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Well, I bet y’all can guess what comes next, even if you hadn’t read the title. We picked a theme, we decided on the “atmosphere,” so clearly there was only one more element to nail down before we set off buying things—colors!
As a pre-engaged lunatic girl, I had already considered colors for my one-day wedding. Mr. Potion and I had even discussed color palettes before getting engaged, and we’d settled on royal blue and clover green:
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Colors via Pantone
You may recall that my weird little brainstorming session included a portion on colors. If we’d gone with the colors we determined represented our personalities, our color palette might’ve looked something likes this:
So now that we had a theme for the wedding, it was time to start considering what the wedding would look like.
I drew an x-axis on a sheet of paper and marked the halfway point, labeled one end “formal” and one end “casual,” and asked Mr. Potion where along the spectrum he thought our wedding should fall.
When I was a little girl, I had always pictured your typical lavish ballroom wedding with a five-course plated dinner, lots of candles, a full orchestra, and white roses everywhere. I’ll spare you a rant on the Wedding Industrial Complex because there are plenty of other bloggers who have done so more eloquently than I ever could, but suffice it to say that I bought into it big time.
By the time I hit college, started dating Mr. Potion, and began daydreaming about what would one day be a REAL wedding in my pre-engaged state (oh yes, I was one of those girls), I realized the ballroom wedding reception seemed less and less practical or, well, fun. Perhaps it’s because I’d discovered Offbeat Bride and, of course, Weddingbee and was reading posts from REAL brides planning REAL weddings, but before Mr. Potion even popped the question I had started envisioning descriptions like “rustic” more so than “regal”—though princesses were (and are) still influencing my image of a bridal look. So by the time Mr. Potion and I sat down to start honest-to-goodness planning our real wedding, my mental marker for our wedding was placed just to the “formal” side of neutral on our formal-casual axis—it is a wedding, after all.
The more we talked about it, however, the more Mr. Potion and I realized our vision for our wedding day felt a little more casual than I’d originally thought. We pictured things like
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Photo by Lara Porzak / Event by Yifat Oren & Associates / Image via Martha Stewart Weddings
Let’s talk about shoes. Let me rephrase that: let’s talk about bridal shoes! There are so many options for a girl to choose from! Super-high bedazzled pumps, funky flats to match your bridesmaids’ dress color, or I’ve even seen some brides rock Toms. (I’m kind of digging this option because not only are you helping an amazing cause, but your feet are guaranteed to be comfortable all night!)
Image via Elizabeth Medina
When it came to me and my shoes, I knew I wanted color: A blue hue, to be exact! Like a lot of brides before me, I was seeing my shoes as my something blue. I wanted my shoes to be fun and playful. I go gaga over photos of brides hiking up their dresses to reveal some funky feet. I want images like that, too!
A few months after MOH Beanstalk chose her dress, I still wasn’t convinced that I had made the right decision. The color was throwing me off. Was it too dark? And I still wasn’t sure what my ladies would wear…long or short dresses? And then when it came to shoes, should we go with silver or gold?
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Bridal-party dress color
I knew I had to let my ladies know and soon, but I couldn’t make up my mind and didn’t want to say anything until I felt confident in my decision (which I was nowhere near close to making!). I also was worried about the price of the dresses…after all of the travel fees most of my bridesmaids would be paying, I didn’t want them to think that they were too expensive. Mr. Beanstalk assured me that no one would care about the price because they all really wanted to be there to help make our day special. I love how he is able to say the right thing to make me feel better! After our little talk, I was feeling more myself and began to make decisions. I started to lean toward long dresses and gold sandals. I let the thought marinate for a few days, and then shortly thereafter I was convinced that was the way to go and decided it was time to finally tell my ladies!
Featured on Weddingbee
Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
Back in December, I contemplated ordering linens that were a close match to my bridesmaids’ dresses. Our venue’s beautiful reception space was a wonderful but fairly neutral slate. I’m not a fan of overly colorful lighting schemes, so the linens seemed like a natural place to bring in that pretty blue.
A Craigslist seller led me to the company that had linens that were almost a perfect match for J.Crew’s Matisse Blue dresses. I ordered a swatch to be sure and was pretty excited when it came. The napkins had to be ordered in increments of 12, so I wound up with more than I thought I would need.
Photo by Miss Mink
Just a few weeks ago, I started thinking about the rustic tables that our venue, Pippin Hill, has for use around the space. They don’t exactly fit with my vision for the space. I met our DOC, Amanda Gray, at the venue to talk about the placement of those tables and decide on how they’d be draped.
We decided to drape five of the tall, bar-height tables that are on the patio where our cocktail hour will be held. We also decided to put one large, rectangular table on the patio for my escort-card board, guestbook poster, and card box. Those items would be moved inside to another draped table during the reception. We also decided to drape the cake table at the far end of the space, under a huge mirror.
I quickly placed an order with TableLinensforLess.com for the linens we’d need. They arrived in just a few days, and I laid them out on my sofa to take a look at them.
When I first got engaged I knew one thing for sure: I wanted a hot pink and citrus orange affair, complete with parasols and paper lanterns. (It completely went with our tropical-island destination wedding, don’t you think?) However, nobody liked my idea, which I thought was brilliant. Mr. Beanstalk thought my choice of colors was far too bright for a wedding (and not manly enough, either, which I can see now). My bridesmaids were less than thrilled with the prospect of donning bright orange dresses accented with bouquets of pink flowers.
Just add some paper lanterns and this could have been our wedding! / Image via Groom Sold Separately (photo credits at source)
Before you all go and think I’m completely crazy for my rather “in your face” color scheme, you must understand something: I’m a girl who LOVES color! The brighter the better, in my opinion. Lime green is my favorite color. Mr. Beanstalk loves green as well, but he favors a slightly darker shade. When it came to the wedding, we very easily could have stuck with greens and called it a day, but green just didn’t scream “autumn” to me. (Rather, it giggled “springtime!”) So a green wedding was out.
I think my color combo arose because I’m a total girly girl and adore all things pretty, sparkly, and, of course, covered in ruffles. I love the color pink! I also really enjoy a burst of orange because it’s such a happy color. Since we nixed the green, I took my next two favorite colors and really thought I had a winning combination.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
I adore the autumn season! It’s second only to summer. (What can I say, my birthday is in July and I do hail from Miami, so warm summer weather is a love of mine—and something I hardly experience living in New England!) With that said, autumn is my second favorite season! I truly am obsessed with all things fall-esque: pumpkin-spiced coffee, apple-picking, corn mazes, pumpkin pasta, candy corn, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (the list goes on and on).
Can you tell my feelings for pumpkins run pretty deep? I just can’t get enough of them. I think my fascination with the little orange fruit (yes, pumpkins are actually fruits even though they appear to be vegetables) stems from my love of fairy tales. Since I can remember I have always enjoyed stories about princesses, monsters, evil witches, and knights in shining armor. Why? Good usually conquers evil in those tales, and also they teach us that anything is possible! What a great message! Pumpkins remind me so much of the tales of wonder that I read growing up. Most of the stories had pumpkins in them, and therefore I now (and forever will) associate pumpkins with all things magical!
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Personal photo
During my search for the perfect wedding location I started to really define our wedding theme. Kind of backward, I know. One would think a bride would pick her ideal location and then cater her theme accordingly. Not me, though. I got really into wedding blogs at this time (and started buying countless wedding magazines)! Oh, and it was around the same time that I discovered Pinterest!
I guess you can say it was also during this time that I found myself (and my “wedding vision”). I was drawn to the effortlessly beautiful garden ceremonies that evoke feelings of a playful romance. Big trees with hanging lanterns and miles of colorful ribbons blowing in the breeze. Bunting, baked goodies, and burlap runners. Mismatched table settings, and of course the ever popular blue Mason jars! I wanted all of that (and more)! As I mentioned before, I have always adored fairy tales and the idea that anything is possible with your imagination. I wanted a wedding that was just that…a fairy tale! But not your traditional fairy-tale wedding with all of the grandeur and formal elegance. I wanted our wedding in a garden setting so I could create a very whimsical atmosphere for our guests.
Today’s guest blogger is Kellee is the founder of the wedding inspiration search engine, Lover.ly. Immersed in wedding colors all day, every day, she’s here to share her favorite spring color wedding trend with us!
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Spring is my favorite time of year because of all the yummy colors. This season we’ve seen a trend of vibrant colors inspired by citrus fruits. Bold colors are a fun way to express emotion—the excitement, joy, and happiness of your big celebration! The Lover.ly team has seen a plethora of these yummy colors throughout different portions of the day, like a lemon yellow ceremony, a grapefruit cocktail hour, or a tangerine reception!
Feast your eyes on these delicious, sweet, and fun wedding colors! See something you like? Head on over to Lover.ly to love or bundle (save) your favorites! We just launched a super fun color bar that allows you to search our archive of over 100,000 images by color—head over and search your favorite color!
LEMON LOVE - YELLOW
When it came to choosing colors for our wedding I knew exactly what I wanted: white! Don’t get me wrong, I love color, but there is something about white that just makes me smile. And who wouldn’t swoon over pictures like these?
Photo from Style Me Pretty / Aaron Delesie Photography
One of the most common questions people ask me about the wedding is, “What are your colors?” I feel like a bad bride-to-be because I don’t have a very straight-forward answer to that question. The other day, I told a potential vendor that our colors are Everything Look Nice.
Why is it that conventional wisdom/The Wedding Industry says you can only pick one or two colors? Why does everything have to be matchy-matchy? There are already enough aspects of our wedding that have the potential to stress me out. I don’t need to also worry about making sure the bridesmaids’ dresses match the tablecloths match the invitations match the icing on the cake.
The other reason I don’t want to pick wedding colors is because I don’t want to detract from the beautiful spaces we’ve booked for our wedding.
Instead of traditional “wedding colors,” we’re going with a color palette made up of different neutral and metallic colors.
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| Top row: Photo by Max Wagner Photography / Event by Beth Helmstetter Events; Photo by Matt Edge Wedding Photography; Photo by Cunningham Photo Artists; Photo by Our Labor of Love / Event by My Bride Story Wedding and Events, Second Row: Photo by Q Weddings / Event by The Weekend Warriors, Photo by Corbin Gurkin / Event by Loluma, Photo by David Wittig Photography, Event by LOLA Event Productions, Third Row: Photo by Shannon Sano Photography, Photo by Jose Villa / Event by Beth Helmstetter Events, Photo by Aruna B. Photography / Event by Dooby Design, Bottom Row: Photo by Charlotte Jenks Lewis Photography, Photo by The Nichols / Event by Rosehip Flora, Photo by Christian Oth Studio |
This past weekend was my bridal shower. If you haven’t guessed yet, the theme was Breakfast At Tiffany’s. As Holly Golightly said it herself, “I’m just crazy about Tiffany’s.” Like many girls out there, it is one of my favorite movies. It also makes for a super fun and girly theme.
Before I move on to the main bulk of the shower, I have to share with you all the beautiful details. My mom and sister put on quite the extraordinary display. My bridesmaids were also there helping along the entire time. Apparently at one point they held a secret meeting to finalize details of the shower. I am like a super bionic bride; if there is anything wedding related going on, I typically find out about it. I am still trying to figure out how they managed to sneak that one past me.
The moment you walked into the room, there was a beautiful table set up to greet people. The table was scattered with mini diamonds and pearls. The corners were graced by Tiffany colored chocolate balls.
When an acquaintance hears about our engagement, there are a few typical reactions. Other than exclaiming “finally!”, people ask when we are getting married, to see my ring, and what our colors are. For a while, the only answer I had with any certainty was a wave of my left hand. Colors had to be chosen, though—they need to be considered in regard to lots of other wedding decisions, so they were a priority. And I had a rainbow of options—duh! I was more than a little all over the place—here were some of the considerations.
With an autumn wedding, fall colors—of course—came to mind. I like bright colors, so I was leaning toward orange, or maybe poppy red. But we are marrying in October for convenience, not some special affinity for the season, so this color scheme felt a little inauthentic for us personally.
image via Style Me Pretty / Photo: Genevieve Leiper Photography / Florals: Holly Heider Chapple
Yellow’s been my favorite color for most of my life, and D likes it too. (When we first started dating, he drove a very loud, very fast, very yellow sports car—I loved everything about it). I like the way the navy tempers the yellow, and the crisp, vaguely nautical vibe. I love simple patterns, so was thinking along the lines of navy and white stripes, pops of yellow…classy and clean.
I keep hearing how Pantone’s color for 2012 is Tangerine Tango and, I have to say, I love their decision. I feel like I am so ahead of the game having already chosen to have an orange wedding in 2012. Tangerine Tango is actually a tad more red than my ideal shade of orange, but it’s still orange! It makes me happy because the next time someone asks, “What’s your wedding color?” And I say “orange,” and then they look at me like I’m crazy I can say, “Oh, didn’t you know? It’s Pantone’s chosen color for 2012. It’s very ‘in’ right now.” Of course I would be having an orange wedding no matter what they chose as their color for 2012. But it makes me happy that orange is “in”!
Image via styleathome.com
Like I said, it’s a little more red than I like, but it seems to be a color that is up to interpretation…I’ve seen a lot of different inspiration boards in honor of the Pantone color of the year, and most of them are more in the tangerine color family. I definitely like a more burnt orange color myself. Well, either way, in honor of Tangerine Tango, here are our ideas for incorporating the color into our big day!
Welcome to my backward world, where I make an inspiration board after deciding on a lot of things already. It’s far easier to make a collage of pretty pictures when you know for sure that some of them will actually be close to the real thing!
I know most brides make these mini-galleries so they have something to refer to when making plans but, honestly, all of the little details kind of overwhelm me so I had to have an idea of what our vision was before I put it all together. I guess, in that sense, this board isn’t serving to remind me what I want; rather, it’s serving to show me that it all actually makes sense together.
Tent - Image from Style Me Pretty / Photo by Jose Villa | Photos - Image from Southern Weddings / Photo by Divine Light Wedding Photography | Straws - Sold by ThePartyFairy on ArtFire | Cake - Image from and photo by The Faux Martha | Jars - Image from Style Me Pretty / Photo by Lg Weddings | Men - Image from Style Me Pretty / Photo by Gina Leigh Photography | Initial - Image from Style Me Pretty / Photo by Christina Carroll Photography | Trees - Image from Ruffled / Photo by Steven Michael | Moccasins - Image from and photo by Jessica Zais | Ladies - Image from Bridal Musings / Photo by Ben Blood | Flowers - Image from and photo by Rachel Olsen Photography | Ceremony - Image from Style Me Pretty / Photo by First Comes Love Photo | Bunting - Image from Style Me Pretty / Photo by Karri North | First three swatches made in Photoshop | Gold & silver swatches - Images from DQT
Somewhere in my adult years, I turned into a Planner with a capital P. Gone was the girl who would hop on buses, trains, and sometimes planes on a whim, replaced by someone who needed details sorted now. I have no idea how or why that transition happened, but it makes for a whole lot of to-do lists and Sharpie’d up calendars!
The first thing I wanted to do in regard to wedding planning was set a date. Mr. Dragon, on the other hand, wanted to chill for a bit and bask in our engaged-ness. Our compromise, as silly as it sounds, was to set a date for setting a date. I asked Mr. Dragon when he’d be comfortable with making big wedding decisions, he gave me a rough timeline, and every once in a while I’d remind him of our upcoming meeting (with his blessing, of course).
When Wedding Meeting Day rolled around, choosing the date turned out to be a remarkably easy feat. We had already discussed wanting an outdoor wedding and were thinking about spring or summer, until Mr. Dragon broached the idea of a fall wedding.
Personal photos / Fall colours around my childhood home
We both love fall colours, and we don’t get that many up here—I joke that our seasons are “snow” and “bugs.”
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