Now that my invitation designer and I are getting closer to the final version of my invitation suite, it's got me thinking about all things signage! We are doing a lot of white text on colored backgrounds, so when I saw these "white on wood" signs, I knew they would be a great fit.
There is a simple tutorial, here. And some ideas on where to find old wood, here.
Did you have luck finding reclaimed wood for wedding signage? If so, how did you do it?
All I can think about are pretty, polished, shiny nails this week! I love when brides go bold and pick a bright shade. It makes me think the bride is fun and laid back. And, then again, there's nothing like the perfect, classic nude to let your dress take center stage.
While I plan to go neutral for my own nails, I'm thinking it would be really fun for my bridesmaids to do bright colors - best of both worlds!
Will you be going for a bold or nude hue for you big day?
This past Saturday I talked with two different florists. Before doing so I gathered lots of inspiration and honed in on the look I wanted. I had been holding off on this because there are so many gorgeous options, I was having trouble committing to one. Creating a board with the things I decided on so far and adding in the flowers I was thinking about really helped me be sure I was going in the right direction. I sent the Pinterest board links to the florists and it helped them see my overall style and, more specifically, the flowers I had in mind (what did we do before Pinterest!?) One thing they both asked me on our calls was what my plan was for the aisle and ceremony space. I had been doing so much thinking about the flowers in terms of the tables and bouquets, I hadn't even thought of the aisles! So I asked them what they recommended and started searching and realizing there are endless options...
Would love the candle look if I was having a nighttime ceremony.
Shepherd hooks are really versatile and my venue has some I can use if I opt for this. No extra rentals = money saved! But, you will be shelling out for the extra arrangements. One good option would be if you could move them to the tables after the ceremony for double duty!
And then there are petals. I love the look of petals along the aisle because it creates such a strong visual pathway. It's also romantic, timeless and (apparently) pretty cost-effective. One of the florists told me she could use the petals of a less expensive flower along the aisle.
When you have a gorgeous venue, I think you can get away with a more minimal aisle decoration. I'm thinking I will keep the ceremony decor pretty simple (we have Mt. Hood as the backdrop, so I think people will be looking at that), and put more towards the tables.
What are you doing to dress up your aisle and ceremony space? Did you have it figured out already when you talked to florists? Any cost-saving tips?
I am officially less than six months away from my wedding date! I keep counting it out on my fingers, thinking I'm wrong :-) The wedding planning is continuing to move along, but I have a feeling these next six months are going to fly by, especially once the festivities start getting under way. This week I booked my bachelorette flight and can not wait to be in Palm Springs with my favorite ladies celebrating my last days as a 'single' woman!
This week I needed to step back and look at the bigger picture before I delve into the little details like invitation design, table-scaping and bride accessories. So, I thought what better way to 'step back' than to get inspired by images from my wedding photographer, Sean Morrison Photography.
Love these kinds of shots. Is it called a fish eye lens?
Close-ups.
Nature, laughs, and love.
How cute is she?!
And some fun shots...
Looking at these pictures has me excited to dig into my next few tasks on my to do list. Nothing like some great images to get the inspiration going. The thing I love about my photographer is that he does wedding photography because it's his passion, not just his job. During the school year, he teaches digital photography at a high school in Washington. It's great to know my photographer really loves what he does. I think that comes through in his work.
My To Do List for the next few weeks:
- finding my hair and makeup person/people
- florist
- bridesmaid dresses - coordinating the mix-and-match look
Do you have any advice for me in the six-month countdown? Are you getting married this summer? Would love to hear how your planning is going!
As someone who is engaged, I'm asked all the time what my 'theme' is. I had a lot of trouble in the beginning figuring out what my theme was because I didn't want to restrict myself to one thing. The more I thought about my theme, I realized that without really consciously trying to come up with one, I already had! I would say my 'theme' is simply, the location. From the very beginning I knew I wanted to incorporate local elements whenever possible - from the decor to the cuisine. With our wedding location being in near Mt. Hood, we will be surrounded by great views, pear orchards and fields of lavender (not all at once, but you get the idea).
Source: Erica Ann Photography, lower left, lower right
Source: left, top right, lower right
Source: His & Her Photography, bottom
All these local inspirations were part of the reason I was drawn to our location in the first place, so it seems like a natural fit.
Did you use your wedding location to drive elements of your wedding or did you come up with a different 'theme' entirely?
The countdown is on! My fiance and I are officially getting married in less than a year! So now when I read the wedding check lists I will actually need to pay closer attention to the "12 months before" section. The cool thing about being a year out from our big day is that this is the one time we are in our wedding month - July! Which has me thinking about all things seasonal - weather, food, and flowers, among other things. But right now it's mostly flowers. And even though booking the florist is on the "8 months before" list in my Brides magazine, when it comes to seasonal things, I think the perfect time to think about what you want is during the season your wedding will be in. Last month I posted about my wedding color palette, so this week I want to delve further into the flowers - such a big part of the color scheme. We are doing light neutrals for the bridesmaid dresses, grey for the guys and pops of bright with the flowers. See more on my wedding colors in my post, here.
So, for the flowers...I am liking the bouquets with bright colors, but that are balanced out with some lighter, neutrals.
I LOVE the look of the single flowers for the bridesmaids (also budget friendly, I would think). Including the peonies in the brides bouquet ties it all together. I think for my color scheme I would do similar to one of the colors below for my bridesmaids.
My next task on the flower front is contacting some florists in the Columbia Gorge area to see if these flowers are doable in July.
Speaking of beautiful flowers, I want to give a shout out to my dear friends, Lauren and Nick Allen, whose gorgeous wedding was featured on Wedding Chicks last week - click here to see. I'm in the first picture all the way on the right and a couple pictures down with the glowing bride. ;-) Aren't their flowers amazing?!
Follow up from my post last week when I was trying to figure out what to do for our negative one year anniversary. We decided to go get drinks at the neighborhood bar down the street. After some delicious beer we grabbed takeout Ethiopian food, went home, popped a bottle of pink champagne (that we had been given as an engagement gift) and just ate, drank and laughed together. It was my ideal laid-back, negative anniversary celebration!
My fiance and I were up in Oregon a few weeks ago for our friends' wedding in the Portland area (such a fun wedding and entire extended weekend, by the way! Future post to come). Even with a full wedding schedule, we managed to fit in two meetings for our own wedding - we have really had to make the most of the time we are up in Oregon! And while our wedding is actually in the Hood River area (about an hour drive east of Portland), we quickly found that so many of the vendors are happy to make the drive for Hood River and Mount Hood weddings. So, while we were in the City of Roses, we met with a caterer and a photographer. For this post, I'll be talking FOOD! My fiance and I both love great food...I mean, who doesn't?! Spending as much time as we have in Oregon's Willamette Valley and the Bay Area, there's no shortage of amazing food; from all the fresh and local ingredients, to an array of restaurants to farmers markets. So, food was one of the first things we thought about when it came to our wedding. We both agreed we didn't necessarily want anything fancy or elaborate, we just wanted it to be good.
What we quickly realized is that there is more to wedding food than the actual food part. You have to also consider how you are serving it. I originally had my heart set on family style for a few reasons. It started with the images of the long tables, below, which are just so picturesque. I also love that family style, long table or not, lends to conversation among the guests and a feeling of community and family (hence the name). Here is some of my family style inspiration...
Source: all four
What I didn't consider were some drawbacks that came to my attention during our first caterer meeting. The main drawback was the price. The caterers need additional servers than they would with a buffet dinner, in order to bring around the different dishes and clear salad plates. And more servers equals more money. Another possible negative - the timing can be tough. You want people eating at generally the same time, especially if there are large tables involved. You don't want someone with no food sitting next to someone who has already been served. And the other issue can be the amounts of food served. The caterers need to be vigilant to make sure everyone is getting the right amount of food. Some people could take too much and others would be left with not enough.
The interesting thing is that the first catering company we met with a few months ago completely discouraged us from doing family style, saying each of these problems were extremely troublesome. The next catering company we met with a couple weeks ago was much more flexible. They made it seem like each of the issues could be somewhat easily overcome. They also broke out the pricing, while the first guys wanted to bundle everything and wouldn't show us how much each component costed. I don't like to be strong-armed into any decision, especially when it comes to such an important day! Also, we liked caterer #2's cuisine and personality much better, so whether we decide on family style or buffet, we definitely have a great lead on a place to work with.
Have you considered family style for your wedding? If so, did you run into the same hurdles as I have? How did you overcome them, or did you decide on another option (buffet, plated)?
