Tisk Tisk

I know, I know. I am beyond overdue for a post.  Please accept my apology with a double post.

First bride, meet Amy.  She is a school teacher and a fellow teacher/ sorority sister of mine was so kind to refer her to me. As I've said before, I love a bride with a vision.  Amy had a vision and it was a certain shade of purple and LulaKate Aubergine satin was the perfect purple.  She chose a strapless dress with a full skirt for her maids. From the pictures, they had beautiful Indiana Fall weather for their wedding. Congrats Amy!

Love the orange bouquets!

Now give me sassy! 

Next bride, meet Sarah.  Little did we know when we were working together that we had a mutual friend - my good friend Mary at G.Thrapp Jewelers who helped Sarah's fiance with her ring.  Sarah said "I Do" at her lake house on Lake Wawasee.  Her pictures are phenomenal - photographer Carpenter Photo & Design. I went through the entire album and it looked like a party you would NOT want to miss. Her maids were simply stunning in their one shoulder Priscilla of Boston dresses and Sarah dazzled in her Jim Hjelm wedding dress.

I'll quit rambling and let you see.

For more pictures go to the link below:

http://carpenterphoto.com/darkroom/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=sarah

Ok, am I forgiven??

Beauties in Black

When Mimi - the bride - sent me her wedding pictures to peruse through, I was secretly jealous I couldn't have been there. Her wedding looked like a BLAST.  A legit party.  The bride and groom even did a surprise dance for their guests.  Her maids wore long Amsale black chiffon dresses and looked absolutely amazing. Check it.

Closeup of the girls

Love this one!

Yay Mimi's Married!

Gorgeous!

How fun are they?

Congrats Mimi & Jim! 

Loving Navy!

Sorry for the break! I am sort of at the mercy of my brides to send me pictures, but be glad you waited because this next picture is worth it. I am a little bummed the bride isn't in the picture because she is adorable and I would have loved to see her POB dress.

Here are Katie's bridesmaids in Simple Silhouettes Aster dress - Navy shantung. I am in love with the flowers. SO pretty and perfect for a July wedding. They just add a fun pop of color. Another thing that I love is that she didn't do matchy matchy jewelry. Seriously, if I worked for Simple Silhouettes I would use this for my website. Doesn't it look like an ad?

I'm kind of obsessed with Navy these days. I have another Navy wedding that I'm hoping to have pictures from soon. In the meantime, enjoy the awesomeness of these bridesmaids. Congrats Katie! Come visit when you're in Indy!

Theta Love!

In college, I was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. I love being a Theta. The connections I've made because of my sorority follow me where ever I go and whatever I do. One of my recent brides was a sorority sister from DePauw. She was in the class above me, so we lived in the house for 2 years together. Ashley was probably the most easy going brides that has walked through Bella's doors. Every bridesmaid got to pick her own style of LulaKate dresses. She put her bridesmaids in Black shantung & her maid of honor in Metal shantung. I took this picture from her photographers blog - Sara and Mallary. Check out pictures from the rest of her wedding. They are stunning!

Congrats again Ashley!

Up for the Challenge

Back in January, I had a booth at the Indianapolis Monthly bridal show. I had no clue what to expect, I'd never been to a bridal show and I was more than grateful to have one of my BFFs (Meredith) there to help me. I'll sum it up for you, bridal shows are a bit overwhelming. Come prepared to ward off pushy vendors and ready to eat lots of cake/ cupcake samples.

My booth at the show.

I took the approach of - smile, be cordial and if they like what they see they'll grab a card or ask questions. I didn't want to be like that sales clerk who constantly asks if you need help finding anything. All in all, the bridal show was a learning experience and fantastic exposure for Bella, but the ultimate highlight of that show was one bride that I "met" that day.

As I was loading mannequins into my car, a Mother of the Bride approached me and asked it I was the owner of Bella. I told her yes and she explained they were running late to the bridal show and that they saw some of my dresses midst tear down and really wanted to come into my store. The next week, the bride called and setup an appointment. She came in with her family and I knew instantly that I was going to love working with them.

Rebekah was getting married in June and was looking for a dress that would flatter her 11 bridesmaids. She had a vision of the color she wanted - a shade of green that I would call Apple. Sidenote: I love a bride with a vision. I was totally on board for the challenge. After trying on dresses and narrowing down styles, she decided on LulaKate's Alex style dress with a long straight skirt in Jasmine dupioni. Throughout the decision process, Rebekah came into the store a handful of times with her Mom and her bridesmaids. During this, I got to know her and totally admired her fun- loving attitude and contagious positive energy! I was a bit sad when they came to pick up the dresses because that meant she didn't have a reason to come to the store! I'm sure we'll keep in touch.

Here are a few pics from her wedding courtesy of Carpenter Photography.

Congratulations to the Elliotts!

It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of your day!

A Day of Dress Up

This was totally one of those appointments that just reinforces why I love what I do! Not only did they find the perfect bridesmaid dress but they found the perfect wedding dress too.

My friend Molly brought her cousin Lindsey to Bella to look at bridal gowns for her Spring wedding. She also had her Mom and Aunt from Terre Haute in tow. The wedding was small and personal and Lindsey was really interested in the Saja Bridal line. The Saja dresses are romantic, flowy and affordable. Lindsey found a style that looked absolutely breath taking on her. Once she had 100% made her decision on a wedding dress, it was time for Molly to find the perfect bridesmaid dress - she was the only bridesmaid and Lindsey gave her free reign to pick any dress she wanted.

Between Lindsey and Molly, a lot of dresses were modeled and eventually Molly decided on a Swoon bridesmaid dress to wear. Both girls wore Maihar Designs flower petals in their hair.

It was a fun day of dress up and I am so pleased both girls found dresses they loved at Bella!

Lindsey in Saja HB6764

http://www.sajainc.com/collection_gowns.html

Molly in Swoon style Fiji color Orchid

http://www.swoondress.com/

Full Circle

Dresses take around 12 weeks once ordered to be made and delivered to the store. My very first sale in January was to a Doctor getting married at a vineyard in Italy. It's so rewarding to see everything come full circle.

Below is a picture from her wedding. I love everything about this! Don't they look so happy?

Simply Stunning. Congrats again!

Simple Silhouettes - style Sweet Pea in Peony shantung.

Whew - that's alot of s's.

TwoBirds Bridesmaids - Convertible Dress

Not gonna lie, when I first got these dresses I was super intimidated. Of course, one of my first appointments when I opened in January wanted me to wrap her every which way to Sunday in the dress. I knew she was interested in the line, so I took one of the dresses home and with the help of YouTube - I figured out how to tie 5 to 7 different styles of the dress. Like these:

I'm no pro now but it's fair to say I've done some pretty cool wraps with the dress. And as luck would have it, my friend Meredith found one at Goodwill for $3.99 and bought it for me. They retail $270. Score!

Did I mention that they don't wrinkle and they are one size fits all? And it is definitely a dress you can wear again. Hence, the name TwoBirds (one stone)... get it?

Well, Kathy Lee and Hoda showcased the TwoBirds dress on the Today Show this week. Here's the link!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/37730042#37730042

More info on the dresses can be found on their website:

www.twobirdsbridesmaid.com

or you can come check them out in the store.