This afternoon I took a detour to the grocery store in the hopes that I would discover some more of my neighborhood’s many secrets, when I was struck by the sight of a beautiful bride. How delighted I was to find the studio of photographer Julie Mikos not far from where I live in Berkeley, California. Her gorgeous wedding portfolios tell an enchanting story of a very special day. See more breathtaking weddings on her website and blog.
{Image courtesy of juliemikos.com}
Every two years, the works of contemporary artists from around the world are displayed in the myriad pavilions that fill Venice’s Giardini. Each pavilion belongs to a different country, and each one has its own distinct architectural style. Last June I visited the Venice Biennale for the first time. Here’s what I saw.
Spanish Pavilion
Architect: Javier de Luque, 1922, with restoration by Joaquin Vaquero Palacios in 1952.
Featured Artist: Miquel Barceló
Belgian Pavilion
Architect: Leon Sneyers, 1907, restored by Virgilio Vallot in 1948
Artist: Jef Geys
Dutch Pavilion
Architect: Gustav Ferdninand Boberg, 1914, rebuilt by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1954
Artist: Fiona Tan
American Pavilion
Architect: Chester Holmes Aldrich and William Adams Delano, 1930
Artist: Bruce Nauman
Nordic Pavilion (Norway, Sweden & Finland)
Architect: Sverre Fehn, 1962
Artist: Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset
Russian Pavilion
Architect: Aleksej V. Scusev, 1914
Artist: Pavel Pepperstein
German Pavilion
Architect: Daniele Donghi, 1909, rebuilt by Ernst Haiger in 1938
Artist: Liam Gillick
French Pavilion
Architect: Faust Finzi, 1912
Artist: Claude Leveque
Canadian Pavilion
Architect: BBPR (Gian Luigi Banfi, Ludovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Enrico Peressutti, Ernesto Nathan Rogers), 1958
Artist: Mark Lewis
Thanks to Design Boom for the excellent coverage!
I used to think those old webbed lawn chairs were only for grandmas and grandpas. But recently, I somehow discovered how magical they really are. My aluminum-framed, green and white-webbed lounge chair from the 1960s that I bought on eBay arrived this morning. It adds a dash of vintage cheer to my wooden deck and makes me think of late afternoons by the lake.
{Image courtesy of Wild Mercury}
Emilie Friday‘s wedding cake toppers are precious. Handmade, with new and vintage elements, they feature an adorable duo of felted love birds.
To escape into the cinnamon forests of Bali, where private villas overlook the valleys of the Ayung River, and vine covered walls lead to tranquil pools. That is the ultimate wish for today. A dream trip to an Indonesian island where the paradise setting of the Kayumanis Ubud surrounds.
{Images courtesy of Kayumanis Ubud, via Enchanting Eden}
A few months ago, I attended by first rock show in Berlin. My friend Peggy‘s band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were rolling through town and I just had to be there. I hadn’t seen Peggy in two years, and when we ran into each other near the crowded entrance of NBI Club, we were both so excited that we could have just stood their hugging each other and screaming all night. But instead, we went to the supermarkt to get Peggy a German beer that she swiftly chugged before going on stage.
The sold out show was fantastic! And guess what! Tomorrow, they’re playing San Francisco! Woohoo! Check the schedule to see if they’re playing a show near you, and to get an idea of how awesome they are, watch this performance from the Berlin show of “Higher Than the Stars.”
Country elegance pervades a historic New England setting for the joyful, late-summer wedding of an American couple living in Singapore.
Who: Jenna Kozerowitz Emerson and Christopher Emerson
When: July 4, 2009
Where: The Lonetown Farm Museum, in Redding, Connecticut. It was the first wedding ever hosted at the site.
Bride Wore: My dress is by a Canadian designer named Selina. I found the dress at one of the first stores I visited in Singapore. I’m still not sure if it was meant to be a “wedding dress” as it was in a dress, but not specifically a wedding dress shop. When I tried it on, it fit perfectly, which made me love it even more. It is a viscose matte jersey blend, so it was so comfortable! My hot pink shoes are Stuart Weitzman. I really wanted shoes in a bright color, and I’m not sure everyone was on board at first…but I held my ground and I feel like they made the outfit!
A Family Affair: We had so many people we’d want to include in the wedding, but since we were planning a casual wedding, we didn’t want to have a large, formal wedding party, but we also didn’t want to leave anyone out. So we nixed the idea of the wedding party and included people in other ways. My sister and cousin and one of Chris’s brothers and his close friend performed readings at the ceremony. We asked some friends and family members to get ready with us on the morning of the wedding and asked others to help decorate and welcome arriving guests.
Garden Blooms: I carried dahlias, roses, lavender and a bunch of other flowers. A close family friend has an amazing garden and she provided the flowers for the bouquet and for Chris’s boutonniere. I loved my bouquet, because it was so beautiful and even more because it was extra-special coming from a friend’s garden. For the decorative flowers we used green and white spider mums, white freesia and white hydrangeas, with some greens mixed in. In order to save some money, we bought the flowers on our own from a local market and on the morning of the wedding, several friends arranged the flowers in mason jars and mint julep cups. All of the flowers came out so beautifully that I started to tear up when I saw them!
First Dance: “Blue Skies” – The Willie Nelson version. Chris has always loved the song and he played it for me as a possibility right after we got engaged. As soon as I heard it, I knew that it was a great choice. We’re both very optimistic, sunny people, so it fit us perfectly! For the ceremony, we asked our musician (another family friend) to play the Cat Power version of”Sea of Love.” It is such a beautiful song and, because of its newly-special meaning to me, I love it even more!
Tradition!: While our wedding was completely secular, I wanted to incorporate a couple of Jewish traditions. Chris’s brother, Alex, made us a rustic chuppah, which we put underneath two trees on the museum’s property. We also meant to do the “breaking the glass” at the end of the ceremony and the hora (chair dance) but we had a miscommunication about the location of the glass, and completely forgot about the hora later in the evening…
Wishing Well: Instead of favors, we donated money to an organization called Tabitha, which does incredible work in Cambodia, one of our favorite travel locations. We purchased a well in honor of our guests, which will provide otherwise unavailable clean water for one or possibly more families in Cambodia.
Team Spirit: We really wanted to make it a family affair. We tried to involve family and friends as much as possible. We asked a family friend (who was already a justice of the peace) to officiate the wedding, friends helped us set the site, including climbing up (high) barn walls to hang lights, another family friend, who I’ve known since he was born (and whose parents have known me since I was born) played for us with his band. We had the best time and we had so many comments from people who said that we put on a comfortable, relaxed and fun wedding, which is just what we wanted!
Favorite Memories: There are so many wonderful memories of the day…But two that really stick out for me are 1) looking out at our crowd of family and friends during the ceremony to see how many people were there with us on that day and 2) while we were dancing in the barn after dark, we looked out of the barn doors to see fireworks exploding out beyond the property. It was the 4th of July so it wasn’t totally unexpected, but it was magical! Also, going with a large group of family and friends to a slightly cheesy but really fun dance club after the wedding was the perfect way to finish the evening!
See more photos from Jenna & Christopher’s wedding.
{All photos by Lisa Hancock}
{Can I feature your wedding on Tidepooler? Email me!}
The Rolling Stones bassist and guitarist (pictured here in 1980 with his family) listed nine of his favorite art museums for Wallpaper. From New York’s MoMA to Madrid’s Museo del Prado, see where the new Liberty of London artist goes for inspiration.
{Photo courtesy of Virgin Media}
The winner of this year’s Tidepooler award for “Best Scenery in a Video” goes to Jay-Z for the rad shots of the East River and Manhattan skyline in “D.O.A (Death to Auto-Tune).”
Props also go out to Beyoncé for winning “Video of the Year” for her “Single Ladies” video, inspired by the 1969, Bob Fosse-choreographed dance sequence to “Mexican Breakfast” performed by his wife, dancer and actress Gwen Verdon.
And of course everyone’s talking about poor Taylor Swift and rude Kanye West. But was it staged? I mean, that’s exactly the type of act that could set off a furious frenzy of free Twitter publicity. Plus Beyonce’s “I remember when I was 17″ speech seemed a little too rehearsed.
Gee, I didn’t even watch the VMAs.
The über-short films of this “underground” festival are being shown on the little monitors in Berlin’s U-Bahn train cars. If you’re in Berlin, watch them there. But if you’re not, watch them here. Then vote on your favorite.
