…I’ve joined Pinterest!* And THAT plus several brides and other various spring goings on are why I haven’t posted as much lately. But I, of course, have an “All Thing I Do” board on Pinterest so if you ever need a quick hit of bridal– check it out!

I’m sure after awhile I’ll have to break it down to “All Things Vintage I Do” or “All Things Seaside I Do” but for now, I’m still amassing images!

*I don’t know why that one image isn’t coming up on the main screen but if you click on it– it’s there!

Photo by James Wojcik

After seeing this blurb about using an eggshell as a seedling plant in Real Simple’s New Uses For Old Things. I’ve started carefully cracking my eggs (towards the top) and saving all the shells to make a hopefully cute and pretty centerpiece for Easter.

I’m not sure if I posted any of my copious garden photos last year but in the three years we’ve had our house with it’s little garden patch I’ve made, I’ve found I really like gardening! Specifically vegetable gardening because I feel like it’s very rewarding to eat something you grow. SO, what I’m getting at, is that this is a win-win centerpiece because I get to start my garden even earlier! I guess if you were a really nice person you could give away the little seedlings to your guests but my guests are all traveling an hour or more to get here so I can hoard all my seedlings guilt-free.

The windows in my living room (as seen in the bar set up photo from St. Patrick’s Day) are like having a little greenhouse so I’ve always been lucky with my seedlings but a good friend of Michael’s is quite the accomplished gardener and swears by the Veggie Tales seeds. As silly as it may seem, I’m sure seeds marketing to children are going to have the best shot being fool-proof!

I’m currently unsure whether those cardboard like egg shell cartons (as opposed to the new clear plastic ones) is going to be the best way to showcase or if I should get some moss or something from a craft store and do it up is better but we’ll see when we get closer!

Good luck to anyone else taking this on and let me know how your centerpieces come out!

I’m not sure about you but just about every other day I have a near melt down at 5:30 when Michael and I look at each other and go “what do you want for dinner?” “I don’t know- what do you want?” and back and forth that goes. Now I have little email folder called “dinner” and everytime I get something that seems appetizing I save it in there. So the other night we had:

Aparagus and Gruyere Tart.

First, it actually looked just like the picture (which almost never happens); second, it was ridiculously easy to make and third, very tasty. Also, it looks really fancy-schmancy so if you needed some finger food for a bridal shower- there you go!

Next, there are two crafts that would be perfect for weddings. I can’t justify buying every Martha Stewart Wedding issue lately so forgive me if these are repeats.

Under a Big Sky: Craft How-Tos

and Leaf-Covered Candleholder

Both nice and nature-y but each in a different way.

Doesn’t that just look fun and bright and summer-y? OH you know what ELSE looks fun and bright and summer-y and if I had known was possible would have totally been in my wedding?

Cotton! Yes! The fabric of your life! As featured in NY Magazine’s Weekend Bash in the Country. Also as in says in the caption “The best part is that cotton doesn‚Äôt die, so I‚Äôll have it forever.” Wha? I can’t testify to the accuracy of that, but even cooler if it’s true!Lastly, I kept seeing the AMAZING Jordan from Oh Happy Day! Mentioning posts she’s written for Project Wedding. Since everything I see that Jordan creates on Oh Happy Day is so wonderfully well-thought out and creative I headed over and was really surprised at what I found. Project Wedding looks like it’s giving The Knot a run for their money! There are tons of wonderful ideas like this:

DIY Weddings: Mapping it out!
and this:

DIY Weddings: The Purple Picnic

So lots of pretty pictures to look through to make it to 5pm! Enjoy!

On Thursday last week when I was gearing up for the Harry Potter trials, I found myself staring at that very last Harry Potter in the hizzouse inspired picture from Once Wed, and decided that I MUSTMUSTMUST find out more about it. To the left is the picture in question again so you don’t have to go clicking around.

The picture is the combined efforts of Joy Thigpen, who has some lovely close ups of the above table as well as fabulous inspiration boards, and Our Labor of Love photography which you are just going to have to go take a look at after this. There’s just no other way around it. Becaaaause, in addition to having awesome (what’s one step above awesome? ahh yes, of course, thank you townsfolk) wicked friggin’ awesome photos, you can totally spy on other weddings and use it as a giant inspiration board for yourself!

Like… maybe rethink the ban on line/group dances at the reception…

Or realize you don’t need to grow your hair out for your wedding when this short to medium ‘do looks so great (and thank you for the overhead shot so it will be that much easier to show the hairdresser!)…

Or find the perfect way to coordinate your bridesmaids in the winter without demanding jacket styles (the salmon colored wraps)…

Hello? Flowers? Get your printer and your pointing finger out! I want that, that and that.

Or need something crazy gorgeous that you probably wouldn’t have thought of yourself? LIKE UPSIDE DOWN FLOWER CHANDELIER THING-A-MA-BOBS?!? Yes, please.

ALL PHOTOS BY OUR LABOR OF LOVE

BRIDE BEWARE THOUGH– WARNING WARNING– if you click on the link that says “Smilebooth” on their blog, any holdout feelings on whether or not to do the whole photo booth thang at the wedding will be crushed. Obliterated. You will neeeeeed a photo booth. You’ll give up the schmancy shoes just to get a photo booth. You’ll wonder how you can start incorporating it into your non-wedding-related life. And finally, you’ll want to work at Google because they apparently throw kick ass parties for their employees.

BUT– I wanted to let you know that the voting is open on Minted for the baby shower invitations. I have two designs in the running so if you like– you can go vote here.

And if THAT isn’t enough to make your Thursday go by quick enough I found this which would be an awesome addition to my Harry Potter/Natural non-flower table centerpieces:

From Once Wed — the rest of the post, filled more drool-worthy gorgeous pictures can be found here.

And LASTLY if you still need more:
This is awesome and if I have to make it “wedding-y” I’d say just about everyone in our wedding party would have run around shrieking with joy like a girl if they got these. Bear Sleeping Bag (I can’t remember where I saw it first but oh if I had to guess I’d probably say Mighty Goods, Swiss Miss, Not Martha or Pygmalion in a Blanket

And these are my new favorite blogs: I Suwannee, The Lil Bee, 100 Layer Cake, and Shelter.

Whew, and if you’re STILL here go to flickr and search for “dutch tulip fields”.

And with THAT I bid you good day.

In your online searches have you seen anything about how to have a harry potter/fantasy wedding? i can find stuff for little kids birthday parties. I’m thinking things like instead of floral centerpieces, candlescapes with river rocks and dried moss, and there will be lanterns placed around the property. where/how can i incorporate other things like that?!

which of course is awesome sounding so I went all crazy today and found stuff I thought would be cool and I was half way into entering it all into a big inDesign document which I would pdf for her and I thought, “Perhaps there are others. Perhaps I should share”

And here we are.

First of all my scanner crapped out on me but I was able to find some of the photos that I had flagged online. This is one of them.

I think it has that floating candle vibe which I’ve always liked about the Hogwarts Dining Hall (which is apparently the dining hall of Christ Church College’s in Oxford if you’re looking for specific pics but I’m sure you knew that). I’m sure it’s a little flowery-er than you were thinking but I think replacing the flowers with moss and such would get the idea going. The one downside to this one is that the centerpiece is tall which makes it harder for people to talk. But that might not bother you or you could scale it down.

These were the other images from my book that I found online, conveniently in the same section. Instead of searching for Harry Potter or fantasy I started looking at the elements you were looking for- moss, candles, etc and most places categorize them as “rustic”, “eco”, or something like that. I think that gets at half of the Harry Potter theme but adding the candles and whatnot will give it more of an elegant- exclusive children’s magic school vibe.
I think the crazy plants in the second one again, might not be hitting the mark, but definitely will give a magic-y non-standard look.

Oh and everything is green (color not environment) b/c that’s what I had flagged for myself back in the day. (From Brides.com)

Martha Martha Martha

I thought these candles were kind of cool. When I think Harry Potter/fantasy I also conjure up the spells classes with all the cool sciency looking glass stuff. Also I didn’t get a chance to search for it but try “enchanted” or “fairytale” weddings to see if that gets at the theme without being specifically Harry Potter.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/50-great-centerpieces?lnc=00e72f09fba1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRDamp;rsc=lpg_Homepageamp;lpgStart=1amp;currentslide=11amp;currentChapter=1

Mood Lighting

So I liked the look of all the candles and then OMG – there’s a book in the middle too. Fabulousness. This site had a bunch of cool stuff on the page so I kept it to the label not just the one post. www.dcnearlyweds.com/labels/Decorations.html

I’m sure this is about 6 billion times girlier than you were thinking but it has a bunch of fun elements. I found this by searching for “beaker centerpiece” not really sure what I was going to find but I think the beakers and the fern-looking plants look cool BUUUUT I kind of freaked out when I saw the last jar on the bottom is labeled “love potion”. I think it would be hilarious if you put booze in them too. But that’s just me. http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/11/10/real-wedding-by-james-abel-ii-5

Birchwood Centerpiece Tutorial

http://kurtcyr.com/birchwoo.htm

Mossy Centerpiece From Blog

Highway to Marriage Link

Martha Stewart is a God

The mushrooms may be a little much but this has a small tutorial about working with the moss and some info about buying stump vases. Also we used some mushroom bits in my centerpieces but they were more large abstract looking leaves or pod-like.
Martha Stewart link

You can see the mushroomy bits a little in my knottie bio- scroll down to flowers:My knottie link

More mossy stuff

These had a little more whimsy in them. Kim Vallee Link
Now more stumps

I think this has a link where to buy as well. Style Me Pretty Link

Nice mix of nature and elegance


This site has a lot of looks like this. Fun and out of the box. And yes, I’ve mentioned them on the blog before. Hatch Creative Studio
The second photo is by the same people but from here: Style Me Pretty
I LOOOOVE this place

http://www.jamaligarden.com
If nothing else it gives you an idea of what is out there. Also since I’m thinking of it now my cousin once told me that she gets all of her candles at Church supply store b/c they’re much cheaper there.

I’m not sure if the lanterns come with the place but I think Pearl River has lanterns that are pretty cheap.

Ok well it’s not one definitive answer but hopefully enough ideas that can be cobbled together to something out of this world. Although if I’ve totally missed the mark, Renée, just let me know and I’ll keep working at it.