Ready 2 Spark

I’m overdue for announcing a big congratulations to Jenn K for winning the Wedding Paper Divas contest!

It’s been a busy week.  I got my dream job offer, flew to DC, found an apartment, and have packed 7 fridge-sized boxes since yesterday in preparation for my big move to DC this weekend.  Although this means my fiance and I will continue our long-distance relationship for another 6 months or so before we re-evaluate our next move, NYC (where he lives) is a lot closer to DC than Africa was (where I was living last year).

I’m so excited to be back at EAD – Thursdays and Sundays from now until the wedding! Which, incidentally, is starting to feel real, with five months-ish to go.

I wrote about the theme of the wedding here (well, I told you about my shoes and how they had influenced my choice of peacock feathers being the link holding things together) but I haven’t written much about inspiration and boards.

While I’m awaiting photos from my ceremony and reception, are there any things from the Out of Town Baskets or Welcome Party (or any other projects that I’ve posted) that you would like more detail on or have questions about?

Hello to all the EAD readers! My name is Heidi, and I am the owner and designer of couture invitation studio, Zenadia Design. I am so honored to be guest blogging this week on EAD, and am excited about all the fun and inspiring posts I have to share with you!

Heidi from Magnet Street Weddings emailed us to let us know about a great sale she’s offering!  The entire shop is 15% off for the week of November 24, 2008.

Wanwisa’s adorable brunch DIY continued with school-supply theme menus.

I wanted to take this week’s post to thank all of you who’ve read and shared your support, opinions, and ideas with me.  I still have a week to go, but as this week was swamped – I’m sure next week will be too.

Hi all of you vendors and recent brides!  We are currently scouting for real weddings with DIY elements to be featured during our November DIY month. 

They say success is in the details. I have to agree. While the major decisions of a wedding (who you will marry, when in will happen, where it will take place etc) are certainly the most important, it’s the little things that can truly make the day your own. As I go through this planning process I am realizing how important it is to let inspiration guide you when it comes to choosing these fine details. You can draw inspiration from all sorts of places. It’s helpful to flip through magazines and cut out images that strike you, think of your favorite colors and perhaps to try and incorporate them into the day, even the time of year could inspire your decision making process. I have tried my best to think of each element as a continuation of another, rather than separate entities. For example the invitations use the same color palette as our reception décor. I carry around a swatch of the bridesmaid’s dresses so the florist can match ribbons we use to their color. In the end I hope it will create for a cohesive “look” and a very thought filled event. Allowing inspiration to guide me has made this planning process a lot easier and way more fun.

There are a few great events being planned in the wedding world and we thought it would be nice to pass on information!

Holly at Tear Drop Weddings wrote to let us know about a stationery contest she’s hosting. All you need to do is send her your unique love story. The 20 brides that inspire her the most will have a custom designed invitation for the cost of her ready made invites!

Our new blog of the week is Sugar Plum Invitations.  Written by Becky, an invitation designer at a letterpress studio in California. This blog is filled with gorgeous images and ideas.  Be sure to check it out!

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.

A fun new one has come across.  This time I’ve been tagged by Emily and for once you all don’t have to hear boring facts about me, you get to see FUN things I love about weddings!  Before I get started, I’ll apply my tag to… one of my new favorite bloggers, Anna at Southern Fancy!

My feed reader is out of control!  I’m on it constantly, and regularly have several hundred unread posts.  It’s almost a full time job.  Here are some recent posts that caught my attention:

Anne thought it would be fun to give everyone a little bit of background into EAD and how we started. So here is our story…

In my 8 years of blogging, today may be cause for the single biggest celebration yet! Why you ask? At long last, it’s time to debut the brand-new Aisle Society website to the world! For the past several months, a group of more than 30 of the best wedding bloggers from across the world have been working to create a brand new way to find wedding inspiration! Aisle Society is the only way to catch the latest content from your favorite bloggers, all in one gorgeous place. And best of all, you can curate your very own personalized feed of your favorite wedding styles, design elements, wedding pros, bloggers, and more, making it a cinch to plan your perfect day!