic flavored cakes.

Oak Mill Bakery | Wildflour Bakery

Showing that a beach honeymoon will never go out of style, The Wedding Salon featured the biggest names in Destination Weddings and Honeymoons including St. Regis Bora Bora, The St. Lucia Tourism Board and The Mexico Tourism Board highlighting Puerta Vallarta & Cancun as the ultimate go-to destinations in 2012.

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I'm so thrilled to have G.E. Masana with me today. He's an amazing wedding photographer who I'm sure you might recognize as I've featured several of his gorgeous weddings and engagement shoots on the blog.

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Breaking News: There's a new definition for "unique": Now it means "Cookie Cutter" and "Copy Cat" - when it comes to your wedding photos.

A popular wedding website recently interviewed a wedding photographer asking how a bride can get "unique" wedding photos from her photographer. The professional's answer may actually shock you. A "must have" shot, she advised, would be to find a "really cool graffiti wall" to "stand in front of".

Really? Isn't this graffiti wall thing a bit overdone by now? Search Google Images for "wedding photos graffiti wall" and it returns 6,940,000 results. That's right - almost seven million of those puppies.

Considering that there are only about two million marriages a year in the U.S. that's a heck of a lot of graffiti themed wedding photos! Not anything I'd remotely call "unique". Would you?

Part of the problem for populating newlyweds’ love nests en masse with these types of wedding pictures is the well-intended but "follow-the-herd" thinking of many wedding photographers today. They're lovely people I'm sure, but maybe they haven't yet come to appreciate what really makes any bride's wedding photography truly unique.

Because if some "trend-of-the-moment" type shot is what they think does it... if that's their best idea, then they're thinking mere "snapshots". It's true that many brides don't particularly care one way or the other beyond that. After all, brides are people too... and people do things like, copy what the next person's doing. Do whatever's "hot" today. That's why back in the 80's lots of brides had the big hair and poofy wedding sleeves. They just followed the trend.

But there are (and have always been) brides (and grooms!) who stand apart and care more about acquiring something far more meaningful for themselves... something truly unique... in their wedding photography.  

For sure, more special than any graffiti wall.  

Which is why I wrote down my 10 essential tips that actually will make your wedding photos unique. I couldn’t stay silent any longer.  

Working with hundreds of brides and grooms as a NYC wedding photographer and seeing first hand what *does* mean something to them has given me insights. True, I also have the advantage of brides writing me on their anniversaries because they wanted to thank me again and tell me how their wedding photos have become ever more significant to them with time - and why that's so. In other words, these insights are time tested and proven.

So I've gleaned tons of aha! moments out of all my experience. And I'm going to share some of those light bulb moments with you.

This is obviously not for everybody. It's insight for discerning couples who seek something more desirable and personalized out of their wedding photos. These tips are anything but routine. You won't see them all mentioned in any wedding magazine... evidently. But they will make a significant difference in your resulting wedding photos - plus they even have a side effect of making your wedding day experience more enjoyable as well! And who wouldn't want that?  

If you're a bride or groom you can grab your personal copy right now. For free. I don't know how long I'll be giving away this information but if you'd like to achieve better, more meaningful unique wedding photography - get your copy now in time to easily put these tips in motion for your wedding.

Enjoy! Click Here For "10 Essential Tips For The Best Wedding Photos Ever"

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New York City Wedding Photographer

G.E. Masana is a nationally published, NYC wedding photographer. Clients have included Vanessa Penna (ELLE), Gaines Peyton (Sears-Peyton Gallery), among many others. His photography has been featured in ELEGANT BRIDE, BRIDAL GUIDE, BRIDE'S and MARTHA STEWART WEDDINGS as well as several international professional photography journals. You can check out his NYC wedding photography blog here.

Today's Eye Candy Friday is a bit different and brimming with the latest weddings trends and ideas. This past Monday, The Wedding Salon held their luxury show in Miami and they join us today highlighting some of the incredible trends that were seen at the show. The one trend that was seen throughout the event was the trend of white weddings with crystal accents. From Ana Paz’s all-white cakes, covered in Swarovski crystals, to the sky-high canopy covered in white feathers, white hydrangea and dripping with crystal, to Costa d’Este Beach Resort’s white masterpiece with fuchsia accents, The Wedding Salon showed that brides can never go wrong with an all-white wedding.

All-White Wedding Receptions with a Splash of Color and
Dripping Crystals, are the Hottest Trend for the Season Ahead

Billy Idol said it best with the classic “It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding” and The Wedding Salon in Miami displayed this trend at its best, with magical all-white displays from Miami’s hottest designers. With splashes of color, crystal and feather accents, brides’ fantasy weddings came to life.

“White Weddings will never go out of style and will always be a classic statement for brides in any season. We were thrilled to see this timeless trend come to life at The Wedding Salon where Miami’s top names designed the ultimate in fantasy weddings. We look forward to seeing all the trends from The Wedding Salon come to life in the season ahead," says Wedding Salon Founder and renowned Celebrity Event Planner, Tatiana Byron.

Miami’s top celebrity event planners and designers including Trias Flowers, Torrellas Special Events, The Gansevoort Miami Beach and Costa d’Este Beach Resorts showed that brides will always look to embrace the classic beauty of an all-white wedding.  Trias Flowers looked to chandeliers as inspiration for their white & ivory reception table with staggering heights dripping in floating crystal and covered in all-white floral. The design team from The Gansevoort Miami Beach added a structural element to the all-white wedding by utilizing a mix of square and cylinder vases forming a sky-high centerpiece with white lilies as the focal point surrounded by a sea of candles. Costa d’Este Beach Resorts added a single fuchsia color accent to their all-white display with fuchsia orchids mixed into the sea of all white roses, while Torrellas Special Events added red as their accent to an all-white table.

Another key trend seen at The Wedding Salon was the use of crystals from Ana Paz’ Swarovski-covered cake to Panache Style’s canopy, dripping with crystals. Ana Paz looked to the trend of Swarovski-belted wedding gowns for her sky-high 6 foot cake with row after row of Swarovski belted crystals glimmering under the reception lighting. Panache Style incorporated the white trend with the crystal trend in their fantasy canopy with sky-high feathers above a sea of crystals raining over the bride and groom.

Other trends not to be missed include John Dunn’s form-fitting fishtailed gowns covered in sequins that wowed brides at The Wedding Salon’s fashion show and the churros for guests created by Miami’s favorite, Donut Divas. These trends reveal that a classic all-white look combined with a bride’s own personal touch from feathers and crystals, to candy bars and cannoli bars will be in style for years to come!

above photos: Costa d’Este Beach Resort reception table {photography by May Bagnell Photography}

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Today I'm happy to welcome Redseven from the UK to the blog who joins us with sophisticated ideas for the Bachelorette Party whether you're planning the girl's outing in the US, Canada or Internationally.

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When it comes to planning the bachelorette party, there is no shortage of ideas that will appeal to the majority of your group. Too often, we settle for the usual night out with the girls, however why not add a special twist and do something a little different and with a touch of sophistication.

Chocolate Making

What girl does not like chocolate? With a chocolate making session you'll have a professional chocolatier to talk you through the art of chocolate tasting before demonstrating how to make your own handmade truffles. You'll then be able to get stuck in with making them yourselves putting into practice the process of dipping, rolling, drizzling and decorating whilst trying them along the way (well you have to see if they taste good enough!). Once you've made your very own batch of truffles you'll get a pretty ribbon tied package to take them home in at the end of the session – that’s if you haven't eaten them all by then!

Cocktail Making
Mixology is a skilled and delicate art which makes for an exciting and fun activity for you to try out with the girls. The obvious advantage is you'll get to drink your favourite cocktails such as Cosmopolitans and Mojitos, however there is a lot more that you will get out of a master class in making cocktails. With your very own barman, you'll be taught the history of cocktails, where spirits come from and which ones go together to make these delicious combinations we take for granted! Most classes will involve a light hearted competition or game which is a great ice breaker if there are people in the group that don't know each other too well. It's not surprising that this is a popular bachelorette party idea!

Wine Tasting
A lot of us don't know the next thing about wine other than the difference between white and red, or whether or not it tastes any good (most of the time!). A great way of expanding your knowledge at the same time as having a really good time is to book your group in for a lesson in wine tasting. This is a great one to do with the girls whilst on a bachelorette party as everyone will get to know each other pretty quickly over a few glasses of wine. A typical wine tasting session takes you through the different varieties of wine from countries and regions around the world, with blind tasting games letting you put your newfound knowledge to the test whilst at the same time introducing an element of light-hearted competition among the group. By the end you’ll be leaving nice and relaxed and a true wine connoisseur!

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If you’d like more ideas for a classy bachelorette party then please visit Redseven, the UK’s leading organizer of hen parties.

Photo Credits:
Truffles: Simply So Good
Cocktails + Wine: Redseven