This Wedding is Blowing My Mind

Here's some inspiration for all the newly engaged KC couples who want a fun, colorful, and unforgetable wedding - Check out this AMAZING Willy Wonka inspired wedding. Courtesy of Style Me Pretty.
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/04/26/little-black-book-artistes-bright-and-colorful-weddings-iii/

Check Them Out - Cake Girl

What's better than a yummy cupcake? Adorable, yummy cupcakes!! I had the honor of designing flowers for Megan at Cake Girl's Bridal show booth a few weeks ago. When she came to pick up the arrangement she had six of the cutest pink cupcakes for our family as a thank you (how sweet!!). Less than 24 hours later, there was not a crumb of cupcake left to speak of! Delicious! You can check out more of her lovely creations at CakeGirlKC.com

This Weekend at Good Earth

I was a busy bee this weekend...fabulous, unique weddings and a fundraising benefit for Evergreen Living Innovations. Here are a few of the designs from the events.

Check them Out - Royal Photography

Here are some of the photos from Aysha and Cervente's April 3rd wedding from Sam at Royal Photography. Stunning!

Check Them Out - Photo's Edge

Photo's Edge is an awesome and creative husband and wife photography team here in KC. April 2nd they held the grand opening of their fabulous new studio at 2001 Grand. I stopped by to say congrats and spread some flower love. Click the link below to check out the photos Erin took of the bouquets we designed- Love the photos (and those amazing green shoes)!

http://www.photosedgeblog.com/?p=2090

Natural Beauty

This Saturday, Tasha and Andy were married at Danforth Chapel on the gorgeous KU campus. It was the perfect Spring day for a wedding - Breeze, sun, spring blossoms, and clear blue sky. 

Tasha's bouquet was a textured mix inspired by nature. Orange lilies, calendula, tulips and cream hydrangea and ranunculus, finished with scented geranium leaves.

Intimate and beautifully remodeled Danforth Chapel at KU.

The reception was held within short walk's distance of Danforth at the Adams Alumni Center.

Half of the centerpieces featured a wildflower inspired mix of orange and creams. Tasha's Bridesmaid's (and Andy's Best Woman's) bouquets were placed in (our favorite) orange bouquet boxes made of recycled materials, and accented with dark blue ribbon to match the Bridesmaid's dresses. Tasha's bouquet was later placed in the orange bouquet box we designed for her.

 

From last Saturday, this is Judy's bouquet of cream gerber daisies, green hydrangea and green viburnum with matching mini gerber boutonniere.

DIY Success! The Laws of DIY

I love crafty DIY projects. They can bring so much of the unique personality of the Bride and Groom into the wedding day. But there are a few "Laws of DIY" that you want to follow to avoid breaking the bank and reaching your breaking point!


Law #1 : "If it costs more to DIY, don't!" It might sound crazy because DIY projects are supposed to be a fun way to SAVE money. But, you want to make sure you budget out your project before you start. For example, there was a couple working with a custom invitation and printing company. They ordered all their invites, save-the-dates, everything! But when it came to the napkins with their monogram printed on them, they decided they wanted to try to save a little money and buy blank napkins and stamp the napkins themselves. Great idea in theory but they did not budget out ahead of time. The blank napkins ended up costing the same as the printed napkins - plus they still had to purchase stamps and ink to put their monogram on them! As it turned out, it cost the couple $80 more to DIY, and they were less than satisfied with the quality of the end product, to say the least.

Law #2 : "Don't bite off more than you can chew." Many brides have a mindset that they can do it all DIY to save money and put their personal touch on everything in the wedding. I know this one really well, because I was one of them! Just take on a few DIY projects on that will really shine and that you can accomplish weeks or months before the wedding. Your guests will admire your works of art, but you won't be tearing your hair out in the last few weeks before (or worse yet, on the day of!) your wedding trying to finish everything. A story of my husband's co-worker comes to mind. For their wedding just months ago, this couple decided to have their aunt bake the wedding cake. Unfortunately their aunt was up all night baking and icing the cake. And when the aunt and mother of the groom were transporting the cake to the reception, the mother of the groom had to suddenly stop the car, causing one side of the cake to slam into the front seat! Obviously, they did not follow the Laws of DIY and this was not a case of DIY success!


Law #3 : "Good DIY doesn't look DIY." Once again, it is so important that you choose just a few key DIY projects that will really shine. Focus on these and make them really creative and quality. When choosing your projects, be sure to ask yourself - Will my guests be able to tell that this is a DIY project? If your project looks professional, congrats on your DIY success!

We Love...This DIY Wedding

From the colors to the fabulous DIY projects, this Style Me Pretty wedding is inspiring. Read the couple's story below - Check out the eco-conscious ways they made their budget stretch by buying items they could reuse everyday after their wedding...Love it!

Click here to read the original entry.

"I know every bride says it, and I’m sure they mean it, but our wedding was truly the best day(s) of our lives. We had a year and a half engagement and I started planning right off the bat! It was a good thing to because we filled the wedding with little touches and DIY projects that made everything perfectly us.

Even before I met Doug I found the place where I wanted to get married while at a business conference. Whispering Pines is tucked away in a woodsy section of Rhode Island. We booked the whole site for Columbus Day weekend for our 80 person wedding. Once we chose Whispering Pines we started telling our guests who started referring to the weekend wedding as “camp”. We decided to go with the rustic camp theme with wood slices, wildflowers, care packages for guests, and camp t-shirts for favors. We stuck with an aqua and poppy color scheme and I think the look really came together.


I wish I could tell the entire story of our wedding with all the little stories that made the weekend memorable. Like how the night before the wedding the girls and I snuck into the boys cabin to play pranks, very “summer camp” of us, but they were up waiting with shaving cream. It was hilarious and I wound up spending a few hours the night before our wedding with my groom and the boys. I know, scandalous. The whole wedding party got about 4 hours of sleep!

Our budget wasn’t huge so we tried to maximize the most important things. Whispering Pines, though lovely, isn’t cheap. It sounds shocking but it was 3/4 of our budget for the venue, food, and overall experience. We figured that’s what people would remember and we were right! We had about 5K to spend on all the other details & vendors.


One of the major themes of the wedding was trying to use things that we could re-use after the wedding. We needed an “altar” for our outdoor wedding so we decided to buy a side table that we could use outside for the unity candle, now it’s Doug’s bedside table. The frame that we used for our setting chart now houses all my earrings, using just a mesh screen behind it. The blanket box for the campfire throws now sits at the end our our bed holding our extra blankets. Someday it’ll be our children’s toy chest. I didn’t feel as guilty buying unique and quality things knowing that they’d be put to good use after the wedding.


I worked really closely with Joy from Flower Thyme in Wakefield, RI to get just the right look for our flowers. My inspiration was big ball dahlias, which have a huge pop factor without being too expensive. We filled in with white hydrangeas, fern fronds, hypercerium berries, bright red tulips, and various wild flowers. It was impossible to find an aqua flower so we opted for a bight blue bow on all the arrangements. We loved our photographer Michelle. Loved. MIchelle was so sweet and professional. She even brought her 16 year old son as a second shooter, so he can learn the business, at no extra cost to us.


For my girls I chose a bright poppy color and told them to pick any tea length dress in that color from the Dessy line – in either Nu-Georgette or Duchess Satin. My sister, the MOH, choose a long dress to look a little different. My dress was a great find. I went dress shopping twice, the first just being a quick run through where I didn’t even try anything on. The dress I choose, Abigail by Sophia Tolli, was the first dress I tried on. It was perfect for me and the setting and I never felt more beautiful. My shoes were a $20 find at DSW and I plan on wearing them again and again.


After the wedding many guests changed into their camp tees, yes camp tees, to head over to the campfire for s’mores and sparklers. Since October can be chilly, especially last fall, we knew we wanted blankets for the campfire. I found all the fleece throws, mostly non matching blues and reds, for $1-$3 each everywhere from CVS to IKEA to Joann Fabrics. Everyone was so comfy by the fire we stayed out until the last guests retired to their rooms. "

We Love...This Perfect Wedding Favor

This is genius! Personalized, customizable lip balm favors. Extra adorable and only $140 for 100 favors.  Perfect for the chap-stick addicted Bride and Groom

 (You know who you are!)

Click here to visit this Etsy store.

Simple Sophistication

Congratulations to Aysha and Cervente! Here are some photos of thier bouquets at their reception site Intercontinental Hotel on the Plaza.

Aysha's bouquet is a classic round clutch bouquet featuring ivory roses, peonies and ranunculus. Her bouquet was wrapped in a satin ivory ribbon with pearl embellishments. Her Bridesmaid's carried simple bouquets of light blue hydrangea wrapped in silver ribbon. Gorgeous classic, simple elegance.