The Lab + Pinterest = Bring Your Pinterest Board To Life

The Lab is a bridal experience unlike any other. Instead of traditional bridal faires, immerse yourself in inspiration brought to life, mingle with other brides & vendors all night long, find your wedding day style with our runway show modeled by SF Fashion Bloggers, and round out the night with a fabulous dance party. All this and more is definitely what you are in for when you go to The Lab. (Get your tickets now!)

Taking place in Sonoma, CA on January 12, 2013 we will have one heck of a party for you to get inspired in the best way possible, by seeing it all right in front of you!

Want your Pinterest board to come to life by a team of the best vendors in Northern California? Pin your dream wedding and submit it. If we choose it, it will be one of our featured tablescapes the night of the event.

We have partnered with a group of FABULOUS bloggers to make this happen. Head on over to Snippet & Ink, Ruffled, City Sage, Weddingbee, (more coming tomorrow) submit a link to your pinterest board!

Here is a sampling of what your board should look like:

Comment the link to your board and we will check it out! Thanks so much and we can't wait to have you at THE LAB!

Finding Wedding Invitation Design Inspiration in Unique Places

Recently I have been playing around just a little bit with Photoshop. Once I started getting into it more I found the importance of getting inspired to create something on your own. This got me thinking even more about the places we turn to for wedding inspiration print design. Exposure to all types of design be it branding, poster work, typography aid in the final product of your wedding invitations. Here are a few ideas from ordinary places that would inspire some awesome wedding invitations.

Speaking of, I'l go ahead and show off my latest little project. The Lab is a bridal event I co-founded that takes place in Sonoma, CA each year. This year we are working on our look and creating our identity. I took a stab at the logo (which wasn't easy might I add) and finally, 200 versions later, I finally have something I am proud of and that I love. If you are planning on doing your own wedding invitations, get inspired in a variety of areas, maybe something you like online, branding you love, or the design of a favorite restaurant the two of you share. Then work and work and work at it. It will come along to be something that you are proud of. Don't give up after the 50th time. I tell you, it is worth it in the end!

So, what do you think?? Did I do a good job??

Dress Fitting Finale

Last Friday I flew to San Diego for a number of exciting wedding-related things, but the Kalista & Kyle-related wedding thing was my final dress fitting. Hooray! I zipped in for my 30-minute dress fitting, and slipped on my dress. It's like putting on a cloak of perfection, slipping into a wedding dress. I couldn't feel more beautiful, more glamorous, more sexy than I do in that little white dress. What IS it about wedding dresses?

source

The dress fit like a dream, and the seamstress just had to take off another half inch from the bottom. I picked it up the next day, and proudly carried it on to the plane with me, only to stuff it into the overhead compartment. What happened to the closets on airplanes?!

  sources: left, right

Anyways, it made it home in one piece, and now I just have to make sure not to wear it too many times before the wedding for fear of getting lipstick on it.

source

In case you're confused, yes, I did have my final fitting 3 1/2 months before my wedding. And yes, I need to pretty much stay the same weight until the wedding. But I'm not too worried about it. That's the nice thing about a sheath dress. It's relatively simple and doesn't need a whole lot of tailoring, plus I can fluctuate a few pounds and there's still room.

  sources: left, right

By the way, all of these dresses are by Jenny Packham. It's concerning how obsessed I am with her designs. But aren't they just to die for? It's a dream come true to be wearing one of them.

How many dress fittings did you have before your wedding? Did your size change a lot before your wedding day? Should I do another fitting 2 weeks before my wedding day?

Playing Catch-Up & The Other White Dress

Unfortunately wedding planning has taken a back burner lately to make time for other personal matters which means my to-do list is pretty much the same.  However, now that our wedding party has been made official, I can finally share my final product for my "Will you be my?" cards.

These cards were so much fun to make and once I decided exactly what I wanted them to look like, very quick to put together. I make cards as a hobby so these were made with a lot of tools I use normally (die cuts, embossing tool, etc.). I think my favorite part is the embossed dress on the front.

Speaking of dresses I've been trying to build of my stash of pretty frocks. When doing a bit of online shopping recently, I realized that I've become drawn to all things white! Luckily, I will have lots of events coming up that will require just that! Here's what I'm finding dreamy and oh-so perfect.

Source: Ruche, Ruche, eShakti, Ruche

 If something a bit fancier is your style, you'll love these dresses  as much as I do.

Source: Nordstrom, BHLDN, Modcloth, Bloomingdale's

The top options are casual enough to not be stuffy but versatile enough to be dressy with the right accessories. The bottom options are very chic and most would do well as receptions dresses. You can easily tie in other elements for your upcoming wedding like vintage jewelry or a pop of color from your pallet. I won't be having a reception dress but I love some of these options as inspiration for my bridal shower and rehearsal dinner dresses. 

How do you feel about white before the wedding?

 

Connect with me elsewhere! Twitter | Pinterest | Blog

Celebrate Good Times :: Wedding Music

Of the weddings I've been to in the past few years, I would say they have been about half DJs, half bands (and equally fun!). Like most wedding decisions, there are pros/cons with both options - if you have a DJ, you can play whatever music you want. If you have a band, it's like a mini concert at your wedding! So, for my own wedding, I could imagine either. Although when we visited our venue in-person, the first thing my fiance said about the dance floor was "it's begging for a band!" As long as the people on the dance floor look something like the ones below, I would be totally happy!

Source

Source

DJs are great because they can gauge what kind of music is working and play the next songs accordingly. You also have more flexibility with what you play. If you love a song and really want it played at your wedding, you don't have to worry that it's not on the band's list.

Source: left, right

Bands are awesome too. They become the life of the party and people love a good show. They also come with a higher price tag, so that's something we are factoring in.

This past week Chris has been doing a ton of searching for bands online. It's been fun to listen what he finds. He's been playing everything from country music to steel drum bands...although we would probably go with something a little more versatile. ;-)

Source

Source

What's your take on band vs. DJ? If you know of any great (and affordable) Portland/Gorge area bands, please share!

Checking-In and Engagement Photo Reveal

As we approach the 60 day mark we have begun full crafting mode at our home. This weeks list of items to complete includes; creating envelope liners for our invitations, package the invitations and getting them in the mail. As you can imagine we have a lot to do in a short amount of time. I can't wait to share the final product and tutorials on how we created our invitations. In the mean time, please enjoy a few photos from our engagement session by the amazing Cinzo Photography.

 

 

Heather

Take A {Bridal} Shower

This Saturday was my bridal shower! I love this wedding tradition--getting to spend time with your favorite women, drinking cocktails, eating good food and having wonderful conversation. Ok, I guess being the guest of honor don't hurt either. ;) My bridesmaids did an amazing job putting the shower together. Tissue paper poofs decorated the trees and pottered herbs served as centerpieces. We drank bellinis while playing games and opening gifts. Isn't it pretty!?

Chances are, you're not only a bride but a guest, or even host, at lots of showers as well. In fact, I went to a shower of a family friend on Sunday, so it was a shower filled weekend. At each and every event, I'm taking notes for good ideas, cute decorations or clever gifts. Here are some of my favorite ideas and tips.

I think a shower should feel special. It doesn't have to be over the top, but a few decorations and games really make the event feel important. And when it comes to decor, I say go girlie! The bride is probably trying to keep the wedding sophisticated, so let the shower be vibrant, feminine and fun!

Or, how about making it a unique activity. How cute is this picnic shower?

Picnic Shower

I don't know about you, but I'm always trying to brainstorm unique gift ideas. Registry gifts are great, but sometimes feel impersonal. For a shower, why not give the bride something that she can use at the wedding! How adorable are these personalized hangers and signs? Or Kate Spade's gorgeous "mrs." necklace. LOVE. (Full disclosure, these were not my ideas. My Co-MOH and college friend gave me both the hanger and the "mrs." necklace and I just love them so much!)

Kate Space Necklace, Embroidered Sign, Personalized Hanger

One favorite shower tradition is the ribbon bouquet. You end up with such a masterpiece to use at your rehearsal! As I guest, I think you should have fun with your wrapping so that the bride has an amazing bouquet. How about cute fabric flowers or colorful string?

Ribbon Bouquet,Ribbon Bouquet, Colored Ribbon Packaging, Paper Flowers, Fabric Flowers

Tell me about your wedding shower! Any good ideas to share? I have plenty more showers to attend in the future! :)

::invitation wording:: & a sneak preview

The most difficult task in planning a wedding was finding a venue. The second most difficult task (for me) was researching proper wedding invitation verbiage. Why was this so difficult you may ask? Well, who knew there were so many different ways to skin a cat! If you come from a divorced family (which 50% of us do these days) it changes the traditional format. Of course, there are no strict rules to this. If you're having a casual wedding you can write whatever you'd like. However, if you're having a more formal affair (which I am), then I think it's safe to safe people have expectations that the wording will reflect that. Here's one tid-bit I learned from my research: I learned that if your parents are divorced, their names should each go on their own line (mother's name first). If both sets of parents are contributing to the wedding you'd say "together with." I was surprised by how many questions came up for me while planning out my invites. Here are just a few:

  1. When do invitations go out to guests?
  2. When should the RSVP be due?
  3. If everyone is contributing to the wedding, how do we phrase that on the invitation?
  4. How much detailed info should be on the invite? Do we need an insert or should we just direct them to the website?
  5. Should we include an insert RSVP for the rehearsal dinner?
  6. How do we make the wording formal and important without sounding too stuffy?
  7. We haven't had our food tasting yet, but we need to get the invites out.... should we include meal (type) options? i.e. meat or fish?

Here are some sites I found useful for answering all of my questions and helped with guidelines in creating the ideal wedding invitation wording for us:

And now for a sneak peek at our wedding invites created by LIZELLY at LizzyBLoves, an invitation and stationary design studio.

We have not gone to print yet, so these are just PDF designs.... but you'll get the idea for what we're going for. And you'll get to see the wedding wording we came up with that made all of the moms happy ;-)

Looking forward to sharing the final product with you soon! Lizelly has been amazing in creating a custom wedding invitation that fits the vibe and theme of what we're going for. I can't wait to get them soon!!!

How was your invitation experience? Did you go the custom route? What challenges did you have (if any)? Please share!

Quick check-in

The three month count down has begun and I am consequently BUSY! So this is just a quick check-in to let you know I am alive! This weekend was particularly busy. Niall and I spent the majority of the weekend attending a marriage prep class. Yep, you heard right! I promise to share more details. Oh yeah and our invitations came in! So there is lots of licking, stamping and stuffing going on in this house! This upcoming weekend, my family and my fiance's family is coming in for our Jack & Jill shower! I am so excited! But in the meantime, I've got lots to do!

<a href="http://www.engagedandinspired.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/BrianneandNiall_035.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18210" src="http://www.engagedandinspired.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/BrianneandNiall_035-e1344310622863.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="393" /></a>

More to come next week! I am praying I am nowhere near as busy!Rich Text Area

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The three month count down has begun and I am consequently BUSY! So this is just a quick check-in to let you know I am alive!

This weekend was particularly busy. Niall and I spent the majority of the weekend attending a marriage prep class. Yep, you heard right! I promise to share more details. Oh yeah and our invitations came in! So there is lots of licking, stamping and stuffing going on in this house! This upcoming weekend, my family and my fiance's family is coming in for our Jack & Jill shower! I am so excited! But in the meantime, I've got lots to do!

More to come next week! I am praying I am nowhere near as busy!

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Word count: 121   Last edited by BrianneDonahue on August 6, 2012 at 7:41 pm

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