Wrapping up a week in weddingregionalism posts, I was trying to think of something romantic, carefree, and unique to post about.  Don’t ask me why, but I thought of a wheat field and a wedding centered around this theme.  I think I’ve always pictured wheat fields to be very romantic, with wide open expanses and ocean-like movements with the breeze.  Wouldn’t it be picturesque?  Here’s what I came up with:

Top row: Wheat field and barn photo, Polly’s Cakes, Brides
Second row: Center piece photo from uptowngirl, Wheat and lavender bouquet, Short yellow dress
Bottom row: Lemonade photo and recipe, Wedding dress by Carolina Herrera, Sandals, Lavender and wheat boutonniere from twigs & honey

I’m imagining a bride living somewhere in a bread basket state that is a free spirit, but not wanting to overdo the farm theme. Just light and airy design elements with a good balance between structured and relaxed.

Whitney was kind enough to enter our EAD inspiration contest awhile back, and even though she didn’t win, we thought we’d pull together an inspiration board for her rustic fall North Carolina mountain wedding in hues of orange, brown, and aqua.

 
Clockwise from top left: The Wiebners, Artfool, Darling Dexter blog, the Knot, Darling Dexter blog, B&B finder, Tiffany Aicklen Photography, Brides via Faye and Greer, Darling Dexter blog, the Bride’s Cafe, Toast via Peonies and Polaroids

Three of the pictures are actually from Whitney’s blog!  The gorgeous dresses are handmade (wow), that is actually her Save the Date (gocco’ed by the way, it’s fabulous - you should check out her Etsy shop for more gocco’ed goodness), and those are her shoes!

Whitney, I love what you’ve put together so far and I hope this inspires you!

E.

I’m sure this title will get us a lot of spam, but it’s worth the risk!

As Jennifer from Salt Harbor Designs pointed out, deep rich purples are going to be a big trend. I love that it is being paired with more unusual neutrals (hello gray!). Nude is this sassy interesting neutral, and it is perfect for a summer or early fall wedding.

{Image Credits: Chris Nichols via Junebug!, The Knot, Forzieri, Couquette, Impressionen, iVillage, The Happy Envelope via Minted, The Knot, The Happy Envelope via Minted, Normal.}

I would love to see what our brides and bloggers could do with nude….the color, of course.

Enjoy!

A.

Okay, so not literally, but today’s post is carrying on a week of weddingregionalism posts and I pulled together an inspiration board for an Oregon wedding that uses all things Oregon. Every photo in the board relates to either Oregon or unique services or designs available in the state. Just a bit of inspiration to show you that it can be done. Why don’t you try with you city of choice? Help your local artisans and also employ some weddingregionalism by choosing themes that match your region of choice.

Before pulling this board together, I was thinking of something special that Oregon has to offer. Berries! A great climate for growing Marionberries, blueberries, and anything else essentially berry, I thought I’d loosely design a wedding around this delicious fruit without going over the top Violet Beauregarde of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (when she inflates into a blueberry after chewing that special gum).

Top row: Leanimal dress, Polly’s Cakes, Blush Bridal Consultation Group, Oregon Marionberries
Second row: Ink & Peat flower arrangement, Lark Press wedding invitation
Third Row: Blueberries and Marionberries, Leanimal dress, Twigs & Honey bridal hair piece
Fourth row: Blush Bridal Consultation Group, Ecotrust building

Are there local resources or products you’ve used as inspiration for your event? 

Don’t forget! Today is the last day to run over to the Beautiful Garden Boutique blog and enter their fabulous bridal jewelry giveaway, worth $250.

Enter here!

Reader Elizabeth writes:

I am wondering if you would help me with a little inspiration! I am getting married this October at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. I am very much in the beginning of planning, and I only have 5 months to go! EEK! Its regal and beautiful, and I am very excited. I am thinking “beach elegance”; we’re not getting married on the beach, and the reception is in the ballroom. I had tossed around turquoise as THE color, but then saw your post on berry and chartreuse and love that too! Doesn’t help to be indecisive! I would love if you could put together an inspiration board for me that will help me see my vision of Caribbean elegance? That would be so wonderful…and so helpful.

So I had open season to help Elizabeth with her color palette dilemma. And I have to tell you it was fun.  Because she loved the chartreuse board, I started looking through our green pictures - and there I found the fantastic photo in the top left from Millie Holloman and inspiration struck.  So lime and periwinkle it was!

 
Top row: Salt Harbor Designs via Millie Holloman Photography, Rebecca Thuss, Aaron Delesie Photography via the Bride’s Cafe
Middle row: Marie Labbancz Photography, Jules Bianchi Photography, Impressionen, Jen Fariello via DC Nearlyweds
Bottom row: Brides, Millie Holloman Photography, A Lazar Soiree

This is probably one of my favorite boards that I have ever done.  The simplicity and modern-but-lush look is perfect for St. Thomas and it’s definitely elegant enough for the Ritz-Carlton ballroom (which is done in mostly shades of yellow). 

Elizabeth, I hope you like it!
E.

Hello readers!

We’ve added a new feature today.  Each week, E and I will pick a blog that we read and love.  You can find this feature in our left column.  Our first blog is These Little Moments, written by a shoe lover and bride-to-be named Molly.  This blog is worth a long visit.  We hope you enjoy!

A.

Calling all Crafty and Creative Brides

I love thinking up fun and inventive ways to spruce up your wedding, make it fun for guests, and keep it affordable. I randomly had this DIY inspiration about how to handle the tricky task of assigning seats for your single guests. It’s hard enough to seat couples and family, but single friends can be trickier as you don’t want them to feel left out and you don’t want them to be seated as the lowly single among a table of parents and children. This may be a bit quirky and offbeat, but I think it would be fun and adventurous if you have open minded single friends

For this quick and easy project, purchase two birdhouses either on a stand or the kind you can hang. On a skinny roll of paper, write table numbers and seating numbers in a random order. Use one birdhouse for the guys and the other, for the ladies. Place the roll inside with a portion hanging out. Let your single friends know ahead of time that seating will be determined the wedding day and have an obvious sign to direct them. Then, let the intermingling and fun begin! That wasn’t too hard, right? After the wedding, you can use the birdhouses in your backyard and create a nice haven for the birds which ties in with the weddingregionalism theme of this week and a lasting memory of your big day. I’m all about dual purpose ideas!

Crafty project #2 will make a tree hugger out of all your guests and you and your hubby.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Loyal reader Emily mentioned (correctly, I might add) that I have been incredibly lax about posting in our honeymoon series!  Could it have really been four months since we’ve traveled together, readers?  To make up for my complete lack of conscientiousness, this post is just for Emily, who is honeymooning in Paris and London (my two favorite cities in the world)!

{Europe by Air, Westminster.gov, Richard Seaman}

There are so many places in London you MUST see that I absolutely recommend at least a week of solid touring - more if you don’t like to pack it in while you’re on vacation.  Because London is a whale of a city, this is going to be a whale of a post, so you’d better grab something to drink before diving in!

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I’ve been exploring Minted over the past week and love it! It make searching for great invitations so easy. I can’t wait to see what they do with save the dates and party invites.

I’ve been submitting votes for their current design challenge, Voting ends on the 15th! The winning design will be for sale on Minted after the challenge ends.

They are also accepting submissions for the holiday photo card challenge. For those brides and vendors who are also designers, go ahead and submit a design for the holiday challenge! Let us know if you do.