Busy, Busy & Balloons

Hello lovelies and happy Friday!

Oops. It's Thursday, but I'm off tomorrow so it's MY Friday! Woot woot!

I am sorry I have been M.I.A. lately.

There are SLEW of things going on at work and also with the wedding.

I will update all of you as soon as possible. Just know that even though I'm not blogging, I am working hard to make big wedding-related decisions this weekend. Tonight we're going to a tasting (we've narrowed our search down to three caterers), and tomorrow and Saturday I'll be wedding dress shopping!

I have a lot to share, but unfortunately there has been a "situation" with my job that has required my full attention. Can I ask that you please keep me in your prayers? I'm making a BIG transition. 

Oh... and I know a lot of people think balloons at weddings are lame, but personally, I love the idea.

What are your thoughts? 

These are our colors!

here

Garden-Inspired-Butterfly-Theme Wedding, That's Us!

It took me awhile to commit to a theme.

Remember I mentioned we spent the first few weeks going over various ideas, but never came up with anything concrete that we could really use as a wedding theme? We thought about using our faith as a focus and realized that was a bit too broad. We thought about doing the cherry blossoms since our wedding is in April and we live near Washington, DC, but we know other people with this theme and it's not something we're passionate about.

We looked into having a candy theme, but it didn't seem appropriate with our historic manor venue. We really like the love birds theme, but both of us feel it's a little played out (no offense to other love bird couples out there)! And well, the list goes on and on.

I actually started to think we weren't going to have a theme.
I was pretty discouraged that we hadn't come up with anything concrete and couldn't come up with new ideas, no matter how hard I tried. Then it dawned on me to look at what we had decided on and what we already knew for sure was going to be a part of our big day. Advice: if you can't think of a theme, draw inspiration from other parts of your wedding that have been decided.

Our venue was the biggest thing. It was the one decision we had made and moved forward on... So we asked ourselves what's special about our venue? The garden ceremony. Definitely the garden.

Volia! We're having a Garden Wedding!! We've had this theme all along and we just never knew it! We picked the spring time of year, when gardens are in full bloom, and we picked a venue with a garden ceremony site! Not only that, but the one and only consistent thing (as in cherry blossoms, candy, love birds) I can stand is butterflies...

I kept running into butterfly inspiration, too.


I mentioned in my intro that I don't have a butterfly tattoo, but I do have a butterfly shower curtain, pillow case, and a huge collection of butterfly broaches. I've always loved butterflies and everyone who knows me, knows this. During our vacation when Mr. B proposed, we stayed in the "Butterfly Cottage." He knew that place would make my heart stop ... and it did!

So whether we knew it or not, we've been building up to a garden-inspired wedding. It's the only thing that makes sense with where we are right now and I must say I'm relieved to finally have a theme.

In honor of this new revelation, here is some garden/butterfly inspiration:

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What's your theme?

How was your theme inspired?

Cordless Mic and Cake Toppers

I created a must-have file for our wedding...

I look at so much wonderful inspirtation and read about a lot of ideas, and needed a way to sort through the stuff we like and we stuff we absolutely must have. I'm proud to say the must-have file is fairly small, as I feel it should be. We can't have everything and we really can't bother ourselves with a long, long list of important details - that would drive us mad.

One of the things in my file, although it may sound silly, is a cordless microphone.

As many of you know, we're having a garden ceremony outside and I can't stand the thought of a microphone cord obstructing the view of us and our backdrop. I hate to use pictures of a real wedding to show something I don't like, but in this case I felt it was fine since I truly love this wedding (especially the couple's cake), and since they will probably never read this blog.

Check out the officiant in the third picture down.

While I can totally appreciate her excitement, that cord has got to go!! Maybe the couple was able to photoshop her (or the mic) out of these pictures. That is what I would have wanted to do!! Am I being crazy guyz? I don't want to be a snobby bride! Maybe I'm being a little picky here.

Did you request a cordless mic?

So onto what I love about this wedding.

The couple's cake toppers.

I adore the simple elegance of these love birds. Gor.ge.ous! I haven't even begun to think about what we want for our cake toppers, but this is going into the inspirtation file nevertheless. I hope we can find something as timeless and unique. Something like this would really compliment our garden theme too. I wonder if anyone has ever had butterfly toppers!  More on this later...

What's in your must-have file?

Have you thought about cake toppers yet?

Must Haves: Vintage Furniture

I'm the daughter of trash pickers and proud!

Yeah, I said it. So what.

I pride myself on my ability to find goodies at low costs, bought second hand, or found for free. That's right, found for free! You might have guessed this from my bio - lover of all things vintage/antique/thrift/or homemade. You'll find I'm a sucker for a deal. I thrive on a good bargain!

Remember my seating inspiration? Many of you were concerned about the cost and rightfully so. Renting lounge furntiure, especially the expensive kind can get really expensive and fast! My solution is to go second hand. Seriously. Mama brooch and I have found some pretty amazing furniture curbside.

The thing is, our venue is perfect for this aesthetic because it's historic and has a very antique charm, and I want to keep that consistant throughout our wedding.

Take this couch for instance.

I HEART THIS COUCH!

I'll admit, I love it because it's green. It's olive green (my favorite color), but don't you think we could find this somewhere cheap (hello craigslist) and sell it later? I sold all of my furniture when I graduated from college (I sold furniture, some pretty nice stuff too, throughout college). I know firsthand what BO means. And it just might be the only way I'll get the seating I desire.

My thought: why rent overpriced lounge furniture that you'll never get to use again, instead of bringing in your own pieces that can be less expensive and recycled.

Elizabeth Anne Designs 

On a recent trip to our venue, which I'll talk more about in another post, Mr. B and I took some time to brainstorm the decoration and use of this huge patio behind the manor. It's next to the garden and behind the dining area. We really want the space to be utilized, but we don't want to put a tent up, because we think it will obstruct the amazing view.

My vote is to put lounge furniture in this area. Let me re-phrase: vintage lounge furniture. Let's stage it people! Let's pull together some really cool vintage pieces and mix them with a few modern touches. Add a table with our guest book and put a drink station nearby.

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We need something that is going to draw people out here. Something that will get people utilizing this space. More importantly... let's get some awesome pictures! Can anyone else see the bridal party taking this space over and getting some um.az.ing photo ops!! 

Here is the space I'm talking about:

OK SO.

You see my vision, but you're not sure we're going to find the vintage furniture seen on Style Me Pretty and in the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings mag? Think again! How about this charming vintage vanity for sale locally! I love it. It's exactly the type of furniture I'm talking about in this post. Check out the black dresser below. Both for sale on craigslist!

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Still can't see my vision? Then take a look at these photos from a few real weddings, where the brides apparently had the same vision as me.

I'm so in love with this look:

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What are you using to spruce up your wedding venue?

Do you like vintage furniture? Will you use it at your wedding?

I'm Inspired By This

Inspiration Board Inspiration!

This inspiration board is really, really close to the feel I'm looking for at my wedding. Every element you see below is somehow tied into what I invision for our big day.

I want invitations, bridesmaid dresses, and a veil like this!

The Betsy White Stationary is simple, elegant and has a hint of green (my favorite color). I love the use of the monogram. It's a cohesive element that we can use to carry throughout the wedding from invitation to favor.  I love, love, love this bridesmaid dress. It's a really good depiction of the type of dress I would love for my girls to wear. It's a JMendal , it's short, and it's got a bit of ruffle, all things I love.

Even though a part of me really wants to rock one of the hip birdcage veils everyone loves, I'm probably going to end up wearing the more traditional veil, like the one you see by Elizabeth Messina. Mine even has the same lace around the edge!

I heart flowers, hanging lanterns, vintage pieces, and straw hats...

Who can resist the charm of flower balls (photo by Megan Sorel via Style Me Pretty) and hanging lanterns? There's something really whimsical about hanging decorations and these pieces are timeless. I love the vintage tablescape of classic novels and a bouquet of daisies (via 100 layer cake). It's so garden-esqe!  

I love love love these hats...

Another reason I love this board is for the straw hats (photo by Josh Goleman)! How weird is it that Aaron just bought a hat like this last weekend? He's wanted one since last summer and finally got the nerve to wear one this year.

I love, love, love Aaron in this hat. It fits his personality so well, it's laid back, yet sophisticated. We've been talking about getting a hat like this for each of his groomsmen. How cool would those photos be?

I've always had a thing for clothes line escort cards...

I'm a Southern girl and I like all things practical! I still have no idea what we'll do to display our escort cards, but I hope it's as clever and practical, and of course, pretty as these.

So there you have it. All the reasons why I love this particular inspiration board.

Are you starting to see the vision of our day that I see? I hope so.

Go to Flights of Fancy here to see photo credits.

{Various credits available on Flights of Fancy}

Ahh. Awesome Butterfly Decor!

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There are no words to express my love for this decor!

As you know, we have the whole "garden chic," and "garden whimsical," as our theme and these butterfly danglers would be a perfect addition to our decor ideas!  It's fun and whimsy, but not also very elegant. 

The lighting in this room is really cool too. Having spotlights on the danglers and on the center of the tables gives the room depth. I love the pop of colors too. Orange and green are two of my very favorite colors.

All I can say is...

I hope we can come up with something this cool.

{Weddings & Pretty Things here}

Must Haves: Bright Colors and Pom Poms!

Yay for three day weekends!

Aaron and I are headed to his hometown of Williamsburg, VA, for some fun in the sun at Busch Gardens and Water Country! I'm super excited to spend some quality time with my babe! We've both been busy at work and at home, and haven't had much to hang out! We'll probably spend about 4 hours in traffic tonight (boo), but I think we'll get a chance to talk about a lot of these, including our wedding plans! I'm going to propose a few new ideas, one being our color scheme!

I found this picture about a week ago while I was surfing the web for images of living rooms -- daydreaming about our place -- and I absolutely love it! Of course, the various shades of green caught  my eye and I love the bright pink rug! I'm not sure how Aaron will feel about it since we had discussed a darker color scheme (see here and here), but since our wedding is right at the start of spring and no long in the fall, he might go for it! My fingers are crossed.

Isn't this room great?

I've been really drawn to yellow lately. I'm not sure why, but it's definitely a spring color and would be perfect for my week-after-easter wedding. I thought I wanted my girls to wear green (olive) because it's my favorite color, but I think yellow will stand out more and it will look beautiful on them (anything would really)! I especially like the yellow with grey, which is my men's suit color of choice.

What do you think?

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The other idea I want to share with Aaron is to use Martha Stewart Pom Poms to decorate various areas at our wedding! There are a few super bare trees at Oxon Hill in early spring (you can see some photos of this here and below) and I needed a way to liven them up!

My picture

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I also wanted something fun to decorate and set our dance floor (see my post about this here), as well as a funky twist to the traditional fauxphotobooth. Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of what I have in mind:

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What are your plans for the long weekend?

Have you come up with any new wedding day details? Share!

Seating Inspiration

Here's a few great images that are making this tired Monday a bit more cheery for me! I really want to have lounge furniture scattered throughout our venue. Through Wedding Chicks right here I found the company found, which specializes in supplying event planners and brides with vintage rentals. There is a ton of great workable pieces on their web site here!

I also discovered another rental service called Party Rental Ltd, which serves the Washington DC area and has lots and lots of great items to fill your venue with style. They have a great inspiration gallery called, "Looks We Love," that will excite the bride in you! Believe me! I'd totally snag this Pear Green and White Stripe look for my wedding and the best part is, they provide you with all these pieces to make it a reality!

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I'm going to talk to a planner about bringing in furniture we own to save on money, but the problem with that is the setup and breakdown of course. There's obviously a lot of figure out before my vision of great furniture all over our venue comes to life, but we'll get there!

Luckily for us, a few folks have had their weddings at Oxon Hill before us! Here's an image I found on Event Accomplished Blog of a wedding at our venue that had lounge furniture! This is a picture of the actual foyer of our venue and I must admit, the furniture looks fabulous! It makes the room more inviting and way more upscale and modern. They got this awesome lounge furniture from Da Vinci's Florist!

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We really like the all white furniture, but there's no telling what we'll go with. We need to visit one of these rental warehouses and see for ourselves the options. Here's a few images I've collected from around the web that inspire this idea...

Lindsey Belle via Style Me Pretty

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Elizabeth Anne Designs

 

One Wed

Bride's Guide: Martha Stewart

Docuvitae via Style Me Pretty

Beautiful Wedding Signs

Your guests ought to know where to go...

Our ceremony and reception all happening at the same location. Tricky thing is, we need our guests to walk around the manor and to the ceremony site and not inside the manor. They're going into the manor from the back, after the ceremony (unless they need to use the restroom or something, in which case we'll let em in)! The reason for this is so we don't spoil the reception reveal. We also don't want our guests to get confused walking through the reception area first and possibly not realizing they have to go back outside to the ceremony. Oh and there's the whole stunning view thing. Walking around the manor and into the garden will wow our guests with the stunning view of the potamac river...


So how's all this going to be possible? What are the logistics?

I honestly do not know yet. It's one reason we want a wedding planner (one of the many reasons) and one who has hosted weddings at our venue. My first instinct is beautiful signage. Have these stacked out when guests walk up to the manor, directing them to the ceremony...

{Erin Hearts Court via Style Me Pretty}

{The Wedding Chicks}

{Source}

{Southern Weddings}

{The Back Porch Shoppe via Preppy Chic Bride}

{Oncewed}

Did you use signs to direct guests on your wedding d?

Did you make them yourself or order them?