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...

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.

A Nautical Themed Chicago Bachelorette Party

In 2008 my closest girlfriends accompanied me to Chicago for my bachelorette party. This weekend we're headed there again for a bachelorette bash in honor of my MOH and best friend Debbie. It's nautical themed, naturally, and I am quite certain that we will have a ball.
I'll be sharing the invitations {designed and produced by Chelsey at 4th and folded} next week over at Penned & Pretty, but here's a little sneak peek! Have a great weekend!!

Talk Nautical to Me

As some of you know, or may have read, the first color scheme/theme that I had my heart set on for our wedding was a nautical theme. My love for all things navy and anchor related started a long time ago during summers spent at the lake and continued when I joined a sorority where the anchor stood for our ideals and beliefs. As you can imagine the name of this blog comes out of my admiration for anchors and all things nautical.
Although there will be no nautical theme for our wedding (kinda hard to pull off in a hotel ballroom in the middle of downtown Indianapolis), I had to pay tribute to my first love.

(samm blake, brides, paul johnson, wedding style guide, the knot, unknown, the knot, the knot, laura novak)

My vision: Tables with navy table cloths complete with little sail boats and lots of white puffy flowers. Knots from sailor rope or types of flags adorning printed materials. Quaint, charming, and anchored in love.

You can always check out some of my earlier posts for nautical wedding ideas (I especially love the idea of tying sailor rope around vases and using it to bind programs!). And make sure to check out these links for more nautical wedding inspiration:

this link will take you to any and all posts on snippet and ink that are nautical related. enjoy.
click here for a snippet and ink real nautical wedding
a navy and blush pink board from blu sky designs
or you can pair navy with hot pink like in this board from inspired events by nycia
i'll call this one beach nautical from snippet and ink
the ladies at bliss events created a board with a nautical twist

I'll leave you with this little gem from the little white book:

On the Yacht

Immediately after Nicole told me she was up for an engagement photo shoot at the lake, I began searching for inspiration. Jose Villa never disappoints.


I'm sure our pictures will look JUST like these.... right Nicole?!?! My parents just need to upgrade their boat by about $200,000....

(all pictures via Jose Villa)

Nautical Inspiration

I have been waiting all day to post these Inspiration Boards I saw today at Snippet & Ink :

I love the simplicity of the cake, the unique flags to wave instead of throwing rice or petals, l-o-v-e the flower centerpieces that I have featured on my blog before, and I wish I could find some way to incorporate the nautical flag/streamers and the boat/yacht into my wedding! But the paper boat place cards caught my eye immediately.
How amazing! You can find the instructions here. I am now thinking of placing these on each guests place settings. Or, if my time or budget is too limited, the boats would be nice decorations near the gift table, next to my DIY Initials Project, or perhaps as an accent to the centerpieces on the table.

This second board is pretty much just as amazing as the first board.
The picture of the various knots is actually from one of my prior posts! I also LOVE the sailor tote bag, the seashells turned candles, and the idea Elizabeth had to use an Oar as a guest book!

I cannot wait to start the DIY projects that I have already lined up for myself!

Red, Blue, White, & Lobster-ish

By now, I'm sure that every bride-to-be that has read her fair share of blogs in the last couple of months has seen the a-mazing wedding of Jen & Gabe shot by Stacey Kane.I was so in love with this storyboard that I found my way to Stacey Kane's blog. You HAVE to go here and watch the slide show featuring more pictures from this charming wedding/reception. Stacey's photography work is incredible. The couple's vision was so different and distinct and carried through to every aspect of their day. From the khaki shorts for the groomsmen and the rope boutonnieres to the red boxed favors and the red and white ribbon streamers made this wedding awe inspiring. Hopefully I will be able to pull off my theme as well as Jen and Gabe did!

My Inspiration Board

Ta-da!!
My updated inspirration board...a little classier, a little better pictures, a little more me.

1. candy jars filled with white, green, and possibly blue candies.

2. ties for the groomsmen

3, 6, 8, 11. potential table settings that i LOVE

4. DIY for the church doors and reception with the initials J&C

5. church pew decorations...so classy

7. signiture drinks in blue and green

9. my ring...i hope and wish!

10. rope for the "tying the knot" theme

12. at the lake for labor day weekend

13, 16. bridesmaids flowers and dress

14, 15. invitations in navy and white and a neat way to address them

(pictures are from jcrew, the knot, myself, and a few of my favorite blogs!)

Inspiration Board

My inspiration board:

Now this is JUST the beginning!! I haven't gotten the chance yet to really play around with the the Mosaic Maker that I used to make the board. Annnd there's only so much planning that a girl can do without being engaged!!

From the top left:

1. Love the initial in green mums for the doors of the church
2. The white nylon rope that will appear on my programs, invites, etc.
3. On the pier at the lake over Labor Day weekend
4. My ideal ring...fingers crossed!
5. The tie for the groomsmen that will match the bridesmaids flowers
6. The bridesmaids flowers
7. Funky writing for the invitations
8. Clean invitations that i love
9. Bridesmaids dresses from J.Crew

Invitation Inspiration

I came across this invitation on the classic bride blog:

How clean and crisp! I think that I would like to do something similar in navy and white (with the nylon rope that I have been raving about!) Buuut until I have an engagement ring on my finger...there is only so much I can plan!

For the Bridesmaids

I am in love with this navy bridesmaids dress from JCrew:

Hopefully the price will come down about a hundred dollars or I can find a good knockoff.

I am also in love with these green roses for the bridesmaids bouquet. I think the green would be a great accent to the navy dresses. My original plan was to go with a bouquet of green orchids, but I like the simplicity of the roses.

I had an inspiration board all ready to go, but the formatting is still a little off. I think it might come down to printing it off, scanning it in, and THEN posting it.

Tying the Knot...With Rope

One of my many inspirations:



Nautical rope would be the inspiration behind my beloved "Tying the Knot" theme. I'm pretty much envisioning the rope appearing everywhere. I want it on my invitations, programs, escort board, escort cards, vases of the flower arrangements, etc. Well, almost everywhere. I'm not going to go to such extremes as substituting it for the ribbon around my bridal bouquet or have it appear on the cake...but anything else is fair game.
Let's just hope that I can find it as cheap as ribbon....