Bella Rose Photography Blog

February 2, 2010 - 04:43 PM

Weddings Magazine ~ Rehearsal Dinner Photo Shoot

posted by Lisa | filed under: Commercial Shoot, Events, Fun, News, magazine features, weddings

This past fall, I had the opportunity to shoot a feature for the Weddings Magazine in Raleigh. The feature was a rehearsal dinner staged at the 1705 Prime Catering and Events restaurant. The lovely table was decorated beautifully in pinks, and deep red colors with a gorgeous platinum and black table linen by Classic Party Rentals. I loved the modern submerged arrangements artfully designed by Michael with Fleurtations Weddings.
The very cool and modern cake was by Swank Cake Designs and the seating chart, table numbers and favors were provided by Maria Scheel. I think have a harpist at any event just makes the atmosphere elegant. The harpist is the very talented Laura Byrne and the whole look was orchestrated by Kara with A Southern Soirre. It was such a fun experience to see the work of so many amazing people. Here are a few of my favorites and then you will see how it all turned out in the actual magazine spread!

Here are few rare shots of me 'in action' taken by my assistant Jill. Usually at weddings we are working so fast that it is almost impossible to think of taking an action shot, but on a shoot like this we are able to take it a little easier and enjoy the creative process!

January 30, 2010 - 04:14 PM

Winter Bride Modeling Shoot ~ Elena

posted by Lisa | filed under: Bridal Portraits, Fashion, Fun, weddings

What a perfect day to put photos of my 'winter bride' on the blog! We woke up to 4-5 inches of snow this morning and a temperature of 9 degrees with wind chill! Very usual for Raleigh, North Carolina!
These photos were taken in Wilmington with much milder temperatures on a pleasantly warm day in late November. We decided to create our own 'snowfall' on the steps of the courthouse. My mom and assistant Jill each had a bag of snow that they threw at our lovely bride. Elena was the perfect person to represent our 'winter bride' because she is gorgeous and also from Russia. This girl understands cold! The lovely dress is and Enzoani from A Carolina Wedding. The moment I saw this dress, I knew I wanted to accessorize it with a black sash. I decided to go for a glamorous 'Imperial Russian' feel once I saw the incredible necklace that Jan with Amuse Artisanal Finery offered to let us borrow. The color of that necklace with smoky sapphires became our inspiration. The make up was expertly done by the talented Amy Kennison of Mac and the lovely bouquet was designed by Salt Harbor Designs. We shot on location at one of my favorite locations- The City Club.

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!