Happy Birthday Mom!

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mom today!

I love you Mom!
xoxo

Wedding Song of the Day - July 28, 2009

I thought the song I Said by Michelle Featherstone was a perfect song for today's board. It's sweet and airy, just like today's soft white palette! If you haven't heard Michelle Featherstone, she also has the BEST wedding song called We Are Man And Wife.

Warm Whites

Please don't think I've gotten lazy, I've just been spending a tremendous amount of time in the last few days trying to research some local venues. As it turns out, some of my favorite venues right now aren't so local afterall. We're going to make arrangements to go visit some of those venues over the next couple of weeks. Keep your eyes peeled, because as we narrow it down, I plan to show some lovely venues scattered around the Spokane and Seattle areas. Maybe even western Montana!

*****

Today's palette is all about pure, delicate and lovely white. This board is full of warm white, ivory, cream, and white chocolate.

There's something breezy and effortlessly elegant about white. With this board I emphasized dainty and feminine with bite-sized sweets and floral accents.

{click to enlarge}

I am in love with well done candy buffets. I think the colorful buffets are a ton of fun, but there's something both bridal and comforting about an all white dessert buffet.

The sweets I'm showcasing here are by two of my favorite event planners: Amy Atlas and Lollipop Events.

The gorgeous ice cylinder full of branches used to chill the bottle was photographed by the insanely talented Kathryn Kleinman.

Martha Stewart provided the delicate pressed sugar boxes and the Mexican wedding cakes.

The featured Etsy crafter of the day is Mandizzle. That's the beautiful girl in the center of the board who makes those gorgeous floral hair accents. She even looks like a blushing bride! The three pieces shown are called The Bloom (on top), The Bliss (bottom left) and one of my personal favorites, The Cora (in the center and on the bottom.)

I also wanted to share these fantastic Badgley Mischka shoes I found on Endless!

The best wedding entrance ever.

Dylan found this on YouTube the other day and insisted I watch it. When Dylan finds things on YouTube for me to watch, it is usually something funny, cute or weird... like the hedgehog swimming in the bathtub, or today he showed me a montage of animals stealing food from people. Basically, it's like something from America's Funniest Home Videos. When he got excited about this clip, I braced myself for something with stunt skateboarders landing on their faces or something of the sort, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the clip. I think I actually had a weird reaction to it, because I found myself (embarassingly) feeling a little choked up as I watched it. I just think it's so joyful, and it's obvious that they're all having fun and so happy to be there. Dylan and I don't even know if we're going to have attendants, but if we do, I hope they'd be willing to do this... even if we don't try to ask them to. Actually, I can picture a couple of my friends making their way down the aisle like rockstars. It would be Dylan that would have the biggest problem and would end up doing a nervous monkey dance down the aisle. (I call it his monkey dance because it involves a lot of wild arm waving over his head. It's not pretty, but he does it to make me laugh.)

So what do you think -- can you imagine making this kind of an entrance at your wedding?

I'm not sure we'd be brave enough, but I love it! Hats off to JK and their wedding entrance dance!

Bonus Wedding Song -- With Video!

I was just listening to some music clips and I ended up on YouTube looking for a song that I was curious about. I ended up stumbling across this video and I thought it was just too cute not to share!

You can click right here to get to My Idea Of Heaven by Leigh Nash on Amazon!

Wedding Song of the Day - July 23, 2009

Danika is probably going to think I'm nuts for choosing this song. I figured for a girl who wants a hippy style wedding dress and someone with a fondness for the "super random," this might just work.

Since I don't know her musical tastes at all, she's welcome to plug her ears to this and make up her own wedding soundtrack. Actually, she should probably do that last part anyway.

So without further ado, the wedding song of the day is Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney.

Burnt Orange and Brown (by special request)

One of my readers wrote me a note asking for help and advice with her upcoming wedding.

Here are the things I know about Danika and her fiance:

They're planning for a wedding in late December using burnt orange and brown for their colors.

They want plenty of unconventional mixed with some traditional elements. For example, they want ice cream instead of wedding cake. She doesn't consider herself a girly girl, but she has decided that her bridesmaids will have brown dresses and she's planning to have a hippy style vintage wedding gown. They want budget-friendly and down to earth.

Here is what I came up with for their wedding:

{click to enlarge}

To me, one of the trickiest elements is using a burnt orange and brown color palette in December. For a wedding in the dead of winter, it's nice to add warmth to a palette, but you don't want it to come across as a stereotypical autumn wedding. I was tempted to add a third color, but I wanted to keep this inspiration board true to what Danika had requested. By adding another color, it would be easier to distance these colors from an autumn palette. Fun color options could be pale or navy blue, light or bright green, cranberry, magenta, plum, or teal. I haven't done those exact combinations yet, but I do have a pumpkin and aubergine palette and an aqua, orange and brown palette that might help to give more ideas.

Danika wants plenty of candlelight, so a pretty and fragrant centerpiece idea may be tealight or votive candles nestled into small dishes full of coffee beans. In the picture near the top right, the jars are even wrapped with orange raffia bows. For winter, I think I would even use a luxurious velvet ribbon!

I was thinking that a fun way to keep the bridesmaids (and even the bride) warm for a light-hearted winter wedding would be cute cardigan sweaters. If the bridesmaids are wearing brown dresses, they could have burnt orange or off-white sweaters. For the bride, she could have her choice of off-white (whatever version of white that goes best with her dress), burnt orange or rich brown. The key would be to have nicely fitted sweaters that are feminine and not too thick or bulky.

Here are some of my favorite examples:

I love the lace detailing on this white Just Ginger lace trim cardigan from Nordstrom.

This Elbow Length Sleeve Pleated Cardigan by Banana Republic is a lighter orange, but the pleated detail and feminine style are lovely.

This Caslon Swing Cardigan from Nordstrom isn't the cardigan style I imagined, but I like this sweater. I've always liked swing style sweaters and jackets. If nothing else, the bride would at least have a cute sweater to wear in and out of the venue!

Don't let the picture of this Merino 4 Pocket Cardigan from JCrew fool you. It looks a little frumpy here, but it's actually a streamlined and flattering style.

I'm also a big fan of interesting wedding shoes. This couple is young and wanting to mix things up a bit, so I thought the chocolate brown Converse sneakers and some funky shoes for the bride were a nice touch. (The Converse and orange bridal shoes pictured were featured on one of my favorite blogs, Snippet and Ink.) The peeptoes pictured aren't ideal for a winter wedding, but I think these burnt orange Pia Stitched Flat by Pink Studio would be perfect for a hippy chic bride! Plus, they're less than $40!
For winter flower choices, my first thought was calla lilies. Actually, there are quite a few lily varieties that come in various shades of orange. I recently had a florist admit to me that Costco sold their flowers for cost (sometimes even cheaper than the wholesale florists), and I know they have assorted mini calla lilies for a reasonable price.

Serving ice cream at a winter wedding seems like it could be a challenge, so I thought I'd include some simple and tasty looking cupcakes as another nostalgic dessert option for people who are craving something cake-like. The chocolate cupcake with orange sprinkles is from Martha Stewart. The Swiss orange chocolate chip cupcake is from Alpineberry blog -- she even gives her recipe! If you really want to stay with a theme, you could even serve Swiss orange sherbet (orange sherbet with dark chocolate chips) by Dreyer's / Edy's.

Some warm ideas that also incorporate the color palette would be serving hot cocoa and spiced cider!


The rest of the details on today's inspiration board are from a variety of weddings on The Knot.

Ooo, and on one last note:

I LOVE argyle socks! (These are from the GAP.)

Wedding Song of the Day - July 21, 2009

One of my favorite elements of today's board is the beautiful luminscent quality of that lilac / periwinkle shade. It reminds me of the romantic glow of moonlight. As I daydreamed about a fitting song for today, I found myself thinking of the lyric, "It's not the pale moon that excites me, that thrills and delights me... Oh no, it's just the nearness of you." I think that might be the perfect song for today, so the wedding song of the day is the Nearness of You by Norah Jones.

Lilac, Bronze and Dark Chocolate Brown

When we got engaged, my first idea for a wedding color palette was lilac and dark chocolate brown. The few people I mentioned this to looked at me like I was crazy. This was before I had discovered the magic of inspiration boards, and I could not find good examples of the color combination I was imagining. I have gradually found a decent assortment of light purple with brown, copper and bronze wedding related pictures. This seems to be a particularly difficult color scheme to find in uniform, matching shades. I've decided to take Martha Stewart's cue and mix and match a bit. In this palette you'll find shades of purple that could be described as lilac, lavender, orchid, light violet, and maybe even periwinkle. I did find a lot of beautiful jewelry on Etsy that did a nice job of highlighting the color palette I was looking for, so I'm using extra Etsy crafts today.

{click to enlarge}

1. Lilac and brown themed boutonnieres by Martha Stewart. I love fiddlehead ferns!
2. Swiss meringue buttercream flower cupcakes by Martha Stewart.
3. A wedding cake decorated with fresh lilacs, but I can't remember where it came from.
4. Etsy Find: The Airy - double fluff chiffon headband by Mandizzle. Her lovely floral hair accessories are almost as gorgeous as she is!
5. Etsy Find: Lilac Opalescent Earrings by Candies64. I love their luminescent color.
6. Etsy Find: Romance Collection - Marianne Earrings by La Boite a Bijoux. I love the flowers combined with the opalescent gems.
7. Leafy placecards by Martha Stewart.
8. Etsy Find: Amethyst purple faceted glass earrings with copper by ShySiren. These have a pretty copper / bronze element.
9. Lilac, sweetpea, lamb's ear and lisianthus bouquet from Martha Stewart.
10. Etsy Find: Lilac drops by Kneehighs & Pigtails. These make an impact with the clarity of color and sharper facets.
11. Lovely lilac and brown stationery assortment by Martha Stewart.
12. Etsy Find: My Little Acorn earrings by AmberSky. Her jewelry has a beautiful vintage style. I love these -- lilac AND acorns!
13. Etsy Find: The Flora - layers of chiffon petals headband by Mandizzle.
14. Fresh lilacs!
15. Wedding cake with purple flowers (hydrangeas?) by Martha Stewart.
16. Etsy Find: Violet Beauties by bellalu0. I love this color so much!

Bonus Lilac Finds:

Lavender Butterflies Cake Wrap by Paper Orchid Stationery.

They call this Tiered Ruffle Chiffon Dress silver, but it looks pretty purple to me.

This lilac, gray and white seersucker bowtie is from JPress.

Indigo By Clarks Women's Tanzania Pump

Bonus Etsy Finds:

Bella Purple earrings by AmberSky.

Sweet Lilac Breeze earrings by dkjewels.

Vintage Wine Dance earrings by dkjewels.

Catherdral earrings by stregata.

Bijoux Necklace in Alexandrite by Kneehighs & Pigtails.

Soapbox Sunday -- Bridezillas?

Recently, I watched a couple of episodes of Bridezillas. If you haven't seen it, I think of it like a Jerry Springer version of weddings. It started to make me wonder about the average bride and how many women were out there who were that crazy about having a wedding that they forgot to think about the marriage that would be formed in the process.

I'm thrilled to be able to offer inspiration and ideas to other couples planning their weddings. I also know that when the details get overwhelming, it can be easy to lose sight. I'm not here to school anyone, because no one knows your relationship better than the two of you. I just hope that brides (and grooms) take a moment to consider.

If you are currently engaged, please have a few important discussions with your fiancé before you get too carried away. Here are a few necessary conversations to have with your fiancé before you get married:

Discuss family. Do you want children? Does your fiancé want children? If so, how many would you both like, and what kind of timeline are you imagining? If not, how are you going to prevent it from happening? If one says yes and one says no, how does that change your relationship? Is that a deal breaker? What about your families (parents, siblings, etc) -- where will they fit in? Where will you be spending the holidays? Will you alternate families or holidays every year? Will you try to visit both families for each holiday? Speaking of holidays and children, what about religion?

Discuss finances. Do either of you have debt? If so, who is going to pay for it, how, and when? What about your credit scores? I know it doesn’t sound romantic, but if you’re dreaming about buying a home together and one of you has bad credit, that bad credit score is applied to both of you and is what your loan will be based on. Who is going to pay the bills? Will you each handle your own personal bills, or will one of you write all of the checks? Does one of you make significantly more than the other? Will you split expenses evenly, or will one of you be taking on more financial responsibility? Will you share bank accounts, or maintain separate accounts? When it comes to large purchases, do you expect to always make the decision together? If so, what qualifies as a large purchase? Do the two of you agree on the answers to these questions, and if not, what are you going to do about it? What are your spending styles? Does one of you immediately blow their paycheck, while the other one counts every penny? Do you have a plan that you can both live with, or are you going to drive each other crazy? Is this a deal breaker?

Discuss living habits. For example, I tend to be a big mess and Dylan tends to be tidy. I’m not a total pig, but I tend to let things stack up. And then Dylan goes, “Ooo, stuff to organize!” and sorts it for me. Sometimes I drive him crazy, but mostly we do pretty well. Plus, we both agree that if we’re having company over that we’ll clean like crazy people and make sure everything is presentable. Who is going to do household chores? Who will do most of the cooking? Who will do the dishes, the laundry, and the household cleaning? Using us as an example again, I do most of the cooking and Dylan does the dishes. He vacuums and I do most of the laundry (unless he gets his work clothes really filthy, then he does it himself so that my head doesn’t explode.) If you already live together and have a pretty good idea of your fiancé’s personal habits, are you ready to deal with them forever? From all accounts, it’s not going to get any better.

So the bottom line is really get to know the person you're marrying. Don't rush into marriage because you're excited about having a wedding.

Don't be a Bridezilla...

...or I'll send squirrels to eat your cake.

Wedding Song of the Day - July 17, 2009

I chose this wedding song of the day for two reasons. One, because I think today's board is sophisticated and romantic and I think this song compliments those moods. Two, because today would be my Grandpa's birthday and he loved Tony Bennett. So this one's for him and for you!

Slate Blue, Cream and Silver

I couldn't make up my mind on what to call this palette. It could be slate blue or steel blue, the cream could be ivory, champagne, eggshell, pearl... the list goes on and on. At least the silver was pretty clear cut!

No matter what you call it, it's a color combination that I really like. Blue is supposed to symbolize love, fidelity, faithfulness, and purity of heart -- who wouldn't want those things included into their wedding? I think this particular shade of blue is sophisticated and elegant.

{click to enlarge}

Both of the lovely dresses are by Jim Hjelm. The one on the right with the flutter sleeves is actually a shorter gown, so it would be perfect for something like morning wedding with a brunch reception.

The two photos of the gardenia cake, and the succulent boutonniere are by Stephanie Williams Photography. I love the creamy gardenias. They're a beautiful flower to use on their own, and the bonus is that they're very fragrant.

Unfortunately, I can't remember where I found the jewel encrusted cake, but if someone does know, I'd love to give the person credit.

Etsy finds for today:

The slate blue mystic quartz accent necklace by ANORIGINALJEWELRY would be a lovely, simple "something blue."

The slate blue and rock crystal drop earrings are from Stacy Harkins. You've probably noticed by now that I'm fond of drop style earrings and I think these are a nice balance of crystal, silver and blue.

The Nephthys mystic slate blue quartz earrings on the far right by Blue Scarab Jewelry are another pretty option, especially if you're looking for a softer, more subtle blue.

Wedding Song of the Day - July 16, 2009

Today's board is cute and quirky, and so is today's song: The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson.

Kitschy Woodland Wedding Theme

I keep seeing all these cute kitschy woodland wedding details lately that I finally had to put it together into an inspiration board. Even if this theme isn't your style (and I know it won't be for everyone), today is a GREAT day of wonderful wedding finds. Make sure to check out some of the artists and shops I'm featuring today, because they're really exceptional.

{click to enlarge}

I really wanted to showcase Rifle Design today. They are responsible for the custom stationery designs featured in the center of the inspiration board, and the thank you cards above. I just really like their artwork. It has a sweet folk art and almost campy feel to it, but in a really good way. I love flora and fauna, and the idea of using custom artwork for wedding invitations. They were a big part of the inspiration for today's board.

Martha Stewart Weddings magazine this month featured a really whimsical wedding that included the fantastic butterfly bouquet, the dainty butterfly placecards, the brightly colored dessert buffet, and the perfectly coordinated groom. I love how free-spirited and playful all of their details are.

The lush berry patch photos with invitations and coordinated badges or buttons were taken by the very talented Tec Petaja. This is a silly example of his photography skills, but his work is gorgeous. If he gives me the thumbs up, I'll have to highlight some of his work in a future post. Lately I've been researching for local photographers and I'm having a hell of a time. I'm dying to find someone like Tec Petaja, Jose Villa, or Stephanie Williams in Washington state. If you know a fantastic fine art style wedding photographer, send me an email!

The perfect little toadstool boutonniere is a Fritts Rosenow Bespoke Boutonniere. They have some of the BEST non-floral boutonnieres I've ever seen. They really customize them for each guy's personality, and they are incredibly detailed.

The ornate and delicate butterfly cupcake wrap is by Paper Orchid Stationery.

The daniblack Wanda Slide Sandal with the red and white polka dots just reminded me of the cute toadstool details.

I love to bake (even though I haven't had much time to do it lately) and I went bonkers when I visited the newly opened Layer Cake Shop. Dylan and I are both huge animal lovers, we want to include acorns in our theme, and I am the squirrel queen. It's a long story. But regardless, all of those things combined made my heart go pitter-patter when I saw all of the adorable cookie cutters and fun cake decorations on their site. I'm waiting for them to get back to me about some acorn possibilities, because I'm all over that. They even have a July special for free shipping with a $50 purchase. Another really cool thing they carry are really inexpensive and cute labels like the ones below. Wouldn't those be great to label some home baked goodness, especially if you're giving away edible wedding favors?

Wedding Song of the Day - July 14, 2009

I'm sorry for the delay in posting today's song. I got sidetracked and then I had some technical difficulties, but I think everything is taken care of now.

I thought today's palette needed something soulful, so the wedding song of the day is Never Felt This Way by Brian McKnight or Alicia Keys. I thought it would be nice to have a male and female version so you could pick which one you prefer. The sample clips don't really do the songs justice, so if you like the clip, you'll like the full song even better!

Bottle Green and Dark Cherry Red

I've been brainstorming for this theme for a while, but it took a little extra time because I decided I needed to make two inspiration boards to really get the idea across the way I was hoping.

If you're planning an early July wedding, it's the perfect time to use fresh cherries. There are several delicious varieties of cherries available, but I looked for bing cherries for this palette. On the other hand, this color palette could be made really versatile for almost any season.

{click to enlarge}

Martha Stewart is responsible for the majority of luscious cherry desserts I used in this style board. The bing cherry mojitos look especially terrific!

The heart and star shaped pocket pies are actually from Williams-Sonoma. If you've got a knack for baking, what a cute DIY idea!

The fresh cherry topped wedding cake was from a real wedding on The Knot.

The individual boxes of cherries for wedding favors are by Intimate Weddings. I've just started exploring that page, but I'm definitely going to spend more time there. MS had a similar idea, but her cherry favors are in scalloped paper bags.

{click to enlarge}

I decided to call this color bottle green, but I would also consider it a tourmaline green. Tourmaline is one of my favorite stones, so that's what I searched for on Etsy to find some beautiful accessories.

Etsy finds (from left to right):

• Royal Ann Pearl Earrings by The Peach Tree (these are perfect for this theme!)
• Green Tourmaline White Gold Ring by mastergoldcraft (they use conflict-free diamonds!)
• Tessa Earrings with Green Quartz and Rock Crystal by L'atelier des Bijoux (I love the little green quartz rondelle beads!)
• Sterling Silver and Pearl Bauble Ring by TZTUDIO (you can custom order this ring in a ton of gorgeous color combos -- these would be great bridesmaid gifts!)

The Green Tourmaline Raw Circle Solitaire Ring pictured on the top and bottom of the center row is by singleBbeautiful. Her rings are gorgeous, and many of them are stackable. I love that they're simple, handcrafted and lovely. She also uses recycled metals and gives the option of conflict-free diamonds.

The gorgeous green dress, the burgundy satin halter dress, and the longer burgundy lace halter dress are from Amazon. They're all less than $100! The dress on the model is scarlet tissue taffeta by Lazaro.

And last but not least, the shoes are all from Endless.

From top to bottom:

Mia Mabel T-Strap Pumps in Hunter Green

Nine West Hearts Mary Janes in Dark Red

Seychelles Silver Spoon Leather Wedge in Green

Fun Bouquet Toss Song!

This song doesn't really relate to today's post, other than if you're light-hearted enough to serve snowcones at your wedding, you'll probably appreciate Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyonce as a sassy song to play during the bouquet toss.

I'm not sold on the idea of doing a bouquet toss at our wedding, but I think my girlfriends would find it more amusing if they got to get up and shake their booties to this song in the meantime.

Refreshing Summer Reception Idea!

The first aqua and orange style board I posted two days ago incorporated pictures from a circus themed wedding. It had me thinking about the circus, carnivals, and going to the fair on a hot summer day. It gave me a fun idea that I wanted to share with you, especially if you're planning a summer wedding: SNOWCONES!

I did a little search and found Fresher Than Fresh Snowcones.

How adorable would it be to have someone like Lindsay and her little snowcone trailer at your outdoor reception?

It sounds like they have some really tasty and unique flavor combinations, like watermelon basil, green tea pear, lemon prickly pear and espresso with Mexican cane sugar.

If you don't live in Kansas City, you'll have to do a local search for a snowcone vendor in your area. While you might not be lucky enough to find someone with freshly made syrups, it looks like there are some fun snowcone syrup flavors readily available online. I saw a list of syrups that included flavors like Lychee, Daiquiri, Mango Margarita, and Passion Fruit. I've even seen Wedding Cake and Red Velvet Cake flavors! It'd be a great way to incorporate your palette into your reception by choosing syrups that compliment your color scheme. On the other hand, I've also seen flavors with disturbingly mysterious names like Ninja Turtle, Tiger Blood, Spongebob Squarepants, Rock N Roll, Popeye and Silver Fox. I'd steer clear of those, even if they do match your colors. :-P

P.S. It could also be a delicious and refreshing grown-up treat to make snowcones with something like Kahlua or a fruity liqueur.

Wedding Song of the Day - July 11, 2009

I'm keeping the sky reference as I continue with part two of the aqua and orange palette. Today's song is Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch. I'm including two tracks of the same song. The first one is from Alexi's album and plays the 'orange sky' reference (fitting for today's theme), and the second one is from the OC soundtrack. I'm only including that version because it plays the part of the song that makes it a sweet wedding song, and possibly a song that you'll recognize from some poignant movie and television moments. I love the loop of lyrics where he sings, "in your love - my salvation lies - in your love."

Aqua, Orange and Yellow Wedding

I have decided to make a part two for the aqua and orange wedding theme, because I found so many cool possibilities.

Yesterday was aqua and orange, with dark brown accents. Today is aqua, orange, and yellow. I kept the orange yesterday a soft, almost coral color. Today the orange is brighter, ranging from papaya to persimmon. Speaking of tropical fruit, I think this would be a good island wedding palette.

{click to enlarge}

All of the larger photos and the flowers on this board are from a lovely wedding featured on amorology. I love that their tables are marked with cute names like Honey Buns and Lemon Drop, and that they decorated them in such a cute and simple way with feverfew flowers.

The gorgeous candy and dessert buffets were made by Sweet & Saucy Shop and Jesi Haack Weddings. Check out Sweet & Saucy's blog here and Jesi Haack Wedding's blog here. I wish they were all in my neighborhood, because their desserts and events look lovely!

The Spiegel Signature Graceful Jersey Empire-Waist Dress in Persimmon is available on Amazon for under $50. The aqua bridesmaid dress is by Watters.

The orange shoes are Diego di Lucca Ladonna Flats. The Velvet Angels Rainbow Room D'Orsay Pumps in Pool Blue might be perfect for your "something blue" if you're splurging.

My Etsy finds on this board are the aqua and tangerine glass lampwork bead bracelet by Steinbem and the Scrabble tile pendants called Mod Pop Flowers and Aqua Orange Paisley by Blue Finger Studios. I think these would all make cute little gifts for your bridesmaids. Blue Finger Studios is even offering a special right now that when you buy 3 pendants, you get the fourth one free. They have a ton to choose from, and from what I can see, they're all less than $10 - go nuts!

I think these earrings are pretty if you're looking for aqua with darker orange. They're called Exuberant by Designs by Autumn, made with apatite and carnelian briolettes.

I think this JPress bowtie is fun for this palette, too.

Wedding Song of the Day - July 10, 2009

The song for today is Sunrise by Norah Jones. This color theme reminds me of a great sunrise or sunset, and I like the laid-back, smiling sound of Norah's voice on this song. There's a playful and affectionate tone that seemed just right.

Aqua and Orange Wedding

I keep seeing the color combination of aqua and orange lately, and even though I'm not always big on orange, I love this palette. I have found so many great pictures, I think I may even make this a two part theme! I also included some dark brown accents on this board, but you could really play with this palette to customize it for spring, summer, or autumn.

{click to enlarge}

Some of my inspiration came from a really fun, whimsical circus themed wedding that was captured the photos of Josh Goleman. The details are great, including a kissing booth and the bride wearing a super short and flirty dress that you can almost picture up on the highwire. I'm also loving this trend of 'photo booth' style shots of wedding guests in funny poses or with interesting props. When we find a photographer, I'm going to have to see if we can make arrangements for something like that!

Another website that has some fantastic inspiration is amorology. I just discovered it recently, and it's definitely one of my new favorites. She recently posted a wedding with yellow, orange and aqua that I'm going to try to incorporate more in part two of this theme.

The cutesy eyelet lace look L-O-V-E sign, and the guest books in the lower right corner are from Darling Dexter, as are these color coordinated napkins:

Whitney (the voice of Darling Dexter) and her husband Dustin had a beautiful wedding with this color palette and tons of lovely DIY details.

The rest is from Etsy! I always like to include some handmade crafts into my themes, and I found a ton of great stuff using these colors!

• The orange rosette and aqua beaded necklace (called Scent of Lisabetta) is by Sora Designs.
  
• The tangerine chrysanthemum ring is by Gingeroni1.
  
• The orange / aqua stripe tie is by MeandMatilda.
  
• The funky bib style crocheted necklace is called Summer Statement by DaintyCrochetByAly. (Maybe I'm partial because we share a name?)
  
• The invitations are called Mum Madness by Decadent Designs.
  
• The turquoise button with coral flower earrings are by Sincerely Beaded.
  
• The coral branches picture is by ara133photography.
  
• The Clara earrings by JLeeOhioDesigns feature tiny briolette faceted citrine and moonstone with large blue topaz. While they are more expensive than what I usually try to feature here, her jewelry is really beautiful and I have to give Jennifer props for being a proud ASPCA supporter. Me too, Jennifer!
  
• A more budget friendly option could be the aqua chalcedony and orange carnelian drop earrings by The Gem Shoppe.
  
• I also think this Festival Felt Button Bracelet by Poor Robin is really cute with this theme:
  
  

I forgot to add this earlier, but I love love love these shoes with today's theme. They're John Fluevog Men's Rusnak in Vegas Dark Brown. I'm always happy when I can include some cool shoes or accessories for the guys!

Link Issues

If you've been reading my blog and you've gone to click on one of the links I've included and it hasn't worked, I apologize. I have no idea why, but every so often blogger.com decides to add their own addition to a few of my links, which makes the whole link invalid. I just went back through and checked all of my links, so I think now they should all be working properly. If there's an issue, please just drop me a quick email to let me know. I've been trying to give people credit for their stuff, so please don't think that I was trying to snub you or that I was just a moron who didn't know how to link. Blogger went wonky, but I'm hoping it won't happen again! I'll keep an eye on it.

Wedding Song of the Day - July 7, 2009

Since today's inspiration board is for Dylan and me, I'm going to put up a couple of our favorite wedding songs.

At Dylan's request, I'm including You're My Best Friend by Queen. It's one of his top wedding song picks. (You should see the dance he just did to it -- hehe!)

I'm also including the wedding song from our original inspiration board, just in case you missed it. I still think it's one of the best wedding songs ever. It's called We Are Man and Wife by Michelle Featherstone.

The next song is You Are the Best Thing by Ray Lamontagne. Love him!

And the last song is Question by Old 97'S. It has a really cute, aw shucks feeling to it.

Rustic Wedding with Birds and Acorns

I've been brainstorming over the last couple of days about our own wedding. Part of me imagines something very classy and elegant. While we are most definitely on a budget, I do have a keen eye for detail and I am a budget-shopper like you wouldn't believe. The other part of me loves quaint, charming and quirky. I'd like to be able to incorporate both elements, but it's a little harder than I would've imagined to find a good balance of both.

{click to enlarge}

Here are some of the key elements that I wanted to include in this inspiration board:

We live in "The Evergreen State" (Washington), so it's easy to imagine a woodsy element for our wedding. I'm a little too girly to go for full-blown rustic, but I like the idea of rustic with a touch of crafty cuteness. (Etsy, here I come!) I included pictures from Suzi Q (upper left corner) and Josh Goleman (lower right corner) to highlight a feeling of rustic elegance and whimsical romance.

Speaking of rustic elegance and crafty cuteness, I love these Penny Loves Kenny shoes! And they're less than $40!

As is probably apparent by now, I'm mildly obsessed with lovebird themes. I found the cute lovebird cake toppers at RedLightStudio on Etsy. The love bird ring nest is from Y&E Bridal on Etsy.

I designed the wedding invitation in the middle. It's harder to tell in this format, but it has a wood-grain background. I changed our names for privacy.

The acorn boutonniere, dessert tableau and the white chocolate speckled quail eggs are by Martha Stewart. I'm not sure how they did it, but they have a moss table covering on the tables that I think gives a great enchanted forest feeling.

If you saw my first inspiration board, you saw that we'd like to incorporate acorns into our wedding. When I saw this acorn cakelette pan at Williams-Sonoma, I thought they would make adorable wedding favors. I've baked them a few times now using different recipes ranging from a delicate maple flavor to a sweetly spicy pumpkin flavor. To add a little extra oomph, I brush the acorn caps with maple syrup and then dip them into raw turbinado sugar. (Although I didn't take this picture, or ever put my acorn cakelettes on the floor for a photo op.)

The oak branch and acorn candle holders retail for about $100 each, but I did some negotiating and I bought several of them for about a fourth of that! They're really high quality and heavy weight, and we're hoping to use them as part of our centerpieces if we can find a venue that allows us to use them. Otherwise, spoiler alert for friends and family -- you may be getting one of these for Christmas, or as a thank you for helping us with the wedding. Act surprised!

The earthy brown and green candy buffet is by Rebecca Thuss, one of the queens of event planning.