Centerpieces, Schmenterpieces....

Ugh. Centerpieces. Should I be excited about this? I feel totally lost on what to do. At first, I was just so uninspired by anything I could find online. Nothing felt right to me, or represented my taste and sense of style. i wanted something chic and unique.Floral centerpieces are gorgeous. I see that, but I am not the biggest flower person and I think alternative ideas are an easy way to save money. But what? My original idea, to my Mother CP's dismay, was goldfish. I have this vision of various odd shaped vases with navy stones and goldfish. 3 or so on each table. How cute, right? I couldn't find a good picture but kind of like this.

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The worry was the fish dying during dinner and then having to have someone on goldfish duty. I mean, can you imagine eating dinner, enjoying your dinner and seeing a dead fish floating in the centerpiece? There is also the problem of what to do with them afterwards. Would people take them? Should I supply goldfish food and baggies? I still love the idea though and am trying to think I fit would work for the cocktail hour centerpieces, but to have 20+ fish may not be the smartest idea.
So on to a new idea. What about odd shaped candle holders? I love this picture and it would look gorgeous in a room with no windows.

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I have always loved floating candles. They are romantic and make the room glow. So maybe something like this?source

So I was flipping through a Pottery Barn catalog, I came across some lanterns. They were colorful and modern and were totally my style. Could they work for a wedding? A black tie wedding, specifically? I rushed over to the store to see them in person. And then I bought 18 of them. What do you think? They are much bigger than they appear. Imagine Pillar candles in them, and tea lights all around them.

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Here are the ones I actually got, sitting on my window ledge. Aren't they unique and just so pretty? I plan on using a mirrored tile under and little tea lights all around it.

Have you thought of, or seen any unique ideas for non-traditional centerpieces?

To DJ or not to DJ

As fiancé and I have recently - finally - compiled a budget, we decided on a $500 budget for the DJ. It's not a do or die thing - I MUST HAVE A DJ - no no, it's not like that. I'd prefer one but upon some first searches, most of the DJ's I've come across thanks to DC Knottie Reviews and similar sites, is most are between $600-$1000 that I've seen.

So I ran the idea by Fiancé - we're paying for a dance floor but perhaps we could just do an IPod wedding. Perhaps it might not be so bad. Our planner at our reception hall offered to Emcee it for us if we so desired, and could put the IPod behind the bar so that we can't mess with it (because I know myself and I totally would) .

But do I want entire control of the music? We have our first song picked out, I have the father-daughter dance picked out, we haven't really talked about the mother-son dance, but really? I know what songs I want played. I'm just...nervous. What if the IPod dies? I could see that happening. What if it runs out of battery? Guh. There are too many what if's for me to concern myself with but then there's the bigger what if - what if we can't find a DJ in our budget? With our guest list still about 20 people over where we want to be, we don't really have the room to go over anywhere else in the budget. *sigh*

Does anyone have any experience with Ipod Weddings? What are your thoughts on the DJ v. IPod debate?

A Heart Attack in Waiting

We got an email from our planner at our reception hall (well, restaurant) yesterday. He started the email by saying "this is worst case scenario, we can talk about all options next week."

110 people. Open bar, roaming appetizers, and steak for entree's for $13,000. I did have the heart attack as our planner suspected I might. But then I thought about it and in all reality isn't that horrible. Especially considering I know people who have spent $50k on weddings.

Unfortunately, my budget is much much smaller than that. I'm blessed with a father who's giving us a decent chunk of change, unfortunately that chunk is not even half of the $13,000. I have a mother who is trying to help, future in laws who want to help and well...Fiancé and I are just trying to pay down debt and save. The two aren't exactly helpful...but it's what we got and we've gotta make like Project Runway and "make it work."

We managed to look at the proposal last night, the options we were given, and knock it down to around $4500 not including tax and gratuity. Not too shabby. Of course we're also knocking a chunk of our guest list down, inviting about 100 people instead of 120 and expecting about 75 because about 90% of our guests are from out of town. This is down from an original guest list of about 150.

Earlier in the week, I was about to have a major bridezilla moment if I didn't get that proposal, considering we expected it back in September. Luckily, I kept Bridezilla GP in the box and tamed myself. Glad I did because despite the fact that the planner has been slightly MIA over the past month and a half he's a good guy and wants to make this into exactly what we want. Awesome. It is entirely doable, we might not have a lot of appetizers, but we've been at weddings where the appetizers were all devoured, at weddings that had a sushi chef, various carving and pasta stations as well as a stir fry sous chef - while it's all lovely, I could barely eat my meal after that and was so stuff I could barely dance. I don't want that at my wedding, maybe a nice cheese spread, maybe. Knowing my family, they'll all be crowded around the bar anyhow. But for me it's an extra $2,000 that well...to be honest, we can't really afford.

My family members from Vermont aren't exactly... super classy. Many of them are borderline...hillbillies, bless their hearts, I love them to death but they are. My family (either side fyi), have not had the classiest of weddings over the years. For example, of the weddings that I've been to of family members; one of my cousins wedding was in her mothers back yard with my younger cousins getting drunk in the basement (I was 19 and no, I was not in the basement, I was driving). Another cousin's wedding, which I was a flower girl in at the age of 4, ended up with two family members in a fist fight. My grandmother's wedding in 2001 (yes my maternal grandmother remarried at the age of 70) had my uncle and cousins doing jello shots. So I don't think appetizers are a deal breaker in whether my family has fun or not. Fiancé's family is a bit more classy than mine, but I think the FMIL would rather invite ten more of her friends (that the room won't fit) than have appetizers - if it came down to that option (which it won't). I'm not a scrooge here, or even a "bridezilla." I just know that my family, at the very least, will likely all be getting down on the dance floor with their Miller Lights not enjoying the baked brie or crab dip during the "cocktail hour."

What about you all? Are appetizers - roaming or a spread - a necessity at your wedding or just an added cost that you don't want to deal with?

36 Hours in Charlottesville

Attention all you CVille brides out there! The New York Times just published an article on what to do, where to eat, and where to stay when you have 36 Hours in Charlottesville. This would be GREAT to send any of your out of town guests (in our case that was everybody!) or include in their welcome bags.

I'm also really happy to say that my reception site (and the reception site of Miss Charlottesville), The Clifton Inn, was featured as an Editor's pick for top place to stay and top place to eat! So if you are thinking of having your wedding there I think you might have just gotten a little more competition.

And if you're looking for a place to do a mini-moon I highly recommend getting away to Cville.

Say "I Do" to the Open Bar

This beer's all ready for the black-tie wedding!
from beeradvocate.com

I am fortunate in life to have wonderful friends with many and sundry unique talents such that I never want for advice or assistance when life presents me a problem. Helping me with all my alcohol problems (haha, beer humor) is my friend and bridesmaid, A. Not only is she a beer enthusiast, but also a beer professional as she works for a national distributor bringing delicious beverages to your favorite watering holes. She asked if she could share some of her knowledge with all of you via a guest post and I jumped on the opportunity...so without further ado:

Dearest DCNearlyweds,

I am a bridesmaid in Miss Fairfax’s wedding next October, and have really enjoyed reading all of your posts these past few months (every workday needs a distraction!) There was one post in particular, from Miss Gallery Place, about her concern over providing an open bar on a small budget. Let’s be honest, weddings are less fun without open bars. I myself have been to five weddings already this year (with another one this Sunday!) and belieeeeeve me, nothing says “I Don’t” like paying for drinks.

BUT FEAR NOT!

Not only am I a bridesmaid, but I also work for a beer distributor here in DC and do lots of event planning. And when I read Miss Gallery Place’s post – I begged Miss Fairfax to let me provide everyone with a little beer math in the hopes that at least some of your wedding planning pains might be eased. The main question you have to ask is – do I want liquor at this event, or just beer and wine? I personally think that liquor is a little trickier (and makes guests a little sloppier). But here’s a suggestion:

My boyfriend’s sister got married last year - and they just went to the ABC store in Maryland (go there, it’s cheaper because alcohol isn’t regulated by the state like it is in VA and NC) and bought x-dollars worth of liquor and told the bartenders at the reception to pour until it ran out. After that, you were out of luck. They also had light beer (Miller Lite cans).* And they didn’t run out. There was a small corkage fee at the reception hall, but nothing compared to the total cost of allowing a reception hall to run your open bar. Yikes.

Now, if you’re just into beer and wine, think of it like this:

The estimate I came up with is based on Miss Gallery Place’s 80 person count, this can be adjusted for your guest count, and a budget of $800.00.

If there are 80 wedding guests in attendance, and you are also serving wine, assume about 50 guests will drink beer. Be generous with your guests (especially the guys) and assume that everyone will have a maximum 6 drinks apiece. Therefore:

50 guests x 6 drinks = 300 drinks

300 drinks / 24 (beers in a case) = approx. 13 cases (I rounded up)

The five most common beers served at any reception are Miller Lite, Yuengling, Corona, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams Lager. Twelve-packs of these brands should be available for under $15.99 in the District (Corona has the lowest pricing here in DC than in any other market in the country) and in some cases will be even less (like $10.99 per twelve-pack).** For the sake of math let’s say you buy 26 12-packs (13 cases) in an assortment of flavors:

26 (12-packs) x $15.99 (per case) = $415.74

$415.74 + $37.42 (9% sales tax) = $453.16

This leaves you roughly $350.00 of your $800 budget for wine and non-alcoholic beverages (if that isn’t already included in your per-plate total). Harris Teeter carries an excellent white Mediterranean wine for about $6.99 and Trader Joe’s has a great red wine (a cab-sauv mix) for $5.99 a bottle.***

The conclusion to this novella of a post? Open bars are soooo do-able, and for relatively cheap. I hope this helps – good luck everyone!

*Don't dis the can! It's the perfect excuse to offer your guests the wedding favor of choice for all the young prepsters down south, the WEDDING KOOZIE! And as my dear friend who has quite a collection advised me, "don't forget to order enough to give out at all your showers, engagement parties, and reception and also send the whole bridal party home with 15 after the wedding."Koozie and matching programs from clared23 on flickr

**While Costco is not always cheaper, doing a price comparison with your local grocery store can be worthwhile. Costco is also a great place to get your N/A bevs like water and soda.

***If you have a neighborhood wine shop, check them out too. They may be able to assist you by finding a distributor that supplies a wine you like at a price point that fits your budget. We love Unwind in Alexandria, and have already been in to talk to Vanessa about wines. She's going to help us find wine and Champagne at our price point. More on this later...

Curse of the Open Bar

Our friends like to drink. Now, they're not alcoholics, not anymore at least, or rather, I hope.

Given this, an open bar is important to us. Unfortunately, our budget (which I still haven't figured out...) is not open bar friendly.

So I did some thinking, and some more thinking, and thinking how less fun all those open bar weddings we've been to the past two years would have been if they hadn't been open bar. Especially the ones we traveled to. Thus, I want to pay my pals the same courtesy. They're all traveling from Boston, Vermont, Connecticut, etc...so I want to give back to them and you know, not make them pay $10 for a drink.*

I thought some more. Daddy GP is giving us a set amount of money for the wedding. Unfortunately, my parents can't pay for the whole thing thus the limited budget. So I thought, and I thought, and hey! What about a set amount of money for the open bar and after that they pay?

So say we have 80 people, at $30ish/plate that'll be about $2500 give or take with another $x thousand for the open bar and wham bam thank you ma'am each person gets about 3-5 drinks, for the five hour reception. Where as if we have full open bar, it's about $80/person. Meaning not including tax and gratuity? Roughly $6500 or so. Definitely out of our budget. With the new option though, Daddy GP's money, we should be able to pay for more than 3/4 of our reception.

Fiancé wants to also consider limited open bar (beer and wine), and see what the real price difference is. Considering we haven't met with our planner since we put down the deposit, we should probably do that sometime so we have a better idea how much we need to save up for in the next eleven months (eep! Already 11 months?!?!). For the past few months I've been of the mindset "whatever the 'rents don't pay for, we'll pick up." Unfortunately, that is becoming less and less of a realistic option since you know, we're not millionaires.

For all you gals on the baby budgets, how are you all handling the open bar question??

*I heard a story of a gal I knew who didn't have an open bar at her wedding and some friends had to pay something like $8-$9 for a lighter beer. That will not be my wedding. I promise.

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Some Details

I promise I'm going to finish recapping my wedding even if it kills me. My only excuse is that life really does go on after you get married and you slowly emerge from the wedding fog. So to make up for my absence I'll post some shots of the one thing most of you care about...Details!

As always, all photos below the work of Linda Wallace

^This is what our large main table on the verandah of the Clifton Inn looked like before the flowers. I like this pic cause you can see the beautiful chairs that come included with the rental price of the Inn.

^ Escort Card Table

^As I mentioned earlier, all the paper was done by Etsy seller andbear

^Each guest had a name card and menu (both courtesy of andbear) as well as a little favor waiting for them at their seat.

^These are our adorable and affordable favor boxes that I blogged about so long ago. Inside each we had a chocolate wrapped in foil that matched our kelly green theme. The great part is the leftover boxes can be used to decorate our first Christmas tree together.

^Menus by andbear

^I LOOOVED our reception flowers from Blue Ridge Floral. Crisp, clean, elegant...exactly what I wanted.

^These calla's were repurposed from our ceremony

^This was the flower girl's pomander that she quickly discarded

^A nice shot of our guests enjoying themselves at dinner

^A quiet moment while the rest of us were on the dance floor outside

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Savvy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design

Purse - Belk

Hair Flower - Ella's Alley

Flowers - Blue Ridge Floral

Suits- Men's Wearhouse

Ties - Wild Ties

Socks - The Gap

Bridesmaid Dresses - Maggy London from Nordstrom

Flower Girl Dress- Rare Editions from Dillards

Sportscar - Sports Car Rental

Reception/Accommodations - The Clifton Inn

Getaway Streamerthrows - Aerotechnic

Paper - Andbear

Candy Bar & Wedding Packaging

FI and I decided to steer away from the traditional favor, and we are opting to offer our guests a candy bar/candy buffet during the reception, so they can select their favorite sweet treats. It took us a while to find the right packaging for the candy, but thorough research paid off, and I found Nashville Wraps. They sell commercial and bulk packaging, including bags, cakes boxes, and takeout containers. They can custom print your items, and they even offer eco-friendly packaging options.

I've compared pricing to local craft stores and discount stores, and Nashville Wraps had the best pricing for what we wanted. Their products are of great quality, and they specify which packaging is food grade. We ordered the 200 printed cello bags that we wanted, and they arrived pretty quickly. So far, we've also purchased about a dozen apothecary jars or varying shapes and sizes. We'd like to have our candy bar look something like this when we are finished.

Our Pseudo-Destination Wedding

Hello Nearlyweds! I am Miss Glen Allen, the newest addition to your favorite blogging team. FI and I are getting married on Good Friday, April 10, 2009 in Glen Allen, VA, just north of Richmond. Our wedding will be held at Virginia Crossings Resort, a tiny, tucked away golf resort that we just love. Everyone always asks us why we're getting married in Central Virginia when FI is from NY. I am from NJ, and we live in Howard County, MD. So, here's the reason. A couple of years ago, I moved to the Richmond area to take a new job. Not long afterwards, we got engaged and the search began for the perfect location. Naturally, our families wanted us to get married closer their homes in NY or NJ. However, we have a fairly modest budget for our wedding. We are hosting the wedding ourselves, and we have no desire to pay the $200 per person that is so common at venues up north. We expanded our search to PA, where my brother lives; Maryland, where we both went to college (Morgan State - Go Bears!) and where FI still lived; and finally VA, my home at the time. We found that the farther away the venues were from major metropolitan areas, the better the pricing got, without compromising quality. I remember the when I discovered the perfect place. I was "working" one day, really looking at Virginia wedding venues online, when I stumbled upon Virginia Crossings Resort listed on a common wedding site. I visited the resort's website, and loved what I saw. I thought the round courtyard was just so cute and unique. They are also the featured venue for the NBC12 Dream Wedding. I looked at their address and thought, 'Wait! I live off of that street.' When I mapped it, I found that it was actually a mile away from my home. I went to VCR that same day, drove through the gates, and I was blown away. It has that WOW! factor that every bride can appreciate. You would never guess that this little piece of heaven is tucked right there. 20 acres of immaculately maintained golfers' and romantics' paradise, nestled in amongst new home communities and quaint villas, but still convenient to major highways, railways, and the airport. Their standard wedding package offers all the features that other places consider extra. Our wedding is costing less than $100 per person, and we are getting a great value. I never wanted to get married at some huge place where six weddings are going on at once. VCR is small enough that I will be the only bride on our day, which is great because I don't want to see anyone else in a white dress on my wedding day. Even our flower girl will be wearing yellow.

This is Virginia Crossings Resort. The building on the left holds the ballroom, meeting rooms, and restaurant. The building on the right holds the guest rooms. I will be walking down the long aisle from the center, mansion-style building.


We decided to have an outdoor ceremony in the round courtyard, and in the center building on the second floor, just above the columns is a beautiful little dressing room for the bride and her attendants. I'll be able to look out the window of that room and see everything and everyone in the courtyard.



Our reception will be in their Henrico Ballroom.

So after researching venues in 5 states, and DC, VA worked out best for us. Our wedding will end up being a pseudo-destination wedding. We live 2 1/2 hours away from the venue, and I love it! It's close enough to home and to our family that everyone can get to it with minimal travel expenses. None of our wedding guests live in Virginia, so the wedding can be a nice little weekend getaway for them. Also, since FI and I don't live close to the venue, it makes us plan our time well when we visit the Richmond area. We schedule several wedding meetings on the same Saturday, so we don't have to take time off from work. Since our vendors know that we live far away, they are more inclined to accommodate our scheduling needs. During these wedding day-trips FI and I take together, he is actively involved in every meeting, idea, and decision that day, and it works out well. We each have a great time and feel like we've accomplished alot in that day.

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Why You Should Have a Receiving Line

In continuation of my wedding recap - Husband and I left the church and drove down the road to our reception site at The Clifton Inn. For my reception I was sure of a couple of the things from the start and one of those golden rules was : There would be absolutely no MC/DJ type introductions of the wedding party or of Husband and I at dinner. I hate these at weddings...I hate being part of them and I hate watching them...it always makes it seem like a circus or a production to me instead of a nice gathering of friends and family. I was going for intimate and warm not Price is Right "come on down!"

What I wanted instead was something that is kind of going out of fashion...a receiving line. I really wanted to greet people at the door of our cute Inn and welcome them to our reception...as though I was welcoming them into my own home. I wanted them to feel a personal connection immediately and not stand around waiting for the bride and groom to make an appearance. All over the wedding world I see comments about how horrible receiving lines are, but I think that's probably b/c most people don't do them right.

I think in order for receiving line to be successful you should adhere to a two key rules

1) You need to have a small wedding. Sorry, but receiving lines take too long and get jammed up if you want to say hello to each of your 400 guests. Part of the reason people hate receiving lines is because they have to wait around. And really if you have a large wedding then intimacy isn't probably one of your main goals to begin with and the receiving line would just seem mechanical cause you couldn't actually spend time talking to each guest.

2) It needs to be just you and husband. This might be controversial especially if your parents are hosting but when you start adding parents, grandparents, wedding party, etc. then that's what slows the line down and people are standing around and waiting again. Plus many guests may not know your parents or your maid of honor so they will probably feel awkward having to shake their hand and say some niceties. But everyone there knows either you or your husband and they are all their too see you, so no one feels awkward saying hello.

The bonus of the receiving line is that you don't have to go around table to table later, since you've already talked to everyone at least once....this means that you and Husband actually get to eat!

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace

^Waiting at the door of the Clifton Inn as our guests arrived

^Hugging and laughing with Husband's extended family

^We were lucky that there was only one way into our reception site so all of our arrivals were staggered since they had to drive in one-by-one. We never had a line of people waiting.

^You might recognize this couple from Ben's awesome travel blog The Flashpacker and from their wedding last November.

^Still more hugs!

^Our photographer was able to catch pictures with us and many of our friends and family during the receiving line. The artsy shots are great, of course, but honestly these types of pictures are what your guests will probably put in a frame or print out for themselves. And if you live in Chicago and are looking to buy or sell a house then make sure you contact that smiling face above!

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - The Video

I know I've been major MIA lately, but I'm back to go through the details of my wedding day!

Unlike most brides who like to reveal the wedding to you piece by piece starting with the beginning of their day I'm going to do the exact opposite and show you the whole thing all at once and then go back to the details! I'm going to start with one of my favorite wedding vendors, our videographer - Michael Eller from Monachetti.

Check out our awesome video below (don't worry it's only about 6.5 minutes, so it'll be a good little break from the work you're supposed to be doing).

^Needless to say much of the video quality is lost when it's played through youtube, but the original is full sized, super crisp, and the lighting is better.

I've spoken before about my earlier disdain for wedding videography, so no one was more surprised then me that one of my favorite things from the wedding is something I once swore I didn't even want.

Here are just some of the reasons I'm thrilled with Monachetti -

1) Unobtrusive - Mike from Monachetti was barely noticeable throughout the day. I've seen videographers at other weddings with huge cameras, bright lights, and the cameraman literally in the face of the bride, groom, and guests. But with Mike there were no lights and no giant cameras, and he definitely wasn't in my face...just him and a handheld. I barely noticed he was there.

2) Open - For the most part, I'd like to think I'm not too demanding of a bride but I did have a couple requests. I wanted the video to be in black and white and I wanted the music to be completely un-wedding related (and no country). I didn't want any of the good ol' standards like "at last" or "the way you look tonight." This wasn't a problem. And even after all the editing was done and I wanted a couple extra things added they had a new version done up in less then 24 hrs.

3) Real - Husband and I aren't super models. Our wedding isn't going to be in the next issue of Martha Stewart. We're real people, with a real wedding, and I wanted an authentic video of the day. I LOVE the documentary style of our video. What I hate most about other forms of wedding videography is the overuse of what I call "tricks" - like putting everything in slow motion to make it seem more dramatic, or using soft focus to make things seem romantic. I didn't want our wedding to seem like a Hollywood production. I wanted it to be real. I wanted our video to show us how we truly are....real people---not movie stars. I wanted our video to reflect how our wedding really was. I think Monachetti really captured the spirit of the day.

4) Unique - I've said it before and I'll say it again. No one in our area is doing what Monachetti is doing. Their work is unique, and in my opinion exceptional. I truly believe that other videography companies in this area will have to adapt and follow Monachetti's lead. They represent the new generation of wedding videographers. Modern brides will never look back.

The Get Away!

photo credit

Since we're having an early afternoon ceremony and a cocktail reception, we'll be leaving our reception at the lovely yet early hour of 8pm. When we first chose the cocktail reception, I was a little sad to think we wouldn't be dancing into the night, but then I realized it opened the door to all kinds of fun after reception options! Among the many ideas we've considered are dinner with the wedding party or an after party at a favorite bar, both of which require a get away car (and get away outfit...more on that later).

In my wedding dreams, I see us departing the ceremony in a cool old classic car, maybe something baby blue with fins? Our venue has an awesome driveway that loops around right at the entrance, which would make for a spectacular exit and dash into the back seat!

My dilemma? Where on earth do you find a classic car for hire (with a driver please--gotta have a DD) in the Metro area??? Help a sister out, ladies!

photo credit

Cue the Mission Impossible Theme Song...

I'm off tonight for my first recon mission...I mean wedding! wedding, since getting engaged. It's kind of a big deal because:

a) it's the marriage of two dear college friends
b) it's the first cocktail wedding reception I'll have ever attended!
c) first wedding at The College

So safe to say I'm be taking TONS of pictures, probably shedding a few tears, and taking lots of notes.

Also, a little UPDATE on my flower experiment: I purchased the flowers around 11am Sunday, had them in water around noon and they looked GREAT! when I went to work yesterday morning, but by the time I got home last night the hydrangeas were definitely done. The peonies are holding strong ( I did pick 3 brown petals of one of the blooms, but with no detriment to the arrangement) and the daisies and roses look like they are in it for the long haul. The roses blooms were about half open when I bought them Sunday, and were full on open by Tuesday evening. Full disclosure: we keep our house at 70 degrees (Mr. Fairfax is my lil' space heater).

Thanks to Gary on Picasa for the picture of Wren

Rustic Elegance On Sale

If you liked the natural rustic elegance look of the wedding of Maria and Michael (as photographed by Chenin Boutwell)


And as featured in the wedding of Alexandra and Jeremy (as photographed by Woodward and Rick Photographers via the Southern Wedding Style Blog)




Then you need to get yourself over to the Crate and Barrel Summer Sale and pick up the Savannah Candelabra. It's been marked down from $119.00 to $49.95. Talk about making an impact, and it costs less then the price of most centerpieces.

The Other Side of Yellow

If you've been planning your wedding anytime in the last year then you are surely familiar with the bio of knottie SpringChic. Hers was the wedding that launched a thousand yellow & black themed nuptials throughout the country. And it was featured in pretty much every wedding blog...over...and over...and over again. Brides everywhere have copied her entire wedding wholesale.

And with good reason....it was fun, it was fresh, it was simple, it was modern....it's pretty much the perfect wedding. But the other day I ran across the below images from the wedding of Ellen and Caro on the Next Exit photography blog and thought it was a great example of what two different brides can do with the same space to create a different vibe.

Obviously both celebrations took place at at the Viceroy in Palm Springs. And the one thing both brides did right was work with their venue and not against it. Yellow is a key component of the design charm at the Viceroy and if they had tried to ignore it or work around it, it would have been expensive and probably unsuccessful.

Springchic used black and white as accent colors which really made the yellow vibrant and alive. Ellen and Caro used brown as an accent color which I think added a warmth to the wedding. Springchic had two gowns...both beautiful and structured which created a modern vibe while Ellen had a beautiful, unstructured, yellow Jenny Yoo gown which gave a soft and casual feel to the wedding.

I know when I was planning I loved seeing what other brides did with my venue...though none of them had the same look I was going for it was great to see how one bride's vision could transform the same space.

All photos below credited to Next Exit Photography