I was going to write about this topic at some point in the future but since Martha Weddings tweeted brides asking what the biggest challenge is I thought I’d talk about the theme issue now.

So here is my take on the topic: I guarantee that the first 3 months or so after you get engaged you will do nothing but scour every wedding website known to man and write down dozens of things you think are neat, cute, pretty and memorable.  Therefore, you will inevitably become totally confused and disheartened about the fact that you have no clue what you want.  Well, my tip is this, do all of that until you are blue in the face and then give yourself a break from the planning as it will all come together in time.  It all comes down to budget and the initial feeling of how you wanted the wedding to go.

Me and Mr.Pom initially wanted to go to an island and have a really small ceremony followed by a party closer to home.  Thinking all of it through I am now, after 4 months of deliberating with myself, going with a simple theme.  I never wanted to pick colors and I also never truly wanted a theme.  So here goes, I’m thinking of classic white – because it’s classic AND simple – with pops of yellow, because yellow brightens even the gloomiest days.  This would not only give the whole reception tent an airy feeling but it would also keep true to our original desire of having a simple and effortless wedding.  The fact that we are getting married on a lake only adds to the simplicity and fun.

So, since I can’t physically decorate the tent prior to the actual day I stumbled upon Pinterest and began pinning my ideas of white and yellow accents.  You can see my wedding pinboard here:

How has the theme process been for you?

As a kid, I was always pretty artsy. I started drawing/painting when I was really young, and always loved colors. My ‘favorite’ color successfully changed every year until I was about 12. When I always wanted to decorate my college dorm room, I’d end up with a mis-matched mess because I am not good with staying in one tonal range.

So, my wedding colors. I know that I will have to tackle this feat by picking a scheme and staying with it. I know that I want my bridesmaids in a neutral color. I had always envisioned black, but, with a Summer wedding, I’m not sure how I feel about that. So, I moved to charcoal.

I saw this image (from Martha Stewart Weddings), and LOVED it:

It’s bright while staying elegant, simplistic and yet fun. So, I thought: Charcoal, Yellow, White. BAM. Done.

Hence, Inspiration Board #1:

Photos by: A Cake Life, Down-to-Earth Paperworks, Enchanted Florist, Juliet Events, Maureen H. Hall Stationery and Invitations, WeddingWire, Willowdale Estate

However, then I started looking around at some other “bright, summery” colors that would match well with charcoal, and I started liking a bright coral-ish orange.

Hence, Inspiration Board #2

Photos by: Butterfly floral & event design, Christi Gulley Custom Floral Designs, Kelly & Company Event Planning, Wine Country Weddings, LuxSugar Bakery, Muse Events, petals and promises , Platinum Tiara

Yes, I know these schemes are relatively similar, but I go back and forth every day about which one I like better. The yellow scheme reminds me of a bit more rustic and vintage feel, while the orange I think might lend itself better to a non-rustic theme (which will be closer to what Olive Dude and I are having).

P.S. the shoes from the orange inspiration board are J. Crew, and I kinda just want them regardless.

So buds – thoughts? Which scheme do you like better?

I asked myself the same question once we announced our engagement and when I started this blog.

So, I thought I’d start of here the same place I started planning: GOOGLE!

The first thing I did was Google for ideas. Well, perhaps that’s not entirely true–I’ve been secretly watching bridal shows on TLC and HGTV for years. And truth be told, I put that ‘serious googleing’ for wedding ideas off, mainly because I didn’t want to scare Mr. Daisy away.

I spent a lot of my Christmas break finding inspiration. And here’s the (rather edited) result…

This is my favorite picture, and it has become the inspiration for almost all of my planning. I love it! It’s goofy and fun, with a vintage flare. And who needs a whole stack of serious looking wedding photos?

I suppose the best bit of advice I could give for starting out is to poke around the internet until things start to spark your interest and imagination. If you see a pattern starting to emerge, maybe you’ve found your theme. I found myself drawn to a lot of vintage styles & touches and decided that I wanted a vintage flare. Another great way to get ideas is to watch some of the Bridal TV shows that cover multiple weddings in one episode, and looking at bridal websites that cover a variety of different weddings/styles. I found it a great way to see things that I wanted, and others that I hated.

So obviously Valentine’s Day just passed, and I’m so happy to report that it was my last one as a single lady! Apple Sauce and I kept it low-key with a romantic meal at home and a bottle of prosecco; but don’t worry, we’ll pull out all the stops on the honeymoon

Anyway, with all the adorable paper crafts and red hearts hanging in every shop window, I was really inspired to do a Valentine’s Day-themed inspiration board. There is just something so romantic and timeless about soft, red hearts. Hope you enjoy!

I’m finding that I’m in the part of my planning process that requires real, concrete decisions. Inspirations that can be turned into a reality. A vision, for lack of a better word, of the wedding. So I headed on over to the Mosaic Maker and uploaded my favorite images from my inspiration file. And here’s what the result was:

… and now I’m trying to piece it all together. There’s a good emphasis here on food, and pretty details. I’m on the lookout for inexpensive striped straws. I’m trying to decide what to do about my hair but my hair trial isn’t for a few months still. I’m loving detailed cakes, but I know detailed cakes cost a fortune.  I’ve decided on peonies, ranuculus, and anemones for flowers. I’d love to make a DIY car trail, but with a rented limousine I’m not sure how that’ll work…

So as much as I’m trying to visualize, and make things concrete, sometimes I think all I have are loose ends.

Anyone else feel this way?

When I got married back in October of 2008 (omg that seems so long ago!) – the vintage trend was not even close to as “in” as it is now.  Although I find a lot of today’s trends truly stunning and gush over etsy.com, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have changed a single thing about my wedding.  BUT with that being said, I still love playing around with ideas on sites like WeddingWire and StyleMePretty.  Here’ s an iboard using the colors I used, but in a more vintage/shabby chic theme:

Do you think you’ll look back at the “trends” and wish you had done something different?

(credit: all images taken from Style Me Pretty gallery)

I’m not an ice cream person, I never have been. I don’t even really crave chocolate, my candy of choice has always been of the gummy variety. But, as far back as I can remember, I have LOVED cupcakes. Doesn’t matter the flavor, or the icing-to-cake ratio (although I prefer more cake than most) – I just love them.

Photos by: Dolce Baking Company, Simply Perfect Weddings, A Cake Life, B.R. Cohn Winery, Kupcakespot, Kristen Steele Photography

Olive Dude knew before he proposed that at our wedding their would be no traditional cake. Instead of giving me flowers throughout our dating for special circumstances or bad days, I’d come home to a little Georgetown Cupcake (which is who I’d LOVE to cater for my wedding-they live up to the hype) with my name on it. Bless his heart.

The one thing I am unsure of – how to still have the cake-cutting tradition. Olive Dude said we could just get a GIANT cupcake to cut into, but that to me might cross over into cheesy territory – and I’m pretty sure he was kidding anyway. My one thought is my friend Ava LOVES to bake (and is quite good at it). I am thinking she could bake us a little traditional cake that we can cut into for ceremony purposes, and freeze for our one year anniversary.

What are your thoughts on cupcakes instead of a cake? Also – when it comes to flavors – should you try and match your cupcakes to your wedding colors?

This is an inspiration board I put together. I’ve always loved grey and yellow together… and I knew it was “all the rage” this year for weddings, but little did I know that it would actually inspire ME!  Guess I’m smarter than I thought.

I’ve decided to have a kiiiiinda color scheme.  Invites and all paper goods will be grey, orange & yellow, and teal.  There will be teal accents at the wedding itself; but flowers will be a mixed bag of all sorts of bright colors.

What do you think?

Image Credits: WeddingBee | Grey Likes Weddings | Bride Junk | The Knot

What if I were getting married close to Christmas? The following would be my inspiration for a near Christmas wedding with dark green and gold.

I am quite happy with when and where we’re getting married, so don’t think this is my dream wedding. It’s just something that I think is beautiful. So if anyone needs Christmas wedding inspiration, feel free to share!

Newport, RI mansion at Christmas. Photo from blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com

Place setting found on countryliving.com

Stpcl photo from sxc.hu

Perfect Poinsettia invitation in Shamrock by Wedding Paper Divas

A beautiful wedding cake from aboutthecake.com

Mori Lee bridesmaid dress #478, photo from morilee.com

Mori Lee styl #2908, photo from morilee.com

I was pretty involved in the planning of my sister’s winter wedding and think that any season is beautiful for a wedding. We chose spring, but with the magazines and blogs all around it’s easy to imagine.

Do you have a “what if” wedding vision?

I’ve had a few months to visualize my wedding. Instead of trying to explain what I’m thinking, I thought it would be easier to show you. So I put together an inspiration board that I hope gets the picture across.

The colors I have decided to focus on are navy blue, sunshine yellow with a pop of red here and there.

(photo credits : weddings.theknot.com, aislinnevents.com, unveiledbridaldesigns.com, simplyperfectbymelissa.blogspot.com, maisiefantaisie.co.uk, stylehive.com, groomsoldseparately.com, flickr.com, www.etsy.com)

Here comes my in-depth recap of my bridesmatron experience!  My friend Green’s wedding ceremony and reception took place at the beautiful Flowerfield property in St James, Long Island, NY.

The ceremony began at 10:30am and was held outside around a beautiful white gazebo:

Source: http://www.flowerfield.com/

Source: http://www.flowerfield.com/

While the bridal party took some photos with Green & her Groom on the property after the ceremony…

Source: http://www.flowerfield.com

Source: http://www.flowerfield.com

…the guests moved inside for cocktail hour, which was held in an indoor atrium.

Source: http://www.flowerfield.com

Everyone then headed into the Ballroom for some great food, drink, music & dancing!  Since the reception was held in the afternoon, guests caught views of the beautiful gardens out of the many windows of the ballroom.

Source: http://www.flowerfield.com

The quality of food and service at Flowerfield was excellent!  The gardens are gorgeous and perfect for a spring or summer afternoon wedding.  I haven’t seen any of the professional proofs from Green’s wedding yet, but with such a picturesque setting I’m sure they’ll be gorgeous!

Have any readers out there attending any weddings in Long Island?  What is your favorite Long Island venue?  Has anyone attended a wedding at Flowerfield before???

As you may have read in some of my prior posts, I was invited to be a “bridesmatron” in my friend’s wedding this summer.  Let’s just call this friend “Green”, because that’s her favorite color!  Green’s mom did a great job organizing Green’s bridal shower, and included a lot of personal touches that I wanted to share with the garden!  There was marriage advice collected on pieces of paper that got folded up and put into a picnic basket with some picnic essentials, there was bridal bingo with scratch-off lotto tickets for the winners, there was a beautifully framed picture of Green and her fiance placed at the escort card table for all guests to see upon their arrival, there were green decorations at the tables and on the cake, there was a raffle for each table’s 3-piece candle set centerpiece (which I won!) and there were of course favors.  Green’s ceremony was held outdoors in Long Island in late August (more to come on that!), so Green’s mom gave each shower guest a beautiful wooden fan to help keep cool at the ceremony:

Photo taken by Me

Along with the fan came this cute poem:

Thank you for attending Green’s shower.
Now, we are looking forward to that special hour!
Please bring this fan as we celebrate the joining
of Green and her mate, on August 28th!

The fans were given out in little gift bags tied with Green ribbon (of course!) and a thank you charm:

Photo taken by Me

Also inside the bag was a set of Bamboo coasters:

Source: http://www.fashioncraft.com

Definitely some of the more useful shower favors I’ve seen!  Hope this post gave the rest of the garden some inspiration!

So I always knew that I would get my wedding dress custom made. And I don’t mean always as in since I’ve been engaged. I mean since I realized that I am one of the pickiest people on the face of the planet when it comes to dresses – so basically when I started to dress myself for special events. This little part of my personality still comes as a shock to most, as they all know me as a “Comfort Cootie.” That nickname was lovingly bestowed on me by Dahlia Dude, and has since stuck exceedingly well. And I must say that it rings true: I’m a jeans and tshirts kind of girl. Anyway, back to being picky.

When Dahlia Dude and I first started talking about getting married, I knew that I would never be happy with my dress unless I picked it to match the venue. And so, as our ideas of venues changed and evolved, so did my mental image of my dress. And you’d be surprised at how many mental images of wedding dresses I’ve had floating around in my head. I could probably open up a boutique at this point!!

When we finally decided on a beach wedding in Cape Town, I started working on narrowing down the images that I could find online into an inspiration board of dresses. And this is what I came up with:

All Dresses Taken from Designer Sites

As you can see, there are multiple common factors throughout my inspiration board. I found that I really liked lace, organza/chiffon (I think the flow-y factor on the beach will be gorgeous!!), flowers, and just simple design. Then, a few weeks later, I stumbled upon this on Kleinfeld’s website, and my jaw dropped:

Kleinfeld Bridal

Gorgeous, right? It was at this moment that I realized the extent of my love affair with lace. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m nowhere close to actually finalizing the design for my dress. I’m definitely going shopping once or twice to see if there’s anything that I’ve missed. Hopefully there isn’t as I don’t think my inspiration board can handle any more pictures!! But I’m definitely glad to be nailing down at least a general idea so that I can start talking to the seamstress.

Before I leave you to continue with your blog reading, I wanted to show you this quote. One of my good friends from waaaaay back in high school posted this as her Facebook status after I had bombarded her with dress pictures/questions (in my defense, she seemed to be enjoying herself!!). I loved it, and it definitely made me laugh, so hopefully it will bring some joy to ladies. Here goes:

PSA: Wedding dresses can be separated into four general categories: The “I’m a pretty pretty princess with Daddy’s check book.” ball gown wonderland of silk, crystals and scary price tags; the “I’m sure a nightgown will be fine, you can’t even tell!!” silk sheath that’s 90% static electricity; the “but it’s ~DESIGNER~!” abomination of overblown ego, wild dreams and left-over fabrics; and the ever-elusive “The Dress.”

I read that whenever wedding planning stress really gets to me, and it still makes me laugh…

So what about you ladies? Did you go with the ball gown? Lace? Satin? Silk? Organza? Chiffon? Did you choose your dress before or after you chose your venue? Did you look online before going to boutiques/bridal salons? Tell me about your experiences!!

When picking a color palette for our wedding I was apparently very tongue tied- so says my MOH/Invitation Goddess/Graphic Designer. MOH had to fill me in on how to properly name colors and carry around a palette so that I did not wind up with the wrong colors.

But first how was I supposed to pick colors!?! As a Doctor of Audiology student I am quite good with sounds and know exactly which songs to pick and what not to… but colors I believe I must have failed that section of Kindergarten. So Cherry Dude and I sat down to discuss. We came up with a bullet pointed list (ahhh how we love lists) of important points about our wedding: we wanted it to be intimate, simple, romantic, peaceful, rustic, cozy and personal. How does one put together a color scheme to fit that…? We were at a loss. So we thought of all the reasons we decided to marry in peaceful Sedona rather than here in the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix).

Souce

www.inspiringbrides.blogspot.com

I tried to make a Color Palette on my own… and this is what I ended up with:

Behr Paint Samples

That’s right folks a Behr paint sample which my MOH was none to pleased with. So she discussed with me colors …and between the photo of our favorite mountain, Cathedral Rock, and the beautiful inspiration board MOH came up with the most elegant color palate I could imagine and it was exactly what we wanted. It plays off the colors in the red rocks at sunset.

Made by MOH

Were you inspired by color? What made you choose your color palette?

Last weekend Periwinkle Dude and I attended a beautiful wedding.  After 11 months of engagement, our friends “E” and “B” tied the knot and we were so happy to be there to celebrate with them!  The ceremony and reception were held at the Sea Oaks Country Club, near the Jersey Shore.  The country club was a bright and open airy space, with windows that looked out onto the pristine golf course below.  Here is a shot of the ballroom from Sea Oak’s website:

Source: http://www.seaoakscc.com/

The bride was exceptionally organized throughout the entire planning process, and was pretty much finished with most of the big items only 4 months after the engagement!  …which left her a lot of time to work on DIY projects and add other personal touches.  A big hit with all the guests was the salt water taffy buffet:

Salt Water Taffy Buffet

These notes for the wedding cake slices were especially creative!

The bride wore a Mori Lee dress and looked beautiful in it.  Here is a picture from the bride and groom’s first dance, which shows the detail of her dress:

First Dance

But my favorite part of the wedding?  Oh, that’s easy…  The bride and groom were so happy to become husband and wife, and it was so inspiring to witness their joy.  They are so in love and really are perfect for one another.  I can say with certainly that “E” and “B” will share a long and happy marriage.

Ok….so after hours of deliberation (I mean seriously, it shouldn’t be that hard) I have chosen our colors! I took into account all the great advice I got from all of you.  Unfortunately, Dogwood Dude’s only advice was “Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy”… I resisted the urge to tell him that he wasn’t making me happy at that moment!  I decided to do some research into local flowers to see what we could get for a good price and what colors I had to choose from for those flowers.

So, here were the three choices I was looking at….and click through to see what we picked!

Instead of sticking with one entity I decided to combine elements of each! We have chosen to go with Coral, Turquoise/Tiffany Blue and White for our wedding.  It took a little while for me to really be able to visualize the decor, but here is a bit of my inspiration.

Clockwise from top left: Invitation by Buddy + Bean, bangles by Aurora Bijoux, necklace by Polished Two , bouquet by Bloom Flowers, cake by Cheryl Kleinman Cakes, bouquet found at The Knot, menu card from The Knot, cake image from Sarah McGee, centerpiece by Merriment Design and dress from JCrew. Center: table decor from Brides.com

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to get married during the holiday season.  There is something so magical about the time of year, and I think it would be a lot of fun to host a winter wedding in NYC.  Want to see the details that inspire my imaginary winter wedding?

This gown would be BEAUTIFUL for the bridesmaids…

Source: Nordstrom

And would coordinate perfectly with this satin and tulle flower girl dress…

Source: My Girl Dress

Of course as the bride I would need a faux fur capelet and muff set to keep me warm…

Source: David's Bridal

Source: David's Bridal

I would carry these beauties down the aisle…

Source: www.1800flowers.com

Centerpieces like this surrounded by candles would dress up the tables…

Source: www.1800flowers.com

And after eating our delicious cake…

Source: www.perfectweddingguide.com

Our guests would go home with these treats in hand…

Source: www.weddingfavorsunlimited.com

Source: www.opentip.com

Wow, what a wonderful winter wedding we would have!!!  :)

Has anyone else ever imagined planning an “alternate” wedding?  For those of you getting married this winter, where did your inspiration come from?

I’ve done a lot of posting about my October 31st “western” wedding, but not a lot about my November 7th Sikh wedding. I guess this is mainly due to the fact that many of the details for our Sikh wedding are being taken care of by Orchid Dude’s family – all I basically have to do is show up on the day of.

Our Sikh wedding and reception will be much less detailed than our western wedding. It is based more around celebrating the traditions of the religion where as our first wedding is based on a reflection of Orchid Dude and I as a couple – our tastes, our likes, our vision.

The colours for our ceremony are very traditional: I will be wearing a red and gold Lahenga and Chunni and Orchid Dude will be wearing a matching Sherwani and red turban. For our reception, I will be wearing a hot pink Sari and Orchid Dude will be changing into a suit.

Orchid Dude’s dad went to India to buy all of our clothing and jewelry so it was a complete surprise to me what everything would look like, but his choices were gorgeous. The rich colours and the beautiful detailing of the garments and jewelry is what inspired me for my latest board.

Photo credits: Project Wedding, Melissa McKinnon Photography & Kelly Vasami Photography

How do you put all of your ideas out into one visual place where you can see it all come together?? The coveted “Inspiration Board”.

Making an inspiration board was one of my favorite activities, so far (I’m eagerly awaiting cake tastings). There are several ways to create the boards—until I figured it out, I thought that everyone around me was so creative and I had no skills in the world of design. You can use a fun site like Polyvore and create a “fashion” board and put some looks together. I loved using this site to see what dresses and tuxes would look like together.  I’ve also enjoyed using the boards at the fabulous Wedding Wire (along with the guest tracker, budgeting, other inspiration).

This is my board courtesy of Polyvore:

You can also use Big Huge Labs and use “Mosaic Maker” within that program. This is best for creating a board using the images that have inspired you (you will have to upload them to a photo hosting site first) and customize it to fit your vision. It is easy-trust me! They walk you through everything and with a little trial and error; you too, will be the envy of new brides-to-be.

A Mosiac Maker sample (showing our engagement pics, because I did not heed my own advice and credit properly on some of my boards, so they remain hidden):

Something even more simple? Your PC office apps. I know that MAC has great tools too, but I’m a PC girl. Anyway, insert your photos into a .ppt file, arrange, “save as” a .jpg and voila! one.

A budding bride can never do enough research!! In the past seven months, I’ve “right clicked and saved” more times that I could ever count or ever repeat in my lifetime. Here is a suggestion- when you right click and save, save the name of the file/photo as the name of the photographer, bride, website where you found the picture, etc. If you use or post a photo that you don’t own the rights to, it is only proper to give credit to the bride/photographer, etc.

Wedding planning is very visual for me…. And this has help me to put my thoughts into a visual palette and see if it will “work” or not and what the overall vision can be.

Although I have chosen red and black as my wedding colours, I have always loved the elegance, richness and beauty of the colour purple. It has become one of the trendy wedding colours this year and I love it because it can be so versatile – from a soft lilac to a deep eggplant, there is a shade of purple to fit your every mood.

Inspired by the lavender being used for my upcoming shower, I had the urge to gratuitously search purple wedding photos and create this board – enjoy!

Photo Credits: Project Wedding & The Knot

I know our colors are navy and white.  But after I finished creating Rebecca and Akshay’s monograms, I had to create an inspiration board based on their colors.  I can’t help it, I think the colors are so romantic!  This is what I fear… we still have a year away and I keep finding myself craving other color motifs.  Have you changed your wedding colors more than once during planning?

Photo Credits: Couple on Vespa photo from Brides.com, Shoes photo from Southern Weddings, Tablescape by Enchanted Florist, Bouquet photo by Joe Mikos, Save The Date from With This Ring…, Place Setting by Enchanted Florist, Flower arrangement by Flush Designs, Invitation from Low Cost Weddings, Bouquet from Martha Stewart Weddings

*Make your own Inspiration Board on WeddingWire.

I’ve been seeing inspiration boards everywhere and think they are such a beautiful way to portray a theme or mood for an event. So, I thought I would try and make my first inspiration board based on my October 31st wedding.

Instead of going with obvious Halloween decor, we are using the colours red and black along with patterns such as damask and decor elements like candelabras and loads of candles to achieve a feeling of Halloween darkness but with an elegant, vintage twist.

Photo Credits: Taite Boudoir, Project Wedding, Martha Stewart, Style Me Pretty & Megan Harde Photography

Continuing my search for a color to complement my navy and white theme, here’s a color palette of navy and fuchsia.

We estimate that there will be about 20 kids at our wedding under the age of 10.  I ADORE children, I want 1 million of my own, however, I want the parents to be able to get wasted have fun at our wedding without chasing a 2-year-old around.  So, my solution:

1. 1 Nanny/2 assistants – provided by caterer

2. A kid’s tent to keep them corralled.

3. Kids tables inside the tent with all sort of goodies, games, DVD player, crayons, etc.

This is what I have in mind from the lovely Kate Parker:

From kateparkerweddings.com

But sorry Kate, I am doing this one on my own.  I am gaining FOUR sisters when I get married and 2 mothers – they are going to be my Kate! And I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

When we started planning the wedding, Lotus Dude and I had decided that our colors would be red, gold and grey.  We liked the combination of these colors, and it would be easy to incorporate them both in the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony and the more modern decor we had in mind for our reception.  Of course, things did not work out exactly as planned.

When I went shopping in India for a reception outfit, I wasn’t able to find anything in either red or gold that wasn’t too loud for my tastes.  However, I ended up finding the perfect outfit in green and gold. So we rolled with it and talked to our wedding coordinator, florist, venue and linen rental company about the change of colors to green, gold and grey for the reception.  Thankfully, everyone was accommodating and there were no problems!

I also saw that WeddingWire has a wonderful new tool to help in creating inspiration boards.  The inspiration board I made several months ago incorporates the red, gold and grey we’re using for the ceremony.  I just used the new tool to make another inspiration board for the reception, and here it is.

I have to say that this tool made it really easy to create the inspiration board!