Choose a Style for the Hapless Bride’s Hair

The Hapless Bride needs your help!

She is concocting the loveliest, most elegant 1930’s inspired wedding ever. She has yet to choose her hairstyle, however. Your opinion counts! Please scroll down to view all four choices and make your selection.

The fate of the Hapless Bride’s appearance hangs in the balance. She is meeting with her hairstylist on Saturday to choose her bridal hairstyle. Scroll down and VOTE NOW!

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Beauteous Day for QuelleBelle

My good friend, Raquel Matos (@quellelove on Twitter) recently commented that weddings are only fun to plan if you are a special special snowflake. She then said she was not one.

Raquel and her fiance

You may remember Raquel from the Fairy Ring Contest. She was kind enough to provide the copies of the books, as well as the original seed of the idea that got me off on all these crazy writing contests.

I recently dubbed her QuelleBelle, because she’s lovely inside and out. So to prove that she is indeed a special special snowflake, I am hosting her the first ever (maybe in the world) Pinterest Wedding Shower.

At this moment, you are likely doing the double-blink that people tend to do when I introduce one of my more eccentric ideas. If you are still reading, let me share the details.

I have started a group Pinterest Board, dubbed QuelleBelle’s Beauteous Day. On it, I have pinned all my ideas for the most charming, quirky vintage wedding shower ever. This is the perfect party theme for Raquel, as she hosts the amazing vintage film blog Out of the Past.

So here’s the deal. This group pinboard is for those who love the vintage fashions and fripperies of yesteryear. Every image pinned must have a CAPTION, an explanation for why you chose it for this whimsical, wondrous online event.

I recommend using the board like this:

1) Pin the outfit(s) you would wear to QuelleBelle’s Beauteous Day. Oh, it can be anything you want: Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, etc. I am encouraging 40s-50s, but let your imagination go. Pick hat, shoes, accessories, skirt, dress, gown, assemble your dream vintage look. Clearly you need one outfit for day and one for evening. Why not? We have a limitless budget and all of Pinterest to choose from.

2) Pin the gift you would bring Raquel. Explain why you chose it in the caption.

3) Pin a beautiful architectural detail – why not have one corner be a Swiss chalet and another be a French shabby chic cottage? The rooms are as big as you like and decorated in so many styles. Your imagination is the only limit.

4) Pin flowers or favors or any other lovely wedding shower detail that will pay tribute to this unique lady and her style.

The best thing about this shower is that you can come and go as you please, the food and drinks are everflowing and it is filled with wandering, vintage-loving souls like you.

If I have not invited you and you are a lover of vintage/friend of Raquel’s, please @ me on Twitter or email me at annabbps at gmail dot com.

Though she’s too far away for me to plan a real party or even to hug, help make QuelleBelle’s Beauteous Day!

Serendipity

Is there any more happy accident than serendipity?

For once, the dictionary is no help. It describes serendipity as (n) the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. It is a pat description, but little explains that shivery feeling that true serendipity creates. Serendipity is where coincidence and destiny intersect. 

The word was coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to Mann (dated Jan. 28); he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip,” whose heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” (dictionary.com)

Perhaps I am a Princess of Serendip. My father has always been a strong believer in serendipity. He told me to look for it and be ready when it comes. I have always kept one eye to the happenstance that leads to consequence.



My latest experience with serendipity has been a startling one. This blog is newish and I am continually refining the design, to make it more pleasing to the idea and easy to read. I find big chunks of text without pictures to be exhausting, much like Alice (“What is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations!”).

To that end, I had added an image of this painting to the sidebar:

Casper David Friedrich, Woman at the Window

I had actually never seen this painting before, in any of my art history classes. I was familiar with the artist, Casper David Friedrich (1774-1840). Below is his most famous work, which is in every art history textbook under Romanticism.

Casper David Friedrich, The Wanderer

I remembered the way this painting had made me feel, its capture of infinite possibilities. I wondered if the artist had other works that featured a woman and that same sense of yearning. So I googled his name and found the window painting and put it up. I was thrilled at how it looked on the page and complemented the wallpaper of the vintage photo of the girl at the window (which incidentally I found at a curiosities shop in Adare, Ireland). So I arranged it and promptly forgot about it…

Until four days later when my mother called and left a mysterious message on my voice mail. She sounded odd. When I called her back, she asked when I had put up the painting on my blog. When I told her, she was silent. Then she said, “I just bought you a book with that painting on the cover. I just saw that painting.”

My mother had just returned from New York City, where she spent the weekend. She and her best girl friend headed off to The Met, as any artistically-minded traveler would do. There, she was attracted by a special exhibition called Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century. One painting in particular caught her eye – she said it reminded her of me – and it was actually the featured painting in the exhibit. She sat there for a long time looking at it, the patinated greens of the dress and the soft brushwork. She loved it so much that she had to buy the exhibition catalog, which featured it on the cover, for my birthday. She knew I would love it too. She almost bought the poster, but the color match wasn’t true enough. I’m sure you’re following along, dear reader. The painting was this:

Casper David Friedrich, Woman at the Window

 And the exhibit was here: Metropolitan Museum: Rooms With a View, The Open Window in the 19th Century


It was no doubt rather a shock to load up my blog when she got home and see that exact painting pop up. It startled her so much that she left the cryptic message on my phone. Cue shivery feeling.

My mother and I are very compatible in our tastes, so it’s no surprise that we would both love such a dreamy, Romantic painting. What I cannot seem to explain is how, completely independent of each other, we both found a painting that we had never seen before in the same moment.


“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet