Baby's Breath

I have long been a fan of using baby's breath as the primary florals of a wedding day. And after seeing these pictures, why wouldn't you want to!?
The bridesmaids bouquets were beautiful heaps of baby's breath. Baby's breath also adorned each of the pews at the ceremony. What a soft flower that has an undoubtedly beautiful effect.

See the whole post here via the blog of southern weddings magazine.

Oh Hello

I would like for all of you to say hello to one of the most beautiful wedding dresses I have ever seen. Oh hello, whimsy ruffles!I cannot decided if I'm more in love with the dress, or the incredible jacket that accompanies it. I'd say it's a toss up.
Either way, the dress and the jacket make for a stunning combination. I cannot seem to get over the copious amounts of darling ruffles.

I'd say that this qualifies as having quite the lovely train. Every bride should feel a little sassy in her wedding dress. I'd say this dress does the trick.As seen on this post at the utah bride blog.

Fall Flowers

Chris and I purchased the most beautiful yellow mums this week to welcome autumn with open arms. Fall weddings have always been my favorite and our photographer, nicole green recently shot a beautiful fall wedding with the most divine flowers. I just had to share. Stunning. And then some.

The boutonniere, it's not half bad either. In fact, I am in love.

And the bride's shoes were quite possibly the cutest gold flats I have seen in a while. Perfect for an early fall wedding.

Nicole, you have some pretty awesome clients with great taste. Myself included.

All the stars in the sky....

Chris often asks me "How much do you love me?" For the longest time I would stretch out my arms as far as they would go and say, "Thhhhhis much." To which he would tease me by saying, "That's it?!?!" He would then pout until I assured him that I love him very very much. And then, one day, I found the perfect card to give to him {which now hangs on our fridge for him to reference anytime he needs some reassurance}:

"All the stars in the sky and all the shells on the shore...if you counted them up, I'd still love you more."
Today, we are celebrating our one year anniversary and I just cannot get over how lucky I am to have him in my life. I love you b. xoxoxo, wifey.
photo by: nicole green with a little extra processing from picknic

Did It Herself

You can, and should, make your own bouquets & boutonnières for your wedding. There, I said it. I wish I would have done it and you shouldn't have the same regret. So listen up my little crafty readers and see how one bride {Brittni from papernstitch} did it herself.

A few simple raw {and beautiful!} materials were ordered from Whole Foods, assembled {above} and turned into a stunning bouquet {below}.

Do it the night before or the morning of and enlist your friends & bridesmaids to help. To be honest, I don't think that you could possibly "mess it up." Its not rocket science, but it probably helps to have a dry test run a month or so before the wedding!

You can see the complete step-by-step instructions/tutorial here and her wedding post here at 100 layer cake. Get to it!

Your Mom's Dress

A couple years ago, I made my Mom pull her wedding dress out of the closet and show it to me. It was actually her mother's wedding dress that she also was able to wear. Talk about a beautiful heirloom worn by two women I love!
I, however, was not too keen on wearing it on my wedding day. And I didn't want to selfishly chop it up with scissors to make a garter or add part of it to my dress/veil/bouquet wrap. So, back in the closet it went.
This is what I should have done:
Pretty Bride displayed both her mother's and her mother-in-law's bridal gowns at her reception. What a lovely way to recognize both women! I am sure that the each mother, and the guests, loved the added detail.

You can find the rest of Pretty Bride's reception recap here.

Goof

There's always that one groomsmen that's a little bit of a goof...

...hopefully your photographer can get him to behave for at least one shot.

photos by megan w

Four Years

Four years ago tonight, I went on an unplanned and last minute road trip with a college friend. We grabbed a bottle of boone's farm wine at some point during the 2 hour drive {see explanation below} and blasted a CD filled with Rascal Flatts music in preparation for the concert we would be seeing later that night. Little did I know that I would find my future husband at that concert. Now, that's not to say that I didn't know almost immediately that we were meant to be. Here's a little known fact: we called each other future husband/future wife from the night we met. Precious isn't it!? So is this engagement photo that I never shared with all of you, if I do say so myself.

Happy anniversary, Chris. I am so so so thankful that fate brought us to that same concert on that hot September night. I love you!

Engagement photo by Nicole Green. Edited just a touch with the "cross process" function in picnik. Related posts: The Engagement Photos: Cottage Edition, Lake Edition and Fields and Tracks

{explanation: the walmart that we stopped at in the middle of nowhere didn't sell beer or wine or liquor. just boone's and maybe some mike's hard lemonade. we just did what we had to do. we were in college, so blame it on that too.}

Alternate Whispy-ness

If there was ever a hair do that I could have had on my wedding day {besides the one I actually had!}, this would be it. It's just lovely mixture of sophistication and whispy-ness.
I never thought that I was a bride that would ever stick a flower in my hair on the day of my wedding. This little bride might have convinced me that I could have and I should have.

In case her dress was blinding you in the above shots, and distracted you from the beauty that was her hair, I present to you my favorite shot of the day:

pictures found at the brides cafe as shot by sarah rhoads

Labor Day Weekend

Hi friends,
I'm off with my husband to enjoy the last few rays of summer at the lake with my Mom. This time of year always comes with mixed feelings. The fun days of summer slowly fade and winter, it seems, is lurking right around the corner. But for this weekend I'm going to wear my favorite white shorts and capris {right up til Monday} and have as many margaritas as I can before trading it all for jeans, hooded sweatshirts and red wine that come along with fall.
Have a lovely weekend my little bloggity blog friends!
{not sure where this lovely image came from...apologies!}

An Abandoned Greenhouse

I do believe that this engagement photo was taken inside an old abandoned greenhouse. Clearly, the results were phenomenal. Proof once again that one's idea of pretty scenery isn't necessarily pertinent to obtaining framaeble pictures. But, just in case you are more of a traditional engagement picture bride to be, here are a couple of other lovelies from their session.

pictures discovered on the brides cafe right here by What Shanni Saw.

Wrapped with Twigs

Wait until you see the bridesmaid bouquets from this wedding you guys! First, however, the lovely couple with an equally lovely bridal bouquet.

The groom not only had a boutonniere {a calla lily and green berries} that completely complimented the bride's bouquet, but he had quite a stunning tie too!

Here, my friends, are the absolutely drop dead gorgeous bridesmaid bouquets.

I felt as though you couldn't appreciate their full beauty in the picture above. A close up was necessary so that you could see the berries, the calla lilies and the lovely way the twigs wrap around each bouquet. How could you not be charmed by one of these beauties?!

At the reception, the centerpieces incorporated the twigs from the bridesmaid's bouquets as well as the texture from the green berries. The result was a lovely spray that allowed the florals to tie the whole day together.
And I couldn't resist including a picture of the cupcakes in their complimentary color palette. After all, what better of a picture to end this post with than one topped with sugar!
photos by jessica strickland and can be found here

Make of it What You Will

I am in love with these florals. In love. It's like the bride gave the florist a couple adjectives of what she wanted and told him/her to "make of it what you will" and run with greens and whites with hints of yellow. In turn, she received the most beautiful creations. Ever.
The bride's bouquet (above right) complimented the groom's boutonniere (above, left center) perfectly. The groomsmen's boutonnieres were similar but not matchy-matchy. The bridesmaids bouquets (below, left) had punches of yellow that glowed against their black dresses yet blended perfectly into a soft bouquet. Touches of lemons were added throughout the day (below, right)and were a welcomed detail. I won't even begin to tell you how much I adore the bridesmaid's lemon shoes!The place cards were pinned to a lemon which made them sweet and far from sour. Rustic table numbers were flanked by yellow flowers that made quite the statement.

The tables were and are a delight. The lemons did all the work in giving the tables that "wow factor." Simple leafy centerpieces flanked the tables and added texture to the tablescape.

This wedding is just another example of how the vision of the wedding was shaped through the bridal party flowers, the brides bouquet and the groomsmen's boutonnieres. What's not to love?!
all photos by the talented jose villa .