Jun

30

Colored Wedding Dresses: Wallflowers need not apply!

Filed Under Aisle Style, Weddings | 3 Comments

Little girls have been dreaming about wearing a white dress down the aisle to meet her Prince Charming practically since the dawn of time. Although she wasn’t the first, when Queen Victoria married Albert of Saxe in 1840 her big white dress was seen not for her purity, but for her extravagance, class and wealth. Women all over envied the possibility to wear snow white and soon the trend caught on like crazy. Although not all women could afford a white dress for the sole purpose of the wedding, many would make their own white dresses and then die them afterward for everyday use.

Traditions, trends and little girls day dreaming aside, wearing color on your big day can definitely make statement even Queen Vicky herself would envy! From soft pastels to pungent purples, the times they have a changed!

Check out some of my favorite style icons of today wearing their show stopping gowns! Viviene Westwood’s electric blue wedding gown designed for Dita Von Teese made her into a Tim Burton worthy bride while Gwen Stefani’s pink dipped dream from Dior by John Galliano made fashion forward girls rewrite their own fairy tales.

Jun

26

Real Wedding: Eric & Emily

Filed Under Photography, Weddings | 3 Comments

This wedding is dreamy, fairy-like and whimsical. It left us breathless… From a floral swing, Cinderella inspired slippers and floral arrangements literally pouring out of watering cans to a rustic barn and chocolate donuts this affair was glamorous and gorgeous! Sarah Yates did a fantastic job capturing this day.

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Jun

25

It’s all Fun & Games!

Filed Under DIY (Do-It-Yourself!), Sweet Dreams: Inspiration Boards, Weddings | 8 Comments

Wedding nights in which festivities are limited to just dancing and dj’s are a thing of the past. Couples are infusing fun-filled games for their guests to enjoy after the “I Do’s”. From s’mores roasted over late night campfires, guests lounging on hammocks, bocce ball, croquet, picnic blankets strewn on the lawn, horseshoes, carnival rides, balloon artists, props for guests to take quirky photos set against bright backdrops and weddings at campgrounds we are seeing it all and we are loving it!

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Top Row: Rock N’ Roll Bride, croquet via Green Wedding Shoes, Ferris Wheel Row 2: Balloon Artist , Oh happy day! Row 3: Picnic Blanket via Once Wed, featherlight ladyfinger cake surrounded by berries via Martha Stewart Row 4 – 6: via Once Wed

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Do it yourself!! Find the instructions for the fun invitation tickets featured on the top row via Jackaroo Love & Vintage Glam. You can also find the DIY instructions for the fun novelty personalized Moon Pie wedding favors at Once Wed! Other great ideas: Give your guests a sneak peek with a carnival themed engagement shoot (Shannon Renee Photography), serve up some salty popcorn in vintage containers (Rock n’ Roll Bride), set up a candy bar with an americana twist (Ritzy Bee), and have your own Gelato Cart (Green Wedding Shoes,) Other fun filled food ideas would be to serve a hot dog and wine pairing to your guests. Who would have thought that a sweet & fruity Riesling would the perfect match for a good old fashioned hot dog! (via Celebrations) Bourbon Candy Apples would also be a unique and sweet treat! (via Celebrations)

To dress the part buy a handmade custom carnival party tutu dress which would be fabulous for a wedding or engagement shoot from etsy seller ouma (photo below).

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Jun

24

Sweet DIY Tips: B is for Baby Shower

Filed Under Baby Shower Ideas, DIY (Do-It-Yourself!) | 15 Comments

‘B’ is for Baby shower and Baby Boy Baron! We took the ‘b’s to a whole new level with this swanky gender neutral shower that could just as easily be transformed into a ‘B’ridal shower!

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The candy buffet and one long table were both nestled under cabanas that were handmade specifically for this event and draped with white cotton muslin for delicate shade. (We can’t wait to reuse these for a night event and cover them with lights!) Both the candy buffet and long table had their own gorgeous ribbon chandeliers swaying from them. Strands of butterflies were draped around the posts for the fanciful effect sure to lure. We had the structures custom built but found a great tip from Sunset on how to build backyard cabanas.

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The candy bar also featured an array of yellow and white candy and confections! We even transformed simple white marshmallows by sprinkling them first with a small amount of water then tossing them in a bowl with yellow bakers sugar. Tons of various height apothecary jars were filled with sugarlicious yellow candies and had custom tags (contact us to purchase) draped with yellow ribbons calling out what their delicious bellies held.

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To make each place setting special we baked 40 individual coconut cakes topped with mini-handmade marzipan bees set on vintage doilies! We found the DIY for the marzipan bees over at Martha Stewart here. (We made extra bees and placed them all over the darling desserts on the candy bar as well.) To make the coconut cakes we purchased jumbo size muffin tins from Sur La Table and turned them upside down. For the mix we bought the Betty Crocker moist cake mix, added a bit of coconut extract to it and topped it off with whipped cream cheese frosting and shredded coconut. Barefoot Contessa also has a similar mix that can be purchased from Sur La Table.

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The gorgeous retro linens featuring a warm yellow, white and grey color palette were the inspiration for the palm springs retro soiree. We found the adorable yellow and grey floral patterned fabric on Etsy and designed custom linens trimmed with bright yellow burlap. To do this we backed the patterned fabric with the yellow burlap allowing a 4″ flange, we simply cut the edges of the burlap instead of sewing them because we wanted to leave a raw edges (this was a big time saver as well). We then created place mats by simply cutting out circles of the burlap and used a 12″ dinner charger as our template!

For the floral chandeliers we started with two sizes of embroidery loops and attached tons of various shades of yellow and white ribbons and yarn through each of them. Then we covered the smaller loop with a thick ribbon to give it some form and hand sewed white carnations around the large top loop. White yarn and wire was used to attach the chandelier to a smaller top circular frame and then to the roof of the frame itself. The more the wind blew and the yarn unraveled at its ends the more charming it became!

Vintage vases and vessels were filled with bright, energetic mums, daisies and exotic sunflowers accented with craspedia balls. We actually found a lot of the retro vases at our local thrift stores for eco-chic entertaining! Baby bottles served as the glasses for the Baby Bottle Bellinis (triple B word!) and proudly wore ‘B’ flags of their own. We even found the baby bottles at the 99 cent store!

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Honoring the Big Baby Bump the festive event had accents of Birds, Bees, Butterflies, Balloons and we even served up a cute bowl of bright yellow Bananas! Guests signed the Baby Book, ate at the Baby Bash Bistro and played non- traditional shower games such as Badmitton and Bocce Ball, and before leaving even visited the candy bar to fill up their own Baby Boy Baron Bag of candy. You can also see the shower featured here on Hostess with the Mostess and more pictures on our site below.

Jun

21

Billy Buttons & Fabulous Photography

Filed Under Photography, Weddings | 4 Comments

WOW! After just posting the pics from our last swanky Palm Springs inspired event featuring the color yellow and billy buttons galore, a friend told us about an amazing wedding that he recently attended and then sent us the link to the photographers’ website….. our jaws dropped! Sarah Yates has amazing style and the most gorgeous blog. Her latest blog post features stunning photography and reminded us a bit of the baby shower we just posted last week, so of course we had to feature this creative, stylish and amazing decor.

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The venue is located in Palm Springs and absolutely fabulous! Is called the Ace Hotel and they even offer their wedding clientele a hosted family style dinner at the “commune”. This location will definitely be next on our list to check out….

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Ridiculously stylish and creative arrangements done by Cachet Fioret. I love the way they infused so many different textures from billy buttons, rocks and sunflowers to cactus and artichokes.

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Wouldn’t this venue and decor just make for the swankiest wedding/event? Our palm springs baby shower invite fits these designs to perfection and could easily be transformed into a wedding invite! To find out more about the venue hop on over to Sarah’s blog to see more delicious and inspiring photos! The DIY instructions for the ‘B is for Baby Shower’ event that we just threw and is featured below will be posted in the coming days….