Wedding DIY: Message in a Bottle Guest Book

Friday has arrived and October is on its heels! What fun do you have planned this weekend? For those of you busy bees planning your wedding why not try out our creative guest book idea: a message in a bottle? This can be themed for a classically elegant coastal wedding, a destination beach wedding, or in an utterly romantic way with richly toned paper and quill pens for a vintage-inspired wedding.

What we love about this idea: it's a sweet keepsake that's interactive and creative.

It's something original that you can have on display in your home but won't take up too much room. Enjoy!

What wedding projects are you working on this weekend?

Married! A Beautifully Sunny California Wedding

As we grow closer to the weekend {and the 1st of October?!} we're in a tizzy of beautiful client details and design ideas, excitement of several sorts, and the week that was. This past week was fantastic and lovely and, once again, flew by too quickly. But we are excited to share an extra-sweet wedding with you today. Because we think you're swell...

While every wedding has that sparkle and something that just makes us happy, today's wedding makes us smile. Big. It's sunny, cheery, happy, and just so darned lovely!

What we love the most: The TOMS!

The extremely happy bride and groom.

The beautifully natural ceremony location.

A fantastically cheery color story.

and the enchanting and romantic end-of night story told by the bride.

From the glowing bride Emily: Before I knew it the big day came and it was more amazing then I could have ever dreamed it to be. It's so cliché, but that day truly was the best day of my life. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much and felt so happy and loved.

My favorite part of that day was at the end. Nick and I were the only ones left besides the coordinator from the venue and the staff that were cleaning up.

The coordinator started to play the CD Nick and I made as favors, which was a compilation of our favorite love songs. As we were gathering up our last few things we heard the music and started to slow dance.

It was seriously like a scene out of a movie, there we were, dancing in the middle of this brightly lit room as people around us are folding up table cloths, taking down lights, and rolling tables away, yet it felt like it was just me and him alone in that room. It was so incredibly romantic, and the perfect end to the perfect wedding.

Photography | Hearts and Horseshoes

Hair Stylist | Artisic Appeal by Amber Ligon 

Floral Designer | Bloom N Grow Florist

Reception Venue | Cypress Ridge Pavilion

Dress Shop | Mariposa Bridal Boutique

Dress Designer | WToo by Watters

Cake Designer | Cassie's Custom Cakes

Best end-of night wedding story, right? Thank you so much for sharing with us, Emily!

Wedding Planning Tips: Be sure that you {yes, both of the happy soon-to-be-newlyweds} bring an extra pair of comfy shoes in your wedding goodies for dancing and post-ceremony fun!

So what was your favorite sunny detail of this lovely wedding?

An Open Letter to Brides & Grooms

As a flurry of newly engaged couples prepare to tie the knot in the coming months, we lend this advice to you:

Absolutely enjoy the planning process. We know that it can be stressful and tiring but work together to make it fun and an adventure. After all, the planning process is a jump into what married life will be like: working together and facing challenges but seeing a beautiful reward at the end of the challenge.

Plan your wedding for you. Over the years we have seen stresses injected into the planning process due to family pressure and work with our couples to curb that. Whether it's pressure of a date because Aunt Sofie can't make August 1st or location because Cousin Phil can't travel, plan your wedding for you. The bottom line is that it's your day and your celebration and you simply can't please everyone. Of course, you'll plan a thoughtful wedding with a delicious menu, activities for guests, and details that will create an experience for them, but don't let pressures of others influence what you do.

Photo by Sarah Rhoads for Valley & Co.

Your wedding is not a competition. We have said this many times and will say it again. Your wedding should be just that: your wedding, and not a mirror of your best friend's wedding or a one-up of your sister's wedding. We've heard many a client say "at Maggie's wedding they did ____ ." There's a difference between taking learning lessons from something you liked or didn't like at a wedding and wanting to make yours bigger or better.  The beauty of couples is that each is different and your celebration should reflect that.

Inspiration is everywhere and seek it out together. Planning your wedding together can be incredibly fun and, especially when you make it that way! Take walks together, watch a slide show of your trips, and snap pictures of what inspires you both on crisp fall afternoon downtown. Store front displays, restaurant tiles, or even food trucks can lend wonderful inspiration to your wedding. Just open your eyes and mind and look for it. You might just be surprised at what your spouse-to-be likes or is inspired by!

Pipe in your personalities. Your wedding is the perfect time to let loose and paint the canvas to look as you want it to. Pipe in your personalities with creative invitations, a funky cocktail hour menu, unexpected ceremony music, or late-night entertainment that will surprise your guests. Go all out with putting your stamp on your big day by creating an experience, but be careful to stay cohesive by sticking to on underlying palette or vision.

However you plan your wedding, remember that it's a whirlwind. The planning process is a blizzard of cake samples, flower names, textile swatches, and guest lists. But if you slow down and savor those bites, make a game out of your guest list, and enjoy the colors and ideas swirling about you'll surely remember the planning process as an incredible time and the start of your new beautiful journey together.

Married! A Happy Mississippi Wedding

The first weekend of fall has come and gone and it left us feeling excited for this new season. We are working on designs for some charming and romantic fall weddings with perhaps some unexpected palettes {much like in today's real wedding}. Our clients are utilizing lush color combinations and textures to paint a beautiful wedding picture - think deep berry shades with pops of chartreuse, garnet and velvety navy blues, and warm chocolates paired with tan and camel. Today's real Mississippi wedding is not only beyond sweet, but the color wheel of pewter, lime, tangelo, and lemon is dramatic and just right. Enjoy!

Don't the flowers just come together so beautifully to form the perfect pale citrus palette?

Photography | Adam Hudson Photo

Caterer | Fresh Cut Catering and Floral by Wendy Putt

Wedding Planner | Deborah Simmons

Reception Venue | The South Warehouse

Cake | The Cake Shoppe

Church | First Baptist Church of Brandon

Photo Booth | Rent the Booth

What color wheel combinations are you enjoying this fall?

Business Musings: Welcoming Fall

We've made it to a new season, friends! Fall has swirled in at the coast in a cooler, cloudy burst and we're really enjoying it! With fall comes a new business outlook and a sense of freshness and Fall cleaning. What better time than the changing of seasons to do some deep cleaning and organizing before we really settle in?

Here's what we'll be doing this weekend:
Recycling magazines. Such a difficult thing to do for Aleah but a must, we accumulate so many wedding, lifestyle, and food magazines every month. We read through each and tear out articles or recipes that inspire us or we like for our clients and then file away in a notebook. We put the rest on the seawall along the boardwalk for tourist to take for their beach read.

Organizing our calendar. Our calendar is already filled a few months out this fall with industry events, photo shoots, and client meetings and work so organizing and scheduling time to just do nothing is really important. A day trip to Julian to enjoy some apple cider, a weekend back home in Seattle, and lunch or happy hour with friends are key to ensuring our fall is fun.

Creating a new fall receipt file and ledger. Keeping our business receipts organized by quarter makes reconciling much easier and it makes finding purchases a breeze.

Brushing up on social media. Social media is such a fantastic tool and we love the connections we meet, the opportunities discovered, and what it has done for our business. But it can also be overwhelming. There seems to be an account for everything: Klout, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and on and on. We'll be taking a look at what we truly use often and better it. Analyzing stats and brainstorming ideas. We'll be trimming those that we don't use.

Do you have a Fall cleaning agenda?

Wedding Planning Tips: Overly Fragrant Blooms

The other day we put out a Tweet that was quickly passed around and Retweeted {thank you!}: Steer clear of overly fragrant blooms in your table centerpieces. They can bother guests and compete with your menu.

The same can be said for scented candles: there's nothing worse than triggering an asthma or allergy attack for one of your guests or distracting from your thoughtful dinner menu. We went to our friend Robin Dietsch of Grand Floral in San Diego, an incredibly talented florist and designer, for her take on the matter:

Stargazer Lilies and Casa Blanca Lilies are beautiful but heavily scented and should be avoided for low centerpieces where they will eclipse any of the yummy food fragrance wafting across the table! In a large ballroom with high ceilings they can be used gingerly in a mass arrangement. They work well in altar arrangements for churches or outside ceremony settings as the breeze will spread the fragrance around.


Perhaps steer clear of these:

Images: Casa Blanca Lily | Hyacinth |  Paper whites | Stargazer Lilies

For Spring flowers Narcissus is the big culprit (Paper whites are Narcissus). Daffodils are also in the Narcissus family but do not have a scent so they are a good substitute and are just the bright yellow, they are lovely paler tones which will work well with Bridal work.

Hyacinth are the other heavily scented Spring flower. The colors are yummy and appealing but hydrangea, freesia, ranunculus and roses come in similar colors and can be used as substitutes.

And substitiute with these:

Images: Ranunculus | Garden rose | Hydrangea | Daffodils

So there you have it! What are your reception flowers going to be composed of?

Married! A Timeless Florida Wedding

Ah, Wedding Wednesday has arrived and we've got a timeless wedding to share with you today. Wes Weber Photography send us this gem of a wedding brimming with timeless details that we just can't get enough of. Unique Event Design created a classic and elegant look with touches of sweet lavender, dark purple, and fluffy white hydreangea clouds. Talk about a subtly sweet palette!

Photography | Wes Weber Photography

Event Designer | UNIQUE Event Design

Floral Designer | Northside Florist

 Reception Venue | Mirror Lake Lyceum

Cake | A Piece of Cake

DJ | Grant Hemond and Associates, Inc.

Ceremony Location | St. Mary our Lady of Grace

Makeup Artist | Michelle Renee Hair and Makeup Artist Group

Dreamy isn't it? The parent dancing photos get us, too. Beyond sweet!