May Love Always be in Bloom

Friends, I cannot tell you how excited I am to share our first planning meeting! Since our venue is all inclusive, the vendors all meet with you at one time for a long appointment (4-5 hours) in order to plan out the details of your wedding. This made me a bit sad. I'm definitely not one to micromanage or need to be constantly calling and checking status, checking lists, etc. With that said, I really want to be an active part of our wedding planning. Luckily as I stated in last weeks post, our venue is still working out their kinks which meant we are able to work with a few of the vendors before the big meeting thus extending our planning involvement. The best part about this place is that we are given a wedding coordinator who will be there with us from our early stages until we say farewell to our guests on our wedding night. Want to know what's even better? This lady is our florist and the bees knees! Now if you follow my personal blog or have caught me on Twitter or Instagram, you may already know I have an affinity for gardens and more specifically, flowers. Most of the names are lost on me, but I know which are my favorite and I want all of them in my garden one day. (Ask me about the bugs though, and you won't be able to shut me up! But I digress...) With that said, I am ashamed to admit that I had no real idea of which flowers I wanted for my bouquet. Anything too structured or fancy is not my thing. We're going for a very natural feel for our wedding so a bouquet that looks very "just picked" is right up my alley. While orchids and star gazer lilies are beautiful (and smell like heaven) they would feel too stuffy in my hands on my journey down the aisle. These are beautiful and very easy-breezy.

Source: Project Wedding, Green Wedding Shoes, The Pretty Blog

I also considered a brooch bouquet like one below beauties. Ultimately I chose a bouquet of real flowers but these are such a fun alternative to flowers and can be less worry about finding the color you want!

Source: Etsy, Style Me Pretty

Now for boutonnieres, this was the easiest part of the appointment. The Mister was very firm on what he wanted and though I brought each of the examples below, he stuck to his guns and asked for the million star as seen on the bottom right. Now I completely agree that it was the best choice for what we were looking for.

Source: Ruffled Blog, Ruffled Blog, Emmaline Bride

Meeting with our florist/coordinator was such a relief in my worry about how our wedding planning will go and really helped put a more real picture together for our big day. I also realized that by having an idea of the look and feel we were going for but allowing our florist use her knowledge and experience, we were able to put our vision together and choose the flowers to fit that. Next week I will be sharing more on the appointment so I hope you're ready for more flowers!

What direction did you go with your bouquet? Did your man get any say in your floral decisoins?

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Venue Victory

Our search for a wedding venue was incredibly short. Despite the fact that we found the venue of our dreams so quickly into wedding planning, it was very stressful. There are some beautiful places that fit exactly what we wanted aesthetically, but we simply couldn't justify the price tag associated with most of the places or the compromises that came with them (port-a-potties were a deal breaker). Below is the look and feeling we were going for.

Source: Utah Bride, Style Me Pretty, The Loveliest Day, Style Me Pretty

Dreamy right? Our list of needs were simple enough and pretty much summarized by the inspiration photos above. Very natural and romantic. I was never one of those "princess" brides, but the castle fits our vision. After touring the place, talking over everything amongst ourselves and getting the opinions of family members, we booked it. By choosing our venue we were already choosing our DJ, florist, photographer, videographer, caterer, and wedding coordinator. Done. All that was left was deciding what we actually wanted, no research on who was best for our needs comparison and so on. Ultimately we chose our venue for many reasons, the biggest of which being that we had a lot of trust in the owner and his vision. We know we will be in great hands and our big day will be just as we want it. Here's a peak at our venue.

Source: Clovis Castle

 This is just a tease for several reasons. The first is that if any of our guests are reading this we want them to be surprised! Secondly, it's still being developed so there's no complete picture to share just yet.

There are some things you should keep in mind when doing something like this and I thought putting together a small pro/con list would help.

Pros: 1) All inclusive venue means one choice, the venue. No vendor searching and interviewing, no price comparisons for each. 2) This also means you're writing essentially one check.  3) In our case, very few planning meetings. One to make all the decisions and meet with each vendor and one to taste everything and see your decor choices live before the big day. 4) And here's the big pro, no worries on our day! Our venue takes care of set up, clean up, mishaps, everything. We're also staying there that night so we don't have to worry about driving somewhere else after partying with our guests. I just relax, soak it all in and walk down the aisle and Frank just enjoys being with his guys prepares for his socks to be knocked off by me and my dress!

Cons: 1) This is a bit of a hands-off approach. While you are deciding what you want for your wedding, there are only a few meeting and decisions are made quickly and no less than 9 months in advance. For those that want to REALLY be involved, you really have to decide if you would be able to put your wedding in someone else's hands. 2) While doing something all inclusive means you're getting the specific vendors best prices, there is no price comparison. Vendor B may have a better price on those beautiful cream linens, but Vendor A is who your venue uses, so that's who you have to use. 3) Deals such as these can easily seem and turn out to be, too good to be true. Doing your research on the venue and participating vendors ahead of time can help avoid a disaster. 4) Sticker shock comes swift. Have a budget set in mind and make sure to take into account all that is included before dismissing the venue because of how the price sounds initially.

We couldn't be happier with the choice we made and am so excited to get to planning and seeing our big day come together!

So tell me ladies, did any of you go with an all inclusive venue? What are your thoughts on our choice?

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Finding The Right Dress

According to the folks on Say Yes to the Dress, your wedding gown is the most important thing about your wedding. Now while I may not agree with this, I do think it's definitely in the top 3 on the importance meter. (I'm pretty sure for me, the groom is number one (; ) Now when we first got engaged, I thought picking my dress was going to be one of the easiest things. It wasn't. I made a terrible mistake that I think a lot of us girls make, which is to take in too many dresses on TV and the internet. As you can see by my picks below, I was all over the place.

Source: Maggie Sottero, Maggie Sottero

Source: Reem Acra, BHLDN

So because I had no idea what would look right on me, I went on a test trial to a mass produced wedding store, you know the one. I tried on about five dresses, most in what I thought I wanted to wear and two in something different. My idea of the perfect dress was straps or cap-sleeves, something A-Line or a small trumpet. Something that showed my figure without showing all the goods and finally, something I could see myself wearing for 6 plus hours through dinner and dancing and pictures. So me and my mama went into the dressing room with some picks that my amazingly cute and sweet consultant pulled and tried them on. The strapless dresses made me look too hip-y and young, and the dresses with straps made me look like I was playing dress up. It was pretty much a disaster.

So I did what any bride worried they won't find "the one" would do, I looked at more magazines, dress galleries and watched about 5,000 episodes of SYTTD.  Meanwhile I googled the local bridal shops and found that one of them was having a trunk show for a line I had been staring at and bookmarks dresses from.  The day came and armed with print outs of the dresses I had to try on, I walked in with my future mother & sister-in-law and of course my mama. My high hopes came crashing down when I found out the dress I had called ahead to make sure I could try on, wasn't there. I really didn't have much hope for the appointment. Once we began trying on styles that were similar to what I thought I wanted, it was apparent that it was all going the way it went the first time. That is, until I put on the fourth dress.

This dress was shockingly everything I wanted to feel about a dress and very little about what I had pictured in my head. No longer did I feel like a little girl, I was really a woman. Everything thing I put on after just didn't compare. Obviously I can't share the dress with you, but I can share a couple pictures of other dresses that I tried.

Was it love at first wear for you and your dress? 

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Resource Library :: Starting Off On The Right Foot

Wedding planning can be a thrilling and a rip-your-hair-out stressed experience. With the seemingly endless list of to-do's, how do you keep track of it all? There are lots of useful items out there to keep you sane, your budget in check and little details remembered. All you have to do is decide which method or methods is right for you. Setting an organized foundation for your wedding planning is the key to nights free of wedding talk with your fiancee, friends and family and the wedding day of your dreams. There is a planning book for every bride and below are some great options. I have to add that if I had gone the book route, the first option The Everything Wedding Organizer is a great planner and has plenty of space to write down your thoughts on the vendor you're testing out or deciding what type of honeymoon you and your fiancee want.

Source: The Very Best Wedding Planner, Wedding Planner in a Box

For DIY brides, there are are idea books to help you get inspired and organized as well as step-by-step guides on how to plan and execute your wedding. One of the best is Handmade Weddings, created by the lovely ladies of Hello Lucky.

Source: Handmade Weddings, The DIY Bride

Apps for your smart phone help you keep your lists at your finger tips and the ability to jot down reminders and ideas without searching for a pen and paper. Allison talked about a great app called Wedding Happy, and I recommend checking it out. My favorites for keeping organized are The Knot wedding app and Scatter Brain.

Source: 1 / 2

 Finally, for the do-it-yourself-er or the bride that likes things simple there are journals and notebooks for you to create your own planner/organizer. This is the method I'm using and I find it to be very simple and effective and when used with the apps a very stress-free way to stay organized. Of course like all things wedding, your handmade planner must be pretty.

Source: 1 / 2 

 What planning methods are you using?

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Hello, sweets!

Hello E & I readers! Before I dive into planning and inspiration, let me tell you a bit more about me. My fiance's name is Frank and we're both from the Central Valley in California. We met in 2007 and have been best friends and loves ever since. We were engaged on a last-minute trip to Half-Moon Bay on a beautiful beach at sunset, and have picture proof! By day I'm in insurance and in my free time I'm a blogger and wedding blog fiend. My wedding vision is not easily described but I'm hoping to achieve romance, vintage feeling details and a bit of craftiness. Now that you're a bit more familiar, let me tell you what I'm all about....sweets! Yes the venue and the dress are important and I can't tell you how excited I am over the decor options being discussed right now but sweets is all my mind can think of. With all of the amazing options out there, how can you not just want to jump right to the desert!?

Cake is what first comes to mind when you think of wedding desserts, but I think these cakes not only look great but offer a whimsical twist to the classic tiers. Donut cake? Sign me up!

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Of course a huge trend right now is cupcakes! Cupcakes not only have the ability to cut costs for the bride and groom but can add a little fun to your desert line and allow people to indulge a bit more than they would with a slice of cake. My favorites are the create your own cupcake bars like these.

  1 / 2 & 3

There's also frozen treat options for the ice creams gals out there, like me!. From DIY ice cream parlors to ice creams sandwiches and popsicle, any guest would be delighted to have one of these cool options. The packaging on the ice cream sandwich could also serve as a thank you note or a way to add your monogram.

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Are you like me, and can't wait to try some deserts? Are you offering a variety of deserts or sticking to a classic cake? Let me know ladies!

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E&I Bride: Ashley

I'm super excited today to announce our newest E&I bride :) Her style is a bit crafty and a bit vintage modern. She is at the beginning of planning her wedding and is currently looking for the perfect venue to have her big day, which will be held in the Central Valley of California. Right now she is looking at a Castle in the area (yep, A castle!) but that backdrop changes her style choices a bit. (Finding the venue is definitely the make-break part of the whole process.) I'm am so excited to follow along on her journey wedding planning and tying the knot. I love watching the process from beginning to end especially a gal that has such great style. So, meet Ashley, our new Thursday Bride! Gorgeous, isn't she? (red-hair-twinsies!)

Connect with her: Twitter :: Pinterest :: Blog

And to round out this fabulous welcome post, check out some of her inspiration for her wedding. I just love the fun and fabulous feel of everything she has going! I'm excited to see where this all takes her and how the wedding comes together. Follow more of her wedding inspiration on Pinterest.

Source: Cake, Flowers + Invite, Cotton, Honey, Place Setting, Table Number, Books, Couple, Flowers

Ashley will be here next Thursday for her first blog post so stay tuned! In the meantime let's give her a huge welcome and wish her luck on this amazing journey.