Easter Inspires Me

It's a good thing... spring that is...

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting a lot lately. Work has been really, really busy and I swear it's true, that's not just an excuse. Things should be slowing down this weekend, just in time for Easter, and one year mark until our big day. I'm so excited.

I've been really intrigued lately by all of the Easter and spring decorations on the blogs and in magazines. It just makes me so happy that we've decided to push the date back (from fall 2010) and get married this time next year. It's just such a lovely time of year!

I'm also happy that I'm not faced with sending out our Save the Dates yet! I've been working on Engagement Party Invitations (more on that later) and it's a lot of work! It's another reason I've been M.I.A... I suppose all the labor is good practice for when it's time to send out our wedding invitations. Although I imagine I'll probably be twice as picky and twice as nervous...

So here's a bit of inspiration I picked up online of things that excite me about a spring and having my wedding the weekend after Easter. If you have Easter and/or spring wedding ideas, please share the wealth. I can't get enough!

Thanks for stopping by!

 {Country Living}

{Hostess Blog}

{Porter House Designs}

  {Martha Stewart}

{Unknown}

 

 {Weddingbee}

  {Readers Digest}

Dreamy Wedding

Do you ever see pictures of a wedding and think...

"I want mine be just like this?" 

I say that all time. Probably because as a part of my morning routine, I look through a lot of wedding Web sites and blogs, and see a lot of gorgeous images. Whether it's healthy or not, I come across a lot of dreamy weddings and wonder if mine will be as beautiful.

I'm constantly running into what appear to be perfectly executed elements that I'd like my big day to mimic one way or another. Whether it be in the exqusite flower designs, hip bridesmaid dresses, personal touches, or all of the above. 

I have to admit I see the most dreamy weddings on Style Me Pretty. I don't know what it is about Abby Larson and how she snags all these amazing photographs, but there isn't a week that goes by that I don't see at least one, dreamy wedding.

You can imagine my delight and surprise a few weeks ago when the revamp of the Web site made it so that readers, such as myself were able to access all the dreamy wedding photos. I didn't waste anytime right clicking and saving images, although there are more than I know what to do with. Below are images I borrowed from SMP of a wedding I couldn't help by identify with. I love absolutely everything about it...

love the bride's dress.

the pink petals.

 the flower girl's dresses.

the bridesmaid's bouquets.

love the pearls.

the flats. the venue.

the whole shabang.

totally inspiring.

totally organic.

I want mine to be just like this!

{Photo credit: Aaron Delesie Photography via Style Me Pretty}

Share dreamy weddings you've seen!

Happy Weekend

I know I've been promising a bunch of meaty posts lately...

And I swear I'm good for them. I said this last Friday and I'm going to say it again. There's quite a bit going on between changing the wedding date and work. I hope you readers understand! The warm weather isn't helping either. I desperately want to spend time outdoors, rather than inside blogging! You know what that means: I need a new laptop. The one I have is centuries old and I can't stand to wait for it to boot (yes, it's one of thosethat takes 10 years to start up).

Along with the changing seasons, you'll see some changes here as well. 

To name a few, there's a new layout on the way, better navigation, and I'm nixing the New Approach. More on all of that later. For now, here are some pictures to make your heart melt (at least they do mine)! 

This is one of the first flowers that Aaron ever gave me back in 2005!

I took a dozen pictures of it, because I couldn't believe how beautifully it bloomed. A close friend of mine at the time told me her mom always said, "If a man gives you a rose and it blooms beautifully, that means he really loves you!" Turns out my friend's mom was right because 5 years later, the fella that gave me this rose got down on one knee and asked me to spend my life with him..

Ahh... Isn't this the stuff weddings are all about?

Thanks for stopping through!

St. Patrick's Day = Green Wedding Inspiration

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This is a great time of year for a girl that loves green. Everyone is wearing it and all of the bloggers are pulling green wedding inspiration! I can't get enough! I wish everyday was filled with such an appreciation for my favorite color. I'm always on the hunt for anything green wedding, and today, there's plenty to go around! So in celebration of that wonderful color, the one color of our wedding palette I've never questioned, and that will never change... some fun green weddings stuff!!

{Martha Stewart via Ritzy Bee Blog}

{Q Weddings Photography via Style Me Pretty}

{Photo credit: Project Wedding}

{Invitations by Capture Moments By Amy}

{Photo credit: Rebekah Westover via Kelly Oshiro Events}

{Photo credit: The Knot}

{Photo credit: Petalena}

{Photo credit: Flickr Member Naoko via The Kitchn}

Are you a fan of the color green?

Was anything green at your wedding?

Invitations Are the Forefront

Pretty Paper...

Pushing our wedding back was really a blessing. Having been engaged for four months, I was way behind the buck. I started off strong making cards for my friends, asking them to be bridesmaids, but then I stopped. I haven't done anything towards our wedding since then, except of course, maintain this blog.

During my recent months of blogging, I've found that while it's great to research wedding web sites and blogs to collect ideas and inspriations, it doesn't bring anything to life in the "real world."

It's fun to throw DIY tutorials and pictures up on the blog, but the "blog world," isn't where my wedding is taking place, and the truth is we need to get started.

Well, we've done our research. That's the easy part. What's harder is making a decision on what we like, what he want, and get it or create it. It's the creative process. Something I know well from my years of writing experience. Problem is, I'm overwhelmed with inspiration. I'm so caught up in what everyone else is doing, I haven't left anytime to figure out what we're going to do. 

I decided to collect a little (just a little) inspiration for my most pressing project--invitations. I like these because they are bold, yet beautiful. I like the design, especially the swirlies along the edge of each piece and the cohesive look. They are a little too dark for our spring wedding though.

{Invitations by Melissa with Fully Designed on Etsy}

 {Photo credit: Katie Shagman via Oh So Beautiful Paper}

One thing I know for sure is that I want our save the dates and invitations (and programs and menus) to match. Call me crazy, but they have to match. The colors don't have to be exactly the same, but something has to be consistent throughout. I really like the set below, because they match, but they aren't too matchy.

{Invitations and Photos by Eskquisite Design via Oh So Beautiful Paper}

I also know that I really want something vintage and imperfect too. I want unique. Our design has to reflect our love for mixing thrifty, traditional, and timeless. We love art and we're easily inspired. We want a design that is going to show off our appreciation for antique, southern, and timeless, as well as contemporary and cool.

{Invitiations by Jessica Claire and Kari Dyas via Green Wedding Shoes}

I could fill this post with great invitations, let's face it. There's so much inspiration out there (one reason I can't get enough of Oh So Beautiful Paper blog), but could it be there's such thing as too much inspiration? In all honesty, I think I'm a bit intimitated. I can't think of my own design, because my mind is crowded with everyone else's great designs.

How did you decide on the design of your invitations?

I've decided I need to brainstorm. I'm making it a homework assignment to figure out our design, or at least give it some serious thought. To help, I thought I'd pull together some inspiration. I know. I know. Enough already with the inspiration, but really, I think this will help.

Remember me mentioning these (invitations below) as a muse for my spring inspriation board? If not, check out my post right here. Well, Aaron wasn't crazy about them. He liked the color and font, but he wasn't sold on the whole "oh happy day." He said we'd have to come up with our own sang. Again, a reminder that we're not going to get our invitations from inspiration.

{Invitations by Linzmarie Designs}

So I know that this entire posting is about how I need to tap into my creative side and stop gathering inspiration, but I just had to share one last set of invitations. I love them. No, really. I love them. In a sick sort of jealous way, I wish they were our invitations. They're perfect, I mean, the spring colors, all that green, and the romantic, DIY, beauty of them.

Why didn't I think of this?

Really, how could you not envy invitations like these? A part of me wishes I never would have crossed paths with them.This is exactly the type of thing I mentioned above. How can I compete?

{Photos and Invitations by Lillyella via iDIY}

Well, wish me luck on my big assigment to create some concrete ideas on what I want our invitations to look like. I'm going to try to come up with our design pretty much alone and without the help of the wonderful and flourishing wedding community online! I hope I have something for you guys to see and for me to begin working on very soon!  

Share your invitations! Whether you created them or bought them, share them here with the link to pictures.