Calm and Centered {Choosing a Practical Centerpiece}

November 2, 2012

Of all the things I'm looking forward to about our wedding, I am incredibly excited that we will be able to serve our reception dinner family style (big portions of every dish on the table, rather than individually plated portions). My fiance is Italian, and serving our guests a wonderful family style meal has been important to us from the beginning. So fun! So simple! Wrong. Like every wedding decision, our choice to serve family style has had a domino affect on a number of other decisions. Most notably, our centerpieces need to have a small footprint. (Goodbye to all those low and chubby pink peonies and English roses I was lusting after all over Pinterest!) So, my latest challenge has been to find a centerpiece that fits our lush, botanical aesthetic, while keeping the table free for steaming bowls of polenta. Here are a few I've liked so far:

I couldn't resist this very Art Nouveau Parisian lantern...so dreamy!

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I've become a little obsessed with footed arrangements. These arrangements have an elegant, vintage feel to them, and allow for stunning florals, without the precious table space. Here are a few catching my eye this week (the first two were sent to me from--not taken by--our amazing engagement and wedding photographer Shang Chen).

Source: Tec Petaja Photography

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How have you made your centerpieces more practical?

Location Inspiration

October 31, 2012

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

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Source: left, top right, lower right

Source: H is & 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 Home Stretch {12 days left}

October 23, 2012

It's hard to believe that there are just 12 days left until my wedding day. They say that times flies by during this process, however I would like to specify that it speeds up once you hit your 3 month mark. Everything before that point felt organized, calm, and creative. I've hit a point where I simply just want to check everything off of my list so I can breathe easy and enjoy this time leading up to our big day. That being said, there are a number of loose ends that need to be addressed, and unexpected events that have happened.... for instance today I have to meet with my florist again because they completely missed the mark with what I asked for. Thank God I had the opportunity to do a final preview to make any last minute tweaks or changes! NOTE: ask for a preview of what your flowers will look like before hand! In retrospect I was much too trusting that they would understand my vision. I gave them multiple photos of what I wanted and they still messed up! Lesson learned- always get a preview of your linens and flowers.

To refresh your memory, this is the floral look I'm going for:

Photo Credits: Left, Bottom right

Photo Credits: Top, Bottom

The one thing I'm very proud of is how I've taken care of my health and body leading up to this point. From the get-go I did not want to be one of those brides that crash-dieted or went to extremes to look "perfect" on their wedding day. As Vinnie and I have discussed, "fit is the new sexy." For the past 11 months I have eaten well (not restricted myself), have exercised consistently, and taken care of my skin. Now that my big day is just around the corner I feel fantastic (inside and out) knowing I gave it my all! Here's a little inspiration board of what I've done to get in great shape and stay that way... I keep it pretty simple: Bar Method, Spin Class and jogging my dogs :)

photo credits: Top, bottom left, bottom right

This week is going to be crazy busy for me because I plan on finishing everything there is to be done so next week can be enjoyable! I am ready for the celebration, but most of all I'm excited for our ceremony. It's going to be personal, romantic, sweet and sentimental... many happy tears I'm sure.

Looking forward to my last post next week as a "bride-to-be!" yippee!

xo, Taya

Oregon Showers Bring July Flowers

July 25, 2012

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.

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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.

Source: left, right

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!

Pinky Flower Power

July 25, 2012

This past week I had the pleasure of having my first meeting with my amazing florist Jackie, of Jackie's Flowers. I haven't met with Jackie regarding my flower choices since December of last year, and I was surprised at how my choices in flower have changed.

Source: Left & Right

When I first started wedding planning and gathering inspiration on my Pintrest, I loved the look of light pink and ivory flowers, peonies and plush garden roses.

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As time has gone on and we have selected our bridesmaids & groomsman's attire, invitations, and all of the other color elements I decided that I wanted more variety in my color pallet. Enter the fabulous trend that is ombre.

Source: Left, Top, Bottom

I love the freedom that the ombre looks allows. We aren't stuck with matching one color but can have the full spectrum of color. Jackie and I worked through all of the color and flower options and I am very excited to incorporate the ombre color pallet with the vintage doors, bottles and wood crates that the amazing Jackie is going to create. Here's some of the inspiration that we are pulling from to bring the whole look together

Source: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Middle, Bottom Right

Source: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right

Heather

Sunshine Inspiration {Shopping for Flowers}

July 10, 2012

I will become Mrs. DiCarlo in just 117 days from now..... oh. em. gee. People have continued to ask me, "how's the planning going?" and I simply reply, "great!" That's the truth folks. Maybe I'm in denial about how fast time seems to be flying by, but I honestly don't feel stressed at all. All of the big stuff on my list has been taken care of. These next 117 days will be all about the details. This Thursday I'm going to visit a floral shop and linen store with Linda, my wedding planner, so I'm using today's post to do a little homework in preparation for our visit.

If you've followed along with my past posts about florals, you know that I love succulents. The difference between then and now is that I have confirmed that my colors are grey and yellow. Here is some of my inspiration...

Source: W-WeddingFlowers.com

Source: one, two, three

Source: left, right

Source: one, two, three

Source: Styleblueprint.com

One thing I learned from researching flowers is that they have some funny names, like: "Billy Balls" and "China mums." I have a feeling this is going to be a very educational experience for one who does not have a green thumb, like me....I'll keep you posted on how the trip went!

In the meantime, do you have any pointers or tips to help me prepare for my trip to the florist? Anything you wish you knew or did before you went? I am hoping that I can save some dough by getting some of the containers for the flowers on my own and giving them to the florist. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

Wedding Colors :: So Many to Choose From

June 13, 2012

I have to thank blogging for keeping me on track with my wedding planning. While I consider the planning process fun and something I look forward to, I still have had weeks where life gets crazy and I don't do much thinking about the wedding. All of a sudden I realize the week has flown by and I have done nothing. I think it's good to have those weeks - we shouldn't let planning completely consume us, but at the same time, we have to stay on track and a weekly check-in, even if it's just taking a few moments to think where you are and what is next to do, seems to be just the right amount. The colors/theme/feel was one thing I felt a little stuck on and without knowing that piece, I was having trouble envisioning everything. For me it was more than just picking two or three colors I liked together, I want everything to complement the venue, not compete with it. Even when I envisioned colors I like together, I didn't see how that translated into the wedding party, the table settings, etc. So, this past week, I didn't book any vendors or try on any wedding dresses, but I did do a lot of thinking...and internet searching. A couple nights ago my fiance and I sat down, each with a laptop, and talked about COLORS! We did a lot of searching and saying what we liked and didn't. Here's how we started - I listed the colors already at our venue. It's an outside setting, so most are the typical natural colors. They were: greens, blues, browns, white, tan, and grey/silver. To see pictures of our venue click here.

After about 30 minutes of searching, I was a little overwhelmed...so many amazing colors, so many ways to coordinate it all. This wasn't the first time I had thought about the wedding colors, but when I actually sat down to try to make some decisions, it was hard. Chris's main focus was what the guys would be wearing, but thankfully he was patient enough to listen to me think out loud about everything else and give his opinion. Dozens of searches later, we knew there were things we liked and others we could rule out, but we still weren't sure how it all came together. I liked the idea of having more of a 'color scheme' or 'palette' rather than having everything be two-three colors. When we stepped away from the computers and let everything sink in a little is when we finally figured it out. What we ended up liking the most and agreeing on is similar to the images below - neutrals, greys, pops of a bright poppy/orange and light blue accents. Here's how I envision it playing out...

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Bridal party: guys in grey, ladies in light.

Source: Groomsmen, Bridesmaids

I love the bright flowers and the pale blue glass.

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Here was our thought process behind the colors. It started with the wedding party attire. We knew we didn't want black suits because of the time of year (hot, mid-July) and the fact that we wanted more of a casual feel. We were thinking tans or greys and Chris preferred the grey. Easy! For the bridesmaid dresses, I was originally thinking a navy, but then I was having trouble imagining everything. Once I saw the wedding images above, I liked the lighter, more neutral look with the pops of bright colors. This was a harder decision for me. As far as silver vs. gold, we will go with silvers because our venue already has silver accents - the roof of the barn, the dance floor is a cement grey, etc. The flower and accent color inspiration comes from my infatuation with poppies. My mom's love of the Wizard of Oz rubbed off on me at an early age and I will never forget the fields of poppies. Over the past few years Chris and I have been going on runs through the Golden Gate Park and I would spot the state flower in the gardens of the Conservatory. I've heard the actual poppy flower doesn't hold up very well once it's cut, so I may have to go with other flowers, but the color is what I will be going for. The pale blue glass...I don't know where that came from. I just love the look of it with the bright colors!

Now that I picked the color scheme, I can envision everything coming together. What a good feeling!

How did you pick your wedding colors? Did it come easily for you?

A little shout out to my dear friends, Serena and Kevin, who used the neutral colors as a base for bright color accents. It worked so well with their Mexico location. Check out their feature on Style Me Pretty here.

May Love Always be in Bloom: Decor

May 31, 2012

As I said in last week's post, we had out first wedding planning meeting and it was with our florist/coordinator. Now that I've covered the bouquets and boutonnieres, let's talk about centerpieces. To give you a refresher, we were looking for a very natural, easy-breezy feeling and with our decor, we want it to be very romantic with a hint of modern-vintage. Here's a bit of inspiration to help you envision it.

Source: Hey Gorgeous, Style Me Pretty, Style Me Pretty

Source: The Bride's Cafe, Martha Stewart Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings

One of my biggest concerns about the decor is that I really didn't want it to be blingy. This was a relevant concern for two reasons. Trends here locally seems to be bling. At the bridal show, 99.9% of the companies and tablescapes were just that, swarovski crystals and rhinestones. Don't get me wrong, those things are perfectly fine. They just really aren't my taste. the second reason I worried about this is that our florist specializes in exotic flowers and does all the floral arrangements for the Miss California pageants.

Luckily after talking with her and showing her what we were looking for, our coordinator got us right away. She thought our vision not only fit us perfectly but would only enhance the beauty of our venue without overwhelming it. I truly feel after that meeting that this wedding is going to be everything we dreamed of for our special day.

Next on my to-do list is tackling our save-the-dates and asking my girls. I can't wait to share both with you.

What do you think? If you had or are having a coordinator, did they really help bring your vision together?

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May Love Always be in Bloom

May 24, 2012

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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The Lab :: Romatically Pink by Esla Events

May 21, 2012

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Back in January 3 gals (Erin of Bustle Events, Yasmin of Floral Theory and yours truly of Engaged & Inspired) banded together to bring the most amazing bridal event to Northern California, The Lab. I wanted to feature some of the incredible images from Esla Events of an inspiration board she brought to life at the event. She was a new-comer last year, but her talent was so evident and we knew she should be a perfect fit for what we were doing. Check out these AMAZING images from The Lab. Special thanks to Weddingbee for the inspiration board!

We are so excited to host The Lab Event once again next January! Watch out for the date, which we will be announcing soon.

Photographer: Meg Perotti