Rustic Elegant Yellow & Green Wedding Inspiration

May 8th

by: Lauren

Yay! I am so very excited to finally share this rustic, elegant inspiration shoot with you! A few months ago, I was with my friends Caroline & Evan Photography and A&P Designs at an event conference, and we were literally *struck* with inspiration. A short ~~car ride~~ time spent scheming and 24 hours later, and we had created this rustic, elegant inspiration shoot! It was featured on The Wedding Chicks last week, and now I get to share it with you all! Full of rustic inspiration, it’s perfect if you’re wanting a more casual feel for your wedding… or it could also be great inspiration for a rehearsal dinner!

Our initial bit of inspiration came from the awesome tablecloth we found by Under Stella’s Umbrella– rustic, yet elegant. Then we came across a rosemary wreath by FiftyFlowers.com, and thus came about the incorporation of rosemary elements into details. I wanted the table to have more of a “family style” feel to it, and so we made custom wine labels, put buckets of silverware at the end of each table, and had a tray of rosemary seasalt rolls with olive oil… all becoming part of the tablescape. Add in some yellow, green and white flowers, antique wooden chairs and piece from my favorite antique shop Paper Street Market, and we had our rustic, elegant inspiration shoot!

What do you all think? Remember now… it was put together in less than 24 hours! And disclaimer… I am most definitely NOT a florist- I know the little flower arrangements are a little off-looking. ;) But it was all about the inspiration for us… please tell me you’re inspired! :)

Oh, and FYI… Caroline & Evan Photography have decided to celebrate today’s feature with a little something special… keep an eye out for a post coming later today all about it! ;)

Vendors who made it all happen…

Rustic Chemistry Themed Montana Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 6 Comments

May 7th

by: Lauren

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Yes, you saw that right… today’s wedding is a rustic, chemistry themed wedding! Emily of Emily Takes Photos sent this awesome wedding over, and as soon as I saw that this bride and groom were both chemists and they infused chemistry themed elements into their wedding, I got SO VERY excited! Not to mention that the location of the wedding is so incredibly beautiful. This wedding reflects the bride and groom so perfectly- and that is the BEST! Plus, I love what Michelle and Brad used for their details… beakers and test tubes for centerpieces, slides for escort cards, and even a unity ceremony using liquids that changed colors when mixed together! You see, in my past life, I took a bunch of science classes- some of which were with my husband… so I kind of love this kind of stuff! Michelle is here sharing some of her wedding planning insight with us, so be on the lookout for some great tips from her!

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

In preparing for our wedding, my parents were invaluable. They were there for us for both emotional and financial support throughout the entire process. I don’t know how we would have gotten through our engagement without such positive role models in how to tackle problems as a team. In planning the wedding itself, my husband, Brad, was amazing. While he isn’t at all into the creative stuff, he was a saint in taking on a bigger share of the household responsibilities so I could find time to get things ready for the wedding.

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

Personality! We decided early on we didn’t want to have a large wedding, so any vendors we hired who didn’t fit in with our families would stand out like a sore thumb in our relatively small group. Because of that, we went out of our way to look for vendors who felt like they belonged at our wedding and who shared our values (not always easy in a small town). We listened to recommendations from friends, scoured the internet, and met with a lot of people. In the end, we went with vendors who we hit it off with right away. We also felt that if we wanted vendors to feel like family, we had to treat them like family by keeping them in the loop and making sure they were taken care of both before and at the wedding. I highly recommend this, because not only do you have vendors that feel like friends at your wedding, you end up with vendors that really become your friends after the wedding is over.

Did any of your vendors do anything special for you before, on, or after your wedding day that you would like to share?

So many vendors were wonderful with us, from being willing to negotiate with us on budget (our wedding was on a Thursday) to providing nice little things, like an Italian soda from the coffee house downstairs while I got my hair done. In particular, I can’t possibly say enough about how amazing our photographer, Emily, of Emily Takes Photos was. She flew out to Montana, stayed with us to help cut costs, and helped us out with a number of last minute details, even going with my husband to the store to help him find the waterproof mascara that I had forgotten about!

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

My favorite thing about the wedding was the amount of fun we had! I am pretty sure I had the dorkiest smile on my face for nearly the entire thing because I was so happy. Also the cake ‘cutting’ was pretty hilarious. I don’t care how tacky people on the internet say it is—food fights in fancy clothes you will never wear again are awesome. Especially when you are the type of people who show their love by flour-bombing each other while cooking together.

Brad says his favorite part of the wedding was the few moments we stole alone together after the ceremony to talk with each other and process the fact that we were actually finally married. Clearly he’s the romantic one in our relationship.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Follow your heart and your gut. Don’t try to turn your wedding into something that isn’t you just because it is popular or expected. Don’t force your wedding into a mold just because you want it to be blogged about or because you don’t want Aunt Judy gossiping about your decisions. It is okay to have or not to have a vintage, or a modern, or a traditional wedding. You should have a wedding that fits your aesthetic, lifestyle, and family. For some people that involves homemade crafts while for others it means a field of ice sculptures. Remember that everyone coming to your wedding is there to celebrate with you, so just be yourselves because, in the end, that’s what they love about you!

My favorite thing that Michelle said: “You should have a wedding that fits your aesthetic, lifestyle, and family.” AMEN to every single word of that! Thank you so much for sharing your wedding insight with us Michelle! And thank you to Emily Takes Photos for sharing all of the beautiful images too! :)

Seriously, I am LOVING everything from this wedding! The details are just so perfect in reflecting the bride and groom… I can’t get over it! I think my favorite detail is the escort cards that were done on microscope slides. How about you… which detail is your favorite?! Oh, and are any of you planning a wedding with a theme like this? I would love to hear it if you are! :)

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Emily Takes Photos / Reception Venue: Rockin' TJ Ranch / Flowers & Decor: Vans Flower Shop / Catering: Tom Pascale / Cake Baker: Rosauers Supermarket / Photo Booth Rental: six shooter photo / Hairstylist: The Loft Spa / Makeup Artist: Lindsey James / Bride’s Dress: Angelina Faccenda / Bride’s Shoes: Steve Madden

Detail To Love: Vintage Elegant Table Numbers

Category: DETAILS 2 Comments

May 4th

by: Lauren

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Happy Friday everyone! I realized that I haven’t done a table number for the Detail To Love in a while… which is crazy, since table numbers are one of my favorite types of details! I am loving this idea for a table number… a vintage tabletop mirror with numbers added!

Photo by KT Merry Photography, Via SMP

It looks as if these numbers are just vinyl adhesive numbers that have been attached, but I’m sure you could use stencils and paint numbers on too! Or even get vinyl numbers in a pretty font to match your wedding’s style… you could probably even do numbers cut out of a cool patterned paper too! And PS- this is one of the few manners in which I think mirrors on a table are okay. ;) What do you all think of this table number? Are any of you doing something like this?

So I’m told that there are some fun holiday-ish events happening this weekend. I still think it’s April, so of course I had no idea. But I hope you all have a great weekend! See you back here on Monday! :)

Colorful, Classic Denver Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 5 Comments

May 4th

by: Kristine

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It takes a very special wedding to leave me completely speechless. And that’s exactly what Belltower Photography has done with these incredible photos. Bright, saturated colors, a stunning venue, and a gorgeous, so-in-love bride and groom. It doesn’t get much better than this so… enjoy.

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

I would say our DJ and also our photographers helped most with planning for the day. Both of those vendors had schedules and ideas for making the day run as smoothly as possible. They both took the time to meet with us more than once (and as many times as we needed) to make everything perfect. Along with our vendors, I had some good friends that helped iron out all the details of the day.

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

The most important thing to me was to choose vendors who cared and could roll with a bride that was rather indecisive. I leaned on my vendors a lot for ideas and for them to come up with some creative ideas from visions I had. I also wanted to stick with local vendors or, as our photographers were, old friends with a fairly new business.

Did any of your vendors do anything special for you before, on, or after your wedding day that you would like to share?

All of our vendors I felt did special things. They were all extremely attentive and detail oriented—they were all willing to go above and beyond. But specifically our cupcake vendor special-ordered purple sprinkles (as she does not use them usually because they are not an organic color). She also worked directly with our florist to decorate the cupcake box (display).

Our florist went above and beyond and made examples a week before the wedding—he wanted to allow us to change anything we didn’t like or adjust anything that maybe wasn’t perfect. He also brought extra bouquets and boutonnieres the day of in case anything happened during the wedding festivities.

Our DJ went above and beyond by working directly with the museum and touring the museum multiple times to for set up of lights and his equipment. He really took control and organized all his details without bothering us with his needs. It was so nice to hear that he had organized everything without having to bring us into the planning.

Lastly our photographers went above and beyond. They traveled from Kansas to Colorado more than once for our engagement pictures and our wedding. They also never let a detail go without notice. They were truly a blessing. They never forgot about us after the wedding either—they thought of us at holidays (with a 1st Christmas ornament at Christmas). They did such an amazing job keeping in touch and keeping the details and ideas flowing.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

My favorite thing about our wedding was getting to spend time with all of our friends and family. It truly was a magical day—and it was a pretty good party.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

My best piece of advice is the details are so much fun to plan and organize, but the day of or the week of the wedding if something goes wrong or not as planned—don’t worry about it! No one else will notice except you!

Many, many thanks to Belltower Photography–WOW. And to the beautiful bride, Amy, for answering our questions and sharing her special day with us. Amy, congratulations on such a breathtaking wedding! I wish I was there!

xo-Kristine