Back in January 3 gals (Erin of Bustle Events, Yasmin of Floral Theory and yours truly of Engaged & Inspired) banded together to bring the most amazing bridal event to Northern California, The Lab. I wanted to feature some of the incredible images from Esla Events of an inspiration board she brought to life at the event. She was a new-comer last year, but her talent was so evident and we knew she should be a perfect fit for what  we were doing. Check out these AMAZING images from The Lab. Special thanks to Weddingbee for the inspiration board!

We are so excited to host The Lab Event once again next January! Watch out for the date, which we will be announcing soon.

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Edyta Szyszlo Photography

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Meg Perotti

Photographer: Edyta Szyszlo Photography

Photographer: Jennifer Skog Photography

Photographer: Jennifer Skog Photography

Photographer: Tinywater Photography

Photographer: Tinywater Photography

Weddingbee’s “Young Love” inspiration board
Designer: Esla Events
Floral: Studio Choo
Desserts: Fox & Fawn
Rentals: Hartmann Studios
Vintage Rentals: Milkglass Vintage Rentals/ Heritage & Craft
Lighting: Impact Lighting
Stationery: Aerialist Press

I had my first wedding of the season last weekend. It was a beautiful Holman Ranch wedding with soft and romantic details. I was so happy to have the opportunity to work with Simone of Soiree by Simone as well as Delbarr Moradi Photography. Two truly awesome people. Here is a shot of the dessert table I designed. I posted a few other photos on my Instagram.

iPhone Shot. I don’t want to give too much away!

We are going to change things around a little bit with our lovely E&I Brides. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be all about our fabulous ladies planning their big affairs! Which means that you will see me around here more often as I will be covering Monday & Friday with real wedding, insprational links, and more advice from the other side (of planning that is).

Meet our fabulous E&I Brides and check out all of their pretty inspiration boards!

I’m sure you guys know good and well by now that I highly enjoy crafting, DIYs and the like. What you might not know is that I am doing these for weddings as well. AKA, if you want some crafty awesome, one-of-a-kind details, I’m definitely your gal!

I am very excited about some of the projects on my crafting to-do list! Kraft books, an amazing antler inspiration for the nursery (not pregnant, just a crazy planner) some fun programs, and if I can extra awesome, I might try my hand at a lighting installation. Oh and you will be able to see some of my fun creations on The Knotty Bride as I take on being the DIY blogger for her! (Excited much? YEP)

These and so many of my other favorite DIYs to try can be found on my Pinterest board!

How has your week been? What planning goods and bads are you running into? Would love to hear about your week and what you are up to!

 Pink is a hard color for me. I know how much I love it, but at the same time, isn’t that typical? I was actually scared to add any pink into my wedding because I didn’t want it to read too girlie. With the current trends of neon coming back into style, I just can’t help it anymore. I’m dying over basically everything neon, pink being at the top of that list.

Source: Shoes, Cake

Favor DIY alert right here. These cute kraft-paper chocolate bars are super easy, check them out right here. This right next to this fab Kate Spade bud vase (which I literally can’t find anywhere).

Source: Kraft Wrapping, Vase

Source: Balloon, Sweater

For me, I have been drawn to white and nude tones for so long, that it is a nice change of pace to go bold and go strong with color. How about you? Are you still drawn to nude tones or are you excited to break out with bold colors?

Any bride or groom looking to add some Eco elements to their wedding, specifically when it comes to flowers, probably knows just how terrible the flower industry can be to the environment. The pesticides, the greenhouse gases involved in express shipping fresh flowers half way around the globe, not to mention really poor working conditions for many of the people who work in the fields. I was shocked to learn that the average wedding emits 12-14 tons of CO2 – that’s more than a person emits in a full year!

So here are some ideas to kick start your eco-friendly floral planning! Now, I am definitely no expert, but I have done my fair share of research for my own wedding, so I’ll share what I’ve learned with you :)

If you live in an area where someone provides the opportunity to rent plants, this is a great way to bring in some colorful citrus trees or cherry blossoms or whatever fits your theme. Kate Middleton did it after all!

  
left: The Enchanted Home; right: Bridal Guide, photo by Meg Smith Photography

I really looked into doing this, as I thought some miniature lemon and mandarin trees would look gorgeous in my venue, but I can’t find anyone who rents these trees in the Bay Area. {sad face}

You can also use smaller potted plants that you or your guests can keep after the wedding to decorate your house or garden. And if you do lots of mini potted plants, those can double as wedding favors!

My Sunny Wedding, photo by Erik Ekroth Photography

Or air plants! Air plants are some of the easiest plants, since they don’t need soil and require little to no water to stay alive. I’ve seen some pretty awesome air plant bouquets and favors. I always think that a couple who uses air plants must be pretty badass. Maybe it’s those wild, spiky fronds.

  
left: Koru Wedding Style, photo by Mi Belle Photography; right: JL Designs, photo by Gabriel Ryan

Succulents are a big deal right now (in case you’ve been living in a hole and haven’t noticed, silly). It feels like every wedding you look at has some succulents in them. They have great character, but better yet, they will survive your wedding day without soil and become a fun plant-able reminder of your wedding day later on!

Ruffled Blog, photo by Erica Ann Photography

Another fun and quirky option is to do paper flower bouquets made from recycled paper! I just love those paper flowers on the mini cake.

  
left: Hatch Creative Studio, photo by Dave Robbins Photography; right: Wedding Chicks, photo by Hilton Pittman Photography

Lastly, you can go with the organic, local, seasonal flower option by using a sustainable florist. This really gives you the greatest variety of flower choices and allows you to choose specific colors and flower types. Although you may not end up with as enormous of a variety of flowers as you would if you went with hot house/imported flowers, there are more than enough options to make your vision come true.

Brides, photo by Mathew Kiang

This is the option we went with, and I was able to find an incredible florist in Berkeley called Gorgeous and Green who specializes in local, sustainable flowers (and has the cutest shop on the planet!). After meeting with her it was clear that she really is trying to change the industry, which we love. She uses ribbons made from recycled material, visits every farm she sources her flowers from so she knows their farming practices firsthand, and gives preference to local, seasonal growers. Kyle and I met with her a couple of weeks ago and were overwhelmed by the variety of flowers she recommended. I mean, is there a flower or color I can’t have?! I don’t think so.

In the Bay Area we’re lucky to have a number of options when it comes to sustainable florists. I know that isn’t an option everywhere, so you may want to consider potted plants and succulents. Wedding blogs are just overflowing with gorgeous photos of these floral inspirations, so eat your heart out eco-brides!

And even if you have your heart set on a certain flower in your bouquet, maybe there are other areas you can incorporate an eco-friendly flower option. Don’t fret, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing!

Are you planning on using eco-friendly floral arrangements in your wedding? Are there any great companies you’ve worked with who focus on sustainable farming practices? Give them a shout out so other brides can know about your great find!

Source: Utah Bride, Style Me Pretty, The Loveliest Day, Style Me Pretty

Dreamy right? Our list of needs were simple enough and pretty much summarized by the inspiration photos above. Very natural and romantic. I was never one of those “princess” brides, but the castle fits our vision. After touring the place, talking over everything amongst ourselves and getting the opinions of family members, we booked it. By choosing our venue we were already choosing our DJ, florist, photographer, videographer, caterer, and wedding coordinator. Done. All that was left was deciding what we actually wanted, no research on who was best for our needs comparison and so on. Ultimately we chose our venue for many reasons, the biggest of which being that we had a lot of trust in the owner and his vision. We know we will be in great hands and our big day will be just as we want it. Here’s a peak at our venue.

Source: Clovis Castle

 This is just a tease for several reasons. The first is that if any of our guests are reading this we want them to be surprised! Secondly, it’s still being developed so there’s no complete picture to share just yet.

There are some things you should keep in mind when doing something like this and I thought putting together a small pro/con list would help.

Pros: 1) All inclusive venue means one choice, the venue. No vendor searching and interviewing, no price comparisons for each. 2) This also means you’re writing essentially one check.  3) In our case, very few planning meetings. One to make all the decisions and meet with each vendor and one to taste everything and see your decor choices live before the big day. 4) And here’s the big pro, no worries on our day! Our venue takes care of set up, clean up, mishaps, everything. We’re also staying there that night so we don’t have to worry about driving somewhere else after partying with our guests. I just relax, soak it all in and walk down the aisle and Frank just enjoys being with his guys prepares for his socks to be knocked off by me and my dress!

Cons: 1) This is a bit of a hands-off approach. While you are deciding what you want for your wedding, there are only a few meeting and decisions are made quickly and no less than 9 months in advance. For those that want to REALLY be involved, you really have to decide if you would be able to put your wedding in someone else’s hands. 2) While doing something all inclusive means you’re getting the specific vendors best prices, there is no price comparison. Vendor B may have a better price on those beautiful cream linens, but Vendor A is who your venue uses, so that’s who you have to use. 3) Deals such as these can easily seem and turn out to be, too good to be true. Doing your research on the venue and participating vendors ahead of time can help avoid a disaster. 4) Sticker shock comes swift. Have a budget set in mind and make sure to take into account all that is included before dismissing the venue because of how the price sounds initially.

We couldn’t be happier with the choice we made and am so excited to get to planning and seeing our big day come together!

So tell me ladies, did any of you go with an all inclusive venue? What are your thoughts on our choice?

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Today I’m talking table numbers. While scouring the internet for table number ideas, I quickly realize that they  don’t have to be strictly functional…they can be cute too!

For example, I am absolutely loving this burlap wine bag. You can put an actual bottle of wine in, or an empty bottle and fill it with flowers!

Source: BurlapandLinenCo

And these mini chalkboard signs are just too cute.

Source: Braggingbags

These precious shabby chic frames are serious contenders and come already painted in our wedding colors! I just love the vintage-y vibe they give.

Source: Braggingbags

Or, for a more rustic look, how cute are these birch bark hearts?

Source: Jadenrainspired

Finally, you already know that I’m a sucker for vintage books! How clever are these as table numbers?

Sources: VictoriasWhimsy, LoveAndFound

*What did you do for table numbers? Do you have a favorite from the above?

I hadn’t been to Hood River since I was a teenager, and I can say that it definitely lived up to the memories. I know our friends and family will enjoy this town as much as we did. As I mentioned last week, it’s really important to us that our guests are staying in a place that they can explore and hang out with each other. As we walked around town, we kept our eyes out for places we could be in the days before the wedding. There were so many great spots and things about the town that fit our style…breweries, fresh and local food, outdoor decks, nice people, etc.

The downtown area is full of quaint buildings with home and clothing boutiques, windsurfing stores and restaurants. In the background is the Columbia River and the State of Washington.

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Hood River is also the windsurfing capital of the world!

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 About a 30-minute drive south of the town of Hood River, past wineries, lavender farms, and pear orchards lies the spot we will be saying ‘I do’ in July of 2013 – Mt. Hood B&B.

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Here are some pictures of their awesome 47-acre property that sits on the northeast side of Mount Hood.

Mountain backdrop: check.

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Room for lawn games: check.

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Great dance floor: check!

Source

Spot for the music: check (although now my fiance wants a band and I’m not sure if that fits into our budget :-)

Source

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Another reason we loved the B&B is that the owners were really sweet and helpful. Jackie (the wife/mom) happily answered my million and one questions. The couple raised their four kids on the property and now their daughter is also a day-of event coordinator. We wanted a day-of coordinator and she knew her stuff, so we hired her on the spot. That is sort of becoming a theme with our planning – if we know we like something, we make the decision quickly.

I am so relieved to have the date set and the venue booked. Now I feel like I can make all the other decisions within that framework and the vision can sort of fall into place. My mind is racing with all the other fun details…the colors, the dress, the flowers! Did anyone else feel like this? Or are the hard decisions yet to come?

For our Save the Dates, I used a free download from The Wedding Chicks. I loved the design and was really happy that all I had to do was drop my information and photo in and BAM, there was my beautiful Save the Date postcard.

 Source: The Wedding Chicks

With that said though, I did run into a few mine issues. First, the photo that I wanted to use had to be scaled to an exact measurement in order for the template to work correctly. I was very lucky to have a photographer that was so kind to oblige and edit the image for me in less than 24 hours. Once I had my wonderful Save the Date files I started looking into printing online, figuring this would be the fastest and most cost efficient way to get these printed. I started finding that a lot of the online printing sites only allow you to upload files to a sized template; unfortunately my print job wasn’t with those predetermined sizes. I tried to complete a customer order with the size I needed, but the proofs weren’t scaled correctly. With the clock ticking, I started to panic a bit;  at this rate I should just wait and send invitations!

I contacted a local printer in town to check on the pricing for printing and see how fast the turnaround was. Not only was I so happy to work with a real life person, not one of those customer service chat screens that you get online, but the printer actually found a slight formatting error near our names that was causing the letters to have extra spaces in some locations. (YIKES!) They offered to fix the problem for FREE if I went ahead and had them printed there and that the turnaround would be three days. I was so excited that I signed off on the proof ASAP and got my Save the Dates at the end of the week.

In my own experience, having the printing done local was a HUGE life saver. Not only was I able to see the proofs in person, rather than in a digital file that was emailed to me, I completely avoided a potential freak out regarding the spacing in our names. Yes, I am sure I would have been the only one to notice this, but hey they still would have bothered me. That is just who I am, obsessed with the details and perfection. If you can find a printing company in your area my suggestion is to print local, avoid online printing and go with the real life person that can help you if something isn’t right with your final product. With that said here are our wonderful Save the Date cards that I am happy to show off. 

I went through zazzle.com to order some custom postage for our cute postcards. Did you know there was such a thing? Me neither until a friend told me. Forget those American Flags on your wedding invites, you can upload a photo of yourself or choose from a ton of other customer options to add some flare to your invites. I went with a classic “love” stamp in our wedding colors.Source: zazzle.com

Anyone else have a panic attack when it came to the deadline of getting things in the mail? What are your experiences with printing online vs. printing local?

The dress is gorgeous on its own, but one of the things I loved about it as that it is simple enough to accessorize and really make it my own.

First, I need some lovely jewelry. I’m thinking simple earrings, a bare neck and stacked bracelets.

Source: Coral, Multicolored, Rose

Source: Diamonds, Peals, Mixed

For the bracelets, this is certainly a fun trend to take advantage of in my bridal look. To make it a bit more special, I’m going to mix my own bracelets with borrowed bracelets from the important women in my life. I love this for my something borrowed and I think it will look really chic.

What would a bridal look be without some fab-u-lous shoes. I’m going bold here. There’s nothing like some fantastic shoes to make a girl feel really special.

Source: Wedge, Heels, Espadrilles, Platforms

Lastly, my dress needs a sash. I want organza flowers in ivory…but these peach flowers really caught my eye as well! What do you think of a little color on the sash?

Source: Peach, Lace, Pink, Ivory

Any favorites? Any good places to shop for bridal accessories? I would love to hear your thoughts!

The first time I actually headed to the store to start my registry, I have to admit I went a little crazy. You are basically picking out things that other people will buy you! I think it would be difficult for anyone to show restraint (Yes I NEED a melon baller and two different sized ice cream scoops!). But now that I know where I will be living when said gifts arrive, I think it’s time to edit this list a bit. For one, I actually hate melons and my fiancé and I don’t eat much ice cream, so why would I register for these two things?

In the registry process, one of the biggest things I learned was register for what works for you. For example, every one of my friends registers for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. So of course, I almost registered for one (they are so pretty – for a kitchen appliance!).  But my fiancé and I try to avoid sugar and gluten, so I doubt I will be making anything that requires this. Oh yeah and that minor detail that I don’t bake!

So I will be taking a hard look at all the fun stuff that is on my list this week and doing a thorough “house cleaning” before these things are even in my house!

What about you – and tips for registering? How did you restrain yourself when “pulling the trigger” on that nifty registry gun they give you?

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10