Wednesday, June 30, 2010

And the Bride Wore a Minidress... to a Fabulous Wedding at Fallon & Byrne, Dublin

When I first met Tanya and Joel this winter, I knew their wedding would be fun, modern and unconventional. Tanya is Irish from County Meath and Joel is American from New Mexico. They met while working at Google in Dublin a few years back. Now they live in New York where they continue to work at Google. They are a super cute couple and I was really excited about shooting their wedding this past May.
We started the day at The Morgan Hotel in Temple Bar, Dublin. What a fabulous place to take photos! Loads of natural light, neutral-coloured walls, and quirky fun furnishings. Tanya's room was huge and even had a red, antique, cast iron bath in the middle!




And check out Joel chilling like Morpheus in the swanky gold throne! 


From the Morgan, it was only a 5-minute walk down to Fallon & Byrne on Exchequer St. Fallon & Byrne is well-known for its glorious food hall and restaurant, but I had no idea that they now have a room for receptions as well. This place is absolutely wonderful to take photographs in. Like the Morgan, the walls of Fallon & Byrne are a light neutral and there is loads of sunlight coming in through the huge windows. For a modern city-centre wedding, I think Fallon & Byrne is absolutely wonderful. I can't imagine why some couples would want to travel outside of Dublin when they could have a beautiful civil-ceremony here (the registry office in Dublin could take some tips from F&B on interior design). 
Tanya and Joel obviously put a lot of thought into their beautiful civil ceremony. This was one of the most romantic and heart-moving ceremonies that I have ever been to. People who think that they should get married in a church in order to have a beautiful wedding should think twice. Tanya and Joel had friends and family of theirs give advice on marriage, which provided much laughter. Everyone was relaxed and felt comfortable here. There was a whole lotta love in the air.

From there we went to a couple of locations in Dublin to take pictures. Here are a handful of faves from the day.
Dublin Castle
 
Outside Fallon & Byrne on the free bikes and in a comic shop!
At the Grand Canal in Dublin


On the Luas tram and at St. Stephen's Green and Grafton Street. Notice how I did a mock-up of a famous Life magazine photo from the 1940s.





























While the wedding party was out in the hot Irish sun posing like supermodels, the rest of the guests were enjoying Guinness at the victorian Stag's Head Pub down the street from F&B. There is a function room above the main bar at the Stag's Head, and this where the real party started. Have a look here for some history of the pub http://www.louisfitzgerald.com/stagshead/


      Then on to the reception at Fallon & Byrne where the food was amazing. Really unique, gourmet, high-quality dishes so untypical of weddings. Starters were tapas of crusty bread and cured meats, olives, cheese, and artichokes. Mains of Morrocan lamb tagine, vegetable couscous, pan-fried fish, and the most beautiful salads I've ever seen. Dessert was a sampling of mini cakes and tarts. Yummy!!! 
     The speeches were heartfelt and funny, with lots of hugs and kisses. Then on into the wee hours of the night dancing up a storm!






To Tanya and Joel and everyone at their wedding, thank you for including me in such a wonderful day!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I'm in Love with Daniela Besso's Designs

I'm kinda obsessed with Etsy, the online marketplace for selling anything handmade, original, and vintage. I only discovered it last year, but I've made a point of going there first when I'm looking for something unique.

You can really find almost everything for a wedding there. Your dress, your bridesmaid's dresses, flowers, invitations, decorations, jewellery, everything! That's the subject of a whole other blog post though.

One of my fave finds of all time on Etsy is the Italian luxury designer Daniela Besso, who is based out of the UK. I knew her clothes would be top quality from looking on her website at http://www.danielabesso.co.uk/.

Daniela puts her sales on Etsy here http://www.etsy.com/shop/danielabesso. Now I can start a collection! I wore this outfit to a recent wedding and got tons of compliments. I only brought my little point & shoot Lumix to the wedding, and I'm afraid I can't post a pic because the person who took it wasn't a photographer!

I have this dress too and it's my absolute fave. I have it in black which isn't available anymore. I wear it dressed down with a denim western-style shirt from the Gap and dressed up with lovely jewelery from the Jaeger outlet at Kildare Village. I have some other dresses from Daniela too and they are outstanding as well. Now I just need the occasion to wear them!

I love Daniela's designs and I'm sure you will too! She is very talented and is seems like a lovely person as well.