Here are the things on my to-do list:

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- Dress alterations – I went in this week for the first fitting and go back about a month before the big day for the final one

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- Plan the ceremony vows and any readings

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- Collect and record the response cards

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- Finalize my accessories – jewelry and heels

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- Figure out if I’ll be printing menus and/or programs

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- Collect songs for our DJ

Also, coming up in the next two weeks are the bridal showers and our florist preview while I’m up in Oregon. Time is flying!

 Marvimon House, LA Source: Brian Leahy Photo

Going into the wedding planning process, I knew choosing a venue would be the hardest task, because I’m an architect. It was the first thing I wanted to go look at it, even though I knew I might be overly critical.Also, Erik only had plans for a brief leave when he’d be able to come home and see a few top choices, so I cast a wide net and started narrowing down the options.  I knew the general “feel” I wanted to find, but a lot of different types of venues fell in that category. After a lot of deliberation we found a place a venue that hit almost all of our initial wants and will only require a little bit of problem solving on our end. Here are the ultimate items that helped make our decision:

KNOWING OUR WANTS: We were able to establish some known things about our wedding day that helped pare down the giant list of venues we started with. For example, since we knew we were going to have a spring wedding in Seattle, we ruled out all venues that were primarily outdoors. The weather is unpredictable and generally rainy here until about July and I wasn’t going to kid myself that I would luck out with the perfect 70 degree spring day. So, farms and parks generally got cut off. Also, after we put together our inspiration board, it was clear we wanted a building with history and industrial edge. There were some hotels and restaurants that made the first cut, but we knew golf courses and newer venues would be off our list. Then we narrowed it down further by price and set a couple other deal breakers, like venues that wouldn’t allow us to have a full bar. It was tough to knock out some, but as Erik told me “we can’t have 20 weddings, you have to rule something out somehow”.

 The Foundry, Brooklyn Source: CLY Creation

SPACE: We’re inviting around 150 guests. Surprisingly, I found this to be a tricky amount of people to find a venue for. Most small/midsize venues comfortably fit about 120, but since we have a long engagement and people basically have this on their calendars already, we are expecting more than the traditional attendance percentage. I didn’t want a place that was going to feel really squished with 130 or 140 people. On the flip side, most large venues can fit 300 or more, and some of those places we visited felt pretty cavernous and we wanted to make sure our wedding feels cozy and happy. In the end,  our final few venues were the ones where our guest size would be comfortably accommodated.

 The Green Building, Brooklyn Source: Christina Szczupak

FLEXIBILITY: A big thing for me was flexibility on timing. I’m always disappointed when I go to a wedding, and the party just gets really rocking around 9 pm and then all of a sudden its last call, last dance and you’re thinking “now what”. On my wedding day, I might be done by 9, but I want the flexibility to make that decision or party until the wee hours. One of the criteria on my list was to try and find a place either with no curfew or a late curfew so we wouldn’t feel quite as rushed through the evening. This helped out rule out venues that required us to be cleaned up and out any earlier than midnight.

LIGHT: One of the difficulties in looking for historical industrial venues is that many of them are in older buildings without great natural daylight. Even though our ceremony is going to be in the evening, I looked up the sunset time for our wedding day, and its not until 7:30 pm. That means if we get started around 5:30, we still have 2 hours of daylight to enjoy. We ruled out a couple venues that just felt really dark and that we knew wouldn’t be great for photos.

Source: EM Fine Art

Source: Shahrzad Photography

In the end, we chose an art gallery in an up and coming older neighborhood of Seattle near the space needle (the two images above are from the gallery). We’re planning to have the ceremony and the reception in the same location. The owners are fabulous and have been so great to work with. We get our choice of caterer and can provide our own bar, which should save us a good bit of money. The space is beautiful, and there are skylights to bring in great afternoon light. There is no curfew so in theory our guests can party their hearts out. Its nearby to several hotels and other amenities, and there is decent parking (which can also be a challenge in an urban setting). Locking in the venue really made things feel real – now its time to start imagining the details!

[ If you're looking for other Seattle venues with a similar vibe, consider 415 Westlake, Melrose Market Studios, Sodo Park, and Georgetown Ballroom]

And guess what, CurioRoad is offerings a $50 gift certificate to one lucky winner in today’s giveaway. Subscribe to the newsletter for a chance to win! We will announce the winner on Monday, June 3.

Credit: Citrine Two Tier Earrings, Sparkle Crystal Earrings,  Clear Crystal & Brass Earrings, Twisted Aquamarine Earrings

This collection of earrings is breathtaking. Even better, the price points are incredibly affordable. Yay for that. Aside from offering a stunning collection of earrings, CurioRoad has a collection of jewelry and accessories for the brides and their girls. These necklaces and headpieces are absolutely gorgeous, don’t you think?

Credit: Dutchess Five Pear Clear Diamond Necklace, Square Citrine Necklace, Infinity Crystal Headband, Gold Metal Hardband 

CurioRoad is also the perfect place to find reception decor and gifts for your girls.

Credit: LOVE Gold Leaf Letters, Bridesmaid Personalized Dish, Happy Couple Wedding Cake Topper, Floral Coaster Gift Set

“At Curio Road, we discover and feature spectacular products from the top small designers in the USA. Our team of merchants works nonstop to help our brides, bridesmaids, and all creative women find truly unique jewelry, accessories, apparel, and gifts. In the process, we also seek to help the incredibly talented – and undiscovered – designers in the USA grow their small businesses and reach customers who are passionate about unique design and shopping local. We hope you will join us and discover our curated Wedding collection. Say no to ordinary. Create your own unique life. And above all – Live Beautifully!”

No matter what you are looking for, CurioRoad is an online shop that you should definitely check out. The prices are unbeatable, the style is gorgeous and each piece is handmade by an independent designer. 

Below is my inspiration for bouquets. I love how the succulents add texture and compliment coral and white flowers.

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

For boutineers Derek is envisioning a simple succulent with a spring of lavender.

Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4

For our tablescape we plan to fill mismatched vases and planters with local flowers and succulents. To keep our flower costs down we will be planting some of our own succulents to mix in with our florists’ creations. We plan to replant these succulents in our garden after out wedding too!

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

Did you, or are you planning on using succulents for your wedding? Were you able to reuse them?

I have also been contemplating how to highlight our moms on our wedding day. Did you go with a corsage, wrislet, small bouquet or something else for yours? Would love to hear what other brides are doing!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

We all love pillow fights, but often times we don’t have something to photograph the beauty of a field of feathers. Casey Hendrickson Photography did a wonderful job capturing these two in a bed of feathers for their engagement session.

This couple is gorgeous. And her style is my favorite in an engagement shoot to date. RIGHT? Daniel Usenko Photography did such a wonderful job capturing this wonderful couple. Get those pin buttons ready, this couple is like a model from a magazine and the fashion, oh ya you’re going to want to remember this one.

Hair & Makeup & Stylist: Annabelle Petry
Photography: Daniel Usenko Photography

Here is the route we currently have mapped. Getting excited just looking at it.

Here is the rundown:

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Before heading to Italy, we are going to spent a little stint in Paris. The plan is to fly from SFO to Paris and stay there for 2 or 3 days. Yes, this is going to be crazy. Any hotel recommendations?

We will be flying into Rome but will only be there for a day. I’m not into Rome, but my husband really wants to poke around and look at buildings. So fine. We will spend one night there and head to the wedding venue the very next morning. Since we don’t have much time I’d like to have this portion planned very well so we see the cool stuff and don’t waste any time. Favorite Rome spots?

The wedding is in a small town called Scansano. The nearest big city is Grosseto which looks pretty cool via Google Images. They have some amazing beaches and wonderful little downtown spots tucked into gorgeous scenery.

We will be in the Scansano/Grosseto area for about 5 days. Since it isn’t the traditional “tourist” spot, I’m looking forward to exploring in places that aren’t as well traveled. The photo above of Scansano is actually the wedding venue, gorgeous isn’t it?

Anyone know of anything cool that we should definitely check out?

We will leave bright and early Saturday morning and head from Scansano to Venice. This is a 4 hour drive but we are expecting to take our time and visit some of the cities and towns in between. Breakfast in Siena, maybe a little trip for Tuscany (is it worth it to drive out of the way to visit Tuscany?) lunch in Florence, and dinner in Bologna. This will be the most jam-packed day of the entire trip, but it is the best way to visit so much and still keep the trip going.

Ok, this is where things get good. After a crazy trip of small stints in each location, we will be spending the most time in Venice. I’m sure there is SO much to see, and I doubt we will have time for it all, but I’d love some must visit locations as well as your favorite hotels in the area!

What? Oh ya, we are going to Croatia too. The ferry from Venice to Croatia is only a few hours so we plan to spend at least an afternoon there but I’m thinking about extending and spending a night there. What is the best city to go to? They all look amazing.

I just don’t have the time to research the bejesus out of the country so I’d LOVE any help you can offer. Favorite spots, favorite hotels and must see things! Thanks a million billion for all the help!

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There are a lot of things to think about when imagining how your wedding tables will look. Here are a list of the components that go into a ‘tablescape’:

- Tablecloths: ask your caterer or rental company what options you have and think about whether you want to add to it with a runner or other decorative piece.

- Napkins: just like the tablecloths, you will want to find out what options you have.

- Plates, silverware, glasses: what will they look like? If you don’t want to splurge on expensive rentals of ones that will go perfectly with your vision, consider using plain options that would allow the other pieces of the table to take center stage.

- Flowers/Candles: Will you be having large centerpieces, smaller mixed votives, tall, short, or a combination of these?

- Menus: a group menu for the table, individual menus for each person, or a central menu you place near the escort cards to show guests what’s coming before they sit down.

- Table numbers

- Escort cards

- Food: it’s good to consider how your food will come out and how much room it will take up on the table. Since we are doing family style, we need to allow for large platters. Because of this we will have smaller center pieces.

Below are images of what I’m imagining for our tables:

Source: left, right top, right bottom

Source: left, right

Source: left, right

We will have round tables, and I’m thinking of adding table runners. I will probably buy the fabric and then get ribbon to tie them, like in the image below.

Source: left, right

If you are feeling overwhelmed with all the options, I recommend creating a Pinterest board or collage just for the tables. It will really narrow down what you are thinking and give you a chance to see how it will all come together.

How did you make your tables come together?

Source: Ruffled Blog

As I pulled out my favorite moments, it was interesting to see the evolution of this inspiration as Erik and I worked together to decide what our wedding day would be like. I don’t think a lot of people talk about how these things come together (since it doesn’t just happen out of the blue).

Our first inspiration board was put together entirely by me, and it looked like this:

Sources: Tealily Photography, Ely Fair Photography, Ashley Meaders, Found Vintage Rentals, Design Sponge,  The Rubbish Revival, Jeff Loves Jessica, Beautiful Days Events, Spencer Studio, Alexandre Weddings, Kinfolk Mag, Jonathan Ong Photography, Domus,  Juli Vaughn, Sweetapolita

I thought it was so pretty and was what I’d envisioned in the types of spaces we were hoping for our venue. But when I showed it to Erik the reaction sort of fell flat. Sure, he thought it was “pretty”, but he also felt it was a little boring and a little too natural. After all, we knew we wanted a city wedding in the springtime just after he gets home from the Navy, and we weren’t planning on a outdoor summer affair. I swapped out some of the more earthy inspirations with a little bit more fun and funky and came up with this:

 Sources (In addition to above): Todd Pellowe, Jeff Loves Jessica

And again, his reaction wasn’t that “Yes! This is OUR big day”. He simply said to me, yeah, its pretty, but where are WE? Where is the COLOR? And that’s true, I love bright bold jewel tones, and so does he. My house is certainly not the monochrome modern oasis that you might expect of an architect. And he doesn’t really have that typical bachelor style.

We went back through my pinterest boards together and when we passed this palette he said “Now, I like that!” Which was a pretty cool moment, having him get really excited about our big day. So, I went back through one more time and picked some bolder images and folded them in with the light and texture we’d loved from the beginning.

And voila! Our full inspiration came to life. Its not THAT much of a departure from where we started, but its much more “us” which really makes me happy. And it taught me a good lesson at the beginning of the whole process – which is to really consider decisions about who you are as a couple and not just what the industry or websites are telling you is pretty.

Sources (In addition to above): Bespoke Glass, Marilyn Nakazato, Canary Grey, The Creative Parasol, Sunday Suppers, Nine Cakes, Aurelio Zen