the big day finally came and went and i have so many fun images to share! grab a drink and kick back for what’s going to be a very long post:) but i have lots to share and lots of people to thank, so here goes…
tea with trista was a whimsical event that combined the worlds of my vintage baby and alice-in-wonderland to formally launch the 2010 mvb fall collection. we celebrated the new line with a catalog release and live fashion show. we feasted on the finest and most delightful tea party food. we raffled and auctioned off a multitude of fine prizes for our fine guests. we had a candy bar. and a live alice. a red carpet and a photo booth. and we had trista!!! could this get any better? any more fun??
doesn’t trista look oh-so-cute? she also did a fabulous job before the event plugging the tea on WFAA channel 8’s good morning texas and with mix 102.9 and victoria snee. you can view trista’s television interview here. Be sure to watch for the awesome display of mdp photos to flash across your screen for a loooong time – thank you channel 8!!
here is more trista with her troop of little winter rosettes:) her line is called winter rose and is inspired by a 1950’s vintage tablecloth and her history with roses!!
don’t forget this was all for a good cause too! we had representatives from the juvenile diabetes research foundation present – what an honor to have them here to help kick off fall! a portion of the proceeds from trista’s line will go directly to JDRF. here is a JDRF local affiliate child in action with trista!
more fun details to help set the mood for you…
oh, and look who made a surprise visit??? reality steve and jeremy from the bachelorette!
did i mention the crowd was Cuh-ray-zee over trista??!!! everyone wanted to talk with her and have their photo taken!! even i managed to work in 2 free seconds to have my mine done:)
some of the fashion show in action. this guy was quite the hit with those rockstar hands:)
and our very own alice…
- thank you to my vintage baby for this wild ride and for this opportunity! here’s the corporate crew – all amazingly talented and fun ladies!!
- thank you to my mom who took care of my 2 sick children so that i could stay well and prep for this event! as my loyal readers know, she is the queen of creativity, so i was thrilled she was still able to work her magic the mornig of the tea arranging and styling many of the pieces featured above.
- thank you to my friend evan of evan chavez photography who assisted me with this event. i could not have tackled this without another set of trustworthy hands. evan, you did an awesome job!
- thank you to the tomkat studio for inspiring us and accepting my crazy proposal to help style our event!! we still wish you could have joined us for the big day, but thank you for all of your donations and your talent. all of their custom details – the cupcake toppers and food tags, programs, menus, signs, labels and other alice graphic pieces – you see are all courteousy of tomkat. you can view more of their work event on their blog here and even purchase your own alice goods and more in their etsy shop! be sure to become a fan on Facebook!
- thank you to stonebriar country club for hosting this event and for the lovely menu. susan, you are fabulous!!
- thank you to timeless elegance weddings for being party planners extraordinaire! they and many of their partners stepped up to the plate to donate our flowers, linens, lots of man power plus lighting, DJ’s and so much more!!
- thank you to arlington camera, my favorite camera shop, who donated all of the equipment and photo booth set-up for the event.
- thank you to elegant cakery for donating over 300 cupcakes, which are more like pieces of art, for the event! they were heavenly and such a hit. you have got to check out their website – this place is good!
there are so many more invidivuals and businesses that were apart of this big day, so thank you, thank you! these parties above are simply the ones i worked with directly so i wanted to give a special shout out:) i hope i haven’t left anyone out and i hope all of you that came had a wonderful time!!!
my mom and i took a last minute whirlwind trip to NYC in july. i am so behind on blogging it is ridiculous! before i begin, i’m just gonna say i so wished i would have packed my nice camera!! i was trying to pack light and then spent the whole time wishing i would have brought my good camera!! who votes with me that it is high time to replace this 2003 pocket model:) ?
the last time my mom and i took a trip together (just us) it was 1998 and i was on a mission for a prom dress. my sweet mom let me entertain this crazy notion and then reality hit for me when i got there (for the first time) and saw the price tags on dresses in all these places i had my heart set on. needless to say, i did not come home with a NYC prom dress:) so 12 years later, we are back on a mission. this time it’s to make little miss poppy come to life!!! here’s where it all started:) i needed to get inspired!
so as i hit the streets of new york on this mission, it was just too perfect that these alicia keys lyrics were just what came to mind. seriously. i was free of kids in tote, free of being chained to my computer, i had time to myself and and i was bursting with visions and ideas AND had the queen of all things creative (aka my mom) with me!! i’d like to think it was god speaking through these words and giving me just what i needed to assure me that i wasn’t crazy for pursuing this venture and believing that there was nothing a little bit of time in the big apple couldn’t help me achieve!!
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York,
New York
…now fast foward to this henri bendel window display we stumbled upon that says “i’d rather wear accessories” – could this be any more perfect for the inspiration i needed? this is such a visual for my love of accessories, and here we are seeing it on display – it totally spoke to me!!
now look at how they describe themselves on their website? just love this language!! again, soooo inspiring!! a girls playground!!?? really? i couldn’t agree more!
so between all of the appointments and sourcing, here’s a quick recap of all the fun things we did!
- Mood – the fabric store as seen on Project Runway! This was just one of soooo many great places to inspire us with their unbelievable assortment and offerings.
- Wicked!! My incredible husband hooked us up with a pair of tickets and we were blown away! neither of us had ever seen the show and i honestly was worried i’d be disappointed with as much as every single person has talked it up to me, but it was sooooo good!! definitely a top 5 of my life!!
- Sidewalk Catwalk – this was an event going on that was a celebration of the Fashion District among A-list designer big names like Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi, Kenneth Cole and so many more! The designers use materials from the area – from fabric to notions – to construct the ensembles. Here is one of my favorites – using straws if you can see!! so creative!
- we had an afternoon snack at baked by melissa. too perfect for my love of sweets and my name! these are delicious miniature stuffed cupcakes that come in really fun, unique flavor combinations. available out of a tiny window in canal street.
- an amazing dinner at spice market with one of my best college friends who is now livin’ it up in new york! such a treat and truly our only nice meal considering we walked and shopped until we dropped and had to seriously make time to eat because that was the last thing we wanted to waste time on! this southeast asian cuisine is to die for and the place is super cool inside. located in the trendy meat-packing district. here’s a self portrait in the hotel room after our dinner:)
- shopping!! we blasted through 5th avenue, hit up canal street and scored some major good finds at a hole-in-the-wall dress shop we completely stumbled upon and that made our trip with the service, bottle of wine and unique dresses! it was such a treat!
- trip to dylan’s candy bar in honor of my very own mr.d!! a 3-story, over the top, candy store filled with a cotton candy bar, chocolate fountain bar, snowcones and so much more goodness. even this stop was full of inspiration for me with all their wonderful merchandising! and the pail of alphabet gummies were the perfect potty treats to bring home!
- FAO Schwarz – last time i was in NYC with derek, it was under contstruction, so this was my first time back since i’ve had kids. it was so fun to go through there – i wanted to buy everything!
- We made so many great contacts and established some wonderful relationships to help make my vision of Little Miss Poppy come to life! It was certainly a trip full of inspiration and exciting discoveries. Can’t wait to see where this road leads me…
today i have been busy fulfilling lots of little miss poppy orders! thank you to everyone who has ordered and helped get us off the ground! the response has been incredible and i am excited to be sharing these flowers with you:) check out our yummy packaging!! polka dots are my signature pattern so i could not resist this tissue paper:) and as you all know, i’m obsessed with black and white!! you like it?
those of that you know me well know how addicted i am to throwing parties! i haven’t been able to post too many to this new blog, but there are lots out on the old one:) anyway, one of my favorite sources of inspiration is the tomkat studio. kim is a designer and does amazing work styling tables - and also has a slew of super cute paper products that you can purchase in her etsy shop to help you theme your events and add the perfect finishing touches to your table – those details that just make a party complete! her blog is a great source of inspiration and information, which is exactly why i was so thrilled and honored to get a call-out yesterday in her recent post. thank you kim!
i approached tomkat to help us out with “tea with trista” because she has an amazing line of alice-in-wonderland inspired items that would be a perfect match for us! she jumped on the opportunity and hopefully in the next 2 weeks, you will get to see what all of our collaboration looks like! in the meantime, be sure to stop by and check out the post and spend some time on her site and in her shop.
i can’t believe it’s time to think about the holidays…but in photo world, i am behind! plus, i have some other big projects in the pipeline i need to plan around. i am starting to do some brainstorming for my holiday mini-sessions but need your help!
mini-sessions will be held in october because MDP closes down after turkey day to spend the holidays with my precious kiddos – i don’t want to miss out this year, plus i need time to christmas shop too:) thanks for your support!!
i need to determine how many spots to offer and what type of looks people are interested in!! all of the goodies are still TBD but last year i offered 3 different dates with 3 different spots – a ranch setting, the trains and canals of las colinas. i have ideas up my sleeve but want to hear what you think too!! sessions are 30 min in length and include some freebies!!
spots fill up VERY quickly and i may not be able to offer up as many as last year!! please comment or email me at melissadarstphoto@yahoo.com with your “wish list” and/or if you are interested in signing up or learning more!
Sunday, August 8, 2010 Posted in Boudoir
one of my dear friends just celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary!! what an achievement:) so happy for her! she decided to commemorate this milestone with a super sexy boudoir session for her hubby. again, i can only post the safe ones here but we put together one smokin’ black book for him:) they took a trip to mexico for the big day and she gave him his album over their private dinner on the beach. she sent this recap to me (and approved it for the blog!) – just thought it was too good not to share since it highlights reactions from the both of them on the whole process!
“I gave him this fancy little box that the book came in (so cute)! He had no clue what it was. He takes it out…it has our wedding date on the cover (he noticed). Still…not a clue what the pages would hold! Then…Bam…the first page - ”Oh My Goodness!” He continues to flip through the pages “WOW!” “Babe, Look how hot you are!” I was smiling so big! I pulled off a surprise and he said I am HOT!! OMG! He LOVES the book and I LOVED everything about the book. Getting dressed up, hair and makeup done, feeling so glamorous the day of the shoot! I was so comfortable, never self concious a bit…just knew I was doing something special for the 1 person that I know LOVES everything about me! For his eyes only…why would I be self concious about that?! After I saw the pictures…I loved them! I never thought I would look like a sexy lady, but Melissa made it happen! That is talent! LOL! Unforgettable from beginning to end…worth every penny! I will forever remember the moment his eyes met the book for the first time…pure pleasure!”
C’mon ladies! you know you want to do it:))))
the winner of the first ever LMP giveaway is comment #19…kristen mebane!!
kristen said: OH MY GOODNESS! I absolutely LOVE all of these flowers! I love how you have taken a beautiful little flower and added some bling to it to make it just the perfect accessory to an outfit. I also love the Red Zinger. I like how its not just a “normalish” looking flower. It has the twists of the petals! The Prickly Pear if another fav ofmine with the different layers of petals!!! Great Job Melissa! I will definitely be passing this on to ALL of my friends!!!
she won the fabulous “blue mermaid” bloom below. thank you kristen for participating and for all you have already done to help spread the word for me!
here is what the last 2 months of my life looks like!!! you are looking at the front cover of the fall 2010 my vintage baby catalog, which is 90 pages in length and all jam-packed full of my photos and cute clothes and adorable models. i am dying to get my hands on a final printed piece, but they are on press now and will be available at tea with trista!!
this was my first catalog shoot ever and i worked sooooo hard, so don’t take this as a brag session but more like a little kid who just rode a bike for the first time:) i am so proud to be at this moment, complete in shooting and editing and hopefully past many sleepless nights! i photographed over 40 models in one month and took over 7,000 photos, and i am wiped…and still recovering between this and little miss poppy:)
you can check out an online version of the catalog by clicking here and using the arrows in the middle of your screen to digitally flip through the catalog! i hope you enjoy browising and would love to hear what you think!!
here is a featured page from the catalog and website that explains my vision for the catalog shoot and my overall approach to photography:
here is the catalog page of little miss poppy headbands that i created alongside my vintage baby to offer, only available for purchase through a my vintage baby sales rep here!
i will be posting lots more photos from the shoot, one collection at a time, so you can get more behind the scenes insider scoop from the fun and giant adventure that this was!!! we had such a blast!!!!!!! i have so many stories to share:)
thanks to everyone involved – to all my models who stood out in grasshoppers and itchy grass, to the parents who drove their children in the pouring rain out to a ranch they’d never heard of, to my mom who played assistant, to shannon who played hair stylist/model mom/sales rep/assistant/reflector holder the whole time, to those of you that stepped in on short notice to play assistant for last-minute shoots, to those of you that picked sticker burrs off of clothing, to those of you that made and designed this clothing, to my friends who encouraged me and to my sitters and inlaws and most of all my hubby, who played Mr. Mom times ten thousand…thank you and i love you!!!
my vintage baby has gotten some great press coverage on their new fall collection and partnership with trista sutter! it is crazy to look online and see my photos on some of these places. i have never heard of these sites but still fun for me:) word on the street is that some of them have some loyal followings – hopefully this will bring some good exposure for everyone involved!! check out these articles/links to see more, read up on trista and enter for a $250 shopping spree!!!
celebritybabyscoop.com below, which was kind enough to include a photo credit! click here for full article and click here to enter for $250 mvb shopping spree!!!!
parentdish.com below or click here to view full article:
and last but not least, babble.com – click here for full article:
the LMP website is currently experiencing some technical difficulties within the shopping cart. i apologize for any confusion and frustration! we hope to be back up and running soon. in the meantime, feel free to email me orders directly at melissadarstphoto@yahoo.com
doesn’t trista look oh-so-cute? she also did a fabulous job before the event plugging the tea on WFAA channel 8’s good morning texas and with mix 102.9 and victoria snee. you can view trista’s television interview here. Be sure to watch for the awesome display of mdp photos to flash across your screen for a loooong time – thank you channel 8!!
oh, and look who made a surprise visit??? reality steve and jeremy from the bachelorette!
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