Having a non-traditional wedding? Check out these 7 beautiful non-traditional wedding dresses we love!

Non-traditional weddings are a breath of fresh air and your wedding dress should be as unique as you are. Below are our favorite picks that will leave you inspired and feeling like coloring outside the lines. Or shall we say, coloring inside the dress?!

The Ombre dip-dye Wedding dress:  

A pop of color no one will be expecting!

        

Photo by Amber Gress

  

The Red Goddess Wedding dress: 

Everyone please stand, the queen is coming.

        

Photo by Christina Mcneill

   The Sparkly Metallic Wedding dress:

    This Mermaid is not going back into the water.

    

     Photo by Nisha Ravji

The Elegant Black Wedding dress:

Because black is the new white.

    Photo by Sareh Nouri

                              The not-so white Wedding dress:

Comfortable and stylish

Photo by Janneke Storm

                                 The Zolotova Wedding dress:

A collage of colors

Photo by Wai-Ching

                                     The Future Wedding dress:

    Take out your shades people because this brides future looks so bright!

Photo by Popke Photography

Italian Fairytale Wedding

Now we all love a beautiful wedding, but how about a beautiful wedding in Italy?  Those Italians sure know how to do it right.  With our Italian vacay to the Amalfi Coast coming up we decided to get us all in the mood with a little wedding inspiration, Italian style.

We have the pleasure of featuring the lovely wedding of Manu & Luca.  The event took place at Castello di Montignano, an ancient Castle in Umbria.  It's in the countryside of Umbria and Tuscany. You can see lots of gorgeous pics and learn all about the fascinating history of the castle by clicking here. 

The event director and wedding planner was Claudia Bisceglie.  She was the brains behind this gorgeous event and smart enough to realize that the guests would need Heels Above to protect their fabulous heels from sinking into the grass.  We love how they chose to display our product at the wedding.  Did we mention Heels Above make great favors?

A little something for the ladies and a little something for the men.  Totally classy.

Don't want to damage these gorgeous Jimmy Choos that the bride choose to wear on her special day.

Everything was simple and chic.  We just love the way the Italians do their thing.  Especially when it comes to the food!

A family event.

The beautiful couple.

Some fresh pasta made on the spot!

Simple and elegant place seating with just a sprig of lavender on top.

Family style seating.

That cake!

Dessert bar.

The candy bar.

Everyone on the dance floor!

Some exciting entertainment to cap off the event.

Now that was some wedding!  I don't know about you guys but we are definitely in the mood for some Italian romance.  See you all in a couple weeks.  Arrivederci!

5 Pictures Your Photographer Needs To Take At Your Wedding

We all know about the standard have to get pictures at weddings, like all the bridal party, family shots and the guests seated at each table.  But how about the fun, memorable pictures that will adorn your walls and cover your desktop for years to come?

Here are some fresh takes on must have wedding pics!

1.  Jumping on the bed

Everyone loves a good jump on the bed.  Now just get your photographer to make sure they are there to capture it.  Get one of the bride by herself, the bride with her maid of honor, one of the groom and one of the bride and groom together!

Photo by Elizabeth Messina

Photo by Brad Ross

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2.  Something sexy

You may as well go for it today when your hair and make-up are flawless.  Get a little frisky with your guy and don't be shy!

Photo by Michael Segal

Photo by Isabel March 

3.  Dress Up

Ok this picture you may have to take after your wedding, but it is something you definitely want to photograph.  Take a picture of your flower girl in your wedding dress.  Then hide it until she gets married!  What a wonderful gift that will be for her someday.

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4.  The Veil

Everyone always has the shot of the groom lifting up the bride's veil.  Now let's actually get him under it too!  With the right lighting in the background, your photo will be magical.

Photo by Kathy Thomas

5.  The Entrance

This shot is often missed.  Make sure to put it on your list for the photographer.  Get a picture right before the bride is about to walk down the aisle.  If you have two photographers have one of them stay on the bride and the other get a reaction shot of everyone in the audience.

Photo by Anne Holland

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And for extra credit...I call this one The Happily Ever After.

I couldn't resist this AMAZING photo!  You will need a few palm trees and preferably a tropical island to make this one happen!  Looks like something straight out of a fairytale.

Photo by Chris Huang

Hope all the brides-to-be took some notes here. Promise you will thank me later.  :)

It's Party Time!!!

'Tis the season for nice weather and lots of outdoor parties.  It's such a beautiful time of year to throw a bridal or baby shower.  Recently, some friends and I threw a baby shower for one of my best friends, Shari.  We had it at our friend Lori's house which is stunning to say the least.

Shari was having a girl so everything was PINK PINK PINK (totally up my alley!) There were a bunch of us throwing her the shower and we decided to do it ourselves instead of hire a party planner. We each made a few of our favorite dishes and everything was super delish and presentation was on point!

Here is the complete set up of our buffet.

My contribution to the buffet is my famous peach, mozzerella, caprese salad.

The Kale Goddess Salad was a huge hit.

The cake we had was the world famous Triple Berry Cake from Sweet Lady Jane, Shari's favorite bakery!

And what shower is complete without a mimosa bar?  Not ours of course!

Our colors were pink and turquoise, such a fun color combo. We had a lot of fun with the decorations. I bought pink paper lanterns from Michaels.  I have their app on my iPhone so anytime I shop there I have coupons on hand.  They are key for do-it-yourselfing!

The striped paper straws were from super cute Etsy shop Wrap and Revel. I found adorable place settings from them as well.  They were perfect for the rustic backyard shower setting we wanted to throw.

I also found adorable place settings from them as well.  How cute are these fork and knife sets with the doily neatly packed inside?

I hung up a clothes line with pretty pink baby clothes, that were handed down from all us mommies throwing the shower. 

 Shari got to keep those after the shower to add to all the adorable outfits she was gifted.

As far as the games went, I knew Shari was not a big fan of games at showers so we kept them low key.  We had a table set up with a basket of diapers that you could write funny messages on for mommy and daddy to read during their middle of the night diaper changes!  

We also had a craft station set up with baby blocks. Each guest was able to decorate a block for the baby to play with. These blocks are wonderful for all types of projects actually:  alphabet blocks and baby names spelled out for the nursery just to name a few.  

For party favors we gave out Essie nail polish in a baby pink color called Sugar Daddy.  Pretty little nail polishes are always a good choice when it comes to favors.  

And Shari gave all her party hosts gorgeous bracelets from Sara and Chloe.  Each bracelet had the letters of our kid's names engraved on them.

Girl power to the max!.