Inspiration Board #2: Modern Peacock - Lime, Brown

This inspiration board was inspired by a funky peacock lampshade I found on Anthropologie this week. It sets the tone for an uncomplicated, modern and exotic wedding theme with just the right pop of aqua and lime to offset the rich brown. I visualized turning the shades into pendant lights which would then be hung over a long, rectangular main table.

1. Anjou Wire Lantern from Wrapables
2. Peacock Shade from Anthropologie - Available in May 2009
3. Luggage Tags as name cards from Favor Studio
4. Versini, Brown, Multistripe, Three-Button Suit from Men's Warehouse
5. Peacock Paisley Pillow from Amazon.com
6. Maggie Sottero Wedding Dress in Fredricka found on Brides.com
7. Table Design by Root Candles (Includes instructions how to re-create this look)
8. Green Hydrangea Bouquet found on Wedding Flowers and Reception Ideas (Photo by John Henry)
9. Truffle Bridesmaid's Dress from David’s Bridal
10. Handmade Card by Mel Stampz (Blog includes instructions how to re-create)
11. Boutonniere from Melissa Marie Floral Design
12. Peacock Flourish Menu from Documents and Designs
13. Cellini Ladies Satin Wedding Shoes from Amazon UK
14. Bridal Bouquet by Monday Morning Flowers
15. Hot Chocolate Wedding Cake by Maisie Fantaisie (UK)
16. Modern Place Setting by Dwell Studio via Hatch: The Design Public Blog
17. Customized Take-Out Box by Coastal Blue Promotions
18. Lunch Tote by Milano found on Organize.com
19. Peacock Metal Wall Art from Quilted Bear
20. Kiwi Vases from Crate & Barrel

Wedding Accessories: SoleMates

I found an interesting accessory today when I was perusing wedding websites. It's a little piece of plastic called a "SoleMate" that slips over the heel of your pump to enable you to walk down a grassy or cobblestone aisle with ease. They are offered up at a cost of $11.95 a pair (you can order from the SoleMates website shown below).

After wearing pumps to many outdoor weddings and tiptoeing through the grass for fear I'd aerate the lawn, I'm tempted to buy a pair to try them out. However, I'm not yet convinced they'd completely work. And I don't know if I like how they look - but I guess you'd just slip them off as soon as the grassy portion of the wedding was over...

We're getting Married!!! OMG - Where do I even begin?

ESTABLISHING A BUDGET

The most important thing to do before even starting to plan your wedding is to set your budget. Why? Establishing a budget helps keep you grounded as to what you can actually afford -and- it also gives you a good idea of how much something may cost...so you have a baseline price to reference when selecting vendors, etc.

There are what seem like millions of wedding websites out there. So many in fact, most newly engaged gals must feel totally overwhelmed by the information overload. And although many of these sites offer tools for the bride, the focus of this post is to determine which wedding site is the best for budget planning. First, I searched the web to see which planning sites were mentioned the most ofen and then I created my own account on each of those sites. The sites I tested included: The Knot, The Wedding Channel, Get Married, Wedding Wire, Martha Stewart Weddings, EZ Wedding Planner, One Wed, and Brides.com.


The WINNER(s): Wedding Wire - This site is the big winner when it comes to budgeting. The nice thing is Martha Stewart Weddings actually uses Wedding Wire's tool so you can choose from either site to get the benefits. Using the tool is easy. Once you put in your overall target, it will calculate estimations for line item costs. And the it allows you to change these estimations - in case you're a DIY bride and want to do some things youself to save cost or want to splurge on some other item. Besides these features, this tool lets you to add line items, and insert and track the actual cost, amount paid, and date due for each expense. You can also insert and track responsible payer, amount still due, payment date, and type of payment. The only thing it seems to be missing is for you to track your number of guests/attendants to determine per/head costs which can be handy when selecting a caterer.

The Knot - The Knot's big plus is their payment tracking system where you can track deposit, second, and final payments for items including amount, due date, payment date, and form of payment. It also allows you to add payments due to a checklist, and e-mail yourself a reminder within a certain timeframe of the due date (ex/ 1 week before the payment is due). Like Wedding Wire/Martha Stewart Weddings, you can add items. However, the big negative I found is that although it gives you an estimate of how much things should cost there's no way to modify the estimated number. This can be a problem when you want to truly customize how much you want to spend on each item.

Brides - Brides.com's budget planner is in Beta format so it probably doesn't have all of the features the site plans to incorporate into the final version. The tool is a good start, but not worth the hassle. First, you have to add each line item youself (which requires using another site to come up with the basic items) and due to this fact, it doesn't give you an automatic estimate of what the items will cost based. Overall Brides Beta is not very useful to use as a planning tool - just a tracking tool. It does have a per head estimate and invited vs actually attending price which is something I think all of the sites should add.

Get Married - This site's budgeting tool does have the nice enhancements of tips for each expense item and a video for some of them. However, like Brides.com, it does not give you a baseline estimated price (you put it in yourself) and all you can track are estimated cost, actual cost, delta to budget, amount paid and amount due.

EZ Wedding Planner - EZ Wedding Planner is straight forward. However, it lacks any sort of eye candy, can be a pretty cluttered site, and doesn't have enhanced tools like the other bridal sites. Also, I couldn't figure out how to change the budget - it automatically gave me a budget of $17400? Out of all of the tools, I scored this one the lowest.

One Wed - Does not appear to have any sort of budget tracking tool. I'll check it out again when it comes to creating a wedding website for your friends/family to get all of your wedding details.

The Wedding Channel - This website appears to have a budgeting tool but after I logged in and then clicked on budget, it asked me to log in again and wouldn't let me in. After multiple attempts and then re-visiting the e-mail that confirmed I was entering the correct name/password, I got frustrated with it and gave up. If anyone has used it for budgeting, feel free to add your experience in the comments section.

WHO PAYS FOR WHAT?
The main issue most of these budget planning sites had was none of them listed who traditionally pays for what items or was a line-item added for designating who is paying (it may have been in another area on the site, just not mentioned on the budget planning sheet). Granted, trends are changing and some brides and grooms are paying for their own weddings. However, if you want to see who typically pays for various pieces of the wedding, Wed Alert.com posted an article written by Kristin Oiam. Here is a condensed exerpt from her article describing who traditionally is responsible for what expenses:

• THE BRIDE - Wedding ring+ wedding gift for the groom, Party or luncheon + gifts for attendants, lodging for out-of-town attendants
• THE GROOM - Engagement + wedding rings + wedding gift for the bride, legal documents/marriage license, honeymoon, transportation, lodging for out-of-town attendants
• THE BRIDESMAIDS and MAID OF HONOR - Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Wedding Attire/Accessories
• THE GROOMSMEN and BEST MAN - Bachelor Party, Wedding Attire
• PARENTS OF THE GROOM - Rehearsal Dinner, Post-Wedding Brunch
• PARENTS OF THE BRIDE - Reception (music, flowers, food, bar, gratuities), Bride's Gown, all other expenses

Eye Candy: Amy Atlas Events

This past weekend I was flipping through my Food and Wine magazine and stumbled across the most lovely dessert tables I have ever seen. The designs were by Amy Atlas events in New York known for fashionable, fun, high-end dessert tables. It's easy to see from sample designs (below) featured on her website why she's such a hit. Amy's also just started a blog called Sweet Designs which I'm looking forward to visiting for more inspiration.

Inspiration Board #1: Silver Wedding

The other day I was looking at artwork online and became inspired by this painting of a gray pansy butterfly (from India) posted by Nature Magics. The lovely, earthy colors of this insect helped me pull together some ideas for a silvery, wintery wedding theme: A Silver Celebration.

1. Dapper Gray Suit shown on Paton & Dhoot Bespoke's website
2. Silk Dupioni Gwendolyn Gown (J Crew)
3. Table Décor by Rebecca Thuss

4. BCBG Dresses Found on Lindemanweddings.blogspot.com

5. Silk Taffeta Delores Dress (J Crew)
6. Crystal & Pearl Bridal Hair Comb (8839) from Wedding Factory Direct

7. Wash Room sign by Delightful Details

8. Two Little Birds Custom Wedding Invitation by Alannah Rose
9. Three Tier White Wedding Cake shown on Brides.com
10. Birds as Cake Topper by Rebecca Thuss

11. Tree Decorations from The White Company (London)
12. Silver Crystal "Favours" from Rainbow Sugarcraft (UK)
13. Table Decorations from The White Company (London)

14. Silver Dollar Branches from Save On Crafts
15. Photo from Pyro Artistry (UK)

16. Polished nickel lantern from 4himonly (UK)

17. Glass Icicle Ornaments from Smith & Hawken (found on Amazon.com)
18. Gray Leather Necklace by Eninaj
19. White cake with silver dragées found on Country Living.com
20. Placecard Idea from the talented Heather Bullard

The Ring

So what happens right after you get engaged? You want to share the good news with your family and friends...but in many cases they don't live close enough for you to tell them in person. And since you know most of your female friends will say: "Tell me about the ring! What's it look like?" you know you need to take a picture of it to send to them. However, once you take the photo, you're pretty disappointed - it really doesn't do your ring justice as it looks small and blurry. Guess what - you can fix that!

For years I have been following Anne Ruthmann's blog. She's an amazing lifestyle photographer and wedding photojournalist. As an amateur photographer I enjoy learning from her by studying the shots she's taken. And I also love the fact she likes to teach others about photography. Not too long ago she put together a rather timely entry on "how to take amazing engagement and wedding ring photos." She offers some great tips. For example, you should never take a photo of the ring on your hand (just looking at a ring on the hand vs. some of the photos she's taken is more than proof). She also suggests you pick out an interesting background to lay the ring, use scotch tape to stand the ring up, put your camera into macro mode (the little flower symbol on your point-and-shoot), and make sure the ring takes up no less than half the screen. My sister followed these tips and took some quick shots the day she got engaged to send to the family. Not bad for a first try - Thanks Anne!

Here Comes the Bride...

My little sister Meghan got engaged last weekend on Valentine's Day - February 14, 2009. She's been dating her fiance for years and years, so it didn't come as a surprise to my family. But being the older sister, suddenly I feel like I'm supposed to know all sorts of things about weddings. I'm 30, in a steady relationship, but I've never been married. And obviously, at this point in my life I've been in quite a few weddings (so let's hope that old saying "three times a bridesmaid, never a bride" isn't accurate...). But even being a part of those weddings in the past, I don't know everything that an older sister who has walked down the aisle would. So...what do you do when you're 30 years old and your little sister is getting married before you? You write a blog. OK, it's probably not the type of blog you'd expect - i.e. this won't be about how everyone is harassing you since you're not married yet. Instead this blog is about being the older sister who's not quite able to provide her little sister with wedding advice like most older sisters can since they went through the whole wedding planning thing already.

All my life I've been a planner...I make lists, I do research, I plan things out to make sure everything will be perfect. My close friends sometimes call me Martha - since I'm a foodie, enjoy gardening, love to entertain and strive to make things look "perfect." So with that said, I want to help (help, not take over the event) my sister with her wedding...do some research, find her some super useful resources and provide that often necessary sisterly inspiration. I hope you enjoy learning with me.