Bella Rose Photography Blog

January 29, 2010 - 02:39 PM

Photos of the Dudley Mansion Open House!

posted by Lisa | filed under: Bridal Portraits, Events, weddings

I so enjoyed showing my work at the beautiful Dudley Mansion open house a few weeks ago! Of course, I brought my camera along to capture how amazing this home is for a wedding location. Parlett Picket, the daughter of Jim and Cyndi Pickett, is the event coordinator and is currently booking weddings for 2010!

The rental of the home includes access to the house for the week of the wedding. Wedding guests have access to the first floor and the front and back gardens. The gorgeous bride's dressing suite includes the use of two bedrooms and groom's entertainment suite includes the use of the private gym, gaming room and a 20 seat movie theatre. Space can also be rented for bridesmaid's luncheons, rehearsal dinners, a post wedding brunch. Another amazing feature of having your wedding at the mansion is the 1961 Rolls Royce. Great for photos- I must say!

The open house featured the vision of the ladies of The Dessert Divas. The team of fabulous bakers is multi-talented and they also do event and floral design. So you can have a gorgeous and tasty cake and amazing decor to go along with it! The total package! The Divas decorated the pretty in pink bridesmaid's luncheon table with a design inspired by pink rosebuds. They also made a very unique cake fashioned after the chandelier hanging in the bride's room of the mansion!

It was so cold on this morning- 18 degrees plus wind chill! The Divas braved the severe weather to create these gorgeous magnolia swags for the four posts in the front of the house. I thought they fit perfectly with the grandeur of this lovely southern mansion!

The elegant 'chandelier cake' with a photo of the real chandelier from the bridal suite.

The adorable bridesmaid's luncheon table setting.

The elegant private dressing rooms for the bride and her bridesmaids. Dresses provided by Fountaine Bridal.

A few of the beautifully decorated rooms in the mansion!

The Pickett's also have the cutest dog I have ever seen! This is Chase! I want one just like him!

January 28, 2010 - 07:30 PM

My Day as a Diva

posted by Lisa | filed under: Fun, News, weddings

I am used to photographing weddings, and I am around a lot of the behind the scenes work that is a part of putting a wedding together. One thing I have never done is drive with someone's wedding cake in the car, transport a wedding cake, or serve a wedding cake. Well, my good friends, The Dessert Divas, recruited me to be an honorary 'diva for the day', and I got to do ALL of those things. It was a little nerve wracking, but Rebekah assured me that if I had to stop the car suddenly, she would stick a dowel into the 5 tier cake to save it! Well, we had a very smooth drive with no incidents and the cake arrived in one piece!
The design elements were created after the bride's beautiful earrings! The cake looked fantastic in the fabulous winter wonderland themed reception. I brought my camera and took a few photos. I just love the sparkly backgrounds with curtains of crystals lining the walls. What a great effect for the photos!

January 7, 2010 - 10:08 PM

Dudley Mansion Open House

posted by Lisa | filed under: Events, weddings

Come mingle with Wilmington's premier wedding vendors at the Dudley Mansion decorated with beautiful wedding decor.
Plan your dream wedding, sample hors d'oeuvres, and taste delicious wedding cake!

Dudley Mansion Open House:
Sunday, January 10th from 1-5pm
400 South Front Street Wilmington, North Carolina 28401
www.dudleymansion.com

Featured Wedding Vendors:

The Dessert Divas
www.thedessertdivas.blogspot.com

Culinary Creations
www.culinarycreationsonline.com

Bella Rose Photography
www.bellarosephoto.com

Fountaine Bridals
www.FountaineBridals.com

December 5, 2009 - 06:49 PM

Feature on the Bride's Book Blog

posted by Lisa | filed under: News, magazine features, weddings

Morgan and Joel's beautiful wedding was recently featured on the Bride's Book Blog! Take a look!

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December 5, 2009 - 06:16 PM

Recent Editorial Images in Cape Fear Wedding Magazine

posted by Lisa | filed under: News, magazine features, weddings

Woke up this morning to find my photo on the front page of the Cape Fear Wedding website! I also decided to display some of the images featured on the section pages of the magazine in recent issues.

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December 5, 2009 - 06:58 AM

Wedding ~ Sarah and Sam

posted by Lisa | filed under: weddings

Sarah and Sam were married August 1st at the historic First Presbyterian Church in downtown Wilmington. Sarah looked stunning in her beautiful gown and we loved the bridesmaid's pretty apple green summery dresses! The scene was picture perfect! After a wonderful ceremony, the bridal party jumped into a trolley for photos downtown by the River Walk and then we took photos on the beach of Sarah and Sam before they went to their reception. I love the photos we took on the beach. They were just glowing with happiness! Makes my job easy!

When I think of Sarah and Sam's wedding, I can't help thinking that it was the party of the year! Seriously, they danced the entire time at the reception with about 300 of their closest friends. Sugar the Band rocked the house. I'm not kidding, the floor of the Surf Club was literally shaking! We danced too, in between taking photos! What a fun night! Oh, and I have to give some love to Bryan and David at Flower and Flour for creating such a fantastic cake. Congratulations Sarah and Sam!

November 24, 2009 - 03:19 PM

New Logo!!!

posted by Lisa | filed under: News, weddings

Okay, so it's a few months old. But I failed to announce it or otherwise make a 'super big deal' about it because I have literally been THAT busy! So, you may have noticed some changes to the website and blog and I just want to say that I am totally thrilled to pieces with my new logo! It has been in the 'works' for a long time and I am so happy that I found an awesome designer to help me with my vision. I wanted a new look that represented Bella Rose Photography in a chic and classic way. The logo needed to say glamorous, romantic, fun and modern all at the same time! I have also been busy designing the 'total look' with new business cards, labels, boxes, bags and promotional pieces.

The website is also undergoing major changes. Take a look at the 'Tres Bella' gallery for all new bridal photos and the 'All the Details' gallery for all new images. I am also changing all of the other wedding galleries to showcase individual weddings instead of compilations of weddings. You will see the new gallery of Sarah and Samuel's wedding on the website now with more to follow!

November 19, 2009 - 06:50 PM

Fall Model ~ Alison

posted by Lisa | filed under: Bridal Portraits, Fashion, Magazine Features, Modeling Portfolio, weddings

The story behind this shoot is kind of entertaining. I bought this vintage 1950's prom dress from Ebay for the awesome price of $30 as an Alice in Wonderland halloween costume for my daughter. When it arrived in a beat up old Budwiser beer box, my daughter said it was not her style. I knew it was a bit over the top for a 7th grader and decided it would be cool for something else- I just didn't know what. The dress was super small. I guess it is true that people were smaller in previous generations, because that dress was little- probably a size 2.

I was looking around for models with red hair for my fall bridal shoot, and I met with Alison to consider her as a model. She just happened to be a perfect size 2. I brought the vintage dress with me to her fitting to just see if it would work for something and suggested that Alison try it. She fit the dress perfectly and lit up with excitement at the thought of modeling in it. The light blue color looked great with her hair color and we decided to skip the traditional bridal gown and go for a vintage/bohemian bridal look. To update the look of the dress, I cut off the bottom of the dress and made it shorter and added some new ribbon. I decided to feature Alison's beautiful hair and have it down in loose spiral curls. I bought jewelry, hair accessories and shoes and ended up making the bouquet myself in the car on the way to the shoot! I guess the moral of the story is that you can have a unique, creative look on a very small amount of money. We had Alison's makeup professionally done by the fabulous Amy Kennison of Mac. Amy completely translated my vision into reality and she looked amazing. The shoot took place at Orton Plantation Gardens. The perfect place to find fall color!

November 10, 2009 - 10:30 PM

Wedding ~ Morgan and Joel

posted by Lisa | filed under: weddings

Okay, I think we all need to just take a moment and stare in wonder and amazement at the gorgeous dress that Morgan choose for her wedding. She wins the prize for the most awesome and breath taking dress I have ever seen! Total fairy tale princess! Her dress was from the private collection of St. Pucchi by Rani. If you want some eye candy- just visit the site- completely off the charts! So the dress was totally to die for and don't even get me started on the diamonds! Wow! Incredible!

Okay, now for the gorgeous location. If you haven't been to Brookgreen Gardens in Pawley's Island, South Carolina- it is time to schedule a trip! We barely even saw a small part of it and it is the most beautiful garden I have ever seen. Morgan and Joel's romantic ceremony took place in Live Oak Allee with majestic oak trees lining each side of the walkway. It was so breathtaking, I remember thinking that if I could image heaven- it would look like this!

Morgan and Joel's guests enjoyed a beautiful cocktail party in the Palmetto Garden with signature drinks in mason jars complete with little umbrellas and a cherry and then they literally danced the night away under a starlit tent. It was so fantastic it is hard to do it justice with words. I guess that's why I carry that heavy camera around! Enjoy the photos! Congratulations Morgan and Joel!

November 1, 2009 - 06:04 PM

Cover Image for The Bride's Book!

posted by Lisa | filed under: Bridal Portraits, Commercial Shoot, Fashion, Magazine Features, Modeling Portfolio, weddings

I am so excited to announce that one of my photos will be featured on the cover of The Bride's Book magazine. It is always a huge thrill to be featured on a cover and I am so pleased that the image is one of the photos that I took of Rachel at the Dudley Mansion this past July. Congratulations to all of my ladies involved in this shoot! Tonya with A Carolina Wedding, Jennifer with Salt Harbor Designs, Amy Kennison with Mac makeup, and Jan Wutkowski with Amuse Artisanal Finery.