Real Wedding: Heidi & Michael

The very talented floral designer, Amy Osaba, sent over this colorful wedding. 60 guests joined Heidi and Michael at their May wedding, where they were married under a beautiful old tree.








Be-ribboned drink stirrers and monogrammed cocktail napkins.




During the cocktail hour, guests lounged in vintage lawn chairs and gliders, played croquet, sipped plantation punch and enjoyed Big Band music.


Favors were eco-friendly Meyer's Spruce saplings planted in mason jars and tied with twine.




In addition to wedding cake, a dessert table included blackberry and peach cobbler, mini pecan pies, pound cake, and a German chocolate cake made by the bride's grandmother.




Says Heidi: As a surprise to Michael, I bought each of us a beach cruiser bicycle to ride off on from the reception. So as we left on our new bikes, guests blew birthday horns to send us off.

Photography: Woodland Fields Photography

Planning: John Gandy Events

Venue: Pebble Hill Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia

Bride's dress: Casablanca

Bridesmaid dresses: Lela Rose

Flowers: Amy Osaba

Cake: Sandy's Sweets (850-893-7779)

Real Wedding: Ayesha & Zachary

Dear readers - you have the most beautiful, charming weddings! And I love it when you share them with me! Ayesha and Zachary sent over pics of their lovely DIY wedding (taken by Julia Davis), and wrote about all the details, too. So, without further ado, Ayesha and Zach and their beautiful day...

We knew we wanted a small outdoor wedding with some coverage in a superbly unique setting. I was inspired by a mix of natural elements with things that define us as a couple and individuals. I wanted people to look around and go “Yup, that’s Ayesha & Zach.”




My dress was by Maggie Sottero, which I accented with flowers by Emersonmade. I found my shoes at rue21 of all places for like 8 bucks. They were flats which I knew I wanted and had a small ruffle detail. My honey's suit was a white linen suit he got at Dillard's. We just asked his guys to wear black pants, a white shirts, and we provided the ties for them.














Ayesha and Zachary commissioned watercolor portraits from Etsy artist, Jenny Meilihov, which were used for the invitations, and then displayed at the ceremony.




Zachary is my first, last, and only love. It was a truly magical day that brought together our families in a profound way. One of my favorite moments was when my Uncle (who married us) asked "Who supports this couple in their decision?" and everyone took out noise makers and rattled the Treehouse. We knew we had our friends and family rooting for us!














The menu for the Treehouse was very simple: old fashioned sodas and pretzels. Only the day of the wedding we realized that pretzels we ordered had mold on them! So we went with kettle corn instead.




My mother-in-law and 3 of my bridesmaids were my floral designers. I had scoured the internet for ideas, so we knew exactly what we wanted and the challenge was to recreate it, including growing wheat grass myself. The flowers turned out lovely and we saved a ton of money by doing it ourselves.


DIY projects included miniature paper pennants for the cupcakes, tissue paper pom poms, posters and signs, "instant conversation" menu cards, and CD favors.

Photography: Julia Davis

Venue: Treehouse at the Chattanooga Nature Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Wooden guest book: Lacuna (Etsy / flickr)

Bride's dress / fabric flower pins: Maggie Sottero / Emersonmade

Shoes: rue21

Groom's suit: Dillard's

Congratulations Zachary and Ayesha! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!

Board #494: Blackberries & Lemonade

Though blogging definitely has its perks, I miss the summers I had as a school teacher (or as a student for that matter). Right now I'm imagining a lazy summer afternoon, drinking lemonade, picking blackberries, reading a book outside - and all of those things have made their way into today's inspiration board. Serve a signature cocktail made with fresh-squeezed lemonade, and pull the color yellow into other details like the bridesmaid dresses, groom's attire, and bouquets. Use blackberry postage stamps to give your guests an idea of what's to come, include blackberries in your centerpieces (and even in bouquets and boutonnieres), serve blackberry pie instead of wedding cake, and send guests home with jars of blackberry jam. Finish it all off with some vintage touches, like a guest book fashioned from an old book cover, delicate lace parasols, and a fabulous vintage getaway car. I think it sounds like the perfect summer wedding - I mean really, can you imagine anything more summery or pleasant than sipping lemonade and lolling around in the grass?

Mood: lazy summer afternoons
Palette: lemonade yellow, blackberry purple, summer field green

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Top row from left: reading books in the grass from Marie Antoinette, lemonade with personalized swizzle sticks from Rebecca Thuss, photo of centerpiece with blackberries by Eric Cable, photo of yellow bow tie and straw hat by Justin & Mary Marantz via Style Me Pretty
Row 2: blackberry jam favors from Brides, mini blackberry pies and typewriter menu both from Martha Stewart, vintage roadster via Real Weddings
Row 3: front porch, Sally Holmes rose bouquet from Martha Stewart Weddings, letterpress invitation by Golden Rectangle Press
Row 4: vintage lace parasol from Pink Frosting, blackberry bush via Life in the Family Patch, yellow vintage-book journal by Marigold Journal via Creature Comforts, blackberry postage stamp

Board #492: Love and Surf

I was having so much fun thinking about where my honey and I might go on our honeymoon, and then we found out we might not be able to take one right away. So disappointing! But, one thing inspiration boards are good for (aside from helping to pull together a look for a wedding) is imagining, so I imagined up a trip to Hawaii...

Mood: Hawaiian casual
Palette: sand and surf, red and yellow

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Top row from left: surfboard photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy, vintage surf postcard, tropical fruit wedding cake from Martha Stewart Weddings
Row 2: tropical orchid bouquet by Matthew Robbins, photo by Thayer Allyson Gowdy, beach wedding from Martha Stewart Weddings
Row 3: beach and palm tree photo from Real Weddings, popsicles via Ruby Press, red and yellow hibiscus in bud vases by Nancy Liu Chin via Green Wedding Shoes
Row 4: pink Hawaiian quilt from The Quilt Complex, ukelele photo by Dave Robbins, signature cocktails with dried pineapple garnish from Martha Stewart Weddings, surfboard and food truck photo by Ericka McConnell

Real Wedding: Devin & Stephen

Before heading out for the holiday weekend, here's a fun wedding from photographer Meghan McSweeney. Devin and Stephen were married last July at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, with 300 guests there to help them celebrate.


Devin wore a pair of favorite shoes purchased for $13 at Target.




Instead of a veil, Devin chose to wear a headband with tulle and felt flowers. She and her bridesmaids carried button bouquets made by Le Buttoniere.








Love this paper fan that looks like an electric vintage fan!







Venue: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA

Dress: J.Crew

Cake: The Mixing Bowl Bakery, (804)-359-4224

Happy anniversary, Devin and Stephen!

Real Wedding: Tiff & Leo

Tiff and Leo had the sweetest spring wedding, full of cheery colors and mismatched flea market style. Erin Hearts Court was there to capture the day.






Jaclyne from Heavenly Blooms used a variety of flowers, including baby's breath and craspedia.






From Tiff: "My bridesmaids gave me a full set of random teacups and teapots for my bridal shower. I really wanted to use them so my florist put arrangements in them and hung them on shepherd’s hooks along the aisle. She also had the brilliant idea of lining the aisle with a baby’s breath garland. We used both the teapot arrangements and the baby’s breath garland to decorate our head family tables."










My maid of honor is a graphic designer, and she designed our save the dates, invites, program fans, escort cards, and our wedding tree guestbook. She created our cartoon faces and then I used that on everything. For the escort cards, she illustrated tiny maps of the venue so that our guests would be able to find their tables and the different food stations easily. We made the boards where they were posted by covering regular foam boards with fabric and stringing twine across them. We used mini clothespins to hang each escort card.






(I love this detail!) We started dating in college and we both got our degrees in nutrition, so I thought miniature fruit trees would be perfect for our centerpieces. Many of the orange trees and kumquat trees had fruit on them! I also made little tags for each of the fruit trees to show what fruit it would grow. We covered the pots of the trees in all kinds of different fabric to make everything look fun and lively. I figured it would be nice if our guests took the trees home and planted them. That way, every time they ate fruit from it, they would remember our special day.


Each tier of the cake was a different flavor: coconut, red velvet, and carrot cake. There was also a dessert buffet, with mini cupcakes, peanut butter chocolate whoopie pies, fruit cobbler, fresh fruit, and assorted brownie bites and lemon bar bites. Tiff made the cake topper herself with clothespins and other materials from Michael's. The groom's tie was made with the same fabric as Leo's tie.



Venue: The Clarke Estate in Santa Fe Springs, CA

Bride's dress / shoes: San Patrick / Old Navy

Veil / flower headpiece: Goff Couture / Twigs & Honey

Groom's suit / tie: Jimmy Au's / Tux & Tulle

Bridesmaid dresses: Amanda Archer

Flowers: Heavenly Blooms

Cake: Auntie Em's Kitchen

Congratulations Tiff and Leo! Thank you for sharing your wedding with us, and thank you to Erin Hearts Court for sending over these great pics from the day.