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.

Welcome!

Welcome to Satin and Lace Weddings! I'm very excited about starting this blog. I'm a student, getting my degree in entrepreneurship and on my way to starting my own business in this exciting field. I have a passion for weddings and I really couldn't be happier about being able to turn this into a career. Follow me on my journey through this exciting time in my life.

A few things about me: I'm 23 years old and I'm married to a pretty swell guy. We just bought our first house and we're expecting our first baby in September. My husband is in the Army and is currently deployed. We have big plans for our Colonial Revival home built in 1928 and big plans for our little kumquat--I'm 25 weeks along, anxiously waiting for all the milestones. And in the midst of all this, I'm here: just finished my wedding planning course, trying to figure out how in the world I can start my own business this year while I'm pregnant and alone in a new town. Oh woe is me!

So here's the deal: I'm totally obsessed with weddings (duh) and I have been for years. Actually, I can remember how it happened. One late night in August of 2006 I went shopping at WalMart. My friend and I were renting our first house and we needed pretty much everything. As I was trolling the aisles, I ended up in the magazine section. Something possessed me to pick up a copy of The Knot. Maybe it was something on the cover, maybe it was the fact that I had just been dumped by a guy I was pretty crazy about. I don't know. But right then and there, standing in the aisle of WalMart, I decided I wanted to plan weddings.

I bought that copy of The Knot and I also bought a wire bound notebook of thick paper, good for pasting bits of magazine on both sides. That night I started my first wedding notebook. I decided on a Spring wedding with a sunshine yellow, Spring green and lavender color scheme. I imagined what I would want my own wedding to be like. I started collecting details from several years worth of bridal magazines.

One month later, I met my future Mr... Coincidence? :)


Anyway, so my obsession has led to the collection of tons of wedding ideas. I have two wedding notebooks in the works and several binders full of tidbits I think would be helpful for brides-to-be. I've been trying to think of how to put these things to use in the meantime, the time I'm waiting for things to really happen in my life, and this is what I've come up with. So I hope you can find something worthwhile here in my own little space. Welcome :)