I love when I get submissions reading along with the curious intricacies that shaped a couple, or even a designer’s creative process, what inspired them to decor & fashion greatness.  Fun tidbit about today’s beautifully styled Black & White wedding, the inspiration came for black & white taper candles via Five Stripes!  I completely adore the idea of that and my oh my how gorgeous is the physical manifestation of this candle inspired vision!!  Set in a wonderfully industrial environment, a setting of organic whimsy was created featuring a deep wood table & mix matched chairs, a gold rimmed heirloom china collection, suspended umbrellas as a centerpiece and naturally Five Striped candles!  Our bride and groom are gorgeously styled to boot with the perfect amount of reserve with a slight vintage nod.  This session is wonderfully on trend, modern with a beautiful nod to old, whimsical and sophisticated all in the same breath!

What Storyboard Likes…

Black, White & Brown All Over-  Black & white weddings are wedding palette classic that in recent years has taken more of a main stage notice.  While I love the idea, I often find it can get boring becoming a repeat offender.  However, in the right hands, an artful design eye, the possibilities are limitless!  What I am completely in love with regarding this lil black & white wedding is the introduction of brown, be it in the from of strong organic wood, or in softened brushed golds.  Black & White is still clearly the star of the day, but with the compliments of a much strong supporting cast, the overall feel is softer & more lovely to look at.  The choice of the wood table & gold rimmed heirloom china {supplied by Rosann Konieczny, the calligrapher!} was superb & serve as the perfect accompaniment.  I would love to see more black and white weddings with dash of something extra sprinkled in there.  Its a lovely next step in the evolution of this classic color palette!

Mary Poppins Is Jealous- Let’s just say it now, how amazing are those umbrella centerpiece lights?!?!?!  And they light up for crying out loud!!  There certainly is no shortage of whimsy to this beautifully styled session, with the umbrellas serving as a stunning focal point.  Diane, owner of The Vintage Type, painted the umbrella ceilings with gold spray paint, punched holes with grommets and threaded through a cord with a bare Edison bulb. Believe it or not, these amazing umbrellas are rent-able!  I think if I could tolerate seeing an open umbrella in my life everyday, I would totally need these for my house!!

Industrial Spaces- In general I have a huge crush on just about anything rustic industrial, however when it comes to weddings, for me, it ups the ante!  Raw spaces are so unique but with such a blank canvas in the wrong hands, they can become terribly underwhelming.  As a venue industrial spaces are truly phenomenal and can take on a decor life of their own.  Tall ceilings, exposed beautifully blemished brick, weathered wood, you name, each of those gorgeous elements lend themselves perfectly to inspiring the elements you can use to craft your day.  If you allow it, the room can help you choose the right table, the perfect chairs, the overall vibe & feel.  Another wonderful thing about having your fete in a space of this nature…. the color palette options are literally limitless!!  For those of you looking to completely break the model, run as far away from cookie cutter as one can, I highly suggest checking out industrial venues in your area and I certainly suggest teaming up with a stellar design team that can truly get such an amazing space to really sing!!

Vendor Love

Gowns: Lula Kate, Courtesy of Bella Bridesmaid | Veil: Something Borrowed Bride | Hair & Makeup: Julie Swenson Beauty,KMT Beauty, Melanie Rivers Beauty | Calligraphy: Rosann Konieczny, Calligrapher | Graphic Design: The Vintage Type | Floral Design: Zook Floral Design | Vintage Rentals: The Vintage Type | Styling & Coordination: Girl Friday, The Vintage Type | Photographer: Zlata Modeen Photography

From the looks of things on Pinterest of late, there is a serious sugar craving going on for ceremony backdrops that defy traditional setups in place of the more unique, creative & awe inspiring.  Personally I adore the idea of not just unique ceremony locations but an intriguing collection of elements to craft your very own signature look.  I really feel that creativity in weddings is reaching a gorgeous design crescendo of late with seemingly nothing off limits.  Vintage doors, window frames, books, lanterns, bicycles, ribbon, garlands, pinwheels, you name it, are just a few elements that have taken to decorating the ‘I do’ spot these days.  I wish this was something that was making such waves only a few short years ago, as I certainly would have loved to have gone this route myself!

Such wonderfully creative and at times innovative ceremony backdrops are the subject of this weeks Why It Works Wednesday!  I recently spotted a gorgeous gem of a backdrop on Ruffled {Which I realize last week’s WIWW also came from Ruffled!}, photographed by the amazing One Love Photo, with a strong bohemian vibe to the set up.  There are so many absolutely terrific elements to this ceremony spot, I am super eager to jump into things and bring to life why this wondrous installation works so well!  Let’s get to it shall we!

 *Photograph by One Love Photo

Sorry for the giganto photo, but I felt it was really important to view this suspended picture frame backdrop in its full glory, as large as the site will allow, so that you can properly take in the full effect!  Upon first glance it may seem like a very busy backdrop {this is not always a negative!} in truth there really are only 3 pure elements being played with here: picture frames, floral arrangements & string.  The first that we will discuss, and most certainly the focal point of the design are the frames.  Keeping with the current trend in weddings to mix-match, each frame is uniquely its own, with none repeating.  The key here is to pick small details that relate them to each other well enough to present a harmonious aesthetic overall.  Be it a style of craving, a detail within the pattern itself you name it. While design elements are indeed a part of why each frame was chosen, if you look back at the set up again, you’ll notice that each frame’s color is a beautiful tone, which also compliments its nearest neighbor.  Last but not least, to keep the flow of the design, each frame is its own size while the shape is kept the same, again an element that ties them together in their uniqueness.  Varying the frame’s in the size department keeps it fresh and interesting, each with its own reason to be looked at.

Each frame comes with its very own slightly mix-matched floral arrangement, each pinned on a different corner of the frame.  Here again repeaters, while unavoidable all together with only 4 corners to choose from, were kept to a minimum, keeping the visual as interesting as possible.  The blooms themselves are bold colors in striking orange, loud fuchsia, & pale purple.  These color demanding focal pieces stand out strongly against the darker wood and deep green of the surrounding area.  Notice how each arrangement as well, contains leafy stringy greens which serve to make each arrangement more abstract and unusual.  This design serves to connect with a more organic feel, how one could imagine they might be found in nature, as well as supplying a lovely air of whimsy!

The last element to the design is perhaps my favorite!  I am utterly in love how the strings were treated as a piece of the design versus something to be hidden and tucked away.  The beauty of the stringing job in this case is the angle at which they were hung.  Rather then boring ol’straight up stringing, each was tied closer together then the width of the frame creating an intricate lattice work in the open air above the frames.  The overall effect is something that is playful, light and airy.

I adore this backdrop and personally feel that even though it might feel very bohemian, in my opinion it easily translates to just about every wedding genre & theme.  The basic principles of great design, organic goodness & whimsy will carry over beautifully no matter what!  I highly encourage you to head over to Ruffled to view the full post on this wedding, as there are lots of lovely little elements of this wedding to enjoy!

Wedding Location: Seattle, WA / Wedding Photographer: one love photo / Venue: Robinswood House / Wedding Flowers: Ravenna Blooms / Wedding Dress: Milly from Nordstrom Wedding Suite / Bride’s Shoes:Joan and David / Hair and Makeup: Off White / Hair Accessory: Bride’s mother / Bridesmaids’ Dresses:Nordstrom / Groom’s Apparel: Tux Shop / Wedding Caterer: 12 Baskets Catering / Cake and Desserts: The Sweet Side Cake and Pies Alamode / Music: Sonny Byers and Jazz Trio (friend of Bride) / Wedding Favors:JonBoy Caramels

Styled inspiration shoots come and go, but they so rarely feature our wonderful military in their smart dress finest!  This early spring woodsy shoot features a sweet homegrown picnic!  Early strawberries, plush oranges, even a little guardian owl add an organic touch of earthiness and simplicity to the table.  While our groom is indeed sharply dressed in his Navy finest, our sweet bride dons an Allure gown with a simple single row of pearls on her neck & wrist for a spot of elegance.  Not one to stray to far from her down home roots, our bride added a dash of country to this rustic fete, wearing a pair of splendid cowboy boots!  Simple natural touches can easily transform any environment into a rustic playground!

Vendor Love

Dress: Allure – Bridals by Jodi| Table Decor : Sugar and Spice Photography & ModMoxieStudios
Photographer: Sugar and Spice Photography and Design Studio & Tracy Kin of TDK Photography

I am really excited to announce a new weekly feature on the Wednesday of each week called Why It Works Wednesday.  I have been marinating on this for sometime now and am excited to finally get the ball rolling.  Before I jump into the first post, allow me to explain what exactly WIWW {no why I am writing that out each time } is.  Each week I will be featuring one gorgeous element to a wedding {in photograph form} that has been pinned, tumbled, stumbled you name it.  Class favorites if you will, be it from the weddingverese or directly from our amazing features here.  The goal of WIWW is to explore what elements about said table set up, cake, bridal look etc, are at play that make it the amazingingness that it truly is.  Often everyone saves images for later, never fully understanding the why of how it all works so well together.  My goal for this section is to literally laundry list the elements at play, hopefully bridging that design gap from editorial awesome to something everyone will be able to take something away from to become more stylish!  Let’s get started shall we!?

Today’s feature comes to us from Ruffled Blog: Mint and Gold Winter Wedding with Utah Events by Design at the helm of things.  While the feature is indeed a winter time styled shoot, the color scheme is a classic, one that easily transcends time of year.  Our focus for today will be the place setting portion of the shoot which is dripping in minty golden goodness.

 *Photograph by Pepper Nix Photography

In my humble opinion, there are two very major elements at work in the design aesthetic along with three complimenting lesser features.  The two design big boys in this table setting are texture and shape.  Let’s tackle texture first.  There are a quite a few interesting surfaces within this setting, starting from the ground up, the table itself provides a smooth organic surface leading the way for a what is in contrast, a busy plate setting.  The base charger has a gently rolling wave pattern, while the dinner plate has a strong and powerful wood grain impression.  The build from the smooth table, to gently rolling wave to forceful wood grain builds much like a crescendo does in music.  Serving as the perfect punctuation, the softly frosted salad plate at the top, with snowflake print, compliments both the gentle & bold patterns, keeping the texturing in motion.  The plate in this stack that is perhaps the unspoken star, the anchor if you will, is the simple cream one with gold rim.  This piece serves as a calm in the storm, something to break up the chaos if you will, yet hold it all together so beautifully.  Without this mid layer, the various textures would be simply competing with one another, screaming for attention.  It is ever so important to always provide the eye with a break, a calm, when designing just about anything.  Two other strong textures on the table are the bold square beaded napkin ring, beautifully set against the smooth napkin and the enchanting glittered apple set up in its own smooth palace.  Each works wonderfully with the table as a whole, not to mention how it echos the plate setting in both forceful & smooth textures.

The other big element at work is shape.  The most obvious is the juxtaposition of the softened snowflake shape of the menu against all of the round on the table. By choosing a die cut snowflake menu, the team easily brought in a subtle winter feel as well as finding the perfect counter shape to not only compliment all the round {Plates, glassware, vase base, rose blooms, apple, even the spoon} but beautifully detract from it all the same.  Its a much needed break in the table, one that provide a focal pop.  Believe it or not, the cutlery is also hard at work & carefully chosen against the voluminous plates.  Thin, almost wiry, cutlery balances out the volume of the plate stack, offering a lovely change of pace.  Even the billowy lazy fold of the napkin in a strong & structured square napkin ring serves as another guiding piece to the shape game.  Each working to harmonize with the other while being a standout on its very own.

The three smaller elements of design that are equally as important are color choice, lines and the apple.  The tones of soft mint & muted gold are a wonderful departure from the screaming hot mint & brassy golds we typically see.  These relaxed tones allow for a calmer, more soothing feel to the table, one that creates an inviting & welcoming table.  Lines are quietly playing in the background, from the wood slates in the table to the paralleling table runners, each creating a contrasting movement against the plates, cutlery & so forth.  There is a quite motion to the table, reinforcing the soothing nature of the color choices.  Lastly, the apple.  While it might seem a trivial thing, I absolutely love it.  It is the whimsy the table needs and wonderfully pairs with the organic feel of the wood table.  Its a simple touch, but one that serves to bring a spot of life into such a soothing environment.

So what do you think of this gorgeous  setting?  What elements are you loving and likely to borrow for your own designs?  What are you feelings on the softened mint and muted golds, are you a fan of toning them down?  I would love to hear what your thoughts are!  Likewise I would love for you to send me beautiful set ups that you’d like to see featured on Why It Works Wednesday, so please send them along!  Xo~ Jess

To view the full feature {and you should its amazing!!} on Ruffled Blog, Click Here

Shoot Location: Sandy, UT / Photographer: Pepper Nix Photography / Event Design, Planning, and Table Decor: Michelle Cousins of Utah Events by Design / Shoot Venue: La Caille / Wedding Flowers: Urban Chateau Floral / Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier “Candy” via Alta Moda Bridal / Bridesmaids’ Dress: Alfred Sung via Lily and Iris / Hair: Kali Wengreen / Makeup: Kristen Packard / Wedding Cake: Cake-a-licious / Table and Flatware:Diamond Rental / Wedding Invitations: Freshly Minted Invitations / Calligraphy: Distinctive Inscriptions Calligraphy