Mary Lee Herrington, chief wedding planner and wedding designer of Forever & Ever Events, was featured in Style Me Pretty for her work on a South of France wedding in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.

100 Layer Cake featured Forever & Ever Events’ clients Nikki & Graeme’s Somerset wedding.

Mary Lee Herrington of Forever & Ever Events was featured in the March/April 2013 issue of You & Your Wedding Magazine for her wedding design & planning of a French Riviera wedding in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. The feature also included an exclusive interview with Mary Lee Herrington on how to host a group over multi-day wedding events.

I will soon sound like a broken record when it comes to remarking on how quickly time flies – but it truly does!!! Having experienced how quickly my kitten and puppies grew, I was prepared to expect the same with my baby girl, so am obsessively documenting all the little milestones. My only wish is to somehow figure out how to make myself look more presentable every day so that I can take more pictures with her! (these days, I am rocking the messy ponytail look… not by choice but convenience… but I am proud to say that I’m managing to slap on some makeup every now and again! yay, me!)

It’s incredible how Margot’s personality is so strong and apparent already… Her cheeky little smiles, her bright eyes that stare right into you, her indignant cries, and – the best yet – her soft coos… those coos are so deliberate – we can see her mind at work trying to “talk” to us. Seriously, when she “talks,” the cuteness factor is through the roof!

Like her mommy, she loves hats!

Even in the womb, she had strong legs (I could actually see them slide across my belly) and since she was born I could tell her neck was strong – and sure enough, these qualities are doing wonders during tummy time as she pushes up! I think she will be a mover quite soon – the dogs better watch out!!

Also in this past month, she has started to engage with toys – batting at the ones that swing, cooing at colorful ones, and snuggling with soft ones… and just a couple days ago, she let out her first giggly squeal!

Forever Dog has been so sweet (did we ever doubt that?!), but one of the best things ever is seeing Margot start to realize that herself – not too long ago, she looked up and saw him snuggling on the sofa next to her and she gave him the biggest gummy smile! They are seriously going to be best friends.

I have to say it has been hard work, being pulled in every direction, even with a baby who sleeps through the night (did I mention this fact? – she started with 4 hours through the night when we brought her home from the hospital and then it gradually went to a 6-hour stretch and now it’s an 8-hour stretch. seriously, it’s a godsend!). It’s amazing how such a tiny little person works you to the bone! – but, we also love it (granted, there have been some “Code Poo” situations entailing emergency changing and a onesie casualty, and those are a little stressful, but hey, even those situations are also, in a funny way, cute).

I can’t wait to share what she comes up with in her third month…!

Until then,

M&M xx

The beautiful and sweet couple Kate & Dima were married last year in the French Riviera and I was lucky enough to be her wedding planner & designer. It was an intimate wedding full of personal quirky touches and gorgeous fashions – and jaw-dropping scenery! They hosted all of their closest friends to a weekend in Cap Ferrat, putting them up in the gorgeous venue, The Royal Riviera, and even went traveling with them around the French Riviera afterwards as their honeymoon. Each phase of the wedding day was different from the next – culminating in an awesome beach party (the hardest part of the day to plan and design and, for me, one of my big crowning achievements, if I do say so myself!).

I will blog more photos from this wedding in separate segments, but for now, read the story and feast your eyes on the gorgeous photos from Polly Alexandre in the full gallery on Style Me Pretty. PLUS, the awesome video from Sharkpig!

Here is the line-up from that incredible wedding!

Wedding Planning, Design + Creative Direction: Mary Lee Herrington of Forever & Ever Events | Photography: Polly Alexandre | Location + Catering: The Royal Riviera | Cinematography: Shark Pig | Floral Design: Roni Fleurs | Band: Fables & Friends | Linens, Tables + Chair, Bar, Crockery Rentals: Options | Coordination assistance: Haute Weddings | Illustrations: Grivina | Printing + Day-of Stationery: Coquette Paper & Press | Sound, Ceremony Rentals, Beach Lighting: Atmosphere Sud | DJ: Atmosphere Sud | Makeup + Hair: Dessange | Wedding Dress: Elena Burba | Headpiece: Masha Shylyagina |  Shoes + Clutch: Alexander McQueen

This is why I’ve been away from blogging recently! My daughter Margot Insook Herrington was born on March 4th 2013 at 5.22pm, weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces and measuring 21.5 inches… And today – which also happens to be my birthday – she is exactly 1 month old!

So let’s get you up to speed…

Here are photos from the hospital (the top left below was taken of her about 1 hour after she was born)…

It’s crazy how quickly the days go by. In the blink of an eye, Forever Husband’s paternity leave was over (just 2 weeks – not fair!) and my parents flew in from the US to meet their new granddaughter and help us adjust for a week, after which it has been me and Margot on our own… I think us girls are doing pretty well, though she does demand a lot from her mom!

But who can say no to this face?!

So many cute little welcome gifts have poured in for Margot, including this adorable set of cookies (above image) from Polly Alexandre.

We’ve also managed to squeeze in a newborn photo shoot with my homegirl Aneta Mak, who took the cutest photos of Margot for our birth announcements, which I will share here soon. The best part was that Margot got to take portraits with her grandparents while they visited – and she’ll get to the do the same this next month with her other two grandparents when Alicia Pollett takes photos of her then.

I sometimes stop and just stare at Margot and think it is absolutely surreal how this little person gestated inside my belly for 9 months, feeding off me like a cute parasite, and then popped out into the world with her own personality, thoughts, feelings… She is her own little person – from cute scowls (above top left: like her mom, she is not a morning person), cheeky smiles in her sleep, indignant cries and howls, waving her little arms in her sleep like an orchestra conductor, looking around with wide eyes and her mouth in a perfect ‘o’ shape… and just this week, she began to smile at us.

With just one month under my belt, I’m still getting the hang of being mobile with Margot. Baby steps! So far, it’s just the near vicinity, although we did hop onto a bus with the stroller – to go eat at Nando’s! We are on our way to becoming regulars at “family friendly” restaurants… yikes…

So how has Forever Dog adjusted to the new “puppy”? At first he was a little apprehensive, especially when she cried, but he now snuggles next to her (but always careful around her too). I love how he is bigger than her right now – just tells you how small she is! I will post more photos of Forever Dog with Margot soon… I intend to blog each month with photos of her – it will be really bittersweet to see how she grows throughout the year…

Meanwhile, check out my maternity shoot on Rêverie Bébé, shot by Alicia Pollett when I was 39 weeks pregnant! I’m amazed by how Alicia made me look so good when I was feeling pretty much like a heffer at that stage in the pregnancy. And I’ll be back to post about an incredible beach wedding that I planned and designed last year, which will be featured on Style Me Pretty very soon…

xx MLH

The bride Kate is one of my favorite people. She’s got awesome taste (hello, she wore Alexander McQueen sandals and carried the most amazing Alexander McQueen clutch ever) and just trusted me implicitly with carrying out her vision for the wedding. It was a 4-part day, with each phase of the day offering a new experience for the guests – aperitifs & tea sandwiches before the ceremony, a garden ceremony, then cocktails on a chic deck to live music, dinner in the restaurant with panoramic views of the sea, then an all-out party on the beach like a proper French Riviera nightclub!

You & Your Wedding also did an interview with me on planning a destination wedding! Check out my interview below!

You can read it in more depth in the current March/April 2013 issue of You & Your Wedding – out on newsstands now!

I will be showing more from this wedding soon on the site – it was truly an incredible wedding and I feel so privileged to have worked on it! More gorgeous images from Polly Alexandre coming to you soon!

{ Photography by Polly Alexandre }

For now, I thought I’d share some pics of life lately…

There were so many incredible things that have happened in the last several weeks too – from welcoming a new year to a friend of mine having her baby to the most wonderful and fun baby shower I could ever have hoped for… to name a few… I can’t share the baby shower with you just yet, as it is in the works to be featured elsewhere first, but it really was special! I am so grateful to my family and friends for all the wonderful gifts to help me prep for Bambino’s arrival and I feel so lucky to have friends like my pal Adriana who threw me a beautiful shower. Forever Dog loved it too! (yup, as if I’d ever have a monumental event without him!).

As I become more and more of a beached whale, I’ll take some more photos… how huge am I going to get?!?

I wish I could share more details about this wedding, but have to be a little coy for a little while longer… but it will be shared in due course! Promise!

A complete and utter surprise, I received a package today from France… and in it contained the sweetest thank you gift from the stunning bride above and her husband – seriously the sweetest gift that a knocked up wedding designer could ever receive…

The adorable dress and cardigan are also from my favorite baby clothing shop, Petit Bateau (how did she know??). I’m just floored. Opening this gift made me so teary. I’m very lucky to have clients as wonderful as Marie-Claire & Luke. I can’t wait to dress my little girl in this next year.

Here I am (about 18 weeks pregnant) with the beautiful and kind couple at their wedding in September…

Thank you so much, Marie-Claire & Luke, for being the sweetest clients and for the wonderful cute-as-a-button gift! I can’t wait to share more from their wedding – soon!

{ Top and bottom images by Aneta Mak }