Take a Little Stroll

One little tidbit of advice that I would give as a former bride:
Take a stroll together on your wedding day. In the streets, in a field or wherever you are. Just take time to be together {arms wrapped around each other} and reflect on what will happened/has happened on one of the most important days of your lives.

photo by one love photo found at with this ring

You won't regret {or forget} the time you shared together on your stroll, I promise. The cocktail hour can and will survive without your presence for 15 minutes.

Orange: For the Fall Bride

I know there are a lot of brides in the middle of planning a pretty fall wedding at this very moment. I know from my own experience that for fall brides, the winter brings a lull to the planning. The important things like the ceremony & reception venue, photographer and florist are booked. However, the wedding is too far out to get into all of the DIY details and detailed planning. So, the fall bride turns to her favorite blogs and websites to browse for inspiration that she can stash away for when the wedding date draws near. However, at this time of year, the inspiration found in blogs and magazines seems to be geared towards the upcoming spring weddings {and hopes of warmer, less snow-filled days} with the light color pallets and whimsy details.

So here's a little inspiration for all of the fall brides out there that might be incorporating a bold color like orange into their color scheme. I hope you likey.
The inspiration behind this post began with seeing this bouquet. So soft and pretty with roses and dahlias.

And the accompanying boutonniere is quite handsome. The groom looked quite dapper in his back suit and orange & brown tie {who says the Groom can't wear brown with black...it's his day too!}. Bouquet and boutonniere by: holly heider chapple flowers

I love everything about this picture {below} even the capped and slightly poufy sleeves on the bridesmaids dresses. The bouquets wrapped in oversized ribbon, the lighting dancing on the field in the background and the smiles on all the beautiful faces add to the loveliness of this fall wedding.

elizabeth anne designs

A little orange in a reception venue can go a long way. Since orange is such a strong color, don't overuse it. Accent with other colors from your wedding color pallet for a lovely result.

via: bv weddings

Doesn't this just look like the picture that you want to define your wedding day? Pretty light from a pretty day, soft smiles and lots of love.

via: ben chrisman

for a little more orange eye candy check out this post: orange: i got nothin catchy

Rich in Texture

If you aren't already a faithful reader of the Natalie Moser Blog, your eyes are missing out on quite a treat. Recently, Natalie posted the wedding of Shelby & Rich that took place at the Rancho Valencia. If your "wedding colors" are pink or yellow {or both}, you must go take a look.

My favorite pictures from this wedding weren't the ones showcasing the bright and vibrant colors. Rather, my eyes landed on these texture rich images...and I haven't been able to pull them away since. Take a little looksie:
{Above} One of my favorite "first look" photos. {Below} Reminds me a little bit of a wedding version of the "American Gothic" painting.

I know, it's hard to pick a favorite. They're all "framers."

And just because I love this photo {below} may just be my all-time favorite "Groom shot." Croquet, anyone?

Here's a fun little tidbit: If you already have your wedding photos, upload some of them to picnik {for free} and you can edit away at them to your little heart's desire.

Penned and Pretty

Today is the big day. I am ecstatic, overwhelmed and so excited!
Today is the opening of my little {calligraphy} shop, Penned & Pretty!

I hope that you will all stop by and say hello! This is truly a day that would not have come into fruition without the support of you. Don't forget to add Penned & Pretty to your bookmarks and/or Google Readers as we'll post daily on all things penned & pretty!

A special thanks to April of April Foster Events for the design of the Penned & Pretty logo and countless hours of advice & blog-related assistance.

Multiples

I love the "trend" of giving your guests multiple {gorgeous} cakes to admire and devour. These three are particularly beautiful.

p.s. simple white cake stands can be found here at macys.
pretty photo via: tm photography

Get Away

It's Monday morning and don't we all just want to get away? I'll go ahead and slide into this cute little car packed to the brim with wedding gifts and head somewhere warm for the rest of this week, if you don't mind.

jonathan canlas photography

Line 'Em Up

I have always loved seeing photos of the bridesmaids bouquets lined up in a row next to the bridal bouquet. Most brides put a lot of time and effort into envisioning how their bouquets will look and I would imagine that it would be a pleasant surprise to get your wedding images and see one of these {frameable} photos...

white and green bouquets always turn out beautiful. accenting a bouquet with twigs or feathers add to the beauty of the bouquet.

light & delicate bouquets = divine.

i may be biased, but isn't that plum/purple ribbon just lovely!?

pretty bouquet pictures by: mthree studio, rae leytham , mthree studio , christine farah

I'll Take the Last One

I have a never-ending love for ring shots, as seen here. And in almost every post, it seems, I have a new favorite. In this post, I'll take the last one.

pretty polka dots by robert sukrachand

olives & rings by: Millie Holloman , love & a bouquet by: The Shooting Gallery
pretty rings on a pretty invitation {a must take shot} by: Hy Studio

brides & grooms by: jessica strickland and the hudsons

my favorite. hands down. just because of the massive size and setting of the bling. via the shooting gallery

Best of Both Worlds

I love this shot because you get the best of both worlds...a profile shot and a straight-on shot.

Oh, and another thing I love about this shot...how smug the bride is. Smug and smitten.
pretty photo by the talented jonathan canlas

How I Tied the Knot: The Ceremony

Previously in the post, Tying the Knot: The Ceremony I shared some of my favorite pictures and moments from our wedding ceremony. Now, it's time to let you all in on the details behind our ceremony and the lessons that I learned from that aspect of our wedding day. And, of course, some pretty pictures to display along the way!

Our Flower Girls and Ushers: Chris has three nieces and three nephews, all under the age of 10. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to include them, but we had no idea how, since there were so many of them! We had each of the three girls be our flower girls. They each carried a pomander ball, that I made myself. Each of the girls were escorted down the aisle by one of the boys, acting as an usher. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. They were more than precious. And they loooooved being in the wedding. The flower girl dresses were from here and the boys tuxes were from ebay. Yes, ebay. See Lesson learned #25.

{please excuse the blurring of the little one's faces for privacy purposes}

Readings: As some of you might know , the Catholic church is quite strict about the readings/scripture that can be read during a wedding ceremony. At our initial meeting with our priest, we were given a book of appropriate scripture readings to choose from. Although this strict rule didn't really allow us to "customize" our ceremony by interjecting more meaningful passages and readings it did take some of the stress off from having to come up with the most perfect and personalized ceremony. Here are the readings we chose: Genesis 2: 18-24, Psalm 103:1-2, 8, 17-18a, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8a, John 15: 9-12
We had Chris' two brothers and one sister read our three Bible verses and the Gospel was read by the priest. My Aunt read the Prayer of the Faithful {and my Uncle walked me down the aisle}. Having our closest family members {next to our parents} have a special part in our ceremony meant a lot to both of us.

Ceremony Music: We both wanted the day to be a celebration, so when we sat down with the church organist we chose joyful melodies. Seating of the Mothers: "Jesu: Joy of Man's Desire" by Bach. Processional: "Cannon in D" by Pachelbel. Entrance of the Bride: "Trumpet Voluntary" by Purcell. Lighting of the Unity Candle: "How Beautiful" by T. Paris. Recessional: "Praise Processional" by M. Dickerson & "Hornpipe" by Handel

Vows: Deep down inside, I had always wanted to write and recite our own vows. But, I knew that I would have never made it through them. I would have teared up from the moment I started. So, we recited the same vows that our parents and our grandparents recited. The traditional vows. And they were just as special. And we made it thorough them.

Remembrance Candle: After my Daddy passed away three months before our wedding, I struggled with the proper way to honor him and remember him on our wedding day. I knew that he would "be" there, but I wanted him to be visibly present as well. So the idea of a remembrance candle was formed.

I went to Wal-Mart and bought a large candle that had three wicks. One wick was lit in memory of my Father, one for my two sets of grandparents, and one wick for Chris' set of grandparents. I wrapped the candle with raspberry ribbon and put it in a hurricane glass from Target. The program read:
In Memory
To those who could not be present today,
but are certainly looking down on us.
Mr. Gary _____
Mr. & Mrs. Gustave ___ and Mr. & Mrs. Robert ____
Mr. and Mrs. David ___ and Mr. & Mrs. Fred ____
Their presence is felt in our hearts and is represented by the
three flames in the remembrance candle placed near the altar.
The remembrance candle couldn't have been more perfect.
We also mentioned those that couldn't be with us in the Prayer of the Faithful.

Unity Candle: We decided to incorporate a Unity Candle into our ceremony because we appreciated what it symbolized.

Our ceremony was arguably the day. A beautiful church {on a beautiful day} filled with people we loved who were there to witness us take our vows. I hope that your ceremony is/was just as beautiful.

Lesson Learned # 25: We were outraged when we heard that the tux store wanted to charge us the SAME amount for the ushers/kids tuxes as they were charging each of the Groomsmen. Chris' sister and sisters-in-law found the boys tuxes on ebay {just search for "brand new boys tux} for only $24.99 each plus shipping.

Lesson Learned # 26: I made the flower girls pomanders myself about a month before the wedding. I went to Michael's {local craft store} and bought a the smallest Styrofoam ball they had {2 inch?}. Then I purchased silk flowers when they were on sale for 1/2 off. I plucked off the head of each bud, leaving about 1/2 inch of stem attached. Using a pen, I poked a small hole in the Styrofoam ball and filled it with hot glue before I stuck the short piece of stem in. Hold for at least 30 seconds. Don't be afraid to use a lot of glue. Repeat til your ball is covered. Making them myself saved me about $15 per pomander.

Lesson Learned #27: You will love this, friends. The Unity candle cost us all of about $8. The middle candle was $3 from Wal-Mart and the two tapered candles were $.97 each at Wal-Mart. My Mom had a clear crystal holder that was perfect for the large candle. We bought two holders for the tapered candles from Wal-Mart, on clearance, for $1 each that actually matched my Mom's larger holder. I wrapped the unity candle with raspberry ribbon to give it a little flare. Who said that a Unity candle set had to cost $40+?.

previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres, socks and shoes, bubbles and getting away, the cake, thank you cards, blurb guest book, outside the mansion, the dress, the invitations
all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.

Illuminated

As if her dress wasn't divine enough in the first place, adding a little lighting took it to a whole new level of absolute head-over-heels divine.

Please excuse the lack of love I have given to this little bloggity blog as of late. As you know, I'm trying to set up shop and have been working like crazy to open up the doors to that little shop. Please bear with me! This week {or next week} I hope to more of the "How I Tied the Knot" series with you in blogging about the ceremony and the programs. And I'm attempting to put together a tutorial of how I tied the ribbon around the vases used at our reception. So thanks for sticking around! I promise things around here will be back to normal soon!

pretty picture by: christine farah

Twirling

Yes. Twirling. An absolute must on your wedding day.
What isn't there to love about this photo? The train of the dress trailing the glowing bride holding a bouquet that appears to be divine. Which one of my lovely readers will be the first to recreate it?

photo by the talented paul johnson

Setting Up Shop

My little shop is almost ready to open for business. The invoices are ready to go and a supply of fresh envelopes and pens just begging to be used. The shop has a cute little name and a logo to match, courtesy of the lovely April of April Foster Events.

However, before I reveal all the little details to all of you, I want to ensure every "i" is dotted and all the "t's" are crossed. So, like me, you'll have to be patient. But here's a sneak peak of what's to come...

It's the Little Things...

It's the little things in life that remind you that summer is just around the corner, right?

This picture from marie labbancz gives me hope that the sky will soon stop spitting snowflakes and the frigid winds will eventually disappear. It allows me to think happy thoughts of friends gathering at a lake house to witness intimate nuptials on a pier as the warm sun sets. And afterwords...a little cocktail soiree, wonderfully simple food and an abundance of dancing.

I am ready for summer.

On the Stairs

I absolutely love this photo from Sloan Photographers. It's vintage, its from an unexpected angle and it involves a degree of cuddling.

That said, it's perfect in every single way. Tell your photographer, you need a picture like this.

Dripping Lights

Don't you just love the setting for this ceremony? Set in a lush bed of large and low hanging trees, fluffy rose petals and twinkling lights dripping down from the trees this setting is perfect for the start of a fairytale wedding.
This, my friends, is my favorite picture from their wedding day. It's just begging to be framed.

found on the blog of one of my favorite photographers, jasmine star

Lovely Damask or Bold Stripes?

Going the extra mile to spruce up your tables can have a big visual impact at your reception. Using nontraditional patters such as black & white damask or black & white stripes will leave your guests in awe.

I have always had a "thing" for damask. In fact, I wanted to use it as our wedding color scheme way back when {before I changed my mind 100 times}. When executed well, the damask pattern can be the belle of the ball, next to the bride of course!This damask table-scape is from the lovely wedding of kate's wedding blog who can now be found at pretty damn fabulous. Her wedding was adorable and attention to detail impeccable. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

If you haven't seen the work of Robert Sukrachand, get a move on over to his blog. I found this wedding particularly stunning. And if the black and white striped table cloths weren't eye popping enough, can we talk about the floral arrangements?!

The fluffy dahlias paired with squares of green grass make for a stunning series of centerpieces, don't you think!?

And if you haven't checked out this damask wedding, go now.
Whether you prefer the lovely and versatile damask or the bold style of thick stripes, I think that we can all agree that both patterns are stunning.

Shop Update

Dear bloggity blog friends,
I just wanted to thank you all for the wonderful response that I have received in response to this little post in which I let you know that I was toying with opening up shop and addressing envelopes for the invitations, save the dates and so much more for brides-to-be. I am excited to share with you all that the doors to my little shop will be opening soon {once I straighten out a few more details}! At some point this week I hope to share with you all of the exciting details regarding the new businazz, which will include a brand new blog!

Also, I mentioned here that I would like to give my first few clients an introductory rate. If you were one of the first five clients to contact me, I will be e-mailing you this week to discuss the introductory rate with you. Any other e-mails that have been sent my way will be answered shortly, as soon as I work out my pricing schedule. Just so you know, cross my heart that my prices will be more affordable than you can imagine.

I cannot wait to work with each and every one of you! Thank you for making my dream of owning a business {suddenly} come into fruition.

And, as always, because every post should have a pretty picture....

from the lovely blog of paul johnson

Darling and Babe Seat Signs

I love it when the bride and groom spruce up their seats at the reception with signs that say "bride" and "groom" or "Mr." and "Mrs.".

I came across this picture recently and fell in love with the idea of putting {your} nicknames, such as "Darling" and "Babe", in place of the more traditional options noted above. And the polka dot paper and black ribbon make the signs just that much more adorable, don't you think!?

photo found on the blog of marie labbancz

How I Tied the Knot: Our Invitations

Previously in these posts, I shared a little bit about our invitations. Now, it's time to let you all in the details behind our invitation suite and the lessons that I learned along the way as they were crafted. And, of course, some pretty pictures to display along the way!

After scouring blogs and websites for invitation inspiration, I kept feeling that I was coming up empty-handed. After dozens of invitation drafts, I still didn't have an invitation that was juuuust right. However, once Erin from lucky designs sent over our monogram , I finally had a vision for our invitations {and the rest of our wedding, for that matter}.

Our invitations were wrapped in 1.5 inch raspberry {wine} satin ribbon affixed with our monogram square.

The ribbon slid off easily, revealing our lovely invitation:

The invitation itself was affixed to a plum pocket, which held our four insert cards.

Our four insert cards included an RSVP card, a Reception card, an Accommodations card and a card stating directions to venues on one side and a map of the city on the other.

Our invitations could not have turned out as beautiful without the help of April from April Foster Events. She took our rough drafts and worked with our vision and inspiration and {after a couple of tweaks} produced our lovely invitations. I hope that you all love them as much as we {and our guests} did. If you decided to save any of the above pictures for your personal use, or publish them on your blog, please remember to credit tying the knot and April Foster Events.

Lessons Learned #20: I bought the ribbon at save-on-crafts. 50 yards of 1.5 inch thick ribbon was only $6.99+ shipping. Go here to see their selection of ribbon to see if your colors are available!

Lessons Learned #21: April from April Foster Events is a registered vendor of various paper companies. I was able to purchase the plum pockets thru her for an incredibly affordable price. The pockets are one-sided so I was able to affix the invitation to the flat side of the pocket {with double sided tape} and store our insert cards in the pocket.

Lessons Learned #22: About a foot of ribbon was needed to make the ribbon band that fit around our {5x7} invitation/pocket. I overlapped the ribbon slightly and used double sided tape to adhere the ribbon to itself. Then I attached our monogram 2x2 inch square to the ribbon with double sided tape where the ribbon overlapped, in order to hide the overlap. I then slid on the ribbon over the pocket/invitation so that the monogram square was over the center of the invitation.

Lessons Learned #23: The map was created by taking a screen shot of the map of Indianapolis from mapquest.com. Then, using powerpoint we opened up the map screen shot and traced the map using the powerpoint drawing tools. The mapquest map was then deleted, leaving only our tracings. We used text boxes to add in the text and Chris {somehow} created little interstate signs. I found tutorials on weddingbee extremely helpful. You can find them here and here and here.

Lessons Learned #24: I could not have successfully designed our invitations without the help of April from April Foster Events. I literally would have torn my hair out. April was a dream to work with and I would recommend her to anyone. You can reach her at hello@aprilfosterevents.com and if you choose to work with her, please let her know that I recommended her!

previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres, socks and shoes, bubbles and getting away, the cake, thank you cards, blurb guest book, outside the mansion, the dress
all pictures by: tying the knot. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.

Poll: Addressing the Envelopes

One of my favorite bloggers, Sarah from classic bride, has launched her own calligraphy shop! Head on over to SD Calligraphy to check out samples of her gorgeous work!

Speaking of calligraphy, I have to admit that I have toyed with opening up shop as well. I have always loved picking up a fresh pen and watching the ink flow onto the paper. Addressing the envelopes for our save the dates, invitations and thank you cards was something that I looked forward to and loved doing. I attempted to learn true calligraphy {as featured by SD Calligraphy and Laura Hooper}, but I just couldn't do it. It didn't look right and it just wasn't "me." Instead, I addressed our envelopes with my own {pretty} handwriting. And the envelope recipients loved the results.

So, dear readers. I created a little poll, just to get a feel for your opinions. How will you address your envelopes? Will you spend a little money and adorn your envelopes with the pretty calligraphy of SD Calligraphy and Laura Hooper? Would you turn your envelopes over to someone like me to address them, for a low price, with simply pretty handwriting? Or are you sending them through the printer/addressing them yourself? Please vote on the poll to the left or simply leave a comment!

p.s. for those interested, please contact me for addresssing services. i'm thinking $20 to address your envelopes + shipping + cost of envelopes {or you may purchase the envelopes yourself and send them to me}. my e-mail/contact info is on the right side of this blog!

A Quaint Little Church

We got married in a gorgeous Catholic cathedral. It's beauty was just breathtaking. But if I could have tied the knot in a quaint little church like this, I would have. In a heart beat. Aren't the wreaths combined with the draping of fabric just beautiful?!

photo found on the blog feelin' lucky with photo credit to kim box photography.

How I Tied the Knot: The Dress

Tonight, I received the sweetest e-mail from a reader of this little bloggity blog. It's the little things, like that e-mail and your comments, that remind me that this blog of mine isn't just something that only I enjoy. To know that pictures/ideas/details from my wedding or other pretty pictures from my blog have inspired even one person means so much. So thank you, for the time that you all spend reading this blog, for your comments and for your feedback! It is much appreciated and I hope that you keep coming back to visit. In her e-mail, MaryAnn {hi MaryAnn!} wanted to know a little bit more about my dress. I had previously posted about my dress in these posts, but I didn't really divulge all the details surrounding it. So here is my little recap of my dress search, where my dress is from and the lessons I learned while I hunted for the perfect dress. Shopping for my wedding dress wasn't too high up on my priority list. I'm not sure if it was because I was nervous I wouldn't be able to find one I liked or if it was because I wasn't thrilled by the idea of having to sift through racks and racks of dresses in multiple stores. To be honest, dress shopping didn't go too well. My first stop was David's Bridal {lest we forget I was on a budget!}. I found a dress I liked, but I wasn't in love with it. I went to every other bridal store around town, but all the dresses were either too expensive or didn't have what I was looking for. For about a month I searched and searched and wore myself out. I thought I would never find the dress. One day, I went back to the David's Bridal website and saw that the Spring line had arrived. I saw a couple dresses that I liked, so I went back to try them on. None of them were right. But my "bridal consultant" listened to all that I wanted in a dress and told me that she had "the perfect dress" from the new line that I hadn't already tried on. She brought it over, I tried it on and I was in love. It was the one. {note: this was when we couldn't find the top clasp to close my dress. i jumped on my blackberry and read a couple of my favorite wedding blogs to pass the time and distract myself from the fact that my dress wasn't clasping. Once again, I refer you to Lesson Learned #5. } The picture above really shows the detail of the dress and how beautiful it was. The picture below shows one of my favorite parts of the dress, the bustle. It was divine. The best part about the dress? It's price. $499 {after a coupon from a bridal show}. You can pick your jaw up now and wipe away the drool. So there you have it, the dress is from Davids Bridal and was quite affordable. Would you have guessed?!

Lesson Learned #15: Don't be scared to go to a "discount" shop like David's Bridal. Gorgeous dresses aren't only sold at boutiques.

Lesson Learned #16: Don't judge a dress before you try it on. This is what my dress looks like on-line, which is totally different from how it looks "for real." Since I didn't like the on-line image, I hadn't bothered to request to try it on at the store. Once I saw it on me, I was in love and couldn't believe I had overlooked it.

Lesson Learned #17: When I first started looking at dresses, I was convinced that I wanted a puffy princess-y dress. When I actually tried them on, that style looked horrible on me and I was lost inside a mound of tulle. Be willing to change the visions you have of your wedding dress once you really start to try them on since different dress styles look different on different body types.

Lesson Learned #18: Go back to stores that you have already visited to see if new lines/dresses have arrived since your last visit.

Lesson Learned #19: For most brides, alterations will cost about half as much the dress itself. Accept it. Find a different location for alterations, if possible. The store/boutique will cost substantially more than the women that your friends {or women on the knot local message boards} can suggest that performs alterations out of her home.

previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres, socks and shoes, bubbles and getting away, the cake, thank you cards, blurb guest book, outside the mansion

all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.