My possible wedding shoes by Oscar de la Renta

I received an email from Ever After www.everafter.com a Couture wedding dress boutique in Miami announcing their annual designer wedding dress sample sale.  WOW!! What perfect timing, I cleared my schedule for the morning and rushed down for my early appointment, as you know first come first serve with sample sales.  When I walked in to Ever After it was very chi chi with Louboutian, Carolina Herrera and Grace Ormonde coffee table books out for perusal.  I flipped through a couple books for inspiration and looked around at all the Couture gowns from Monique Lhuillier, Vera Wang, Ines Di Santo (one of my favorite designers) and Oscar de la Renta to name just a few.  I was offered a glass of bubbly while I picked out dresses which always make everything seem that much more glamorous.  I wasn’t thrilled thinking about buying a sample dress that had been tried on by 500 brides, soiled, torn etc. my main motivation to visit Ever After was to go to a bridal boutique that had all the main Couture designers.  I picked out about 8 dresses and started trying on which is somewhat of a workout.  I was delighted to find in my dressing room 5 different heels (in my size believe it or not) by Oscar de la Renta to Mononlo waiting to be worn.  I slipped on a little number by Oscar as you can see in the picture above and fell in love. Dress number 4 was the ultimate classic wedding dress by Oscar de la Renta which we all agreed fit my body and style perfectly.  The wedding dress had exquisite hand embroidery, the matching veil was French toile with a scaloped edge that matched the slimming mermaid style dress. 

Oscar de la Renta

I am finding that the more dresses you try on the more confused you get.  I had one of my dear friends Jennifer from www.interviewher.com meet me to help give advice, thoughts and share a glass of celebratory bubbly.  I don’t suggest trying on dresses by yourself, you need the support from your family and or friends to help guild you.  Jennifer took pictures of me in each dress because when I was on number 8 I was like “What did number 3 look like on?” “Did I like it?”.  Make sure you take pictures and review them after you are finished.  I was surprised that I liked some dresses better on then in the picture, something you don’t want to say when you are editing your wedding pictures.

I am getting closer to finding the perfect wedding dress, I have my eye on a beautiful Oscar de la Renta gown right now so I am hoping by my next wedding dress blog update I will confirm that I placed my order.

I have had the honor of working with over 150 Brides in my short career over the last 5 years. I am so excited to start 2012 with beautiful hair and makeup created by myself and my talented team of artists for all of our upcoming weddings both in South Florida and nationally. We look forward to meeting with you whether you are getting married in 2012, have a black tie, birthday party, anniversary or just because. Fresh Beauty Studio is ready to create red carpet magazine quality hair and makeup for you.

I thought being in the bridal business for over 5 years would make picking out my wedding dress a piece of cake (pardon the pun).  To my surprise it is everything but simple.  There is a lot riding on picking out the perfect wedding dress.  Your dress whether it is romantic, trendy, classic, simple or casual has to fit in with your wedding venue and theme not to mention your body type.  I have never tried on wedding dresses before so it was a shock to see an amazing couture dress on the mannequin and then to try it on and have it not look so amazing on.  My number one tip for all Brides-to-Be is to make sure you try on multiple dresses in all colors and styles.  For example, I tried on a dress in a color called “Cafe” similar to a  dark champagne color, not your typical color for a wedding dress but looked beautiful on with my skin tone which happens to be ultra white.   I thought I would love lots of beading and lace but once I tried it on, I wasn’t so thrilled. My experience was that trying on wedding dresses outside of your vision box will give you options that you never considered.   

I went on my first wedding dress adventure today with my Mom and let me tell you I had no idea what I was in for.  First stop was Zola Keller on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Zola  is known for her bridal gowns for the past two decades, she has dressed everyone from Miss Latina Florida to Miss America.  I knew I was in good hands with one of the top bridal dress experts here in South Florida for my first run at finding the perfect wedding dress.   I was plesently surprised at  the wide variety of bridal dresses from simple to couture, the large veil selection and the decorative hair pieces.  I had Zola herself working with me in the bridal suite pulling amazing dresses for me to try on and fitting each one to my figure.  We started out with the couture collection, lots of beading, lace, and full heavy trains, I felt very “Dancing with the Stars” or about to skate out on the ice for the winter Olympics.  After giving my feedback to Zola that my style was more classic and simple she pulled out a couple more options and then I found the perfect wedding dress {Enter angels singing in the background}.  I have heard it so many times in my studio “You just know when it’s the one” I am talking about dresses girls not men but it’s basically one in the same.  It’s the feeling that when you put on the dress from the second you step into it, the way it fits your body, when you can actually see yourself walking down the isle holding your bouquet; you know it’s THE ONE.  I put on a beautiful dupioni silk classic wedding dress and fell in love.  

Another key tip from my adventure today is that it takes anywhere from 5-6 months from time you order your wedding dress to when it comes in, you then have multiple fittings, picking out the right veil with your dress and finding the right hair pieces and accessories, not always the easiest thing to find at last minute, so make sure you plan with enough time.  I have a couple more appointments scheduled this week before I make my final decision; in the meantime I wanted to feature my two top bridal designers Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera below for inspiration on their Spring 2012 collection. 

Oscar de la Renta Spring 2012

Carolina Herrera Spring 2012

Love is in the air at Fresh Beauty Studio, I love everything French, romantic, pink, crystal, elegant….. I could go on and on.  Having designed and created the look and feel of an intimate French bridal studio for Fresh Beauty Studio over 5 years ago, I am beyond excited to design and create(of course with the input from my wonderful fiancé) the ultimate French romantic wedding for 2012.  My company has worked with over 150 Brides for hair and makeup both nationally and in the Caribbean since our doors opened in 2006.  It is interesting now to see my industry from a different perspective as a Bride not a vendor.  I am excited to share with all of you Beauties my journey from picking the theme, designer dress, time saving tips, hair and makeup trends, the best bridal SHOES; which as we know is the best part.  I will disclose in my upcoming blog entries the vendors that I will be using and posting beauty YouTube videos on wedding makeup looks on www.youtube.com/freshbeautystudio  using Fresh Beauty Studio Cosmetics.  Below you will see a glimpse of my vision of the perfect romantic wedding.    

Romantic dress, Hair & Makeup Look

The perfect Bridal Louboutians

Carolina Herrera one of my favorite designers

Love the Bird Cage Veil

Elegant

Unique and different

Eiffel Tower Ice Sculpture

French themed stamps for your invitations

Escort holders

Details Details Details

Stephanie + Kenneth from BlueShore Productions on Vimeo.

I was honored to be a part of Stephanie and Kenneth’s wedding this past February. Jessica owner of JCG Events www.jcgevents.com did an amazing job. The location was just beautiful at the Epic Hotel in downtown Miami www.epichotel.com Take a look at the video by Blue Shore Cinema www.blueshorecinema.com

I am doing a little redecorating in the studio for a another big announcement in the next couple of months. I have had this plan in mind for over a year and a half.  I am so excited to share this with you beauties! I stumbled across this picture today and thought that  these chairs would look perfect in the studio.

Sexy Pink Chairs

I will be posting pictures of the before and after so keep checking back.

I was so excited to see one of our brides from this past spring in Martha Stewart magazine online today. Candice looked beautiful, her wedding at the Fort Lauderdale Yacht Club was exquisite. Candice opted for a fresh super clean makeup look and a simple bun. You can read about her wedding details by going to http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/candice-and-scott