Success at a sample sale

 Source: Friend of the Bride 

Well, I've found a dress! And in an unlikely place (I think) - at a Charity Sample Gown Sale. I don't remember exactly where I first heard about this particular sale, Brides Against Breast Cancer, but I remember thinking how fun it would be to make an event out of it even if I didn't find a dress. I reached out to a group of my friends, and my mom, and it turned out a bunch of us could all make the 3 hour trek down to Portland the weekend of the sale, so we decided to make a little trip out of it.

Approaching the weekend of the sale, I was excited and optimistic about finding a gown. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been. The sale was popular, and I'm not a teeny size, so my selections were more scarce than other girls. There were a lot of gowns, but some of them were pre-owned and not in great shape, so the options that were still pristine were even fewer. However, with a few tips, I found a gown I love that just needs a bit of seamstress alterations to make it perfect for me. I would totally recommend at least trying one of these sales because you can score an amazing deal. Here is what I would recommend:

- Go shopping ahead of time. This was so so important because it let me figure out not only what styles I liked, but also what looked good on me. As many brides experience, the style that you see pinned and LOVE may not be the best for your body type. Shopping at a couple salons gave me the chance to get some of my "dream dresses" out of my system and to realize that something else may be perfect fo rme.

- Make a cheat sheet. If you have friends and/or family shopping with you, create a cheat sheet of styles, fabrics, colors, etc to help them know which options to pull for you. This gave everyone a great start to know what I was looking for, even though I ended up trying on many many dresses and not every one stuck exactly to my guide. But, it also helped eliminate some dresses I knew weren't me at all.

- Go back one last time. I was about to throw in the towel on my search at the sale when we all decided to walk through the racks one more time. And I'm so glad I did, because after having seen a few good contenders, one caught my eye that I hadn't seen before. I don't know if another girl had been trying it on and it had just been put back on the rack, but it was just different enough to be perfect for me. I'm so glad I made that last lap.

I can't wait to share more about my wedding day look, but for now I'll share some of my favorite inspiration gowns from my Bridal Attire pinboard. They all have a romantic silhouette, sweetheart necklines, off-white color options, and architectural detailing that I love.

Source: Brides - Dress Nouvelle Amsale for Nordstrom

Source: Junko Yoshioka

Source: Paper & Pearls

You can always read more about my wedding journey at my personal blog, The Ravenna Girls.

Intimate Engagement Dinner Party

I just love the idea behind this shoot. An intimate get together with the members of your bridal party to get them acquainted  before the wedding day. And who doesn't love a good excuse to entertain? The idea behind this shoot was to give the most important people in the bride & groom's lives a chance to get to know each other and have a good time before their big day.

We teamed up to create a very intimate engagement dinner party. We know that when a couple gets engaged and they choose their bridal party, it sometimes consists of people that have never met. Most of the time, the bridal party doesn't meet until the rehearsal dinner. So, we created a dinner party to introduce the whole gang!

We were inspired by the classic black and white theme and added a sweet touch of honey! Vases were filled with honey and hand painted gold honey jars held informal posies. A ruffled cake added a modern touch, while still being very classic. The wedding party also got a chance to practice posing and getting comfortable in front of the camera.

Coordination and Florals: PEPLUM events&design Table Styling and Vintage Rentals: Dishie Rentals Photography: Jessica Bennett Photography Invitation: Rifle Paper Co Menu: Lalita Paperie+Design Cake: Buttercream and Roses Women's Wardrobe: Other People's Property Women's Styling: Dana Roquemore Men's Wardrobe & Styling: Josh Owen Hair & Make Up: Sarah Willis Models: Dan Risen | George Rutsyamuka | Josh Owen | Toya Ashayla | Courtney Hill | Dana Marie Roquemore

Sausalito Eco-Friendly Wedding by Sequins & Candy Photography

I have quite the treat for you today. Remember our oh-so-fabulous bride blogger Kalista? She was filled with so many ideas and had quite the vision for her wedding. Today we are here to share everything that came from her oh-so-special day and I promise they don't disappoint.

Kalista chose the most perfect Jenny Packham dress with a Sarah Seven hair piece. She DIYed so many beautiful things to make their special day unique. Get those Pin buttons ready because you're going to want to save tons of these ideas!

Photography by Sequins and Candy • Bridal Gown by Jenny Packham • Bridal Shoes by Beyond Skin • Bride’s Headband by Sarah Seven •  Bridesmaids Dresses by J. Crew • Makeup by Pretty by Julianne • Hair by Sproos Salon • Flowers by Gorgeous and Green • Officiant: Alison Hurwitz • Ceremony Music: Michael Stadler • Men’s Attire by J. Crew • Desserts by Fat Bottom Bakery and Cinnaholic • Catering by Katie Powers Catering • Reception Music: Fil Lorenz Orchestra • Venue: Headlands Center for the Arts

{doable} Do It Yourself

This week has been full of crafting for me. Over the past few months I've realized I should outsource some of the projects (thank you etsy!) and other projects were simple enough to do myself. Here are some of the images that have inspired me to get my DIY on, followed by my personal tips to get the jobs done.

Lavender bunches with escort cards

Sources: Top, Bottom 

Menus and a lace runner for the head table:

Sources: Left, Center, Right

Metallic assorted bottles for the welcome party:

Sources: Left, Right, Bottom

This is how it went for me...

DIY No-Sew Table Runner: SUPPLIES: Lace Fabric | Fabric Scissors | Tape Measure

I bought the lace fabric at a discount fabric store for $23. I measured the fabric to make sure it would run the length of the table and have enough to hang down on either side. I then cut the fabric to the width I wanted. I realized if I gathered the fabric, as shown, the edges would be hidden and therefore don't need to be finished. I will be using the jute twine from the escort cards to tie each end like in my inspiration image. This project worked well for me because we only have one farm table as our head table. The other tables are round and will just have the standard linens. If you wanted to do this for more tables, you could easily get two runners out of the width - just make sure you get the length you need so you don't have breaks in the fabric.

DIY Stamped & Embossed Menus: SUPPLIES: Stamps | Stamp Pad | Kraft Paper | Embossing Powder | Embossing Tool

I used stamps and the heat embossing powder and tool for the top oval and 'Menu' part. For the rest, I used the white pen to write it out. It took me a couple tries to get the layout and spacing just right. To help myself from writing at a slant, I used a piece of thicker, contrasting paper and held that under the line I was writing. Then, as I wrote each item, I watched the space between my line and the other piece of paper. Slant avoided! I did enough for two per table.

DIY Metallic Bottles: SUPPLIES: Assorted Bottles | Primer Spray | Metallic Spray

For my welcome party, I knew I wanted something cost effective and related to wine since it will be held at a Springhouse Cellar - a tasting room in Hood River, OR. I found the images of gold and silver wine and champagne bottles and HAD to give it a try.

I left the labels on and used a primer and then metallic spray bottles - I just went to my local paint store and they helped me figure out what to buy. In addition to the bottles, I also sprayed some corks to sprinkle around the bottles and I called my florist who said she would provide the single stems of white and green flowers. Easy! And all-in it will come to under $90 to decorate about six tables. Not bad, right?! *Hint: take your engagement ring off and don't do this the week before your wedding - or use some gloves!

DIY Lavender Bunch Escort Cards: SUPPLIES: Lavender Sprig | Jute Twine | Cloth Pins | Small Cards (used business card sized paper from Paper Source) | Hole Punch | Pen

I haven't done this project yet, but my florist recommended grouping couples and families onto one card - that way you have less to do and the display at the wedding won't be overwhelming.

Happy crafting and happy Fourth of July to you all!

So many great photographers

You guys - choosing a photographer is so hard. There are so so many talented photographers everywhere in the world and if you're anything like me, you're gasping in awe at all of their websites. Wedding photography is so dreamy that I was immediately drawn to pretty much every website I went to. After I found out which of the amazing Seattle photographers were in or near our budget, I scheduled coffee meetings with a few of my favorites. To me, chemistry is super importatn because I want to feel as comfortable as possible on our big day. Plus, with our long engagement we're working with our vendors for well over a year, so its important to me to bring together a group of people I really trust and consider friends. But, after having 3 great coffee meetings, I was still loving all their work.

In order to help me make the decision, I came up with a little trick. I knew that part of me was swayed by website design and personality, so I wanted to do something to make it a little more objective for myself to compare back against the chemistry portion.

So I made a shot list, and pulled my favorite of that category from the photographer's website and then put them in columns side by side. Here's the list:

- Couple Close Up

- Couple Long Shot (showing venue and atmosphere)

- Bridal Portrait

- Ceremony

- Couple Kissing

- Venue

- "Fun" shot (Detail, Candid, or photographic trick)

- Engagement Portait

Sources: Carina Skrobecki, Lifebox Studio, Stacy Jacobsen Photography

For me, this was such a great way to see the photographers style all together without other distractions. I asked my wedding party to weigh in (not telling them who was who), and we had fun deciding which style would be best for Erik and I. As you saw from our introduction post, we hired Carina Skrobecki and we have been SO SO happy ever since. I think all three of these talented folks would have been great, but Carina captures images in a way that is perfect for us, and she has become a friend along the way. I can't wait till the day I can share how she captures our wedding day.

Vendor Guide {Columbia River Gorge}

With the wedding quickly approaching, we have all our vendors solidified. It feels good to have everything set! Here are the vendors we'll be using. If you are getting married in the Columbia River Gorge area, I would highly recommend any of these people/companies...I did the research, so you don't have to :-) Welcome party location: Springhouse Cellar Winery - My fiancé and I love this place because they serve great, local wines and beers and the space is large enough for all the guests we wanted to invite. It also has the cool, laid-back vibe we wanted for the night before.

Source

Welcome party catering (they have a mobile brick oven!): Solstice Wood Fire Café

Source

Photographer: Sean Morrison

Source

Hair and makeup: Patricia of Foils Salon and Day Spa

Wedding venue, ceremony and reception: Mount Hood B&B

Sources:top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right

Day-of coordinator: Betheny Roberts of Mt. Hood B&B - She is technically 'day-of,' but has been so helpful answering all of my questions leading up to the wedding.

Florist: Lucy's Informal Flowers

Wedding catering: Boda's Kitchen

Source

DJ: Gavin Bruhn, The Aussie DJ 

Transportation: First Student

Invitation design: Kimberly Roth, Bright Room Studio

Wedding website: http://weduary.com

Wedding dress: Encore Bridal, San Francisco - new and nearly-new bridal dresses.

Dress alterations: Fichu, San Francisco

Groomsmen Suits: J.Crew Factory

Floral Alternatives

When we first starting putting our wedding budget together, something occurred to me that was a little surprising. I decided that I didn't want cut flowers. Now don't get me wrong, I think a lot of wedding florals are gorrrrgeous, but for a couple reasons I just didn't feel like they were right for our day. Mainly, I had so many other visual ideas, that I was afraid florals would be something to compete with many other things going on. Plus I was concerned over their temporary nature.

Shortly into planning, however, I talked to some friends in the industry who said they'd been to weddings without a floral component and things just felt stark. So they encouraged me that if I didn't want traditional cut flowers, I work some natural components into the decor in some way. After doing a little research I came up with three options:

1. Live Plants to fit in with a Pacific Northwest spring wedding. Instead of succulents, this would mean moss, ferns, and bulbs.

Source: Poppytalk

Source: The Natural Wedding Company

2. Paper flowers. There are a ton of amazing tutorials out there right now, and I like that these read as a little more bold and geometric.

Source: Icing Designs

Source: The House that Lars Built

3. Abstract installation: Something floral inspired but with a contemporary twist.

Source: You are my fave

Source: Anthropologie

I think right now I'm leaning toward a combination of paper flowers set amongst some maidenhair ferns for some nice contrast. Hopefully this idea can be easily interpreted into centerpieces and bouquets. I'll keep you all posted on how

Nearly Newlywed Introducing Accessories

Ok, is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen?? The wonderful ladies over at Nearly Newlywed sent me this custom drawing of me in my wedding dress. The talented Jennifer Vallez creates these custom sketches perfect for any bride after her wedding day. (Get one for yourself)

So I've told you all about Nearly Newlywed before but I can't help but sharing all the new goodies they have added! And by that, I mean ACCESSORIES! Oh ya, tons of glittery, glitzy, crystal amazingness can now be found on the same site that you find your perfect wedding dress for less. Here are a few of my faves, which are your faves? Shop Now.

Photographer Shot List

One month countdown to my wedding! It is getting close and left on my checklist are the fine details. Not necessities, but the fun stuff!

My wise sister-in-law-to-be, who just got married, recommended I put together a shot list for my photographer. Something I wouldn't have thought of, but a great idea. Seeing all the beautiful shots out there, I know I want to make a list so I'm 100% happy when I get my photos back.

Here are some I definitely want in the mix...

Closeups of me with the bouquet.

Sources: left, right

The details.

Source

The ring bearer and flower girl getting excited for their walk down the isle.

Source

Sun behind.

Sources: left, right

Cute candids.

Source

Cool shots featuring the sky at dusk.

Source

Did you do a shot list for your photographer?

Statement Necklaces for your Wedding

I do love a good statement piece and right now J. Crew is filled with them! Perfect pieces to match with a wedding dress, don't you think? Crystal Compilation Necklace is my favorite in the multi-color. It is my new favorite statement piece! Happy Shopping.

SHOP: Oliver Pendant, Crystal Compilation Necklace, Crystal Floral Statement