Chelsea Nicole – Alternative Style Wedding Photography » The latest work from Chelsea Nicole!

Remember the trash the dress I photographed in Brooklyn, New York? Well, the awesome bride in those photos is the jewelry-designer mastermind behind Brian Danielle and also owns the popular online jewelry store Max and Chloe. And as one of the sweetest, coolest gifts ever, Jamie made this custom necklace for me. It is a hand-made, sterling silver lace monogram necklace with my initials! I LOVE IT so of course I had to show it off here!

If you haven’t seen their site before, it’s really cool and even has a whole section dedicated to bridal jewelry. So, if you’re in need of that one last romantic piece to complete your ultra chic ensemble for the day, you may just find the perfect fit. Here’s a few of my personal favorites:

1. Blu Bijoux Deep Blue Oval Crystal Necklace – (also in purple) I love this! It would even make a cool bridesmaid necklace or gift.
2. Brian Danielle Pearl & Diamond Earrings
3. Carolee Austrian Crystal Hinged Bangle Bracelet
4. Lata K Illusion Pearl Drop Necklace So simple and classy. Love.

It’s officially been ONE YEAR since I launched this little blog – a little piece of the internet to call my very own. 76 posts later, I think it’s safe to say my little blog has been fully broken in. So I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to all those who have stopped by for a peek and left a bit of comment love, and to all the beautiful faces who have graced my postings. Seriously, thanks SO much!

And just for fun, here’s a sneak peak at a project I’ve been working on for Style Me Pretty called Inspiration to Reality. Our Vegas team of fab wedding professionals had our shoot last week, and I’m so excited to share the images from it – there’s lots of eye candy!  But in the meantime, here’s the style board – “Feathers and Fur” by Chiara – that we got our inspiration from…

Happy one year birthday bloggity-blog!

Wow, so, that once-futuristic-sounding-year TWO-THOUSAND-TEN is officially here and it’s already moving forward at full force.

Happy New Years Everyone!

So I’m looking backwards for this post and wanted to thank some people for an amazing year! I can’t believe how fast time flies. These first two years of starting full-time in this little photography business feel like a fantastically magical whirlwind. I’ve learned so much and yet have so much more to learn. It can be dizzying sometimes!

I had a ton of fun this year photographing the best couples ever! Some have become close friends that I hang out with often – others have become long distance friends and still more have come back to do anniversary shoots and maternity shoots (yay!)

It’s hard to not feel extremely grateful and extremely lucky for all the good that’s happened last year. I got to start my dream-path to destination weddings by shooting in California, New Orleans and New York City. My images were Admired by Beckstead, featured on Rock and Roll Bride, Wedding Chicks, Little Black Book Blog, TrashtheDress.com and many other fantastic blogs. I just learned I was placed in a special spot of Ruby Slippers ‘5 photographers I want to be’ list (out of her ginormous list of 120 or so fab photographers! Thanks Kat!)  And, lastly, I finally made it in to Style Me Pretty’s much coveted Little Black Book – as a ‘Premiere Destination Wedding Photographer‘ no less!

So it’s been amazing to say the least. And I couldn’t have done it without all the support of the amazing people in my life. Thanks are definitely in order! I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that’s supported me along this journey of photographing people in love: my wonderful couples, fantastic photographer friends, family and love of my life – jayse! Thanks for all the love and support and for helping me get to the point I’m at now in my business. Because of you I’m able to do what I love everyday.

This new year brings new goals, new dreams, new challenges. And though it can all pile up and be a little scary at times.. I say, BRING IT ON!

I’m SO excited for all that 2010 has in store! Happy new year everyone! It’s going to be a fantastic year.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

However you celebrate this special time, I hope it’s wonderful, magical special and bright! But most of all – I hope you get to spend time with the ones that you love. A few of our friends don’t even get to do that. There really is simply no better gift than the gift of getting to spend hectic mornings, rainy days, conversations in traffic and nights curled up on the couch together. But yeah, those little material gifts definitely rock too!

Now we’re off to go downstairs, turn on all our lights, sip some hot chocolate (”marshmallow-lovers”-style!) and tear open some Christmas presents!

But before we do that – I just wanted to say to everyone following this little blog – Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

And HERE is the Christmas card Jayse and I designed this year. We had them printed up on a very lovely pearl stock through White House Custom Color, and had custom stamps to match featuring lil Bella. Bellow is the front, middle-spread and back. I think it’s clear: Bella had way too much fun making these.

Okay enough writing! Now on to the presents! Much love from Jayse, Bella, and me…

I got the sweetest surprise in the mail from Deanna and Dave!

A basket full of goodies!

Of course, Jayse and I couldn’t help but dig in right away… The raspberry cookies and Godiva chocolates were mmm mmm good! But we also made sure to save some snacks and can’t wait to pop open a bottle of wine for a little cuddle time and episode of Heroes tonight. Thanks sooo much guys!

Stay tuned for Deanna and Dave’s soon-to-be-blogged engagement and wedding images. Here’s a sneak peak of what’s in store!

So I must admit – I do have a love-affair with a certain little blog.

It’s true love though, rest assured. It’s a love that developed because this is not a blog that floods your eyes and brain with an avalanche of scattered, random wedding “stuff”. No. It’s not a blog that’s here and gone tomorrow or that exists only to assault you with ads and spam and blah.

No. Not at all.

It’s a blog that celebrates LOVE, fantastic style and weddings. Perfect combination, in my world! This is one of those special must-bookmark blogs that’s super-careful in selection. It’s a blog that has literally put magazines out of business. The people behind it research, consider, debate and only put forth what they consider the best of all things wedding-style related. It’s a blog that frequently makes me think, “Awwwllll, I want THAT for my wedding!”

And so – for a year I’ve longed to be a part of it: maybe just some little block of blue 8-point text that would say Chelsea Nicole: she has pretty-style.  Alas, I knew the challenges were formidable: Style Me Pretty only allows what they consider to be the top THREE photographers of any region to be in their coveted ‘Little Black Book’. They spend a long time to pick each. And sometimes, when they can’t find good enough photographers – the spots remain empty. They use multiple editors to research each photographer’s work before passing it to another review cycle. Then they read reviews, community activity, and ask well-known photographers for their input.

Well my friends, the patience has paid off!  I’m VERY excited to finally be included in Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book!

Here’s a snippet from the email sent from Abby Larson (editor of Style Me Pretty):

“Because we genuinely admire the high quality of your photography I’m writing to invite you to join our Little Black Book of Very Important Vendors. A truly unique virtual resource, The Little Black Book shows off the most innovative and chic wedding professionals on the planet.

Our process for extending each invitation is rather extensive… Although my email-box averages 400 emails per day, many from vendors who are required to submit an application to be considered we prefer to handpick outstanding companies such as your own who represent the crème de la crème of the wedding industry.”

And, far better than that little block of black 9-point text:  Abby wrote a fantastically sweet write up in my destination wedding featurette.  You can take a peak at my pretty-little Las Vegas listing here

My beautiful little girl turned two today. She’s now tuckered out and fast asleep in my lap (as I struggle to type because she’s claimed one of my arms as a pillow), but here’s a quick photo of her from earlier today in her oh-so-cute new polka-dot birthday dress!

Travel Announcement!

I’ll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico from October 12-13th and New York City from October 16-19th for a couple shoots and a little vacation time with my love. While traveling I’ll be holding a Portrait House charity fundraiser.  Due to the short amount of time in each location, I’ll be offering a very limited number of half-price sessions (engagement, boudoir, bridal/day after or super fun trash-the-dress sessions). All I ask is that you be excited and up for a great time!

100% of all fees will be donated to Portrait House for the non-profit organization, Habitat for Humanity.

Yep! You get a ‘never-before-discounted’ session at half price – and it all goes to a great cause! The reason? The Portrait House was started by my good friends and amazing photographers, Justin and Mary Marantz. It relies on a national network of the top photographers in the industry to offer their services in exchange for a direct donation to Habitat. The goal is to raise $50,000 to go toward helping eliminate poverty housing and homelessness.

It’s a really great cause, so if you know anyone that might be interested, please help spread the word!

Photographers: Click below to find out more and learn how to get involved with Portrait House!

I exhibited in my very first bridal show last weekend!

You may have noticed a slowdown in blog posts (or maybe you hadn’t) because the week prior was a bit crazy trying to get everything ready in time. It was all worth it in the end, and the show was an absolute blast!

It didn’t win any fancy awards, but with all the hard work I still wanted to share a little about what we did to make it:  First, Jayse started by designing everything in 3D to give us a visual of the space and how it would all come together (which of course, looked awesome on the screen). But then came the hard part… actually making it ‘in real life’.  Luckily, we’re blessed with amazing friends. Christina and Randy (who you might recognize from here) came over several nights to help shop, paint, drill, and pull everything together. I honestly don’t know how we would have pulled it off (and retained our sanity) without them. So, major major thanks to them!

Now for some photos! Here’s the guys working hard while Christina keeps Bella company from her safe viewing spot on the staircase. Check out Randy’s ‘tough-guy’ pose.

And some more of Jayse hard at work on my sign:

Mom and my brother Andrew helped transport the booth as Jayse and I kept our fingers crossed from the car behind. (It was a long ride there!)

Then, at last, it all came together with a nice warm glow.

I think the simplicity and difference of it attracted people in. It was a great show and a lot of fun! Now I can say I know what goes into exhibiting at a trade show: It’s a lot more work than I thought! But with all the positive response I got, very well worth it!

I had a blast hanging out with friends (and making many new ones) that were in town for the first annual Skip’s Summer School seminar (a mini convention for professional photographers). Here’s some photos from my friend Candice’s Camera Slinger Party overlooking the Vegas strip. We rocked that photo booth!

In these photos: Jayse, myself, Robert Evans, Carole, Alicia and Chris Purdum, Melissa Diep, and Jessica Conroy.