Thursday, December 30, 2010

Coral, grey, light blue- inspiration for my color scheme!

Blog readers, if you're out there, here are my colors. It always helps to find pictures that inspire you so you can figure out what looks you like, as my mother suggested. So, here is my inspiration! My colors are light grey, coral & light blue... or as one photo adequately labels the colors- coral, oyster and lagoon. Whatever. I am torn though... coral dresses or grey dresses with coral earrings and coral flowers? My only hesitation about coral dresses is the guys... they may not be too keen on coral vests and ties. It's not life or death though; they can deal. I do like the pop of color coral dresses have, but then again, it's an evening wedding so the effect is a bit different. I'll probably do a post on grey dresses- they are soooo the rage right now. SO hot. Like a hot potatoe.

Also, if you didn't know, I am doing a "taste of Florida" theme since my fiance and I kinda have 2 homes- our home in South Florida, and our roots in New Hampshire... so since the wedding is in NH, we are bringing a taste of our sunny Florida to the wedding.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Today

Going to pick up my wedding dress and be fitted for it for alterations- PUMPED! I chose it back in July. It was the first wedding dress I ever tried on. I tried others, went to other shops, but the one, well I just couldn't forget about it. It was, and is, perfect for me. It was reasonably priced for a wedding dress from Marry & Tux in Nashua, NH.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wedzu- why haven't I found you sooner?!


If you're a fan of etsy.com, you are bound to be a fan of wedzu.com. They sell the cutest, hand-made, indie-style decorations, accessories, dresses, ties, stationary... honestly, anything you can think of is on there. WARNING: You will be addicted. There, I warned you. So now I am letting you loose on your new favorite website. Above, I have made a collage so that you may sample the never-ending goodies available on wedzu.com.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Rununculus: the trendy swirly flower

Favorite. I love these.
My middle name is Rose, so as a kid, I would always draw a rose after Anna, and it looked like a spiral with a stem and two leaves.
(I guess that explains why I love the look and personality of rununculus... they look like my childhood perception of a rose!)

Friday, December 10, 2010

Theme: Vintage Weddings

I do not own these photos, but I compiled them from various sites online so that you could get a feel for the new wave of vintage weddings. Voila.Common decorations in the vintage theme include old books stacked, bird cages, birds and bird nests and bird cage veils. Yeah, lots of birds! Perfect for two lovebirds... hehe.
Anyways, you could also try cameo jewelry, lacy dresses, formal white or lace gloves, an old VW Beetle or Rolls Royce and cute stamped signs.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Flower ideas & trends

Well hello there! If you feel lost in the never-ending sea of flower choices, fear not. The flowers, styles and colors chosen say a lot about you and will really help add a certain vibe to your big day. They will sit neatly in your hands as you glide down the isle and grace the glossy finishes of your wedding photos. It's understandable if you're stressed, but it's nothing to overthink. It helps to look through photos of bouquets and see which ones appeal to you at first glance. That's a good indication that the flowers reflect the mood, theme and style you're going for!
Here are some trends that'll help get the ball rolling for you.

Neutral, timeless: Let's face it- you really can't go wrong with white at a wedding. The mix of the greys adds a frosted, elegant look. Roses are the timeless romantic flower, so if you're going for timeless, neutral and classy, this may be the right option for your bridal bouquet.
Mixing in non-floral elements: Adding media to the mix (feathers, charms, sea shells, beads...) give your bouquet a personalized look. If your wedding carries a beach theme, consider a dangling starfish or sea glass. If you have a vintage themed wedding, consider fluffy white feathers. You can make your bouquet personal and memorable.
Go with your favorites: Have you always just loved daisies? Or have tulips always been your favorite? Is your late grandmother's name Lily? For whatever reason, many girls have that one favorite flower for various reasons. Perhaps it's a memory, a name or just the sheer beauty of it. Stick to who you are- you really can't go wrong with your favorite blossoms in hand. My personal favorites- peonies, garden roses, ranuculus. A fistful of those, and I'd feel like a princess.

Fluffy clouds of bliss: Hydrangeas are one of a few different flowers that only take a few stems to make cloud-like, fluffy bouquets. They look romantic and dreamy, feminine and graceful. Simple and easy, one of the most beautiful, but also safe. If you dream of a wild, eye-popping, more dramatic bouquet but with that same fluffy look, try hydrangeas in blue or pink. But, in my opinion, these fit any occasion, formal or casual.

High contrast: Pink and navy has hit the scene hard this year, popping up at both chic downtown city weddings and coastal celebrations. The high contrast look is in. Even if your whole event is shades of white and champagne, adding a pop of color can give your event just a little spike of boldness and playfulness.

Sexy monogamy: Pictured below is a full bouquet of garden roses. Chosing bouquets full of a single type of flower eliminates the scrunity and overthinking that often happens to a bride in flower-world. The florist isn't trying to fit all kinds of flower's shapes together in this bouquet. Instead, the flowers, all being the same, naturally fit side by side and the result is a natural globe of heavenly elegance.

Non-floral bouquets: Buttons, feathers, fabric, beads- you name it, someone's tried it. The cost of flowers adds up REAL QUICK. Corey and I decided to for go the floral centerpieces and opted for white lanterns. For your bouquets, consider other options if money is tight!

Yellow billy balls: These fun, little yellow balls have been popping up at summer weddings like weeds. Not that they are anything like weeds, just very common. It's a very cool, modern trend. I've seen them in jars, boutineers and small bouquets. Consider looking outside the typical wedding flower list, and find something with a little more spunk, like yellow billy balls. When I see them, I think... summer vacation as a kid meets southern farmhouse meets flat in Manhattan meets ballerinas meets tennis meets sidebangs and libraries. Yep, that about sums it up.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Martha's done it again!


You can always rely on Martha Stewart to inspire your crafty, DIY, budget-savy and creative self. Check out this idea: Wrapping paper table runners !


Time to start visualizing...

Blog, meet Somerset Ballroom. I think the ceiling is really distinct and cool. Also, the photo below was obviously taken using a flash, so use your imagination to picture the mood lighting- the lights on the walls as shown, plus our lantern centerpieces. Lovely, just lovely. It's exciting to picture friends and family in those seats... eek! Speaking of seats, there is nothing wrong with those chairs, but I have to say, I just love the look of chair covers with the sashes! Since we have saved a lot of money on DJ and photographer compared to the normal price, we'll see if maybe we can sqeeze out some money for them! I will begin researching options, because often they are like 7 to 8 bucks per chair, but Corey's sister used ones that were around 2 dollars per chair! Awesome! I'll keep you poster, fellow budgeters!



Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Introducing...









The happy couple and our location! This is the Crowne Plaza in Nashua, NH (pictures taken from their website, cpnashua.com) where we will be celebrating our marriage on Aug. 5 next year! It's very beautiful.
The photo of the ballroom is the Somerset Ballroom. It's quite large, and since our reception will be 150 people or less and we are on a tight budget, we are only using half the ballroom. I will try to post photos of what that will look like when I get some, which will hopefully be soon. :) Happy planning to you!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

champagne and graphite

This dress by J. Crew is so simple and so, so pretty. The color is "champagne." I wonder if this looks too close to white or if it would be classy. Hm. Thoughts?

This dress is by J. Crew in a color called "graphite." I love gray bridesmaid dresses, with warm coral and pink tones in the bouquet.




Tips for saving $$$$ !!!

Here's what we really need- ways to save money. Economy, parents, life... yes there are endless reasons to save money when it coems to The Big Day.
Here are some things that have worked for us:
1. Find connections. Corey's sister had a DJ that she found through a friend. Because the DJ was friends with her friend (do you follow?), Corey's sister got a deal. It's nice to know a DJ! Anyways, he was great at her wedding. He wasn't too tacky or obnoxious, played great music, and just overall kept the night flowing smoothly. His normal rate was $1,500 but he played her wedding for $500. We called him up, said we loved his work at her wedding, and asked if we too could recieve that price. Well, he agreed! He is the friend of Corey's sister's friend (kinda getting far removed right?!) but I think he really appreciated the referrals going on in the family and wanted to help us out. Either way, I am glad we played on this connection and glad we just put ourselves out there and asked. Doesn't hurt to ask.
2. Negotiate, show them what the competition offered. This one hasn't been done yet, but it will be. A similar hotel offered an hour of open bar in the package for the same price. So, we're gonig to see what we can work out. They are sales people, don't forget.
3. Don't go straight to the experts. Find someone young and starting out. You have to decide what is most important. For example, I definitely want a DJ who knows his stuff, but I wouldn't mind getting a cheaper florist and skipping the limo. You know? Photography is one of the most important parts of a wedding. These photos will be cherished for a lifetime, so it's no small decision. We chose Peter Morse, a friend we met in college. He is starting up a new photography business, so his price was very affordable. But we didn't chose him only because of affordability; we looked at his work and found him to be a fantastic photographer with an artistic eye. It was a win-win. Because he hasn't had this business for years and is just starting out, we were able to snag a talented photographer, while still within our price range. You have to find that balance. Find what's important, how you can save, who you know, where the deals are, and be open to finding people starting new businesses if you trust them!
4. Print your own invitations. We bought Martha Stewart invitations with seashells on them (adorbs! aka adorable..) from Michael's. Go to your craft store, take a look, and you may be suprised. We are printing them ourselves, but they'll look so professional. Such a great steal.
5. Look outside of "wedding world." Take a step out of the bridal shops and craft stores and catalogues... you'll find inspiration everywhere if you keep your eyes open! I found a neat box at Barnes N Noble that we will use for people to put their cards in on the gift table. It has shells and cool vintage paterns on it, and kind of looks like a treasure chest (but not a gaudy, pirate one, just a normal decorative box, just to clarify). I paid maybe 10 bucks for it. Love it.
6. Don't let them upsell you. They are not really your friends, just nice sales people. When I got my dress, they found a perfectly matching veil. Veils are essential, so yes I did get it. But they also convinced me to get this head peice with it, just a little comb with some crystals on it, which cost like 200 bucks or something ridiculous. When we went to put the final payment on the dress, we asked them to take the head peice off of our tab because we really did not want it. Instead, I can get something sparkly that will look the same from Claire's for a few dollars. Or somewhere else. Just not the 200 dollar crystal one. I felt silly about it.

Progress... and the emotional urges of a bride to be.

Okay so there's progress.
The good news is, most of the "big things" are set. DJ, photographer, invitations, dress, centerpieces, reception... all taken care of. I still need to ask a few more of my bridesmaids over Christmas break, pick out the bridal party attire with my MOH, and book a florist. Everything is going smoothly, considering we still have 8 more months to plan and square away the details.
There have been a few minor set backs though, as would be expected. For example, we originally planned on having 150 guests, then we began thinking we could cut it down to 110, but it's been very, very difficult pinning down the exact number. The problem is, with 150 or less, they rent half the ballroom, unless you want to pay $3,000 more for the entire ballroom. So, it definitely has to be 150 people or less, because that is all we can afford. I learned last night that the ceremony location in the Crowne Plaza (we figured having ceremony and reception on site would make it easy for out of town guests, no one gets lost, everything is simple and stress-free) holds only 120 people. If we have the 110 people, yes that would work, but what if more family come than we expected and 150 are in attendance? No way could I have 30 guests wait outside. Can you imagine?!
There's some working out to do. I only say all this so that if you too are a bride in planning, at times pulling your hair out, you may find comfort in my own personal stresses. I have to say though, overall, I really can't complain. My mother is such an artist and could make a shack stunning. Although, this isn't really relevant since the Crowne Plaza is stunning. But with the half ballroom business, having a divider up REALLY bothers me. One, I don't want a wedding in the other half of the ballroom. No. No. No. Two, TACKY TACKY TACKY. One of my prerequisites in looking at reception venues was no curtains. I hate seeing those stupid curtains lining the walls in photos. I cringe. Curtains on windows are fine, not on walls or not as dividers. What's worse than curtains? Dividers. Now I am wishing for curtains to save me from those ungodly dividers! Like I said, my mother is an artist and is so talented at decorating and making anything beautiful, but unless she has some gigantic mural to cover this divider, I feel doomed. And, I know the ballroom will be little now with a little bitty dance floor. Every other venue, Raddisson in Nashua, even the Purtian restaurant in Manchester, all have bigger ballrooms and dance floors compared to this half ballroom... which is funny, because it's the exact opposite as I thought. I thought we chose the venue with the biggest ballroom. It holds 300! But with the half ballroom, it now becomes the smallest. I hope my mind is just playing tricks on me and I am remembering this half ballroom in a skewed, unrational way.
The silly thing is, when a small set back or suprise comes along, like the ones mentioned above, tears always well up in my eyes and I literally have to fight them back! I begin to slip over the edge and have to fight back a hysterical sobbing. I know, ridiculous. I can't help it! I just smile and be grateful, because there is much MUCH to be grateful for, but still, I can't resist this urge to cry. I feel so silly. Like when Corey and I first got engaged, we dreamed of marrying at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel or the Omni Mount Washington or the Mountain View Grand. When I learned we couldn't afford it, I felt my dreams being crushed into ashes and I just cried! More than once! I don't beg or try to make any one feel bad, but I just feel this squashing of the heart. I am such a diva, I can't stand it. I should just be grateful. And stop crying. Why must I cry?! I am not crying over anything now, but last night, picturing that half ballroom, oh man. I am such a baby. Goodbye.