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Happy Wedding Wednesday! I just love a good infographic and this one from o5.com offers a great guide for engagement and wedding ring buying as well as interesting wedding stats in general. Do any of these stats surprise you?

Infographic courtesy of o5.com

 

Spring color palettes are so refreshing and I’m very excited to share some of my favorites today for Wedding Wednesday! These inspirations come from http://design-seeds.com. This website is such a wonderful resource for choosing colors. They offer the ability to search any color value and then it will generate a color palette based on the inputted color. Trust me, once you start searching it’s very fun and addicting!

Here are some of the color palettes I’m absolutely loving right now for Spring weddings and events:

So bright, fresh, and happy! Avery and Drew incorporated aqua and pink in their May 2011 wedding. View photos here.

These muted door tones would work beautifully with a spring, vintage theme. Try adding vintage books to your decor with blue antique mason jars like in this photo.

These succulent tones are just fabulous. They are very feminine, soft and simply lovely. A succulent and rose bouquet would be absolutely perfect.

The contrast in this sprouting color palette is interesting and very earthy. Imagine bridesmaids dressed in navy blue holding a soft ivory and yellow bouquet. Similar to this.

Taking a cue from berries of the season, these colors are fresh and vibrant. Incorporate fresh, seasonal berries in your food choices as well like Josh and Elena did here.

Happy Wedding Wednesday!

Over the weekend I came across this helpful infographic and wanted to share! This really breaks down the idea of bridesmaids with some great stats and information you should know, particularly about the average cost of being a bridesmaid. This really puts things in perspective! Thank you to Look Love Send for sharing.

This may seem like common sense, but here’s a word of advice to brides and grooms-to-be regarding alcohol consumption on your special day. From our standpoint, we want you to enjoy your day with those you love. By all means, have a few drinks and be merry, but be conscious about how much you have to drink. Just think about the months of planning, and the time, energy, and money devoted to this one special day that revolves around you. Don’t let all of that go to waste.  Here are even more reasons why NOT to get smashed on your wedding day.

1. You may not even be able to remember your own event!
2. Pictures and videos speak a thousand words. Don’t embarrass yourself.
3. Your perception of your vendors, food, service, and overall event success could become skewed. Enjoy the cuisine, party, and service you paid for with a clear mind.
4. Being sick or hung-over the night of or the day after your wedding will effect any brunch or travel plans you may have.
5. You’ll want to look back from that day two weeks, 6 months, 10 years from then and have fond memories of that special time.

In short, put a cork in it- literally. Have a few drinks, but also remember to drink plenty of water and have something to eat while you can.

Welcome to the first Wedding Wednesday post of 2012!

For all of you planning brides, wedding stress is bound to set in at one point or another.
When you start to feel the stress of wedding planning, give yourself a break by inhaling the wonderful essence of lavender. This little purple wonder will help ease anxiety, headaches, and insomnia. Lavender candles, pillow sprays, and lotions are great options to have on hand. Heated wheat packs infused with lavender also work wonders for neck tension. If you’re like me, once you get hooked you’ll find yourself drinking lavender tea, baking with lavender honey, and mixing vinaigrettes with lavender balsamic vinegar. It’s contagious!

(Lavender honey image courtesy of care2.com)
Stay away from stress inducers like coffee, candy, and ice cream. In its place, try a treat of Greek yogurt topped with organic granola and a drizzle of lavender honey. For lunch mix up a nice salad of spinach and walnuts (loaded with anxiety soothing B vitamins) and dress it with lavender balsamic vinegar.

During the cold winter months, try this recipe for Cider and Lavender Honey to calm your nerves:
In a medium saucepan, heat 2 cups of apple cider, 1 tablespoon lavender honey, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup cranberry juice, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1 dash of ground cloves. Heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain and serve. Garnish with an orange pinwheel.

Your wedding favors offer a great chance to do something original and support local artisans and small businesses at the same time. Here are just a few ideas to get the inspiration rolling:

*Gift Certificate For a Free Ice Cream Cone:
Purchase gift certificates from a local creamery for a unique flavor.
In our area: Try Sweet Willows Creamery in York, Pennsylvania. Their Super Premium Ice Creams, No Sugar Added Ice Creams, Yogurts, Sherbets, and Sorbets are made fresh daily on the premises using only the finest ingredients.  They take great pride in developing new flavors to satisfy a variety of tastes.

*Specialty Soaps:
Support a local artisan and give your guests specialty soaps. Some vendors will even work with you to create a custom fragrance and soap name!
In our area: Paintbox Soapworks out of York, Pennsylvania offers handcrafted, quality body care products with distinctive fragrances. With names like “The Queen is Dead” and “Sweet Cheeks” these products are truly one-of-a-kind. The fragrance descriptions alone are swoon-worthy! Paintbox Soapworks offers custom favors and gift packages for weddings.

*Petite boxed desserts:
A beautiful presentation makes boxed desserts and confections much more fun to receive. Find a shop that offers unique, gourmet candies and sweets.
In our area: Bonbonniere is a European style Confectionery Shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania filled with sweet indulgences for every taste.

When is it safe to D.I.Y? We talk to a lot of D.I.Y. savvy brides who want to do everything for their wedding themselves whether on a budget or not. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing that you made something for your own wedding, but at what cost and where should you draw the line and let the professionals come in? Here are some tips for knowing when it’s time to be pampered by professionals and when it’s good to do your own thing.

-Do’s

1. Favors
There are so many fun ideas that can work as favors for your wedding! Try creating a favor that doubles as an escort card! Simple boxes filled with your favorite local treat can be assembled quickly and look very chic as an example.

2. Guestbook
You can easily have too much fun making one of these and use it as an opportunity to show some personality! If you are into scrapbooking, create a book with pictures of both of you and pictures with you and guests. The areas for guests to leave a message can be intertwined with the photos, making this a great keepsake and fun for your guests to look through! Another guestbook idea is to have a computer set up for people to write messages to you. You can then design a book with photos uploaded from a web cam and have it printed with shutterfly or Kinkos.

3. Fun Details
Try making paper flowers to decorate your cake with. Design your table numbers by incorporating fun things such as photos or pretty picture frames with a design you created inside of them.  Spice up votive candle holders with washi tape (www.cutetape.com).

Check out blogs such as http://www.diybride.com/  and  http://mydiyweddingday.com/ for endless D.I.Y inspiration!

-Don’ts

1. Cake
This is the number one don’t. Unless your friend or sister is a professional, then don’t go down that scary road. If someone is great at making birthday cakes or entertaining, it doesn’t mean that they are great at wedding cakes. Just like a painter is great at painting, but perhaps not at sculpting. We have heard horror stories from brides whose friends used a friend for their wedding cake and it wasn’t structurally sound. Before they knew it, the cake was on the ground. Also, don’t bake the cake yourself. You don’t want to spend the night before your wedding worrying about your cake.

2. Invitations
For the Ceremony and Reception, let a professional handle this aspect for you. It will save you many a paper cut and time. Also, have the company who is handling your invitations handle your escort cards as well. However, if you are having a brunch the day after or a rehearsal dinner, you can find many great kits that you can spice up to make your own invitations.

3. Centerpieces
The biggest thing here is to cut down on your wedding day stress! A professional will be sure you are worry-free the day of your big event. Playing with live flowers and trying to replicate something in a magazine can lead to tears. Let the flower pros do their magic with an idea board and inspiration provided by you.

For today’s Wedding Wednesday post, here is a tip for dressing up your cake table without shelling out $100.00 for a gorgeous overlay! Try using ribbons! 

One of these lovely wide band ribbons is an easy solution to the problem. Accomac Events can take care of this for you or you can opt to have someone do it for you right before the reception. Simply pin the ribbon around the rim of the table from underneath. Be sure to find out exactly what size table will be used for your cake table and then pre-cut and sew the ribbon ends to look finished. This same concept works nicely for your gift and escort card tables. This rosette pattern is available in several colors. The options are virtually limitless!

Last week I talked about unique roses for your wedding! The Wedding Wednesday flower fun continues…

We are all familiar with the standard colors of hydrangeas and peonies.  If you like a little bit of tradition mixed with something new, consider other varieties of old standards like the stunning coral peonies (pictured below) or tri-color hydrangeas. These two examples demonstrate a powerful punch of color without the need to use dozens of stems (although there’s nothing wrong with that if your budget allows!). A plain white satin strip linen and napkin would allow a simple arrangement utilizing either one of these varieties to pop right off of the table.