Summer Sky Color Palette

Here is some more yummy goodness from Etsy, the incredible website featuring all handmade products. This week's color palette is inspired by the summer sky and includes two beautiful shades of blue and a nice yellow selected from Martha Stewart's paint line (mariner, yellow gerbera, and stratosphere). For reference, I include the actual paint names because they are always a little off on the computer screen.

Venice lace garter with blue ribbon from GarterLady's shop.

I am in love with this ring pillow from RawEdgesStudio.

  

 

 Beautiful invite from GoodFrau.

 

 These lined envelopes from Charli and Cleo's shop would go well with the above invites.

Absolutely loving these adorable cake toppers from CountrySquirrelsRUS.

Perfectly matched poms from PomLove.

A custom painted parasol from Michelle's This and That shop.

This pocket mirror from SpotlightOnYou's shop would make an excellent bridesmaid gift.

Cute custom favor boxes by PetitsMetier.

My Website is Carbon Neutral!

From the Machs Grun website: According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems.

The company has paired up with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant a tree for each blog that writes a short entry about being carbon neutral, for free! One tree can neutralize the carbon emissions from one blog for 50 years. Thanks to Machs Grun and the Arbor Day Foundation for making this website carbon neutral.

Lavender Inspired Color Palette

I love love love lavender. It is by far my favorite herb. The smell, the color, the blooms, everything about it is perfect. And I particularly love seeing it in wedding details. Here is a color scheme inspired by the beautiful herb. I used Martha Stewart paint chips for this one (grape jelly bean, lavender verbena, and plum wine).

Here are some lavender wedding details I found over on Etsy.

I am in love with these rosemary and lavender wedding invitations from VO handmade.

Lavender sachets would make a lovely gift for bridesmaids. Hand-stamped sachets available from pinkcherrymomma.

Of course, any lavender-inspired wedding needs real lavender. You can use these bundles as favors or simple centerpieces at each table. Organic lavender bunches available from FayeMarie.

More organic lavender from FayeMarie's shop in the shape of a wreath, perfect for hanging on the church house doors.

I'm in love with silk florals and this bouquet is absolutely incredible. Made with roses, freesia and orchids, you can't go wrong with this stunning arrangement. Available through WaterMeNot's shop.

These beautiful microfiber ties would make an amazing addition to your groomsmen's attire. These hand-screened neckties available through toybreaker.

Road Trip Honeymoon

I have to be honest and tell you that thinking about the honeymoon has been the least exciting part of the wedding planning process for me. I have no idea why this is. We thought of several exciting places to visit but the idea of the honeymoon never got all that entertaining. Until recently that is :) We finally figured out the perfect place. My husband's favorite vacation spot is Tybee Island, GA. Why this place never occurred to us is beyond me. I've always wanted to go with him because this place means something very special to him. Since we plan on getting married on June 27th, we will be honeymooning on one of my favorite holidays, Independence Day. We plan on checking out the fireworks show while on Tybee Island. However, we quickly realized how expensive an extensive vacation on Tybee would be (more than our actual wedding budget, yikes!) So how could we maximize our honeymoon in terms of days, limit our time on Tybee Island but also be there for the 4th of July show? A honeymoon road trip of course! My husband and I love road trips. We decided to take several days to drive to Georgia and back, stopping at towns we'd never been to, checking out sites we both enjoy. Below is our itinerary for the trip there and back.

June 28th: Independence, MO to St. Louis, MO (4 hrs, 6 mins) - lunch
St. Louis, MO to Nashville, TN (5 hrs, 30 mins) - overnight
June 29th: Nashville, TN - zoo, Hard Rock Cafe
Nashville, TN to Knoxville, TN (2 hrs, 54 mins) - overnight
June 30th: Knoxville, TN - lunch cruise
Knoxville, TN to Charleston, SC (5 hrs, 54 mins) - overnight
July 1st: Charleston, SC - aquarium
Charleston, SC to Tybee Island, GA (2 hrs, 41 mins) - honeymoon

July 7th: Tybee Island, GA to Atlanta, GA (4 hrs, 36 mins) - lunch
Atlanta, GA to Birmingham, AL (2 hrs, 45 mins) - overnight
July 8th: Birmingham, AL - Vulcan museum
Birmingham, AL to Memphis, TN (4 hrs, 3 mins) - lunch
Memphis, TN to Eureka Springs, AR (3 hrs, 9 mins) - overnight
July 9th: Eureka Springs, AR - ghost tour, spa, overnight
July 10th: Eureka Springs, AR to Independence, MO (4 hrs, 17 mins) - home!

What do you plan to do for your honeymoon? How did you decide on something you'd both enjoy?

It's Official!

I am now operating under the name Satin and Lace Weddings! I filed my business name last week. I also registered a domain name, weddingsbysatinandlace.com, and got my business license. I'm official! I've even hired someone to design my business logo and create a custom letterhead, website banner and button, address labels and business card. After searching for hours, I found someone who is not only talented, but also reasonably priced. Studio Sien of Holland has proven to be incredible so far. She asked me what style of logo I was looking for and after our first e-mail was making sketches. She offers unlimited revisions. Even after we've perfected a style, she comes up with something different to give me as many options as possible. After four days I think we've narrowed it down to "the" design.

I wish I could post our latest revision but it's just a sketch and I want to unveil the final product when it's done. I'm so excited I can barely stand it.

AFloral Flower Board

I am all about DIY silk flower arrangements. I think it's the best of both worlds. Silk flowers look more realistic than regular fake flowers plus you don't have to pay to have them preserved if you're a keepsake girl like me. For my own wedding, I know I'm doing silk flower arrangements. I'm putting them together myself (eep!) to save yet more money. I've looked everywhere for inspiration and found a few things I just absolutely love. I found these lovelies at The Flower Magician:

I love the look of these bouquets but am not big on the colors. I couldn't find anything that matched both the style and colors of my wedding so I turned to LeAnne over at Afloral.com, where I'll be ordering my silk flowers. She designs custom floral inspiration boards with information about your wedding. I e-mailed her with these specifications: I'm planning a vintage themed wedding at my home with the color scheme of chocolate brown, sea green, aqua and ivory. I've attached some inspiration boards and paint swatches that match my color and theme. I'm having the hardest time finding flowers though. I've found a few examples of what I might like in flowers but I do not want anything with pink in it and that seems to be prevalent in vintage themed wedding bouquets. I think I'd like the flowers to be mostly white and cream, some green and maybe just a spray of blue. I don't think I want the brown to come through in the bouquet. I've also attached pictures of a dress in the style I'll be looking for. Can you help me?

LeAnne responds: Jessica, we don’t have a lot of flowers in the aqua or sea green color, so I made your inspiration board with mostly whites and creams, and added some green and blue accents. You could always bring the aqua and chocolate brown into the bouquets with ribbon, pearl pins, or even bouquet jewels. I think the bouquets would look beautiful (and vintage) made up of a combination of cream and white roses, the deep aqua peonies, and perhaps a green flower as well. Finish the look with the accents of your choice. I hope this helps!

 

My Wedding

We have picked ANOTHER date for our ceremony. My husband and I tried to set a wedding date over and over but due to the military obligations he had, as well as those my brother (a groomsman), and my best friend (the maid of honor) had, it had to be pushed back again and again. We finally decided on a court house wedding with a ceremony to follow my husband getting out of the Army. We are desperately hoping that with him no longer in the military, we may have a bit more luck actually doing this thing! My brother just got word that he will be deploying again this year, which means he will not be deployable again until late 2012. So we have tentatively picked a June 2012 date.

We have decided to get married in our home. Not only will we save a ton of money but it will also set the theme. The house was built in 1928 so a vintage wedding seems all too appropriate. I'm having a hard time picking color schemes but here are a few I've found over at The Perfect Palette:

In Martha Stewart paint colors (yes, I do in fact have all of her paint chips), I'm looking at heavy cream, sea glass, nutmeg and sunken pool. These colors do not translate as well on the computer but the sea glass has more of a green tint to it and the sunken pool is not so bright. They're very muted, vintage colors.