Updates

The final count down has begun and we are six weeks away from the big event.  However, I am sad to say that I am no longer able to maintain this blog.  If you would like to follow up on me and my wedding planning you can do so here or here.  Thanks!

In full planning mode...

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted here! Mike and I are finally settled in Florida. We moved from New York about a month ago, shortly after I lost my job. I had a major freak out moment a couple of weeks ago when I realized that the wedding was quickly approaching and we had done absolutely nothing to plan for it! So...we are now in full planning mode, along with house hunting and attempting to build my business...needless to say, there is a ton of stuff on our plate right now. The stress level is high but I'm excited about what the future holds. 

All that being said, I have to post this photo because I absolutely love her hair. This is exactly the look I want, it goes so well with my dress too.

Photo: Lizelle Lotter via Once Wed

Favor idea

Wouldn't this be a cute idea for a wedding favor, with one of my handmade soaps in it?!

Photo: Acero Studio

A little barn inspiration

I LOVE this photo!

Photo: The Wiebners Photography via Weddingparty.com

Putting things on hold....again

If you keep up with my personal blog, you might know that I was recently laid off from my job. This has put the wedding planning on the back burner for a little while. Mike and I need to re-group and figure out where we are going from here. Posting may be light for a while as I begin to focus on other things.

A Bicycle Built for Two...

Photos: The Knot

A little green and brown inspiration

Perfect for a F all wedding...

Photo: The Knot

Titanium Knights Wedding Bands

I LOVE this titanium wedding band for Mike. It's so simple and classic. A friend of mine has a titanium wedding band and I love the way it looks. The shop has several other styles available.


Photo: Titanium Knights

Ethereal

Photo: Cooper Carras Photography

A little barn inspiration

Even though I'm no longer getting married in a barn, I still come across beautiful barn weddings that inspire me. I love this photo. This is actually one of the places Mike and I considered when we were looking for potential wedding sites.

Photo: Faith West Photography via Brides.com

Sarah Seven

I love this wedding gown by Sarah Seven...so beautiful!

Photo: Sarah Seven

Hairstyles

I've always loved Jennifer Aniston's wedding hairstyle. I love the idea of wearing my hair down. Of course, right before I got engaged I went and chopped my hair short so now I am willing it to grow back before the wedding so I can have the long, flowy hairstyle. These are some of my favorites looks.

Photos: People Magazine, Wire Image, Brides.com, Wire Image

Viv & Ingrid

This Viv & Ingrid necklace would make a great gift for your bridesmaids. They are so affordable you could even pick up one for yourself. I think they are adorable!

Photo: Viv & Ingrid

Lavender inspiration

Photo: Domino Magazine

Oops

This could be a great argument for not having your dog at your wedding...

Photo: Tackyweddings.com

Beverage service in style

I like this idea, pre-ceremony, since ours will be outdoors (and in Florida!)  Guests can grab a beverage while waiting for things to begin.

Photo: Modern Bride Magazine

More lantern inspiration

This might be a bit over the top but I kind of like it...

Photo: Bridalguide.com

Favor Bag How-To

Brooklyn Bride has a great tutorial on Etsy today on these super cute favor bags.

Beth Cyr Jewelry

LOVE these wedding bands from Beth Cyr Jewelry

Must have this...

I was flipping through the Williams-Sonoma catalog this weekend, looking for new stuff to add to our registry when I found this amazing little gadget from Breville. It's basically like an electric tea kettle only smarter because it will bring your water to the exact brewing temperature for Green Tea, White Tea, Oolong Tea, Coffee, or Black Tea. It even has a feature that lets you hold the temperature for 20 minutes. Mike and I are avid tea drinkers and we usually drink black tea but when we do want green or oolong it's so hard to get the temperature right with our stove top kettle. This is perfect!!

Oh and I promise this will be the last "gift" post for a while ;) I've gotten a little carried away lately!

Another cute gift idea

Here's another cute and personalized wedding gift idea.

Photo: Miniature Rhino

Nella Designs

Wouldn't this make an adorable wedding gift! The shop has lots of adorable prints and paper goods, including save the dates and wedding invitations. Very cute.

Photo: Nella Designs

Tea Tins

I would love to use tea tins for flower centerpieces at the wedding. I think it goes really well with the garden and bike theme. I have a small collection of tea tins at home that I sometimes put flowers in. This site has a great assortment of colored tins.

Photos: I Suwanee

More lantern inspiration

This is the sort of look I'm going for with the lanterns....

Photo: Paul Johnson Photography

Night Owl Paper Goods Wedding Invitations

Check out these unique wooden wedding invitations and save the date cards from Night Owl Paper Goods. The invites are printed on eco-friendly sustainably harvested birch wood. Such a cool idea.

Photos: Night Owl Paper Goods

Win a Honeymoon in Greece...

Enter for a chance to win online at J.Crew.com.

DIY

I love this idea...Jen from Purl Soho (one of my favorite fabric and knitting shops in the city) recently got married. Since she has an AMAZING fabric hook-up, she began collecting fabrics to make linens for all the tables at the reception.

She became worried at one point when she realized she was going to be left with several orange and green napkins after the wedding. Luckily many of her guests wanted to take theirs home with them, and with the ones that got left behind...she made this amazing quilt! What a great momentum from the wedding!

The pattern for the quilt is available in Joelle Hoverson's book, Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts

For more details on Jen's wedding, check out the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

Photos: Purl Bee

Happy Valentine's Day

Photo: Le Love

The reveal...

I love these photos of couples seeing each other for the first time right before the wedding.

Photos: Paul Johnson Photography; Kate Headly Photography

Cute

I couldn't resist posting this adorable dachshund. I'm starting to look for wedding photographers and came across this pic from a couple's engagement session, taken by Kara Pennington. So cute.

Lantern Love

One thing is for sure, as soon as I saw the wedding location, I knew it would look beautiful at night with lanterns strung everywhere. Which is where the inspiration for this post came from. Can I have them all?!

Photos: Toast; Chiasso; Canadian Family; Gifts Unusual

Planning the honeymoon...

is proving to be more difficult than finding a location for the wedding.

We originally wanted to go to Thailand but then we thought maybe the Maldives or the Seychelles would be nice. Now we're back to Thailand. I want everything to be perfect which is just making it more difficult to plan!

I could literally sit on a deserted island with Mike and have a blast so I know I'm worrying over nothing but this has seriously been the most difficult vacation I have ever planned!

So today, instead of pouring over hotel web sites and reading trip reviews, I decided to have a little fun and put together a post on things I want to take on my honeymoon!

Photos: Melissa Odabash tunic; Geo Travel Passport Wallet; Michael Kors Sandals; Maxwell Scott Bags

Dessert anyone?

I am so inspired by the food photography on Cannelle et Vanille. I want the desserts at my wedding to look like this! So beautiful...

Photos: Cannelle et Vanille

Cool wedding photo...

Photo: Union Photo via Snippet & Ink

Fun Registry Gifts

How cool is this countertop water filtration system. It's incredibly eco-friendly and a lot better looking than those office-style water coolers. I also love the glass water bottles, I am definitely adding those to my registry!

Refreshments anyone?

Photos: Kyle Hale Photography; Squire Fox via Snippet and Ink

Another gorgeous invite

Here's another beautiful invite, using calligraphy but with that great contrast of black and white (or maybe it's silver, I can't tell!) Anyway, I love it, and she used vintage stamps as well

Photos: A Lovely Morning

Aisles of Style

I'm getting lots of inspiration for our ceremony aisle...these are some of my favorite.

I like the burlap with the design printed on it because you could re-use it for a table runner after the wedding but there is also something so romantic about an aisle of flower petals.

Photos: Brides.com

Our Signature Cocktail...

This is something I have been thinking a lot about. Mike and I have more or less decided to do a beer and wine bar. To make things more interesting we definitely want to introduce a signature cocktail during cocktail hour. Since lavender is sort of an underlying theme in our wedding I thought it might be fun to create a drink with lavender. I was thinking a lavender infused vodka lemonade served in mason jars.

Of course Martha has some fun lavender infused cocktails on her site. Specifically, a lavender champagne and a lavender whiskey sour. I'll have to do some more research on this and play around with some recipes to see what tastes good.


NY Mag has some great suggestions on how to serve your signature cocktail, like keeping the cocktails to cocktail hour only to keep the experience memorable and ensure that people don't get tired of drinking the same thing throughout the length of the reception.

Photos: Martha Stewart

Invites

I was researching using vintage stamps on our wedding invitations and found this picture. I love the block lettering and the contrasting dark envelopes. It really makes the invites stand out. Plus I can do this myself and won't have to pay a calligrapher.

Photo: The Wedding Workroom