DESIGNER FEATURE: Stephanie James Couture

We are so excited to announce our Pop-Up Shop with Stephanie James Couture through August 2nd!! Stephanie's dresses are vintage inspired and made using the finest silks and French laces. The designer, from Idaho, now makes all her dresses in her California studio. Keep reading for reasons why we love Stephanie James Couture along with some of our favorite pictures of her real brides rocking her styles!!!

1. Tea length dresses!! Stephanie James Couture has several tea length dress styles that are so perfect for the vintage bride. We are excited to have so many tea length dresses available during the Pop-Up Shop since we normally don't carry anything similar.

2. Easily customizable. All the dresses are handmade in California and are easily customizable by the designer herself. She loves working closely with brides on adding color, sleeves, changing length, etc. We love being able to give brides options so that they can have the dress of their dreams.

3. Classic and timeless. With their clean silhouettes, soft lace and romantic details these dresses are for the elegant, classic and timeless bride.

Thank you Stephanie James for letting us host a Pop-Up Shop with your dresses!!!! And to all you brides out there interested in checking out the collection click here, call us at (912)200-4794 or e-mail us at ivoryandbeau@gmail.com! 

{Photo Credits} Stephanie James Couture Facebook

{SIMPLY WED} Kate + Zach

When Project Runway contestant + bridal designer of Elaya Vaughn, Kate Pankoke, contacted me interested in Day Of Coordination for her wedding I was seriously thrilled... especially because when she first contacted me the preparation of our business plan was underway. So not only did our first meeting include talk of her wedding to Zach, but I also got to talk to her a little bit about the bridal industry and the possibility that I may be opening a bridal boutique next year with Adrienna. It was so fun getting some inside scoop from Kate and some positive feedback and we even talked bridal market in October, which is where I saw Kate for the second time... this time with Adrienna and instead of talking weddings we were picking out the dresses from Kate we wanted to add to Ivory + Beau. It has been so amazing working with Kate. She is so sweet and down to earth and an amazing supporter of us in this adventure. So we feel really grateful that instead of saying bye and never seeing Kate again after the wedding like so many of our brides, instead we get to now continue our relationship with her. And she's a ginger so it's really super cool. Anyway, now about the wedding...

Kate + Zach's wedding at Brockington Hall was absolutely beautiful... and most of all her dress was incredible. Of course the bridal designer made her own gown (7 days before the wedding) and it was just phenomenal. Shannon Christopher captured every last detail of the wedding. Kate's headpiece was a gorgeous hair vine by Twigs & Honey. The wedding ceremony took place on the front porch where we set up vintage mismatched chairs from Ever Thine Vintage Rental. Now for a little story from the ceremony that Kate + Zach had no idea had happened until Kate visited this past February for our Trunk Show. We lined the bridal party up underneath the porch. The ringbearer was not happy that his mom was in the bridal party and was walking away without him. He of course started crying hysterically and would not move when it was his turn to walk... Well, I went to pick him up so I could walk him over to the stairs and accidentally knocked him right over.......... and of course he starts crying even harder. Picking him up for real the second attempt I was able to get him over to the stairs where, thank goodness, he saw the other bridal party members and finally calmed down. Seriously thank goodness. Anyway moving on, the wedding was catered by Paul Kennedy and the cake was from Tier Luxury Cakes. Other rentals were provided by In Any Event and First City Events provided entertainment for the night. Another super cute detail was the tea favors, a DIY by the couple, from The Spice and Tea Exchange in vintage tea jars from Merchanstyle.

All in all this wedding was awesome. And Kate and Zach are awesome, seriously the sweetest ever!! Huge congratulations to the happy couple + thank you so much for choosing us to help out with your big day!! We look forward to having you both back in Savannah soon!!!!

{Photo Credits} Feature via Style Me Pretty // Photography: Shannon Christopher // Day of Planner: Ivory and Beau // Second Shooter: Alison Epps // Gown, Veil + Garter handmade by Kate of Elaya Vaughn, available at Ivory and Beau // Hairpiece: Twigs & Honey, available at Ivory and Beau // Venue: Brockington Hall // Flowers: Sam's Club // Cake: Tier Luxury Cakes // Catering: Paul Kennedy // DJ: First City Events // Table Rentals: In Any Event // Vintage Chair Rentals: Ever Thine Vintage Rentals // Vintage Tea Jars: Merchanstyle, Tea: The Spice and Tea Exchange

Why We Love Our Designers #3: Bridal Accessories Designers

So you saw a bridal accessory you love on Pinterest. But you also saw another bridal accessory you saw on Pinterest. And maybe even you saw a third. And you just love them all, well parts of them. And you're thinking to yourself, now if these two accessories were combined and this one had the tulle and rhinestones mixed with the feathers and pearls from this one plus the glitter from this third one then everything would be complete + you would finally be ready to get married. We understand. It's important to find that perfect piece that completes the entire look. That piece that says, I am the bride. I am getting married. I am ready. I am in love. And this is what I'm going to wear to say I do in. We get it. We really do. The perfect sash can make or break a dress. The perfect veil can change a dress from just a dress to oh my gosh that's my dress. The perfect headpiece can bring out that Great Gatsby look you wanted to rock so bad. We seriously seriously get it. And we want to be a part of this process just as much as we want to be a part of shopping for your wedding dress.

But... this post isn't about why you should come shop with us for your wedding dress (although you should). But no... this post is about why you should come shop with us for your bridal accessories. Enlist prettiness in pictures now with some words mixed in just to keep things interesting.

1. We now have 5 bridal accessories-only designers* plus 2 bridal designers who also have accessories. That's 7 designers. 7 handpicked by us designers. 7 awesome designers who rock. 7 designers with a crazy large assortment of options to choose from. Now that doesn't mean we have every single thing from these designer's collections in our store... but... you know what's different about shopping at a boutique as opposed to a chain??? We can work directly with you and our designers to bring your dream accessory directly to you. That's right. And this is honestly the part we love the most. So if you are looking for a bridal accessory send us pictures of what you love. And you know what we are going to do for you?! We are going to first pick out the pieces we do have in stock that we think will fit your vision and we are going to get those ready for you to look at and then... we are going to scour our designer's collections of what we don't currently carry and then we are going to ask them to ship it directly to us just for you. True life. It just happened. And it was awesome. And this is why we love our designers so much. Because they want to make your dreams come true too. They want you to feel beautiful on your wedding day just as much as we do. So contact us today with your dream bridal accessory + we will find it and bring it to you. It's our mission in life and it's why we opened this shop and it's what we love doing.

2. So maybe your dream bridal accessory doesn't exist yet. Maybe it's just not out there. Maybe you just really want cat lace on a tulle bow with rhinestones and pearls in it and that just hasn't ever been made. Because maybe you are just that bride who is so unique and so awesome that you are a trendsetter and what you want is so awesome that it has just never been done. Do not fret. We recently added a brand new designer who is local to Savannah. So if you are interested in having a completely custom bridal accessory made just for you then call us. We will contact our awesome bridal accessory designer and we will have her come in just for you. Pretty cool huh? I think it's cool. I also think that both Adrienna + I are super jealous of the bride who found kitty cat lace on Etsy and is getting a custom headpiece made... Just saying.

So, are you looking for the perfect bridal accessory to complete your look and to bring everything together?? Well, call us, e-mail us with pictures of what you want, and we will get you set up with a bridal accessories appointment and then all will be complete with the world. I mean with your bridal attire. ;)

Huge huge huge thank you to our amazing bridal accessories designers: Hushed Commotion, Twigs & Honey, Jaclyn Jordan, Recherche, Stella's Design, Elaya Vaughn and Faith Thornburg!!! We are obsessed with every single one of you and are super thankful for how amazing to work with you all have been!!!!

*Stella's Design and Recherche coming soon!!

{Photo Credits} [First Board] Hushed Commotion sash // Stella's Design headpiece // Jaclyn Jordan sashes // Jaclyn Jordan veil // Stella's Design headpiece // Hushed Commotion sash // Jaclyn Jordan veil // Twigs & Honey veil [Second Board] Stella's Design headpiece // Hushed Commotion sash // Stella's Design headpiece // Jaclyn Jordan veil // Twigs & Honey sash // Recherche veil // Jaclyn Jordan Sash

Why We Love Our Designers #2: Rebecca Schoneveld

We absolutely love Rebecca Schoneveld and we are pretty sure she knows it. Rebecca wasn't originally a designer we have planned to meet with at New York Bridal Market so you could say it was fate. We were walking by Jaclyn Jordan's booth and when she saw we were located in Savannah she scooped us up and started chatting to us about her bridal accessories. She is of course now one of our designers as well. But while talking with Jaclyn she started raving about Rebecca Schoneveld. We really had no idea what we were in for, but after leaving Jaclyn's booth we walked down to Rebecca's booth. You can say it was love at first site. We were both immediately smitten. We were like kids in a candy shop. We wanted it all. We fell head over heels in love with Rebecca's beautiful handmade bridal designs. Seriously head over heels. 

1. She's super sweet and nice and not just that but she was overly supportive of us starting out as well as extremely humble when she totally has no reason to be because she's super awesome. We oohed and aahed over all her dresses and she just giggled and laughed at us for being so excited and happy about finding her. Pretty sure we told her several times that we are in love with her. Not just that but Rebecca is an awesome designer to work with. She gets back to us quickly whenever we have questions and she is very responsive to whatever we need!! 

2. Bridal separates anyone? When we saw that Rebecca offers bridal separates we were even more in love than we thought could be possible. I love the idea of getting to choose the top and bottom separately. It gives brides so many options to customize their gown to fit their body perfectly. We currently have several and hope to get more after the next collection comes out!!! Stay tuned since the reveal of new collections is mid-April...

3. Does that come in blue? How about blush? Well, what about gold? Yup. Since Rebecca's dresses are all handcrafted in Brooklyn, NY they are easily customizable. She offers 6 different styles of lace: a champagne beaded lace, ivory beaded lace, ivory/gold lace, ivory chantilly lace, ivory French lace and another ivory style lace. In addition to offering different types of lace, her dresses come in natural white, ivory, 2 different champagne shades, cream, peach, french grey, antique blush, soft blush and nude as well as blue... So many options it is just incredible. And they are all absolutely gorgeous!!!!!! These are a must see. 

Anyway, as you can probably tell we are smitten with Rebecca Schoneveld. If you are interested in coming in to check out some of her gorgeous gowns you can reach us at (912)200-4794 or e-mail at ivoryandbeau@gmail.com or simply click here to set up an appointment!! 

{Photo Credits} Blog feature: Green Wedding Shoes // Photography: Chellise Michael // Dresses: Rebecca Schoneveld // Accessories: Twigs & Honey, HushedCommotion and Jaclyn Jordan // Hair by Tina Mercurio // Make-up: Face the Day NY // Venue: The Green Building Brooklyn // Couch: Rent Patina // Model: Anastasia Zima

MEET THE DESIGNER: Kate Pankoke of Project Runway + Elaya Vaughn Bridal coming to Savannah @ Ivory + Beau

Well you can probably imagine our excitement when we received an e-mail in our inbox first thing this morning with news that one of our bridal designers, Kate Pankoke of Elaya Vaughn bridal and previous contestant on Project Runway, is going to come to our Trunk Show with her collection from March 13th-15th!!!! We cannot wait to have the designer in our shop!! Kate is such a sweetheart, who I actually first met last fall when she contacted me about being her day-of wedding coordinator. It was such a blast doing her wedding at Brockington Hall and even more awesome that we now carry her collection in our store!!! Appointments are filling up really quickly - we only have 8 more openings during the trunk show so contact us quick before it's too late to get a chance to come and meet the designer and talk to her more about Project Runway, her bridal collection, and maybe even her wedding at Brockington Hall!!!! 

To make an appointment you can call us at (912)200-4794 or fill out this appointment request here!! 

FRIDAY VLOG: Pop-Up Shops + Trunk Shows

Disclaimer: We did not hire professional acting coaches or video editors for the making of this video blog.
Please enjoy + check back every Friday for our new video about Ivory + Beau happenings...