{Fab*Bride} A Bridal Spotlight on Sarah!

In honor of this year's Holiday season, I have a splendid visual gift to give.  This week's Fab*Bride is Sarah.  She was nominated to us by Dallas/Ft. Worth-based photographer Erik at Poser:Image Photography and we couldn't be happier than to present these lovely images.  Bloggers are always looking for something unique for you to "oooh" and "ahhh" over, and I think we've found just that. 

Instead of showcasing a Fab*Bride amidst her wedding day surroundings, Erik has given us a bridal fashion shoot showcasing only Sarah.  It gives us a moment to enjoy photography at its best and highlight a beautiful woman.  Erik refers to many of his clients as posers.  Sure the word "poser" has gotten a bad rap, but to him it is a positive word that defines the muses of his photo-journalistic aesthetic.  According to Erik,

"Sarah is the definition of fabulous.  She is such a Poser.  Very comfortable working the camera, she is a classic beauty.  At the wedding, when guests saw her bridal images,  they all said she resembled Giselle Bündchen.  What do you think?  Sarah and Steve had a wonderfully classy wedding in Dallas at Arlington Hall at Lee Park.  It was an honor to tell their story."

Without further ado, our Fab*Bride Sarah and our grueling (aka fun!) ten questions!  Enjoy.

From the looks of these photos, you are superbly model-ready!  Tell us a little about yourself.  Are you naturally comfortable in front of the camera or was this something that you were slightly nervous to participate in?  Was this shoot before or after your nuptials & would you recommend a bridal shoot to other gals out there?  I don't know how model-ready I really am, but this summer I was in a national ad campaign in Canada, so I had a bit of practice before this photo shoot.  Either way it was hard work!  We shot this about two months before the wedding, and it took about 4 hours or so.  I was totally exhausted and my yet-to-be worn wedding dress was filthy.  But when I saw the shots it was totally worth it.  (Sounds like she would definitely recommend!)

Now take a moment to gush about your now-husband:  where you met, how he proposed, and how you knew he was the one for you.  We actually met at work.  Our desks literally faced each other.  He used to send me ridiculous, hilarious British pod-casts and we would sit across from each other laughing with headphones in.  About a year after we started dating.  We bonded over our mutual love of traveling, whimsical fairy tales and life in general.  He proposed in Paris, last new years eve, just after the lights had stopped flashing on the Eiffel Tower.  It was so romantic, except I thought he was joking!  Once I realized he was serious, I immediately said yes, burst into tears and we spent the rest of the evening at a French Bistro drinking champagne and reveling in what had just happened.  It was magical. 
    
Your dress is gorgeously simple, chic, and classic!  Tell us about your quest to find the perfect fit for you.  I only tried on a few dresses before I found the perfect one.  I wanted it to be timeless, but to also convey my quirky sense of style.  This Lela Rose dress totally did it for me.  Sigh...I do love it so.  (We do too!)

If you could label one song as the theme to your wedding, what would it be?  Hmmm.  I think it would have to be "In My Life" by the Beatles.  That was our first song and to me it has always spoken to the significance of life's events.  It's the only part of our wedding that I had envisioned since I was a child.

How did your wedding invitations tie into your overall wedding concept?  I love paper.  Stationery, cards and any kind of invitations are so important in my mind, so we had a hard time with this part of the process; especially in this case when it's the first communicator of the tone and style of the wedding.  Steve, my husband, is also a graphic designer, but his aesthetic sensibilities lean more towards modern styles.  I on the other hand love classic, slightly extravagant elegance.  He designed our invites based on this theme, and after many concepts we finally came to a place we were both happy with.  We had them printed at a very small letterpress printer in Toronto, because letterpress was one thing that was extremely important to me.  I loved the end result.

If Hollywood made a movie about your wedding, which leading lady would you cast as the starring role?  Oh dear.  I don't think Hollywood would ever make a movie about our wedding.  It was gorgeous, and perfect by our standards, but quite drama-free.  I would love to say Gwyneth Paltrow though because she is definitely one of my style icons

Erik told us that the surroundings of your bridal shoot were vastly different from your wedding.  Dish to us a little about your reception style and how you transitioned from one setting to the another so effortlessly.  The design inspiration for the reception was Great Gatsby meets English Midnight Garden Party.  The venue that we chose is very classic, a Southern -style plantation home in the midst of a beautiful park.  Our dinner was outside on the lawn and there were paper lanterns strung up in the trees.  The columns were up-lit with amber light and the floral arrangements were a wild poetic combination of kale, cabbages, succulents in varying shades of lavender and green.  It was so beautiful I felt like I had to pinch myself all through dinner.  We moved the party inside after dinner and speeches, and danced until we could dance no more to the amazing vocal stylings of Inside Out, a great, fun band.  There was a cigar bar for the boys, and late night grilled cheeses passed around to replenish our energy after all that partying.  Then Steve and I left in a cloud of bubbles in a vintage Rolls Royce driven by a friend.  We continued the fun with a lovely after-party on the terrace of the hotel where most of the guests were staying.  The whole night was positively dreamy...

Getting married in the midst of a recession can be tricky, but also stimulate creativity that some brides never knew they had.  What were splurges for you?  What were items that you thought you’d need but in actuality were really not that important?  As you can probably tell, I was hardly the poster child for restraint, but I did end up getting quite a few of the detail items, like table numbers, place cards and table charts through Etsy.  It also gave everything more of a detailed feel.  I was tempted to splurge on some serious costume jewelry that was for sale at the boutique where I bought my dress, but I did some combing of my favorite antique market in Toronto and found an amazing earrings/necklace set for a fraction of the price.  I also got our cake topper at the same market; it was from the 50s with a little bride and groom that looked exactly like us.

Something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new!  Did you wear anything on your big day to follow these age-old traditions?  I didn't really stick to this tradition too much. I had a handkerchief with my monogram in blue that a dear friend gave me, which was very useful for the tears at the ceremony.  My jewelry was old, my dress was new,  and I may have forgotten to borrow something.  Well I suppose I did have some hair extensions...not sure if that's what the tradition means by borrowed - haha!

Describe a Fab*Bride (you!) in three words.  Creative, grateful and vivacious.

A huge thank you to Sarah for being so lovely!  Your bridal shoot is absolutely awe-inspiring, and your wedding sounded divine!  We cannot thank Erik enough for nominating Sarah as this week's Fab*Bride!  Your photographs are beautiful and truly tell a story.  We love the rustic stylings of the photo session and were even more amazed to see Sarah's wedding photos on the Poser:Image blog.  Erik's work  features Sarah & Steve's classically modern nuptials in a warm, familial way; it's totally fresh and a perfect compliment to Sarah's pre-wedding eye-candy.

If you would like to make a nomination, please contact me at antoinette@invitationconsultants.com, or DM me on Twitter @atelierantoinet. Feel free to leave a comment, as well. The rest of the crew would love to hear from you too!Until the next post, stay Fab*ulous!

Comments

[Kaity]

Her wedding sounds BEAUTIFUL and her pictures are gorgeous. She is definitely a Fab*Bride!

[Dawn]

The story of how she met her husband is so sweet. It reminds me of Pam and Jim from The Office. Also--that is one of the most beautiful wedding dresses I've ever seen!

[whitney]

Ohhhh I love that picture in front of the mirror! Gorgeous!