Preston Bailey is an amazing event and wedding stylist. His work is beautiful and jaw dropping. He is known for his flower sculptures and his technique and skills extent to tent and lighting design. He has the ability to transform a space into a winter wonderland or a feast of flowers.
Have a look at Preston’s fantastic website and blog at http://www.prestonbailey.com
Preston has released a number of books on weddings and events including the following books Design for Entertaining, Fantasy Weddings, Inspirations and CELEBRATIONS. He has also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Here is some of his beautiful work
Preston loves to use trees in his ceremony decor
In this stunning ceremony, Preston has used birch trees draped with flowers and hanging candle votives
Preston likes to use floral sculptures in his decor. Here he has created a floral urn as a centerpiece.
1. Baby crying at the church
I understand that babies are hard to control but there is a cardinal rule for all guests and that is if your baby cries take the child outside. Forget your selfish need to watch the ceremony and consider the bride and groom. At this wedding the nephew of the groom started to wail right at the commencement of the vows. It was very distracting and you could barely hear the bride and groom and the priest over the child’s crying. The faux pas was committed by the mother of the child and sister of the groom who rather than remove the child, stayed to watch the vows. Understandably she wanted to see her brother get married but the child almost ruined the moment. The mother did not leave until a good three minutes of the child constantly wailing. Not only did this affect the couple and the guests it will also affect the quality of the couples wedding video as the child was right at the front of the church next to the videographer. This is a faux pas as the mother, by not removing the child until it was settled, has affected the bride and groom at the most important part of the ceremony.
2. A guest tried to upstage the bride
Perhaps there is a theme here but again, the sister of the groom and wore an outfit that was similar to and almost upstaged the bride. The sister choose a white and silver beaded gown and decided to match the gown with a small silver fascinator. Fascinators are a small gauze veil that cover a part of the face secured by a hair piece, which in this case was a flower in the lady’s hair. The problem with this is that guest looked like a bride. There is no reason for the guest to have worn a small veil. Yes she was an important guest but this decision was a big faux pas. On top of this, the lines of beading on the sister’s dress was strikingly familiar to that of the bride who also had lines of beading throughout her dress. Although i do not think there was malicious intent on behalf of the guest she should have known better than to have worn a veil, however small to a wedding. After finding out that this guest herself was already married and had a very small wedding it might seem like she was trying to shine on her brothers day. But this is a mistake. She could have simply placed a flower but a flower with a short small veil attached was inappropriate and a big faux pas. What makes it even worse is that small veils and fascinators are now days increasingly being worn by brides. Please consider this if you are a guest to a wedding and are considering a similar style. The sister should have thought of her own day and how special she felt in her veil and how it was her new sister-in-laws turn to shine and not hers.
3. Standing up at reception before bride and groom enter.
As I have said before, a wedding is all about the Bride and Groom, not the other people in the bridal party. At this wedding, upon the entry of the bridesmaids and groomsmen guests were already standing and applauding their entry. This is a faux pas as guests are only to stand once the Bride and Groom enter as a mark of respect for the special couple. By standing for the entry of other members of the bridal party you take away from the importance of the bride and groom. To avoid this at your wedding ask your MC to ask your guests to remain seated until the bride and groom enter.
Tips
- If a baby cries take it out of the church. If its your wedding and therefore a guests baby who might cry ask all guests beforehand who are taking a baby to your church that they remove them if they cry. If you feel uncomfortable doing this, have a designated church attendant to go up to babies that cry and ask for them to be removed. If you still feel this is a little rude, perhaps have a designated quiet room with a supervisor where guests can leave their babies for the ceremony. Most churches have quiet rooms available.
- Don’t try to upstage the bride. Think about how special you felt or will feel on your day as the guest of honour. Think about how you would feel if someone else wore a veil on your day. On this basis, dress appropriately. Do not wear white and do not wear fascinators!
- Only stand at the reception for the bride and groom – Make the guests of honour feel special
Source of pic: google images
Any couple getting married should be unique and incorporate their sense of style and personality into their big day. In this review, the bride and groom have embedded their taste into every facet of their wedding but did they take their sense of style too far?
Location: Dockside Darling Harbour, Sydney
Sydney couple Yanna and Kosta Elsefees, inspired by their love of Gun’s and Roses and wrestling decided on a theme of rock and roll for their Greek wedding. Set against the colours of black and hot pink, the couple married at a Greek Orthodox church in Kogarah followed by a reception at Dockside, Darling Harbour, Sydney. The bride incorporated the rock and roll style with a $9000 gown with a heart shaped plunging neckline bodice, embroidered with pink crystals, a short ruffled tulle skirt with detachable long train and a short fascinator for her veil. This dress was inspired by the Gun’s and Roses song November Rain. The groom wore a white suit and shirt with no tie. The bridesmaids kept pace with floor length black gowns with hot pink bow belts, plunging neckline included, and the groomsmen channelled the gangster look with black suits and t-shirts with hot pink suspenders. The theme of hot pink and black was reflected in their cars, 3 stretch hummers, one in pink, two in black and their reception decor which consisted of black tablecloths, black chairs covers with hot pink bows, modernised chandeliers, crystal filled martini glasses topped off with a hot pink and black polka dot cake toasted with playboy insignia champagne flutes .
Whilst you cannot say the wedding was an elegant and stylish affair, as the plunging necklines can never allow this, once you look past the inherent deficiencies there are certain aspects of this wedding which give it merit.
Who said less is more
When it comes to her wedding dress and her bridesmaids, Yanna seems to have gone with the less is more theory. With her short tulle skirt and her bridesmaids plunging necklines it is obvious that Yanna was seeking a sexy look to placate her rock and roll theme. But what the bride should have considered is that you can still be a sexy bride without looking like you work the streets at night. Sometimes less is not more. Had the bride considered a moderately higher necklines for herself and her bridesmaids she still could have been sexy without comprising on taste. Additionally having a short skirt with detachable train would also have worked had the front not been so short, or in my opinion, full length the whole way around. After all there a lot of permutations of the basic style of the brides dress, a bodice with ruffled skirt, just with more material. Also the bridesmaids dresses, had their neckline been a little higher, were actually appropriate for the theme of the wedding.
Fascinator
The choice of a short fascinator in lieu of a veil by the bride was an ingenious choice. The bride did not want a long veil covering her dress and so has opted for the fascinator, a great decision. Additionally the bride has cleverly swapped the fascinator for a crystal hairpiece for the reception. Replacing the veil with a flower, hairpiece or some form of accessory is one of my top weddings tips, as brides in wedding reception photos can sometimes look like a guest in a white dress without some form of distinction, especially when a brides dress is very simple. Even though Yanna is not wearing a simple wedding gown, by replacing her fascinator with a hair piece it is simply impossible for this bride to be confused as a guest.
Gangsters?
A fatal mistake that most couples make in planning their weddings is dressing the groom/groomsmen in suspenders, top hats, black shirts (one of my most hated looks for men) and long coats. I understand that couples think this adds a vintage gangster feel to their day but most of the time it looks like the groom/groomsmen are going to a gangster dress up party. People who have had a wedding with the groomsmen dressed this way might disagree, but if you view wedding photos of such weddings carefully, you will understand that it really can look like a dress up party. Here the couple have made a similar mistake dressing the men in black t-shirts and hot pink suspenders. Black Shirts on the men in a bridal party look particularly bad if not done is a sleek way. I would advise to steer clear of a black shirt unless your wedding theme is actually 1920’s gangster, where the black shirt works extremely well. The use of t-shirt in black at this wedding makes the look even worse. These groomsmen look like waiters at a hens/bachelorette party.
Are the 80’s back?
The bridesmaid are beautiful women but their beauty is diminished by the dated and poofed up curly hairstyles they wear. Small curls are no longer in fashion, neither is overly teased hair. Some brides, including Yanna make the mistake of having the hairstyle that they choose for the wedding when they first dreamed of it as a little girl. Hairstyles change as quickly as fashion and whats in vogue now is not what was in vogue 20 years ago. If the girls had bigger, GHD curls it would have suited the girls better. Alternatively the girls could have had their swept to the side and curled for a more elegant look.
Chandeliers and Cars
Typically, chandeliers create a very fancy and stately feel to a wedding reception. They are traditional and old world. In keeping with her quirky theme the bride successfully has added modern style chandeliers to her reception. The shape of the crystals in the chandeliers is rectangle which works wonderfully with her edgy theme. For cars, the couple decided on stretch black and pink hummers for their affair. This was the perfect choice for the wedding as Hummers are the cars of rock stars, and thus truly reflected their theme.
Consistency
Whether you consider this wedding tacky or not, one cannot argue that the couple have seamlessly kept a consistent theme through every aspect of their wedding. Brides should take note that consistency is the key to flawless wedding, whatever your individual taste. Through consistency you gain symmetry, through symmetry you create beauty. Although personally I would not make the choices the bride and groom made, it is obvious that they have kept to a vital key to a wedding. The extent to which the couple maintained the theme is admirable. The bride had pink streaks throughout her jet black hair, and the couple toasted the night with pink champagne. The bride even walked down a red carpet aisle! There was nothing in this wedding that did not fit the rock and roll theme intended by the couple and for that the bride scores extra points.
Make your wedding yours
No matter what you might think of their style this heavy metal loving couple were successful in expressing their personality in their wedding. From the pyrotechnics and wrestling songs used for their entrance into the reception, their playboy champagne flutes and down to the brides racy dress, the couple were true to themselves and the wedding reflected who they are. This is best expressed perhaps, by the bride herself who commented in the Herald Sun, “”I’ve seen a few comments with people saying things like ’slapper’ and whatever but, you know, it was my wedding. That’s how I wanted it and I loved it.” The bride also commented that her guests went to her wedding and said “Yep, this is Yanna“. What can be learned from this over-the-top affair is the need for brides and grooms to make their wedding special to themselves and to express their personality. As the bride herself said “I don’t want to change it because people will think different of me“.
Rating: 4.5/10
Although the bride and groom have successfully stuck to their wedding theme and kept the consistency they have failed to impress with their attempt to appear sexy. Your wedding day is still your wedding and a sacred ceremony. Appearing in church with an extremely low neckline was not a good choice and it cheapened the look of the whole bridal party. Had the women covered up a little more and modernised their hairstyles there was potential in the looks chosen. That being said, I respect that the bride and groom choose to have their wedding exactly the way that they wanted, which after all, is most important as it is their day.
What we have learnt
- Sometimes, less is not more
- Consistency is the key
- Tailor your cars to your theme – do not mix a Ferrari with a vintage themed wedding
- Do what you want to do. Take inspiration from Yanna and Kosta’s courage to have their wedding exactly the way they wanted it.
(source of pictures: Daily Telegraph)