Winter Wedding Fun

New Leaf's 2009 wedding season closed out this past weekend with two fantastic brides. Danielle Bassi called last year to book herself, her mom, and 2 sisters. Her winter wedding at Linden Place was to be a destination for our Pennsylvania bride. Little did I know that I would be reminded of how small of a world we live in!

Imagine my surprise when I opened up the deposit to find that I graduated high school (year not-to-be-named) with her fiance, Aaron! Danielle lives in Pennsylvania and I grew up in Massachusetts so it's pretty rare that I run into people I know. I immediately found Aaron on Facebook (shamless New Leaf plug alert: Become a Facebook Fan, if you aren't already!) and we were reunited again. Ah, Facebook.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to beautify my old friend's fiance on their wedding day!

Here are Danielle's girls: Krista, the "Official Sidekick", Mom, and Nichole, the "Bad Influence"..LOVE the snazzy tank tops!

We enjoyed hearing the 'loving' banter between the ladies all afternoon...1 mom + 3 sisters= lots of laughs (and teasing, of course!)

Danielle needed a tank top too.."Soon-To-Be Mrs. Dufour"

Aaron and Danielle met at school--they are both teachers--

proof of what nice people they both are.

Amy's fave action shot...

We told you that headbands were 'in'!

Checking out the rear view...

It's Krista's turn to be beautified by Amy...

Meet Tessa, Danielle's future niece. Too cute for words!

Trust me when I tell you that there was NO shortage of hair in the Bassi family. Here is Leah workin' hard.

You know I love to award people with things. A past bride, Gretchen Babyak, won the award for the Most Hair. Well, folks, that trophy has been passed on. Krista Bassi is now the winner of the Most Hair Award. Holy Moly, put your 2 hands together to form a circle and that was her ponytail. It was gorgeous!

Krista gets nervous getting her hair done because it's so thick. I promised her that I have been 'managing' my sister's hair for years and I was quite qualified in this department. I always thought my sister had so much hair but I called her as soon as I was done to tell her that she was not alone!

Leah's creation for Nichole...

Love the braid accents...

Aaron was a sweet (and sneaky) guy. He emailed me to see if he could drop off a gift for Danielle that morning so she could open it when she was finished getting ready. I told him I was really (really, really, REALLY) bad at lying but he assured me that I didn't have to. I simply had to present her this gift when she was all done.

I wanted to give her the gift before her make up was done because letters usually produce lots of tears. Boys just don't know these things, right? I couldn't make that happen so I just made sure Amy was on hand for make up touch-ups.

Doesn't Danielle look like Lacey Chabert from the movie Mean Girls and the old school show Party of Five? I thought so.

Danielle reading Aaron's love letter (which was 3 pages long which she decided was best to finish later...smart move).

Danielle's family was in on it too. I love how they are watching her...

Beautiful (real) diamond and pearl earrings for her to wear that day.

Danielle was hilarious in asking, "But what about my fake ones that I have?" Put those away, Danielle, you have the real deal now:o)

Just perfect.

Thanks Danielle, Mrs. Bassi, Krista and Nichole. You were SO much fun. We love when we can gossip about trash television (Jersey Shore anyone?) and just listen to sisterly love.

Congratulations Danielle and Aaron...we wish you a long life of love and happiness.

Kana's Hana

Kana Okano called us a month ago to see if we could make her gorgeous on her wedding day. Even though September has become our busiest wedding month, we said, "of course!"

With a name as exotic and unique as Kana Okano, the mystery was too alluring.

Kana's wedding was at Linden Place, a beautiful historic mansion in Bristol with gorgeous grounds.

Many of her guests were out-of-towners (great movie, by the way), including Kana, hailing from Boston, or Beantown as the locals call it.

Her guests travelled as far as Japan for Kana and her fiance. That's almost another planet for Rhode Island-ahs. We are impressed.

Kana must feel pretty loved.

Any bride who passes on a hair and make up trial (which we always suggest) must be pretty easy going. She just said, "I trust you. I know you are going to make me look great."

Absolutely.

Only Kana didn't need much help.

Kana wanted something natural and undone, but high enough to tuck her veil under the chignon. We love that because then everyone can see our hard work the whole day. Another bonus is that brides are more likely to leave their veils on longer.

My motto still remains...

You only get to wear a veil once!

I loved spinning Kana around to see her style.

Since she put her blind faith in me, I really wanted her to love it!

Jenn puts her finishing touches on her sculptured style.

How amazing is her shiny hair?

Okay, so my favorite part was Kana's handmade silk orchids. She ordered them from every bride's favorite wedding obsession....etsy.com!

It's a website to buy and sell all things handmade. You can find anything from invitations to jewelry to furniture. And it isn't your local church basement craft fair kind of crafts. Think fresh, modern and fun.

Thanks Etsy!

I love that she won't have to worry about her flowers wilting or browning.

They even had small pearl detailing.

Of course with a name as pretty as Kana, I had to Google it. The Japanese name means 'powerful'. I was feeling curious so I Googled 'orchid' in Japanese. It's 'hana'.

Sometimes things come full circle like that.

Now it's Amy's turn to surprise Kana with her wedding day look.

We just voted Kana our new award..."Best Cheekbones Ever".

I think you would agree.

Plus she has a gorgeous smile. Amy has a way of making all her brides laugh.

She's silly and they love that. Beauty is fun, after all.

Okay, I just came up with another category, and I am casting my vote for Kana..."Best Skin".

I don't think people with great skin realize just how lucky they are.

The hard part of looking radiant is already done. Amy just perfects it.

Our thanks to Kana and her wedding party. Your trust in us was appreciated and we hope we exceeded your expectations. Congratulations on you marriage!