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.

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!!

Something Blue Bridal Shower Cupcake Flags

Oh hi, friends! It's been a while and I'm so sorry about that. Recently I've been recovering from seeing my alma mater play in the Final Four and for the National Championship, attending a concert of one of my favorite country music artists & meeting her backstage{!!!}, working overtime at my day job, cranking out calligraphy order after order after order and trying to complete my duties as maid of honor for my best friend and her upcoming wedding. To say that those are only the highlights of the last month would be an understatement.
Today, I'd like to share with you the darling cupcake flags that I made for my friend's shower mentioned above. Debbie is having a Florida destination wedding sprinkled with blue, white and khaki accents. Thus, I wasted no time in throwing myself fully behind the idea of throwing her a "Something Blue" shower. As you know, friends, it's all about the details...and there just had to be cupcake flags present!

A while ago, I bought a jewel colored cardstock pack at Walmart for various craft projects. I used 1 piece of white cardstock and 4 different colored blue cardstock pieces to create 20 cupcake flags. Using a font that matched the shower invitations, I created the flag template on Word and printed it, in blue ink, onto each of the five cardstock pieces. {p.s do a couple of test runs first to get the correct printer settings and spacing before using all of your good cardstock!} Using a ruler and a pencil, I drew in a cutting guide for each flag.

After the long flag strips were cut, I folded each of them in half around a toothpick and affixed each one with craft glue. Cutting an inverse triangle into each flag provided just the effect that I was going for. The flags were ready to see some action.
Bridesmaid Laura Ann baked and iced the most delicious cupcakes! We added blue sugar sprinkles and gingerly added the flags as a finishing touch.
The cupcake flags were easy make and added a personal touch/detail at the shower that many guests commented about. It's also a great way to incorporate the theme/colors of the shower or wedding into the details of the shower. The bride loved them and, in the end, isn't that all that matters!?

If you would like for me to send you the template that I used, please send me an email to pennedandpretty{at}gmail{dot}com and I will send out a mass e-mail in the next week with the Word & pdf template! Just put "cupcake flag template" in the subject line!

p.s. stay tuned...later in the week I'll be sharing my something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue shower favors!

p.p.s. head on over to Penned & Pretty to see the something blue shower invitations. To say that I'm quite proud of them would be an understatement!

Pretty Little Turquoise Reception Details

If you're ever in need of some wedding invitation inspiration, head on over to my other blog Penned & Pretty. I try to feature everything from down home DIY invitations to the most luxurious invitations that should be hand delivered on a platter. One of my favorite invitation suites that I featured was this one with envelope liners resembling map paper and the envelopes themselves adorned with vintage stamps. Today, here at tying the knot, I'm going to share with you the stunning photos from the gorgeous reception that the guests that received the invitation had the pleasure to attend. Let's start with the darling bride and groom, shall we!? And, it never hurts that this little montage include a sock and shoe shot as well as the pleasant little chapel by the sea where they tied the knot! This wedding is bursting at the seams with the most beautiful details. I am loving her bouquet, and the locket that adorns it. And how incredible is this vintage car?! These are just a few of the details from the wedding. You must see the feature by Abby of Style Me Pretty on this wedding with the scoop on all the details. See the feature here, here, here, and here.


The reception details, my friends, are so perfectly coordinated without being overly matchy matchy. I love the escort card display adorned by the sign asking "where in the world are you sitting?" Incorporating the map details repeatedly the perfect way to gather that cohesive look.

I used to love messing around with my parents type writer back in the day. I think that there is something so nostalgic and sweet about the typewriter...a reminder of simpler days, perhaps, when people could {somehow} function without a blackberry or iphone tethered to their hands. Both the vintage typewriter {love that color} and postcards were scattered throughout the reception just begging to be used to deliver a sweet note to the bride and groom.
The last picture for this post is of the gorgeous reception setting. I have a feeling brides would give their left arm for a venue like this. Talk about stunning.

That's all for now, friends. There are so many beautiful details from this wedding that it was hard to only pick a few to share. You must check out the rest of the the stunning photos and take special note of her earrings...they are a gorgeous turquoise and provide the perfect pop of color and compliment her shoes.
Have a great weekend!

p.s. all images are courtesy of court at erin hearts court and used with expressed permission.
p.p.s i'm starting to pull together the design and cohesiveness of my personal blog. and i'm very very excited about it.