Something Blue

 

Photo courtesy of Kelly is Nice

This kicks off our SHE’s Trendy blog series (no pun intended J)!  Starting in October, on the 3^rd Friday of every month, yours truly will be blogging about a current wedding trend.  We’ll post pictures, explain its origin, who’s doing it, who’s not, why it’s on our radar, etc.  If there is a trend that you love and plan to incorporate it into your wedding, shoot us an email at info@stellaharperevents.com , let us know what it is and we’ll feature it in one of our posts.  Alright, now to the shoes…

Years ago a bride’s shoes were just meant to coordinate with her dress.  To somewhat blend in, going unnoticed.  Things have changed dramatically!  More and more brides are choosing to wear a shoe that coordinates with their bridesmaid’s dresses, color scheme or what we’ll be focusing on in this blog, their “something blue.”  We love this trend!  Whether you’re wearing a blue shoe or blue embellishments on your shoes, it’s something that stands out, that gives a fresh twist to a long standing tradition and we think it’s just fabulous!  

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something BLUE.  Have you ever wondered how this tradition began?  These good luck charms originated from an Old English rhyme ("Something Olde, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, A Sixpence in your Shoe").  Traditionally, a bride will add these four items to her bridal attire or carry them during the wedding.  Something blue represents love, purity, and fidelity.  Most brides mothers followed this tradition and their mothers before them, but just because we’ve been doing it for hundreds of years doesn’t mean we can’t add a little twist to the tradition! 

Here are some pictures taken by Kelly Lewis of Kelly is Nice photography.  She’s AMAZING and so are these pictures!  They totally capture this trend!

 

For more information on Kelly, visit her website at www.kellyisnice.com (and check back for her Vendor Spotlight on our blog in November!)

Coral and Turquoise

So what is the first thing you come up with when planning your wedding? After all of the years of dreaming and scheming, flipping through magazines, and cutting out pictures? The color scheme! But do you ever get stuck after that point trying to find unique and beautiful concepts for your wedding to fit in with that color scheme? Well, we are here to help you find those unique and beautiful concepts! Just like the DIY blog posts, we are going to be posting new ideas every two weeks specifically by color scheme. Let us know if you are having trouble with your color scheme or if you're just looking for new ideas.

For this post we are going to work on the popular color scheme of coral and turquoise. These two bright colors really compliment each other, and there are so many things out there that incorporate them together. Something casual or on the beach comes to mind when thinking about these colors, so the ideas and suggestions below are focused for that type of wedding. Check out the links at the bottom to find these items for sale.


IDEAS:

The wedding invitation really sets the mood and idea for a wedding. It's the first thing a guest sees, and they can pull hints as to what type of atmosphere to expect at the wedding by looking at it. The invitation below gives the feeling of a casual beach wedding. It is also a great use of the coral (color and literal sea object) and turquoise.

Once your guests have an idea of the theme and color scheme of your wedding, it is time to choose the little details that bring the whole event together.

The first thing guests will see are of the ceremony decorations. For a beach wedding it is nice to keep things simple. The simpler, the cleaner. Some people choose not to set up chairs and just let the guests stand to watch the ceremony. If you do choose to have chairs, either line the aisles with something simple like flower petals, or just add some color on the arch.

The next thing the guests see will be the bridal party. Here is a great dress from JCrew that would be fabulous on the beach, and comes in a gorgeous turquoise color. This color is currently on sale for $139.99, so your girls will love you!

Pair it will this great necklace from Etsy and they will look stunning! How cute are the cupcake color holders; it's a great alternative to trying to make the frosting bright colors (if the frosting was turquoise you'd have a lot of guests with blue mouths!)

To make the groomsmen look just as great as the bridesmaids, get them a tie that brings in both colors, like the tie below. The pattern on this tie keeps the groomsmen from being outshown by the bridesmaids jewelry/dress combination. White chairs help not to distract from the real color scheme of turquoise and coral.

And of course the most important look of the wedding day is the bride. Although the beach is a casual place to be, you can still stun your guests with a gorgeous dress. Going with a fabric like chiffon moves well with a breeze that may come in near the water. To tie in the color from your bridesmaids dresses, go with a great pair of turquoise shoes like the ones below. Adding a punch of color with the shoes can make your outfit more fun! Turquoise shoes can also be your something blue!

For the bridal bouquet, go with a combination of white and orange/coral flowers to balance out all of the blue from the dresses and shoes. Using some orange and white roses mixed with different shades of orange calla lillies gives the bouquet a light look, but also very beautiful. Using an orange calla lily for the guys' boutonnieres will match the ties as well as the bridal bouquet. The addition of the curly accent on the photo below gives the flower a little more life. Small details like this really add a lot to an overall look.

After the ceremony, the guests want to have fun, especially at the beach! By making the centerpieces bright and fun like the ones below, the guests are ready to have a good time. Try finding some tropical flowers and a blue punch of color in the table linens to give off this feel.

You can also add small touches for different parts of the reception to make it unique and fun for your guests. For example, to do something different for your guestbook, make a wish tree. Provide your guests with cards asking them to write a wish for you and your groom. Have a tree with empty limbs on the table to hang them from. This also gives your reception a sentimental decoration. After the wedding you can put the wishes in a scrapbook and read them whenever you want! You can even make your own wish cards.

Doesn't turquoise just scream beach! It's such a fun and bright color and can be paired with so many different things! I love how this bride incorporated the starfish on everything even her toasting glasses!

Check back in two weeks for some more ideas for another fabulous color scheme!
If you love coral but want to more romantic color scheme check out our Gold and Coral Post! Or if you love a bright color but turquoise isn't doing it for you check out the Navy and Pink post!


~ Erin


References:
Wedding Invitation
Bridesmaid Dress
Bridesmaid Necklace
Groom's Tie
Wedding Dress
Bridal Shoes
Guestbook

Chairs Turquoise Details

Table Name Cards and Flowers

Coral and Turquoise Wedding

Turquoise Wedding

SHE's Trendy: A Not Too Fall, Fall Wedding

My friend Ashley is getting married next fall and asked for some ideas on how to incorporate fall, without being TOO MUCH fall.  I think when people think of fall weddings they think they have to use pumpkins and leaves.  While pumpkins and leaves can be so great, (I am definitely a fan) they can also be overdone.  So for Ashley, I have come up with some ideas to incorporate fall without the typical fall staples.

The first thing Ashley mentioned was that she wanted to use some pink.  I think pink in the fall is gorgeous, but you have to use the right pink.  Pink with tans and golds work better in the fall than say, a hot pink.  So to go along with this pink, gold, tan color scheme, I came up with some great fall ideas. 

 These flowers kind of jump started my ideas.  I love this overall look and it’s a great pink color. 

I also found some custom ribbon that reads “I LOVE YOU”, that is an ivory color that the bouquets would be gorgeous wrapped in.  It’s one of those great details that the photographer should know about in advance to capture on camera.  Such a special detail that looks great far away, and it is so unique up close.

To match these flowers, I would use a few different centerpieces.  My ideas incorporate the tans and golds using straw and wood/beige candles.  For the straw centerpieces, you could wrap the straw in a pink colored ribbon to incorporate that color.  The other centerpiece has a wooden base.  I like using wood accents, but I would stay away from too many wood pieces if you’re trying not to be too “fall”.  If you ARE looking for fall, I LOVE all the things you can do with wood accents.

 

This cake is such a great idea to tie in the straw from the centerpieces, and still give it a classic look.

I think for the bridesmaid dresses, a long flowingdress would be great for the fall.  It will cover up their legs so they don’t get too cold, and the dress I found fits perfectly for what I had in mind.  It comes in many different colors for fall- ivory, mocha, cappuccino, dusty rose, blossom, and coral were my favorite.  Check out the website to see what color would go best in your mind.

I also think you make a wedding unique with the small details.  The first one I found incorporates the wood touch, and I think it would work great for back of the getaway car, or if it’s an outdoor wedding it can be hung on a wall as a decoration.  Also great for photos.

Another thing I love for wedding receptions are signature cocktails.  I found this ginger, apple, bourbon drink that is perfect for fall!  I love the little apple garnish.  Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks! 

As a favor, I love the idea of hot chocolate or s’mores in a jar!  You can make these yourself, or you can buy them on places on Etsy.

I also found this great guestbook that is similar to the tree with fingerprints that was featured in the last Style Blog, but also different!  This print is already made for you, and your guests sign inside the leaves.  I love this print and you can customize the colors to match your wedding or your home décor!

My last little touch is for the bride (just for you, Ashley).  This touch allows you to purchase more plain shoes, and make them amazing!  This Etsy shop sells clip on flowers, in any color you want, to add to your shoes!  In my opinion it’s genius!

I love fall weddings, and I think these ideas show you that you CAN do fall without pumpkins and leaves.  Good luck planning!

Ribbon

Bridesmaids Dresses

Wood Banner

Cocktail

Favors

Guestbook

Shoes

DIY Lace Votives

My DIY craft this week is super easy.  It look me about 10 minutes to make, and I love the way it turned out!  This is another craft I think you can use for your wedding, but also use at home for decoration!  It’s a lace covered votive candle!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Votive Candle Holder

Lace/Lace Ribbon

Scissors

Thread (the same color as your lace)

Needle

DIRECTIONS:

1)      When I was purchasing the lace for this project, I went to the ribbon section of the craft store and found this ”ribbon” of lace.  It was perfect for this project because it already had the scallop at the top, and a band at the bottom.  The first step is to wrap the ribbon around the votive and cut where the pieces meet.

2)      Take the thread and sew the ends together.  It’s a little delicate because it is lace, but I just thread through the little holes in the lace.

3)      Drop the votive into the lace cylinder that you just created. and it’s ready for your centerpiece!

It’s as simple as that!  I think it adds a nice touch to the standard votive candles that you see at weddings.  Good luck!  I think anyone can do this one!

SHE wins Best of Gwinnett 2011

We just got the call- Stella Harper Events won the Wildcard for Best of Gwinnett 2011! This is such an honor and we couldn't be more thrilled that we won.  Thanks to all of our former and current clients, family and friends, and our preferred vendors for voting for SHE!  We couldn't be more thrilled! 

Check Best of Gwinnett's website next week for a complete list of the 2011 Winners!

Green and White

This week’s blog is going to be all about green and white!  I put it to the public of Facebook for color combos they’d like to hear about, and I had a friend from high school ask for some suggestions for her wedding next year (don’t worry,I’ll get to the rest of them shortly). I LOVE this natural feel and the idea of her summer outdoorsy wedding.  Amanda, I hope these ideas help!

I absolutely love the color green, so this one was fun for me.  There are so many great ideas for outdoors, and I think the natural colors just add the perfect touch.  The first thing that came to my mind was the bouquet.  To keep it simple, I wouldn’t suggest doing too much of an actual green flower- just a lot of white flowers with greenery.  I love this bouquet.  Gorgeous and soft.  If you’re not a rose person (some people aren’t), I suggest white peonies instead.  They’re another soft flower that would be pretty with this type of greenery.       

Before I get to the boutonnieres, these flowers and the outdoor feel made me think about the bridesmaid dresses.  I think this wedding/theme would be perfect to have each bridesmaid wear a different shade of green.  Some brides have the girls wear the same dress in different shades of green, but a lot of times they’ll just have them each wear a different dress in a different shade of green.  I think this would be so stunning in an outdoor setting with natural flowers and greenery such as in the bouquet above.  Before you scratch your head thinking this might look strange, check out an example:

Ah, I’m in love.

So for the guys, I think it would be cool to keep them in matching suits, but have them each have a slightly different boutonniere.  See?  Won’t it look great with the miss-matching bridesmaids?

Continuing to envision this perfect wedding in my head, I am imagining a wedding ceremony with a giant tree in the background (maybe even a tire swing in the tree!) on a beautiful summer day.  I found these invitations that I think are perfect for this wedding.  They show the different shades of green and give the airy outdoor feel.  

When the guests arrive to the wedding, help them navigate their way to the ceremony with some cute, but classy homemade signs pointing them in the right direction.  There is a fine line between classy and cheap looking.  Make sure you get (or make) a classy looking sign and not something TOO natural… Also if you want to bring "the outdoors" inside add sticks to your centerpieces it adds height and texture and of course the outdoors in!

The vision of the tree that shows up head also comes in the form of the guestbook.  A great new guestbook idea is to purchase (or make- you know I love my DIY projects) a large parchment or canvas with a tree painted on it.  The guests use ink to put their fingerprints on the tree as the leaves and sign their names underneath.  When it’s complete you can hang it in your house!  Genius and it fits so well with this summer outdoor wedding!

I also love mason jars for outdoor weddings.  We have a bride next June that will be using mason jars and I think they’re such a great touch!  And there are SO many things you can do with them.  For this post I chose to go with two ideas- one as glasses for the guests to use throughout the night,and another to use as jars for the favors.  In the photo below the couple wrote a message to let the guests know to put their names on the tags to keep up with their mason jar cup.  You could also paint chalkboard squares on the jars and let the guests write their names in chalk!  I think the jam in the small mason jars is a great favor for this wedding because it reminds me of home and comfort. 

If you decide to go with the mason jar cups, pair them with these precious straws for a special touch.  SO CUTE and inexpensive!!

Above right picture is of a centerpiece; a candle stick comes stand in the middle of a nest of greenery! For the cake at this wedding I would go with a simple white cake.  You can add some green ribbon to tie in color if you feel you need it and top it off with a cute topper like this one.  These would also be pretty easy to make.  Maybe I’ll do a cake topper DIY post one of these days…

 
For more flower ideas try calla lilies - they hold up easily (do not wilt) or baby's breath! I also love the look of this cake.  It is white and simple, but the designer added some life with the frosting design.  Classic and gorgeous.  I also love the chocolate covered apples!!  They match the green and the white theme! So perfect!!

If you like the apples, I say go with that as sort of a decoration theme.  Apples can be apart of your centerpieces in vases tall and short.  They’re always a hit! If you don’t like the apples, stick with the mason jars for centerpieces.  Use them as vases or candle holders and you can’t go wrong.

Hopefully this post helped you with some ideas, Amanda!  I hope it may have inspired some of you also to use this color scheme.  I LOVE it so much!  Happy planning!
If you want to see how some green and blue feathers could be used check out our feather post! Or if you like this "type of vibe" but want different colors check out our Yellow and Gray post!

Invitations
Cake Topper
Green Straws
Mason Jars
Guestbook
Flowers and Bridesmaids
Peace Sign Pics
Flowers
Green and White
Different Shade Bridesmaids 

Why Not Do it Yourself? Fabric Wreath

Have you ever gone to Etsy.com to find homemade goodies you can purchase?

Well, if you haven’t you definitely should!  It’s a great resource for wedding decorations and ideas.  You can either purchase what you’re looking for, or you can get ideas to make things yourself.  If you search under the wedding section, one thing you’ll find is tons of wreaths!  What I love about wreaths is that you can use them after the wedding at your house!  You can even add the numbers of your address to the sides after your wedding and hang it from your front door.  This week I made a wreath with rosettes.  It was easy to make and fun!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Styrofoam Wreath Fabric One yard of the main fabric that you’ll cover the wreath in Depending on how many rosettes you put on your wreath, you’ll need about a half a yard of fabric for each color Glue Gun and Glue Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take the fabric that you’re using to cover the wreath and cut it in 2-3 thick strips the length of the yard of fabric.

 2) Take the glue gun and glue the end of the first strip to the back of the Styrofoam wreath.  Begin wrapping the strip around the wreath, tightly.  I put a line of glue on the back of the strip each time it wrapped around the back.  Each time a strip runs out, cut it off in the back and begin with another strip until the whole wreath is covered.

3) Next it is time to make the rosettes.  For these, cut 1” thick strips of fabric.  I cut them in different lengths to make different sized rosettes.  Just try different sizes to figure out which ones you’d like to use.  First step for the rosettes is to tie a knot on the end.  Then twist the fabric around the knot and glue to hold in place.  Keep doing this until the fabric runs out.  It may seem hard but it’s pretty easy.  Here are some pictures to try to help.

4) After you have the number of rosettes that you want, lay them out on the wreath to see how you’d like them to look.  Then use your glue gun to glue them all on the wreath.

Voila!  It’s complete!  I love the way mine turned out.  I think you will, too!

Email me if you have a request for a craft at erin@stellaharperevents.com