A few weeks ago Craig and I went hunting for light gray suits for him and the groomsmen to wear at our wedding. Of course what I thought would take the entire afternoon and multiple stores ended up taking just 15 minutes in the first store. I should have expected this from Craig. ;) My original plan was to find light gray suits for the men to rent for about $100 each. The only light gray suit that Jos. A. Banks has available for rental is actually a tux and for some reason it looks really silly to me because of the satin trim. I also thought it was way too formal for our casual “backyard” wedding. Craig didn’t love the idea of renting a light gray suit tux and was drawn to a medium gray suit on sale for $160. We thought that having each of the guys pay $60 more for a suit they could actually own and wear again sounded like a much better idea.
Of course being the visual person I am and having the vision of groomsmen in light gray suits dancing in my head I couldn’t picture our wedding party differently. Craig was ready to make the decision after 15 minutes at the store however I needed to go home and search for inspirational images to convince myself. I will just let the following pictures do the talking for me…
I was sold! Sign me up!! I love the casual but modern tone that the medium gray suits set in each picture. It also helped that the suit we liked was on sale from originally $550 and that the salesman would extend that price to all our out-of-state groomsmen and fathers. We went back the very next day to purchase Craig’s suit and by the end of the week Craig had ordered all of his groomsmen’s suits along with both our fathers’. All of the handsome men will wear the same suit, a white dress shirt and black shoes of their choosing, and colorful silk ties that match the bridesmaids.
It really shouldn’t surprise me that Craig found his suit in 15 minutes and 1 store when I found my wedding dress in 3 hours and 1 store. What can I say? When we see something we like we go for it and don’t look back! I will leave the cheesy reference to our relationship out… oops too late. ;) The groomsmen attire is another thing off the never ending, to do until the happy ending to do list. Still on the list: groomsmen’s ties and a fun boutonniere craft project!
image credits: Millie Holloman Photography | Our Labor of Love | Kellan Studios | Caroline Tran
Hello! I am back again and must apologize for the gap in Wedding Fridays. April turned out to be a busy month and it appears May will be just as packed, but I will try my best to post every Friday. As promised, I have returned with screenshots of our wedding website!
I spent some time trying to find a cute template from places like theknot.com, weddingwire.com, mywedding.com, and even weddingjojo.com, which has some really cute ones, but ultimately I wasn’t completely in love with the designs and I didn’t want to pay $15 a month either. As a result, I convinced myself that I could take a simple blogger template and customize it to meet my needs. As with most things that I think will be “simple”, this process turned out to be pretty time consuming, required a lot of work, and was way more difficult than I thought. Needless to say, there were points where I almost gave up! However, I pushed through and persevered through endless Google searches such as, “how do you remove…” and “how do you add image to background on blogger template.” In the end, I managed to create exactly what I wanted and am very happy with result! Take a look:
I purposely designed our website to match our Save the Dates and continue the “theme” of our wedding. Below is a screenshot of what the website looked like before I started customizing it. Not cute, right?
I started with removing the blogger bar at the top and then slowly transformed the rest with CSS , HTML and custom designed images by me. :) Blogger allows you to use tabs at the top of your website. Using this tool, I added athe following tabs: Welcome, About Us, Festivities, Wedding Info, Travel, Visit Raleigh, Registry and Guest Book.
The guest book is simply a blog post with the comment section retitled, “guest book.” Guest can just click on the “Sign Guest Book” to leave a cute note for Craig and I.
There you have it! This is the much abbreviated version of how I made our wedding website. I think anyone can create a cute website with a bit of web savvyiness, time and patience. Along with my wedding invitation design services I am also happy to design images for your wedding website, feel free to contact me if this is something that interests you!
Before I share pictures of our save the dates, let’s look back at the inspiration board I created before designing them. I ended up not being able to find a colorful fabric that I loved so I stuck with the color palette of coral and teal. I plan to still incorporate additional colors into our wedding day but felt it helped to stay to two colors for the save the dates.
The save the dates were sent tucked inside a coral, pointed flap envelope with handwritten mailing addresses and printed return address. I also included our signature ampersand “logo” on the upper left corner as a detail that will be carried throughout our wedding. Of course I had to use the Love: King and Queen of Heart stamps, so cute! A teal chevron envelope liner with an ampersand and our wedding date adds more detail and color to the inside of the envelope.
The two color letterpress save the date card has a mini teal envelope attached for holding the magnet. The guest pulls on the dotted coral ribbon to reveal the magnet. I am very happy with how the magnet turned out. Beautiful engagement pictures from Nancy Ray helped to make it an easy design task though!
Next week I will share our wedding website that I designed to go along with the design of our save the dates. I was set on modifying a blogger template for our website and despite initial frustration was able to pull it off! Love when that happens!
I have been pretty busy with finishing & mailing our save the dates (woohoo), starting and almost completing our wedding website (more on that later) and designing fun bridal shower and bachelorette invitations. Now that the save the dates are in the mail, I can finally blog about the wonderful letterpress class I took in late December. I have developed a serious love for letterpress printing and wanted to learn the skill myself. I took a full day class with Brian Allen of Officina Briani at his letterpress printing studio in Raleigh. I happen to be the only student signed up for that weekend’s class so I was able to print our save the dates!
I designed our save the dates using Adobe Illustrator as I typically do for stationery designs. This time however I converted the design into a black and white palette with each color in a separate artboard. I sent the PDF file to Boxcar to be made into a photopolymer plate. I brought the plates with me to the letterpress class with Brian Allen and together we aligned them on the aluminum base as seen below. This is just one plate for one color of the two-color letterpress save the dates.
After the plate was attached to the base and the base secured within the chase, the chase was then locked into the Gietz 12×18 platen press. Then it was time to mix inks! I brought a sample of the paper and envelopes I planned to use for our save the dates and we matched each to a Pantone color. It is hard to see in the picture but each Pantone color has a formula guide below it, so for the Pantone 170U we used 18.7% Warm Red, 6.3% Yellow and 75% Transparent White ink to create the coral ink for the save the date.
Once the ink was mixed it was added to the large rollers on the press and then came the tedious task of ensure proper placement of our 100% cotton, 110lb Crane Lettra paper. (Have I mentioned that I tend to be a paper snob? ;) ) 110lb refers to the extra weight and thickness of the paper which makes it great for a nice ink impression. It is so important to spend the time up front getting the perfect placement of the paper and paper guides so that when you are ready for the second ink color everything aligns properly. You also don’t want the design to be crooked on the paper. Once perfect, we printed the first ink color as you can see below and then cleaned all the rollers.
Next we removed the chase and the previous plate before adhering the second plate which had the design of the second color on it. Since we spent so much time getting the alignment perfect we were able to just lock the chase into place and do a few test prints. Brian is a skilled rockstar artisan and therefore made the whole process seem effortless, although I can attest to its difficulty and the patience required. The printing of the second color went quicker and we were able to print all 90 two-color save the dates in one day. Below is a sneak peak of what the save the dates looked like with both colors as I trimmed off the excess paper to create a full bleed (meaning the design goes to the edge of the paper).
I cannot speak highly enough of taking Brian Allen’s letterpress classes and recommend them to anyone interested. I learned so much and was able to actually letterpress print our save the dates myself! I know this level of involvement is not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to print our wedding invitations as well as to one day own a press. Yay, I finally shared a sneak peak of our save the dates and next Friday I will be back with the completed design!
Lately, I have been thinking about the layout of our wedding ceremony and reception in order to come up with the all comprehensive “to-dos before the I do” list. I love lists and make them all the time for work and home to keep me organized. Since we have checked off a lot of the big wedding to-do items it is only a matter of time before we start the smaller items. Thinking through a visual timeline and floor plan of our wedding has been helping me come up with things to add to the list. I am not ready to share the list just yet mostly because I am not ready to start it. ;) So I thought I would think out loud about my thoughts for the floor plan of the wedding and get some tips from my favorite readers!
The ceremony set up will be pretty standard with white fold up chairs set up to have an aisle down the middle of the lawn. After the short wedding ceremony I would like the guest to be directed to the wrap around porch for a “cocktail hour.” Since Craig and I will be doing a First Look we won’t be taking a bunch of pictures after the ceremony but I would like a few while the guest mingle for 30 minutes or so. After a drink on the wrap around porch the guest will then find their seats near the pool. I am currently loving long family style tables both for their cozy feel and clean lines but also to maximize the space in the backyard.
I think the tables might have to be rented but will check with our vendor to hopefully avoid the extra cost. The DJ will be along the fence with a 12′ x 12′ dance floor in front of him. I don’t plan to rent a dance floor to save money and I think the concrete will be just fine. The buffet will be along the wall across from the pool however the bar will be set up in another corner with more space for talking. Currently I am thinking about setting up a table with the wedding cake in the corner (see the picture above) so that it is special on its own. There is about 8 feet in that corner from the pool however I am still concern that our lovely photographer might back up into the pool? The guest would have to stand on the other side of the pool to watch us cut the cake.
I am still on the fence about whether or not to have a big send off or not. If we do a send off with bubbles, etc we could do so either at the front door to the house or a side path through the garden near the ceremony space. We aren’t going to have a spectacular get away car and probably will just get on the passenger bus that we are renting for all the guests. Wouldn’t it be silly to have a big send off and then just be chilling on the bus as guest get on it? Haha, I am not sure… what are your thoughts?
image credits: Google Maps | Harper Smith Photography via Kelly Oshiro | Sarah Yates
First off, sorry for the missing Wedding Fridays post last week I was busy working on our Save the Dates! More to come soon! Hopefully this juicy post will make up for it! You might remember that I had an appointment with David’s Bridal to try on wedding dresses this past Sunday. The first attempt to try on wedding dresses in December was foiled due to 6 inches of snow the day after Christmas. So with this blog post in mind as inspiration, my mom, sisters, step-mom and step-grandmother headed off to David’s Bridal!
To read the rest of this post you will have to click the, “read more” link below just in-case Craig ever decides to read my blog. (He doesn’t currently at all.) Craig and I plan to do a first look before the wedding ceremony, so I am not too concerned about him seeing the dress before hand but do want to save some surprises for the day of. :)
Today the high is 77 degrees Fahrenheit in North Carolina and it really gets me thinking of spring and sun and naturally of beautiful flowers. I love fresh cut flowers in bright colors and wish we had the budget to have elaborate tablescapes and altar stands but simply put, we don’t. Even if we did, would that really fit with our causal backyard wedding “theme”? (By the way, not a fan of the word, theme, but you know what I mean.) Luckily our venue is already naturally beautiful and filled with greenery. I do want to find a florist to create my bouquet and my bridesmaids bouquets because that is just one D.I.Y. that this bride doesn’t want to take on. ;) My friend Jen used a family friend who works at a local grocery store and her flowers were amazingly beautiful and cost effective. I definitely plan to meet with her family friend before meeting with any expensive florist in the area.
For my bridesmaids, I would like each to have a different color monochromatic bouquet. Each bridesmaid bouquet would be the same flower type and same color like the bouquet of ranunculus below. My favorite flowers are dahlias, ranunculus, garden spray roses, peonies (although I don’t think they are in season in the fall), and how fun would a bouquet of just yellow billy balls with yellow carnations be? I love the look of pretty ribbon at the top of the stems and then just the long bare stems. For my bouquet, I would like to pull inspiration from the left picture below and have a mixture of all the different types and colors of flowers that make up the bridesmaids bouquets. And of course I love the ribbon around the stems with extra ribbon hanging down. I really like the use of loose leaves and greenery in the bouquet too. It is very effortlessly and natural looking although I am sure it took a lot of work.
For the groomsmen and special family members I plan to create fabric boutonnieres like those available by Peppermint Cloud. Craig’s boutonniere will have a real red dahlia flower like I mentioned in this blog post because he is special and all. :)
As for the decor I would like either lose flower arrangements on the tables or separate small glass jars and individual flowers in each one. My thoughts are for the table arrangements to look effortlessly and almost like wild flowers. I plan to do a pretty fabric table runner on each table so I don’t need a lot of flowers to make the tables bright and colorful. I also have a new love for succulents (perhaps because the are the one plant I can keep alive…) so I would like to also include potted succulents in mercury vessels along the tables.
My thoughts are that I can manage the table flower arrangements and simply purchase the flowers from the farmers market 2 – 3 days before the wedding. To see what kind of selection the Raleigh Farmer’s Market tends to have in mid October I went last year and even bought a bouquet to take home. Despite the poor iPhone pictures you can see that there was plenty of colorful flowers available and for reasonable prices!
I am still iffy on whether or not I trust the Farmer’s Market to just have what I need the week of my wedding so my other thought is to buy bulk online. Websites like FiftyFlowers.com and Blooms by the Box offer bulk flowers at pretty good prices. The only downside would be the lack of variety because you have to buy each type of flower in bulk. I could probably talk my florist into selling me bulk flowers for the tables. Do you have any experience with buying bulk flowers or tips for doing your own wedding flowers?
image credits: florals: Honey and Poppies + photography: April Smith & Co | florals: Blossom & Branch + photography: Robert Wagner | florals: Zest Floral + Lauren Brooks Photography | florals: Chelsea Fuss + Nightingale Photography | photography: Kellie Kano | photography: Jessica Claire
The United States Postal Service has announced the new stamps to be released this year. I absolutely adore one of the new designs and hope to use it on our wedding invitations when we mail them this summer.
From the USPS press release, “The Garden of Love is ten different First-Class stamps depicting a colorful mosaic of flora and fauna in a garden setting will be issued May 19. These stamps are a continuation of the Love series, begun in 1973.
Award-winning illustrator José Ortega of New York City and Toronto depicts an abstract garden of bright flowers, a butterfly, a strawberry, and doves, interlaced with vines that run from one stamp to another. Each prominent element of the design is in the shape of a heart. The deep blue background is reminiscent of a brilliant summer sky. The word “Love” sits atop each stamp.
Ortega says, “Garden of Love depicts the abundance of life, its generosity, whose spirit is to be shared by all its creatures. Love’s definition is broader than romantic love. Love is that colorful, full feeling you get when you enjoy being a part of and sharing in the generosity of life.”
To create his design, Ortega made a digital file of his original pencil and marker drawings. Then he added color, improvising until the garden took shape. Ortega, a collector of decorative arts, says tapestries, textiles, and mosaics influenced his choice of colors and patterns.”
These stamps will be available for purchase on the USPS website along with the current Love series stamp, King and Queen of Hearts. I plan to use the King and Queen stamps for our Save the Dates. Who knew stamps could be so fun!?
image credits: USPS
Yummy! I could talk about cakes all day long as I have quite the sweet tooth however I will try to keep this short and sweet. Craig doesn’t have nearly the affection for cake goodness so he is leaving this decision in my hands. Muhaha. ;) When it comes to our wedding cake I want to keep it simple and on the smaller side. Since our wedding will be backyard, handmade chic and casual, I don’t think a 5 tier cake will look fitting. I really like the look of just 2 or 3 round tiers that are uneven in height but not slanted like the Ace of Cake type kinds. Classic and yummy and smashed in Craig’s face! (Oh yeah there will be cake face smashing!)
I do like the look of both butter cream frosting and fondant and have heard that fondant can taste pretty good. However to save costs we will just stick with butter cream. I like when the butter cream is applied in a pattern like the two cakes below. I am really in love with the top left cake in the picture below. I could just picture our cake with red dahlia flowers and pretty ribbon to match the ribbon through out the event.
For the cake stand I like the look of a simple glass or milk glass stand. The two below are 11.5 inches in diameter and would look so lovely with a ribbon tied around the base. Since our cake will be on the smaller size I think this is doable. From what I have read a 3 tier cake will feed about 50-75 people so that is a bit on the small size for our wedding of about 100-120 guests. My plan is to have a sheet cake in the back for extra cake. It won’t necessarily save us money because it will be the same kind of cake but will help me stick to my small cake vision. My family, like me, are big sweets lovers so I am sure there will be little leftover.
We won’t need to save the top tier because a lot of bakeries offer fresh cakes on your one year anniversary. I have heard that one year old cakes are never as yummy as you think. I have made a few appointments with local bakeries in the next few weeks to go cake tasting and get pricing. I haven’t even thought about cake flavors and fillings but I am not a big chocolate fan so our cake will most likely be other flavors. I will be sure to update you all when we have booked a vendor and finalize cake flavors and the design. I just love checking off wedding to dos and getting vendors booked.
image credits: Josh Goleman Photography | Maggie Austin Cake | Isabel Lawrence Photographers | SMS Photography | Crate and Barrel | Barking Sands Vintage
However, picking a DJ to play music at our ceremony and reception really doesn’t tickle my fancy. When my bridesmaids and I went to the bridal show we meet oodles of DJs and a very cute band called The Shakedown Band. As much as my two single sisters wanted the band to play at our wedding, our budget would not allow for a $2,000 band or any band for that matter. I like the idea of having a band a lot but unfortunately $2,000 is about average for a multiple people band and we just couldn’t make it work. Craig and I pretty much knew from the get go that we would be hiring a DJ to play music at the ceremony and reception and are pretty okay with it. Hey, we are easy people to please. ;) When it came to which DJ to hire, I was clueless and overwhelmed with the choices. We narrowed it down to four DJs solely based on price because even for a DJ our budget is on the smaller side. What can I say we splurged on the photographer, yummy catering + venue and sure to be stunning paper goods (I may be a bit bias) therefore we need to be savvy when it comes to the remaining wedding vendors. Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t on an iPod and cousin Jimmy size budget for music either.
After narrowing our search down to four I handed the reins over to my sexier half… Craig. This is one decision I just didn’t care to handle and trusted that Craig would take care of business despite his tendency to ask for 2Pac to be the only thing played at our ceremony. He did good and we have yet another vendor booked! Craig booked Anything Music to play music at our ceremony and reception. You can watch their cheesy video on their website and get a better feel for the company. I spoke with one of the owners at the bridal show and really got a great vibe from him and the company so I am very happy with Craig’s decision. Now to decide what songs to have them play for each moment of the evening and if we want lighting or a slide show provided by them. Did you have lighting at your wedding? I am not sure if we need the disco ball and colorful beat matching lights. Thoughts? Also, song suggestions!??
image credits: Nice Day Designs | Parada Creations