Frankie & Stevie-Lyn , A Fairytale Come True

This is a wedding I have been wanting to share with everyone for some time. It held a tremendous amount of personal meaning for me. Not only was it a fairytale themed wedding (which, of course, is right up my alley!), but theirs is also a true story of love overcoming all obstacles.

A quote from the wedding cards . . .

" . . . . . But knowing you love me too . . . just your heart, in exchange for mine . . . You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful."
                                                                                                               ~ Stardust, the movie

Frankie and Stevie met when they were teenagers and became best friends. It took time for them to realize that what they felt for each other was growing into more than friendship. I wish I could go into detail about all the ensuing years of struggle and emotional hardship they went through in order to be together, but it is a very personal story. However, I can share with you the results of that difficult journey - 20 years later, they finally got the wedding of their dreams. :_) The theme combined Stevie's love of fairytales & Disney, with Frank's style of victorian gothic. They both are big fans of the play Wicked, so there were a lot of touches added from that as well. I tried to tailor my editing style to play up those elements for them as I worked on the images in photoshop.

So hang onto your ruby slipper, folks! Because there are so many great images and fun details, that this is going to be a long blog post!

Looooove the detail stitching on Stevie's Cinderella gown . . . .

                                                                                           And a little ladybug for luck! ;)

 

Stevie's grandmothers pearls. Her caption for this photo on Facebook is "I'll get you my pearlies! And your little earrings too!" lol 

                                                                                                 

  Every girl needs a garter . . . 

             Instead of a bouquet, Stevie carried a full reproduction of the wand from Wicked that she had specially made.

 

Weddings bands and engagement ring from Tiffany's . . . .

The wedding favors were hand-painted poison apples from Disney's Snow White. How cool are these!?

Frankie is so romantic . . . . *le sigh*

. . . . . which put Stevie in the mood for a little bridal boudoir ;)

Time to get dressed!

Did I mention she also had the tiara from Wicked made? I have such a tiara obsession, lol. ;0)

The pensive bride . . . . 

In the meantime, on the other side of the kingdom, the Prince and his companions make ready . . . .

Instead of the traditional flower boutonnieres, the groom and groomsmen each had an enchanted object. Frankie had the snow-drop flower (given for protection) from the movie Stardust, made of blown glass. Stevie's brother wore the tin man's metal heart from Wicked, because he has triumphed over heart problems himself. And the best man wore the key that sets Calypso free from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

A gift from My Lady . . . 

 

It's all about the gothic touches with this fairytale hero!

The ceremony and reception took place in the glass conservatory at  The Madison Hotel. It was beautiful!

The Fairy Godmother's of the West! (they are from California) Does that pretty, dark haired lady on the right look familiar to you? Well, she should! That's Yvonne Craig, the original Batgirl from the 1960's tv series! I remember being a kid and watching that show all the time. It was because of Batgirl's red locks and spunky attitude that made me want to be a red head someday. (thank you Miss Clairol, for helping me to realize that dream. ;) 

A couple after-ceremony bridal portraits

. . . . . and couple's portraits, of course!

The location outside wasn't quite as WonderLand-esque as Stevie would have wished, so I did a specially commissioned Digital Painting for them. Via photoshop, I cut out Frankie & Stevie from the image below:

And used them to create this Digital Art piece. It was Stevie's idea to turn the hedge into a heart, I think it gives it just the right Alice in Wonderland touch! I wanted to put a pink flamingo lawn ornament in the hedge (like the croquet mallets that the Queen of Hearts uses), but it just didn't look right when I tried it. :/ I also had to add the larger tiara digitally, because the smaller one she was actually wearing didn't show up well enough. It took me a full day to do this piece, around 9 hours total, including all the layering and texture work.

The Reception . . . 

I absolutely LOVE this cake! I said to Stevie, "Where did you ever find a blonde Snow White cake topper!?" Apparently you really can get anything on Ebay. lol

Nothing beats the magic of the First Dance . . .

 . . .  except maybe the magic of the 2nd dance! ;)~

Reception! :D

And lastly, some end of the night couple's portraits, just as the clock struck midnight . . .

(I played up the green light in photoshop because it reminded me of the Emerald City . ;)