Great Wedding Venues Outside the Box

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There aren’t many good things you can say about our current economic times but we all know that every cloud has a silver lining. Well I found this one:VENUES.

If you are still looking for you venue your should look outside of the traditional box of hotels and country club. Every week I hear about some new venue opening up, mostly as a result of a recession based FAIL.

This example just made it’s debut last week as an event venue.Spaces in Belle Meade. In it’s original state it was a high end mini mall sort of affair; a few walls were taken down and the space opened up a bit and now it absolutely rocks as an event space.

SPACES

SPACES

Keep you eyes open for unique new spaces in you area.

Here is the 411 on the event and venue above.

Many thanks to Anne Clayton at Music City Tents & Events for a fab party. (AS ALWAYS)

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Shabby Chic. Yep, It’s Officially a Wedding Trend

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I have been kind of tracking this for a while. I started mostly because a dear friend of the Dish, Vicki Sanders at Branching Out Event Design has a knock your socks off collection of containers that fit but also because I love the softness of the look.
I had thought I was seeing it pop up more often in recent months but today I had confirmation that it is or will soon be the hottest of hot.


Confirmation you ask? What confirmation? Well the images below were all taken from two of the hottest wedding blogs, Style Me Pretty and photographer Jasmine Star’s Blog.  The first two collages were taken at a photography workshop hosted by the fabulous photographer, Jessica Claire. Need I say more?  Enjoy!

Shabby Chic Wedding

Source: Style Me Pretty

Images from: Allisa Ferullo

Taken at : Jessica Claire Photography WorkshopShabby Chic Decor Collage

Source: Style Me Pretty

Images from: Kari Sikorski

Taken at : Jessica Claire Photography Workshop

Shabby Chic Wedding Decor Details

Images by : Jasmine Star

Shabby Chic Table Decor

Images by: Jasmine Star

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How To Save On Your Winter Wedding Décor

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If you are planning a winter wedding, now is the time to be stocking up.Winter Wedding Cake If you are going to DIY your décor for your winter wedding stop thinking wedding and start thinking Christmas! Head to Home Depot or the local WalMart.

Beyond the obvious twinkle lights, look at all that yummy garland and those cheap wreaths. Green, you say? Not for long I say!  A few aisles over is white spray paint, grab that. On your way home hit the craft store for white or iridescent glitter. Paint lightly, sprinkle with glitter while wet and !Voila! snow covered evergreens. Now I bet you wished you had stocked up on the paint and glitter to work your magic on the naked branches you can just cut from your yard. Plop those in a heavy vase, add a few crystal and you have a centerpiece.winter wedding decor

While you are at the big box store, look for mulit-packs of ornaments in white and silver to tuck into the greens. Last year HD had sets of 50 assorted ornaments in white & silver for under $30. Two of those will go a long way.

Don’t forget the fake snow. Buy bunches!biosnow1year

Check the dollar store for plastic snowflakes; again buy bunches. They are something like 4 for $1 for the small ones. This one is from Home Depot and is 12″ across so it is a bit pricier, but hey, you could still get a couple to hang from the ceiling.snowflake

Don’t forget the candles. You are in luck, white is usually available in bulk.

While we are on the topic of saving serious money on your winter wedding décor, here is one you may never have thought of: baby’s breath.

Baby’s breath is unbelieveable cheap. That is why so many low price florists use it as filler. But here is the deal: used in over the top abundance, by itself it can be pretty cool. Think of it as clouds of snow! Check out these two pictures.babysbreath
winter wedding centerpiece using baby's breath
All you really need to round out your look are the odd pieces of clear glass and silver. Beg, borrow,rent or thrift shop those and you are on your way.

Winter weddings really are the easiest to DIY. I did the cake for one on new Year’s Day a few years back. The family worked with their church to get permission too use the Christmas decorations in the parish hall. The day before, they pulled every bit of red out of the room decor, took all the fresh evergreens outside and flocked them white, replaced all the red with ice blue and it was DROP DEAD gorgeous! It looked like a winter fairy land.

You can do this. Just think outside the wedding box.

Click thru images to view source.

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Cool Lighting for Your Wedding Centerpieces

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Lookie what I found! Are these not the coolest?

Branches with battery operated lights with silk blossoms to add lights to your flower arrangements.

Organic Wedding Centerpiece with lighted branches

Lighted Branches for centerpiecesCenterpiece with lighted branches and butterflyI was at a networking meeting last night and ran across these. I have never seen them before and the ideas just started popping. The lights are attached to a battery pack and have a burn life of 36 hours. As you can see from this image they come in an amazing variety of colors.Lighted branches for flower arrangements in a variety of colors

Now usually I am not a fan of silk flowers, but these, wow! I can see how the addition of a one or two in a large arrangement would make quite a statement. What with the growing popularity of branches in wedding arrangements I think these would be a great choice. I also understand that you can break down the branches to make them small for low or smaller arrangements. What can I say, I am smitten. I wish I could show them too you in person.

Bella Aeris is a local Nashville company that is having them manufactured so I doubt you are going to find these everywhere. You can order from their website and they are available retail or wholesale to the trades. You can find them here. Be sure to check out their Flickr galleries. If you are in the Nashville area, they have a shop in the Mall at Greenhills.  I’m thinking field trip!

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Custom Invitations by My Personal Artist

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Meet the Creatives
So many of the people I know in the wedding industry are here because it is the outlet for their creativity. I thought it would be fun to start showcasing some of this amazing talent that surrounds us.

Michelle Miller Mospens

If you are a lover of beautiful watercolor art you are going to love the personalized invitations from Michelle’s company My Personal Artist.
It is a known fact that I am both an art lover and a paper fanatic, for me, that all comes together in Michelle’s incredible work.  Michelle hand paints these beautiful invitation with either her designs or ones she has created just for you. I can’t think of a more beautiful way to invite your guests than by sending them a piece of custom created art.
Even if you are a DIY bride, you can order Michelle’s beautiful work as the base to print your own invitations on.
You can check it all out here at Michelle’s site  My Personal ArtistMyPersonalArtistPhoto

1.Where do you find your inspiration, I mean besides client requests?
My eyes. No matter what I see (a dress, a plant, a color, etc.) I create an invitation motif in my mind immediately. It never leaves me. I’ve been designing invitations and stationery for 11 years it is second nature to me.

2. What do you enjoy most about what you do?
I love making my clients happy with my artwork and designs. Many clients are deeply connected with the theme of my artwork.


3. I ran a recent discussion about what wedding professionals wish brides know about what they did. In that vein, what one misconception would you clear up if you could?
I would say KEEP IT SIMPLE. Most questions I have they look too deeply into it. I guess they think it is more difficult than it actually is. For instance, “do-it-yourself invitations you print at home”. Super easy and saves money. Most brides I talk to don’t realize you simply pop my “art print” cards in your printer and print your wording directly on them. Super simple.


4. Yes I really do love your art. Do you have a fine art collection? If so, where can we see it/love/ buy it??
Thank you for your kind words. I’ve been asked that question more than I can count the past 11 years. As of today ONLY ONE couple in Texas owns 1 of my paintings. I recently bought several large canvases and paints. I’m ready. Where to sell? I’m thinking etsy.com. I do have michellemospens.com reserved to showcase my paintings in the future! Time will tell!
Keep us posted Michelle. I would love some of your work for my walls!

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Black & White Wedding Details

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There is something so pure and elegant about black and white. It highlights the design in sharp relief. Rather than being able to rely on pops of color, the designer must concentrate on line and form.  When it is well executed, it is truly beautiful.
Here we see black and white wedding cakes that play with shapw and form to create art. In these wedding bouquets it is the contrast that makes the statement.

What can you say about the black and white table decor except that is it stunningly elegant. The addition of the black stemmed wine glasses make the statement even stronger.

As always, the devil in in the details my friends.

Black & White Wedding Details

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Inspiration for Your Wedding Cake

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One of the greatest joys I have ever had was when a bride brought me something to use as inspiration to custom design her wedding cake. 😀 Even though I no longer create sugar art, I am still inspired to design. Such was my mood today as I was viewing the gowns from this weekend’s couture wedding market in New York. Grabbing paper and pen, the sketches flowed as naturally as ever.
So in the hope that you will find inspiration here is the first in a series of inspired cake designs.

This gown from Claire PettiboneClaire Pettibone lace back wedding gown inspired this sketch for an all white, very textural cake.  The lace of the gown would be recreated in royal icing on fondant using a technique called brush embroidery. Once the royal icing work was done, I would go in and add minute touches of silver leaf and iridescent power, maybe even some edible glitter to the raised art to give it the same feeling of glitz and crystals as in the gown. Wedding Cake Design by Christine Boulton
The overall shape of the cake is tall and narrow, as is the gown. I made the bottom tier a bit wider to echo the slight flair as the gown grazes the floor. The tiers are 4” tall and in diameter are 4, 6, 8, 10 and 14. By the calculation I used to use for my cakes, it would serve 300 but your mileage may vary.

Gown photo courtesy of The Brides Guide

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Feasting Tables for Your Wedding

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Maybe it is the nip of fall in the air or maybe it is just that I’m tired of seeing ballrooms set with a sea of round tables; but I’m currently loving feasting tables.Feasting Tables for Your Wedding


There is something lovely about the look of a long table that runs down the center of the room, seemingly going on for miles. It feels so much more like family to be seated that way. It kind of reminds me of all those family dinners as a child. Isn’t that really the kind of feelings that you want for a day this special?

Sources

top left

bottom left

center

right

Filed Under: Flower Friday, Wedding decor Tagged With: , ,
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