Vote for the Us as "The Knot's Real Wedding of 2007"

Looks like I'm a little late in sending in my entry for The Knot Real Wedding Awards, but the lure of a free trip --not to mention a safari  (um, hello, fabulous,right?) I have my heart set on winning.

To hopefully steer those odds in my favor, I've enlisted my little secret weapon, aka, sister-in-law, aka  Miss Cupcake of WeddingBee. S-I-L Cupcake has been wanted to feature our wedding for some time now
and we figured this was a perfect opportunity to get two birds killed with one stone. An avid fan of WeddingBee during my entire planning process, the fact that my big day pix are being featured for the "to be" community is almost a dream come true for me!

Miss Cupcake herself is getting hitched this September and was so instrumental in my big day-as both a bridesmaid and great friend. Now with her wedding day approaching, I only hope I can finally repay the favor.

Books to keep you sane while planning your wedding

Finally as a newlywed, I have some gals that I owe an extra special thank you to whom I own my sanity and grace during my year of wedding planning. Two books below kept me sane and sincere during the most
stressful time in my life and the authors deserve all the credit.

Tied in Knots: Funny Stories from the Wedding Day
(edited by Lisa Taggart and Samatha Schoech)

A chock-full book of 2o warm stories of brides, wedding day follies and disasters that made me cry and laugh at loud. I reread this book twice - knowing that I have followed women in similar predicaments and successfully managed not to scare off my groom and feel composed of the utmost grace for my own wedding day, I have these 20 ladies to share the spotlight among.

A More Perfect Union: How I Survived the Happiest Day of My Life
(by Hana Schank)

Totally my alter-ego on more than one occasion, I reveled in the witty humor and raw attitude Hana had towards the entire wedding industry. I have to admit that during the planning stages, I learned so many things - how to successfully negotiate (

ugh, those vendors drove me mad), speak my mind (without loosing it) and keep true to the big idea of marriage and what a wedding is really all about.

This book really hammered it all home and by the end, I realized that no matter what could, would or would not happen quite the way my fiance and I had planed, we had a superb attitiude through the entire process. We were honored to share a once in a lifetime memory with all our family and friends gathered by our side -- we literally had the most fun day of our lives -- we didn't loose sight that the wedding was representative of who we are (our creativity, spirit and fun) and we didn't let the industry turn our day into a mangled-mess of tuele and rhinestones.

Thanks ladies. I owe you one.

Moroccan Spice

Making dinner tonight...my husband and I are on the ultimate curry kick and I thought it wise to share some interesting visuals for a Moroccan style shindig. Since I'm a lover of envelope liners, you could use a graphic and eye catching pattern to kick off your theme.

Tables covered in sari fabric and bright turquoise, red, green and curry would make lovely accent colors to cover the room in. Think how amazing it would be to recreate these spice towers along your buffet - easily done by gluing colored sand to styrofoam cones.

Organic and vibrant, this bright and fresh feel would truly make this an affair to remember, no?

The Perfect Pair

It feels just about right to start at the beginning and introduce ourselves, but having read blogs for a few years now, it looks like many of you just want some awesome eye candy to feast on.

So here goes....My mother-in-law recently got married to a gem of a guy and had a little last minute project request. It was a small affair, but nonetheless, they were so happy and excited to share their big day with friends and family and I received an email just a few days before the wedding that read:

subject: wouldn't it be cute...?

uh-oh, I have bridezilla madness! I saw this cute favor 3 weeks ago, and its been marinating in my brain! I'm sure you've seen it, "the perfect pair/pear" favors, candles, soaps, etc.!
if I get a bushel of fresh pears, can you type up "Fran and George - the perfect pair" repeated 44 times (!) so I can cut them in strips and use a pearl tip straight pin to stick each saying in a pear ? oh my god, I sound so silly! but I loved the pear candle favors I saw online...
---------------------------------------------------------
my response: totally. count on me for it.

I ended up cutting two leaf shapes from my color printer with "Fran & George, the perfect pair". The second leaf had their wedding date on it, both were mounted to green color paper and cut into a large and small size. We found pearl head pins at Jo-Ann Fabrics and the pears at the local supermarket.

I loved that it was a last minute project - some of the best ideas are those last few detail items that hit us
just hours before the event, and truly make the day unique.

 

Images by Alison Conklin Photography

Let's Decorate: Pillows

We recently bought a new couch and chair to match, courtesey of Room & Board who was the only retailer that could offer a:

1. speedy delivery and
2. provide the exact fabric/color we were aiming for. (It seems as if a major upholstry supplier recently underwent some major storm, wiping out about 60% of Crate + Barrel's, Pottery Barn, etc's fabric supply.
   

We were forced to run from Crate + Barrel (our first choice was the Petrie in a smoky charcoal) with our $$ in hand, and were overjoyed to find R&B had a great alternative, the Lenox. The price was a huge selling point (we had some cash left over and treated ourselves to a matching chair and coffee table.) Long story short, I'm on the hunt for the perfect throw pillows. I have my heart set on some needlepoint. 

All shown from: Village House except Brooklyn pillow, from Cat Studio.