My Wedding Report

In order to keep up with the huge list of blogs I read I use Google Reader.  All of the newest posts are delivered straight to my reader and it’s easy to keep track of them.  I hesitated to start Google Reader, but now I love it, other than it’s harder to comment all the time now.  I’ll often “star” my favorites for inspiration, tutorials or just useful information. As I went through my “starred items” the other day I began to notice a certain theme in some of the posts. Lately I’ve just been loving any sort of wooden detail. There is just this rustic charm to using wood slices, branches and signs throughout the wedding.

Here are some of the wooden details that have caught my attention lately.

It would be such a unique detail to use wood slice platters during your cocktail hour.

Ritzy Bee

The details of this cake are so sweet with the carefully placed branches and birdies sitting atop a simple tree stump.

Green Wedding Shoes

I love bird houses.  I think their charm could make for the perfect escort card table display.

Carrie Patterson

Never can get enough hand painted wooden signs leading the way.

Snippet and Ink

I never would have guessed something as simple as branches with ribbon could be so endearing when carried by a child.

Carrie Patterson

These escort cards are simply adorable.  Even better? There is a DIY tutorial!

Oh So Beautiful Paper DIY Instructions on {scissor variations}

Even having wood in the accents of a venue adds so much personality to a wedding.

Once Wed

I would normally not say wood is appetizing, this cake looks scrumptious!

Once Wed

This picture is from one the design blogs I read.  I could see this organic wooden table being perfect for the lounge at your wedding and then being reused as your coffee table at home.

Apartment Therapy

And of course the wooden theme carries beautiful into paper, whether it be a background or graphics of trees or branches.

Hammerpress via 100 Layer Cake

I thought this was an appropriate way to sum up my wood inspiration. Doesn’t Kathryn from Snippet and Ink always have something that just goes perfectly?

Snippet and Ink

What sort of details have been standing out to you lately? Do you ever pick up on a certain theme after awhile?

Anyone know where to get some good wood slices from?

Sometimes I go on overload with all the amazing wedding inspiration and ideas that are out there. For our wedding I definitely had some ideas of what I wanted, but had been struggling with how to put it together. Our venue has this beautiful rustic Tuscan feel with gorgeous outdoor greenery. For the wedding we want it to be rustic and simple with lots of whimsical and romantic details. Now I see lots of things that fit into those criteria, but still end up all over the place when it comes to colors and feel.

When I first started blogging, I “met” Anne from The City Sage blog. Anne is so helpful and supportive and it has been such a pleasure getting to know her. Anne has this amazing eye for design and always finds the most inspiring images. When she offered awhile back to create an inspiration board for our wedding, I jumped at the opportunity. I told Anne about what I had envisioned and different things that I liked, but I was having a hard time putting it on one board. Anne just sent me the inspiration board over the weekend and I LOVED what she put together. I wanted to share it with you all because I am just drooling over all the images.

Row 1: Karen Collins via This Is Glamorous, Cox and Cox via Simply Natural, French Style via This Is Glamorous, Ami McKay via Desire to Inspire
Row 2: Emilie Inc., Jose Villa, Ditte Isager, Rebecca Thuss
Row 3: Tim Evan Cook, Lucas Allen, Braedon Flynn via Once Wed, Paul Lowe
Row 4: Marie Claire Maison via Coco and Kelly, Martha Stewart Weddings, Hello Handmade Paperie via Snippet and Ink, The Knot

Part of what I love about Anne’s blog is the beautiful imagery and emotion she evokes with her words. When I asked if she would be willing to let me post the board, I also asked for a quote to describe her work. Here is what she had to say…

“Miss Duckling* came to me with a color palette of white, grey, navy, french blue and raspberry, and she wanted a stronger idea of how the palette should guide her as the wedding comes together. Miss Duckling has a very refined aesthetic sensibility but she’s also one of the friendliest brides you’ll meet in blogland–so I really wanted her inspiration board to reflect this balance of sophistication and approachability.

As I compiled the images, navy blue fell by the wayside and it became clear that French blue would provide the bridge between the two qualities I sought. French blue can be utterly luxe–as on a piece of Royal Copenhagen porcelain–or humbly radiant, as in the petals of a cornflower. Cool white and soft grey set a serene foundation, and bright raspberry provides a playful pop. I also considered the outdoor setting of Miss Ducklings’s ceremony and allowed snippets of green foliage to sneak in. The result is an inspiration board in which continental elegance meets garden romance. I can’t wait to see where Miss Duckling goes from here!”

Aren’t those images just beautiful? I especially love the bouquet and cake! This board definitely puts together so many of the elements that I want to infuse throughout the wedding. Thanks so much to Anne for putting this stunning inspiration board together and for your sweet words above!

Have you also had a hard time allowing your vision to come together? What do you do to find unity in all the ideas and inspiration out there?

As I was browsing my share of blogs for the day I came across the blog of Princess Lasertron who makes these beautiful and fun creations out of felt and buttons. What a fun idea and alternative to flowers! Look at these pictures and the detail of her work. Amazing! What is really special is that you will be able to take your bouquet and everything away as a keepsake of the day.

I’m not sure that I could give up the look and feel of real floral arrangements, but this is a tempting alternative. They may not match the decor and feel of our venue, but I can’t help imagining a wedding with these pieces. Maybe they could be integrated and used for boutonnieres or in the centerpieces? They’d be great little gifts to give to our parents and grandparents as corsages and pins on the wedding day so that they have a keepsake. I also think these would be great at a bridal shower or even the perfect addition to a little girl’s nursery or room.

What do you think? Where would you use these beautiful creations? Your wedding? A party? House decor?

When we first started dating, one of my favorite things about Mark was his creativity. He challenged me to be more creative and we could add to one anther’s ideas. When he was stilling trying to win me over he helped me design invitations for the sorority formal I was planning. I was on a very low budget and had come up with a basic concept. Working together we came up with the graphic design and handmade all the invitations. Well he earned lots of points after that project! But we continued to create things together and most of our gifts for the first year were all handmade.

Now as we plan the wedding we want to continue that aspect of our relationship by using our own creativity and talents for many of the details. This is also one of the many ways we plan on saving money. We are planning on creating our website from scratch, designing monogram/logo and designing and making all stationary which includes save the dates, invitations, programs, escort cards, photo-sharing cards, thank-yous, menus, table numbers and anything else you can think of. Well with that said you have much to look forward to in terms of DIY tutorials from me and I am trying to figure out where to even start.

We are actually working on creating our website first which is kind of hard to show pictures of, since it’s programming and a lot of it is in our heads. As I get snippets of graphics I will definitely be posting so you can see the process.

One of the first things I am trying to work on is our monogram design. Now as I look for monograms I like so many different things and get more confused the more I look. I don’t want it to be super traditional, more of a logo that we can use in different places. I’d also like to have maybe 3 versions just for variety.

We want to use feel script font from Veer for our stationary. This was important, because I wanted to find a font where I like the M, L and H. This sounds crazy, but it will be the letters most used because of our first names and last names. I love the Feel Script’s M, H and L! Take a look below at the sample…

Now for the actual letters involved in the monogram I was not sure what to do. We know that we want to use the “M” throughout our wedding in different details. I was not sure if I should use just “M” or “MM” or “M&M.” I’ve been leaning towards the “M&M” but I wanted to check with an expert. I emailed Nicole from the Pink Design Blog. She emailed back right away and even wrote a post about it on her own blog. She agreed with me about the “M&M” being the best bet.

So now what should the monogram look like? I’ve been looking at lots of different ideas and getting inspiration. Nothing is quite what we are thinking, but maybe you can get an idea of some of the different elements and details that I like.

Here are some of my favorite monograms from Nicole at Pink Design Blog. I really like all the personality that her monograms have and I am hoping that we can communicate that in whatever we design as well.

Here are a few more designs that I like from Lucky Designs blog. Check out her blog if you haven’t already, there are lots a of great ideas and pictures.

Such wonderful designs don’t you think? I’m sure I will be showing you our own designs as we makes samples so stay posted. Do you have a monogram that you are using (or used) in your wedding?

Lately I have been seeing the sweetest wedding pictures and details using a bike. The effect is so whimsical, romantic and fun. The couple always looks like they are having so much fun and it brings you back to your childhood days. Don’t you just wish you could be carefree and ride your bike around for the day, stopping wherever you please?

Photos above from Once Wed

Photo Source

Photo Source

Now I want to know…how do you ride a bike in a wedding dress??

I recently went to probably one of the best and cutest bridal showers I have ever been to! My cousin “K” got married in November so we had her shower a month or so before. The shower was thrown by her mom’s book club and was on the most creative showers I’ve seen yet. These ladies are amazing! I took lots of pictures knowing that I would just have to share them with you!!

The theme of the shower was “The Perfect Pair.” I received a cute pink and white invitation detailing all the shower details with little cut-outs of an athletic shoe and a high heel pump dangling off the main invitation. This would be the overriding theme carried out so well through the whole event.

When you walked up to the front door you were greeted with an athletic shoe and high heel hanging off the door.

On the island in the kitchen was a pink and white candy bar. Inside the miniature pink rain boot were the “to go” bags. One of the hostesses also made the adorable shoe cookies (seen below) that sat with the candy bar. The candy bar was stocked with good & plenty, pink & white M&M’s, animal cookies, jelly bellies, salt water taffy and these adorable tootsie pops that she had recovered in decorative paper over the original wrapper.

Now the lunches were genius! We had boxed lunches packaged ever so perfectly in your own personal shoe box. All the shoe boxes were pink, black or white featuring some of the most well known shoe designers. The box was tied with a satin bow that your fork was placed in as well as a perfect little black high heel cookie. Inside the lunch box was a sandwich, fruit salad, chips and a cupcake. What I loved about this is that you can do all the work ahead of time and it is an easy and affordable thing to do. No need to create a huge food buffet and display, just pack your normal elementary school lunch.

All of the details of this shower were so well executed. The house was decorated with shoes that had mini floral arrangements in them (the flowers were from the home’s garden) and cute little black lanterns also filled with flowers. The bride was given a gift set of cards that matched the theme of the shower to write thank-yous on later (but I didn’t get pictures, sorry!).

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And of course we left with the cutest favor package! Inside each package was a foot scrub from Bath & Body Works; the perfect gift for the “Perfect Pair” shower.

So are you as impressed as I was? I’m really not even doing it justice in this post. I think the best part of the shower was how easy it would be to carry out something like this again. All the details are so perfect, but nothing is too expensive or impossible to actually do. It just shows how with each event you plan, you can add some personal touches and details that make all the difference for your guests. Now I can’t wait to plan a shower for a friend and use all these extra special details!

The color palette of your wedding is a big decision. The colors you choose will be what you see on a daily basis through your planning process, a part of the photos that are captured that day and will set the mood and tone of your wedding. (Not to sound dramatic or anything) But it really does seem like an important choice! Mr. Ducky is doing the graphic design for our monogram, stationary, website and other fun details…so I needed to pick the colors and to start that process. However there is the small problem of him being slightly color blind. He can tell basic colors but distinguishing between similar shades or colors can be difficult. (Such as the time he got me an orange gift thinking it was pink)

Color Palette

I first discovered Colourlovers awhile ago but just decided to try creating my own color palette to help with the decision process. Here is what I am thinking so far:

It may seem a little busy but here are my thoughts. The lighter blue and raspberry will be the main focus of color. Navy and gray will be used for accents, fonts, and borders etc. We will use ivory instead of white for linens, stationary etc. Right now I am thinking shades of raspberry will be used in the flowers and maybe blue bridesmaid dresses. I don’t want super traditional colors but I still want it to be classy and simple. I am also keeping in mind that our wedding is the beginning of September which is the transition of summer to fall.

Here are a few more shades of the blue and raspberry that we may be able to use to fill in or as an alternative…

Shades of Blue

Shades of Raspberry

I am working on an inspiration board that will pull together the look and feel of what I am going for. Since that is not ready yet here are a few pictures of the colors together. It is not the exact shades I’m thinking but may help you get a better idea.

www.theknot.com

www.theknot.com

www.theknot.com

www.theknot.com

http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/

Here is color board created by snippet and ink. Again not the exact shades I am hoping for, but close…

So what are your thoughts on the color palette thus far? Anyone using similar colors?