Seriously, can we just chat a moment about the checklist of awesome that is happening in this wedding?!  Mix matched floral bridesmaid dress, a carnival frame ceremony backdrop, hand drawn wedding couple cartoon art, a succulent garden, various cheeky, family owned & thrift store found vintage decor touches, oh and a light blue Betsey Johnson dress wearing gorgeous bride!  Phew, holy run on sentence batman, but so worth it!  I am so very much in love with this offbeat wedding that reflects the couple style & personalities to a T.  The bridesmaids are equally stunning with perfect hair & make-up, while the groomsmen are as dapper as ever.  I think the reason this wedding reaches out to me as it does, is that it is so very clear to see who Bailie Scott & Curtis Burgess are and I love that they used their wedding a place to show case that!

SBW Note:

Hum…what?!  This is amazing.  I have ever seen this before!  I need this toilet paper, I mean, come on!!

“Curtis and I wanted to keep our wedding intimate and true to who we are (fun-loving, silly, and quirky). We mixed my love of vintage tablecloths/napkins and housewares with Curtis’ love of all things eccentric and unexpected. I used old scales, cameras, and tablecloths I had collected from my grandmother’s house and thrift stores as well as tons of oversized paper flowers. Curtis painted our wedding invitation which featured a squirrel bride and fox groom. He also made a huge backdrop for the ceremony.  It was very 50s vintage meets colorful Tim Burton-esque eccentric quirkiness.”

“Since you can officiate yourself in Colorado, we had our siblings officiate for us. We focused on how a relationship is not only made up of a couple, but also every individual around them. We did a handfasting ceremony instead of exchanging rings. We asked each guest to tie a knot into a piece of ribbon which symbolized their love and support for our marriage.  We tried to ask friends to be involved in all the aspects, so almost everyone that helped was a friend of a friend.  We were lucky that we know some talented people!”

Brides Favorite Moment:

“We couldn’t think of a more meaningful place than our own home that we already shared so many memories in…including our first kiss!!!!  After our ceremony was over, we took a brief walk around our neighborhood, just the two of us. It was probably the best moment in that we were able to completely focus on one another and the fact that we were married.”

Bailie is an assistant manager at a waxing studio, The Screamin Peach (they also did her make-up!) while Curtis is a tattoo artist at Tribal Rites.  Curtis & Bailie met when she went to Tribal Rites for a tattoo, which Curtis gave her!   Living in Fort Collins, Colorado, they have an adorable english bulldog, Felix, and are expecting their first child!

Vendor Love

Ceremony Venue: Couple’s Home
Reception Venue: The Lincoln Center
Wedding Dress: Betsey Johnson
Bridesmaid Dresses: Louise Hedley-Sohomode
Shoe Designer: Converse and Irregular Choice
Hair Stylist: Studio Be Salon
Makeup Artist: Screamin Peach
Florist: Alternative Blooms
Caterer: The Rainbow Restaurant
Baker: Beet Box
Wedding/Event Planner: Inspired Vintage Rentals
Photographer: One O.A.K Photography

I quite often hear a lot of brides very strongly floating the idea of doing their own flowers for their wedding in effort to save money.  While I understand where they are coming from, let me stress something really important.  Your wedding day, no matter how well planned, no matter how well executed, no matter how well prep the days leading up to it went, will be chalk full of more then enough things to do and worry about, like yourself.  Trust me, its a big task really.  The more you layer onto your To-Do list, the harder it all becomes, even with a small army for help.

Hubby & I personally took on a lot, A LOT of DIY tasks, well I so on the DIY side, he so on the logistics side, the result?  I was a freaking nightmare for the 3 days leading into my wedding.  I dont mean bridezilla, but I do mean visibly over stressed, trying to hold about 50 loose ends together, remembering not to forget details, organizing this and that and more so.  I literally could not shut off my brain.  Sleeping was pretty much impossible.  If I had thought to add doing something as huge as my own flowers for the wedding….eek!  I probably would have exploded.

Understand, flowers are a fickle fickle thing, each unique in its own needs leading up to show time.  If you dont have the proper place to store them (you will need them a day or so before you even work with them), then store them once they become centerpieces & bouquets, dont even consider this.  Execution is another major factor, do you have someone that you really feel confident in to assemble them and execute as needed?  You certainly wont be walking into your own wedding adjusting as needed, so get that out of your mind.  Do you really want to risk walking in the room for the first time and rather then feeling elation and joy, thinking, crap that flower is out of place, or that doesnt look as good as it did in the picture and so on?

Floral is actually an area where I think brides assume they can skirt on in attempt to save money.  I completely disagree.  Its risky in a way that could totally kill your joy of the day in a way you arent even considering yet.  Florist are a super important part of the day that takes pressure off that you never even imagined.

The Sweetest Occasion DIY Floral Centerpiece

With all that said, I know there are those of you that no matter what I say, will still want to try it, maybe even for the rehearsal dinner vs the big day.  I am not telling you its a terrible decision, I just think its a lot more work then you realize and a lot could not play out as you would hope.  As I come upon DIY’s for great centerpieces & floral arrangements, I will continue to pass them along all the same. I cant stop you, but perhaps I can guide into ones that are easier then others.  If nothing else, they can also serve themselves for other occasions.  Anything from a dinner party, engagement party, rehearsal you name it.  The Sweetest Occasion has a super cute, pretty low fuss DIY Centerpiece featuring tulips & peonies (though this can be easily done with various blooms).  The idea in theory is simple and it is defiantly something I want to try out for a dinner party in the near feature.  For the full DIY, head to The Sweetest Occasion

*All photographs by Alice G Patterson Photography

Morning everyone!  I am sad to say that I am feeling a bit under the weather and will have to defer today’s post to tomorrow.  In its place, I am showing the post that I actually had the opportunity to write as a guest contributor spot for the lovely Ashley Nicole Catherine blog that went live on May 14th.  I am actually really glad I have this opportunity to share this post with you guys.  I love color, and the idea of getting wonderful color combinations from just about anywhere!  Hope you enjoy it!

Once you get engaged, pretty quickly there after all the wedding related questions start to flow.   One question that no bride can avoid is…dan dan dah!!  What are your wedding colors?  It’s a constant question no matter what kind of bride you are, much the same way what you do for work always seems to get asked.  Color is a super important key part of a wedding, but I must admit, I have one…small…gripe.  Often times I think brides feel (or maybe it doesn’t occur to them) they can only select one single color and there by create… the monochromatic wedding.  Now there isn’t a thing wrong with that if that is really what you want, but I’d like to open your eyes to pops of color & introduce you to my personal BFF, the wedding palette!

Why choose just one color when so many ultra vivid hues vibe perfectly together in harmony.  Think of it this way, ever go to paint a room in your house and hunt for that perfect color?  You stumble onto a paint supply site and are then confronted with not only your main choice of color, but complimentary accent colors?  A wedding palette is at heart, the same thing.  You can blend together amazing colors, colors you never really considered that worked together, to create a breath taking moment.  Let’s be honest, we are all trying to create heart stopping moments with our wedding days, aren’t we??

So fine, now I have your ear regarding various colors in a wedding, but how you’re asking, how do I create a palette, how do I get inspired?  Oh there are so very many delicious places for inspiration!  Photography of nature, imagery of the latest fashions, mouth watering pictures of food, yes food, and so much more, can supply the simplest & most captivating palettes.  Don’t believe me, watch this J

I’m gonna pump the breaks for one tiny second here, I know I know, I juuuust got you all interested but this is important, promise.  There is one small key element to making color beyond powerful that I also don’t think many brides realize….texture.  Why texture?  Simply put, light reflects, dances & moves in the most interesting of ways depending on what it is hitting.  Various textures can bring a hue to life, or politely tone it down where needed.  The right material, right accents can be so damn powerful when it comes to color.

So lets have a look shall we at some inspiration and the palettes you can pull from them to really bring home the most amazing day.

This photo is the perfect place to slide us into our study of color theory!  Look how incredibly harmonious these pastel colors work together!  Don’t you just feel a sense of calm when looking at this photo!  So how to apply right?  Bridesmaid dresses of soft green, pale peach or even muted light grays.  Toss in accents of those very colors in their shoes, hair accessories, etc, to start to tie it together.  I envision tables with soft light gray linens, mint chargers, vintage lightly worn silverware, peach napkins or bread plates.  For the floral arrangements I see thick full creamy garden roses with young ivy vines & peach colored berries.  I might even go as so far as to actually incorporate real peaches into my table scape which would bring an earthy organic feel.  If you notice, there is a burgundy pop in the tea cup at the top, I can totally see small well placed drops of Burgundy being used around the room for smaller more accent elements of décor, even worked into centerpieces or table numbers!  Are you starting to get the picture?!

 Now lets really get into it shall we.  What about a much stronger color palette?  Here again its really personal taste.  The dresses your bridemaids where, will indeed be a focal point and interpreted as your main color, so choose which color works best for that reason, for you.  The rest of the colors are icing on the cake if you will.  For fun, lets go with Turquoise/Teal BM dresses, sharp purple sashes or accessories, maybe even a splash of metallic silvers.  I love the idea of a lush deep green cake, accented with a mixed bag of icing colors of purple & turquoise then placed in a ruffle effect on the cake layers creating a look similar to the 2 differing chiffons over one another in the dress.  Having fun playing with color yet?!

 But what if you really want to keep to one color?  Ok no worries, Ombre it out!  Go with various items in differing tonal ranges of the color that you’ve fallen for.  Shades of the same color bring their own harmony and compliment the others while still being very interesting!  Word of advice though, be careful as you combine, some shades of a color do not always play nice with others.  Look at them as a group before going full steam ahead.

Remember when I remarked about texture and how texture can really define a color?  Case and point right here.  Yes, in principle the colors are black, white , brown & pop of peach, but come on!  With the sheerness of the blouse that brings a muted black & the absolute smack in the face of light bounce that is the black sequins, how can you not rethink a stunning black & white wedding with a metallic peachy bronze pop!  This is defiantly one look that could easily hold a strong black and white print such as a damask or even yes, animal!  I think I just swooned!

This image could actually take you to a lot of places, but for the purpose of this post & exemplification of my imagination I bring you…. FLORAL!  Oh yes, floral.  I absolutely love floral bridesmaid dresses!  Soft floral, small flower pattern would be absolutely stunning!  Creamy dreamy peonies would play up perfectly to the soft milky whites for bouquets.  How adorable would mix matched muted plates in a variety of soft colors be for dinner?!  Any bride loving the idea of a rainbow wedding, but finding it not quite chic enough for them, should really consider this as an option.

Well I hope I gave you some great things to think about concerning the colors of your wedding!  They are a very important and defining part of your day and an area you should absolutely have the most fun with!  I highly suggest color palettes & using day to day captivating photographs to inspire you to hand craft your dream wedding.  I have included a few more wonderful inspiration photos below to hopefully stir your inner hue diva.  If you have any questions, want further clarification, or suggestions, by all means, please ask!  I’ll be responding to comments here or you can always reach me on Storyboard Wedding!

I dont know why but this DIY is totally bringing out my farm girl roots… I am in love with this idea ya’ll!  This is one of the few things I have seen post my own wedding, that makes me go oh sh*t!  I wish I had seen this for my wedding!  This would have gone soooo perfectly with our decor.  Ugh Grrr, but I digress.  Hopefully however this will inspire some brides to be & give them the opportunity for their own weddings.

I have a total sweet spot as it is for using old books, book pages, you name it.  I looove succulents.  I couldnt even exactly tell you why, I just do.  Combine them you say?!  Unimaginable!  As it turns out, the ladies at Green Wedding Shoes featured a wedding (Ps-A totally gorgeous wedding, a click through must see! ) that actually used these as part of their floral decor, reached out to the designers, Wendnesday & got the details, passing them onto their readers!  The overall DIY is super easy & fairly low cost, a book, moss,  a few succulents & there you have it.  For extra credit you can toss in some lovely fabric flowers (link to tutorial for flowers is in the DIY post) or even make some super cute heart adornments.  I think I might make some of these for the apartment just because.  What do you guys think?  Is it love?!

*Photos by ee photography