Announcing --> The Lab iPhone App

It is time to let the cat out of the bag! The Lab is a bridal experience taking place in Sonoma, Ca on January 12. As one of the founders of the event, we have been working day and night creating the perfect event for brides! While we ramp up for our event, we have been secretly working on a little something special. I am so very excited to finally let you in on a little something I have been working very hard on for the last few months. The Lab iPhone App!

We are serious when we say that it is our top priority to connect brides with the right type of vendors. We want to showcase some of the best talent for you so you don't have to go and do all the research yourself. At The Lab we will have 6 spaces decked out to give you endless amounts of inspiration along with bites, great music and of course, our fashion show! We also offer a library of vendor portfolios to look through at your leisure. All this is good and all, but we wanted to take it a step further and give you a place to search through our extensive library of vendors before, during or after the event. See something you love while walking The Lab? With the app you can save to favorites or just go ahead and shoot them an email right then and there!

Download it now!

{Real E&I Wedding} Natalie + Bob's Photobooth Backdrop

Now that wedding season is in full swing, I am highly enjoying seeing some of the photos of work that I have done in previous weeks. Especially this one. This backdrop consumed me for weeks prior to the wedding. Everything from fabric choices to the mechanics of hanging 80 hoops from a pole. But it really was all worth it when I saw just how awesome it looked in photos. Below is my layout on the floor, a sea of hoops.

That combined with Gary Sexton Photography's ah-mazing photobooth setup makes quite the team, don't you think? ( I seriously can not get over how epic this is. He made it himself!) So if you are looking for a photobooth guy, you must contact him.

Here are some of the fun photos that were taken that night! It is so awesome seeing everyone enjoying themselves and seeing just how awesome that backdrop looked in photos.

Photo Credit: Gary Sexton Photography

So yes, I do get quite crafty sometimes (well, all the time) and I love making just about anything you could ever need or want. Now onto my next backdrop for a Malibu wedding in August. I think I finally chose the design and color palette :)

Malibu Wedding Inspiration

Two incredibly good friends of mine are trying the kont in August! Corey + Delancey are hosting a Malibu affair that is going to be romantic and gorgeous and all sorts of fun. We are going to stick with a vintage color palette and style at their ranch wedding venue, however I'm excited to say we will be adding in a few fun pops of color to make everything a little more wow-factor! Her entire inspiration board is on Pinterest, but check out what I am thinking with this collection of images below.

 

 

They have a ferris wheel on the property, so of course I'm dying to have them take a photo like this one! OMG, how amazing, right?

Photo Credit

{E&I Work} Haute Bride Grand Opening Celebration

The brand new Haute Bride salon opened in downtown Los Gatos a while back, and I was lucky enough to help plan the Grand Opening celebration. I have never been as excited for anything to happen in this industry as I was when Haute Bride opened in Los Gatos. Why? Because down here there just isn't as much going on, and I am happy that we now have one of the most amazing bridal salons in the area, right here where I live! SO EXCITED. In fact, one of my brides already went and picked out her dress there, and she just loved the whole experience.

Back to the Grand Opening! The space Lindsie has created is to-die-for gorgeous, that it really didn't need too many extra details, so I created a dessert table, takeaway bags for guests and one killer photobooth backdrop. The evening commenced with yummy drinks featuring Devotion Vodka, plenty of wine and a great time. Hayley Paige, a new bridal designer, came and we had a runway show featuring her first and current collections. Seriously, she has created so many gorgeous dresses, it is way too hard to choose a favorite.

Check out these fabulous photos (shot by U + ME + US Studios & Gavin Farrington Photography) documenting the entire night, and see if you can spot some of my crafty goodness in the mix!

All photos above taken by U + ME + US Studios :: All photos below taken by Gavin Farrington Photography

Love this photo of dress designer Hayley Paige and Haute Bride owner, Lindsie Jones! They look pretty awesome against that backdrop, right?

Check out the Grand Opening film shot by Frame 44 with a glimpse into the event as well as the fabulous Hayley Paige Runway Show!

Overall, the event was so much fun. If you are in need of a dress or some killer accessories, make sure to make an appointment with Haute Bride for your fashion needs. They are located right in downtown Los Gatos across from the movie theater in a fabulous shop. 40 N. Santa Cruz Ave. Los Gatos.

{E&I Work} Crafty Library Inspired Baby Shower

After tossing around a few ideas for this shower, Yasmin of Floral Theory and I landed on what you can see here. The amazing invitations were done by Aerialist Press, truly a talented duo.

From there I began crafting like crazy on the details to make sure the details were fabulous and fitting for such a fun event celebrating Erin's amazing little man. I'll try to post some DIY tutorials soon! The crowns were the most fun little DIY I did for this. There are so so many people to thank for contributing to this. From the food, to desserts and even the venue were a labor of love. We are lucky to know so many great and talented individuals up here.

Super excited that this baby shower was featured on Onto Baby!

Videography & Coordination Deal + Dipped Kitchenware

I've got an awesome offer to present to you fabulous brides today! If you are looking for someone to coordinate your wedding the month-of, and you are still on the hunt for a videographer, this is DEFINITELY for you :)

The Details:

Month-Of Coordination: From the timeline to the floor plan and set-up to clean-up I'm there to ensure your day goes off perfectly from beginning to end.

Videography: Matt of Frame 44 will come shoot your big day and edit a 5-9 minute highlights film. And if you are anything like me, you will be watching that film ALL the time throughout the years to come.

By booking the two of us together you are able to save $1,000. E-mail for details & pricing: allison@engagedandinspired.com

I recently found this Etsy shop Wind & Willow, and I just love all the pieces! Everything is wood dipped in paint (with some awesome colors). Seriously, how awesome would it be to eat a salad out of this bowl!? Perfect wedding gift :)

This week has been all around nuts. I thought when I finished planning my wedding that I would be good to go, but all I ever do now is design weddings! I'm not sure how I got here, but I love it.

I do this weird thing the day before a huge wedding where I start cleaning out my house. I'm not sure why, but I guess I have so much energy that I need to direct it somewhere :) So in the past week I have cleaned out my garage as well as my crafting closet. Two huge projects if I do say so. I'm actually really excited to take and post photos of my newly decorated office, but until then I wanted to do a little iPhone dump! Here is my week in 9 photos apparently. It might just be easier to follow me on Instagram!

Not sure if you have seen it yet, but I am the new DIY Blogger for The Knotty Bride! You can see my first DIY accomplishment over on her blog right now :) A Neon Chevron (ish) Table Runner. I'll be showing up each week to do something new, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

I'm loving this logo! Seeing as I am embarking upon a site redesign, I have been looking for inspiration everywhere. This is so pretty and funky. Love it. Design by Breanna Rose Design.

In way of the blog:

Kalista talks about how he proposed this week! (Super awesome story)

Ashley talks about decor and asks the age old question, to or to not have a coordinator.

Heather chats about wedding favors. I JUST LOVE wedding favors :)

Taya is getting to the details. We are talking table settings, that's right!

Kim posts a bachlorette photo shoot. Just you and your girls, how about that!

And Rachel, well Rachel is playing dress up! With some fun WHITE dresses. See her pics.

And there you have it! Our girls are busy busy planning their weddings and posting about all the awesome things they come across along the way! So spill it, what are you loving right now? Anything awesome that you have come across that you are definitely using for your wedding? let's spill the beans!

DIY Backyard Wedding by Pictilio + Engaged & Inspired

I wanted to post a little post about my sister's wedding with some of my favorite pics from the day. Pictilio really was incredible in the photography department and I swear they saved my life just a little bit :)

Behind the scenes, this whole process was crazy fast! I did just about every aspect of this wedding in just about 2 months. I mean EVERY aspect.

A few months back my sister got engaged. The two of them are quite busy with work so it sort of became my job to put this whole thing together. I went to LA before the wedding, we had coffee and I said, "Tell me about your wedding." Her response, "Umm why don't you tell me about my wedding!" We both laughed for a second then I spoke a mile a minute about all the ideas, asking my regular questions to find out what is next, and telling her about the place settings, the layout, and the invites I had printed and sent out.

If you don't know how a backyard wedding goes, it is nuts. Absolutely nuts. You have to create something out of nothing and that takes a lot of stuff. I brought over a lot of furniture, tons of pieces to decorate with and crafted a ton for this thing. My fabulous husband was in charge of the music and designing the programs for us. He's such a nice guy that one!

Fast-forward to the day of the wedding. Oh was that stressful. Everyone's nerves were on high so everyone just sort of set-up what they were supposed to set up then went to get ready. It was an odd dynamic and I think something that comes with the stress of "we have to create something out of nothing". And then the photographers arrived. I was far from ready and my sister was not too happy (it was POURING down rain. I know how that feels). So I told the photographers to just take her,  get them out of the house and go take some shots. They had found a spot to do the first look and they were super happy about it.

By the time they returned all the guests were seated, the rain had stopped, everything was done, the girls were lined up and ready to walk down the aisle. Perfect. :) From there it was sunny and gorgeous outside, everyone had a fabulous time, and all the stressing and craziness that had been going on inside me for about 2 months was over. She looked gorgeous and everyone was loving it.

I have said to before and I will say it again, a short engagement is a fabulous thing. You don't have time to get over-inspired, waver on decisions, or put off making decisions all together. I swear, things just get done :)

As for the music, we decided to create a Spotify playlist. Each playlist can be found here (CeremonyCocktail HourDinnerWedding Playlist)

Check out my sister's wedding featured on Green Wedding Shoes!

I will be posting some more DIY tutorials in the near future (check out the guest book DIY tutorial I posted here) but if you have any questions on where I got things and how I created this event, feel free to comment or e-mail allison@engagedandinspired.com and I am happy to answer any questions!

Picnic Anniversary Shoot at Holman Ranch

I posted about our amazing anniversary weekend in Carmel Valley. I'm so excited to share a bit more about our anniversary and how we spent our actual anniversary day! 

Ian designed and printed this for me for Christmas. I LOVE IT.

Months before our anniversary I was trying to figure out the perfect thing to do for us. I decided a picnic at Holman Ranch (our wedding venue) would be an amazing place to spend our day. After a few calls, I had it all worked out. Holman Ranch was going to let us use the property, our caterings (Paradise Catering) were going to create a yummy lunch for us, and Tatum Brooke agreed to come shoot some anniversary photos for us. The hardest part? Keeping the whole thing a surprise for MONTHS!

Anywho, I'm pretty excited that we have some photos of us (where I am not in a wedding dress) and I am even more excited that we were able to share our anniversary at the same spot that we shared our wedding day just one year earlier. Seeing as it rained like crazy on our wedding day, it was nice that our follow up trip had gorgeous warm weather for us to enjoy. (PS weather gods, you're basically a YEAR late on the nice weather in April.)

Check out our Anniversary Shoot featured on Love & Lavender.

Country Wedding at Dana Powers House

This one is a little harder to post about because I was there as the day-of coordinator and stylist to help pull this day off. Every piece of decor was made by hand by one incredibly passionate bride. Serious, she put endless hours into making her wedding perfect. I could have posted hundreds more photos if I had the space!

This bride-turned-friend is one of the sweetest, most hard-working gals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. When it came to her wedding style, she knew exactly what she wanted. Her and her husband spent hours upon hours crafting together to make everything perfect. You will see that she did a phenomenal job with the details tucked into every corner of Dana Powers House, quite an amazing barn.

The bride is selling a few of the decor items from this wedding. Feel free to e-mail her if there is something you see here and love.

A Denver Wedding With Homemade Favors

I am very excited about today's wedding. First off, I love the organic feel of this lovely Denver affair. Second, I had the opportunity to work with the bride on her favors. Like myself, she went with Jam favors. (peach....YUMMY) and when you see how cute these are, you will die! I made the little Thank You tags and lace toppers to created this lovely little favor. Check out our Etsy Shop. And thanks so much to Chris Humphreys, the photographer behind this, and the bride for allowing us to feature this wedding!