Awww cute

I found these adorable wedding cupcakes and just had to share them really quick. They are from my absolute favorite bakery in the entire world: Le Gateau in Dallas, Texas. I don't know what these people put in their cake batter but it's magical, and definitely addicting. True story: I once brought their white chocolate cake with lemon filling and butter cream frosting as a carry-on item on a flight from Dallas to San Diego. I was looking at colleges in the Dallas area and just had to bring back a cake for my girlfriends. Four of us demolished the 10-serving cake in 45 minutes.

DIY Save-the-date

Elle and Mr. Elle have secured a date for their wedding! YAY!

Aaaaaaaand their reward is sifting through thousands of different (sometimes cheesy) save-the-date templates and trying to find something original to send out to their family and friends. Congrats, you guys!

Anyway, I found these DIY ideas while scouring the internet today, and I think they're cute and fun and, most importantly, different and creative. Oh, and cheap!

The first idea I came across was to make your own calendar page using a word-processing program (or printing out a template from marthastewartweddings.com...), which you then fold up, stamp, and send to your guests.


Circle your date, fold it up, slap a sticker on there to close it and BAM. DONE. You could play around with colors and fonts and really make it interesting.

I also found the image below on marthastewartweddings.com and I think all three of the ideas are pretty adorable for a destination wedding. The ones with the little maps on the front and the postcard with the state might not be completely DIY, but they're fun for a destination wedding and I think would get guests excited about traveling.



The paper airplane is my favorite (in a blue air-mail envelope, of course), and they used a custom-made rubber stamp to put the details on the back. I particularly like all of the postcard save-the-dates that I've seen because they save you the trouble of having to stuff envelopes AND they save paper. Super.

This last idea was found on elizabethannedesigns and is far and away my favorite












You can order postcards online (I found ones on zazzle and cafepress that were city specific) and then use a custom rubber stamp (check Simon's Rubber Stamps) to stamp the details on the back.

bisous,
Ali

I have a problem.

I have a disease, and the only cure is more inspiration boards.

I spent a nice chunk of the afternoon last Thursday browsing wedding sites, looking at things for Elle's wedding. And that slowly but surely devolved into looking at things for my own, completely imaginary wedding. After half an hour debating the subtle differences between Air Force Blue and Marine Blue (PotentialHusband wants to be a pilot but is not definite on which service), and hoping Navy White never has to enter the equation I realized just how crazy I am and gave it a rest.

For about an hour. Then I started talking to my bestie J (who happens to live in the same city as Elle, btw) about what she wanted for HER completely imaginary wedding and we had such lovely ideas I had to do something about them. So below is an inspiration board dedicated to her. Things we know for sure about her wedding:

It will definitely be outdoors, most likely in the summer, and pink will for sure be a color. She is a pink, summer, outdoor bride through and through.

It will probably also be more on the formal side, but also fun. I'm calling it lighthearted formal. I'm thinking evening ceremony, cocktail hour on some beautiful lawn (perhaps with badminton and croquet?), and then into the tent for a candle and lantern lit dinner at sunset. With dancing under the stars. And lots of champagne.

Details Details Details

Ali here!

I've been slacking in the blog department but I had some down time last night and of course I started browsing wedding sites and ... well, you can see where that led below (beeteedub if you click on the image it should open larger in a separate window).

In case you can't tell the more I look at that JCrew dress the more I fall in love with it. It also comes in a halter style, and I'm putting in a call to their wedding specialist to see if more silhouettes are on the horizon. The earrings are from Anthropologie. I found the shoes at Nordstrom and think they might be a good choice for Elle because they're a fun non-white option but the pink isn't TOO obvious. Oh, and they're faux snakeskin! So appropriate for a Southwest wedding and a fun touch under that virgin-white gown.

I was checking out the InStyle wedding site and found some interesting alternatives to the traditional guest book, including the one pictured above. Here multicolored cards and envelopes are set out and guests are encouraged to write notes to the couple and leave them in the bowl, making for a very pretty centerpiece. I love this idea because people can take the cards back to their tables and take their time writing a note instead of queing up for the guest book. Also, because they can seal the envelope people might be more likely to get sentimental (or silly).

Pink And Green

Here's a pink and green inspiration board I worked up yesterday... The color combo is so playful and fun. I usually associate this palette with a spring or summer wedding, but I think it would look gorgeous on a sunny AZ or SoCal day.

I totally fell in love with the idea of doing a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and pink and green fondant polka dots. Wouldn't that be so cute? I also think getting a gallon or two of old school peppermint ice cream (the really pink kind, with the peppermint bits in it) would be fun for DIY ice cream cones at the wedding. With sprinkles, of course. We could keep the gallons on ice in big ol' green beach buckets.

Damn, I've got too many ideas for my own good. My poor boyfriend. I've officially become a wedding-addict.

Pink And Brown

Et voilà, my cherry blossom inspiration board.

I know a few couples who are getting married and every time I ask them about their wedding colors I get an answer like "teal and brown" or "green and pink." Which is nice, but a couple of these brides seem to be so locked into their color choices that they are positively incapable of selecting anything that isn't their exact shade of blue or orange or whatever. I like the idea of picking a palette of three or four colors and working with different shades within each color, and I really love the look of chocolate brown and champagne with different shades of pink.

I'm crazy about the bridesmaid dress from JCrew in the lower left corner. IT HAS POCKETS. Also, it comes in chocolate brown, but it's mainly the pockets that are a selling point for me since I know I'm going to lose whatever clutch I bring within the first five minutes of the reception.

bisous,
Ali

Traditional Fall Colors = Death

Ali here!

When Elle first floated the idea of having her wedding to Mr.Blue take place around Thanksgiving I thought it was a brilliant beyond brilliant idea... Friends and family would have less trouble getting time off work, it's a time of year already devoted to being thankful for the love in your life, and the weather in Southern California is GORGEOUS in November.

Then I started looking at storyboards and articles about Thanksgiving weddings... Gourds as decoration? "Rustic" details? A woodland themed cake?

Are you kidding me with this, Martha Stewart?

Clearly none of this is going to fly for our Miss Elle. My current obsession is finding non-sucky (yes, that is a technical term) Thanksgiving weekend wedding details, and so far the things I love most have rich, textured details. Like the bouquet from marthastweartweddings.com below





Calla lilies, sweet pea, and cockscomb in shades of pink. Boo-yeah. Love the color and fullness of the bouquet, and the texture of the velvet ribbon is such a nice detail. Very Fall-ish.











Another marthastewartweddings.com find: Elle has been thinking about making pink a wedding color, and I'm liking the pink and gold tones of this table setting. I think it would need a little more "oomph" for her wedding, starting with more fullness and deeper colors in the flower arrangements, but it is oh-so-pretty. And magically gourd free.









The last thing I found on Martha Stewart Weddings today was these centerpieces, which I think would look great on smaller reception tables. I LOVE that they used latte bowls to create these. I especially like the look of stacking the bowls, with one upside-down on the table and the other stacked on top of it full of flowers. You can get these at a dozen different places for cheap and they come in so many different colors. Definitely a good option for the budget-conscious bride. Honestly this looks like something we could do ourselves... flower-arranging lessons anyone?





bisous,
Ali