…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!

Bash, Please has lovely real weddings, florals, inspiration boards, EVERYTHING! And they’ve been featured on all the other blogs I read so I’ve definitely seen their work but how did I never go to the site before this?! Insanity.

But SURELY that was it, right? Brooklyn Bride? Check. Once Wed? Check. Project Wedding? Check. Grey Likes Weddings? WHAT?

Grey Likes Weddings is beautiful weddings everything as well but by a kick ass stylist extraordinaire, Summer Watkins.

So go forth and get lost in a sea of gorgeous wedding inspiration my dears!

They got engaged in Central Park being such the New Yorkers between going to the Farmer’s Market and a show that night! Adorable. I love them! I told her my same advice to all new brides– just enjoy yourself. Everyone will try and assault you with planning questions but just take some time to be engaged and not planning…

OH except if you have a crazy friend who does wedding stuff and will drop everything and spend the rest of the day researching the few things you mentioned and then write a blog post on it the next day! MUAHAHAHAAAAAAAA AHAHAAHA!

Mandy mentioned that they may consider having a Italian vineyard wedding which makes perfect sense because her FIANCÉ is a wine director at a wonderful italian restaurant in Manhattan and travels to Italy for purchases and Mandy is very italian and loves visiting her family over there and just so happens to be now taking italian lessons so she can speak more instead of just understanding bits. And despite being the two most capable people of pulling this off that I can think of, even if it is stateside I think they can pick up elements of an Italian vineyard wedding if they choose.

Now, when I started searching “vineyard wedding” on google it seems that the first thought is to go very red and purple (wine colors, obviously) but maybe I’m just still so elated for Mandy that such dark deep colors are just too heavy. When Mandy talks about visiting her fam in Sicily it’s all olive trees and lemons and bright happy so I tried to focus more on big happy bright colors and a fun family celebration. Oh and I’ve been listening to Florence + the Machine “Dogs Days Are Over” on repeat so if you’d like the whole experience cue that up while looking at the photos. (And yes, this is the longest post ever)

#1: Cork Heart Photo from A Lovely Morning. #2 & 3: Gorgeous Italy Photos by Simply Bloom Photography, #3: Vespa Photo by Tiny Water Blog, #5: Tables from Delovely Affair, #6 & #7: Travel Photos from the Bride and Groom to be!, #8: Night Dinner by Meg Smith Photography, #9 :Cask Room by Jasontopia, #10: Outdoor Dinner by One Love Photo, #11: Bride by Long Photography, #13: Saltwater Vineyard Wedding by Robert and Kathleen Photographers, #14: Custom Storage Crate by Plant A Box, #15: Table in Vineyard by Jessica Elizabeth Photography for Deluxe Events, #16: Communal Table by Meg Perotti via Style Me Pretty, #17 Long Table (left) via Oh So Beautiful Paper, #18 Long Table (right) Robert & Kathleen Photographers via Oh Happy Day, #19 & #20: Artichokes and Table by Meg Smith and Ariella Chezar via Snippet and Ink, #21 & #22: Buffet and Coffee Drinks by Karen Mordechai for Martha Stewart Living via Sunday Suppers, #23 Cheers by Flutterglass via Snippet and Ink, #24: Antipasti Family Style via 100 Layer Cake, #25 Sorbet That I’m Pretending is Gelato by Martha Stewart Recipe, #26 & #27 Buffets by Rebecca Thruss, #28 & #29 Gelato by Sakura Photography.

And while I was browsing about I found some cute dresses…

Dress #1: Steve Birnbaum “Audrey”, #2 Elizabeth Dye/English Department “Beatrix”, #3 Vineyard/Priscilla of Boston “Drew”, #4 Vineyard Dresses “Karalyn”, #5 Priscilla of Boston “Jewel”, #6 Stephanie James Couture “Audry” (yes there are two Audrey/Audry’s), #7 is Ariella Chezar who does the flowers via 100 Layer Cake… I just thought the colors were pretty and wanted to include it before I lost the photo.

(Other resources that had great photos but didn’t quite fit or were too similar to others I found were on Ruffled and Green Wedding Shoes. Also if you’re thinking of getting married at a vineyard also be sure to search for “winery” as well! It’ll help make sure you don’t miss anything great.)

Ok and there you have it! Mandy, I hope this gets you even more excited for your big day and cure the sour stomach from the impending Thanksgiving with tons of relatives descending upon you and OF COURSE, you don’t need to use any ideas I found! CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!!!

Case in point: Mandy and Blake who were the couple whose custom wedding invitations became Nick and Nora. This wedding is so rich and saturated and retro fabulous and gorgeous BUT what shines through even more than that is it’s HAPPY. It’s overjoyed! I did girly squeals so high pitched animals scurried away when I first saw the photos. It makes you realize how posed and stiff some of the “pretty” wedding you online and in magazines are. Mandy and Blake are in LOOOOOOOO-OOOOOVE and just over the moon to be gettin’ hitched. Check it out:

(Ok must interject- how FRIGGIN’ cute is this photo?! I kind of tear up every time I see it.)

For all you Seattle brides:

The photographer is the fabulous Jenny Jimenez who also did their engagement shoot that I featured before  (http://photojj.com / http://photojj.com/blog)

And their ceremony and reception were at The Ruins.

If you have any other questions about the wedding, let me know and I’ll forward them along to Mandy.

which is from Urban Outfitters and unfortunately no longer available. But what they do have are these marquee letters:

for $179 per letter but I’m just not digging the typeface as much. They do also have these wire letters:

for an economical $10 a letter (although they seem to only have 14 letters at the moment but maybe it’s because the rest are out of stock?) and you smarty pants could probably think of a million things to do with these. Wrap it with twinkle lights, stuff it with moss or flowers, etc…

They also have these ornate etched letters:

(again limited letters) for $10 a pop.

You can also get big red plastic-y marquee letters online on ebay:

for a $30 a letter.

But I think my favorite reasonably priced find on my vintage lettering expedition are old highway sign letters. Check this baby out from SalvageNation on Etsy:

which is $86.50 for the entire word. Throw some cafe lights in the holes– boom– faux marquee. Add some reflectors back in there– just as cool. I. Love. It. There’s a white 8 inch high LOVE listing for only $25.00 too!

Ahhh!! Look at this:

Vintage Brass Metal Tags for $32. Crap, there’s only 10 in the listing. If there were more how cool would that be for placecards?

And here is the engagement shoot with the XOXO balloons that I mentioned yesterday too from 100 Layer Cake a couple days ago:

If you search for “mylar letter balloon” or “mylar alphabet balloon” you’ll find a bunch of places that sell them. They seem to range from like $6 to more like $12 on Amazon.

And last but not least there are these monogrammed mugs as vases from Trent Baily (who photographed the above engagement shoot) from a Rue Magazine event:

And if I’m not mistaken those mugs are from Anthropologie and are $6 a mug (there’s also a tea cup version). OOh found a photo:

Ok so while I didn’t have a reason for this post other than I like letters as decoration, after looking for other wedding monogram looks, I will say that there is just too many good vintage and vintage looking finds for brides to have to succumb to the overly bedazzled ugly script typeface versions that seem to dominate the market.

And that is all for today.

I’m not sure why but table numbers have been roaming around in my head lately. A strange thing to be roaming in one’s head for sure but I also had a long dream about drinking orange juice last night so I take what I can get. And it seems some of you out there might be on the same wavelength (table numbers not OJ) because I was just contacted about making some custom lovely table numbers with a Harry Potter twist. I’m so excited to get started on them.

But it got me thinking that, aside from the FREE! DIY woodgrain table numbers, I’m not sure if I’ve really shown the invitation suite extras from the original suites. There are a lot.

Like did you know that Allie + Noah has an available directions card, menu (which I love love love the teacup), place card and table number?! Unless you’ve been squinting close to the screen trying to catch them in the background of the product shot, you probably haven’t. And if you have, no need to squint (it’s bad for you anyway)– just ask. Geez.

Bogey + Bacall ceremony programs, accommodations card, menu, table number and placecards.

Elizabeth + Darcy ceremony programs, accommodations card, directions card, table numbers, placecards, and menu. (There’s also a map [because Elizabeth and Darcy were my invitations] but it still has all my wedding info on it so it’s not shown)

Holly + Paul save the date, menu (which reads Tipple & Nosh and has drinks after the diamond cuts, Marquise, Cushion, and Asscher and buffet stations named Princess and Emerald– I got really into that one!), map (Manhattan maps are my favorite– all those straight lines), table numbers and placecards.

Jim + Pam directions, menu, table numbers and place cards.

Sandy + Danny accommodation/events combo card, menu, table number and place card.

Sloane + Ferris save the date, map, table number (the Seurat painting- it says it small on the bottom- no art degree required), and place card.

Whew! That’s quite the list.

Doc, Marty, Jen and Einstein are due to arrive TODAY!!! AND you’re in luck– Back to the Future Part 2 is on hulu right here. (boo! Sorry, they just have clips not the whole thing)

And since we were just talking about bunting (the little flaggie things)– I thought this was so cute– kind of a photo bunting:

from With This Ring Weddings

Lastly:

How delicious does this look: What Katie Ate?

I kind of want to try this but a) I’m not sure my hair is long enough and b) it’s one of those things where I’m sure I’d get it done and be like “Whoa. This is not for me” and immediately take it out.

And I’m sure I’ve mentioned the Letter Button before but I just love it. Now if I could only learn German I could buy one.

Using the colors from the invitations I made bunting (the little flags), tissue balls and some drink labels.

(bunting and tissue balls)

(close up of bunting and tissue balls)

(Drink labels- these photos were taken a little late in the day hence the disarray. Download pdf below)

BUNTING INSTRUCTIONS

What to buy: I bought 3 yards of navy fabric, blue/white stripe fabric, and gray fabric and 2 yards yellow gingham. That turned out to be waaaay too much but it was $2.99/yard so whatever. I probably used about half of all the fabric and made 15 yards of bunting. I bought all sorts of fabrics because I was after certain colors/patterns but the cotton fabric worked best. I also bought wide bias tape to connect it all though in retrospect there is probably a better solution. Ask the people who work at the fabric store but wide bias tape is cheap and worked! The one I got was gate folded (at least that it would have been called in printing- the ends folded into the middle) and I needed to unfold and refold it with an iron in half.

Other tools: something to cut fabric with (I used a rotary cutter), piece of paper, ruler, sewing machine and an iron.

First things first: Take your piece of paper and fold it vertically. Cut the paper diagonally so when it’s unfolded you have a large isosceles triangle. (Hells yeah, math!) See step 3 for what it looks like unfolded. Since we now have an 11 inch triangle we know how long to cut the fabric which brings us to Step 1:

[Step 1] Using another piece of paper (or in this case chip board because it was hanging around) as a template mark 11 inches into the fabric and…

[Step 2] …cut it using your ruler and cutting instrument.

[Step 3] Line up your triangle template along the bottom left edge of the fabric. Since you just cut the fabric to be 11 inches the point will come to the other end. Yay! Line up the ruler to the bottom edge of your template and cut. Then leaving the template in place, cut following along the other side. You have now cut out one flag.

[Step 4] Since the angles are the same on each side of your triangle template flip the pointy side around and cut along the top of the template (as seen above) and now (with one cut) you’ve got another flag. Continue until you’ve got as many flags as you want/need. Handy tips: having the fabric doubled not only doubles your time but later insures that your flags front and back are always the same. For fabrics that would allow it (one was a cotton stretch and too thick) I had the fabric folded in half for steps 1-4 and stored the flags in sets of 2s.

[Step 5] With the good sides (the sides that will show in the bunting) facing in sew the long edges. (I didn’t see a reason to sew the tops.

[Step 6] Once you’ve got all your flags sewn, turn them out and iron the seams flat.

[Steps 7 ] I didn’t have a large enough space to spread all of the flags out like they would be in the bunting so I laid out the flags in a somewhat random pattern on the ironing board. Once the flags were in an order I liked I piled them up and one by one tucked the short edge into the folded bias tape. I back stitched a bit on either side of the flags to make sure they were securely affixed to the bias tape and wouldn’t sag or fall out and left about 3 inched between each flag. I used a straight stitch the entire way but a zig-zag would probably look cool as well.

Bunting final thoughts: This was fun but time-consuming. It took about 3 hours to cut the fabric out and about 6 to sew the flags together and then into the bias tape. I am glad though that I did use fabric (I had also considered paper which obviously wouldn’t have been sewn) and glad that I did make them double sided because I think they’ll last longer and I probably would have had to hem the sides anyway if they were single sided so same work for less.

DRINK SIGNS

You can download the files here. You can find mojito recipes online although I usually cheat and use rum, limes, mint and sprite zero. I’m not sure where my Mom got the boozy strawberry lemonade recipe but I will ask. The dispensers they were served in were from Kohl’s and Walmart and I think we decided the Walmart one was better. There are also bonus “onion dip” and “garlic dip” labels too. They should be cut down and folded in half around a toothpick and notched at the ends like the “eat me”/”drink me” labels.

Edited to add: Strawberry Lemonade recipe from Mom:

It’s easy 1 things of simple lemondade, 1 cup of citrus vodka, 1/4 c sugar, 1.5 cups of blended strawberries (I think the frozen ones worked ok) if I use fresh again I’m not sure if I would puree them – made it a soupy mixture.

TISSUE POOFS

If they weren’t before these are now my favorite decorations of all time. They are cheap (I found packs of 8 sheets of tissue paper [which is what it calls for] at Party City for $0.99 a pack), they are easy and they are pretty quick. See Martha Stewart for the instructions.

And that’s a wrap! If you have any questions about anything- it’s pretty obvious I’m not the most proficient sewer but I try- just ask!

(And they have both the green [as seen in the first photos] and the brown [above] so despair not fall brides!)

You could have tables separated by branches or have the names organized alphabetically (by area) and the table numbers written on the leaf along with the name.

Actually, that might have been what I created Shannon did earlier this year. I’m not sure if I ever showed this but this was for her seating chart:

(note to self: ask Shannon for some photos)

And let’s just go through how many of the invitation suites these leaves would go so well with:

Adam + Eve

Bonnie + Clyde

Elizabeth + Darcy

Jovie + Buddy

Melanie + Jake

And a last note: I’m still planning on posting tomorrow but Task Numero Uno is to do a little tinkering with the website. I’m planning on add tags to the invitations to help you search for exactly what you want and then recommend similar concepts (like the majority of the above are all nature inspired) so if you look at the site tomorrow and it looks like it’s been through a blender and everything is everywhere– don’t worry– it will go back to good in no time.

Utterly Engaged Online Wedding Magazine

Nonpariel Online Magazine

Feel free to get lost in them for the rest of the day… week… whatever!