Wedding Wednesday. Feast your eyes on the wedding of Harper’s Bazaar’s own Joanna Hillman.

Every once in a while, an extraordinary wedding crosses the blogosphere (that we did not do).  Joanna, Market Editor of Harper’s Bazaar, married Aram Green earlier this month in New York City.  And oh, what a gorgeous, intimate wedding to gaze at.  So much to absorb and love.

Click through the slideshow here and marvel over the vintage Rochas gown right from the big fashion closet at Bazaar, the Fred Leighton jewels,the handwritten invitations by Allyson Bainbridge Riccardi (her email address is right there, ladies!)  the always wonderful Greenwich Hotel, the gorgeous Italian menu courtesy of Locanda Verde, the statement bracelets (which you know we love), the coral peonies from Flowers 298, Ltd., the photos by our friend Michael Rochas of our other friend Christian Oth’s studio, the hair byFrederic Fekkai, the after party at the Smyth Hotel, the after party dress by Dolce and Gabbana but, most of all, the obvious happiness and love shared between Joanna and Aram.

What part of this wedding did you enjoy the most?

Cyber Monday readers – start your engines!

In addition to pretty much every site having great flash sales – Rue La La, One Kings Lane, Gilt Group, StyleMint, JewelMint, ShoeMint, BeautyMint, Zulily, etc., we found this for our brides, bridesmaids and partygoers!

There’s another special Cyber Monday sale going on at BHLDN–an additional 30% off all sale items! Just enter THANKS at checkout until Wednesday at 12 AM EST! We can’t wait to check it out!
http://www.bhldn.com/

Love Love BHLDN.  Good luck.

P.S. – did I also mention that we shop at The Foundary, Refinery 29, PureWow, OpenSky and The Row?  Try them all for great deals and beautifully edited collections.

Tantalizing Tuesday – Dylan Lauren’s Sweet Wedding (and life!)

You know, I’ve always admired Dylan Lauren for her work ethic, amazing idea (Dylan’s Candy Bar) and insanely long, glossy chestnut mane.  And to be dressed by her father, well…so it was with great enthusiasm that everyone held their breath as they wondered what Ralph Lauren would design for his only daughter’s wedding gown.  He certainly didn’t disappoint.  Behold: (more later on the actual wedding!)

Photo Credit: Vogue

 

Magic Monday. Breathless – the Lauren Lauren Wedding.

Yes, some images from the Lauren Bush/David Lauren wedding.  Feast your eyes.  Rustic.  Chic.  Ranch.  Vogue.  I’ll follow up with Dylan Lauren‘s wedding, after this discussion (Dylan, of Dylan’s Candy Bar is David’s sister and Ralph’s daughter).  Lauren Bush-Lauren is the niece of former President George W. Bush and daughter of Sharon Bush, his former sister-in-law.

For now, let’s feast our eyes on this magic.  Word has it that Ralph designed the gown with the help of his friend Vera Wang.  Gotta love that.  What I love about it is that the dress, as demure as it looks, is completely backless.  And only Lauren could pull off the jeweled headband look the correct way that a certain reality TV bride ended up making look like a Disney character.  Her bridal party all wore cowboy boots and the groom wore blue socks.  I love the touches.  The wedding was held at Ralph and Ricki Lauren’s immense and beautiful ranch in Colorado.  I cannot wait to see the menu and I am willing to bet each guest got one of Lauren’s “FEED” bags as a favor – what wonderful work the former model has done on behalf of hunger.  Brava!

Photo Credits: Norman Jean Roy

Related articles

• Lauren Bush and David Lauren Share Their Wedding Pictures in Vogue (popsugar.com)

Lovely Linkage – the Thanksgiving edition.

Jenny from “Dinner, A Love Story”, turns tradition on its ear in a most hilarious way.

Mrs. Lilien assembles her “T-Day” ensemble right here.

Beautiful fall wedding by The Nichols on Style Me Pretty – the cushions, the first dance, the Ghost chairs, wow.

Look at all of these Thanksgiving decor and crafting ideas for your home from our pals at Casa Sugar.

I’m giving thanks that I bought that darn Fiat before JLo rocked it out last night.

Red Velvet Cupcakes from My Drunk Kitchen – turn your volume down if you are at work.

Perfect faux bois vases for your holiday home from the always wonderful Centsational Girl, DIY Princess.

As always, give some bloggy love to all of the wonderful bloggers and add them to your roll or subscribe.

Marvelous Monday – Chair Lust.

We at F4 are huge fans of mid-century modern, Arts & Crafts and Hollywood Regency interior design aesthetics, among others and we are always looking for Barcelona Chairs for the office, interesting lighting fixtures (I recently aquired an old ceramic, bamboo-patterned lamp from the estate of Eva Gabor (!) that still needs the right DIY shade to restore its former glory) and all manner of a sort of Los Angeles meets Palm Springs meets Palm Beach in the mid-century aesthetic – think wood, leather, mirrors, etc.  eBay proves to be a great source, as are flea markets, but we don’t have terrific flea markets in the D.C. area.  Sigh.

Imagine my excitement when I saw THIS CHAIR on the CB2 website this morning.  It’s got it all – the classic 1938 “Butterfly” shape, vegetable-tanned leather and a gorgeous colour.  I can see it in a reading nook piled with Mongolian lamb pillows. The point is, for under $400, it’s a steal for your interior – and, psst..brides and grooms, something to add to your CB2 registry.  Enjoy.

Menu Monday – How to Brine a Turkey.

Like many of you, I will be making a turkey this year – and, admittedly, due to my work and family schedule, I am cheating on the brining as Trader Joe’s has free-range, organic, brined birds this year at $3.99 per pound.  Normally, I do like to brine my own turkey since a brined bird has the best flavor and yields the juiciest results.  If you are reading this today, you can start brining your turkey tomorrow, or even Wednesday – depending upon the size of your bird.  Basically, you want to brine it for one hour per pound.  But you can’t brine it too much – as long as you rinse it.

For recipes calling for a large container to put the turkey in during the brining process, that always proves difficult.  I have found that using heavy duty eco-friendly trash bags in double or triple layers works just fine.  And if you are lucky enough to live in a part of the country where it is chilly and you have a yard safe from any animals, you can use the great outdoors as your refrigeration.

There are many ways to brine a turkey, but basically, it’s all about immersion in a salty liquid, with some additives for depth of flavor.  Here is my favorite and easy way to brine a turkey:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Kosher or sea salt – I use Baleine
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock (low sodium, organic is best)
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger or 1 tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 gallon ice water

Pour vegetable stock into a large stock pot over a high heat – the sort of pot you would use to boil lobsters or crabs – the biggest one you can find. Add salt, brown sugar, and spices (you can also thrown in some honey or maple syrup if you have it). Bring to a light boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour in ice water and stir to combine.Place turkey in a large plastic container (at least 4 gallon) – or, use my trash bag method. Pour brine over top. Refrigerate and brine for 1 hour per pound.Thoroughly rinse all the brine from the turkey before cooking. Otherwise there will be a salty flavor to the turkey.  And always remember to thoroughly dry the turkey before cooking – this is key.  Enjoy – and let us know your favorite way to season a turkey.  Or Tofurkey!

And the winner is….Deanna G! Beautiful Sephora Girl.

Now, please do invite friends to subscribe and comment so you can win – and please do subscribe via email and not in a Google reader to help our ever-lovin’ SEOs.  Goodness gracious giveaways abound here (not quite trips to Hawaii or Seychelles YET, but….).  Deanna, please send your info to info@dolceparties.com and sorry for the delay.  New posts this evening for #supersaturday, so pull up a chair today sometime after 6 PM.  We have gift-giving guides, Thanksgiving party tips and some gorgeous wedding goodness.

Congrats on your Sephora gift card, Deanna.  Now, go sparkle.

Photo Credit: Sephora

Sunday Funday – but all about #followfriday.

If you don’t already, please do pass the word – we’ll be upgrading the blog very soon with my fabulous soon to be bloggy hero Emma Jane.  But also, do follow us on:

Instagram:  jarofsparkles

Twitter: @dolceparties

Pinterest: jarofsparkles

Foodspotting (the iPad app): Liz Seccuro

I promise that the content and fun is varied, unique and different, so choose your platform.  We share food, music, party ideas, photos, inspiration, wedding fun, beauty, fashion, and, um, sparkles.

 

Briday Friday – Ways to Afford a Luxury Wedding Planner.

Let’s face it; many of you reading this blog don’t think you can swing a luxurious, professional, real wedding planner with chops.  Not true.

When the economy took a serious downturn (well, both times in my career) right when my son Leo was born around Labor Day 2008, luxury businesses crashed along with it.  So we set a plan into motion.  While our full-service couture wedding planning is still considered “pricey” (but tends to save you money, time and stress), we devised the very popular E-consultation that can be used by any bride, anywhere in the country or abroad.  It can be found under the “About Us” tab on the website.

With E-consultation, we don’t meet in person, BUT, for $500 we will advise locations, caterers, photographers, cake designers, dress shops, vacation spots and any and all vendors that we believe fit YOUR style, budget and philosophy.  Since we are well-versed all over the country, this can be a great way to start.  We will work with you for a period of three months of your choosing via email.  Unlimited.  Together, we’ll create a beautiful wedding without huge expense that reflects your taste and involves our expertise and understanding of vendors.  So, if you are sitting there, flipping through magazines and blogs, with a career and a limited budget and a whole lot of stress, do give us a ring or an email and we’d love to show you how it can work for you.

Now, relax and have a cappucino.