I am thrilled to announce that Emily Hansel Designs has been chosen to be a member of Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book. Style Me Pretty is a fantastic wedding blog, and their LBB is a great wedding planning resource for all you brides out there. It’s a great place to collect info on vendors and other wedding planning ideas all in one place with their helpful “Build A Board” feature. Check my listing out here!

I looove Bridal Market weekend! Last year, my new iPhone came just as Bridal Market weekend began, and I immediately set up Twitter and stayed glued to the #BridalMarket hashtag all weekend, soaking in all the beauties coming through from those lucky enough to attend the shows. This year, I’ll have to mostly rely on recaps, but many wonderful wedding blogs bring along professional photographers and get wonderful, detailed shots, so I’ll still be able to get a glimpse and will certainly pick a few favorites. I may sneak a few peaks once John’s asleep as well.

After last year I chose a few favorite dresses and designed some pieces inspired by them. I spent the first week of January creating them in preparation for a photoshoot with talented photographer and fellow Chapel Hill High alum Heba Salama, which we scheduled for January 10. Heba awoke that morning to an email from me explaining we’d need to reschedule with one of the very first pictures of John, who’d been born early that morning.

This summer we were finally able to meet at her studio and take some pictures. Here are the Bridal Market inspired pieces:

These earrings were inspired by the cascading ruffles in the first Anne Barge gown from this post

The teardrop shaped eyelet design of the Carolina Herrara in the same post would look wonderful with these earrings

This Lela Rose was the first dress I saw from last year’s Bridal Market. I was immediately drawn to scallops of lace along the neckline. The filigree bead caps in these gold and crystal earrings would complement that feature beautifully.

And finally, this Marchesa gown is a little different than what we often expect for a bridal gown. But I can see it in a ballroom wedding of an Art Deco era hotel, and these earrings with draping chains and labradorite stones are perfect for it!

Now I’m all aflutter with excitement for this year’s Market. Only a few more weeks!

Thanks so much for taking the time to capture these for me Heba, they look great!

This was definitely the most challenging piece I’ve created so far. I knew what I wanted to see, but had to figure out how to make it work. For the first time ever, I created a prototype from cheap craft store beads to find out if it was even possible. And then, once I worked out all the kinks, I took tiny seed pearls and Swarovski crystals and created a necklace with a draping pattern on one side to mimic the draping in her dress.

Here she is, dancing with her sweet niece!

A huge thank you to Meredith Perdue for these pictures!

Have you met Samantha and Graham of Graham Terhune Photography? The Hansels have had the pleasure of knowing Sam and Graham before they even were Sam and Graham (or Gramantha as they are lovingly known). We were beyond excited when they announced their engagement, and I was so flattered when Samantha asked me to design her jewelry.

Going into our first meeting, I knew her color scheme and a little bit about the style of the wedding. She had seven bridesmaids and wanted to do earrings for each of them. The bridesmaids would be wearing soft peach chiffon Ann Taylor dresses, and her matron of honor would be wearing a royal blue dress. She loved how each of my bridesmaids had a different piece of jewelry and wanted to do the same for hers.

My inspiration for the earrings came not so much from the dresses or the wedding, but Samantha herself. For the years I have known her, Samantha is rarely seen without a pair of gold and quartz earrings. I thought it would be wonderful (and complement both dresses nicely) to give her ladies their own gold and quartz earrings.

                                                         Thanks to the talented Meredith Perdue for all these lovely images!

The MOST exciting part is my new logo, courtesy of my triple threat graphic designer Shelly Moore (she’s also a photographer and musician, with a new album out soon!). I am obsessed with it, especially since I assumed on becoming a Hansel nearly two and a half years ago I’d be monogramming everything in sight, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. And now here’s a custom monogram just for me! And my name in script – love it, it’s so similar to my signature (but more legible!) I’m not drawn to the capital E and H in relation to my name, I relate more to the softer curves of the lower case versions.

This new site also has wonderful gallery options – The Gallery page under Jewelry is home to all the wonderful images of weddings I’ve designed from the wedding day photographer. I love being able to show off the pieces with the beautiful dresses. (And yes, that is my wedding collection in there too!)

Under Brides and Bridesmaids and Special Occasions I will be adding galleries of new pieces as they’re created (thanks to the fancy camera my boys gave me for my birthday!) to make a true portfolio. There’s a new category in the works too, to be revealed at a later date.

I’ve added quick link buttons to social media sites and RSS subscription services, so you can be up to date on all the happenings at Emily Hansel Designs and the Hansel House.

So take a look around, and check back tomorrow, there’s a lot planned for this week!

Photo courtesy Sherrell Photography

Photo courtesy Sherrell Photography

Photo courtesy Sherrell Photography

Image by Sherrell Photography

And here’s a group shot with the dresses – by the sorely missed Priscilla of Boston, and the flowers

Photo courtesy Sherrell Photography

And you may remember, I said in the previous post that I received a wonderful compliment on these pieces from the bride herself: when they arrived, she took them to the florist and asked for the bouquets to be designed to match! I love that!

Which necklace is your favorite?

I’d thought I’d start with how the designs came into being.

Alex was planning a fall wedding at a farm just outside of Boston that she described as “vintage meets country”. There would be bocce ball barefoot on the lawn and mini grilled cheese and tomato soup appetizers. (The day she told me this, the Hansels had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. I couldn’t get it out of my head, it’s my favorite!) Her color scheme was deep wine/burgundy tones with burnt orange, just what you think of in the fall.

Alex had four bridesmaids, each with her own unique style, and she wanted to do a different necklace for each. I’d been working on a survey to get to know the style of my clients, so I sent her one and asked her to answer a few questions about each bridesmaid. They were quick questions that a bride knows about her best girls, little things like what kind of outfit is she most likely to wear on her day off – jeans and tee, or a sundress?

I took Alex’s answers, and with the image she sent of the bridesmaid’s dress and her inspiration for flowers, I sketched up 5 necklaces. She’d chosen gold as the metal for each piece, and with her color scheme and budget I chose garnet and carnelian stones.

Here’s an example of one sketch:

There were five sketches total, but only 4 bridesmaids. In my sketchbook I had listed each bridesmaid and top 3 designs I thought would best suit her style, but I didn’t tell Alex. When I sent her the sketches, I asked her to tell me which she would choose for each girl. I was right on with two, and with the other two Alex chose the necklaces I had listed second. Success for the survey!

Check back again for pictures of the final products…

That’s the word that best describes the last 9 weeks of my life. Disbelief. My mother in law asked me recently what thought went through my head when they placed John on my chest moments after he was born, and that was it: I can’t believe it. That my water broke 11 days before my due date. The memory is so clear, standing in my bedroom as the contractions grew stronger I can’t believe this is happening already. Disbelief. That I was in labor for so long (28 hours!). That things didn’t go according to planned. That I was even pregnant in the first place.

And then he was here. My baby. A baby I would never have to give back to his momma for comfort. That was me, I was his momma. I am his momma.

That same feeling of disbelief filled me up as we lay in my hospital bed a few hours later, his dark eyes blinking up at me in the still, almost silent night (Daddy was snoring on the pullout sofa). I don’t think John could believe it either.

That first night at home, John lying between us on our bed, all three of us snuggled in a family hug, our hospital bracelets all in view. With my name. I’m the momma.

John in his great great great grandfather's cradle. Photo courtesy Graham Terhune Photography. Thanks Mr. Graham!

And now it’s been two months. He’s not tiny anymore, in fact he’s huge. He feels heavy in my arms, his fingers no longer look long and slender since his wrists have plumped up and his hands are cute pudgy baby hands.

He knows my voice and he smiles at me and Daddy. He’s working on his laugh, on holding up his head, and he’ll be moving into his own room soon. How is time going by so fast?

I have to keep reminding myself: Slow down and enjoy it. There will be time for blogging and house cleaning, for website remodels, for business plans and thank you notes. Don’t forget to be still and just stare at him. Take things slow, because he certainly isn’t. Before long he’ll be hard to snuggle. Relish it. Breathe in his smells and his smiles. He is yours.

I can hardly believe it

I’d like to formally introduce you to John Bernerd Hansel, born January 10, 2012 at 2:04 am.

Things will be slowly getting back on track with Emily Hansel designs, with recaps of my 2011 projects interspersed with updates on my greatest design yet.

Anne Barge via Weddings Unveiled

I love the cascading ruffly flowers and the way they are a little asymmetrical.

This next one I think would be beautiful for a late spring/ early summer outdoor wedding, maybe in a garden…

Carolina Herrera via Weddings Unveiled

I don’t have details on this dress, but it certainly has the look of a cool cotton sundress. As I said in the last entry, I saw a lot of dresses in fabrics other than satin and silk. This next dress also displays a different look to the fabric, using a damask/ tapestry like material.

Modern Trouseau via Southern Weddings Magazine

I think we need a little close – up, just to see the detail in the fabric

via Southern Weddings Magazine

Beautiful!

So, this isn’t just a gallery of my favorite dresses, I’m designing pieces to go along with them. Images to come!

I’ve spent the last few weeks searching around for some clearer, non-cellphone images of some of my favorite dresses to post, and I will be creating some jewelery pieces inspired by my favorites.

Here we go!

Lela Rose Marina - image via Zankyou

This was the first dress to catch my eye. I love Lela Rose, considered her bridesmaid’s collection very seriously for my own wedding, but hadn’t seen much of her Bridal collection. The simplicity of the dress, with the portrait neckline and the reoccuring lace both in the neckline and along the hem are what drew me in the most.

Anne Barge - image via Weddings Unveiled

Love the swooping, criss-crossing pattern of this one by Anne Barge.

This next gown plays a bit on the colors seen at this year’s Bridal market, but the ever so soft gray/silver doesn’t stray too far from the typical white gown.

Marchesa 2012 via Weddings Unveiled

The Royal wedding wasn’t the only big wedding across the pond with a bride name Kate this year. This Lazaro gown has elements that remind me of Kate Moss’s John Galliano wedding gown featured in September’s Vogue.

Lazaro 2012 via Wedding Wire

The v-neck, mesh overlay mimics the Old Hollywood, Jazz age style of Kate’s dress, but this one adds more oomphf at the bottom with layers of what looks like organza or tulle. I like the roughness at the bottom compared to the sparkle up top.

So that’s the beginning of my favorites, I’ll be back with more!