"C" is for Cara, and Cara is for me!

Let me just say... I'm loving some Studio Cara makeup right now! The spa and makeup salon located at 1620 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland FL 32751 is known for bridal make up applications and how-to sessions.

Recently, the girls at the Winter Park store all got a few goodies from them. Two colors of eye shadow and an all-over-color that lasts all day. I'm obsessed with their Bimini Unicolor!

Tomorrow night Studio Cara is hosting Champagne & Cupcakes at the Haute Hostess Aprons Trunk Show. They're featuring some of the cutest (and sexiest!) aprons I've ever seen, hands down.

Come for the make up, come for the aprons. Heck, if anything come for the champagne! Either way, you're sure to score something fab at Studio Cara


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Vendors We Love: Celebrations Catering

Continuing on our Featured Vendor Tradition, we have chosen Celebrations Catering as one of our favorite local vendors! We asked Leah Sherer, owner of Celebrations Catering a few questions about the biz and how she got her start in catering.

Leah got her start in catering after she left her teaching job to do something that allowed her to be more creative and aggressive. “The school system didn't fit my need to constantly grow and change”, says Leah. After trying a few part time jobs, a lunch delivery business was the end product. Leah claims, “It grew fast and all catering, not just corporate, became my gig.”

Celebrations Catering specializes in excellent customer service, not just food. "We add anything and everything to our agenda, our inventory, our menu as it’s needed, cause we never say no! We take it all on and make every event different from the last, no boring repeat stuff, no predictable stuff, lots of new, fun stuff.”

Leah shared with us that her favorite dish to eat is always an Asian, fun, and creative dish of any type or any other authentic ethnic food from any region. She also confessed that she wasn't so hot on American food unless it's true southern old school.

"Celebrations Catering can cook anything from Persian Smoked Sea Bass to mini cachapa pancakes from South America, to regular ol' lasagna if that is what the customer wants."

What can Celebrations Catering offer brides and grooms that will make their wedding day more special? "Attention to detail at an entirely new level! Putting the whole event into one big picture, bringing the entire day together, making sure everything gets coordinated to a perfect fit. We don’t just bring the food and feed the peeps, we do anything and everything I mentioned earlier…chairs, linens, flower arrangements, hang lanterns, create drink menus, design food name cards with perfection to match the theme, it goes on…"

Celebrations is opening their new catering hall Villa East on October 1st.

Visit Celebrations Catering website for more info.

Munch Much: Rehearsal Dinner Hot Spot

Last week, the Winter Park staff had great pleasure of attending lunch with two special vendors at Park Plaza Gardens on Park Avenue. The event coordinator, J Michael, of Park Plaza Gardens feasted our eyes with a scrumptious custom menu for 4 of our consultants, Michele with Michele Butler Events, and Stephine with NuVision Photography. From an arrangement of fresh breads all the way to the final bite of my hot summer pleasing sorbet, we were in awe of everything J Michael and his crew prepared for us. As we mingled in great company with Michelle and Stephine I couldn't stop thinking about what a great venue this is for rehearsal dinner or an intimate wedding reception. It has such a natural elegance with subtle brick walls and indoor plants adorning the walkways. Make sure to check out this venue and meet with the creative J Michael himself.

If it isn't personal enough...

Nu visions wine bar/studio is the perfect gathering place for couples who are looking for a trustworthy, professional friendship with their photographer. Curt Littlecott and Stephanie Rounds create photos that are suited to your individual style as a couple. Part of the experience is joining them at their studio and taking a seat at the wine bar to discuss your plans for your special event. As many of us know having a photographer that can be trusted with your most precious memories can be a difficult task; however, rest assured Nu Visions will perfect the job. -Best, Brittany Ellis

Drab to Fab

Every season Solutions Bridal does a "Ditch and Switch". We remove our old bridesmaid dresses as we introduce the new. Several of the dresses can't be simply donated because they have "sample" marked on the back of them. Luckly, Solutions Bridal's Assistant Manager, Alicia Zutter, is a go-green designer that takes an innovative approach on ready to wear clothing. Her clothing line, ALICIA Zutter Couture, represents old bridesmaid dress fabrics transformed into fashion forward pieces.

Her line is all about feminine romantic looks with an edgy twist. As you look through her line, you can find touches of organza ruffles and rosettes done in exquisite jewel tones. Known as an expert stylist to her brides, Alicia takes design and accessory pairing to high regard. All of her patterns are originals and just need to be tailored to the body for the best fit. Alicia takes pride in using recycled fabrics, such as old bridesmaid dresses, and making them into pieces every girls swoons over.

In the picture above the lady on the left is wearing one of ALICIA Zutter Couture's Mother of the Bride gowns. Alicia is shown on the right showcasing her designs as well. Make sure to check the blog soon for more fashion news from ALICIA Zutter Couture!

Marvelous Maral

Caroline Johnson recently did an on-site engagement session of one of our recent clients, Maral. We were so excited to see the photo session. Since we keep the bride's secret, the wedding gown, we never get a chance to meet the fiance. Its nice to finally see the bride and groom together. Check out the full shoot at Caroline's blog: Life With Caroline!

Relax In Style: Winter Park Hot Spot

Planning for the big day can be a stressful event, every bride needs a day to herself to enjoy the final days before the ceremony! As girls we need time outs to make ourselves feel beautiful and rejuvenated again. Solutions to relax, calm down and re-energize are offered at Vitality Wellness Spa. Call your girlfriends and make an appointment right away! Sip on mimosas and enjoy the mini-cupcakes, as your bridal party is pampered by their staff to ensure you not only look great, but feel your best on your special day!

IBW: Garden Roses + Bows

I was in a very girly mood when putting together today's inspiration board. I love the idea of doing a vintage garden wedding surrounded by peonys, bows, and fragrant roses in subdued colors. Don't you love the pairing of the fun shoes with a printed pair of tights in the bottom right hand corner! They would look so cute with the georgeous Alvina Valenta gown with the fun bow detail in the back.


Wedding Gown: Alvina Valenta
Bridesmaid Dress: Jim Hjelm
Cupcakes: OnceWed
Invitation: Martha Stewart
Boquet: The Knot
Shoes: OnceWed

Vendors we are sweet on....

We have some amazing vendors that we absolutely love in the Gainesville area. Every Thursday we will be blogging on an interview we will be having with our favorite vendors! We decided we would start the first one with a Bang! Powers Photography!

Little Bit About The Duo: Susan and Stewart Powers own Powers Photography. They have known each other since high school, where they both graduated from P.K. Young. He worked for the news bureau in college as a photographer. They never dated in high school but ran into each other after they both returned to Gainesville. “Bells and whistles went off,” laughed Susan as she explained the first time they saw each other again. They started photographing just for fun. When their daughter Kristen (now 28) was born, they decided that they would focus on photography as a business. They started with just a couple weddings, which turned into 20, which turned into 50 and now it is something they enoy everyday. Below are some simple and fun questions we asked the lovely Susan.

What is your inspiration/Where do you get ideas for shoots?:
“We are always looking at fashion magazines and contemporary art,” Susan explained. Keeping up with current media is also something they do for inspiration. Susan explained how something as simple as, MTV can inspire a lot of new ideas, with music videos, commericials, etc. She also told me that Stewart also gets a lot of new ideas from ads in Rolling Stone.

Do you prefer black and white or color photos?:
They really don't have a preference one way or the other. “Some pictures lend themselves to black and white, while others work better with color or brown undertones,” explained Susan. The colors of the wedding definitly push them one way or the other. “Pictures are like children on a playground, some colors play well together and others do not,” Susan laughed as she told me about a project they are currently working on.

Weddings vs portraits: Over the years they have developed clientel for both portraits and weddings. The Powers philosophy on weddings is that weddings lead to other weddings. Susan explained a really cool situation, “ We have photographed brides that we did their parents wedding as well, it it crazy how much photography has changed over the last 30 years!”

Farthest shoot travel: Powers has shot in spain, england, west indies, mexico and everything in between. Their favorite place is the carribean, “ It just can't be beat”laughed Susan. They have been many times to shoot weddings and enjoy the island feel. They actually had the chance to elope with a client to do their wedding shoot. They were very blessed to be able to stay in an awesome resort and spend a lot of time with them.

Random Powers fact:
Susan is a professional pyrotechnician and absolutely loves it! She did 7 shows this past 4th of July weekend.
Stewart loves fishing. He has loved fishing since he was a child.

Powers just celebrated their Anniversary for their 1st Wedding they ever shot together, which was 33 years ago!

I GOT MARRIED!

Just in case you couldn't tell from the title, I'm married and so excited about it! I have been dying to show everyone our fab wedding pics that were just posted on Kara Pennington's blog a few days ago. Check them out... I'm obsessed {and happily married to the most wonderful man in the world!} :O)

Andrew and I tied the knot on August 1st at the Baughman Center in Gainesville, FL. Our ceremony was lovely. :O)

My romantic, asymmetrical hairstyle was done by Jessie at Scissors salon, and I LOVED my makeup, which was done by Laura Meffen of Merle Norman Cosmetics.

My mom's beautiful carnation pink gown is one of Solutions' favorite Wtoo chiffon bridesmaid dresses!! The middle picture of these three shows my matron of honor and sister, Melanie of La Dolce Vita Studio, and my great friend and day-of coordinator, Amanda of Swoon Over It. Love!


Andrew's groomsmen were absolute rockstars the WHOLE week! And I must admit, they're lookin' good here! :O)

This was not Andrew's original boutonniere... he had to take the officiant's when his orchid din't make it through the first round of pictures. Thank goodness Joan Prange (our awesome florist) gave us a few extra groomsmen bouts just in case!


We met during our senior year of undergrad at UF, so we both knew we wanted to tie the University of Florida into our wedding without doing an orange+blue theme, which is why we chose the Baughman Center as our venue. {There is some weird rumor that you have to reserve the Baughman Center three years in advance to have your wedding there. Totally untrue! However, we do recommend calling and finding out about availability a year in advance if possible.} The gorgeous University of Florida Baughman Center:



We had a post ceremony, pre reception bridal party photo shoot at Sharab Lounge in downtown Gainesville. Totally worth having the 2 hours intermission between the ceremony and reception. :O)

Loving my Bel Aire cage veil!!!

Thank you Joan Prange for making me the most GORGEOUS pink bouquet I have ever seen! And, ahem, finding peonies in AUGUST. ;O) Check out those hot pink shoes!!!



Of course we choreographed our first dance!!!

Posh Pastry blew me out of the water with our cake!!! Flowers by Joan Prange.

The night wouldn't be complete without the bride and groom CROWD SURFING!

By far my favorite picture from the wedding!! Here I am wearing my reception/after party dress from Jim Hjelm.

This picture is the manifestation of 14 months of hard work! I love looking at everything and how well it came together!! :O)
Thank you for reading!
Thank you Kara & Jeremy for the fab pictures!
Thank you fellow Solutions Consultants for being a part of our special day!
I hope you enjoyed this small glimpse into our wedding day. Visit my blog to see full recaps from the entire day!! :O)

The

Blushing Bride

Tanks have arrived!

If you are looking for something to make your special day more memorable or to simply make a statement, this must-have wedding accessory is for you! The Blushing Bride racerback tank is made from a stretch-cotton fabric and is available in sizes S-XL. The Blushing Bride graphic was made by our friends at Unique Designs.

Visit your local salon to try on!

Get Married In Style

Lifetime's "Get Married" hosted by Colin Cowie and Deanna Pappas will feature some of Solutions Bridal picks on August 19, 2009 at 7:30am ET. The featured gowns will come from Lazaro, Tara Keely, and Jim Hjelm gowns. Make sure to tune in to see all of Colin's picks.

Upcoming Events with Lazaro and Jim Hjelm:

On August 27th-September 6th, the Winter Park location will be hosting a Lazaro Bridesmaid Trunk Show. Come be the first to see the new Fall 2009 collection and take advantage of the designer discount provided.

Also, the Gainesville location purchased the new Jim Hjelm Bridesmaid collection. Make sure to attend the Florida Bridal Expo on September 13th at the UF Hilton. All the consultants will be wearing the new line.

*The picture above is our brand new stock piece from Lazaro Bridal! Make sure to come in and try it on, I did! *

Royalty Makes Its Debut!

This week on The Knot LIVE, author and event planning pro Karen Bussen showed us some of her favorite details from weddings she's helped design, our Lifestyle Director Krissy Tiglias dished on some stylish DIY wedding ideas, and staged the knots first ever live fashion show -- straight from the office!

One of our fabulous designers, Kenneth Pool, was featured on The Knot Live! Check out style Royalty and many others on upcoming Live episodes at 12 p.m. ET.

http://webmail.solutionsbridal.com/services/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwedding.theknot.com%2Fspecial-wedding-features%2Fthe-knot-live%2Farticles%2Fthe-knot-live-episode-9.aspx

An Evening of Glitz & Glam in Winter Park

Last Thursday, Solutions in Winter Park hosted an amazing event for our brides and top central Florida wedding vendors. The party was a huge success! The whole salon was decked out with our black, white and red "Old Hollywood Glam" motif. The girls at the store even wore matching feather headbands to match! All in all, it was a great evening for all who attended.

Invitations were specially created for the event by Lindsey Luxa of Dragonfly Custom Design, while Weddings Unique helped with the planning process. Flourish created the most AMAZING floral headpieces for our mannequins while a jazz quartet from Beautiful Music and DJ Scott Messina entertained us all. The delicious menu was catered by Cuisiniers and for dessert we had yummy treats from Sweet, Bake me a Cake, and Cookie Cousins. Damon Tucci and Shutterbooth did an awesome job capturing the night's moments on film while Kirby Rentals provided the goods and One Way Valet helped us through a rainy evening. Many thanks to ALL of our vendors as we couldn't have done it without them!

Inside Weddings: Editorial Spread on Anne Barge

Check out the new collection of Anne Barge in Inside Weddings. As many of you know, Anne Barge is one of our favorites. She is an Atlanta based designer that provides custom gowns for our clients. We have some upcoming events going on with the Anne Barge Brand this Fall!

Our Assistant Manager, Alicia, is getting flown up to the Anne Barge Show room in September to get certified as an Anne Barge Specialist. We are so excited for her and can't wait to hear all the news when she returns.

It will be just in time for our Anne Barge Trunk Show on October 9th-11th! We will make sure to do a follow up blog post then. Stay Tuned.

We Love Giveaways!

We just got the news of a fabulous Giveaway going on with one of our local wedding photography boutiques: Pure: Photography by Lindsey Trof! She has completely redone her business branding: colors, logo, website, business cards, blog, and more. To celebrate and share her own excitement, she is having a week of Giveaways before her launch with unique wedding items from both local vendors and some personal Etsy favorites.

Here is how it all works:

Just head over to her blog each day to enter for the daily prize. Every day there will be a new GiveAway with the winner(s) announced the next day. The prizes get larger and more expensive, so be sure to keep coming back.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for all of our brides! Bring home the prizes girls!


Also, since we love Pure: Photography by Lindsey so much, she will be personalizing our salon this November with some of her latest photos. Make sure to stop in and take a look

Feathers, Flowers and Crystals Oh my!

Of course we are talking about the amaizng Lori London hair accessories. We are in love with the designs and can't get enough of the unique incorporation of feathers into the hair pieces. Something in a brides hair can complete an entire look for the big day. Whether it is in addition to a veil or in place of one, having the right amount of glam in your hair can create the perfect tone for your whole look. Here are a few of our favorites that we happen to carry in our Gainesville store. The crystals can be customized into 45 different colors and the feathers can always be died to any color to match your color scheme! We love playing with hair and picking out the perfect accessories for your big day! Come see us to try these out or just to browse!