Reception Dress?

I just saw this dress from BCBG and thought it would make an excellent reception dress! Lon and I have talked about having two dresses before, one long more formal one for the ceremony and one like this that would be fun to dance in at the reception!

Thoughts?
(note: the shoes and bag would be a different color, something less stark like silver or magenta)

Spring!

I just saw this color board on Snippet & Ink and was inspired! I love the pop of cherry red and lime green - so refreshing.

On a Sunny Saturday

Jenny and I went to the Wildflower Center and were amazed at how beautiful it was. After walking around the entire place, we confirmed that the courtyard and gallery were the best places to hold the event. I'm leaning on having the ceremony in the gallery with the reception in the adjacent courtyard (see photos below). We confirmed this when we looked through their wedding photo books.

My favorite aspect of the location its photogenic quality. Each aspect of the grounds offers another place to take a pic. It will also be fun for the guests to wander through the gardens and admire the sculptures throughout.

As we walked around our conversation turned to bridesmaid dresses. Jenny had a fantastic thought - Grecian. She'd seen these dresses from Two Birdes Bridesmaid, http://www.twobirdsbridesmaid.com/, and thought they'd be perfect to compliment the Center's rock facade and strong architecture. I could not agree more. These dresses are amazing! The style is so fantastic and allows you to wear it 10 different ways. We're thinking of peacock or kelly/apple green as the color in a short length (I wish there was a color in between Kelly and Apple Green!), check out "Lovely Days" for photo samples. I hope these dresses will be something my chicas truly want to wear again (but will understand if they don't!)

No rain please!

This weekend Jenny and I (and hopefully Valerie) will venture to the Wildflower Center to check it out once more. As you may recall, when we visited in February and decided it was indeed the location, we got to check it out in the pouring rain. The weather today is wonderful, so I'm excited to see how different it looks. February is pretty dreary here with the rain and trees and plants trying to recover from fall, so I cant wait to see how it looks with some spring action in play. I also hope to map it out a bit to get a feel for the layout. I'll have to make two plans to account for inclement weather, but that was one of the selling points of the Wildflower Center- it can accommodate both beautifully.

Jenny, my favorite fashion icon and insider, is a brides maid, along with my sister Debi as maid of honor, Lon's sister Kate and my best friend Mitzie from Phoenix. I keep going back and forth on what they should wear, so I've pretty much left it up to Jenny to decide on. We want to get a feel for the location this weekend to see what would look best.

I saw these BCBG dresses on another bride's blog and I love them! I'm not sure about the color, but the style is amazing.



I'll try to take pics of the location tomorrow and post them next week...

Decor II

Lon and I have had a few discussions recently on how to approach decorating and preparing the space. Originally, I wanted to follow in Debi's footsteps and have my aunts help me decorate the day of. Unfortunately, the Wildflower Center doesn't allow prep to begin until 5:30. With the wedding starting at 6:45, I'd never ask family to try getting it all done in that short of period of time.

My friend Lauren, is hopefully going to do the decor. When we last met, we talked of doing something like this for the centerpieces. (imagine first pic in our color scheme)












I also really love the idea of finding unique vases for each table as seen here. These placed on blue linens and paired with floating candles should be just the right mix of flowers, water and candle light.

Decor

I recently found a few fantastic weddings blogs that I have become totally addicted to. One, snippet & ink is all about decor and includes tons of these amazing color boards. I tried to choose just one, but alas....

Let them eat cake!

Or cupcakes. Or both.

Lon and I finally compromised on desert, and are going with a combination of traditional cake and cup cakes! hmmm cupcakes. Even the word sounds yummy.

I hope to do a combination of two or three flavored cupcakes; vanilla, chocolate and red velvet. I think we our traditional cake will be similar to Debi and Josh's in strawberry with butter cream frosting.

I love the idea of a cake table with deserts on different plates and at different levels like this:

I was having a hard time finding stands that are beautiful while working in my budget, and low and behold, other brides are thinking of the same thing! I found the perfect example on a wedding blog, which can be done with champagne glasses, candle holders, and antique plates! I can't wait to start looking for stuff around town. The bride here used epoxy to adhere the pieces together for a great custom look.

Location, Location, Location

We finally bit the bullet and chose a location -- the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in South Austin. www.wildflower.org

A few weekends ago, we headed down to visit the Wildflower Center with Lon's parents, Temple and Janet, and his uncle Jim and aunt Charlie. As luck would have it, we chose a rainy day in February to visit (not the most beautiful time).

It was drizzling as we walked through the Center's grounds, but surprisingly, we were able to see how beautiful the location was and imagine how it would be when the flowers, trees and plants were in bloom. Each of us noticed how it looked and felt so much like the River House, where Lon and I originally thought of marrying, but offered accommodations we lacked in the country. For me, it also has the perfect mix of Phoenix/El Paso and Austin.

The location has three main areas of interest for the wedding; the gallery and meadow beyond, courtyard and finally a grove of trees.

We hope to have the reception in the courtyard unless inclement weather persists, then we'll have it in the gallery...










Saturday, April 18th has resonated with me from the beginning as our wedding date, and with a little extra help from Janet and Temple, we were able to secure it -- I feel truly blessed to have such thoughtful parents-in-law to be.

I'd love to show you more pictures of the Wildflower Center (these do not do it justice), but alas this will do for now...