Last week, I spent some time brainstorming an elegant Spring place setting. I was giving a lecture on Easter entertaining and wanted to show a range of place settings from casual to upscale traditional. For the upscale setting, I included a menu card and was trying to come up with a way to add a little sparkle and pizazz to it. The color palette was pink and gold and so I considered what gold accents I might already have on hand to dress up and complement the card. Not long after, I came up with this:
a vintage brooch dresses up a menu card (rentals pictured are from DC Rental)
I tied satin pink ribbon to a vintage brooch and attached it to the menu card to give it a little interest. I love the idea of re-using items that you already have in new and interesting ways when entertaining. Apparently, I am not the only one!
I absolutely adore this tablescape featured on 100 Layer Cake that uses second-hand clip on earrings as place cards. Gorgeous!
clip on earrings as place card holders (via 100 Layer Cake)
Baubled place cards via 100 Layer Cake
Another clever way to dress up one’s table is to drape costume jewelry necklaces — rhinestones or pearls work great — on a chandelier, candelabra, or vase or to weave them strategically through votives on a runner. The key is taking time to arrange the pieces until they complement and blend in with the existing setting.
Rhinestones draped on candlesticks create an elegant table (via Better Homes & Gardens)
What ways have you dressed up your table using uncommon goods in your home?
Personal and unexpected touches can set a wedding apart and make it even more memorable for the bride & groom and their guests. Thinking through each step of the guests’ experience — down to the smallest detail like checking a coat — can help a bride create personal touches along the way for her guests to ooo and aaaahhhh over.
I absolutely adore the idea of custom coat check tags. Since we are in the colder months now, the idea is particularly appropriate as guests will need to wear and check their coats at weddings and other events.
This coat check recently featured on Style Me Pretty is stunning. Instructions for making similar tags are included on the site.
custom coat check tag featured on Style Me Pretty; photo by Corbin Gurkin
Elizabeth Anne Designs also created an adorable DIY coat tag template that is featured on her blog. This particular one shows how even black and white tags can be striking.
DIY Coat Check Tags via Elizabeth Anne Designs
A similar template for coat check tags is available on Putting the R in Mrs, a site which chronicles other beautiful DIY wedding projects, as well.
DIY coat check templates available at http://mrs.allieandjosh.org
Here’s a roundup of stylish, yet easy-to-create Thanksgiving centerpieces. What I love about each of these is that they incorporate natural, organic materials.
I am still considering which one I might try out this year on my holiday table! Which is your favorite?
lentils and orange candles add an autumn tone to the table, from Every Day with Rachael Ray
fresh produce turns into a fresh, chic centerpiece, from Better Homes & Gardens
corn husk votives featured on Martha Stewart
leaves in clear hurricanes make for a modern table, from Martha Stewart
simple but beautiful centerpiece, as featured on Good Housekeeping
One of Snippet & Ink's many fabulous inspiration boards
Inspiration boards are a great way for brides to hone in on the style, color scheme, and overall vision of their wedding. By assembling images reflecting the tone and colors that are most appealing to them, they can begin to create a “master plan” for the design of their wedding.
Low-tech inspiration boards are easy to make by simply posting magazine clippings, fabric swatches, and other inspiration sources to a bulletin board or pasting them onto card stock. These low tech boards have the advantage of offering texture and true-to-life color, unlike their high-tech alternatives.
The portability of digital inspiration boards can’t be beat, however. Simplistic versions of digital boards are easy to make by dropping images into a Word document. More advanced boards can be created in design programs like Adobe InDesign or online at Dessy.
Dessy has a fantastic Pantone Wedding Tool that allows you to create an inspiration board staying true to the Pantone colors of your choosing.
Pantone Wedding: Wedding Tools
If creating a board seems overwhelming, brides can jumpstart their design juices by perusing inspiration boards on sites such as Snippet & Ink or 100 Layer Cake that regularly feature fabulous inspiration boards.
Still stuck? Check out this previous post on choosing a color palette for a wedding.
Wedding blogs are a dime a dozen, but only a handful really stand out. My latest wedding blog infatuation is with 100 Layer Cake which I just recently added to the Rex & Regina Blogroll.
Their colorboards are fantastic — not too cluttered and the color swatches included in each board make it even easier to visualize the scheme. I love this recent one featuring jewel tones.
Jewel Tone Colorboard from 100 Layer Cake
100 Layer Cake is chock full of inspiration for beautiful wedding elements. Their DIY section is absolutely excellent — replete with unique and clever ideas. The blog also boasts a rich collection of Real Weddings, providing even more dazzling eye candy for brides-to-be.
So click on over to 100 Layer Cake. I think you’ll see why they are my latest blog crush!
One of my all-time favorite wedding blogs, Snippet & Ink, recently posted a gorgeous inspiration board for a pale blue and autumn gold wedding. I fell in love!
Pale blue and gold inspiration board from Snippet & Ink
I am such a fan of gold — particularly for Fall weddings — because of its richness and warmth. When paired here with the coolness of the pale blue it creates such an elegant contrast.
Thanks, Snippet & Ink, for continuing to inspire us with your stunning collection of wedding inspiration!
Choosing a color palette for a wedding can seem like an overwhelming task. You like light pink but the room is dark red and navy blue. You are having a Fall wedding but want to steer away from traditional Fall colors. You think champagne is great, but your bridesmaids have made you promise to pick any color but that. Feeling stuck?
The Color Hunter allows you to determine the particular color palette reflected in an image. For an example of how it works, a client was recently struggling with determining the right palette for her wedding. I took photos of her venue space, uploaded one of the photos to Color Hunter, and generated a palette for us to consider. Easy peasy!
With Color Hunter and the Palette Generator, Brides can find inspiration for their wedding palette with a click of a button. While the tool won’t solve the ultimate problem of deciding which palette to choose, it’s a great way to help narrow the decision.
