…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!

Happy Friday everyone!

I’ve been posting a lot of links and photos (like Leann and Michael’s striking typographic Lois + Clark invitations in black and persimmon above) to The Future Mrs. Darcy facebook page lately so I thought I’d do a little round up for those of you who don’t use facebook a lot (or can’t because of work– boo!)

Crafty Cake Toppers via 100 Layer Cake

How to Make Scratch Off Lottery Tickets — would be great for favors or figuring out who gets centerpieces. Who am I kidding? This is great for EVERYTHING.

Gold Heart Mini Sparklers via Mighty Goods

Have a great weekend!

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!

Anyway, in my continuing efforts to be craftier I have some photos from my St. Patrick’s Day party from this past weekend. This was for my in-laws so it’s more “having flowers” than “having keg”.

Food in the dining room.

Booze and snack in the living room.

It was a lot cuter in person but, though it was nice to set each up in front of windows in real life, it didn’t lend itself well to photographing. Also I’m a terrible photographer with a point and shoot that I really think is a little off ever since I may have mistakenly dropped it in the snow this winter.

But I was proud of my thriftiness in decorations. Let me tell you, the day after a major holiday is a great time to get party supplies! (St. Pat’s was on a Thursday, our party 2 days later on Saturday) The table cloth and plates were cheap all the time (at the Christmas Tree Store which is theoretically a half step better than a dollar store or a Party City type store) but I got a nice cotton green striped valence which I used as a table runner on the main table for less  than a dollar and those green little foam shamrocks which I strung together to make a little garland.

The flowers were Bells of Ireland and some purple thing which vaguely resembled heather. Since my flower arranging skills are novice as well I like to try and stick to only 1 or 2 varieties in an arrangement and concentrate on having different heights. I think it turned out a little wild but acceptable.

Things I’ve been digging around the web this past week (or two):

• Fresh Spring Colors at Decor8
• Confetti Party Invitations by Jordan over at Oh Happy Day
• The “bake sale” and centerpieces (scroll way down) at this wedding featured on Snippet and Ink

Hey! I just added a new home page inspiration board for Bogey + Bacall (it’s a little large if you check it out on the home page). I think this was the hardest of all the invitation suites to do just because, though I LOOOVE red, it’s a tight rope walk for weddings. Little slip and you’ve got a style I can only think of as “bad prom”. Another bobble and you’ve overshot “glam” and fallen straight into “vampire goth”. And red can be wonderfully playful with gingham and when paired with light blues and greens but a classic red with some black and white that is NOT harlequin– damn difficult.

The images in the inspiration board (Images: The Future Mrs. Darcy: Bogey + Bacall,  Claridges Luxury Hotel in Mayfair by The Creative Wedding Photographer, Tablescape by Paul Scott via Carolyne Roehm, Bride by The Nicols via Style Me Pretty, Red Shoes by Justin and Mary via Elizabeth Anne Designs, Bold by Sarah Rhoads) are great jumping off points (especially the last 3!) and here are a couple of others to take a look at that are moregood classic/glamourous weddings than reds but  I liked them:

Old Hollywood Wedding in Canada at Ruffled

Cicado Wedding by Justine Ungaro

Julia Morgan Ballroom Wedding by Caroline Tran

1930s Ballroom Wedding at Ruffled (and Part 2 is here)

NYC Photographer Belathee (check out the bridal fashion and featured weddings on their site or just google their work for tons of great stuff)

I don’t think there was a specific post in mind but Santa Barbara Chic had a bunch of nice posts.

Also some good red flowers I came across if you don’t feel like standard roses* are: peonies, anemonies, calla lillies, ranunculus, dahlias, tulips, carnations (yes, carnations) and amaryllis.

*There’s nothing wrong with red roses and I’m sure there are tons of varieties that I’m not aware of but I’m just saying it’s what you think of first and if you don’t care for them, there are alternatives.

I will let you know that the ideas that were rolling around for a Bella + Edward invitation forever ago have gotten a bit of brilliance from a bride getting married at a planetarium whose colors are– are you ready– an ombré navy black to blues to nude. It’s frickin’ amazing. I want everything to be this night sky ombré now. Not sure if it will actually end up named “Bella + Edward” though- do you think that will turn some people off? Anyway, you will want to make out with this invitation though, it’s fabulous, but still in the works so… sorry.

Another bride is going for the Lois + Clark invitation in PERSIMMON. Persimmon, I have recently learned, is the BEST way to ask for orange. Love it.

Then I have a couple who’s having the Alice in Wonderland party invitations turned into wedding invitations. The brand new RSVP features a stack of teacups that I find quite adorable.

And to top it off- I need to photography the Bogey + Bacall invitations and the Elvis + Priscilla invitations for Invitation Crush Wedding Ideas Lookbook! Yowza!

But remember our nature sneaky peeks? I think we’ve figure our path for those invitations which means one is now up for grabs! I’m running two last details by some lovely ladies but then I’ll have the grand reveal!

In the meantime: did you catch the amazing winter wedding featured on Snippet and Ink? Daaaaaaang.

In the meantime, very cool wedding flowers (I know, MORE flowers- I just keep stumbling over them) and I saw these cool X O X O balloon engagment/wedding shoot but I can’t find them AND they made me think of a using marquee letters which I also cannot find. I will search ardently tomorrow for them so check back.

So instead I bring you: bridesmaid dresses and awesome vintage to you!

I’m sure you’ve seen this floating around the interwebs lately but, honestly, where the hell was this when I was getting married? It wasn’t 1987 it was 2007– a mere THREE YEARS AGO and we basically had to locate seven horicruxes (meh it’s late, it was either a Harry Potter reference or something about the penitent man kneeling at the breath of God from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and, THAT, my friends, is arcane) before you could find a cocktail dress! And I know Dessy group was around then. Grrr… Anyway. Dessy Group:

Lela Rose Bridesmaid Style LR120

Cynthia Rowley Style 8007

And the awesome vintageness comes from etsy seller High Street Market.

Large vintage cast iron ship doorstop: $42. Perfect for a kids’ room… or, like, my room.

Tall vintage brass vanity mirror, double sided: $38. Who’s the fairest of them all?

Vintage light up globe: $48. Everyone has a mild globe obsession, right?

Vintage golf club, wooden hickory shaft with brass head, putter: $52. Stereotypes tell me your Dad likes to play golf and Father’s Day is coming up.

Utterly Engaged Online Wedding Magazine

Nonpariel Online Magazine

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

But… but… this means I will soon be taking on what I’m sure will be my most difficult client duo: my sister and mother. Sigh. I’ve been trying to dive into this all day but it’s just not gelling. My sister is graduating from high school next month and I have insisted that I will plan the party so I can share it with you all. The problem I’ve come across is multifold. First of all, graduation stuff out there is lame. LAME-O. The equivalent of stock photography lame. My sister does not want glittery graduation hats everywhere. Now the second problem is, the party is for my sister but also for my family… which probably expects glittery graduation hats. Third problem is that my sister is super cool with elements of hipster but not in a way that makes me want to strangle her. I have been mistaken for homeless in Whole Foods*, how am I supposed to be super cool? My sister is ALSO is an accomplished rider but not in a prissy “I want an oompa loompa now, Daddy” way or in a Miley Cyrus country way. And she’s a teenager- obviously- so the rules of the world cite that she can’t care overly about her party. Why does betterment of ourselves always so annoying, dear readers? Also why can’t I stop thinking about “Hey Dude” all of a sudden?

Ok so what I’m thinking is 2 parts “Urban Outfitters” with one part “something to do with horses” and a general dose of “celebration” (not the song- the concept- ew totally not the song). But AGAIN it’s probably going to be more than half family so I don’t think they’d respond as favorable to things like mustaches and photo booths. So again, I repeat, oy vey! Ooo maybe crests can work themselves in there and bridge some gaps. I already do have a graduation invitation with crests…

Anyway there’s no resolution to that at the moment BUUUUUT in the process of looking I found several new amazing wedding inspiration sources:

First we have Laury Liane an event planner that seems to do it from flowers to decoration to… everything.

Next is Livia Cetti, whose work reminds me of Rebecca Thruss, and seems to be would have great ideas and photos for you to take to your vendors to give them an idea of what you want.

And last is not really a wedding resource but POSH Chicago has A TON of cool ephemera, some for cheap, some for not.

*Ok this is probably my favorite story to tell but in short, I used to work next to a Whole Foods and one day in the winter I decided to reward myself with a big cookie but since I didn’t want the world to know I was slipping out for a bit I grabbed an cardigan, a VERY old paint ridden skull cap, and a handful of change from my desk drawer and headed over all wild-eyed and excited for cookies. As I was trying to dig out all my change and count it out for the clerk he kind of sadly looked at me and said “Oh is that all your getting” to which I agreed and he said “Oh that’s ok, you can just have it” and my little crazed sugar loving eyes got all excited and I happily skipped out only to stop outside of the store and think “Wait, did he think I was homeless?”¬† Now I think it’s a 50/50 shot but still, free cookie.