Wedding Recap: Our Cake!

Chicago had it's first snow of the season today, and this event is making me nostalgic for my winter wedding! It's hard to believe that our 2 year anniversary is quickly approaching! I have yet to share pictures of our lovely wedding cake, and decided it was high time to do so, in case any other winter brides are looking for inspiration.

My husband and I knew we wanted a traditional round cake, though square was our second choice, and even that minor detail was a tough decision! We met with Dottie Lovely, aka "The Cake Lady," and she helped turn my vision of a winter-themed cake into reality. I loved that she used snowflakes and pearls, while combining the gorgeous silver, blue, and white flowers we had in our wedding.

I could not have been happier with the final result, but the best part was that the cake tasted amazing! We chose buttercream because it tastes far superior to fondant, and had layers of red velvet, marble, and carrot cake, so there was something to please everyone.

And on to the best part: Cutting the cake!

All photos by Seth Kammueller

BHLDN On A Budget!

Like many women, my heart swoons whenever I step inside Anthropologie. Sadly, I cannot afford to shop there regularly, especially on a grad student budget in the middle of a recession! However, I was thrilled to recently learn that the team behind Anthropologie decided to venture into another one of my passions, the wedding world, with their new store, BHLDN.

A great feature of the BHLDN website is that it offers more than just a shopping experience for brides. It includes free interactive experiences to help inspire you while planning your wedding, and provide another great way to procrastinate ;-) For example, I took a fun quiz called "What Kind of Bride Are You?" and discovered that I am a Romantic Nostalgic bride, which was a very accurate portrayal of my vintage Cape Cod wedding. The website also offers MoodBoards, aka inspiration boards, where you can view their products based on themes or color palettes, or even create your own board!

Disclaimer: I guarantee you will love everything BHLDN offers, but like it's sister store Anthropologie, products from here do not come cheap. Since one of my goals is to provide wedding inspiration for brides on a budget, I have scoured the site and chosen the best wedding attire and accessories for budget-minded brides.

Here are 2 boards featuring my favorite dresses, that are all an amazing steal at $1600 or less!

Finally, another great way to incorporate the romantic, unique, and vintage products BHLDN offers while not breaking the bank is to carefully choose more affordable accessories for your big day. Here are my top picks:

Images from center, then clockwise from top left: Choose a lovely silk hat/birdcage veil for a vintage vibe ($120); Love coasters provide a romantic touch ($14 for 10); Don polka dot gloves for a unique look ($40); Brighten up your fete with colorful straws ($6 a pack); Eat your cake with a pair of engraved love forks ($24 a pair); Serve treats on lovely pedestals ($68-$88); Statement earrings are great bridesmaid's gifts ($66); Accessorize your cocktail hour with love stirrers ($22 for 24); Use adorable mini teapots as escort card holders ($52 for 6); Glam a simple pair of shoes with colorful pom poms! ($25 per pair); Choose simple but sophisticated letterpress invites ($26 for 8); Chalkboard vases make unforgettable table numbers ($18); Faux flowers are a great way to save money without compromising on style ($32 for 5).

The Ultimate Prep: A Seersucker Wedding

Nothing says New England preppy like seersucker. This fabric is perfect for summer or beach weddings due to it's breathable, light cotton composition. While it's traditional color is blue, seersucker can now be found in an array of pastels, as well as neutrals such as khaki.

As soon as summer rolls around, I love pulling out my seersucker clothing and accessories, such as my vintage Kate Spade purse (also great for a bride on her wedding day!).

Seersucker would also be great as a wedding theme for brides looking to host a classic, preppy wedding. If you're fiance objects, just tell him that real men wear pastels, and he'll be thanking you when he's not wearing a traditional tux in 90 degree heat!

Finally, find some creative ways to incorporate seersucker into your wedding theme, such as customizing your wedding cake with stripes:

Cake by Cake Girls

A Pink Palette

Much to my dismay, I am almost out of my favorite perfume, Flowerbomb (which I of course wore on my wedding day). So I decided to turn my obsession with this pink perfume into an inspiration board for all you brides. This board combines a few of my favorite things (J.Crew, peonies, candy, and horses).

Happy weekend everyone!

Hair Inspiration: Floral Fabulous

Well, I promised to put up another post about using fresh flowers in your hair, and here it is.  I've included some of my favorite finds, though the bottom center picture of the first collage is my absolute favorite.  I love the beauty and elegance of natural white flowers, and am strongly considering using them to complete my wedding day look.  I also admire the brides of the second collage, who chose to add a colorful flower to their hair to create a bold, fun look. 

With my hair trial quickly approaching, I'm really excited about all of the possibilities for my wedding hairstyle, but also feeling overwhelmed at what look is more "me."  

What did you choose to adorn your hair on your wedding day, if anything? Do you prefer traditional, white flowers or would you go a more spunky pop of color?

DIY Project: Cameo Brooches

As a bride on a budget, I'm so excited to begin my DIY project series and share my first project with you!

Since my wedding is having a vintage vibe and I'm incorporating brooches (for example, I'm wearing one on my bracelet, to be featured in anther post), I knew I wanted to use one to jazz up my bouquet.  I really feel like it's the little details in a wedding that make it special, so I began scouring Etsy for affordable brooches ($10 was my maximum) that would fit with my Christmas winter wedding.  I initially found some lovely ones that were in the shapes of snowflakes and wreathes, and was strongly leaning towards one of them because I loved their combination of crystals and pearls, which I will also be wearing.

 

 

The above all fit within my budget, but then I also though it might be cool to search for pins of the letter G, as that will be the first initial of my married name.  I actually found one here and loved it, it was in immaculate condition, but over budget at $25 :-(

I was really tempted to blow the budget and just purchase the G brooch, but something inside me told me to keep looking, and I decided to change course and do a search for cameo brooches.  I've always admired cameos because they really take me back in time, as my grandmother loved them and always wore them.  I have fond memories of being a little girl and rifling through my nana's jewelry box and admiring all her lovely cameos.  

So when I came across a set of three cameos featuring mermaids, my heart literally skipped a beat. Not only did they cost a mere $1.50 for all three, but the mermaids on them are very sentimental for me.  My mom has made a tradition out of always including something with a mermaid in our Christmas stockings, and every year my sister and I look forward to her latest find.  I knew that this would be the perfect addition to my Christmas wedding, and loved the fact that I could purchase three, one for me and two for my bridesmaids, who include my sister and future sister-in-law, so we can continue our tradition.  And who knows, maybe mermaids will become a part of our family's wedding tradition too now!

I only purchased the cameo featured on the bottom, of the single mermaid, from Cathysjewels.  There was only one problem: these were not set in anything, and the vendor didn't have anything in which I could set them.  So after a lot more searching, I found a vendor who sells antique silver plated settings that fit the cameos.  The settings were only $2.75 each from Dangled, and here is a picture of them:

The great thing about these settings is that he sends you the pin backing to attach any way you'd like, which works well because my brooches are horizontal, and it was challenging to find a setting that was oriented correctly.  So basically all you have to do is superglue (or, the vendor recommends using E6000 glue, which you can buy here) the pin onto the brooch in the correct direction, and then attach the cameo to the front of it and walla! You have yourself a cheap, cute DIY cameo brooch!

I don't have a picture of my final project to show you yet (I promise to add some after my wedding), but here is a picture of a gorgeous bouquet with a cameo. I will not be adding a bow to the cameo, but it is really pretty and I'm sure it would be easy to do.

A Winter Bouquet

In my search for the perfect winter bouquet to compliment my white and silver color palette (also including touches of navy), I recently stumbled across a couple of examples that I adore.

This first picture is my absolute favorite. Including metallic pine cones in the mix is just brilliant. I've always loved peonies and know I want to include them in my bouquet, and I love how they are mixed here with ivory roses.  I was never sure about mixing ivory and white flowers before, but I have to say, this has assuaged by fears. Lastly, in case you're wondering what those little grey/silver balls are, they are called silver brunia, and I am now obsessed with them as well. Who would of thought that you could actually find silver flowers to include in your bouquet?

Another lovely winter bouquet below also features silver brunia.  I think the green is very pretty as well, and love the little pieces of crystal bling scattered throughout! It's not really my style, but I do think this would go well with a snowflake themed wedding.

For the Love of Peonies

Planning a destination wedding is a lot of work. Given that I live in Chicago and am getting married on Cape Cod, I haven't visited a florist yet to choose my flowers.  I'll be making my only trip home before the wedding to work out all these essentials at the end of the month, and one of my most important appointments will be with my florist.  This is because before getting engaged, I never gave much thought to flowers, other than to think they're pretty and they smell good.  I spoke to my florist over the phone, and she suggested I find pictures of bouquets that I like to bring to our appointment.  I took her advice, and ended up in a totally different direction that I had planned.  In fact, I always knew I liked peonies, but thought they were magnolias until looked them up on the Internet (I know, I'm terrible).  I love how full these flowers are, and my florist said that although they are more expensive than other flowers, that because of their size you do not need as many.  Alas, I'm really hoping a peony bouquet will fit into my budget.  I would like to combine them with hydrangeas, as in the bottom left picture, since hydrangeas are the native flower of the Cape.  I'll just have to find some way to make it work :-)

More Fall Inspiration

I adore fall.  Growing up in New England, fall was always such a magical time for me.  There was apple picking, pumpkin carving, and horseback rides through the crisp autumn air.  I always feel inspired when I'm able to return to New England in the fall and see the changing of the leaves.  I really love the vibrant rich colors of the leaves, and strongly believe the color palette of reds, oranges, and yellows would be a beautiful accent to any wedding.  Unfortunately, I think most brides tend to play it safe when they have a fall wedding and stick to brown as their main color.  While I love brown, I just think it would look so much better with a pop of bright color to accompany it.  Hopefully some of these inspiration boards will motivate all you fall brides out there to take a risk when choosing your wedding colors!

All photos courtesy of Style Me Pretty. 

Vendor I Heart: Dottie Lovely

There are so many great vendors out there that one of the hardest jobs for a bride-to-be is choosing the one that fits her needs.  For even the most savvy brides, it can still feel impossible to even know where to start.  My mother always told me that when feeling overwhelmed, it's best to just pick one small thing and begin.  If you try to focus on the big picture, you can easily get lost or misguided.  Her wisdom inspired me to do the same while planning my own wedding.  Hence the genesis of my Featured Vendor series.  I plan to bring you fresh, inspirational and affordable vendors, one at a time, to help you plan your big day!

I'm proud that my first post in this series is by a vendor that I chose to make my wedding cake. Dottie Lovely (The Cake Lady) is based in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.  Here's what I love about Ms. Lovely: first and foremost, her cakes are not only beautiful and unique, but taste absolutely delicious.  I think that it's easy for brides to get caught up in the aesthetic appeal of their cake, and forget that their guests have to eat and enjoy it! The second great thing about her is her affordability.  For no extra charge, Dottie will make each layer of the cake a different flavor, and decorations are included in the price. There are no hidden costs, unlike with many bakers! Additionally, she only charges a $10 delivery fee, while most vendors on Cape Cod charge $50.  Lastly, Ms. Lovely is the perfect name for her, she's the sweet grandmother every bride wishes she had!

Fall Inspiration

I live in the middle of the city, which offers many wonderful advantages, but one downside is that I don't normally get away often to appreciate the beauty of nature.  This weekend, however, I took a drive through the country to visit my fiance, who was out of town for work.  Along the way, I passed a pumpkin patch.  Other than reminding me of fond childhood memories of fall and Halloween, I was really struck by the beauty and richness of the orange pumpkins.  Orange has always been one of my least favorite colors, so I never considered using it for my own wedding colors (plus I'm getting married in the winter, so it would not really be appropriate).  But after feeling inspired by the beauty of this wonderful fall color, I decided to make an inspiration board with pumpkins as my theme.  Now that it's complete, I'm starting to feel jealous of fall brides!

Winter Decorations

Although I love flowers, I also like the idea of nontraditional wedding decorations and centerpieces, especially for winter or fall weddings. There's something about flowers that just feel too summery to me. If you're worried about wanting centerpieces that smell good without having traditional flowers, consider other options, such as cinnamon, lavender, and eucalyptus.

The other bonus is that everything featured here is DIY, and considerably cheaper than purchasing flowers, and, in my opinion, still look fantastic. I have found two great websites for DIY decorations: Nettleton Hollow, based in Brooklyn, and an online store called Save On Crafts. I'm obsessed with all of these great natural, winter wedding ideas, and know that branches will be the focal point of my centerpieces!

Clockwise from top: lavender, Texas tallow berry, mitsumata branches, silver leaves, sierra red manzanita wreathe, cinnamon.