Detail To Love: Escort Card Board

May 25th

by: Lauren

Happy Friday loves! I’ve been on a sort of mission to help my friend come up with some ideas for her escort cards lately. When I came across this escort card board, I knew I definitely wanted to share it! It actually looks like it’s just a bulletin board with either strips of paper or tape attached for the stripes, and then the cards tacked into it! The only thing that I recommend you do differently would be to put letters (or a range of letters) in the place of the numbers. Remember, you have to keep your guests in-the-know with things, and they’re getting escort cards because they don’t already KNOW what table they’re at!

Photo by Glessner Photography, Via Wedding Chicks

What do you all think? A board like this is an excellent way to display escort cards in a bit of a more unique way, don’t you think? Will any of you be doing a board like this? If not, how are you planning on displaying your escort cards? Oh, and if you need some other escort or seating ideas, go check out my Escort/Seating Pinterest board! :)

I’m sure many of you have awesome plans for this long weekend, so enjoy it! As for myself, well of course I totally forgot about it, so I’ll still be back here on Monday! ;)

Rustic Florida Farm Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 4 Comments

May 25th

by: Brit Stewart

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I love how much joy is obvious in every single one of Heather and Jon’s photos. Just the ceremony photos alone are enough to put a smile on your face – enough to show you that clearly these two love and enjoy each other. And, every detail of their day was simple and beautiful, complementing the stunning Florida Farm backdrop. Heather’s made every effort to personalize their wedding, creating a memorable experience for all of their guests.

What (or who) helped you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?

A little bit about my wedding… I planned every detail. I wanted John (my husband) and I to have a completely unique wedding that represented the two of us. I knew I wanted a rustic wedding and John and his family happen to own a property in Walnut Hill where they hunt every year. I decided to have it there, if you could see the before & after pictures it’s shocking lol. We all did a complete make over on the place and it turned out perfect! (seeing as it was only used for the men to hunt there was no reason that the property needed to look pretty :))

I used the Internet and just researched for a while things I liked (google of course helps I just typed in rustic weddings) another site I discovered at the end of my wedding planning was Pinterest (the greatest site ever!) I saw things I liked and made little changes to fit John and I. Another huge help in my wedding planning was working for Nancy’s Haute Affairs, which is a catering/event coordinating/shop/etc! I could not have worked for a better place during my planning period. I got to work numerous weddings, big, small, you name it and see what I liked.

Once all of that was done I put it all together, the pictures of what flowers I wanted, to the cakes, to the decorations, etc, on Microsoft and printed everything out so I could check things off as I went, also it helped me to show my vendors what I wanted instead of me trying to describe to them what I wanted. Once all that was done I began making most of my decorations with help from my sister in law who is amazingly artistic :)

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

My favorite thing about our wedding was that it truly represented John and I. Everything you saw in the pictures we did, from the arbor my dad and his best friend built, my dad also built the stage, to the property having a make over (John and his family worked for months to clean it up and make it green, and it just so happens to be johns favorite place), to the hand made/painted decorations and our directional sign you saw from the pictures was not just decoration it actually did point to everything we had, we worked so hard to make our wedding special.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Recommendations for other brides would be don’t plan it your self unless you have the time! The fact that I also wanted to make almost everything didn’t help either. Something that did help me was printing pictures of the type of flowers, bouquets, decorations, guest wedding favors, etc allowed my family and the vendors to see what I had pictured in my head so they were able to make it happen and not guess on what I wanted, in the end it made it easier on everyone.

I absolutely love seeing how a couple personalizes their wedding. It helps to show so much character and make the experience memorable for not just the couple, but also everyone in attendance. How will you (or did you) make your wedding personal?

xo,
Brit

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Avant Images / Ceremony Venue: Groom's Family Property / Reception Venue: Groom's Family Property / Catering: Nancy's Haute Affairs / Wedding Planner/Coordinator: Nancy's Haute Affairs / Flowers & Decor: Atmore Flower Shop / Band: Wes Loper Band / Cake Baker: Brittany Odom

Intimate, Eclectic Colorado Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 1 Comments

May 24th

by: Lauren

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True to my promise to post a wedding EVERY day this week, this intimate, eclectic Colorado wedding from Abbey Hepner Photography is awesome. There are SO many gorgeous images- I honestly had such a hard time narrowing them down! The bride and groom, Tricia and Andrew, wanted a very intimate wedding, with all of their closest family and friends- which if you ask me, is the absolute best kind of wedding to have! Tricia is a designer, artist, and food photographer, and so combined with the gorgeous, intimate surroundings of their wedding, there was of course amazing food galore, plus a fabulously “edible” bouquet and boutonnieres! Tricia was kind enough to share some of her insight about her wedding with us today too! Enjoy the gorgeousness!

What (or who) helped you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?

My husband’s spreadsheets (he’s an amazing planner and organizer!), my best friend Kiija’s (pronounced Ka-eye-ya) quietly motivating leadership, and the fact that it was a small wedding at Andrew’s parent’s house made it all the easier. It went smooth as silk mainly because we didn’t worry too much about it and went with the flow.

What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?

Vision. Did their work speak to their creativity? Did they give me a funny look or say “oh, that’s so interesting, I’ve never heard of someone wanting that before!”? I knew what I was looking for and that was people I could easily collaborate with, an important aspect being a designer myself.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

The intimacy of it all. Everyone we invited essentially would have been in our wedding party, so the guest list was filled with our all time favorite people only. We were firm about parents not inviting random neighbors or friends of theirs, it was truly just our inner circle of people in our lives. Everyone was able to talk, we had a long “toast” over dessert where pretty much all of our friends took a turn saying something funny, special, or kind. It was incredible.

[And now for one of my favorite things about Abbey Hepner‘s gorgeous photography… the polaroids that she takes throughout the wedding day… ]

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Take things as they come and let go of the rest. There are some things that can not be controlled, and that’s ok. Be clear about what you want in your wedding and then gently, but firmly, make that your reality. When you give in to familial pressure or the good ‘ol “have to’s” that’s when the stress builds and things tend to go awry.

And a little more insight from Tricia into the design elements of her wedding:

“I designed an “edible bouquet” filled with mostly seasonal produce and fun things from the farmer’s market. Working with a visionary florist at Wildwood Flowers, a unique and beautiful bouquet was born! I also designed what I called “salsa boutonnieres” for all the guys to wear. They were made with chili’s, oregano, and other fun ingredients that would normally go into a salsa. Plus they popped with amazing color, something I was going for to compliment the gorgeous, austere mountain backdrop. For the guests gift, I hand made ceramic bowls. The best part was that all 50 were unique in shape, so no one received the same bowl. They were a hit and really lovely on the tables. The florist also made the little red “poppies” out of cut paper and real Black Eyed Susan centers that the guests could take home. More color! My ring is a Victorian piece (early to mid-1800s) we got at Anoinette’s in Portland before we left. The center is turquoise ringed by tiny diamonds. Initially, it wasn’t used as an engagement ring, but I like the idea of weaving the past and present while creating something altogether new. My band is a simple, solid gold circle and also an antique. We had great food catered by The Yellow Carrot. (If you are ever in Durango, make sure you eat here for lunch!) Our menu was southwestern/Mexican, a favorite amongst the crowd. We even had margarita’s! The best surprise of the night was all the guests had compiled their favorite recipes, photos, and stories into a book for us. I was speechless and beyond touched! I made a hula hoop with ribbons tied all around it. Initially, I wanted to hang it for us to get married by or under (as opposed to a traditional archway with flowers). But things change and it ended up being a lot of fun during the dancing. Think giant maypole with the bride and groom inside!”

Thank you so very much for sharing your wedding with us Tricia! And of course thank you to Abbey Hepner Photography for capturing it so incredibly- as always! :)

I am SO loving the edible bouquet and the boutonnieres! What an excellent idea- especially for a couple that loves food! And the intimacy of the whole wedding- isn’t it just amazing?! Are any of you planning an intimate wedding? Or how about using food elements in your decor like Tricia did?

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Abbey Hepner Photography / Flowers & Decor: Wildwoods Fine Flowers / Invitations & Stationery: Starshaped Press / Catering: The Yellow Carrot / Bride’s Dress: Alix & Kelly

{Thursday Tips} What Negotiation Doesn’t Mean

Category: WEDDING PLANNING 6 Comments

May 24th

by: Lauren

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So last week’s Thursday Tips caused a little bit of a stir, huh? Some agreed, some didn’t… but best of all, it started a conversation. That’s what this is all about! The thing I need to point out though is that last week’s post was mainly in response to an article that I read, outlining “tips” on negotiating with vendors. In reading all of the comments on my post, I came to the realization that I just didn’t go into quite enough detail about negotiating- or even what it actually is! What exactly does “negotiating” mean? And how does this “negotiating” apply to weddings?

“negotiate”: to deal or bargain with another or others, as in the preparation of a treaty or contract or in preliminaries to a business deal. (Yeah I know, it doesn’t even sound like English!)

You see, negotiation is part of human nature. (As my husband would say, even the cavemen did it!) Making a deal, bargaining, contracts. It’s all familiar territory to us. But the thing is, many of the things that were brought up in the comments of last week’s post were in fact not even things that would be considered negotiation.

Image by Ashley McCormick Photography

Well my friends, my post last week was directly in response to the negotiation “tactics” outlined in an article that were just plain rude. Rude as in… if someone did those same things to you, you would probably smack them. ;) (Which is why I really don’t think any of you would have ever actually taken those “tips” to heart.) The post wasn’t in any way meant to say that you shouldn’t ask questions of vendors or know why you’re paying XX for something, or that vendors shouldn’t be willing to work with you. Those are all things that SHOULD be done in your normal dealings with wedding vendors- but they aren’t negotiating. Which is precisely why I still stand by my position that for the most part, negotiation doesn’t belong in your dealings with wedding vendors- and it should still be considered a “bad word”. :)

All of this got me thinking- perhaps instead of defining what negotiation is, we should take a step backwards and define what negotiation is NOT! More specifically, the things that you can still do or what can most likely still happen if you don’t “negotiate”…

1. Not negotiating doesn’t mean that you can’t ASK questions. You can most certainly ask a vendor if they have specials going on, or if there are other options available. In fact, you should never NOT ask questions! Always be educated so you can make an informed decision!!

2. Not negotiating doesn’t mean that a vendor won’t offer you something better or work to accommodate your needs. They DO want you to be happy and have the best wedding possible. :)

Photo via Flaire Weddings & Events

3. Not negotiating doesn’t mean that you can’t share with a potential vendor what your budget is.

4. Not negotiating doesn’t mean that a vendor won’t throw in something complimentary for you. Heck, I know I was always more than happy to throw in fun things when I loved my couples.

5. Not negotiating doesn’t mean that you won’t get the best bang for your buck.

See? All of these things are NOT negotiation. They’re just the things that occur when you’re meeting with vendors and doing your research. Which is why I still stand by all of the reasons I stated in last week’s post on not negotiating with vendors. I won’t go through all of those reasons again, but feel free to go back and read them. :) Will just about everyone negotiate at some point in their lives, and perhaps even in their wedding planning? Yes. Negotiating is one of those things that, as humans, is just in our nature. Just remember that “negotiating” isn’t always the right way to go about things for your wedding.

So hopefully this will clear a few things up for you all! Last week I asked if you all had any experiences in “negotiating” with vendors… so now how about what you’ve experienced by *not* negotiating?