Tag Archives: Bachelorette

Decisions…decisions…Flower Girl: Should I? Shouldn’t I?

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When Stephen and I began planning our wedding, one of the first decisions that we made was whether to have children involved in our wedding party. We actually decided not to have children in our wedding party. This was a bit of a tough decision as I have young cousins, Stephen has family friends with young children that we adore, and some of my closest friends have young children.
Flower girls and ring bearer’s are adorable in weddings. With their cute dresses and tiny suit’s, they really are just so cute! Having flower girls and ring bearers included in the wedding party works for some people. Some people have emotional ties with the children. Some people love the look of the flower girl dropping the petal’s up the aisle. For some people, they just simply do not want children involved in the ceremony. Everyone has their own preferance.
In the end, Stephen and I decided not to invite any children to be part of our wedding party. We made this decision because we actually decided not to have children at our wedding and reception. We wanted this to be a time where all of our friends, family, and loved ones could enjoy an “adults only” weekend.
Are you having a flower girl in your wedding party?
XoXo,
DeAnna

Relief….I Found the One!

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Well, gals, ….. I found my wedding gown!!!!
It is a beautiful gown by Alfred Angelo. The gown is from their new Disney Fairy Tale Weddings by Alfred Angelo collection….which I adore!
Now, I’m not going to tell you which individual gown I chose so, you will all have to wait for my wedding day, a couple months from now!!

The dress actually was not even on my radar.  Meaning, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted.  I wanted something plain, very low key, and simple.  Well, I will let you guess if I stuck to that or not. ;)

I tried on about four or five dresses while I was in New York for the Alfred Angelo bridal fashion show last October which revealed their brand new Disney Fairy Tale Weddings by Alfred Angelo collection as well as the gorgeous bridesmaid dresses from the Purely collection.

If you know me well enough, you know that I hate shopping and I especially hate trying on clothes.  So, after trying on four or five gowns, I was still unsure which one that I wanted.  I was also exhausted and hungry for some lunch.

As I was ready to give up for the day, my sister was eye-balling one last dress which in turn, she begged and begged for me to try on.  So, my sister threw her arms up and said we were not leaving until I tried on that one last dress, even if it was to satisfy herself.  Reluctantly, I gave in.  I say reluctantly…with grace.

After trying on the gown, seeing my sister and best friend break down in tears, I turned to look at myself in the mirror.

I was awe struck.  I began to cry.  This was it, I had found the one!
It fit like a glove, it was stunning, and I finally felt like a gorgeous bride!
We spent another two days in New York.  For those two days, I came into the showroom to “visit” my gown before heading back to Los Angeles.  I was in love with it.
Finding my gown was the first moment when I actually felt like a true bride.  I was so excited!!

The next step on my agenda was deciding on the colors and the bridesmaid dresses (which you saw in the last posts)…as well as the rest of the planning!!

How did you know that your gown was “the one”?
XOXO,
DeAnna

 

DeAnna Pappas-My First Style/Inspiration Board

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When I first set out with trying to plan my wedding, I was really unsure when the wedding would take place.  At first I thought it would be nice to have a wedding in April.  Then, I considered a winter wedding.  Lastly, Stephen and I settled on a fall themed October wedding. When I look back on this, the decision was not hard for me.  One of my favorite times of the year is the fall.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love all the fall colors, the shedding of the leaves once they turn a magnificent shade of brown and burnt orange, and I love the idea of the year coming to a close with a few celebrations.  Well, this year…and every year after…another celebration will be our wedding and anniversary.  That warms my heart.Clearly with all this fall wedding talk, it was easy for me to decide on my style and color scheme for our wedding. I know most men could care less about these minor decisions but, Stephen has been a wonderful decision maker in this process.  When we first started planning the wedding, we wanted to go with neutrals and browns for everything.  The simpler, the better.  Maybe a few flowers with greenery worked into them for center pieces.  Maybe some beautiful mahogany tables at the reception.  Chocolate brown bridesmaid dresses. The list could go on and on.
Yet, as we started planning and picking out these details to fit into our color scheme, I found myself bored.  There was just not enough color and liveliness incorporated into our wedding. 

So, after much discussion on colors and theme for our wedding, Stephen and I decided to spruce things up a bit by changing our color to burnt orange.  With the burnt orange color, it stays right in the style of our fall wedding.  With this burnt orange, we can absolutely incorporate brown, green, and dark red to keep in our fall fashion.
Once we made the change, Robyn from Meant To Be Sent, who is creating our one of a kind invitations and save-the-dates sent over an inspiration board that we simply fell in love with!  After seeing this inspiration board, not only were we super excited to see Robyn bring the magic to life on our invitations and save-the-dates but, we became extremely eager to see our very special day come to life!

What are your colors for your wedding?  How will you incorporate your style into your wedding?

XOXO,
DeAnna

 

Bridesmaid’s Blues

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When it comes to weddings, it is hard to please everyone. Believe me, I know. There are parents to consider, grandparents, in laws & out laws, siblings, bridal party, aunts & uncles, and even the guests. Its a lot. All the consideration could begin to drive any normal person insane if you let it.

When I started planning our wedding, I started to consider everyone’s thoughts and opinions. At the end of the day, it stressed me out more than anything trying to please everyone around us rather than pleasing ourselves when it came to our wedding day. So, we finally came to the conclusion that its always nice to hear what people have to say but, at the end of the day, the decisions are up to us. You only get married one time, better to enjoy it all and have what YOU want rather than spending so much time pleasing everyone else.

Luckily, my bridesmaids were the easiest people to deal with. I chose three bridesmaids dresses for my ladies to choose from on the Alfred Angelo website. Luckily, everyone voted for the same dress!!  Easiest decision that we have had to make to this date!! It made me happy that we didn’t have to disappoint anyone or make any of my bridesmaids unhappy about the dress or color they were going to be wearing on my wedding day.
Did you choose one style or many? What worked for your wedding so everyone was happy?
XoXo,
DeAnna

How to Make it Work-Bridesmaids 1

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If you all are like me, I chose my very dear best friends to be bridesmaids in my wedding. Ten best friends to be exact! They are all so special to me and each one of them holds a very special and unique place in my heart. They have all been there for me through various parts of my life. My maid of honor is my sister. She has seen me through thick and thin, heartbreak, loss of loved ones, and all the exciting moments in my life. She is a one of a kind and I am so proud to have her as my sister.
One issue that I think every bride considers when choosing her bridesmaid gowns is whether the dress will look great on all the bridesmaids. I’m a bride and I want my friends to all feel and look stunning in their bridesmaid dresses. This is why I decided to include them all in the decision making process! Every woman is a different shape and size. This is also true for myself and all of my bridesmaids. We considered that when choosing our bridesmaid gown. There was another issue, all of my ladies are scattered all over the U.S. Some are in Georgia, some are in Tennessee, one in Boston, one in Alaska, and one in Washington. So, with the technology today, we have all stayed in contact, communicated, and chatted through email and text message. It was the only way to get ten women on the same page! It has worked out beautifully for us. I am sure that other brides out there did what was best for them as well.
My bridesmaids have managed to plan my shower and coordinate my bachelorette party all through email and text message. I know it’s not very personal but, it has been the easiest way to communicate with all of us scattered throughout this country.
Was your bridal party a range of sizes? Did/do they live in multiple cities?
XoXo,
DeAnna

DeAnna Pappas Blog: How I chose My Wedding Gown

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I was lucky enough to choose an Alfred Angelo wedding gown. Not only was I lucky enough to find a beautiful Alfred Angelo gown, I was lucky enough to see the new Alfred Angelo Disney line before it was released to the public. Not only was I lucky enough to see the new Disney line before it was released to the public, I was lucky enough to go straight to New York City for bridal fashion week to view the line with the press at the Alfred Angelo fashion show last October!! It was a memory that I will never forget! I was sitting front row, next to some of my wonderful friends, when the lights dimmed and the music began…


I was very eager to see how I would react to the wedding gowns. I was hoping that it would be love at first sight. If it wasn’t love at first sight, I was definitely hoping for love once I tried the gown on. I knew what style dress I wanted and I thought I knew how I wanted the gown to look. See, I am a very simple girl. I’m not really into all the beading work, extra lace, or anything over the top. So, going in to this, I seriously thought I would choose a plain, off white wedding gown.

Well, after sitting front row at the Alfred Angelo bridal fashion show, I was in awe of the simple elegance and beauty that walked the runway before my eyes. Although the models were gorgeous, they are not the beauty I am describing. I am describing the elegance of each gown as it swayed down the runway. I am describing the stunning detail on each gown that gave it it’s own character

. I am describing the beauty of each gown that made me grin from ear to ear. I am describing the beauty of the feeling I had as I was trying to envision myself in each gown. It was such a wonderful afternoon…viewing each gown at its best!


After meeting the designer at the fashion show and then again having the chance to discuss trying on dresses with him, he advised me not to count out any dress. The advice was to try on many dresses, different styles, and different types all to check out the various looks of each gown. Every bride that I have ever known, said they always “just knew” when they found the right dress. I was desperately hoping that I would have that experience.

After trying on four or five wedding gowns, I had two that were my favorite. One problem, I did not have that over-whelming feeling of just knowing either of the two were “the one”. So, as I am getting dressed and trying to exit the room, my sister and best friend stopped me and begged me to try on one last dress. I was exhausted and really tried to argue myself out of it. They begged and pleaded, “Please, just do it for us…satisfy us with the one, last gown!”  So, I did. As my sister was helping me step into the gown in the front, my best friend was lacing me up in the back. I was facing away from the mirror when I turned and looked my sister in the eyes. She was crying. She opened her mouth enough to utter the words, “This is the one.” After the last lace was tied, I turned to look at myself in the mirror and was over-come with tears of happiness. My sister was right, this dress was THE ONE! I was in love. I was in love to the point that I did not want to take the gown off. I kept staring at myself just smiling with pure joy. I was smiling picturing the look on Stephen’s face when he first sees me walk down the aisle. There were no more questions, this beautiful wedding gown, brand new from the Disney line, was the perfect match to go along with my fairy tale ending!

What Alfred Angelo styles are you loving?
XOXO,
DeAnna

 

 

Introducing former Bachelorette and soon-to-be Alfred Angelo Bride, DeAnna Papas!

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Hello everyone!
I am so excited to be blogging here on the Alfred Angelo blog. I am a huge fan of the entire Alfred Angelo collection. From the wedding gowns to the bridesmaid dresses, the designer duds are among some of my favorite dresses!

 

DeAnna Papas' beach engagement

I'm not sure if you can tell how surprised I am! Totally shocked!

For those of you who do not know who I am, I was the woman who became an immediate fan favorite and was the final woman remaining on the finale of The Bachelor, with Brad Womack, in November 2007. I found out that I was tapped to star as the next “Bachelorette” on an episode of The Ellen Degeners Show that aired in January of 2008. My season of The Bachelorette aired in the summer of 2008. It was a wild ride!! I chose someone but, in the end, it was not meant to be. I have also appeared on such shows as EXTRA, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Good Morning America, Hollywood 411, TV Guide Channel, E! News, Entertainment Tonight and many more. In 2008, I was nominated and won the Reality Performer of the Year at the FOX Reality Awards. This was so exciting for me because fans voted every day for me to win this amazing award. Most recently, I was the co-host of the daily television show titled “Get Married” on Lifetime. I now reside in Los Angeles, where I have finally found the man of my dreams, planning a fall wedding, and most importantly, making all my dreams come true.


My fiance is one of a kind, that’s for sure! I feel lucky to have him in my life and as cliche as it sounds, Stephen makes me a better woman. He strengthens me, he gives me balance, and he believes in me. Besides Stephen’s good looks and his sparkling blue eyes, Stephen is hilarious and makes me laugh every day. Stephen is so intelligent and I admire that so much. Stephen is honest, trustworthy, and so strong in his faith in the Lord. He is every girls’ dream and I am just lucky enough to be part of his world…for the rest of my life!