Happy Monday! Tis the Season....for Winter Weddings! So many will get engaged over the next few weeks and begin planning their Winter or Christmas Weddings that we thought we'd feature two different types the next two weeks. This week we are focusing on a Winter Wedding. It's not often that we will feature an all white wedding palette but for a Winter Wedding it is the perfect fit! 

 A Winter Wedding doesn't have to have snowflakes as a part of the motif so we thought we'd show you a couple of options. The gorgeous invitations above from Your Invitation Place look like roses in the snow and are about $1.66 each!

 But if snowflakes are part of your motif then you will be able to run wild with them! There are so many snowflake options to choose from but we love these from lunarink.com and are also about $1.50 each. Lovely.

 There are many ways to dress up your entrance spaces. If you are having your wedding inside a grand home or hotel with a stairway that would be perfect for your grand entrance then you will want to dress it up and make it totally gorgeous.

 Garland, roses, lanterns with candles inside and ribbons make this staircase simply stunning! What a perfect frame for you and your escort as you make your way to the aisle. 

 There are lots of places this time of year to get free or low cost greenery. In fact, you could deconstruct a Christmas tree and have all the greenery you would need for your ceremony and reception space! How's that for cost cutting! Tie with gorgeous ribbon and you have dressed up your aisle for pennies. 

 But if your budget allows why not make your aisle look like driven snow with white rose petals placed just so...what an impact that would make! Remember to tie off the head of the aisle and have your wedding party enter from the sides of the ceremony space so that this very special walk is saved for you and your escort only. 

Are you a DIY master? Then this craft is right up your alley and would be gorgeous hanging at the alter. Just get a wooden letter from your craft store, paint it white, cover with different sizes of pearls and tie up with a gorgeous ribbon. Yes, it's really that easy.

 And speaking of easy DIY. You don't have to spend a fortune to have gorgeous heels for your wedding day. Buy your shoes and then take them with you to match the ribbon. Tie a pretty bow and glue that to the shoe and top that with a gorgeous button or jewelry finding to add that little bit of bling to your shoes!

You all know I'm not a huge fan of the white rose bouquet but this one adds in some bling and white feathers that give it a lot more texture and make it a whole lot more interesting than just a plain white rose bouquet.

And let's not forget the Groom. How charming it would be to have this antique key boutonniere on his lapel...a key that matches an antique lock hanging from her bouquet!

Programs can be quite boring but we just loved these! Paper bags filled with white rose petals that have all of the program information on the front and back. How much fun is that!

Now onto the reception. You can make a gorgeous splash with this DIY wreath made exactly like the letter at the altar. Use a white foam base and glue the pearls all over it and hang with a wide white ribbon. Simply beautiful.

You can use those precut wooden letters for this project too. Now here is how easy it is. Glue the letters to a white painters canvas. Let them dry solidly and then spray paint the whole thing white. Yup, DONE! 

 And speaking of easy...just some tulle and white ornaments in silver vases are used for these centerpieces. If you deal with allergies or just don't have the budget for a lot of flowers these would be gorgeous for your tables.

 But if you have a grand budget wouldn't it be wonderful to hang incredible chandeliers over your tables! Now here is news...you can rent them! YUP! Rent them! You can have a lighting company hang the electrical strip that will allow them to light them up for this stunning display.

 Ok, so maybe you don't have 15K for a grand lighting display but that doesn't mean you can't make a huge impact. This is the one and ONLY time I will recommend balloons for your space. Of course we are not talking about a dozen here or there, we are talking about a thousand clear and white balloons on the ceiling. Amazing. People will be in awe. With helium tank rental, clips and the balloons you will spend about 1K but you will also have a huge impact at your wedding.

But it's not all in the big impact. All of the little details are what makes a wedding stunning. These beautiful little snowflake place card holders will add a little bling as well as a lot of texture to your place settings.

 And speaking of an easy way to add texture to your place settings! Fill these little boxes up with candies like little silver Hershey kisses or a great smelling votive candle and place them in the center of each plate. Easy, beautiful and elegant.

You could also put these snowflake ornaments into those snowflake boxes or just one of these in it's chiffon pouch would be lovely too. The box and the ornament together would cost about $2.50 each so why not spring for both?

Lastly there is cake...or, in this case, Cupcakes! But not just any cupcakes...really gorgeous handpiped fondant covered cupcakes. The decor on these stunners takes them right from kids birthday party right up to supreme elegance. Instead of cutting into a cake you can cut one of these in half and feed the pieces to your new spouse. Easy, elegant and simply stunning. 

Next week we will feature a red and green Christmas Wedding that will knock any ideas of little kids and Santa right out of your mind and replace them with ideas of warm, welcoming classic Holiday Charm!

See you then!
Cat

Happy Monday! Today we bring you a very colorful wedding! So many times "elegant" or "beautiful" for a wedding means just using white or creams in the color palette. But what about those Brides who love color? You can have a very beautiful wedding using color and today's palette includes just about any color you'd like to use!

One of the fun parts of opening your color choices up is that you can use any type of invitation you choose including these fun photo invites from WeddingPaperDivas.com which start off at just about $1.60 each! We love the colorful back as well as the patches of printed color on the front!

Wedding Paper Divas

Looking for a bit more elegant? These lovely floral watercolor invitations are just $1.90 at WeddingPaperDivas.com and would create a very elegant start for your wedding plan.

Now onto the ceremony space. You all know how much I love Mason Jars...here is another really easy but colorful way to dress up your aisle. Wrap the lip of the jar with heavy wire and then create a loop for hanging. Now cover the lip with wide ribbon and fill about a third of the way up with water. Hang these on the chairs facing the aisle and then tuck in the little bouquets of colorful flowers.

Or, if your budget allows a bigger statement then you can create this stunning aisle "runner" of flower petals. Make sure to tie off the head of the aisle so no one will walk on it until you arrive for your big entrance. Have your attendants walk around the outside of the chairs to the altar and leave this gorgeous walk for just you and your escort.

And who says you have to carry white roses in your bouquet?! You can, literally, have any flower you want with this color palette! Roses? Sunflowers? Peony? Strawflower? Aster? SURE! Have them ALL! 

And your flower girl can join in on that act with her hair decoration! If you put your girls in a solid colored dress make sure to dress up their hair or waistlines with a bit of color. These little ribbon headbands would be SO cute on your flower girl as she makes her way down the aisle.

And don't forget your 'Maids. You can dress them in solid colored dresses and then give them a handful of colorful flowers to hold. If you go with floral dresses make sure their flowers are of one color so that they stand out from the dress and enhance the girl.

Just because you are carrying various colored flowers doesn't mean each display of flowers needs to be multi-colored. You can spotlight one or two colors of flowers here or there and still get your colorful effect.

Making a "Wedding Tree" is a new and popular trend this year. Draw out a simple multi-branched tree on your computer along with your names and wedding date and then print it out onto water color paper. Then have your guests "sign in" by using chalk in bright colors to add "leaves" to your wedding tree. (make sure to provide some sort of wet wipe so they can clean their fingers off after signing in.)

With the popularity of Facebook and Twitter we also add the new popularity of Instagram. Chances are good that you will have someone beat you to the honor of posting your first wedding photos online. You can either ban this with about a 95% success rate, give them a special place to post the photos, or make something like this chalkboard asking guests to "tag" the newly married couple in any photos they post! It's a great way to make sure you get to see all the photos your guests are taking!

There are many ways you can go with such a varied color palette and we have chosen two to share with you. There is the Garden Party theme which feels light and airy and is just gorgeous. Using long tables with a simple runner and lots of little vases of multi-colored flowers is an easy way to set this mood. Perfect for a daytime wedding on a gorgeous Spring afternoon.

But if you are having an evening wedding or the day is just too cold for an outside reception you can still use this idea inside. This couple added beautiful candle holders and chargers to their table setting and then used color uplighting to help set the mood. Very colorful and very elegant!

You can even add color for the cocktail hour by tying colorful ribbons around personal sized bottles of champagne. Tie on a colorful straw and you have a drink everyone will be smiling about!

Submerged florals is a favorite of mine. Even if you don't use them on your guest tables you can decorate the food table, sign in table and cake table with these centerpieces. Just use colorful marbles in the bottom, submerge one or two different colored blooms and top with a floating candle. Gorgeous!

Serving a Signature Cocktail for your cocktail hour? How about garnishing them with these colorful frozen fruit skewers?! Set out a selection of these for your guests and let them pick which one they would in their drink!

Yes, even your food can continue the colorful theme. These starter salads are just mini bread bowls filled with a dip and different cold veggies to dip!

Fun for the kids, or a midnight snack for everyone, these M&M filled cookies with milk in champagne glasses would be such a great grown up version of a little kid treat for everyone.

You can even add your colors to these little thank you envelopes for your vendors. Print them out on white paper and back those with a couple more sheets of colored card stock. Slip that into a colorful envelope and have your Best Man, Maid of Honor or even your Mom hand these out to the vendors.

Your favors can be equally as easy. Print your monogram with your names and wedding date underneath in bright colors on cardstock, punch those out with a square punch and then punch holes for the ribbon. Thread in the ribbon and attach at the back of the holder with hot glue or double stick tape. Set one at each place setting. Beautiful.

For a bit more fun you can fill clear boxes with multi-colored jelly beans and then just stick on your labels to seal the case. These you can buy at myweddinglabels.com for about 50 cents each! 

We love this photo of the Bride and Groom because of the use of color in the balloons. But don't be fooled. These are NOT the birthday balloons you would find at a kids party. These balloons are the giant balloons for weddings that are about 3 times the size of the standard balloon. If you are going to try to recreate this shot make sure you use about 2 dozen of these balloons. Stunning!

And, of course, there is cake. I found this fun creation online but have no idea who the Caker is who created it. If this somehow gets back to that Caker please let me know it was you and I will add photo credit for you! I simply love the way color is used without overwhelming the cake. The secret is to use more white than color so that the color POPS out. Lovely!

With Christmas on the way we will be spotlighting Christmas Weddings the next two weeks. We know that a whole lot more lucky ladies will become engaged over the next few weeks and will begin planning their weddings for next Winter so we want to help kick start the planning with two gorgeous party plans!

See you next Monday!
Cat

Happy Monday! Today we bring you some great ideas for an "In the Woods" Wedding. The color palette is one of neutrals, mainly creams and beige with hints of shell pink and green. The overall effect is simple but elegant.

First up is the invitation. These wonderful invitations from Wood and Grain have pop-ups on the front! Of course you could DIY this style by just using clip art and foregoing the pop-ups. 

 As cold as it is right now it's hard to envision an outdoor wedding but at the end of April when even those places that get snow have finally seen it melt off and the weather has warmed up, an outdoor wedding is definitely the way to go for this theme.

 Baby's Breath is one of those "filler" flowers that is largely forgotten but it is the perfect flower for this theme. Used in this boutonniere it's the perfect size flower for this mini bouquet.

 Add a few white or cream roses to a huge bunch of Baby's Breath and you have a beautiful and cost effective bouquet for you and your girls!

Lace is the word this season. Add the newest trend of "illusion" lace, which is when you have a strapless dress with a lace overlay, and you have a really gorgeous dress that will enhance your beauty on your big day.

Another trend this season is using baby photos or photos of the two of you growing up in your wedding plan. Dollar store frames with coordinating ribbon on the chairs or pews are a wonderful way to line your ceremony aisle. This is also a great way to show off those fun engagement photos as well!

 Whenever you choose a neutral or all white palette for your wedding make sure your venue is part of your decorations. This gorgeous courtyard is all the decoration you need so you can tone down your table decorations and keep it a lot more simple. Invest a bit more in an ornate setting and then you save in the cost of decorating it.

If you have a plain venue, in design or color or both, you can easily dress it up. Chiffon and tulle are both inexpensive fabrics that you can drape from a center point in the room to add a level of romance to your room. Add twinkle lights and, even in the daylight, it's magical. By the way...the day after Christmas is the time to stock up on these lights and get them for almost nothing!

Dressing up your tables can be as simple as adding gold doilies or fabric under the plates and using more ornate flatware. It is little details like this that make the theme come together.

I'm not a huge fan of guest books. In my experience they tend to be put in a tote somewhere and never looked at again. I love the idea of having your monogram cut for you and then having your guests sign it before you seal it with varnish. Hang this somewhere in your new home and you have a focal point and conversation starter out for everyone to see.

 A quick word about paper lanterns. These are inexpensive and have a big impact when displayed properly. I have noticed, recently, that people are using these but spacing them out too far in order to save their budget. It would be better to take that dozen lanterns and group them over the cake table or food table or even the sweetheart table than to try to space those same 12 lanterns over the entire room. So keep them no more than a foot apart and you will have the impact you are hoping for in the end.

Another touch I love this year are the cut out votives. You can get the tin versions of these for about $25 each or you can make your own version using cut out paper and clear candle vases. In fact, Michael's Craft Stores has the paper already premade so all you have to do is cut the paper to size and wrap the vase. Easy and inexpensive but with wonderful impact!

 Not everyone has a huge flower budget. This doesn't mean you can't have gorgeous centerpieces on your tables. In fact, this theme works SO perfectly with these inexpensive centerpieces that you would be right on target with them! Just pick your clear containers, line with river rock (about $3 per huge bag at Home Depot), drop in the single bloom of your choice ($3 to $7 per bloom on average), fill with water and top with a floating candle. Gorgeous!

 One of my absolutely favorite trends this year is the "food bar". This can translate into a beautiful cake table filled with gorgeous desserts, including a small "cutting cake" for you and your groom. You can fit a variety of tastes onto one table making all of your guests very happy. Little touches like the frame on the fabric wall behind the desserts and the frames on the table, which can hold everything from your favorite love quotes or your monogram, add a romantic and personal touch to this corner of your reception.

Cake pops are all the rage but not a favorite of mine. This is a nice combo of that idea. These little cheesecakes on a stick are a cute way of making a personal sized dessert that will WOW your guests.

And don't forget to match your favors to your outdoor theme. These adorable little bird seed favors are something your guests can hang on their own tree and get the reward of watching the birds enjoy it the week after the wedding. This one gives back to nature. Lovely.

Next week I'll be bringing you a wedding plan FILLED with color! See you then!

Cat