Bella Bridesmaid Build Out Progress

Here is a slideshow of the progress over the weekend. We have a little work left to do before the painter arrives next week but we're making tons of head way! Thank you so much to everyone who helped out!

Build Out Day One

Yesterday was the first day of build-out for Bella Bridesmaid. Originally we weren't supposed to start until today but we got a surprise by getting the keys one day early! So, we're happy to report that we are officially ahead of schedule :). The space used to be an interior decorator's show room. There is the front space and the back space that are separated by two walls but not closed off from each other. The plan is to remove the wall that juts into half of the front room and move it back to be flush with the other existing wall and then separate the two spaces with french doors so that we have a clearly defined space for both Bella and Soirée. Plus there are lots of "interesting" walls and overhangs all of which need to come out. Future plans include new paint, new flooring, shelves and much, much more! Here are just a few pictures of our first day - we got SO much done!

Before: This is the front room of the store looking from the front door in

Before: This is the store from the back of the front room looking out onto Oak street.

Stopping for dinner. Thanks mom for the great food!

During: The first cut into the wall.

After: This is the front room of the store looking from the front door in - but with the wall gone! Now you can see back into the future Soirée space.

After: It got pretty dusty in there so I wasn't able to take as many good shots of the front but you can see how the overhang (one of the "weird" walls that we can't explain) is going to be removed making it one big open space.

Thank you to our manual labor or "stud finders" as they like to call themselves - John, Joel and Ryan. You guys are amazing and we really, really appreciate all that you guys are doing (this was at about 11pm last night)!

Day two starts in about 45 minutes and we'll be sure to share more pictures of the progress. Feel free to stop by and visit - 6205 Oak Street - but don't come without a sledge hammer.

Girly Girl Vintage

If you are looking for a memorable favor for your maids look no further. Kim Jones is a fashion forward designer who started GirlyGirl Vintage who creates a custom style handbag for you and your bridesmaids. Her hand bags are trendy yet classic, with a unique customizability in different sizes, styles and vintage fabrics. They can be monogramed with each maids name or initials for a personal touch. Each clutch is hand-made with exceptional quality and attention to detail that will be the gift that keeps on giving. For more information contact Kim through her website. http://www.girlygirlvintage.com/

Kansas City A-List - Vote For Us!

We've been nominated for Kansas City's A-List Award!! You have to register to vote, but you can do so by clicking here or on the link below. Votes will be accepted through the end of September. We'd really appreciate your vote and your support in helping us to get the word out about Soirée and Bella.
Thanks!
Megan and Danielle

We're On the Map!

Check out the Bella Bridesmaid website - Kansas City is now on the map!
We will continue to update our page as we have pictures of the new store and get our new contact information. We are currently taking appointments so please pass along the site and our contacta information to anyone you know who may be interested! http://www.bellabridesmaid.com/
Buildout of the store starts next Thursday and we're still planning on an October 1st open date! We'll be sure to post pictures of our progress.

Soirée Wedding Featured in National Bridal Magazine!

This month you can find one of our weddings featured in Grace Ormonde wedding Style - a bi-yearly national wedding magazine! The featured wedding is that of Michelle Hynek and Jason Anthony, held in Barnes, KS last August, and by far our most challenging event to date!

When Michelle and Jason contacted us in February of 2008 to do their wedding we instantly knew it was going to be a challenge, but we were also very excited. See, Michelle grew up in Barnes, KS (population 165!) which is an hour north of Manhattan, KS. However, for the past ten years she has called Los Angeles home, and Jason has lived there his whole life. Michelle still has a lot of family in the Barnes area and they felt that “coming back to her roots” for the wedding was very important. Since 50% of the wedding guests would be traveling from LA, Labor Day weekend was chosen and we got started planning the 3 day extravaganza!

A sampling of our challenges included getting guests from theKansas City airport to Barnes without them getting lost, no cell phone service and more than sketchy walkie-talkie reception, no running water or restrooms at the reception site (thank you to Scotties Potties!), we had to do everything off generator power, high winds and tents, multiple event sites in a rural town and the list goes on! Although the day was extremely stressful, seeing Michelle arrive in her horse and buggy with her dad to the amazing ceremony site and walk down the aisle to a very exciting Jason made the weekend all worthwhile.

And all the hard work felt even more worth while after seeing the beautiful images in the most recent issue of Wedding Style! Thank you to Photo Mementos for submitting this to the magazine and to the other Kansas City vendors who made the trip to Barnes with us and worked so hard on this wedding as well including flowers by Branches & Twigs and the tent and rental by Celebration Party Rental. All of the other vendors were sourced locally including amazing local food by two caterers and cake baker, pies by family friends and relatives, an elegant horse and buggy, Scotties Potties from Illinois and many others! We'd also like to give a shout out to our husbands and Megan's mom for making the trip with us and for all their help and for burning the candle on both ends with us!

And a very special thank you to Jason and Michelle for allowing and trusting us to be a part of this very special occasion. Happy Anniversary!
The article can be read in its entirity at http://www.weddingstylemagazine.com/featured/wed-s71.aspx.

Hostess Gifts

I've been reading a book on the history of weddings and the reasons for some of the traditional wedding traditions is very interesting! For instance, ever wonder why its called a "shower"? In the late nineteenth century, a bride would invite her closest friends and relatives over for some stress relief the night before her wedding. Everyone would bring small token gifts that would be placed in an upside-down umbrella. This would then be raised and turned over the bride, and the gifts would "shower" down on her for luck.

Whenever a shower is thrown in your honor, it is appropriate to bring a hostess gift as a thank you for the event. I recently had a bride ask me for some help in this area. My favorite go-to place for hostess gifts is Nell Hills. First opened in Atchison, KS, this store - and its owner Mary Carol Garrity - are amazing! In the past two years or so she opened a shop in Briarcliff making it much more accessible, and now she has started an online shop much to her fans' excitement!

You can find lots of creative hostess gifts here that won't break the bank. Plus, they usually have multiple pieces of each item so if you have multiple people hosting the shower, you can still get them something very nice but you can get them all the same thing rather than trying to pick something out for each individual. Here are a few of my favorites with ways to put a creative spin on the gift:

If the shower is a brunch shower or luncheon, get a bag of coffee - such as the Breakfast Blend from KC's Roasterie - and affix a coffee scoop with some pretty ribbon to the bag. This one can be found at Nell Hills for only $5!

I love these bottles which are $51 for the set of three. If there were multiple people hosting your shower you could split of the three and give one to each person. For a personal touch you could infuse some olive oil with basil or rosemary and fill the bottles. As an accompaniment, give each person a little bag of delicious bread from Farm to Market in Downtown Overland Park.

This basket from Nell Hills is filled with 3, 10" glass milk bottles. The whole set is only $12! To personalize, fill each vase with a different grouping of flowers. Not only will this look pretty, but it will show the hostess just how this gift can be used as not everyone might infer that this is a vase!

Finally, I love these black serving trays. They are $52.25 for the set which is on the more expensive side, but you could break up the set for two gifts or if there is only one hostess or couple, this would be appropriate. For a personalized touch, you could stencil the host's monogram into the middle.

If none of these options - or variations of the above - seem to fit your host or hosts, a gift certificate to a restaurant is always a no-fail gift. Or in my case, a bottle of wine!

Future home of Bella Bridesmaid

For those of you who don't know yet we are opening Bella Bridesmaid this October in Brookside! We will be located at 6205 Oak, which is currently Dalton's Interiors. We will post before and after pictures as the demo and build out begin in September. We have a ways to go from Interiors to Bridesmaid Dresses as you can see.

Our store front:

Front room for Bella Bridesmaid:

Back room for Soirée:

We are really excited for the opening in October. Wish us luck!