Black and Yellow

I just saw this board on Snippet & Ink and LOVE it. I know Lon and I have chosen our colors... but the dress is amazing. The more I think about the style of our dresses, the more I want a Grecian theme. It would be so lovely at the Wildflower Center. I checked out the dress on Saks.com and think it would be too short, but it does provide amazing inspiration!

I also loved this advice for saving on our wedding, "As a wedding dress, this gorgeous chiffon number by Elie Tahari is a deal for $598. And the fun yellow band across the bust means you can easily wear it again," Karyn at Snippet & Ink. Agreed!

Suiting

I've given a lot of thought as to the color Lon and his groomsmen will wear at the wedding. Originally, I thought tan was the way to go as it was so fresh and fun for summer. I then noticed that most of the brides wore bright white when the grooms wore tan. I will likely be wearing ivory or a cream color, which would be a bit matchy for my taste. Classic black would be the most striking, but may be a bit distracting from the bridesmaids, as their dresses will be a brighter blue/green color. Enter gray! Jenny and I discussed it a while back and got excited at the idea. While Lon would look amazing in jet black, it may be a bit harsh on him (and he rarely wears black as it is). Gray however, would be a nice medium color and would compliment his skin color and the bridesmaids dresses.

I'll be monitoring The Sartorialist ( http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com) for fabulous looks, but in the mean time here are some that caught my eye.

marthastewart.com had this lovely pic of a groom and his men in gray, while Brides.com had gray paired with a yellow bow tie, and a super chic combo with a vest and tie. I think a tie would suit Lon better but we'll see...

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.