Engagement and Wedding Photo Props

Every wedding is individual. Which is why you may see something that has been done before by someone else that you love. Does that mean you shouldn't use it for your own wedding? NO! There are loads of sites with all kinds of wedding inspiration and sure, all of these things have been done before but, NOT BY YOU! I stick by the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" so, if you are inspired by something someone else has done in their wedding, and you love it, by all means...make it yours!! The following items have been done before...over and over. That just means it must be a good idea! When you look back at your engagement and wedding photos, years down the road, I bet you will still love that you used some of these ideas!

Mr and Mrs photo prop signs - these have a dual use because on the back, it also has Thank and You!

This photo was taken by Abigail Seymour - her work is amazing (seriously I looked at every page on her website!) She is based out of Greensboro, NC. You can just tell by her images that she has a gift. Love her work! Check it out...you will be inspired, trust me!

This photograph was also taken by Abigail Seymour from the wedding of Jen and Craig. The table signs (I just loved the saying so much I had to share!) and the Mr and Mrs photo props were made by Pertyfultings

Pertyfultings has some really great things in her shop! Prices are great and options are endless! Love that! This "Just Hitched" photo prop is also double sided (for twice the use!) with a Thanks Y'all on the back! $9.50 

What do you think? Would you love to win your choice of sign from Pertyfultings? Let me know....

Wedding Planning 101 - Part 2

We left off with you have a date night with no wedding talk...did you do it?? So, let's jump back into what our next steps should be with wedding planning. You have taken care of the 1st 5 important steps...and now we get to start in with some of the (hopefully) fun details of planning the biggest day of your life! You have your date set, a deposit on the venue, your guest list has been started and most likely you have been listening to people giving you all kinds of advice - hey now...that's not what I am doing!! haha. I am just giving you some tools...

• I would suggest, at this part of the planning, if you are going to do engagement photos now is the time! Decide if you are going to go casual (a photographer friend) or professional. The person you have do your engagement photos doesn't have to be booked to do your wedding - but it is a great time to scope out the person's work! Engagement photos will be used to...
• Get your Save The Dates cards ready! There are so many choices for Save The Date cards and I will have to make a separate post about them, because I have quite a few useful links! Some people may ask "Do I even need to do this?" Well, the simple answer is NO. But, they are nice to have - especially if you have people coming from out of town or if your are planning your wedding around a time when people might have a lot going on (summer time...holidays, etc). Plus, it's a pretty nice way to let the entire world know about your wedding!
• Have you narrowed down who your bridal party will be? This is probably a perfect time to do this because you are going to need some reliable help with the rest of the planning parts of a wedding! Once again, get ready to have people telling you who you just HAVE to have as part of your wedding party. This is another fun process that might get you back to eloping. You don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but come on...the truth is you can only have so many people standing next to you. My suggestion is to always keep the people who you know love and support you - no matter what - and those people who you know will honor your vows you will soon be taking. 
• Now, on we go to details, details, details! You need to choose your wedding theme - or at least wedding colors. You have MANY choices out there! 
• If you have chosen a place to get married where a package is given - and today quite a few venues offer this - from catering, florist options and cakes. Your work is a little less complicated. You still need to pick all these things out to personalize you day but...you don't have to go through the work of interviewing tons of vendors! I am basing this little helpful post assuming you have a venue that has a list of preferred vendors you have to work with.
  

Planning a Wedding 101 - Part 1

So...you just got engaged! You've told all your family and friends...you are super excited and then the reality sets in that you have A LOT of work to do! Where do you start? Here are some ideas...

• Buy a binder - the 3 ring type that you can add the sheet protectors in. You are going to need it!
• Set the date! Once you tell people you are engaged they are going to ask "When is the wedding?" Unless you plan to get married right away it's best (for your wallet/sanity) to give yourself at least 6 months to a year to plan your wedding...although after a month or so of planning you might decide you just want to elope!
  
• Figure out a budget! Are your folks going to help? Are you and your fiance doing it alone? This is my 3rd step because seriously once you start looking (and dreaming) you are going to have a thousand ideas going through your head! If you know your budget it will help keep you in check!
• Set a realistic guest list. You are blending families - and each parent will most likely want Cousin Al and Aunt Sally, whom you haven't seen since you were 2 at your wedding! If your parents are helping pay for the wedding - believe me, they are going to want a say to who is invited - or not invited! But keep in mind this is YOUR day. Once you have a general idea of how many people you are inviting...
• Find a ceremony/reception venue. I know a lot of brides are now looking a package places (where the ceremony and reception are at the same place) and this is a great idea for your budget. If you have your ceremony one place and reception at another it involves more costs (venue, transportation, transporting flowers, decorations, gifts, etc). Finding the place you are going to get married may also change your date...your original date could already be booked!

So, by now you have completed the 1st of 5 tasks to wedding planning! Exhausted yet? Well, maybe taking a breather would be a good idea about now...plan a night out with your fiance. You guys probably deserve it at this point! And NO WEDDING TALK.

Mmmm! Cake!

I was at my favorite bakery in Orange County this weekend, Beverly's Best in Brea. We were celebrating a good friends birthday...and every birthday deserves a cake from Beverly's! They had a couple of new mock wedding cakes and I totally fell in love with this one:

Two of my favorite colors for weddings and my favorite wedding flower, the white and black anemone! This size cake would feed about 200 people! Isn't it beautiful?

Beautiful Button Bridal Bouquets

It's always fun to see alternative wedding ideas brought to life! I am a big real flower fan but, I have to say that there is something about these button bouquets that I really like! I am not sure if it was me that I would use them for my bouquet but, I think it's a nice bouquet for other members of the wedding party - for your bridesmaids and even junior bridesmaids or especially for your mom or grandmothers - if they are crafters, I think it would be especially touching! These button bouquets come all the way from Australia! Nic's Button Buds came to life after real-life bride Nic had been planning her own wedding, on a budget! She was having a wedding for 100 people with a budget of $6,000! I wanted to share Nic's Button Buds with you for 2 reasons: her creations are beautiful and her prices are reasonable!

Wedding Gown Keepsake Sketch

There are certain little things you will keep as special mementos from your big day. Your huge photo album will be put aside somewhere and your wedding DVD will sit on a shelf but, small things...a bouquet brooch, a photograph or two, your garter or bridal hankie...those are the things you will keep around you as reminders. Today, I wanted to share something else that you can keep as a beautiful reminder - a hand drawn sketch of your dress. You know, the dress that you dreamed your entire life about? The dress that made you and your mom cry? The dress you only got to spend an evening wearing? Now, you can keep a version of it forever! Meet Megan Hamilton. She draws beautiful replicas of your wedding gown!

She can do your dress and veil

She can do both your dress and your new hubby's tux

 

She can put her design on a tote bag - she HANDMAKES the bag too!

Add extra little details...like your shoes and bridal bouquet - at no extra charge

Cake pops are popping up all over

Last week, I arrived back in Southern California from a trip to the Mexican Riviera. My first stop: Starbucks! To my utter surprise and delight, cake pops! Seriously? Oh yes. 

The plan was hatched to unveil these babies as part of their 40th year celebration! There is a cute little story on Starbucks blog where they talk about cake pops. I absolutely love the honesty about how hard these little babies are to make - I have tried and failed many times! So, if you haven't seen these in stores yet, here is the deal: 

You get three flavors:

Birthday – Vanilla cake and icing, dipped in pink chocolate and fun white sprinkles.
Rocky Road - Chocolate cake and icing dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in mini marshmallows and roasted almonds.
Tiramisu – Vanilla cake and Starbucks® coffee icing, dipped in mocha chocolate and topped with a chocolate coffee bean.

I have personally tried the Rocky Road and Tiramisu. The Birthday Cake must be the most popular! It is always GONE by the time I make it into my Starbucks! My favorite of the two, hands down: Rocky Road (but, it's my favorite ice cream, too!). The Tiramisu, they say, is made from Vanilla cake but, it's a flavored cake - not just vanilla. It was a little on the sweet side for me. All three pops are under 200 calories and they are just enough to have your cake and eat it too! 

Of course, my brain went straight to the price! I have seen some bakeries selling cake pops for $3.00 each! Starbucks has them priced at $1.50 each, 2 for $2.50 or 6 for $7.50. My thought was that cake pops are now affordable for wedding showers or even dessert stations at weddings! I have yet to ask my local store if you ordered even more if you could get a better price....but, it couldn't hurt to ask right? Even if the answer was no, the lowest price would be $1.25 each and I think that is pretty affordable! Have you tried them? What was your favorite flavor?

Turkish Wedding Invitations

The Wedding of Oya and Barbaros



. . . from Louisville, Chicago, Miami, Long Beach, Hawaii, Atlanta, Dallas to . . . Bolivia, Switzerland, Italy . . . ah, I am so grateful to be tasked with handwritten calligraphy, hand painting and designing wedding invitations for US weddings, destination weddings and weddings abroad!

My wonderful and gracious clients, Oya and Barbaros from New Jersey, are a delightful and talented newly wed couple. They selected traditional, premium wedding invitations in classic thermography printing. Oya asked me to paint a red rose of wine tone to embellish their invitations. The wedding invitation wording was written in Turkish, following Turkish wedding invitation etiquette. I painted shimmering gold on roses and centered them lovingly on the invitations. The rose, a perfect wedding symbol of true elegance, made a romantic theme.

For destination bilingual weddings, I can create both an English and native language invitation(s) for you, the wedding couple.

And if you are looking for the perfect wedding shower or wedding gift, please visit their site at turkishtowels.com for luxurious towels and robes.

What if it rains on my wedding day?

We all know the saying "April showers bring May flowers" and a question that has been asked over and over "Is it lucky to have rain on my wedding day?" 

In most cultures, the answer is yes! Maybe, it's just because people are looking for the silver lining! If rain is expected on your big day, you can be prepared and get some pretty cool props for fantastic wedding photos!


Hunter Boot Ltd has been making their specialty boots since the 1800's! Better know as "wellies" these boots are made in various colors. You have the Original - which comes in a standard or high gloss finish with multiple color choices like these below:

But, if you are just looking for some funky wellies in amazing print patterns for a little fun under your dress look no further than Wellies By Evercreature! They have the best selection of fun, whimsical patterns!

And if the weather even calls for a chance of showers you must have a wedding umbrella on hand! Even if there isn't a chance of rain an umbrella makes a nice wedding photo prop:

This beautiful photo is by Michele M Waite of Bellingham, WA

I told you about Bella Umbrella last year in this post and since then, the company has grown by leaps and bounds! They have created a niche for themselves as the go-to rental umbrella company and with good reason. Their umbrellas are some of the most beautiful, and now, most photographed for weddings! Umbrella rentals start at $10 for the most basic and go up to $30 for their fancy, decorated umbrellas!

Wedding Invitations

Have you heard of Pingg? If not, you better listen up because they are hosting an amazing giveaway ALL MONTH LONG! That's right my friends! 4 lucky brides will win 150 digitally printed wedding invitations and reply cards of their choice - brought to you by Pingg and Hello Lucky! 

So who and what is Pingg? Well, if you read their company "vision" you kind of get a taste of who they are:

"Our vision is a world where online invitations & announcements can exist in the same sentence as "cool" and "awesome" (or if you're British, "wicked awesome"). The time has come to elevate the online experience--yes people, to RAAAAAISE the bar artistically and technically-so that online and traditional postmarked invitations can live together in peace, harmony and celebration... like yin and yang... like Cheech and Chong."

I love that last sentence! Any company that compares themselves to Cheech and Chong has to be cool, right? They also have teamed up with artists, photographers, illustrators and other creative geniuses to bring a fresh perspective to online invitations announcements and then they raised the bar one more level by allowing you to also order the online announcement in a print version!

So how do you win? It's pretty simple and straight forward - and they will be 

picking a winner every Friday so get on this and enter today!

How to enter:
1) Send your Save-the-Date cards or Engagement announcements on pingg. Choose a design from pingg’s Wedding Collection, from your favorite designer or upload your own design.


2) Select “Wedding Invitation Giveaway” for your Event or Card Theme when you enter details.


3) Send to at least three recipients and You’re Entered to Win!


Eligibility for prize packages will end at 12:00am ET Friday, May 27th, 2011. All winners must be 18 years of age or older.


NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE CHANCES OF WINNING.


One winner will be randomly selected each Friday from the entries received. Claiming of prizes requires an email response to pingg from the winning sender email address. Winner may forfeit any and all winnings if verification cannot or has not been made within 7 days.

Would you wear a black wedding dress?

Oh my DARING brides, where are you? A new color is on the horizon in wedding gowns: black wedding dress. I actually see enough white wedding gowns to actually LOVE colored wedding gowns! Black is dramatic. Black is bold. In some cultures black is actually worshiped as the color for innocence, new beginning, new life, matrimony, sacredness, purity and chastity....but would you wear it? Could you pull it off? It's the wedding gown runway dream...

Jill Stuart

What do you think? Is too far fetched? Maybe we have to ease into this color...with just using black as an accent color:

Allure

Unforgettable by Bonny Bridal

Cupcake Update

Our Sweet Treat Giveaway is going strong! Boy, I think all my blog readers LOVE sweets! I have been keeping track of the favorite flavors you all are listing and we have a little mid-giveaway update:

Chocolate is still holding onto the lead as your #1 favorite. 

Photo credit: Martha Stewart

Red Velvet is closing in! 

With only one vote shy of tying and two votes away from taking the lead! 

Photo credit: Martha Stewart

Rounding out the top three is Carrot Cake cupcakes. 

Photo credit: Martha Stewart

The most interesting cupcake has got to be the Snickerdoodle - I love the cookies but, have never tried a cupcake! These look delicious! Check out the recipe here

Photo credit: Bakerella

We only have 12 days left until we announce the winner of the Sweet Treat Giveaway and that winner is going to get a pretty amazing sweet deal! So, I hope you enter today!

My Royal Wedding Recap

I will admit that leading up to the big day I wasn't that excited about the Royal Wedding. But, as the time got closer, I found myself tuning in - live feeds on the internet going (from two different sites) and the big screen TV turned on! I think, for me, the thing that I didn't like about it was that I knew the day wouldn't be "theirs". I am pretty sure that every aspect of the wedding had to be approved by the Queen. I mean really? Talk about your MIL being overly involved in the wedding plans!! After thinking about it, though, I get it and I am sure the bride and groom did as well. Everything about your wedding, if you are having a Royal Wedding, has to withstand one thing - time. This means every aspect of the wedding must be elegant, flawless and perfect. And, it was just that. Inevitably, in most weddings, no matter how much you plan, there is something that goes wrong. At a Royal Wedding, however, I just don't think that is an option. So, here are my thoughts on the big day - the things I loved and the things I thought could have been better:

Picture source: BBC Live stream still

Westminster Abbey was pretty much undecorated, other than the dozen or so 20-foot tall field maple trees arranged on either side of the main aisle. I had read the couple chose the florist for the wedding based on his ideas of sustainability and that everything used for the wedding would be replanted. Symbolically, I guess it's a nice gesture but, I personally love flowers and would have liked to have seen a little more.

Finally, we get a good look at the dress! I loved the top half of her dress! The lace is gorgeous (I do love lace although wouldn't pick it myself). There was so much speculation about what kind of dress she would wear - but, really? Was there any doubt it would be anything but a ball gown skirt? The dress was typical for a Royal Wedding and perfect for a future Queen. I am sure if she was just a typical bride getting married, her own taste wouldn't have dictated such a matronly type of dress but, marrying a Prince (who will eventually be King) it was perfect! Also, the venue you marry in, sort of, dictates the type of dress you wear and that long walk down the aisle requires a long train (maybe not as long as Princess Diana!). My immediate thought, like most other people, was that the gown was very similar in style to Princess Grace of Monaco. The lace bodice design was hand-made using a technique that originated in Ireland in the 1820s called Carrickmacross, which involved cutting out the detailings of roses, thistles, daffodils and shamrocks and applying them to the ivory silk tulle individually. Just having the lace hand-made is pretty awesome (lace today is done by machine). Ok, so here is my 2nd complaint and you might have guessed, based on the pictures above, that it is again...the flowers! Her bouquet is so TINY! The dress, the church, everything about this wedding is HUGE and then she has this little button bouquet! *Dislike*

 

Photograph: Ian West/AFP/Getty Images

Since I do like to be neutral on most things, though, I will say that I like the meaning behind all the flowers. Her bouquet contained myrtle, Lily of the Valley, Sweet William and hyacinth. 

• Lily of the valley means "trustworthy"
• Myrtle "hope and love"
• Sweet William - well duh! right? but it's meaning is "gallantry"
• Hyacinth means "constancy of love"

The one thing I absolutely ADORED about the wedding though, and it is a part that I think was totally them, was the get-a-way car! So cute, so young and just fun! So, the big day is behind all of us and I am sure, like any bride, Kate will have the same feelings: glad it's over but totally missing the planning and lead up! My hope for the couple, and to every bride and groom, is that I hope they remember this day and everything that led up to it and hopefully it will carry them through all the rough patches because, marriage isn't a fairytale - it's a lot of hard work - even if you do have the title of "princess".

 Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Wedding Day Papers

100% Recycled Manilla Place Cards

Frequently we are asked for images of wedding day papers. So we've popped these Recycled Manilla and Perfume range goods on the blog for you to take a peak at. We can coordinate with all of our wedding stationery ranges and bespoke projects for incredible menus, table plans, place cards and anything else required to add some finished flair to your wedding reception.

Recycled Manilla Menu Booklet

Perfume A2 Table Plan

100% Recycled Manilla Menu Booklet

Recycled Manilla Luggage Tag Table Plan A2

DIY Invitations

Calling all brides (or anyone) who wants to make their own invitations! Let me introduce you to Paper Presentations - a company based out of New York but, they ship anywhere. I found everything you need to create your own party invitations here - all at reasonable prices.

INVITATIONS

These Pocket Fold invitations come in 9 sizes, 30 pattern colors and 60 solid colors! Prices start at $14.50 for a pack of 10

A little modern twist to the standard pocket folds. This design comes in 5 sizes and prices start at $15.90 for a set of 10. Remember, this is just for the outer envelope! All other pieces are sold separately.

A very simple invitation holder that makes a bold impression - this is called the Pochette. It is available in 4 sizes. The 5x7 size starts at $12.90 for plain colored paper and $16.90 for pattern paper (in sets of 10)

  I love the layered invitation look. It's elegant and easy. These are perfect for invitations or you can use multiple sizes of paper to tie up for your wedding programs as well. They come in the 2 sizes shown and you can embellish with your own ribbon (suggested ribbon size is 3/8"). 

This company has too many goodies to list! You will find favor boxes, ribbons, envelopes, belly bands and so many other products to make invitations yourself. You can also download their entire catalog in PDF format (which makes looking at everything easier) and on their website you will find templates to download as well!