The Knot Trends of 2008

Today I came across the Knot's Top Wedding Trends for 2008. Let's see what we think, shall we!?
1. Making Split Decisions. For those brides that just cannot decide on one dress....why not have two!? If only I had two bank accounts.
2. The Gray Area. Steel gray will replace chocolate brown as THE accent color. Amen. For some gray inspiration just check out Style Me Pretty, Snippet & Ink, & Perfect Bound. I would throw it into my color scheme if I could.

(inspiration board taken from Style Me Pretty)

3. A Return To White. The classic color is making a comeback. Just ask Classic Bride. If I had it my way, I would have stayed with a clean white & black scheme. Somehow the "splashes" of plum and raspberry have overtaken the b&w.
4. Lush and Luxe. "Size does matter for floral arrangements....more petals, blossoms, even feathers!!" Feathers? Scary. Petals = Pretty.

(photo by Jasmine Star Photography)

5. Sample Stations. Try a champagne bar with different fruits and mixers or mashed potato martini bar with bacon, cheese, sour cream, other mouth-watering toppings. Anything where your guests can make their own signature creation will be a hit with your guests.
6. Vintage Visions. "From dresses to rings, brides are revisiting the past for style inspiration." Love it.
7. Guests Make the Call. Need help? Allow the guests vote on it thru quizzes on your wedding webpage or a blog poll (like the one above!). Examples The Knot mentioned were letting your guests vote on their favorite cake flavors, entree choices, or dance music.
8. Other top trends were: Green weddings, honeymoon hopping, and booking a cover band to play at your reception.

I suppose you could say we're somewhat trendy. #2, 3, 5, and 7 are trends that we are definitely hoping to carry out in our wedding. What "hot" trends are you following? Are there any more you would add to the list?

Poll: Invitation Design

Over the weekend, Chris and I were estatic when we received proofs back from our "invitation designer." We told her that we wanted the invite to be based off of the monogram designed for us by Erin of e lucky designs. She sent back some amazing proofs and now we just need to pick a design!

The poll for this week will have you voting on what your favorite design is. Help us pick!!

(Option 1.)

(Option 2. Bars right below and above the monogram)

(Option 3. Bars around our names)

Items to note:
1. Last names & venues have been blacked-out for privacy issues.
2. We want our invitations to look something like this (invites of Mrs. Eggplant from weddingbee )when we are all done. I'll be posting later about options for colors of cardstock, backing, ribbon and pocketfolds.


So, which one is your favorite!? Vote now! Goal for voting on the poll: 30 votes!!
{Results: 33 votes! option 1: 18, option 2: 7, option 3: 8, back to the drawing board: 0}

Shades and/or Shade

Yesterday I posted about how I love the little details of the big day...like the groom's surprisingly striped socks! Today, I move onto another detail...shades and/or shade.
Chris and his groomsmen are all big fans of aviators. Apparently "chicks" flock to them in droves while they are sporting the shades. Whatever. Point being that I can totally see Chris and his groomsmen doing something like this on our wedding day:

(photo via bobbi + mike)

I suppose I will let them have their fun. P.S. love the idea of alternating tie colors between the guys. I'm assuming given the choice between a plum tie or a raspberry tie, most of them would go for the raspberry....they like to think they are metro.

And while I, myself, will not be sporting the aviators on the big day, I did give this type of shade a thought:

(photo via evoke photography)

And then I realized that our wedding is in downtown Indianapolis and seriously, for so many reasons, there is no need for any amount of parasols. I surprised myself with how many anti-parasol thoughts I came up with. (Think eye injury, weird stares from onlookers for having a parasol downtown, an extra $7 per parasol into the budget, etc) But what are the girls going to do for shade? Maybe I'll just have the BM's wear matching aviators. Inside the church. During the ceremony. No?

Did any of you/will any of you be incorporating shades or shade as a fun little detail into your wedding day?

(So as to not offend: I personally do like the idea of a parasol...in the proper setting. For example, a country wedding, a wedding in the South, etc. Just not one in downtown Indianapolis. The parasols just aren't necessary)

Stripes or Argyle Socks?

I stalk photographers blogs regularly. Hopefully they don't have any sort of tracking installed for their blog. Seriously, I am sure that they would block me when they see how often I visit their sites in hopes that my google reader isn't working and a new post has miraculously appeared since the last time I checked 5 minutes ago. Anyways, I love these shots of the grooms' socks! What a cute little detail!

(photos via jessica claire & nicole green)

Does your groom have enough courage to don a daring pair of socks? I'm wondering if Chris would wear a plum and black striped sock....or an argyle sock with a combination of black, plum, and raspberry. If I want him to wear them then I might as well just buy them for him and attempt to justify it as money well spent for a photo op....think it would work?!

Ordering the BMs

In my opinion, there is this sort-of unspoken understanding between BMs that where you stand in line has a direct correlation with how close you are to the bride. Right?! I feel as though its almost a competition to see who is standing closest to the bride on the big day. Let's face it, no one wants to pay upwards of $200 on a BM dress to stand at the end of the line in all of the pictures and at the bottom of the steps at the church and watch from afar.

(both photos from the fabulous portfolio of bobbi + mike)

"Ordering" the BMs is no fun or easy task...especially when family members (and future in-laws) are thrown into the line-up alongside a mix of old and new friends. Some brides solve this dilemma by simply ordering their wedding party by height. But, that simple solution doesn't work for everyone. And I mean come on...it can't be THAT easy can it?! How did you or how will you order your bridal party?

I asked Chris the other day if, being the groom, he felt any pressures to line-up his groomsmen in any particular way. And he gave me one of those weird looks like I was speaking in bride gibberish. Does your/did your groom have any particular reason behind how his boys will be/were lined up?

More Tidbits

Have I mentioned how productive we have been with our wedding to-do list these past two weeks?!

• As I casually mentioned, I bought my dress about 2 weeks ago! I'll post pictures of it later... the ones of it on-line don't do it justice. I have never been so relieved to actually buy something in my entire life.
• This weekend I'm ordering a j crew dress for myself (completely justified since I will have showers, other weddings, and rehearsal dinners to go to this summer) so that we can see how it will look on some of the BM's



(navy j crew sophia dress....so pretty in the summer with some coral colored or even yellow jewelry...)


• Chris set up the meeting with the priest overseeing our marriage preparation for next weekend. One step closer to getting hitched.
• Chris booked the rehearsal dinner venue yesterday and I can guarantee our time at Binkley's will be as much fun as our actual reception!
• This weekend we're meeting with a potential DJ, determining our wedding liturgy, and picking out our save-the date designs.
• I ordered and received our monogram from e lucky designs. Love it. It's going to be the inspiration behind our invitation suite and will appear on everything I can justify affixing it to. Erin, you did an amazing job...thanks again!

• This weekend we're meeting with a potential DJ, determining our wedding liturgy, and picking out our save-the date designs (the results of the save-the-date poll were too close to call, so I guess we have to decide for ourselves if our pretty faces will grace the mailboxes of our guests).
• We booked our honeymoon! 6 days and 7 nights in St. Lucia in a Beachfront Penthouse Suite. Time alone in paradise with my h-u-s-b-a-n-d= cannot wait!
• Shout out to Aletha at Pearls Events for inspiring me to change up my blog header. You likey?

The weekend is here and that means I get to go home after being out of town (and working 55 hours a week) for the last 19 out of 21 days. This is the longest that Chris and I have ever gone without seeing each other and although our calendar is already filled for the weekend, I know that we'll take the time to enjoy just being together....hope you can do the same!!

Poll: How Do We Get There!?

Most of the "major" decisions surrounding our wedding day have already been made, contracts signed, and a sigh of relief uttered. But now we're on to the more tedious tasks....some of which I didn't know would cause such a headache.
For example, trying to figure out how to get a bridal party of possibly 16 people including the bride & groom from the hotel (getting ready area) to the pre-ceremony picture location, to the church, and back to the hotel for the reception. Ugh. My head is already starting to hurt.
Here are our options:

(top 2: Jessica Strickland, bottom l: bobbi and mike, bottom r: our photog Nicole Green)

1. 18 passenger stretch hummer limo

2. 21-28 passenger sleek, black, minibus

3. 16-20 passenger trolley

4. a hot rod/antique car/sports car for the Fiance and I

I'm leaning towards just renting an amazing car for the two of us to drive around in the day of the wedding and have the rest of the bridal party get to and from the venues w/ their significant others and their own carpool arrangements. It's the most logical and cost-efficient option we have at this point. I think that we'll like the time we'll have to ourselves when we're driving together. On the other hand, we know we would have some memorable moments with our bridal party if we were all together and driving around town.

What are your thoughts?! What did you do/are you going to do about transportation on your wedding day!? Vote now on the poll on the top left side of the blog and leave a comment too, we appreciate all of your thoughtful input!

{Results: 21 votes. stretch hummer limo: 2, the minibus: 1, a trolley: 7, a classy car perfect for the bride and groom: 11}

{Update: we're leaning towards the classy car for the 2 of us!}

To Tie It All Together

In order to tie some details together, I am in need of some raspberry ribbon. Preferably in bulk and thus cheaper. Raspberry ribbon is about to become my new accessory until September since it will be coming into play in almost every aspect of the wedding. Seriously. Around the vases at the reception, on the stems of the BMs bouquets, wrapped around the invitations, and even on the BM's flip flops they will be wearing during the reception.

The BMs in this picture all have black dresses with matching black flip flops threaded with pink ribbon. You can find instructions on how to incorporate the ribbon here. I think it adds a cute dainty detail that makes the flip flops a little more feminine.

(picture taken from an inspiration board at Style Me Pretty from the work of yvette roman photography. )

The ribbon around the reception vases, invitations, and BM bouquets will most likely be 1'' or 1.5'' wide satin ribbon. So far the following internet sites are my only possibilities:

• Save-On-Crafts
• PaperMart
• Nashville Wraps

Are there any other sites I should visit to in search of raspberry ribbon to tie it all together?!

Google Analytics

There is another thing I need to make sure you all know about Google and Blogger.
Google Analytics is a fantastic resource for your blog. Google Analytics allows you to learn where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site. Google doesn't mess around....this thing is intense.
Setting it up isn't too difficult. You just have to insert a line of code into your blogs html. It will take Google about 24 hours to gather your blogs data and then it will spit out some crazy detailed reports.
The report below details the traffic sources from the past couple of days from those of you that have visited my blog. It allows me to see how people found my blog and the path they took to view my blog.

You can't see it too well, but 65 people typed my blog directly into your browser, 28 people googled my blog to find it, 23 found me through Google images, 11 found me through Aletha's blog at Pearls Events ,etc.

There are so many other features of Google Analytics... visitors per day, popular entries according to page views, even the average amount of time that visitors spend on your site! Take the time to hook your blog up to Google Analytics!

Outfitting The Maids

Now that I have my dress, its time to start really thinking about what the BMs will eventually be wearing. I have always been in love with the BM dresses from j crew. My favorites are below:

(the janey, camilla, and sophia dresses. photo via Junebug Weddings)

Since the dresses are black, I really do believe that the girls might actually wear them again.....everyone looks good in a little black dress! I'm going to let the girls wear their own black heels for the ceremony and one of my presents to them will be accessories to wear for the big day.

What's even better is that the girls can buy the j crew dresses on ebay for around $40-$70. Who doesn't like to save some money!?

Do you have a favorite j crew dress!?

Tidbits

Just a couple of tidbits that I thought I would share today:

• Check out the new feature on the bottom right side of the blog: Our Progress! I am a huge fan of to-do lists and a bigger fan of crossing tasks off the lists that I create. Thus I created this new feature so I could do just that! Check out a pict of the inside of our church via bobbi and mike (one of the best photography duo's in Indy!) that I just found. The church was one thing I was definitely excited to cross off our to-do list!

• Don't forget to vote on this weeks poll! Our save the dates will be going out soon and I can't decide if we should slap our pretty faces on the save the date or keep it classic and simple and do a save the date that matches our invitation suite. Help!
• I love love love this engagement shoot taken by Travis Hoehne. One of my many daily must-read blogs directed me to him (thanks!) and I was smitten! How charming. Check out his picts....they are g-o-o-d.

• If you haven't heard, Blue Orchid Designs is giving a free wedding coordination package to one lucky couple. Could we be so lucky!?
• Elizabeth Anne Designs is featuring a different color scheme each week with inspiration for EVERYTHING from flowers to cakes to invitations and more!
• Google Reader is the best thing to be invented since pickles (or sliced bread, whatever you prefer). Add all of your favorite blogs to Google Reader and when a blog is updated it will appear in your Google reader. No more going to a blog you love just to see that it hasn't been updated since the last time you visited....five minutes ago.
• The Fiance has started his own blog Half This! about training for the Indianapolis mini-marathon that we will be running in together in May. How precious!!

Blend or Pop?

Yesterday I read a post at blu.sky.designs that made me re-think my bridal bouquet. Not what I wanted to do! April's post makes me want to abandon all that is holy and go against my first true love of a bouquet that will (hopefully) look something like the one below:

(photo via Evoke Photography)
I have always loved the look of a full rounded hand-tied bouquet of white roses. But then the post took me into a whole other realm of thought regarding the white bouquet against my white dress. The white bouquets don’t pop. They blend right on in with the dress, especially in photos.
Now bouquets like this one will never blend. They will scream “look at me!!”

(photo from Stoneblossom)
So the next question is….blend or pop!?

Poll: How to "Save It"?

The design for our wedding invitations has begun. Amen. But, it dawned on me that it's about time to send out our save-the-dates!!
The poll today asks the question: Should we do a picture save-the-date or a standard save-the date?

I vote the picture save-the-date because:
- All of our guests will stare at our beautiful faces in the picture from March when we send them out until our wedding in September if we send it out as a fridge magnet. hehe.
- The picture save-the-date is trendy..."everyone is doing it."

But I vote the cardstock save-the-date because:
- We don't have a GREAT photo that I am ready and willing to send out for everyone to stare at for months on end. Our engagement shoot won't be until April or later so a professional pict is out unless we can have one of our groomsman's fiance take a couple quick shots!
- A cute postcard could be created into a save-the-date that matches our invitation suite.

What should we do!? What did you do? What is your favorite save-the-date style?
{Results: 21 votes. with our pretty faces: 11, without: 10}
{Update: we went with our pretty little faces on the front of our save the dates. love it.}

Paper Cost

I'm envisioning our invitations as beautiful pieces of work (created by someone fantastic!) once they are done. Miss Eggplants' invitation below via weddingbee is where my inspiration for the layout/assembly comes from:

The contents of our invitations will include:

- A black 5x7 pocketfold

- Plum ribbon with monogram seal attached on the outside of pocketfold

- Raspberry backing cardstock

- White cardstock with black printing

- One white outside envelope

- An RSVP postcard or RSVP card and return envelope

- Inserts with info about the reception, directions, etc.

I sat down tonight to find out what the raw materials for the invitations are going to cost me. I compared three on-line paper companies to see what I can get for the best price. Here is the breakdown for 125 invitations:

(Breakdown does not include price of ribbon, postage, or cost of printing.)

I highlighted the cheapest of the three companies for each component. The only problem with Paper Source is that the company doesn't carry anything in a deep plum or raspberry.

Are there any other affordable paper companies out there that I missed!?

Made My Day

Lately this whole wedding planning "thing" has not been as enjoyable as I imagined. Granted everything is pretty much done and booked, but now what remains are the pesky little details, following up with non-responsive vendors, and waiting for everything to come together. Last Friday, after a week of all work (58 hours from Monday-Friday) and no play in Nashville, TN I had resolved to just take a break from blogging and wedding planning for a week or so in hopes of regaining some of my life back.
But then I woke up on Saturday morning and I had an e-mail from Stacey Kane waiting for me. Yes. THE Stacey Kane.

(Stacey captured this photo when the bride & the groom realized their checkbook was missing & the caterer needed to be paid!)

Allow me to share a couple sentences Stacey wrote after she read #4 on this post:

"...It was during my overnight marathon comforting (my son who was sick) that I stumbled across your blog....and after a very long day and night....you warmed my heart and made me smile. My initial reaction was actually disbelief...."is she really talking about me?". I absolutely adore my job and it means the world to me when others appreciate my work."

This blog began as a way for me to gather inspiration for our wedding and perhaps become a part of weddingbee , but it has turned into so much more than that. I have come across some fabulous people through my blog: from someone that is willing to help me design my invites, to a potential day-of-coordinator, to lots of readers everyday that post helpful and insightful comments. So its little things that have gotten me out of my blogging slump lately. Things like the kind e-mail from Stacey Kane, BUYING my dress earlier today, and getting an e-mail from weddingbee that they will be reviewing my application to become a bee in a couple months!

So I'm back to blogging (even though I never went away). This week I'll be posting on ideas for our save the date cards, supplies for our invitations, our finished website, and a new poll. Get excited!

The Newsletter

I have been toying with the thought of starting a monthly newsletter of all things wedding-related (obviously) about the big day and the events leading up to it. The newsletter would be/could be electronically sent to the wedding party and close family to keep them in the loop as our big day approaches.

I'm assuming I would be able to crank out about 6-8 issues before our wedding. And so, the search then began for the perfect newsletter template. Thanks to Mrs. Bee at weddingbee , I found LetterPop !! If you are even remotely thinking about putting together a newsletter, go there. There are a decent amount of templates and the site is really easy to navigate/update!
Have a great weekend!

Choosing Our (Free) Site

Chris and I are in search of the perfect "wedding website" and have thus far been disappointed. Some of the websites out there are amazing, but they also cost an arm and a leg. The more "reasonable" websites lack the features and color schemes that we desire.

But, I might have found one!
Bridal Fever offers tons of unique templates in various features and colors. If a person as picky as me recommends it, you know it has to be pretty fantastic.
Check out a couple of their pretty website templates:

(splendor & mosaic)

Did I mention that the wedding website is FREE?! Each offers features such as a guestbook, RSVP, Bridal Party Info, Reception & Ceremony Info, Registry Info, photo uploads, color customization, and the ability to edit every inch of your website.

I have spent most of tonight tweaking our site and hopefully I will be blogging about the final result before too long!

Poll: Splurge

The poll this week is just for fun. I want to know:
If you could, what did you/would you splurge on for your wedding?

1. Invitations (like the Kristyn & Asbel invitations below) from the Luxe line of Ceci New York that are sure to wow your guests before the wedding day even arrives.

2. An event designer with the fame of Preston Bailey. "Preston Bailey has made a name for himself creating opulent events and floral fantasies for celebrities such as Donald Trump, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Oprah. His flair for the dramatic has made him one of the most sought after event designers in the world." Toast & Tables . In the picture below PB hung thousands of floating candles from the ceiling, lit the room in blue and created arrangements of blue hydrangeas in clear glass vases. Stunning.

3. Being a princess in THE dress from Reem Acra (below), Vera Wang, or Monique Lhuillier:

4. A fabulous photographer like Jasmine Star, Jessica Claire, Stacey Kane,, or Joe Buissink .
I fell in love with Stacey Kane when I found this board (below) about a recent wedding she shot. Photo via The Preppy Wedding blog.

5. Something else! A romantic and well-deserved honeymoon, a venue that took your breath away, fireworks, a planner that does it ALL for you, etc.

Vote now!

Thanks to weddingbees' weddingbee-opoly for the inspiration behind this post

{Results 26: votes. pretty invitations: 2, an event designer: 3, the perfect dress: 2, a photographer: 13, other: 6}

Reassess & Reaffirm the Scheme

Our Knot page says that we have a little over 260 days until our wedding. Although those numbers are exciting, they are also a little scary and intimidating. The whole planning process is coming to a close faster than I can fathom and I feel as though I need to reassess/reaffirm my theme/scheme/inspiration.
And so I give you my updated snippet of an inspiration board of "A Black and White Soiree...With a Splash of Plum and Raspberry":

1. Our photographer Nicole Green took this shot of a couple standing in the middle of the street in downtown Indianapolis. I already cannot wait to see our pictures!!
2. Every other table at the reception will have lots of candlelight from floating candles in an assortment of tall and short vases. The light will complement the glow from the two 10 foot chandeliers on the ceiling.
3. Want. her. hair. Shot by Jasmine Star, couple: Janelle and Greg
4. I found this bouquet on the blog of Evoke Photography . I love the full rounded look and of the all white bouquet and would like to accent mine with hand-tied ribbon and a locket with pictures of my grandparents.
5. Our monogram from elucky designs that will be used on our invitations, floral arrangements, and whatever else I can paste it on!
6. The look of the black tux, white tie, white shirt for the groom is so classic. Perhaps with a flower from my white bouquet for his boutonniere? Picture from Stoneblossom Floral Design.
7. What a picture perfect cake with a black ribbon and accented with a broach (that could match my dress!) Photo found at: e lucky designs blog
8. I would like to use these white flowers found on the classic bride blog for the short arrangements on the other half of the tables at the reception.
9. These black dress from j. crew would look divine on my BM’s. I want one too!
10. I am toying with the idea of candy buffet in place of your typical favor. Photo from Pearls Events blog
10. Bobbi & Mike are local Indianapolis photographers that snagged this shot of a couple exchanging rings at the alter. It's probably staged, but I still love it.
11. Flowers via an excited bride blog that I will pay an insane amount to have my BM’s carry.
Center: Our church via Turtle Pond Photography

Now I feel like I'm getting somewhere!

Stoneblossom

I wanted to share with you one of THE best websites that I have discovered for floral inspiration. You HAVE to check out Stoneblossom Floral Design . Seriously. You can thank me later. For the moment, I’ll only share a couple of my favorites from the bridal bouquet and boutonnière sections:

(all of the beautiful images taken from Stoneblossom Floral Design)

Bellissima Vita!

I received a comment from Bellissima Vita Weddings on my previous centerpiece post. Immediately, I followed the link to (her) blog and found more eye candy than I could handle.

I'm totally stealing the following centerpiece idea (below) by substituting in white polo roses, a thick black ribbon around the vase, and using the monogram below that was designed for us by Erin over at Lucky Me!

left: Kevin Beasley Photographyvia BV Weddings

right: monogram by e lucky designs

Some of my favorite posts are (her) "Cool Things Wednesday" posts featuring everything from ideas for bridesmaids gifts to sweet place card holders to ideas for DIY centerpieces. Two of my favorites include the pedestal candy jars for a cookie buffet and the tealight candle holders :



So if you haven't checked out BV weddings yet, you should!

Love. These. Blooms.

What about these splendid bouquets for the BMs?!!?!?!?!?!

Feel the excitement....

(photo via an excited bride)

I may have just fallen in love. I think that it allows for the range of the purples and raspberry colors that some of the readers in the previous post have commented about. And these bouquets would def. add a sophisticated splash of color to the wedding. I have NO idea what these flowers are. Crossing my fingers that these blooms won't be out of season or horridly too expensive.

You like!?

Perhaps a Stargazer Lilly

So my original thought was to do black BM dresses with white bouquets and black GM tuxes with pearl or plum vests. Very black and white-ish. But the fiance has a different vision. He wanted to see more of a "pop" with color. So, to compromise the thought is BM dresses with plum or raspberry flowers to add the splash of color.

Go figure, plum flowers are impossible to obtain and would most likely blend into the black dresses in pictures. And there aren't many raspberry flowers either. But then we found the stargazer lilly. The florist said that she could airbrush the center plum and attempt to obtain the most raspberry looking stargazer she can find.

The BMs would carry a bouquet of three or four of these stargazer lilly's and the bouquets could be tied with either a black or plum ribbon. The GM's would have a "white" rose for their boutonnieres and wear either pearl or plum vests or ties.

So, what do you think of the not-so-raspberry stargazer lilly? Obviously it is a beautiful flower. But, I'm not sure if it is what I wanted. I think that I fell so in love with the "black and white with the splash of plum" color scheme that part of me is aching that my color palette is turning more towards "raspberry with a dash of everything else".
Thoughts?