Flowers! (again)

I found a new love today!My sister could not believe that I had never seen them before (in all fairness, she used to work with flowers!). Apparently they are Phalaenopsis orchids and they are my newest addition to my wedding ideas folder. How great would they look on the aisles at the church or even as a bouquet like they are here? I also love them as a centerpiece because they would drape down the sides of a vase like this...
(Centerpiece picture is courtesy of a wedding featured on The Bride's Cafe)

Who knew?

Well it's official (as if it wasn't already)! Mr. Smith and I met with the priest on Sunday to start the process we have to go through with the Catholic Church in order to get married. All I have to say is "wow", there is a lot more we have to do than I ever expected. I basically thought we met with the priest, went to a pre-cana class, and then "tada!" we were ready to get married. Apparently I was wrong! On top of doing those things we each need to have two people fill-out a witness form (I don't even want to tell you the questions on it), meet with a "sponsor couple" and take a personality test! Does anyone else think this is strange? I mean we are already engaged and planning a wedding, what happens if we aren't "compatible" in the eyes of the Catholic Church? I guess we better start studying...

Sign, Sealed, Delivered, Their Mine (errr, I mean Ours!)

I think we have officially chosen our wedding photographer! Mr. Smith and I signed the contract and faxed it to my mom this morning and I couldn't be happier. We decided to go with a place in Dallas called Brooks Weddings. It is actually a husband and wife team (how cute is that?) that take all of the pictures and they mainly focus on taking candid shots (the reason I chose them)! Here are some of my favorite pictures from their site...
I know this one isn't wedding related but it is so cute I couldn't resist!


After searching through their website and blog (yes, it is fantastic but don't read it because you might like it better than mine!) I just know that they will catch all the fantastic moments, expressions, etc that are the most important part of a wedding day.

Party dresses!

I really love wearing dresses and now that I am engaged I am going to have so many fun opportunites to wear them! Is it weird that I have already started looking for bridal shower, rehersal dinner, and engagement party dresses? Here are some of the best that I have found... (Dress #1 is from Banana Republic, Dress #2&3 are from Jcrew, Dress #4 is Nordstroms)

In case you haven't already noticed, I have a thing against strapless dresses...

Flowers!

When I was growing up I would spend the summers with my family in Chatham, MA. Every year we would drive past this house called Hydrangea Walk and that is where my love for hydrangeas began...(I actually just searched Google Images and this is like the third picture that came up - this is the actual house!)

I am not sure if my love for them stems from all of my happy childhood memories or maybe just because they are big and fluffy. But what I do know is that they will be my primary wedding flower! Here are some of the great ways I have seen them used:

(All pictures are courtesy of theknot.com.)

Etsy love

If you haven't been to etsy.com drop everything you are doing and go there right now! I swear I could spend 8 hours a day browsing through all the different designers featured on their website. Now that I am engaged it is even more dangerous because they have an entire section dedicated to weddings! People are selling everything from photo albums to personalized wedding invitations to cake toppers! Look at some of the great things you can purchase...

Now I know most of these items aren't the in the right color but that is the beauty of etsy, most people will make custom items to fit your needs! Oh the joy of online shopping...

(Ring pillow from Bychay, Invitation from Dearemma, Guestbook from Gracefulpage)

More Inspiration Boards

I have started looking for some insipration boards that have a brighter color pallet and these are the best two that I have found... (Both are from this great blog called Snipet & Ink)Thoughts, feelings?

Photographer

I really think that one of the things you should splurge on for your wedding day is a photographer. Having the perfect dress, centerpiece, bouquet, etc. doesn't matter if your photographer takes bad pictures. I have seen some weddings where the photos come out really bright because they used such harsh lighting and that is the last thing I want to happen on my wedding day! Pretty sure I don't want to look shiney and bright in my wedding pictures - I am pale enough as it is!

All I know is that I really want the photographer to capture Mr.Smith's face when he first sees me walk down the aisle and I want one of these moments...

Do you think I can pick a photographer solely based on those two requests?

Pretty fly ride...

In Chicago people rent trolley's for all different kinds of events (weddings, bar crawls, etc.) so I thought it would be really fun to have one drive around my wedding party. How sweet would we look driving around Dallas in one of these? Plus, we could get some really cute pictures in/on/around the trolley!

Guess what?!

Today starts the 1 year countdown for mine and Mr. Smith's wedding! Does this mean I get to celebrate tonight since it is my -1 year anniversary?

Hello Gocco, I love you.

After browsing through the eleventybillion wedding blogs I have bookmarked on my computer I came across this post on Weddingbee. I HAVE TO HAVE ONE! For some reason I feel like I lost my crafty side after college and am trying to get it back. Maybe it was because of work, maybe I had nothing to inspire me, or maybe just sheer laziness. Either way, planning a wedding has definitely brought out the DIY bride I always knew I could be! Luckily my sister is the crafting queen and is totally game for taking on this challenge with me. Plus, she could (maybe) have the gocco when we are done as a present for helping me!

Feel free to buy me one!

Too many ideas!

When I first got engaged I sent picture after picture to my sister of all these great ideas that I saw. After flooding her work inbox (sorry sis) she told me:

1. I'm crazy

2. All my pictures conveyed a different feel/image

3. Leave me alone (not really, but I am sure that is what she was thinking!)

4. I needed to pick one color pallet, idea, etc. and stick with it

Originally I fell in love with this inspiration board that I found on Style Me Pretty (Note: I really liked the colors, not the actual centerpiece, aisle markers, etc.)

but I am not sure if the colors are too muted now that we are getting married in May (originally our date was in April). However, I love the feel of all the lighter greens and cream with the sea foam. I think that they would work really well with the clean, elegant feel I am going for (I am not a bride who wants swarovski crystals, giant centerpieces, etc.).

I am currently working on my own inspiration board so lets see how it goes...

Save the date

Usually brides don't worry about the save date since they don't go out until about 6months before the wedding. But if you are the Future Mrs. Smith you have been thinking about this since the day you got engaged (Neurotic? Maybe.)! I have come up with a few ideas and I want to see which design people like best: (please note: most of these will have to be customized for our wedding. Luckily my good friend Shift is super talented - up for the challenge?)

1.

2.

3.

4.
The middle two designs are from my current favorite website etsy.com and the last image is the front of a postcard I designed on snapfish.com. Let me know what you think...

Embosser

I am pretty sure getting one of these embossers with Mr. Smith and my initials is a necessity...

Just think - envelopes, thank you notes, stationary, oh my! How could a future bride possibly go through life without one of these? Just look here to find all the different options!
P.S. do you think it is bad karma to use "S" before marriage?

Look what I found...

Aghhhhh! How great does this look? This is exactly what I was picturing for my bridesmaids (except my shoes will be cuter)!

Centerpieces

Sorry I have been MIA for a couple of days, I went to Michigan this weekend to visit the future family and attend a first communion. I have to say that I love the Smith's but this weekend was exhausting and there was definitely no time to post! Anywhoo, back to wedding planning...

My mom collects this stuff called McCoy and most of the pieces are a light green, light blue, egg shell, or yellow. If she had enough I would definitely consider using them as the vase for our centerpieces. However, I do think it has more of a country/relaxed feel which isn't really what we are going for. Here is an example of some of the pieces...

Also, I saw this idea the other day and almost died from excitement!

Does anyone have about 25 antique, silver tea pots lying around I can borrow?

Wedding favors

Instead of doing a traditional wedding favor my sister and I came up with the idea of a candy table. Now I know you were really hoping to get cookies in the shape of Mr. Smith and I but you will to settle for lots of yummy candy!

This is the feel we are going for...
How awesome does this table look? I especially love the different sizes/shapes of the glass containers. It goes along with the clean, sophisticated feel I want my wedding to have. Maybe everyone could take their candy home in these...

Bridesman

So, my family is strange. We love each other (most of the time) and every time I go home I spend most of my time with my siblings (older sis KT and younger brother ET).
They even come out with my friends and I which apparently is not the norm. Who knew? When it came to picking my maid of honor my sister was obviously my first choice but I also wanted to make bro a part of my side as well. Here came my genius idea - a bridesman! I started telling this idea to a few of my friends and they all thought it would be perfect (or just told me it was and then talked about how strange it was behind my back)! Then a few weeks ago my friend KLo called to tell me about the new movie poster she saw - Made of honor. All I have to say is "damn you Patrick Dempsey"! If you know me then you know I don't like to do things like everyone else (hence the no strapless gown and a bridesman) so I feel like my idea has been ruined. Le sigh.

Groom's attire

Mr. Smith really wants to wear a bow tie at our wedding so of course I am going to let him (bet you thought I wasn't!). However, I want to take it one step further. Suspenders! When I was growing up my dad always wore a pair of coin money suspenders, a cumberbund, and a bow tie every time he donned a tuxedo. I guess that image has always stuck in my head and I really want Mr. Smith to do the same. I saw this great image in my Martha Stewart Keepsake Planner (the other love of my life) of a tuxedo with a green cumberbund (not St. Patrick's Day green but more of a patterned sage green) and a black bow tie and thought "what a great idea"! I pitched it to the fiance' last night and don't think he was feeling it but I think with a little persuasion I might be able to sway him...