Ring in the New Year

As we're about to ring in the new year {2011, already!?} I thought that I would share some of my favorite ring shots that I've seen during 2010.

1. amelia lyon 2. jasmine star 3. cameron ingalls 4. via kelly oshiro events

5 & 6. simply bloom photography 7. stephanie williams photography 8. our labor of love 9. natalie moser photography
May 2011 be a fantastic year!

happy holidays!

Here's to hoping that your holidays have been as sweet as mine!
Congratulations to those of you that are newly engaged! Happy planning!

xo

photo via: bippityboppityboo

Love Always Guestbook

Back in the day {September 2010}, Sarah over at truly smitten posted about a guestbook idea she had seen in the fall 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. In case you hadn't seen it yet, I thought I would pass along this guest book idea {you can still download the pdf to diy!}.

Below is an image of the template which allows for personalization of your names and wedding date. Then, simply print and display at your wedding for guests to sign!

After your wedding, frame the signed "love always" poster and display it for years and years to come as a little memento from your special day.

What are you having your guests sign on your wedding day?!

Photos via Martha Stewart Weddings via truly smitten.

Plaid and Peacock

Weddings featuring even a hint of plaid are few and far between. This wedding has sprinkles of plaid {and peacock} throughout. Imagine my delight! Shall we start with the fabulous bow tie worn by the groom?!
Wait, it gets better. The groomsmen wore plaid ties, complementing the groom's bow tie. I love. The suspenders are icing on the cake.
Naturally, the bride was not to be outdone. Leaving the plaid to the men, she accented with peacock feathers in her hair & in the bouquet! Never mind the stunning neckline of her dress!

Likewise, not to be outdone by the groomsmen, the bridesmaids wore the sweetest dresses I've seen in quite a while. Each bridesmaid carried those cute little clutch purses instead of flowers and I don't mind that one bit!

See more of the details from this wedding by Jagger Photography right here.
Looking for more goodness from Jagger Photography? Here's another one of my favorites!

Love & Candy

Five years ago, on halloween, Chris & I became "exclusive." Three years ago, on halloween, Chris proposed & the wedding planning frenzy kicked into high gear. I was and still am the luckiest girl. Hence, my new{ish} little personal blog, lucky knot.

To all of you that have been following along since my post on engagement post the day after halloween three years ago & to those of you that have just joined in, thanks for reading! I hope that your halloweens are filled with as much love & candy as mine have been!

xo, jessica lynn
photo via elizabeth messina.

Texturized Bouquets in Plum and Pink

Janie Medley never ceases to amaze me with the bouquets she creates. I was a bride with a monochromatic white bouquet. While I still love it, there will always be a part of me that wishes I would have interjected a little color into my bridal bouquet.

Our wedding colors were raspberry and plum. I certainly think that this little beauty would have been a lovely substitute for my white bouquet of dahlias and mums. The textures in this bouquet are unbelievable....something that can only be achieved with the perfect mixture of more than 5 different flowers and bits of greenery here and there.

I do believe that those tall white beauties are milkworts. I would now consider them a must in each and every spring/summer bridal bouquet.

If you prefer adding more pink than purple to your day, Janie has created an equally beautiful pink bouquet.
It may just be my favorite pink bouquet of all time. Must be the abundance of texture and the inclusion of milkworts that put it over the top!

You can check out this post at the bride's cafe for more stunning pictures of each bouquet {photographed by Jodi Miller Photography}.

Escort Card Coasters

I share a lot of my favorite paper goods over at my other blog, Penned & Pretty, but I just had to stop by and share this one with you.
maemae paperie has some of the most awe inspiring invitations that I have ever seen. So it was no shocker that I loved these coasters that she had a hand in making.

For all of the details, check out this post. For now, here's a quick run-down. These coasters were used for the escort cards at Jan + Ben's wedding. Betsy {love, love, love}did the calligraphy, The coasters were hole-punched and tied with either a peacock feather, a bleached peacock feather, or a jewel {each indicated the meal choice of the guest}.

If I were a guest at this wedding, these coasters would immediately have gone into my purse in order to fully enjoy them for days/months to come in my home! Congrats on a beautiful product maemae & Betsy!

Our Second Wedding Anniversary

Two {?!?!} years ago today Chris & I tied the knot in front of our family and friends.
Our day of timeline notes that Chris & I had our first look at 10:45am. So, exactly two years ago at this moment I was fluttering around my bridal suite, adorned by my Mom & bridesmaids, getting in my dress, finishing my make-up & sneaking in sips of champagne. I was so nervous yet giddy with excitement. The rest of the day, was beautiful & everything I had hoped it would be. Looking back, were there things that we would change? Perhaps maybe the flowers, color scheme & a few details {like hiring a videographer & having Chris' older brothers in the wedding party} here and there, but nothing too dramatic. There are things that I know that I wouldn't change. Like the man I married, which is always a good thing. I love you Chris.

Thank you, little bloggity blog friends, for reading along...even when posts are few & far between. I suppose now would quite the perfect time to let you in on a little secret. I started a personal blog a few months ago. I would love for you to follow along with me there as well. Stop by tied the knot & lucky in love: lucky knot.

If you're new to this little blog, check out the following links for how we tied the knot: we did it, a preview, our honeymoon, our candy bar, lifesaver, getting ready, our first look, the bride and groom, bouquets and boutonnieres, the shoes, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the bridal party, the sock shot, favorites, the ceremony, the bubbles and the get away, rawry, toasts and dancing, the cake, reception details
all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any pictures.

One of the things I love most about being home on the weekends is that it provides the opportunity to rationalize picking up a beautiful bouquet of flowers since I'll be able to enjoy everyday for a week or two.

Isn't this bouquet just such a delight? I am loving the yellows, pinks and oranges that are just pouring out of the petals.

These flowers are the work of jm flora with photography by open air photography. You can see the whole post, with more pictures, here. Here's to hoping that you have a bouquet at home to enjoy that is just as beautiful!

Nautical Inspiration from Inspired By This

Hi my little bloggity blog friends! Just stopping in to check on you! I have missed you so and have a long list of posts stacking up and no time to actually write them, which makes me sad.
To hold you over until I can get back to blogging...

If you're looking for any sort of nautical inspiration to plan your wedding, look no further than this post by Leila of inspired by this where she shares images from some of her favorite inspiring nautical summer weddings. Just click on one of the links/pictures on her post and you'll find some incredible nautical weddings!

Photo above by the ever fabulous Our Labor of Love. Be still my nautical loving heart...

A Bird With a French Fry

Have you seen this post on 100 layer cake? To be honest, every single detail is phenomenal. But I would like to highlight just two of them in this post.

There was this adorable little framed print that caught my eye. "Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry." How fitting is that sentiment on your wedding day!?! I am in love with this print and cannot even begin to fathom all of the places that it could pop up at one's wedding reception.
The flowers. Oh my goodness the flowers at this wedding were unreal. Every single flower was vibrant and perfectly arranged to be breathtaking. At the reception, some floral arrangements were placed under these little glass terrariums which just about took my breath away. The "french fry" print can be purchased here at the etsy shop of dazeychic. Hop on over to this post on 100 layer cake to see all of the pictures from this gorgeous wedding.

Vendors: Venue: Park Tavern Garden Tent Photography: W. Scott Chester Flowers & Decor: Amy Osaba Hair & Makeup: Raney O’keefe DJ: Beats and Bells Photo Booth: Majestic Photobooths Cupcakes: Cami Cakes Doughnuts: Sublime Doughnuts Bride’s Dress: Casablanca Bridesmaids Dresses: Arden B Officiant: Tyler Thigpen Maid of Honor Dress: sohomode Cupcake Toppers: Goose Grease Hair Piece: Which Goose Ties: Tux & Tulle Poms: Pom Love

Carnival Swing Ride

I'd skip my cocktail hour at the reception to hop on a little swing ride with my newly minted husband. Especially if my photographer captured this photo as a souvenir. What a symbolic reminder of the feeling you had on your wedding day of floating in the clouds. Photo by Shea Roggio Photography as seen on this post at once wed.

My Favorite Inspiration Board

If I had to pick a favorite inspiration board that the lovely Kathryn at snippet and ink has whipped up, it would have to be this one "Bottle Glass & Black."

I love that bottle glass color. It would be the perfect accent color to a traditional black and white wedding color scheme. It may be hard to find bridesmaids dresses, ribbon, linens, etc in the exact bottle glass color, but I assume it would be worth the work needed to bring everything together under this fabulous color combo.

You can see the board and Kathryn's words about it right here.

Pretty Plum Wedding Bouquets

Take it from me {a bride that could not find flowers in juuusst the perfect hue}, plum {and/or raspberry, for that matter} flowers are hard to come by. Luckily, with blogging little florists like JM Flora and other blogs featuring more real weddings, it's getting easier and easier to find legitimate floral inspiration for your big day.
If only I had pictures of this bouquet to show my florist. It would have made things so easier. Did I ever tell you that I cried when I saw my sample bridesmaid bouquet? Instead of plum and raspberry it was more violet, orange and bright pink. You would have cried too.

I wanted to share the picture below because its the same bouquet as the one above, but it looks totally different propped up against this gold chair. It just goes to show that you can change the look of a bouquet entirely depending on the table linen/bridesmaid dress/etc that it's

accenting. So with the same flowers, you can have one look for the ceremony and another for the reception all while keeping the entire day cohesive. Looking for more plum flower ideas? UBB posted a great little feature on plum flowers that you can find right here. Or you could browse through all of my favorite bouquets and flower ideas I've posted right here.

Pictures above courtesy of JM Flora and photos by Katie of Open Air Photography . See the full post with even more gorgeous bouquets here.

e-plan my wedding

The lovely April of April Foster Events has recently launched a new wedding resource for busy, tech-savvy, budget-conscious couples who desire help from a professional wedding planner and love the convenience of the internet.

Here's what you need to know about eplan my wedding:
"The average wedding can take between 100-200 hours to plan. Our goal is to save a majority of time for you by completing those time consuming tasks. All the information/ideas/inspiration we collect and organize on your behalf is sent to you via your wedding eBinder where you can view the information and reply on YOUR schedule. With all that extra time, you can choose to either spend your hours crafting DIY details for your wedding or at work to keep your boss happy."

Just some of the services provided by your eplanner at eplan my wedding are timeline management, budget creation, rehearsal dinner location suggestions and out-of-town guest coordination {hotel rooms & transportation}.

For more information email: info {at} eplanmywedding {dot} com

p.s. my little calligraphy blog is a sponsor of eplan my wedding.

Nautical Engagement Pictures

I recently saw this incredibly gorgeous and completely nautical engagement session over at grey likes weddings {right here } and just had to share. After all, the nautical-ness that you are about to see is what tying the knot is all about. Sailboats, a wooden dock, buoys, sailing rope and blue skies. You just cannot go wrong.
I am loving the use of oars! The middle shot is just adorable. The couple could display a few of these pictures at their reception and have guests sign an oar instead of the traditional guest book!
Usually it's the bride-to-be's shoes that are featured in the famed "shoe shot." However, these Sperry Top-Siders totally stole the show {and the shot}!
This straight up nautical session is courtesy of yuriy manchik, a Seattle-based photographer. The entire engagement session can be seen right here.
As much as I loved the nautical-ish engagement photos of ours seeing these makes me wish that we would have taken it one step further and gone all out with a full-blown nautical engagement session!p.s. A little shout-out to Summer of grey likes weddings. She always features the best weddings. Reading her blog is a little slice of sunshine everyday.

Plum Bridesmaids Dresses {with pockets!}

I would have given my left arm to have seen these bridesmaids dresses before our wedding. I would have swiftly zipped each one of my bridesmaids into one of them. I love the flattering shape of the dress as well as the neckline options. Not to mention the stunning color!
And did I mention/did you see...the dress has pockets!!! My best friends wedding was last weekend. Our bridesmaids dresses {cobalt blue & seen here} had pockets and I couldn't keep my hands out of them. Not to mention they come in handy to hold lip gloss and kleenex.

All pictures courtesy of jessica strickland from the wedding of kristi and matt

Engagement Pictures at the Speedway

Indianapolis is gearing up for the Indianapolis 500 and I couldn't resist sharing a couple pictures from this engagement session shot by Nicole Green at the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway!

All of these shots were taken on the historic bricks that are still exposed on the track. You all know that I love the "shoe shot" that also provides a close up of the bricks! Thanks so much, Nicole, for sharing these pictures!

Nautical-ish Bouquets

This past weekend I threw a nautical themed bachelorette party in Chicago for my friend Debbie. I'm still recuperating from planning and throwing the party and I'm absolutely still in the nautical themed mode, so I thought that I would share these adorable nautical-ish bouquets.
When I think of a "nautical" bouquet, it's always white. Then, its accented with green to provide a preppy nautical look or accented with a red {see below!} to provide the tried and true nautical color scheme. Both are gorgeous, in my opinion.

The striped wrap is just the icing on the cake, if you will, for these bouquets. And, it's what brings the nautical flare to these pieces.

I just had to sneak a picture in of the magenta {red} and white bouquet. Isn't it stunning!?

Janie from The Brides Cafe is the designer behind Janie Medley Flora Design and is consistently creating the most delightful bouquets which, I am sure, are even more beautiful in person!

p.s. The white bouquet contains Peonies, Scabiosa, Hypericum Berries and Scented Geranium Leaves. The red and white bouquet below contains Peonies, Dahlias {my favorite!}, Seeded Eucalyptus and Scented Geranium Leaves.

p.p.s. Bouquets designed by Janie Medley Flora Design and photos taken by Katie of Open Air Photography. used with expressed permission of Janie Medley Flora Design.