The Four Somethings

My mom emailed me last week asking me if I had figured out what I was doing for my "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Truthfully, I hadn't thought about this since my very initial stages of planning over a year ago when I bought a blue handkerchief while Kyle and I were in New Zealand. Out of curiosity I looked this up to see where it originated, and what it really means. And, thanks to Wikipedia, I learned a new thing or four!

"Something old" symbolizes continuity with the bride's family and the past.

"Something new" means optimism and hope for the bride's new life ahead.

"Something borrowed" reminds the bride that she can depend on her friends and family.

"Something blue" refers to a long tradition of blue at weddings, going all the way back to ancient Roman times when brides wore blue to symbolize love, modesty, and fidelity.

I have my "something new," which is pretty much everything I'm wearing. I have my "something blue," which is that little handkerchief which I'll keep for my happy tears. But here's some traditional ideas, and some new inspiration for all of the four somethings!

Something Old

  Bubbly Bride; Top Knots, photo by Carrie Patterson; BHLDN gloves

Something New

  Jenny Packham, Johanna Johnson, BHLDN

Something Borrowed

  One Wed, photo by Thousand Word Photography; Style Me Pretty, photo by Hannah Persson ;Style Me Pretty, photo by Tohnya Kae Photography

Something Blue

  Style Me Pretty, photo by Andi Hatch; BHLDN; Style Me Pretty, photo by Sequins and Candy

Did you do the four somethings at your wedding, or are you planning on doing them for your wedding day? I'd love to hear what you used, and what meaning those items held for you! I am searching for ideas and inspiration.

Bridesmaid Dresses {The Color Face-Off}

My biggest dilemma with my bridesmaids dresses has been the color. I think I really like the ombre' or varied hues in one color look like the below examples.

Source: Green Wedding Shoes 1 & 2

I feel that I should stick to one color like blue or creamy tan. Same dress, totally different feel in each color.

Source: For Her And For Him

The blending of two colors looks great here though!

Source: Green Wedding Shoes

My coordinator said the tan would look best with the blue flowers, but I think they would look great with blue dresses as well. Also, the styles may be a bit different to compliment each girl. Need your input all!

Which pallet are you feeling?

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Paper Extras {tying everything together}

I am a sucker for paper - stationary, thank you cards, menus...you name it. So when it comes to my wedding, I get giddy over not just the invitations, but all the 'extras.' Here are some images inspiring me...

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source: Left, top right, bottom right

I came to the realization recently (after getting a quote from a designer) that these things do not come cheap, so there may be some DIY in my future! I won't be able to do everything so I'll also have to get creative with different vendors. Knowing that it's going to take more than just hiring a designer and approving the design, I realize this all will require some extra work. But I know that the savings and getting to have more of a hand in everything will make it worth it.

I was really inspired by fellow E&I blogger who recently posted about her DIY invitations - check them out! I also love Kim's, here.

Did you DIY all or part of your wedding invitations and/or the extra paper goods? How did it go for you?

It's Here......

Well it is offically here, wedding week! We have already run into a few hiccups but what I have learn thus far is to keep you cool and utilize your resources. I am so excited to see all of the final pieces come together. I will be sure to share all of my final details and the finished products!

PIECE by PIECE: The Bar

Piece by Piece is a new series where we will go through small and large pieces of the wedding and provide top inspiration of them all. The goal of this series is to help dissect your wedding day and offer design advice in one awesome series of posts. Today we are focusing on a sometimes forgotten piece of the wedding, the bar. I'm loving all the creative bar styling I have been seeing and I hope that more brides put time and attention to these often overlooked pieces.

Are you bring your bar up a notch and providing a design element to it? Would love to hear your plans!

Sweet Tooth Central

This past weekend Derek and I hit up a local french cafe and pastry shop Petite Reve Cafe we had been meaning to try and were pleasantly surprised with some wedding cake inspiration. What could be better than hundreds of layers of crepes to impress your guests? While waiting for our coffees Derek spotted some photos of some stunning crepe wedding cakes.  He spoke with the owner and learned that she is one of the only people on the West Coast who makes theses special cakes and that they can be customized with any flavor filling and to match our wedding flowers.

Sources: Lavendar & Twine (1, 3 & 4), N Barrett Photography (2)

With dessert being one of our favorite things in the world (no meal is complete without amazing dessert!), we have some pretty big sweet teeth to satisfy for our wedding day. With so many wedding cake options these days we would like to do something a little less traditional and on the smaller side for ours, especially since it seems like most guests do not even end up eating the wedding cake and we plan to have several other dessert options.

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

For me, the simpler the cake, the better.

Sources: 1 & 2

And, of course we have a special sweet spot for cake pops too.

Sources: 1 & 2

More to come in the next few weeks on our other non-cake dessert ideas.

How did you decide on your wedding cake? Did you go for a less traditional option? I certainly can't wait to start tasting!

COLORY: Simple Seafoam

One of my favorite things right now is the color Seafoam. I'm totally obsessed with this simple and calming color. I think it is the perfect color for a wedding. Here are some fun details that fit the seafoam simplicity. Hope you all are loving this much column as I'm loving sharing them!

Rustic Chic Pennsylvania Wedding by Sanderson Images

Today I'm excited to share a very special wedding with you all. Remember one of very first E&I brides Kate? She was our fabulous Rustic Chic bride planning a Pennsylvania wedding. Well, she has since tied the knot and had her wedding featured on Style Me Pretty!

I loved everything about her fabulous wedding day. So many crafty details, a gorgeous dress and some totally awesome florals. Check out some incredible shots from her wedding day. Big huge congrats to Kate and we wish her all the very best.

See how she planned her wedding and follow her journey here on Engaged & Inspired.

Photography: Sanderson Images / Venue, caterer, and cake artist: Normandy Farm / Florist: Love N Fresh Flowers / Music: Synergetic Sounds  Day of Coordinator: Molly Hartman of Glitter + Rye

DIY Invitations Revealed

After spending a year oohing and ahhing over all of the gorgeous invitation suites I saw on Pinterest, we reached a point where we finally had to come up with our own. And as with everything else, to my fiancé's dismay, I needed it to be DIY. Let me briefly digress by saying that every line on my exhaustive (and exhausting) budget is a chance for a little competition. Hence the overkill on DIY projects.

Oh, hello budget. You think my invitations are going to cost $800? Well, think again!

Anyways, after several trips to Paper Source and FedEx Kinko's, and after a couple of crying fits in front of Photoshop, we finally finished our eco-friendly DIY invitations. Et voilà!

And here is the whole thing constructed and deconstructed...

 

"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple." - Jack Kerouac

Remember the Kerouac quote on the envelope? It's one of our favorites, so we tied it into the invitation wording :)

And Kyle even drew custom maps for us!

 

I have to admit that even though I never wanted to look at another invitation in my entire life by the time we got these in the mail, I was quite eager to hear what people thought. I mean, I watercolored 199 pieces of paper and Kyle typed 106 custom RSVP cards and envelopes after all!

Here is what we did in summary: I designed the invitations on Photoshop using some cool free fonts, Kyle drew the maps by hand and we scanned them in, we bought all of the paper products from Paper Source (all at least 30% recycled!) including the vintage San Francisco postcards, bought eco-friendly hemp string and antique sailboat charms from etsy, found some great 1950s sports car stamps for the postcards on ebay, bought the rest of the stamps from the regular old Post Office, had everything printed and cut at FedEx Kinko's, glued the envelope liners into the envelopes, watercolored a bunch of things, tied figure 8 knots on all of the strings to attach the sailboat charms, typed the RSVP cards and envelopes on our 1920 Underwood typewriter, drank a bunch of wine, and finally put all 53 invites together. Phew!

ALL of this, all of the postage, paper, supplies, sticky tape, paint brushes, printing, etc cost $360. Well under my $800 budget. Take that budget!!

So, what do you think? I'm dying to hear!

Wedding Website Sneak Peek

I got a call from my future sister-in-law (or just sister to me!) the other day with a very excited "Hey!!!". It seems that she was wondering if we had made our registries yet while on her lunch at work and decided to turn to Google to find the answer. Upon googling our names, she came across the Save-The-Date Video that the Mister had made for our wedding website. This of course reminded me that I haven't shared anything about our choices for a wedding website with you lovely readers! Surprise, we made one!

After sampling lots of different options we ultimately went with Wedding Wire's offerings. With unlimited pages and lots of add on's like maps, the ability to check on accommodations and even a reception song request tab, we couldn't go wrong. I also loved that the important things were available through a mobile version for people that were accessing the site through their phone.

Source: Our Website on Wedding Wire

With that said....I have to admit I am also using Appy Couple. The overall design of the app is ridiculously cool and new features are added all the time. I also like that our friends and family who have smart phones can follow along on our journey right from their home screen!

 Source: Our app from Appy Couple

I"m really happy with how both sites are turning out and cannot wait for our guests to use them.

What lead you to choose your wedding website host? How do you feel like having an app just for your wedding info?

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