Setting the Tables

First of all, thank you all so much for your help with my groomsmen decision yesterday! There were a variety of opinions, but I think I've made my decision! I'll keep you on the edge of your chairs for just a little bit longer, but I promise I'll reveal what I chose soon!

Next, I'd like to fill you in on the other decision that's currently driving me crazy: table linens! Wow, I never thought that something like choosing table linens would drive me crazy! How sad! But it's true... Since our wedding has already come with a few unexpected splurges, I pretty much planned on keeping the linens as basic as possible. As in white polyester.  I've seen a lot of garden weddings where I think this look totally works! Plus, when I mentioned it to Mr. Turtle's grandpa, he gave me a thumbs up and said that white fabric tablecloths look "first class." This boosted my confidence a little!

Photo source: Wedding Chicks

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Photo source: Martha Stewart Weddings (Maybe you recognize that one?)

A lot of my reasoning behind wanting basic linens was related to two of our splurges being flowers and chairs.  Oh yeah, did I mention our Chiavari chairs? Argue with me about them all you'd like. Some people make other splurges that Mr. Turtle and I think are crazy, but for us this one just feels right! (Mr. Turtle even said they are the one thing about the wedding he wanted the most!)

With 100 of these and tons of pink flowers everywhere, who would miss extravagant linens?

Anyway, I went into my first meeting about linens thinking I had my mind made up, but that if I ended up feeling a little fancy, maybe I'd upgrade to a textured white linen.  The lady we met with suggested that plain white table cloths under white tent draping would be too stark a contrast against the outdoors. She opened my eyes to some different options, like using our other colors: pink, brown, and silver. 

At our meeting, this is the combination we decided on:

^ Antique brown dupioni table cloths with silver dupioni runners and rose lamour napkins (We are having long banquet tables, by the way! And please excuse the rough edges of the swatches. Obviously the edges would be finished at the wedding!)

What I liked about this is that it ties together the brown color of the bridesmaid's dresses with a lot of the silver details like the chairs and vases. It's also a neutral background for the pink flower centerpieces. When I got home though, I started to wonder if this combination is too dark. It's also a lot more expensive than I was planning for.  

Here are some other options I've come up with since:

^ The same tablecloth and runner with a pink polyester napkin (Or as my favorite wedding planner, Franc, might say, the "chipper" napkin.)

^ Light pink lamour tablecloth with silver dupioni runner and medium pink polyester napkin

^ Silver dupioni tablecloth with a pink napkin in one of these three shades

That's just an edited down sample of all the options I have.  Which one do you guys think goes best with our wedding style? Do you see a "duh" option that I'm totally missing? Did any of you go with basic linens, only to wish you'd splurged a bit? Or did you go all out on the linens only to feel like no one even noticed? Just curious! :)

Styling Our Groomsmen

Finally! I'm on spring break! But no crazy cruises for me... I've got more important things on my agenda. This is the week I've been waiting for since Christmas break, the one that I've been pushing everything on the Turtle wedding to-do list toward. "I'll figure that out spring break." "I'll just wait and make that decision spring break." "I have plenty of time to make those, during my spring break!" Well here it is, and it's time to get deciding and DIY-ing!

So far, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed and can already feel this week beginning to fly by! I have a crazy amount of decisions to make, and inconveniently enough, I have been quite indecisive. There are a couple decisions in particular that I am about ready to pull my hair out over! And then it hit me... take it to the hive!

The first thing I'm just dyyyying to check off my to-do-list: our groomsman's attire!

(Mrs. Deviled Egg had the amazing idea of naming each of our groomsmen after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, we have five guys, not four. But there's no way I'm passing this up! So in addition to Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael, I'll have to invent a fifth turtle by the name of, I don't know... Botticelli? (Hey, this art history degree is already coming in handy!)

Anyway, I've known from the beginning that I do not want these ninja turtles in tuxedos. I love an old-fashioned black tie wedding, but the formal black and white look just does not fit with our vintage garden theme! To make a long story short, my first idea was to have them buy suits. Then the reality of how expensive suits are hit me, leading me to change my mind to vests instead of jackets. Then I realized that I was doing vests not because it fit our wedding, but because it seemed more cost effective. Then I got so fed up with this whole thing that I went back to renting tuxedos. I found a grey one, which is a bit more informal, but Mr. Turtle already has his suit, and I don't want the groomsmen to be more formal than him! Then I got so flustered about all of this that I decided to just do pants, shirt, and tie, (no jackets.) Convenient and cheap. Perfect. And surprisingly, Mr. Turtle thought it was a great idea!

So we'd decided on a style, but what about color? Our wedding colors are pink, white, brown, and silver, so the guys could wear brown or grey. I wasn't feeling brown because I didn't think it had the right vibe. And I love grey suits, so I planned on grey. Grey suits would go great with our wedding!

Then, as you may recall, I chose our bridesmaid's dress: #4826 by Watters and Watters in "Quarry," the same color shown in the sample below:

I'm crazy about this color in person and I think this shade of brown brings a total sophistication to our color palette. But I'm not quite sure about it going with grey suits. At this point, I felt totally stuck! I never thought the guys' attire would end up being so complicated! I started to look for pants that were a similar color to the bridesmaid's dress. But I quickly realized, as much as I love this dress, it is a very specific color that is difficult to coordinate with!

But then, last weekend, my parents, FMIL and FFIL Turtle, Mr. Turtle, and I went on a little journey up the coast to Napa to celebrate my birthday. And there, in the Banana Republic outlet store, I found them! The perfect pants! *Cue Hallelujah chorus* I didn't have the bridesmaid dress swatch with me, but I had a feeling that the color was just right! We called all five of the ninja turtles to get their sizes, and immediately bought five pairs! When I got home, I compared the pants to the dress swatch, and it is a perfect match! The color of the pants is "taupe," but if you look at the picture of the dress above, the pants are that exact shade!

^ My little brother, who will be known as Raphael from here on out, tried them on and I love the look! (You can't tell in the picture, but they're a light summer fabric, part cotton and part linen.)

Honestly, this pants-buying experience could not have gone more smoothly! But here lies the dilemma: the pants are part of a suit, so there is a matching jacket. We didn't buy the jackets at the time because we were planning on no jackets. But there's still a part of me that loves the more formal look of an added jacket. I feel like I talked myself into the no-jacket look to be practical and save the guys money. I never thought we would find a great quality suit like this at such a great price. (The pants were $65.00 and the jacket is $133.) Want me to make this even more complicated? Mr. Turtle is leaning toward the no-jacket look. He says the look has grown on him a lot, and he likes that he would be the only one wearing a jacket. If we do decide to do jackets, I need to call some BR outlets ASAP and order them. (The stores will ship them if I track down all five sizes.) For some reason, I am just totally torn on this decision!

I would love your input!

1. Jacket


or

2. No Jacket

Are any of you going with a no-jacket look for your groomsmen? From what you've seen of our wedding plans so far, which look do you think fits us best?

Tent: Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?

Originally, I wasn't even considering having a tent. My thought process was that we are having a backyard garden wedding, so we might as well enjoy being outdoors... especially after the work everyone is putting into making the yard look nice! But the more elements I added to our wedding in my mind, the more I envisioned a tented reception. I began to realize that even though I didn't notice it in the beginning planning stages, the tent was always there. Even though I don't consider myself someone who grew up with a wedding vision, I did grow up watching Father of the Bride. Over and over again. So subconsciously, as much as I like weddings that are untraditional, when I envision a wedding, I envision the Father of the Bride wedding.

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So the tent search began...

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Wait! Stop! Not that tent! 

I really don't want our guests to feel like they're inside a room. The yard is going to be beautiful, and I want to enjoy the natural atmosphere that it provides. So definitely no tent walls. I also want to be able to look up and see the night sky and all the shining stars once the sun goes down. This means no tent top.

No tent walls? No tent top? Then why have a tent, you ask? 

What I want in a "tent:"

• A structure to set the reception area apart from the ceremony area
• Something to hang draping, lighting, etc. on
• Inner fulfillment for making my Father of the Bride wedding dreams come true

This picture from a backyard wedding designed by Duet Weddings provided me with my first proof that I was not crazy:

But I still hadn't found what I was looking for. <-- Awkward U2 Reference... (I'm on a roll today!) I may be slightly crazy, because it has been nearly impossible to find pictures that demonstrate the vision I have inside my head. These are the closest I've found:

Photo source: Braedon Photography

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Photo source: A Boxed Event

Photo source: Classic Party Rentals

Photo source: Classic Party Rentals

Photo source: Green Wedding Shoes

Apparently, I am pretty naive to believe that I can just whip out these pictures and and my vision will come to life.  After my initial search for someone to drape our tent frame, I decided that my mom and I would do it ourselves! Then I began to look into renting and buying the fabric and started to get overwhelmed. I can just see myself up on a ladder trying to do this the day before our wedding and having a meltdown as it gradually turns into a disaster. So now I'm faced with a dilemma: how am I going to make my tent vision happen? It's definitely not a question of whether it will happen. It will happen. Even if it means working through the hypothetical meltdown and doing it myself, it will happen! So I'm going to do some research, and hopefully there will be a sequel to this post soon, in which I introduce a god/goddess of tent draping who is thrilled to make my crazy tent dream come true, and at a reasonable price! Is that too much to ask?  We shall see...

Are any of you attempting a draped tent frame like me? If so, please tell me about it! If not, what crazy idea have you become obsessed with that's ended up being a lot more work/money than you originally expected?

Style Inspiration: A Midsummer Night's Dream

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine."

A Midsummer Night's Dream, II.i

I've always been totally inspired by fairy tales and the genre of fantasy. Last semester, in a Shakespeare course I took at school, I completely fell in love with A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had never read the play before, and the mixture of whimsy, beauty, magic, and surprise just struck me. At the end, I loved imagining what the double wedding between Lysander and Hermia and Demetrius and Helena would look like. 

When I googled, "A Midsummer Night's Dream wedding," a lot of, let's just say say, interesting things came up, mainly along the lines of theater majors forcing their bridesmaids to dress up as fairies... But I did find this gorgeous photo shoot collaborated on by florist and event designer Tricia Fountaine and photographer Elizabeth Messina. It's probably pretty dramatic for most people's tastes, but between the stunning flowers and whimsical decor, I think these pictures can inspire beautiful details for a variety of weddings!

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I promise we're not having A Midsummer Night's Dream themed wedding, but there are elements of this wedding that I would just love for ours to feel like. 

"Think but this, and all is mended:

That you have but slumbered here,

While these visions did appear."

Act V, epilogue

So what do you think? A little over the top for your taste? Or do you have a soft spot for fairy tales, magic, whimsy, and Shakespearean comedies, like I do?  

The Tastiest Item Checked Off Our To-Do List

Over a three day weekend in January, Mr. Turtle, my parents, my MOH, and I were able to go over to the coast and check a few big items off of our to-do list! We were very happy to check off the tasty little task of hiring our baker!

Meet Eclair Bakery, located in the charming downtown area of Arroyo Grande, California:

^ That is the owner, Jeremy. (Probably the coolest baker ever.)

Our tasting appointment was on a Saturday afternoon, when they were extremely busy, but Jeremy, the owner, still gave us a great experience and I thought that he presented the delicious cake flavors, frostings, and fillings he had on hand in such a cute way. There was plenty for all five of us to taste them all!

^ Mr. Turtle and I about to take our first bites

We mainly chose this bakery because it's the only one Mr. Turtle has wanted from the very beginning. (I was only hesitant because I have a tendency to not book a vendor until I've thoroughly researched every other option in existence!) Eclair Bakery is located in The Village in Arroyo Grande, only minutes away from where we're getting married. They specialize in French pastries and wedding cakes, and the place has the cutest, vintage-indie vibe to it. (There are little white chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and if you eat there, they have an adorable collection of vintage plates.)  After tasting the cake, we ended up talking to Jeremy for almost an hour, not only about weddings, but just life in general.  

Basically, I was thrilled to book Eclair Bakery right on the spot! They will be making us cute cupcakes in a variety of fun flavor combinations. In addition to classic flavors (chocolate's my favorite!), they always seem to be baking up interesting new kinds of cupcakes like chocolate chip cookie, root beer float, blood orange, and plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. We're also getting a six inch chocolate cake for the top layer of our cupcake tower, mainly so we can have a cake topper and the classic cake cutting moment!

What made our choice feel even more meant to be was when we realized that Jeremy the baker graduated from the same high school as me and Mr. Turtle! This is totally random, considering that our high school is a three hour drive from the bakery and has an average graduating class of seventy people! 

Don't you just love those vendor meetings when you immediately click with the person and their whole business philosophy?  Wouldn't it be nice if this were always the case?

Style Inspiration: Laduree Love

In yesterday's post, I touched on my obsession with French style, especially all things Parisian. Today, I'll be even more specific and share one of my very favorite sources of style inspiration: Ladurée.

Ladurée is a luxury French bakery and tea room founded in Paris in 1862. It is best known as the inventor of the double-decker French macaron. To some of you, I know a faraway bakery probably seems like a really random place to find wedding inspiration! But, as a graphic designer, I've always been inspired by vintage packaging, especially nineteenth century/early twentieth century advertising and ephemera. Before I was even engaged, I ran across a post about Ladurée packaging on a design blog.  Once I got engaged, I decided that I wanted to incorporate elements inspired by Ladurée packing into our invitation suite! Imagine how obsessed I was when I stumbled across Mrs. Perfume and her gorgeous Parisian style invitations! Seriously, head over heels!

Here are some pictures of the bakery and its amazing packaging:

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I'm not ready to give away all the details of our invitations yet, but I am so excited about them and about these subtle ways I've found to incorporate my adoration of the Parisian aesthetic! For a sneak peek, here is an early rough draft of our monogram:

Did any of you design your own invitation suite? To any fellow paper lovers, where do you find inspiration?