Good Morning! I'm Erin from Dandelion & Grey and I am so excited to be guest posting on Postcards & Pretties today! Thank you, Chris, for having me!
Today I will be sharing a DIY S'more Bar I created that could be perfect for dessert after a rehearsal dinner or even in lieu of wedding cake at a sweet, casual backyard or beach wedding!
To house the goodies, I used two darling chicken-wire baskets, purchased at Farmhouse Wares, filled to the brim with marshmallows and graham crackers. To create variety, offer multiple kinds of chocolate for your guests to create their s'mores. Hershey's is classic and budget-friendly, but you could also use imported chocolates from a specialty store. Provide simple wooden skewer sticks, placed in a vintage glass jar & head out to the fire pit!
For a charming favor, fill a wicker market bag with a summer scarf and a s'more for the road!
If we decorate our spaces when we're having a party at home, why can't we {A}dorn our picnic area with some cute bunting? Picnic {B}askets, there are so many to choose from, I prefer the classic wicker ones. {C}hampagne ...enough said!
Of course we can't forget {D}esserts especially pie. You can't have a picnic without pie right? I also love these {E}co friendly utensils. My picnic {F}ood of choice is a sandwich, they're portable and easy to eat.
Bring some {G}ames such as scrabble, chess and cards. {H}and sanitizer is a must, I love this one with a holder that can easily be clipped to the basket handle. I know I mentioned desserts before but I consider {I}ce cream it's own category. yum!
Mason {J}ars are my "cup" of choice for sipping your favorite drink and it has a lid that won't spill when it's tipped over. I love these coloful {K}nives with a protective sheaths...safety first friends. If your planning on sticking around to catch the sunset, don't forget some {L}anterns.
{M}usic!!!! I love these cloth {N}apkins, they have a great pattern and no one wants to chase around flying paper napkins when the wind decides to blow them every which way. Can anything be more perfect than having {O}cean views while picnicking?
{P}illows and {Q}uilts make your picnic area nice and comfortable enough to sit back and {R}elax with a good book.
Shelter is something that most people don't consider. It's never a bad idea to set up your picnic area under a {S}hade tree, {S}imple umbrella, make {S}hift tent or a {S}weet canopy.
{T}hermos are great for keeping coffee and soups hot especially for autumn picnics. I know we are getting to the end of the list and you're probably thinking you're going to need some {U}pper arm strength to carry everything. When everything is unpacked don't to forget to enjoy each others company and take in a little {V}itamin D because if the sun is shining there is no reason to stay indoors.
Consider the {W}eather because no one likes to be caught in the rain...or do they for a little {X}oxo? Well all this has me {Y}awning and now I think I'm going to catch some {Z}zzzzzzz.
shannon of {riso studio} was kind enough to send over kristine + chris’
love session. instead of a fully styled shoot, the couple decided a relaxed
shoot was more their style. here is want shannon had to say: the shoot took place at The Farm at South Mountain a
gorgeous event venue with incredible food. kristine surprised chris later that
evening having dinner at their renowned restaurant to celebrate his birthday. she is from california and since they will be
getting married on 1/1/11 at sassi in the desert foothills up in north scottsdale she wanted something different for her
engagement shoot. so we ventured to a farm to incorporate more of the fall
seasons (which you never see in az) and some beautiful outdoor scenery.
here's how they met....
they
both had just moved to arizona
for work and kristine was out to dinner with her mother. their waiter was chris
and kristine's mother left kristine's business card with the bill. chris called
and they've been dating ever since.
congrats kristine + chris!!!
to see more of shannon's work visit her blog {here}
I love going back and revisiting past inspiration boards and see if I can update them. Today I was inspired by this board that I created a few years ago and added a vintage feel with the beautiful palette and soft petal roses. The incorporation of the love letters makes this board timeless.
There is something so charming with southern wedding. I was smitten from the moment I saw Melissa + Scott's wedding. Here's what couple had to say about their wedding...We love local. We love food. We love each other.
I wish I could say that I had some grand vision for my wedding and that I nourished every detail for the event from the ground up. That would be a lie. I had just begun my first year of teaching, so busy was an understatement. The summer before I began teaching, Scott proposed to me at St.GeorgeIsland during a joined family vacation. We had been together for 6 years at that time and we had talked openly about getting married, but had never actually gotten our act together. We had already designed our rings with BLUE, so it was really only a surprise for everybody else! When we came back in from our walk and announced our engagement, everybody thought we were joking and ignored us. “No, really!” I said holding up my left hand…then the celebrating began.
Not too long after, we started looking at venues and tossing around ideas. We wanted to be able to share our love for local, seasonal food and for the outdoors with our friends and family. We also wanted a comfortable setting that would not put us into great debt. We discussed everything from the hike-Inn at AmicacolaFalls to a more sophisticated Asheville affair to the AltantaBotanical Gardens, but nothing seemed to fit both our sense of self and our budget. Scott had taken over the search once the school year started, and he expanded our search to other areas where we had gone hiking. He found Sweet Home Plantation on an internet search based around the PineMountain area. We had hiked the area on multiple occasions and took a short trip down in the Fall to see the place. We fell in LOVE!! The grounds are tranquil and picturesque without being too manicured, plus Bobbie gave us the freedom to create the event we wanted for a set price that would not go up if we needed an extra table or wine glass (did I mention we are a bit thrifty and were appalled at the costliness of the average wedding).
The location of Sweet Home is very rural, so I asked if there were any local farmers or vegetable stands I could visit. I am part of a CSA at home, so it is not like the fridge was bare, but I am a sucker for buying things from the people who grew them. It turns out that our Sweet Home contact was a frequent visitor to the Jack and Jenny Sun Farms, which was just down the road. We paid the farm a visit, bought some garlic and sweet potatoes, and arranged with Jenny and Chris to supply the produce and some of the flowers for the wedding. They gave us Shannon Klein’s number who had done some dinners at the farm with her company Food Blossoms Catering. We were on our way back to Atlanta with our wedding pretty much planned!
It just took a couple of more phone calls to Shannon’s friend Kelly Geer to get the details of what we really wanted worked out and set into action. Kelly and Shannon had worked together previously planning farm suppers at with Jenny and Chris. Kelly is amazing! She listened and got to know us and what we wanted for the event. She was able to bring to life ideas that were limited to a few words I had strung together. Somehow I managed to surround myself with people who could take the phrase “simple summer outdoor wedding” and flesh it out into the beautiful event that we all got to enjoy.
The only hitch was the weather (no, it didn’t rain!), but because spring had sprung so early and suddenly this year, some of the arrangements I had made for the local flowers were not able to accommodate my order. I took a drive with Rebecca Traylor a couple of days before the event to Athens to pick up the flowers. I loved taking a tour of the farm, picking out the buckets I wanted, and then loading and seat-belting them into the car for the frostily air-conditioned ride to PineMountain. That is the thing about going local. Sometimes doing things the right way means being flexible. Getting dirty with my nails done…now that is more like it!
Scott and I really ENJOYED our wedding. So many people don’t even get to eat at their wedding. Scott and I are not micromanagers; so many aspects of the wedding were so much better because we did not put any constraints on the people there to run the event...there were so many pleasant surprises for us the whole night from Gary’s song choices to the Special “firefly” decoration Rebecca made for our table. The story of our wedding is really about getting wonderful, talented people together and allowing them to be themselves so that we could do the same. There was NO stress that day…I mean it! We enjoyed everything from the photos, to saying Scott’s carefully arranged vows, to walking into the beautifully laid out reception area, to cutting the pies, to saying good-night. We did things our way and tapped into a wonderful community of like-minded people. What a joyous day it was!
I am a photographer and designer. Three years ago a close friend of mine got married and she asked me to design her wedding invitations. I found the task challenging and fascinating! The invitations were a great success and family and friends encouraged me to start designing wedding invitations and stationery professionally. In 2008 our studio,Azulsahara, was launched. Since then the number of clients has gradually increased, with orders from all over the world!
Where do you go for inspiration?
I am fascinated by art, textures, materials and colors. I like combining them to come up with creative and original designs. I travel a lot and get lots of ideas from other cultures, then I work on these ideas to createAzulsahara´s unique style.
What is your signature style?
Original, unique and creative wedding invitations. Elegant designs which go from the more classic and vintage to the more chic and trendy, and exotic! We combine modern designs with traditional handcrafted techniques.
What is your favourite spot in your studio?
Our showroom, which is where we display all the work we produce in cozy and cute ways, like wooden boxes, crystal jars, baskets..... surrounded by vases with flowers. It also has a lot of light and opens onto a lovely garden with a terrace!
Do you have a current favorite color palette or wedding trend?
At the moment I am designing wedding invitations which are a fusion between a classic style and the influence of Asian art.
Where do you see your business in five years?
We hope to go on designing unique and beautiful wedding stationery that makes couple's weddings a very special day all around the world. I also see myself working with other professionals such as wedding planners, as it is challenging and gratifying to design wedding stationary with specific themes, colours etc that match couples personalities and fulfill their idea of their dream wedding.
Finish the sentence
I can´t live withouta large cup of coffee at 7am, my Mac , delicious food, and a long walk in the countryside with my dog!
Happy Friday, friends!! Hooray for the weekend!! I'm heading out of town next week for work and I need to pick up some last minute stuff for my trip. Don't worry, I have some great posts scheduled but enough about me let's get to the good stuff. I know that these three lucky couples are super excited today because they are this year's finalist for 13:13 Photography Giveaway. Ashley, Philip and I had a great time reading all the entries and now it's your turn to vote for your fave. The poll will open until Friday, February 10, 2012 at 5:00 pm. Good luck to the finalists!!
{ Meghan + Jeremy's story }
My fiancé and I grew up as next door neighbors…literally. His grandparents lived one house up from the house my family moved into! My parents moved a couple streets down, but growing up we were randomly a part of each others lives, in middle school he dated my friend and he, his friend and the two of us spent the summer riding (the boys were on bikes, my friend and I on horses). In high school ran with two VERY different crowds and didn't have much to do with each other. His mom married one of my high school best friends dads and he became her step-brother but still, we would only see each other randomly and weren't interested in each other. Fast forward a couple years (and a few broken hearts) later and we managed to reconnect while he was home from boot camp. When he left again we wrote to each other every day, when he got home we were inseparable, and the rest is history. We were hoping to wait until I was out of school and we had saved some money before getting married, but a few months ago after losing his grandma decided to push the wedding forward…way forward to this July. Everyday I spend the afternoon with his grandpa, he means so much to both of us, we want his grandpa to be able to enjoy and be a part of our wedding. We’re having our intimate, vintage, rustic wedding in Jeremy’s grandparents garden on BainbridgeIsland, with our closest friends and family. I’m very fortunate to have some awesomely crafty bridesmaids, and an extremely talented mom to help make our day beautiful and special despite our $2000 budget. Besides promising to be together forever, photography is the most important part of the wedding to us. I absolutely ADORE Ashley and Phillips work. (Plus, we will do ANYTHING to get a great shot...whatever it takes!) To have 13:13 Photography be there to enjoy the most important day of our lives with us would mean the world to us! We are both bleeding heart animal lovers, if I could take in every dog, cat, horse, or other animal that needed a loving home I would. Since that is not an option for us we often donate food, supplies, and sponsor adoptions fees for our local humane society and do everything we can to help find homes for animals. Although we will register at a few places, we are asking our wedding guests to make donations to either the ASPCA or to our local animals shelter instead of buying us wedding gifts, every little bit helps!
{ DIY vision }
Pretty much everything about our wedding is going to be DIY due to our budget, but what makes our wedding unique is that we will be asking guests to donate to our local humane society instead of purchasing us wedding gifts.
{ Caroline + Tom's story }
Caroline and Tom met as neighbors attending UCSB and were friends for many years. It wasn't until Caroline graduated and began working at the State Assemblymember's office and Tom returned to get his Masters in Santa Barbara that they began dating. They did long distance for years as Tom moved to find work. He chose a job in San Francisco near where Caroline grew up. She followed him FINALLY and they have lived together for 2.5 years and are finally ready to tie the knot. His proposal was a complete surprise - he rented out a winery they love and proposed in a redwood grove with a ring he had designed secretly for months with her two best friends (complete with an orange sapphire hidden inside the band) then had Caroline's parents arrive for a picnic lunch. During this past year the couple has gone through a lot - Tom lost his father and his cousin (Erin was 30, Tom and Erin grew up as brother/sister) - so the wedding is even more important for the families to come together in joy and celebration.
{ DIY vision }
I purchased my dress at Priscilla's of Boston's going out of business sale for 70% off. It was the first time I had ever tried on dresses and I walked out with a dress! It is a strapless silk charmeuse gown (pic attached).OldStHillarys is a beautiful historic landmark on the hill looking down on Sausalito, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city. It's beauty is in it's simplicity so we want to keep with that and let the setting speak for itself. The reception will be outside in the middle of hills at the base of Mt Tamalpais in a green valley. My favorite color is orange so I want that color to "pop"! I am thinking navy for the bridesmaid dresses and I would like to give the girls the options for different styles. We want the food to be simple, farmers market staples that are seasonal and for August and our area - thinking lots of stone fruit, fresh corn, tomato salad, etc. The veranda has a labyrinth that will serve as our dance floor. We traveled to Europe for Thanksgiving this year and we LOVE the white light strands that line the streets. We would like to recreate that lighting outside as night falls. Orange lights would be fun too! We are wine club members and love Santa Barbara and Sonoma County wine so will be purchasing wine for the next year. Another fun element I would like to incorporate would be - bears. Tom has grown a beard and as a joke we call each other Papa and Mama Bear - could be bear toppers on the cupcake tower (instead of traditional cake) or maybe a dancing bear at the ceremony!? We have many photos of the past 7 years and our childhood and would like to creatively display them at the reception as well. My big DIY project will be the escort cards that we want to write on flat stones that guests can take home and display in their gardens or window sills!
{ Megan + Tyler's story }
We work in Marketing and Advertising and we both obsess over details. We love well thought out design and want our wedding to be a reflection of our creative personalities. A few months back, we were asked to "model" as a bride and groom for an inspirational photo shoot. So, we have had practice being "bride and groom" once before, but this time it's for real! You can view photos of us and the shoot here. {Photography} Erica Ann Photography
{ DIY vision }
My fiance and I plan to get married in Portland, OR in the fall of 2012, we're looking at October 20th to be exact, but we're still narrowing down our venue options. We're looking for a venue that is a little offbeat (like us) we'd like a lofty space maybe with exposed brick and details that set it apart. My vision is a little nontraditional as well. I would like a neutral color palette wedding that has an organic, yet vintage feel to it. I'm thinking a lot of creams, rustic browns and some green succulents to break it up. Since we don't have a color per say, I want to focus on a "tweed theme" The men will wear tweed attire and the girls will have tweed accents that help pull it all together. Maybe we can even brand it as "tweed do".
The winning couple will be announced on Monday, February 13, 2012.
Can anything be more romantic than getting married in a palace? I was completely floored when I came across Joana + Mário’s fairy tale wedding. Inspired by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” the couple created a unique and beautiful garden wedding.
From Joana "we were looking for a venue that was timeless, that we knew would still be standing in 100 year’s time, filled with history, meaning and symbolism. We opted for a garden ceremony, with my bridesmaids leading the way, all wearing flower crowns (they looked stunning!!!). I walked to the altar to the sound of "For the Love of a Princess from Baveheart". It was magical!"
"Following
the ceremony, we served a cocktail dinatoire on the palace´s terrace. This
turned out to be a great idea, as it was all very dynamic and a lot of fun!"
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