2016 was a year of self discovery for us at Blair Nadeau Millinery.   We were taking a leap of fate in one rather large aspect of our lives and spent months debating with ourselves whether we were going to jump in head first.  We knew that our 2017 collection was going to be an important one, so we threw ourselves into creating the collection of our lifetime.

We pulled together the best talents in our creative circle of friends to create a look book that embodied the inspiration behind our collection.

I (Blair) had been with my boyfriend Kyle for 9 years this past October.  We had been through everything together. New jobs, new apartments, starting a business, adopting the littlest love of our life, purchasing our first house and all the other things in between.  He is the love of my life.

Photoshoots are always a whirlwind of time, space and emotions.  We shoot our collection over a 2 day time frame in studio (because I tend to design way too many pieces each season, even though at the beginning of each collection I swear up and down that I will not surpass 40 pieces….i’ve never EVER met that goal…always doubling it at least…sorry Whitney xo) Day one past by in a flash, I literally black out mentally when we shoot and run on pure adrenaline.  Day two is always a bit more casual.  The hard part is done, we have captured at least half of the shots and we can play a bit more.  The music is a bit louder, the spirits are high and we find ourselves giggling, singing and saying the darnest things due to lack of sleep.  Our shoots really are a magical place.

We wrapped up our shoot at 4:30pm that afternoon and Whitney insisted on shooting my headshots.  Tired and drained, but with perfect hair and makeup thanks to Maya and Ladylyn who took it upon themselves to make me up and straighten my hair, I obliged.

With our indigo muslin as our backdrop, she snapped away at my good side and eventually asked me to switch sides to capture my other half.  As I turned in my stool, I see Kyle standing there, in his grey suit, holding a stunning bouquet of flowers from my dear friend Tina of Living Fresh.   Speechless and confused (and nothing renders me ever speechless…confused, yes, but not speechless) I stood there and he grabbed my hand.  He said nothing for what seemed like an hour and quietly recited the lyrics to No Doubt’s “Running” – our song.  Still confused (seriously….always confused) I hear a click of a camera and a low wimper, glaze to my right and Whitney is there smiling her face off and snapping away.  I finally realize as I turn back and Kyle is down on one knee, holding the most beautiful black diamond ring I had ever seen, in his hand, did I realize that this was it….after 9 years….two are becoming one.  I think that was the moment that I blacked out, hands shaking as he slipped the ring on my finger (pretty much the most gorgeous black diamond ring handcrafted by our friend Alexis of Alexis Gallery) and I stumbled out the words “yes of course” when he asked that fateful phrase.  I remember hearing cheers around me, a bottle of champagne popping and a cake being laid down in front of us, but I was still in a fog, in a haze.  He always said it would be epic, it would be when I least expected it and he was right. 

I couldn’t stop staring at the ring for about 10 minutes, my hands still shaking, my knees weak.

This was quite possibly one of the greatest moments of my life and I was truly honored that he chose the people he did to share in this moment with us.

Thank you to Whitney Heard for orchestrating the proposal with Kyle, Maya Goldenberg & Ladylyn Gool who made sure I looked beautiful for the camera, Tina for creating such a stunning bouquet, Peter for letting them hijack the studio to stage the proposal, my parents for giving Kyle my hand and finally to Kyle, the love of my life, thank you for choosing me to spend the reset of your life with.

And….this is how this little bridal designer got engaged!

Follow along on the blog as we share snippets of our planning process and tips and tricks for brides to be

Xo
Blair

Gorgeous photography by Whitney Heard Photography