Raising The Bar

Happy Wednesday! We're loving these unique ideas for setting "bars" at your wedding or party- and some include alcohol while others don't!

The Champagne Bar


Source: Via Kelly Moore

We thought this one would be fabulous at a cocktail reception, and equally stylish at an engagement party. Choosing your flute style, bubbly, and mixers is a fun adventure and would be much like putting a candy buffet together. Don't forget your little details and touches such as tags, coasters, and drink additions (think fruit, lavender sprigs, flowers, etc.). Check out this great tutorial by Kelly Moore for more ideas and sources.

The Dessert Bar


Source: Oh Darling! Photography via Merci New York

The idea is not necessarily a new one, but the individual touches and personality you infuse into it makes the idea an ongoing trend. Use coordinating (and not exactly matching) papers, fabrics, and details to make the dessert bar truly yours. We love this tutorial from Merci New York and of course Amy Atlas and her blog always has the best ideas.

The Scent Bar


Source: Jessica Claire

We flipped at Be Inspired PR's Leila Khalil's bridal shower, and we also went nuts over the scent bar. What a unique idea and is such a sweet favor idea for guests too.

The Ice Luge

Ok not exactly a bar all by itself, but adding an ice luge makes a statement at any type of bar. Have citrus fruits, coordinating flowers, magnolia leaves, etc. frozen into the luge to add to the effect your guests see every time they go for another refresher.

The Coffee Bar/ Italian Soda Bar

Nothing beats a plain cup of coffee like an espresso bar. Traveling vendors bring a variety of syrups, sauces, and milks to create a frothy heaven for your guests.

We also love the Italian Soda bar- especially if you choose not to have alcohol at your party. This will add an element of surprise and keep the guest chatter going as they try out different flavors.

What new ideas are you planning for your party?

Inspiring Photo No. 2

Loved this, originally featured over at one of my favorite all-about-life blogs, A Lovely Morning. Especially great as fall and winter approaches...if you're a wine-o like me and hubs, this wouldn't be a hard project to achieve. Display a heart like this at your wedding (maybe near the sign in table?), then take it home and hang it in your kitchen. Lovely reminder of your lovely day....and your love of wine.




~Happy Monday!

PS: Kristina is also one of the gals behind 100 Layer Cake!

How We Love Jamali Garden

We do. Plain and simple. Jamali Garden is our zen to our garden. The website acts as a no-fail plan proofer (yes, we've coined the word, thankyouverymuch.) when in need for something out of the ordinary. We don't think brides should walk around thinking their flowers are only meant for plain vases. We also don't think white paper lanterns are the only thing that can float in the air at a wedding. Let's get jazzy, shall we and browse for a moment:





From the top: We love these white ceramic pots, starting at a smooth $1.99. Use them for centerpieces, candles, or as part of a DIY favor idea. These color scrunch rolls are fantastic for wrapping out of town gifts, vases, or even as a table runner or place mat. Copper anything is beautiful, especially in the fall. They look like metal, but are actually antiqued brown glass vases- love the pink flowers paired with them. And who doesn't like bling? This bar chandelier is fabulous.

Lower Row: We love color and capiz, but we also love natural looks. These cement vases would be gorgeous with pops of vibrant flowers....just a little rugged but not over the top.

And with that, lovelies, happy hunting and happy planning!

PS: Hope to see you all out at the Women's Fitness Celebration tomorrow- come cheer me on!

Real Wedding Andrea + Jason | Sneak Peek

A few weeks ago we got to see the vision of an Asian Zen theme come to life. Andrea, Jason, along with Andrea's mom and big sis came to us about 3 months before the wedding...with almost nothing done.

They had the venue, The Penthouse at the CW Moore Plaza secured, and Andrea had just placed the order for her wedding dress. I met with big sis and mom for a consultation, and they were just plain frightened. To make matters worse, Andrea was trying to plan the wedding states away in Michigan, along with another reception back east. Yep, they had a lot on their minds.

So I asked Andrea to send me pictures of anything she had clipped or saved..anything that caught her eye. Being a pretty laid back bride (and by laid back, I mean borderline frightening to planners..she knows I mean it in the nicest way!), I knew by giving her a homework assignment we would be able to hone in on what she really wanted.

What came over was a influx of greens, browns, orchids, and lanterns. Even river rocks. Plain and simple, I knew we had an Asian Zen theme coming on. So, for their design meeting I designed an inspiration board full of all things natural, serene, and earth-toned. We kept to kiwi greens for that pop of color, and decided to infuse natural elements every where- tissue, bamboo, capiz, sandalwood, grass, sand, and rice paper (yep, we even hand-cut hundreds of paper circles for our toss cones out of mulberry paper as a close rendition of rice paper).

We carried the theme further with the guest book- instead of the traditional book or signing matte, we worked with the florist to design a Zen Garden; wish cards with four different sayings were provided for guests to fill in their advice and then were placed in our garden of sand, river rocks, and spider mums. The guests loved it!

All in all, we loved working on this fun yet natural wedding that suited the couple perfectly. We'll be back with the pro photos in a few weeks, but for now, a sneak peek of the day, enjoy!



We purchased green and white parasols for lining the aisle out on the patio as well as for the girls during photos.




Centerpieces were a combination of orchids, spider mums, river rocks, and bear grass with floating candles.



Capiz shells floated in the wind at the altar along with gauzy fabric to soften the space. The altar area later served as a lounge area for guests with benches and patterned pillows...lovely!

And finally, because it's not often I get caught in pictures..here's one of me putting the finishing touches on the sandalwood fans and tossing cones:



~Happy Wednesday!

Inspiration Board: A Parisian Party

As fall becomes nearer and nearer, I found myself interested in discovering colors that weren't the traditional for the season. I love these muted, yet still elegant and cheery tones together. I imagine candlelight, maybe even coffee beans to to round out the fall effect. Tones of tangerine, orange, and mango would all go beautifully with the palette.

Gold and brass elements and accessories would further take the design into fall...imagine a brass chandelier, gold ink, and champagne colored ribbon...yum.

This palette would also be darling for a spring wedding...add touches of pink in the way of peonies and macaroons and gold to liven it up with a flirty feel.




{Photos & Sources}:

No. 1: Vintage shutters photo by Lesley Sico Via Design Sponge and Flights of Fancy Blog; No. 2: Source unknown, please let us know if this is your photo!; No. 3 Top: "Follow Me Through The Meadows" dress by Ruche; No. 4 Bottom: I Love Paris photo by Yvette Infuio via Flights of Fancy Blog.

Fabulous Rice Paper Cones by Posh Paperie

We stumbled across this today over at Style Me Pretty, and loved the idea. It's a great DIY project and super simple...enjoy!



Read the full article and How-To instructions here.

~Happy Friday!

Thursday Tidbits | The Best Fabric, Love For Ribbon, And Sew On

Happy Thursday lovelies. Thursdays are a good day around here. Kind of in the middle of the week, a little quiet...definitely not as hectic as Fridays (Production Day) can get. I also have the office alone most Thursdays. A little known fact about me: I tend to be a little bit of a loner. I know, weird, since I do happen to have a career in the special events industry. I can't help it- I've always loved to sit and read, put on music and my favorite candle in my office and just work. And on days that we've kind of finished up time lines and production schedules, I'll sit and look through my 400 many magazines in the office. Even those from 2006- amazing how ideas can just pop out when you least expect it, and event design, like fashion, comes full circle. This Thursday I thought would be a good day for some of my favorites:

Fabulous Fabric Resources:


{Photo: Diary of Dinners via Design Sponge}

Design Sponge had a great post on some of her favorite fabric resources, both online and in-store. Loved it because fabric is always one of the first things I start looking at when putting together a wedding design plan.

Some of my favorite local fabric resources include Home Fabrics, JoAnn Fabrics, and Caledonia.

My Love of Ribbon:


{Photo: Paper Source}

Ribbon is one of my clutches. I think a high-quality ribbon will always finish off any project magically. None of that single-faced satin, please. Only double-faced...it lays so much nicer.

My favorite resources include Midori and JKM Ribbon & Trims, and for smaller quantities Paper Source is great with their spools often being 10 yards.

Other Notions:

I just love mixing patterns, textures, and objects that are maybe not expected. A great example is this real wedding below. This is Jill from luxury event planning firm In Any Event's wedding...gorgeous! Buttons really can be luxurious.





{Photo Source: Jen Kroll via In Any Event}

~Happy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday | Great Color Pairings

I ran across this inspiration board over at Betsy White's Flights of Fancy Blog. While we've all seen the sherberts and pastels together, I loved the touch of slate added in. Nice touch to all the flirty colors...kind of gives it a little grown up kiss.



~Happy Wednesday!

{Photo Source}: Flights of Fancy Blog

Inspiring Photo No. 1

I personally keep a huge 3" thick three ring binder in my office...it's full of magazine pages, photos I've printed off, even recipes and tip articles...anything that inspires me. Whenever I am stumped for a design project, I turn to my trusty binder for possible ideas. I do try to be a little picky about what makes it into the book, however; I like the images to not necessarily represent "wedding". I want to be able to look at an image and have the wheels start turning and eventually interpret it into something fabulous.

So I decided it would be nice to share with you what might inspire me on any given day. I hope that you'll share with me your inspiration ideas too!



I'm loving the juxtaposition of this photo. Rustic meets elegant, yet not over the top. Would love to use these capiz-style chandeliers in a project soon.


{Photo Source}: Ferm Living Style Shoot, via Decor8 Blog

~Happy Monday!

Real Wedding | Christina + Dave Sneak Peek

We know our posting a real wedding is a little out of order this week, but in the light of a University of Idaho Vandal game coming up this weekend, we thought this wedding was perfect for all you Vandies out there:



Being both Vandals themselves, their color scheme was perfectly modern, yet vintage, and just a little bit Vandal.



Check back for the pro photos and their full story soon. Happy Friday!

Love This: Simple Materials For Stunning Decor

A quick post for your Thursday- we saw this picture of a clustering of everyday materials over at the Ritzy Bee Blog, and fell in love. Simple, light weight, and visually interesting, this decor project would be perfect hanging over a guest table, as a back drop behind the cake or dessert display, and we think we'd even like to use it in our home after the party was over.



Read the full post on this fabulous idea over at Project Wedding.

Happy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday | Back In Time

Last week marked a significant event in our lives- Hubs and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We've had lots of comments ranging from "congrats!", "Wow", and all the way to "Well you two are embarking on a tough part of marriage..make sure you keep working on it". Point well taken, and we definitely agree. Since last week was a crazy wedding weekend and holiday, I didn't have time to post on our actual anniversary...so I thought I'd make up by posting some pictures from our wedding, five years ago. Enjoy!







My Vendor List:

Photos- Amore Photography & Design
Flowers- (Hydrangea, Roses, Stock, and Eucalyptus Leaves) Boise At Its Best Flowers
Dress- Oleg Cassini
Bridesmaids- After Six, by The Dessy Group
Groomsmen- Sweetheart Manor
Transportation- Boise Trolley Tours
Ceremony- Cathedral of the Rockies
Reception- The Rose Room
Hair & Makeup- Visual Effects Salon