Rock Me All Night Long...

Over the past month or two I haven’t obsessed AS much over the music that will be played at the reception as I have over the reception table centerpieces, escort cards, and the venue of the actual reception. However, I do know that the music has to be a-mazing enough to keep the dance floor packed all night. photo by: Jessica Claire via Knottie Mrs. Hoya
Thus, the music has to apply to 20-somethings and 50-somethings.
Here’s a list of songs that I am throwing around and believing that EVERYONE can put up with and dance to:

• Brickhouse - Commodores
• Come on Eileen - Dexy’s Midnight Runners
• Friends in Low Places - Garth Brooks
• I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
• I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett
• Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp
• Lets Get it On - Marvin Gaye
• Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
• Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
• Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy) - Big & Rich
• Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
• I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick
• Summer Of '69 - Bryan Adams
• Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond

Any recommendations?!

Request the Honor of Your....Input

Tonight I went for my first attempt at my DIY invitation.

I'll post it first and then chat/blog about it...(excuse the editing that cut off the top right corner graphic & I edited out our full names and changed the date...but you get the idea!)

• The backing will be navy blue and the actual card stock will be white with navy printing as shown.
• Not too sure about the exact shade of green I will be using....or if I want to change the green text into silver or gold...
• I would like to turn the back of the invitations into where our rsvp, directions, accommodations, and reception cards will be housed, like KerCo's invitations I mentioned in a previous post. (You will have to check out the end of her bio to see the back of the invites!)
• In keeping with KerCo's invitations, I would like to replace her beautiful ribbon with a thin white nautical nylon rope to wrap the invitations in and coordinate with the "tying the knot theme."
• I am still struggling with a way to use my "we're tying the knot" saying/theme into the invitations without making it tacky since I want to keep my invitations elegant and clean. Perhaps some sort of a tag affixed to the rope like KerCo attached to the ribbon:

John & Jane Guest

"we're tying the knot!"

• The corner graphic is taken straight from KerCo's invitation and supplied to me by Knottie MrsPinkAJV (find her on the Grand Rapids, MI board!) You can also find other corner graphics at istockphoto .

Any input on the current design, how to make it better, or other thoughts/ideas would be much appreciated!

Finding the Save-the-Dates

The other day I was searching for save-the-dates. Of course, I had quite a few requirements for my save-the-dates:
1. Fit into my "tying the knot"/nautical theme in one way or another.
2. A main color of navy

3. A picture of the two of us is a must
4. Feature the phrase "We're Tying the Knot"
5. Be somewhat affordable.

Although I haven't had much luck at my first go-around, I did find this save-the-date at Then Comes Marriage :

I love the design, fonts, and all the pictures! However, the chocolate brown bars aren't anywhere close to my theme/scheme.

And then through The Knot, I found Aletha at Pearls Events who told me that she might be able to help me design the invites that I raved about in one of my most recent posts. I cannot wait to hear back from her!

Any other thoughts on a save-the-date that would fit my requirements?

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!

Surfing for Inspiration

Last night I was surfing for inspiration and I came across the Delightful Blogs listing.
Delightful Blogs puts together a listing of the most fabulous wedding blogs and many of my favorite daily reads are listed!
One of my new favorites is Bellissima Vita and check out She Walks in Beauty for some great inspiration! I found these mini cakes on She Walks in Beauty:

But then I found these candles and I will find a way to incorporate them into my wedding, perhaps around the cake table?

So, for the handful of readers that visit my blog, I hope that you have found some new daily reads thanks to Delightful Blogs.

And I must mention, to my friends (you know who you are and I love you all!) who snicker when I tell you about my blog/start talking about the "pre-planning" I have done before my engagement: you should be thankful that I have started planning so early....otherwise I wouldn't be able to stop talking your ear off about it when I do get engaged and have less than a year to plan. Annnnd when you get ready to get married, you can thank me again as you come to my blog and gather inspiration. I'll be waiting for your thank you card in the mail.

Rants and Raves

And its time for another Rants and Raves session!

Rave: I just found Mrs. KerCo's Bio on The Knot and I am in l-o-v-e with her invitations and save the dates...which were only $.93 each!!

(photo of KerCo's invitations from her knot bio.)

I would even trade out the ribbon for the rope for my tying the knot theme! Can I sub in our names/color scheme/info and send it all off to the printers to be able to cross stationary and save the dates off my to-do list?

Rant: My to-do list is growing by the minute
Rave: I found this http://www.llbean.com/ tote that you can customize with different colors. I love the stripes...it's much more nautical! Now I don't know what tote I will gift my BM's with!

Rant: I cannot find navy tablecloth runners ANYWHERE!

Rave: I found Glamour This today. What a great find! And Lucky Me! has become one of my new fav's. And of course Sarah from Toast and Tables gave me some extra inspiration this week....thanks again!

Toast and Tables

And just when I needed inspiration the most I saw that Sarah Dennis at Toast and Tables had received an e-mail asking to be inspired from a bride-to-be named Elizabeth whom is also planning a navy/green/and white color scheme for her wedding. And this is what Sarah whipped up:

The picture in the middle is my FAVORITE. How cute and charming are those striped navy and white napkin ties?!

I had begun to veto the idea of having any shade of blue flowers in my wedding, but the three flower setting above would look amazing on the tables at the reception...perhaps on a white tablecloth with a navy runner?

Thank you Sarah!!