My advice has always been to start by looking in your closet. Face it, don’t you buy the clothes that look best on you? Well it only seems right that the colors you look great in would be a great place to start with the colors you want to surround you on your wedding day. Savvy?

So, look to your closet then look to your venue. How can you make those two work together? Still stuck? Throw the season of your wedding into the mix.

Now that you have some foundation of the colors you look best in and the canvas you have to work with, get busy with some of the best tools on the internet.

These are great for providing inspiration.

Preston Bailey’s Color Picker

Bride’s Color Studio for Receptions

Panetone Wedding by the Dessy Group

Still stuck? Here are a few tools that you can pop in a picture and it will break out all the colors in it.

ColourLovers

Big Huge Lab Color Palette Generator

Kuler

Ok, got your colors? You can search Google images by color and collect some image that inspire you and you are ready to make your inspiration board. Here are tool really easy tools for that.

Picasa

Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker

If you are anything like me, you have just spent an entire day playing with colors! I hope it helped you find the palette that makes your heart sing.

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After the last few years of bright, bold, contemporary look in weddings, soft is making a come back.

Pale doesn’t mean colorless. This table decor has cream, yellow, silver, green and blue in a shabby chic look.

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The soft off white lace blends beautifully with the soft peach chiffon bridesmaids dresses.

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Not only are the colors soft, but the flowers in this bouquet from The Martha are soft and fluffy.

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Even when the design is over the top, these colors add a certain romance. Don’t you think?

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The colors, the flowers chosen and the very restrained use of black as an accent are what this look is all about.

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1. Blue gift bags hold sunflowers and roses and lemons make unique place cards. Burlap makes a casual table cloth. {source}

2. A feasting table makes the most of the narrow confines of this barn. The mismatched china and garden flowers in mason jars give it a shabby chic look. {source}

3. Blue chairs, stemless glassware and lanterns are brightened up by simple arrangements of sunflowers in milk glass vases. {source}

4. A collection of bright colorful cans are re-purposed as vases and fill with garden grown zinnias. {source}

5. This look is perfect for a wine country or summer field wedding. The color palette of white with pale sage and brown is fresh and summery. {source}

6. This tented wedding is a result of the use of the tanned golden browns of a late summer field. The chairs really make it. Shop the picture with the rental firms in your area to see what alternatives they can offer. {source}

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Aisle decor doesn’t have to be boring, or expensive. I hope these inspire you do something fun with your aisle.

Oh and remember, you can always reuse these as part of your reception decor.

1. I love these rose petal patterns. {source}

2. While this technically wasn’t used as aisle decor, it certainly could be. This was done by friend of the Dish, Branching Out Event Florist {source}

3. I know I have used this image before but it just makes me smile! {source}

4. This little baby has that shabby chic look. I would be perfect in a slightly wild garden. {source}

5. Easy look for fall. Rent the hurricanes, add a bag of silk fall leaves. Presto! {source}

6. Pretty pomanders. What sets these apart is the attention to the ribbon detail; high quality ribbon and nice bows make them special. {source}

7. Floating candles and orchids are set off by good lighting choices. This would look spectacular at a night wedding. {source}

8. Aisle decor doesn’t have to be floral. I love the creativity of this one. {source}

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I was chatting with friend of the Dish, event designer extraordinaire Vicki Sanders yesterday and these tips came up. They are just little things to keep in mind that will trim your decor budget without resorting to the dreaded rose bowl with a single floating candle.

1. Limit your seating. Huh? Look at this, unless you are serving a seated plated dinner you do not need seating for every guest. By eliminating 2 or 3 tables you are also eliminating 2 or 3 centerpieces. If you are doing mostly heavy finger foods you could use a bit of lounge furniture and some smallish cocktail tables. Smaller tables, smaller centerpieces.

2. Choose your flowers carefully. I know that you already know that if you choose in season flowers you will save, but there is more to it than that. The minute you get you heart set on a specific flower, you are setting yourself up to spend more than you need to achieve your look. Work with your floral designer to determine which flowers will achieve your look AT THE TIME OF YOUR WEDDING. Short story, a bride simply had to have coral peonies, sadly her wedding was 2 weeks before they became abundant. By using coral roses and white peonies the florist could have saved her a bundle and still gotten her color and the fluff of peonies. If you absolutely have to have a specific flower, limit it to your wedding bouquet and let the florist make suggestions for the rest of your wedding decor.

3. Rent your containers instead of buying them. Even if you are going to DIY your wedding flowers this can save you significantly. You will get higher quality containers, you won’t have to figure out what to do with them after your wedding and you won’t have spent days and days running all over town trying to find them.

4. Think about your labor cost. Your floral design teams time is not free. Every little thing adds time. A bride recently told my friend that she wanted her vases lined with lime slices. Beautiful look. When she was quoted the price to do this she just didn’t get it, so she asked how much if she bought the limes and brought them to the florist. Fail. What was expensive was the time it would take to uniformly slice a case of limes and then double vase to hold them in place in the arrangement.  What you are requesting may seem like a minor detail, but take a minute to think about the labor involved.

These tips and tricks are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the knowledge that true wedding professional bring to the table. DIY or hiring a novice may seem like a great idea at the time, but in the long run, the true pros earn their fees because of what they know.

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1.The caning detail is what makes this cake. Be sure you choose a really great sugar artist for this one; getting that kind of precision piping is harder than it looks. {source}

2. Whimsical polka dots for the fun couple. I would have liked to see a different topper, but then I am picky about cakes. {source}

3. Spring Green hexagon cake with delicate sugar flowers. I love how the flowers get lighter as they go up. It helps the ‘weight ‘ the cake and gives it an hombre effect. {source}

4.Pale green stripes in a variety of hues keep this look light and airy. The sugar orchids are exquisite. Cake by Cheryl Kleinman {source}

5.This casual, fun cake brings in the lushness of chocolate to complete the look. The sides are Piroette cookies. Cake by my personal hero, Rose Levy Birnbaum.  {source}

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If this is something you are going to DIY now is the time to get busy.Get an idea of the arrangement you want and then figure out how many plants you will need per table.

Even if your wedding isn’t for months do your shopping now.The garden centers and farmer’s markets are packed to the rafters with an amazing variety of herbs in the early spring. Grab your sweetie on the next pretty day and head on out to the biggest market or garden center in your area. Look for small (2″ or3″ pots) herbs in a variety of colors, heights and textures. Thymes are nice for a low plant, sage is a pretty color with a large leaf and rosemary will add height. Chives and lavender will flower, so will chamomile. Take some time to play around with a different mix to see what you like.

If you are using clay pots, I have found the best place to get the really small ones is at the craft store. The are inexpensive and plentiful. For the most impact, get a variety of sizes and remember to get the saucers to go with them.

Once you get home, you can paint the pots or put them outside to weather naturally. To get a really weathered look, go head and pot your new baby herbs and then sink the pots in your garden or surround them with mulch. The clay will start to get that weathered patina that you see here.

If you are going the galvanized pail route, check out the either the craft stores or the paint department of you local home improvement big box store for deals.

Yes I do realize that you will have to take care of these plant until your wedding. You never know, you may discover that you had a green thumb all along.

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That all sounds good but you may pay for your cleverness in the most time honored way: higher prices.

I was talking with a floral designer yesterday that was putting together a bid for a 4th of July wedding. No, her flowers weren’t going to cost more but a lot of costs were. First off, the rental companies were charging a premium for delivery and breakdown on a holiday because they had to pay their staff holiday pay. The same held true for the floral design staff. The venue the bride chose is notoriously packed on the 4th because of the fireworks display they host, so that required her to hire a valet parking company to handle the additional cars. Do you see where I am going with this?

Let’s look at Memorial Day. This is one of the most sought after dates for wedding in my area. You may not have the same problem of higher staff costs, but you won’t be getting any deals either. Your wedding professionals will likely be booked to capacity if not beyond. This may translate to more crowded venues, things you wanted to rent being already booked and limited choices on people like photographers, DJs or bands.

You know what happen on Valentine’s Day right? The price of flowers goes through the roof. You can ditto that for New Year’s Eve when a little thing called the Rose Bowl Parade sucks just about every flower produced.

I am not trying to rain on your parade, really I’m not. I just don’t want you to be blindsided when you start trying to book your goods and services.

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Now I admit up front that I am a shoe girl, Imelda Marcos in training if you must know. If you are like me and can rock heels with out it causing you too much effort, why not pick one of these lovelies? Besides, you can wear them after the wedding.What better excuse can you think of to buy a great pair of heels?

Then again, if rocking’ heels isn’t your thing for your wedding day there is always this little number. You will be wearing it after the big day too!

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To sweeten the deal, the brides chosen to be bloggers on ItsABridesLife.com will receive a bridal gown from one of the six Mon Cheri Collections. They will hook you up with a local salon that handles the Mon Cheri lines so this won’t just be a ‘gown in a box’ type of giveaway. Part of their reasoning is that they want brides to see the difference that having a really good, full service salon in your corner can make.

About the blog:

ItsABridesLife.com will include daily blog entries from a diverse group of brides from engagement until they return from their honeymoon, covering the entire wedding planning process from beginning to end. Each blogger’s biography will be provided on the site. (Other features: Photo/Video galleries, Advice from experts, Where they are Now, and more)

You can read the full details here.

Looking for a Few Good Brides 3-12-10

On another note, if you are a wedding professional and want to be considered as a contributor of expert advice, you can contact Cindy too. Here contact details are in the attached pdf.

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