Wedding Blog • It’s a Bride’s Life • Real Brides Blogging til I do!

Heureux Pour Toujours…

Colleen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:49:18 +0000

means “Happily Ever After” in French.

beautiful brass- plated iron heart from Sundance.

Flowers: Bouquet Brainstorm

Miss Nostalgic Bride — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:48:56 +0000

Flowers are a huge parts of most weddings.

So, in order to keep things neat and clean I have decided I need to do a wedding flowers series, rather than try to jumble all of my ideas, wants, needs and inspirations into just one or two posts.

Today’s post is just a brainstorm. I am completely overwhelmed with all of the choices and endless possibilities there are in the realm of wedding bouquets. It’s very easy for me to fall in love with it all, so I know I will have to knuckle down and start making the hard decisions-

Real flowers? If so, which flowers?
Fabric flowers?
Paper flowers?
Tissue Paper flowers?
No flowers at all?

Brooches?
Feathers?
Wire?

You get the picture.

So after some light “pinteresting” (like that new verb there?), I came across oh, just a few awesome ideas for bouquets. Some have absolutely nothing to do with flowers but since they stand in place of them, I find it completely relevant to this post.

Enjoy!

I love the use of succulents in this bouquet from Style Me Pretty

Wedding Chicks

I adore peonies and ranunculus!

What about putting flowers in watering cans?

Style Me Pretty

What a great idea!

Being a Golden Gal

These flowers are gorgeous and they are faux! I wouldn’t have believed it if you told me! Love the cameo brooch!

Project Wedding

How about faux flowers in a purse? Perfect!

Check out these gorgeous fabric flowers…

My Hands Made It

Love The Day

Autumn and Grace Bridal on Etsy

And for the slightly off-beat but beautiful…

Design Me Vintage brooch bouquets! Love!

A dial up from the brooch bouquet would be a knob bouquet…

100 Layer Cake courtesy of Simply Bloom Photography

For the really fearlessly creative bride how about these wire bouquets from Refinerii? Beautiful work!

Obviously, some I am seriously considering for my wedding but others I wanted to feature just because they were just so creative and beautiful! Couldn’t help myself!

a very sweet idea

Colleen — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:56:01 +0000

because let’s face it….don’t we all usually want a second slice?

martha stewart weddings

Choker Whites

Miss Sweetheart Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:51:47 +0000

Many Navy and Marine Corp brides opt to wear bright white on their wedding day instead of ivory. My skin tone looks better with an ivory dress, but I did not want my gown to look too off-white next to Steven’s bright white choker uniform. So I consulted the many Navy brides that I know through Facebook. Here are some gorgeous pictures that convinced me that bright white is the way to go!

Erica and Grant with Natalie Franke Photography

Melanie and Nick with i Kandi Photography

Jenny and Matt with Steve Z Photography

Thanks to all my USNA brides who generously let me use their photos!

Kissing Ball or Sign?

Miss Peacock Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:49:18 +0000

I must admit, I was really excited when my florist suggested a kissing ball / pomander with peacock feathers for my flower girl. There are so many amazing ways feathers can be used for this alternative bouquet for the little ones.

Peacock ~ Turquoise ~ White

However, I’m really loving the idea of having our flower girl walk down the aisle with a sign announcing my entrance. I especially appreciate the idea of a two-sided sign that can be used after we say our “I-Do’s”.

Single Ribbon ~ Long ~ Double Ribbon

I don’t think I can go wrong with either! Which one is your favorite?

Vendor Love: Market Salamander

Miss Irish Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:45:46 +0000

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, we are having a dessert bar. After tossing around dessert ideas and searching Wedding Wire ratings, I found Market Salamander. A gourmet market, cafe’ and caterer, not only are the located close to The Blackthorne Inn, but they have been great to work with. Pastry chef, Jason Reeves, is extremely talented… just check out a few of his cakes:

A beautiful wedding cake and fun Virginia Tech groom’s cake. He also recently won the Lego Cakes Food Network Challenge!

After exchanging emails with Jason, he helped us create the perfect dessert bar including: mini Irish cream cupcakes, mini fruit tarts, dark chocolate truffles and mini tiramisu cups. Can’t wait to enjoy our delicious desserts!

It was a fine spring day…

Miss Celestial Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:39:42 +0000

OKAY, so it’s still winter – but it FEELS like spring, and I for one relish this feeling because it makes me that much closer to our big day. *squee* So, what is brought to mind when spring is in the air? (Don’t you dare say cleaning, seriously, don’t harsh my mellow with a terrifying reality of my living room….) Flowers of course! Now I’m not really a huge flower fan, but I believe everyone can appreciate them for their beauty and natural inspiration, especially for a special occasions. Being seriously in need of some background info on the what’s-what of flower arrangements, I of course turned to the almighty “Google” and found this gem from the dummies series. Super helpful AND now I know some terms to help me at the florist appointment.

Honeymoon!!!

Miss Vintage Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:36:43 +0000

We have officially booked our honeymoon!

It may sound odd to some, but since Tommy and I live in sunny Florida, we decided to take a winter honeymoon. So, Lake Tahoe, here we come!

We will be skiing, tubing, building snowmen, making snow angels, having snowball fights and best of all snuggling by a cozy warm fireplace.

My father has a timeshare with RCI and has offered to let us use a week for our honeymoon. So we booked our week at The Ridge Resort in Nevada.

Bonjour, Boutonnieres – Flower Edition

Miss Sparkly Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:35:13 +0000

I posted a couple weeks ago about non-traditional boutonnieres, and although I think they are absolutely fabulous, Matt is really wanting to go more traditional. Looking at these stunning flower accessories… I think I see why he’s wanting to sport a beautiful flower on our big day! There is something so fresh and handsome about seeing a groom wearing a suit with a boutonniere!… enjoy!~

What will you be using for your wedding? A funky non-traditional option.. or a fresh flower option?? Since it’s up to Matt (and encouraged by me!) we will be on the hunt for some beautiful pink flowers!

Photos: Orange… Beautiful Tan…. 3′s company

DEAL’S UP!

Miss Celestial Bride — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:30:05 +0000

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve saved you some money, so I’m here to make up for it this weekend. One of my favorite sites ( you can order sample invites, and small numbers of things to test them out and they have great customer service) is having a 3 day weekend sale. Check it out here, and let me know about all the money you save!