Butterfly Kisses

If bridesmaid gowns can have print, well then how about the bridal gowns? Maybe you are very much in love with butterflies. Well, then take what you love and give it wings and let it fly! Let your ideas soar!

Mod About You

I'm still not sure how I feel about the printed bridesmaid gowns, however I've been finding some cute ones lately. This one in fact, so full of color, inspired me to make a very mod-like board. The gown by La Femme boasts a late 60's style in pinks, orange, teal, and white. Why not have your bridemaids make a beautiful background for you in your white gown? In this case, I continued on the mod path and chose a square neck gown with belt by Allen Schwartz for the bride. Vintage styled invitations in orange and yellow were chosen and those colors with hints of pink flowed throughout whether with the signature drink, flowers, bowtie, or favor boxes. Inside the favor boxes, some vintage candy celebrating the 60's such as Starburst is a cute touch. Have fun with the shoes. I found these pink patent leather heels that matched a pink and white patent leather bag. Aside from the bride, another focal point of the room is usually the cake, so I went above and beyond with a very mod and odd colorful cake. This is for a bride with lots of personality or maybe for a bride who grew up in the 60's who is making her debut down the aisle now!

AUTUMMMN

With Autumn just around the corner, I'm looking forward to my most favorite time of year and I wanted to make a board inspired by that! After finding a gorgeous colored bridesmaid dress by Jim Hjelm, I was able to create a sultry and luxurious wedding that incorporates a lot of elements of this beautiful season.

I wanted this board to be flowing with richness whether it be through fabrics or colors, so I started with a strapless ballgown by Ian Stuart for the bride. I gave the bride and/or bridesmaids some feathers to carry that were in almost a nudeish color. This same nudeish color is carried in to the linens that were ruffled by Textile Furnishings. Gorgeous manzanita tree centerpieces have votive holders hanging from them with pops of orange calla lilies inside. The beautiful bouquet is made up mainly of orange and chartreuse colors in the roses, mums, and poms topped off with fiddlehead ferns. The cake is a glorious orange hue to match the decor and is embelished in gold. Surrounded by candle light, this wedding will surely be the one you FALL in love with!

Concrete Jungle of Love

City girl? Here's one for you! Inspired by the lighted streets of New York City, the black and white of newspaper print, and yellow taxi cabs lining the streets, this board is one for the IT girl, the socialite, the rebel bride who dares to be different! This wedding is for the bride not afraid to stand out. In fact, she DOES stand out! Look at this amazing black and white Pnina Tornai gown! It screams rockstar, fashionista, bride of the milenium! This racey/lacey black gown is perfect for your fashion forward bridesmaids. Something about it is so sensual yet also says "business" as in your girls are ready to work it for you! Yellow flower bouquets and centerpieces are appropriate glimmers of cheer to help make clean crisp straight lines. You can include yellow in many places whether it be the napkins, ribbon around the cake, furniture, on monogrammed stickers, and so on. Use odd furniture and unique tableware. The point is to be different - be unforgettable! And by all means, check out those marimekko sneakers for the groom! Talk about kickin some class! If you're a bride wearing that Pnina, your man needs something to make him stand out a little too! Well, it is your day...we'll just give him something to stand in! hehe. "Concrete jungles where dreams are made of"...

Green with Love

Are you an Earthy chick who's chic? Have I got a neat combo for you! Still taking some of the popular blues from the year such as cobalt and teal and paring them with chocolate brown and lime green, I've given you the water, the sky, and the land. These colors would surely put a neat twist on any outdoorsy wedding. The style of this board is preppy and lucious at the same time.

When I found the square brown pillow with lime green ruffles down the front, I knew I wanted squares and ruffles to round out this board. The Oscar de la Renta gown with cascading ruffles flaring out on the bottom contrasts yet matches perfectly with the neck ruffles on the top of the bridesmaid gown. The stream of flowers trickling down the cake tie everything together. More ruffles can be incorporated in linens, while squares can be incorporated in the actual tables, invitations, flower arrangements, etc. Think outside the box!

Never Saw Blue Like That Before

Cobalt Blue! One of the most popular colors of the year brought to you by the rich and famous who strolled the red carpet. While to me this seems almost an odd pick for a wedding color, it is after all "something blue" right? Now usually I use colors, items, shapes, etc. for inspiration, but this time around I actually used Lauren Conrad of the Hills and her trend-setting styles to get me on board. After all, this is a color probably first brought to life by "LC". I think it's safe to trust a girl with her own clothing line! So what I did was envisioned a wedding that would take place right in Beverly Hills. In this board, I focused more on the fancy cocktail hour or hours that could take place rather than the reception (which is something I don't normally do). I created a chic lounge-like atmosphere in one room with blue lighting and then an elaborate high-end ritzy atmosphere in another with a shiny screaming chandelier settled atop silky fancy cobalt blue furniture.

Lauren isn't so much of a girl you'd see in a poofy gown. She's more of a sophisticated Audrey Hepburn, but glammed up to the hilt. That being the case, I chose 'Brillance' by Kenneth Pool as the gown. This halter is blinged out just enough, but not over doing it in any way. The flowers she would carry would be a mixture of white and ivory and include blue, but be a brilliant design like the one seen here full of hydrangea, roses, cala lilies, and delphinium. The colors would bleed in to lilacs and finding the right shade of blue might not be the easiest thing to do, but blending colors of the same family is an excellent thing to do anyway. The cobalt blue bridesmaid dresses seemed to yearn for the perfect accessory - Kate Spade shoes! A formal invitation with again...just enough sparkle to give that sense of royalty...is what I chose to be the first impression to guests. A classy and sophisticated blue signature drink would lead off a nice toast and the cake would be a Hollywood Hills finish as it's very decked out and probably tastes as expensive as it looks.

Finally, as an added bonus, every good show needs a theme song, right? I'll give away a wonderful song that could be played at a wedding like this - "Never Saw Blue Like That Before" by Shawn Colvin. Might even be a cute song to play for the bridal party's dance *hint hint*.

Flying High at Eagle Ridge

In honor of their one year anniversary, I decided to highlight Danielle and Tim's wedding at the Eagle Ridge Golf Course in Lakewood, NJ. This venue has beautiful atmosphere to begin with with it's darker color decor, taupe-ish colored chairs with deep brown trim, complete with darker colored chandeliers and sconces. So bringing in a caramel color enhanced with champagne seen throughout the bridesmaids' wear and accessories was a great choice in sticking with the scheme. For another smart move, lightening things up with pops of bright and light pinks for flowers, made everything come together in a very luxurious way. Since the couple was headed to Hawaii on their honeymoon, you could spot pieces of the island here and there whether it be through small pineapple symbols or the giant pineapple fruit display. The cocktail hour was on the outdoor patio accompanied by a steel drum band to really bring in that islandy feel. And a Mets ice sculpture was incorporated for the groom. Also inside, beautiful linen invaded by swrils of champagne added to the vintage-type feel the bride hoped to incorporate. She really captured that aspect in her Maggie Sottero gown though embellished with a golden lace undtertone and caramel/gold beading. Tall elaborate centerpieces created even more romance in the room. And of course, the outdoors did lead to some beautiful snapshots!

Although this was a summer wedding, I think Eagle Ridge would also be great for an Autumn wedding!