You only Wed Once!

One More for the Road

2008-03-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to rid myself of all wedding thoughts these days, after doing a complete 180 and calling off my wedding. I'm not ready for marriage and all the obsessing I have done about weddings over the past 8 years has warped my sense of reality and my ideals about love. I filled up 2 whole boxes with all of my wedding magazines, planning materials, even the books on bridal consulting as a career and threw it all in the trash. I figured there are plently of other passions I could focus on without clouding my head with thoughts of getting married. But I came across this beautiful setting for a wedding and I just had to bookmark it. There's something about candle light flickering off of glass lanterns in a bed of rose petals that completely personifies romance. In fact, Faye & Greer have so many gorgeous ideas, I might have to spend a lot of time just "flipping through the pages" of their blog to check it out in all its glory.

Trying to Combine Colors

2007-10-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working on putting a new mood board together now that we've found our venue. But I'm having a hard time sticking to a color scheme. Originally I wanted to do pink & orange. But now I'm feeling like that limits the feel of the wedding. Pink & Orange are bright and fun. I want that, but I also want the more elegant feel that comes with pink and gold, or pink and chocolate. So, I'm wondering... can I combine all of those colors? Can I go with several different shades of pink and orange and use gold and chocolate as accent colors? I think it could be really pretty, but I'm having trouble pulling together examples. Here's what I've come up with so far.

The Right Fit

2007-10-05T12:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, call me crazy... but I have some new and different ideas for our wedding. Yeah I know, I thought I had it all figured out. Well, to no surprise, I didn't have everything figured out.

I found my dress last weekend. THE dress. Now that I have that, I feel like the style of the dress adds a little bit of a different feel to the wedding. Its a very princessy style, so I thought maybe we should swing that way and add things like hanging crystals, candelabras, bubbles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to go super cheesy and turn it into a Disney's Cinderella theme. (Although I wouldn't mind arriving in a pumpkin carriage, just to say I did it.) But my ring is princess cut so why not add a little enchantment into the evening? Mood board to come! (Man, I love those things.)

Destination: Tropical Romance

2007-09-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

This week on The Knot, members of the Destination Wedding message board were challenged to create a mood board displaying the feel of their weddings. Members displayed mood boards in their post signatures all week until the next challenge was to take place. After all my ideas and indecisions our Wedding mood had become a little lost. So I started thinking about it and after much deliberation, I realized that the elements I wanted in a DW could also be incorporated into our wedding here at home. So, even if we aren't able to go ahead with the Caribbean DW, we can still incorporate some of the same design elements to give it that tropical feel. For my challenge entry this week I've come up with the following mood board to signify what I'd like our wedding to feel like (wherever we have it!). Soft, organic, untraditional, with tropical influences and a sophisticated yet casual atmoshpere.

Here's hoping I don't change my mind again! It gets way too confusing!

Its not a wedding video...its filmography!

2007-09-05T10:47:00.001-07:00

I couldn't call this a wedding blog if I didn't reference vendors every now and then. So, I'll start by pointing out the very first videographer I looked into. I think that most brides start by checking out their local wedding vendors...they come across the cheap and cheesy, or perhaps the "avante garde". I, on the other hand, went straight to the top. I somehow stumbled across the celebrity wedding film trailer of Dena Beber & Reggie Arvizu (bass player for the nu-metal band "Korn"). One look at this film and I was head over heals for it! I thought to myself, THIS is what a wedding video should look like!

So, go ahead and check out Elysium Productions (The Blog). The absolute best videography I've come across!! They're talent is amazing. Take a look at the demo video and you'll see the quality is up to par with HBO series "trailers" you'd see during the Oscar breaks. Definitely worth the praise they get.

In Love with Island Hopping

2007-09-04T21:06:00.001-07:00

I love the Florida Keys! A wedding in Key West wouldn't need the fancy frills you might desire at many other weddings. The island breeze sets the stage for casual, fun, romance. Entice your guests with sparkling turquoise "boarding pass" invitations reflective of the deep blue oceans. Greet them at the door of your Bahamian style cottage with Ruby Red Mojitos and butler passed conch fritters. Later, retire to your cabana reception along the shore for a fun filled evening topped off by none other than Key Lime Pies!

Fall Weddings!

2007-08-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, when I first began collecting cutouts from wedding magazines (Yes, it really was that long ago, I'm a wedding freak!) I was in love with having a fall wedding: rich jewel tones of ruby, amber and gold highlighted with accents of chocolate. Now, several wedding theme affairs later, the season is upon us yet again and I feel the attraction creeping up on me like the scent of fresh baked pie in the crisp autumn air. I'll have to take this opportunity to explore those wedding ideas once again. Toss in a rich shade of slate blue and you have the perfect modern compliment to the classic autumn theme. Here's a fall mood board I created:

1930s Big Band Theme

2007-08-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

My inspiration for this theme came when I visited the Hotel Baker in St. Charles, IL. The Hotel Baker was built around 1928 and still evokes the charming feel of the Big Band Era. Walking into the hotel takes you back in time to an era of glamour and sophistication. They even offer vendor suggestions of Big Band ensembles who have played there in the past in case you want to take the theme and run with it.

Chronologically, this theme may span more years than just the Big Band Era of the 1930s--a little art-deco, a little bit "flapper", and a little speakeasy--but the common factors in my mind are romance and glamour. I imagine a ballroom filled with sharply dressed guests in coat tail tuxedos and drop shoulder evening gowns. A lady is never without a double strand of long pearls, opera gloves, and fur stole.

Need I say more?

Here's a few other sources of inspiration:

Creative Homemaking, Big Band Theme
Tribute Productions, Big Band Theme
Wed Themes, Big Band Theme
Westchester Weddings, Big Band Theme
Ask Ginka, 1930s Theme
Favor Ideas, Big Band Romance
Movie Web, Aviator
Xroads Virginia, Harlem Renaissance
The Knot, Jesse & Josh in Dallas, TX
Katherine Swan, My 1920-something wedding
The Knot, Irene & Eric in Taipei, Taiwan

Pick one!

2007-08-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married in approximately 12 months and 21 days. So far I've wanted a ballroom wedding with 300 people, southern plantation wedding, a wedding in the park under a festival tent, a wine country wedding, a farm wedding, a beach wedding, an old hollywood themed wedding, and now a destination cruise wedding. The problem is, I can only pick one! So, instead of letting all those great ideas go to waste, I decided I'd share them with the world. Hopefully someone else might be able to use them. Many of these ideas may pertain to venues in the Chicago area, since that's where I am. But some stem from places I've come across on the net and, of course, they can be used anywhere! You just have to do a little research on your local vendors.

....If I ever follow through on my desires to be a wedding planner. Maybe these ideas will come in handy one day. On with the wedding(s) planning...