A Summer Morning Garden Wedding

David's family was in town this weekend and we got a chance to take everyone out to our wedding venue and look around. His mom seemed pleased with our 'summer morning garden wedding.' And suddenly I realized, OHHHH, we're doing a summer garden wedding. Right! This is a done thing! Even though Saturday night formal weddings are all the rage right now, tons of people have done morning garden weddings throughout the ages, so I have a wealth of images to draw on. And then it hit me, everything we really like goes perfectly with this. I don't want a big poofy ballgown dress with a train, David doesn't want a tux, we do want lots of fresh flowers, we want lots of sunlight and cheer, and we don't want to spend a fortune. The gods were smiling on us when they gave us this time slot! It's beshert!

So, in light of my brand new revelations, I'm posting a picture of a short and simple wedding dress that I love from Martha Stewart Weddings. I love the mid length length veil, the light pink flowers, and the sassy blue shoes. I haven't decided if I want a simple long lace dress (sans train) or a simple short satin dress, but both are perfect for a garden wedding.

Peonies and Polaroids Lovely RSVP Cards

You must check out the gorgeous RSVP cards that were just posted over at the ever lovely Peonies and Polaroids. They made them! So inspiring! Why pay someone to make something for you when you can make something this lovely and unique? (I know, I know, because it's a pain in the *ss to do it on your own!) But the result is staggeringly lovely.

A Little Bit of Magic

Speaking of whimsy, I love this photo of Sara & Martin's wedding over at One Love Photo. Heather's work is charming, whimsical, and pretty (and I admit it, I'm a sucker for pretty). I'm in love with Sara's wedding dress, which is of course a Chrissy Wai-Ching dress. David's brother is getting married this fall (it's a joyful year) and my future sister-in-law will be wearing a Wai-Ching dress. I would wear a Wai-Ching dress on almost every day of the year, but deep down I know I want something white and lace for my wedding day, so my search continues...

Found Inspiration: Whimsy (but sadly no monkeys)

This weekend was beautiful and sunny in San Francisco, so I got to go out and play a bit. Not David though, unless you count studying for law school finals as playing, which I do not. Anyway, I finally got to go to the Pirate Supply Store (826 Valencia) and I was reminded that one of the things I like best about San Francisco is it's delightful sense of play and whimsy. The sell lard! They sell penny whistles! They sell multi colored eye patches! Sadly, they do not sell parrots! Or monkeys!

I can hear you right now thinking to yourself: "This is nice and all lady, but how in the heck are you going to tie this back to weddings?" Well, ah-ha, I will and I can. David and I love both whimsy and all things ridiculous and we clearly need a healthy dose of it in our wedding. And I take inspiration where I can get it.

The Pirate Supply Store website has the most hilarious and least useful FAQ I have ever seen in my life. It's particularly unhelpful since it poses questions, but never answers them. I've decided that we clearly need to use this as inspiration for our wedding website FAQ, except we probably should make sure and answer all the questions. But, how can I resist questions this good:

“Is anything actually for sale?”
“I’m having trouble determining which items are for sale.”
“How do you stay in business?”
“Nobody actually buys anything here, do they?”
“Okay. This has to be a front for something, right?”
“Um. Uh. What in heck is going on here?”**
“Is this a gallery?”
“Is this a hardware store?”
“Oh! I get it! It’s a sailing supply shop, right?”
“Yes, but what is this place really?”

Now, I just have to figure out the wedding version of these FAQ.

**Clearly will apply to our wedding as well.

Less Sass

Forgive my light (and less sassy) posting today. I just worked for 19 hours straight. I'll be back next week with lots of posts, and dare I say... a little project. Watch yourself internets!

Not Monkeys, but Close

One more for the cake topper file. If there is anything David loves *almost* as much as monkeys, it's penguins! Rainsend over on Etsy makes these custom. We'd definitely want them to be a little less traditional penguins (no bows please), but I mean, they are pretty funny. And I like how the girl penguin is talktalktalking away. Not like anyone I know... achem... cough.

Simple Florals Volume II

It's lucky that I like simple flower arrangements, since we are doing our own. I love the silver vases used above. We will have to scour around and see if we can find vases like these (mismatched?) I've also found very passable plastic versions of these vases before, for around a dollar each. I like this arrangement as well, though we'll probably end up staying away from arrangements focused on roses.
I like this picture of a long table with florals and candles down the center, though I would want something with more color.

Photos via The Knot.

Modern Flowers Volume I

The joke is that I like old fashioned flowers and David likes modern flowers. (Neither of us are fond of post-modern flowers, which would, I suppose, be an empty vase). However, we both like dahlias. I think they look a little too much like Dr. Seuss flowers to have in my bouquet, but they make lovely arrangements. They grow in San Francisco in the summer, so we might find a way to work in their luscious bright colors.

Photo by Jessamyn Harris, via Brooklyn Bride.

This is not a kind thing to do to your bridesmaids.

So, I try really hard to take the excellent advice of Margaret Mason of Mighty Girl, which is you really don't want to write a negative blog, as you will get a negative readership, and that's a heck of a lot of energy to put into creating more negativity in the world.

But I will say that I see a lot of things out and about in the wedding world that, well, put me on edge. But I'm not going to post a picture and say "You there! With the conspicuous consumption! And the $1,500 centerpieces, you are FREAKING ME OUT!" Because that's someones wedding, and that's not fair. They are indeed freaking me out, but that is totally my problem. I'm sure my general cheapness and craftiness puts them on edge as well.

However, I feel like I can absolutely say that a fictional character is scaring the cr*p out of me, so: Carrie Bradshaw, WHAT are you doing? I really hope this is some nightmare-esq dream sequence from the Sex and the City movie. It's not so much the conspicuous consumption (It's Sex and the City*, after all) but the bridesmaid dresses! I find bridesmaid dresses a tad stressful to say the least... but... um... to quote my friend Kate "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: THE BIRDS AS A WEDDING is not my idea of eclectic but stylish."

*Full disclosure: I like Sex and the City. And of course I'll see the movie. I assume Mr. Big did not approve these bridesmaid dresses. Man has taste.
**Fuller disclosure: Conspicuous consumption really does freak me out, and it's what (I've discovered) I find the most unsettling about the wedding industry. Do I really need a Vera Wang gown, a ice sculpture, and 150 steaks??

Wedding Budget Wednesday: Deanna's Handmade Save the Dates

Planning a wedding without the internet strikes horror into my soul now! Ack! Thank goodness I did not get engaged in 1996! (also because I was 16! And my boyfriend had a drug problem!) But, I digress. What I meant to say is that you can get so many great ideas from so many uber-creative people just with a click of the mouse, and I love it. This weeks inspiration comes from Deanna, who illustrated and made all of her own paper goods. Go to her website and oogle them. Additionally, she made all of her paper goods for something crazy like $2, a rubber band, and some magic. Deanna is also having a budget-diy-Sunday-brunch wedding, which is exciting to me. Above is her save the date card. Not all of us are talented illustrators, but in the age of the internet there are so many things you can do on your own, or with the help of friends and family. We've asked one of our talented friends (hi Gina!) to be our official wedding artist, which will hopefully leave us with a way other then photographs to remember the day. We are asking another talented friend to help us with our Save The Dates, but that's all a bit hush-hush right now.

Wedding Awesomeness Elsewhere: The Dress Horrors

Via Indie Bride thread where did all the sleeves go?:

My grandmother and mother sat down together shortly after we announced our engagement and flipped through a bridal magazine to look at dresses. Grandma apparently spent the entire time talking about all the "nakedness" of the models in their strapless dresses. She kept asking my Mom where their jackets were. She even flipped to one designer's page and commented to Mom that "those are lovely nightgowns."

Indeed, Indie Bride. Indeed. And bedazzled, at that.

Boutonnières: or making a marriage legally binding.

I asked David this weekend what kind of Boutonnière he wanted. Perhaps something creative with twigs, or herbs, or dahlias? And he told me that actually, he didn't really want a boutonnière at all. It would make him feel like he was going to prom. So I started to tell him that of course he had to have one, that you couldn't even get married without one, obviously. And then I realized, damn it, the wedding industry pulled one over on me again. If he doesn't want one (and the various fathers don't mind) then why should I make him wear one? After all, since we are doing all the flowers ourselves it will save us work! What do you think, internets? Would the marriage even be valid without flowers on his lapel?

Photo of Rosemary and lavender boutonnière via The Knot.

Exciting Wedding Week

Last week was a exciting week for me in the world of wedding blogs. Snippet and Ink did a whole week devoted to wedding planning on a budget, which was super exciting for me. Above is her budget wedding brunch board (yay brunch!). I firmly believe budget wedding shouldn't be a bad thing, and it shouldn't limit your sense of style. I find it makes you extra creative if you know your resources have a limit. The wedding industry seems to be set up to make us feel badly about what we don't have, and to pressure us to spend more. Instead, shouldn't we feel grateful for all that we do have? Celebrating having found our life partner should be incredibly joyous whether we have cake and punch on the lawn of a church, raise a cold beer at a dive bar, or have dinner and dancing in a ballroom. Which is a round-about way of saying that I was super excited to have a blogger as talented and creative as Kathryn over at Snippet and Ink talking about budget weddings for a whole week. Hooray to that!
Additionally, Abby over at Style Me Pretty did a unique weddings week, and had some beautiful real weddings. Check them both out.

Something Rustic

I wanted to post a wedding idea with a rustic flare to celebrate our awesome weekend spent just a hour away from home in Point Reyes.
Wouldn't invites like these be lovely with a wedding like this?
In fact, if we had barrels of money to spend on our wedding, I wouldn't book a big hotel ballroom wedding. Instead I'd book a campsite or retreat for a weekend, put all our friends and loved ones up in cabins, and have a all night party on Saturday night, with tons of music and dancing.
Invites via Lovely Design (click over for a description of how she made them), second two pictures via Peonies and Polaroids.

More Crafty Cake Toppers

I love this! These cake toppers are custom made by Oilpainta over at Etsy to match the bride and groom.

Etsy makes my world more wonderful.

(Top Photo via Brooklyn Bride.)

Hints of the 1940's: Vintage Typewriter Keys

This is one of my favorite recent Martha Stewart Wedding ideas. This couple bought vintage typewriter keys off ebay, and used them to show what table people were seated out. David and I both love this, and are considering it, and other ways to use vintage typewriter keys. Cuff links, anyone?

Inspiration Board: Hints of the 1940's

I whipped up this inspiration board the other night while we were watching Foyle's War, a BBC series set in on the English coast during World War II. David and I are both (at least stylistically) drawn to the 1940's. Also, he has his undergraduate degree in history and has written on WWII. We both like the restraint of the styles of the period (which is not to say we want to live through rationing or air raids). Hints of this style might make it into the wedding.

More on these details coming soon!

Wedding Budget Wendsday: Not just naturally cheap, but a professionally thrifty

Apparently, there are maybe one or two people who have given me wedding advice who are convinced that I am off my rocker. There is, they say, no possible way to have a nice wedding in San Francisco and not spend the GNP of a small country to do it (it hasn't seemed to occur to them that I might not have access to a whole GNP, making the point moot, but I digress). Given this, I thought it might be only fair to share my "Oh Dear God you want me to throw you WHAT kind of party on WHAT amount of money?" bona fides.

I spent the last five years of my life working in fundraising for non profit theatres in New York City. Non profit theatres, in case you haven't noticed, are not rich, but they do have a lot of fundraisers. This means I have worked on and attended more galas then any non Upper East Side socialite ever should.

I have pulled together a 100 lot silent auction in three weeks. I have placed and double checked 350 place cards in a ballroom in stilettos in 15 minutes. I have design a floral centerpiece for under $7. I have thrown a dinner party, rented space, and bought alcohol for 50 guests on $500, in Manhattan. I never want to have to do any of those things again. Working with very little money, very little time, and very little support is awful. Working with people who will do anything to save a dollar, including disrespecting the talented artists and vendors making the party happen, sucks. But it does give you lots of experience and perspective.

However, the idea of throwing a wedding with a lot of time, a medium amount of money, and a ton of friends and family volunteering to help, is a joy. It's so exciting to get to plan a party our way! Having a lot of event experience just means that I know where I can cut back on costs, and where it makes sense not to cut. I'll post more tips as time goes on, but I wanted to let you know a little bit about my background. I know of what I speak.*

*David knows too. We used to run a theatre company and we threw a awesome gala together before we ever started dating. But that is another story for another time.

(Picture: a gala I co-chaired. In fact, the pink blur is me!)

Envelopes. I know, sometimes I get you so excited you faint.

My friend Lauren sent me this cool idea from Design*Sponge to go with our blackberry season wedding. We are designing our invitations, and my sister is hand letterpressing them all (hooray sister!), and we are thinking of using dark blue ink on cream paper. Lauren's excellent suggestion is that we use dark blue envelopes, and custom stamp the back. I love it! David and I are discussing what we should stamp, and our ideas currently include: the skyline of San Francisco, a blackberry vine motif, or some other motif that would go with the natural setting of or venue. Additionally, I'm fascinated that you can now order custom rubber stamps!

David also likes the way these envelopes are addressed (picture via Martha). Though if we've settled on one thing, it's using typewriter (font or the real thing) to address the envelopes.

** I must note. Miss Manners says: "Do not worry about whether the postage stamp on your invitations carries out the color scheme of your wedding. Nobody cares." I am aware this falls into the same catagory. But it's fun for us.

Cake, Yum.

I really like this cake. Simple with very clean lines. But mostly I like that it looks like food! I'm working my way up to posting a picture of a cake that will make you lick the screen of your computer.

Photo via Martha.

Personal Details: Coloring & Crayons

I recently read the excellent advice that people get wrapped up in the details of their wedding, but the details that make a wedding are the ones that reflect something about the couples personalities. You are not going to remember if the chair covers matched the bridesmaids dresses perfectly or what the elaborate centerpieces looked like (though you probably will remember the ice sculpture, but maybe not for the right reasons). But you will remember the photo display the couple had of their grandparents weddings, the centerpieces made out of the their favorite books, or their quirky first dance song.

With that in mind, I saw the picture above, and immediately thought, oh how cool! They made the table runner out of butcher paper so that people could color on it! Um, of course they didn't. But I LOVE coloring on butcher paper at restaurants (because I am secretly four years old), so of course I thought that. And now I think it's a cool idea. A table runner made of butcher paper, interspersed with small floral arrangements, and vases filled with crayons.

Hair Twist

I'm thinking of doing my hair like this for the wedding, though I'd use a real flower. Could I do this with a simple veil? I think yes.

Lovely hairpiece via Jennifer Behr.

Please define elopement. And use it in a sentence.

Once a week (at least while we were picking our venue, tough on a limited budget) one of us would say, oh hell, lets just elope. But then we found out even elopement isn't what it used to be! Now people sell "elopement packages." They offer you a lovely venue to say your vows, a photographer, and dinner for your closest family and friends. You bring the dress and the flowers.

You tell me what's wrong with this picture.

On the plus side, I'm sure $10,000 or so is considered a decent budget for today's more modest elopement.

Photo via flickr.

Happy, Happy

We had a engagement/ joint birthday party last night, with a stellar group of friends. It happened to be the first really warm day of spring, which was it's own present, and it was a tremendously joyous evening. Yay!

one, two, three, four, tell me if you love me more

I love the cootie catcher as wedding favor/ drunken reception entertainment idea. But what to put inside them? Dares? People you will marry? Funny enough, I knew David back when I played with cootie catchers on the bus, and I would have been weirded out if I got him as my "husband." Which would make it a more funny wedding favor. And clearly you can make them yourself. Hooray. Internets, what would you put inside?

Simple Styling (ah, free, I love your sweet whisper)

So the picture of the juice bar in the last post got me thinking. Presentation makes the difference between a average wedding (or event) and a stylish wedding. And presentation is free! You are going to have juice, or champagne, and glasses... so style them. Add a piece of fruit, line them up, and you have something simple and lovely.
Can you tell I'm still getting jazzed about a brunch wedding? I think the juice bar and champagne cocktail hour will be one of the best parts. I'm thinking we'll serve breakfast style appetizers, and then move inside for a light lunch.

Getting Excited About Brunch

So, we now have our wedding venue all booked, and it is just lovely. But, it turns out we are having a Brunch wedding, instead of a evening wedding. I was initially a little apprehensive about this (Would people still have fun? Would they dance? Oh dear), but my fantastic friends have been doing their best to cheer me up. So, I had to post this list of reasons to get excited that my friend Beck sent me. Hats are also off to Kate, who offered to go to brunch with me regularly, as wedding homework.

A Brunch Wedding will be fabulous!
1. Everyone loves mimosas - and it makes your champagne last a bit longer.
2. You can serve more variety in your food, because you have both breakfast and lunch to pull from.
3. You don't have to worry about extra lighting.
4. You get the ceremony part over with early and have more time to enjoy your party.
5. You have time afterward to maybe go out with friends - nothing like bar hopping in your wedding dress.
6. You actually won't have so many guests leaving early (they won't have to go to bed, or put children to bed, etc.)
7. You get to wear your dress longer.
8. You look better in photos earlier in the day because you haven't had gravity pulling on your face all day.
9. You can use a lot more bright colors and accents.
10. Most of your guests are from the 909. Free booze... you think they WON'T dance?
11. You are a morning person anyway.
12. It gives me an excellent favor idea - that's free, sort of. Since people will have the rest of the day available, you could make and print a brochure and map of the city and your's and David's favorite places.
13. Drinking in the morning is fun!

Brunch photos via Snippet and Ink.

Wedding Budget Wendsday: Cakes and Zeno's Paradox

I like this cake. I think it's sort of funny that I like this cake, because our idea is to go with something that looks really homemade. We think this new cakes as art trend is sort of silly. Don't you want a cake that makes you want to eat it, not one that looks like water lilies doing synchronized swimming in the shape of amorphous love? I mean, yuck. But this cake is simple and clean and modern, so I'll forgive it for not looking totally like food.

My general rule of wedding planning is this: If you wouldn't pay for something in the way presented to you in the real world, don't pay for it in the wedding world. It's probably a bridal scam. Apparently cakes like this routinely sell for $15 a slice. A SLICE! Who in the real world would buy a whole cake by the slice? Clearly you could argue there were just two slices in a cake, or infinite slices in the cake (hello Zeno's Paradox). I hate to be the one to do this, but I'm here to tell you that the emperor has no clothes.

Also, when, as a wedding guest have you ever had a encounter with a slice of cake that was worth $15? At best maybe you thought "hey that cakes pretty" and then "hey this cake actually tastes pretty good." And then Baby Got Back came on.

Shawl?

This is one more for the "It can be cold in the bay area in August" file. And I HATE any feeling of chill. I like the simple idea of a brightly colored shawl to go with my wedding dress. I'm sure I'll be wearing brightly colored shoes anyway.

Photo via One Love Photo.

Steal This Idea: Save The Dates

Today I discovered a very cool site: Spell With Flickr. I think this would be a super cool way to create save the date cards. Sadly, or luckily, for me I am awash in good ideas for our Save The Date cards, so I don't think this will make the cut. So, steal it already! And then send me the picture.

Cake Buffet?

So Jordan over at Oh Happy Day has me thinking... is a cake buffet the way to go? In my heart of hearts I'm a little tied to the iconic image of cutting the wedding cake, but this would be such a affordable stylish choice, and there would be lots of different things to try. Honestly, this looks much tastier then your average wedding cake. And of course we would still have the ceremonial cutting.

(PS, there will be no cake smooshing on faces.)

Guest Book Idea - Advent Calender Style

Snippet and Ink, a wedding blog that I can not heap enough praise on, has been doing fantastic real wedding Saturdays. This week they had a wedding that looked, well, a little out of my price range. But! They had this killer advent calender style guest book that I just loved. There are a million cool ideas going around these days for creative guest books, but I like this one because it would utilize my crafty collaging skills, and because it would create a neat piece of art to hang at home.

Wedding Dress Shopping, Round One

I must have done something good in the world, because when I went wedding dress shopping for the first time this weekend, I got the kindest loveliest woman to help me with the dresses. She didn't talk even once about "my big day," she told me that whatever I wore would be bridal and look beautiful, because I was the bride. And my mom got all teary the first time I cam out in a wedding dress.

That said, most of the dresses I saw looked like they were designed by a four year old girl. The little tiny designer clearly kept stamping her foot and saying "More ruffles! Longer train! Add some bows! Poofy-er! And I want a BIG tiara!" And then they sent in a 13 year old girl to bedazzle the dresses (and the veils, and the shoes).

What I learned: while I feel really traditional in the offbeat bride world because I want to wear a white dress and a veil, I feel wildly offbeat in the traditional bride world. I'm looking for a dress that 1) Isn't strapless (impossible!!) 2) Does not have and sparkly things on it or any appliqué 3) Is not poofy 4)Does not have a big train 5) Does not look like a negligee or stripper wear. Apparently I might have better luck if I asked for the whole ocean in a jar.

I'm going to go back to looking into getting a dress made.

I'll Drink To That

We've been down in LA this weekend toasting our engagement with Family and friends, and it's really been a treat.

Above, proving that you don't need expensive froofy centerpieces to have a good time. Photo by Studio 360.

Round Bouquets That I Love

I love the shape and style of these bouquets. I'm going to have to research how you build a bouquet with a round shape like these.

**Update** Our friend Beck knows all about floral design, and she's now officially Mistress of the Flowers. Ask, and you shall receive.
Top Image via the wonderful Anna Kuperburg, bottom Martha Stewart Weddings.