Here Comes the Blog

Archive for March, 2010

Black, White & Pink….the perfect color scheme for the bride that loves pink, but doesn’t want to overwhelm her groom and guests with too much of the “girly” color. The great thing about pink is the variety of shades available ranging from fuchsia to dainty light pink to a bright hot pink and best of all, they all go with black and white perfectly. Adding a splash of your favorite shade of pink to things like the floral bouquets, wedding favors, and of course, the wedding cake is the perfect way to incorporate pink into the color scheme without going over the top.

In search of the perfect wedding cake….a picture is worth a thousand words so I’ve put together a montage of photos of some of my favorite black, pink and white wedding cakes (and cupcakes too). As you can see in the collage below, the options for incorporating pink into the cake are limitless.  Want some whimsy?  Try a retro black polka dot on top a bright white or pink fondant or how about a topsy-turvy style cake that incorporates round, square and tilted cake layers.  For a more traditional look, use pink roses, black and white damask, or classic scroll work with pink ribbons on your cake.  My personal favorite is the square tiered cake that incorporates a monogram initial within a large hot pink circle on the top layer….unique and fun all at the same time!

Having a cherry blossom themed wedding?  The black, white and pink color scheme may be the perfect choice for you.  Be sure to also check out my cherry blossom themed cake ideas in a previous post.

Photo Credit: Black White and Pink Wedding Cakes

Calling all modern brides! This fresh and cheerful color scheme should be right up your alley. The traditional black and white color scheme can be brought into the 21st century by pairing it with bright sunny yellow accents. I absolutely love this color scheme for spring and summer weddings!

If you’ve been a Here Comes The Blog follower, you know that I’m all about the dessert so I went on a quest to find my favorite black and white wedding cakes that featured bold yellow accents. What I found was a fantastic mix of both traditional and modern wedding cakes that I wanted to share with you. Check out the collection of cake ideas below.  Notice how black and white is used as the primary color scheme, but all of the cakes utilize bright yellow dots, colorful daisies, yellow roses, or yellow icing patterns to create this amazing array of images.  I believe that sunflowers with a dark black center would also be a fantastic accent flower choice for this color scheme.  If you love any of these cake designs, be sure to print out the photo and take it along to your wedding cake designer so they can get a feel for your style and color preferences.

Finally, check out the amazing black, white and yellow wedding inspiration boards at Wedding Fanatic.  They have ideas for all aspects of wedding planning.

Photo Credit:
1. black scroll wedding cake, 2. Yellow Invitation Suite, Menu, Program and Matching Cake, 3. yellow and black, 4. Big yellow daisey cake, 5. Simpson wedding cake, 6. Black and Yellow Cake, 7. Silhouette, 8. Sandy_wedding cake, 9. yellow flowers wedding cupcake stand

Weddings are all about personalization! And, since the wedding invitation sets the tone for the event, let’s talk about unique wording that adds flair and personalization to the RSVP Cards!

There are 4 essential ingredients to every RSVP  

1. Name{s}
2. Accept Line
3. Decline Line
4. RSVP date {usually 2 weeks prior to the wedding}

Name{s} _________________  {or} M _____________

____Accepts

____Declines

Please respond by {date}

Now that we’ve got the logistics down, let’s concentrate on adding the flair. Think about where you can introduce your style and theme of your wedding into the wording. Enter… your creativity. Let your wording style match your formality. For instance…

For a less-than formal Spring or outdoor wedding, your wording might read:

Name{s}________

______ Rain or Shine, we’ll be there!

______ Unfortunately, conflicting forecasts keep us from attending.

Kindly respond by {date}

In other words, consider all that makes your wedding special: the venue, the time of year, a cultural aspect, the color theme or an overriding theme, the formality… and incorporate that into your wording.

TURN your RSVP Cards into KEEPSAKES

If you leave extra space on your RSVPs, ask guests to:

• Write out one piece of marital advice on the RSVP. Think of the fun you’ll have getting them back! Guests might even be more inclined to respond sooner than later. Plus, you can share the laughs by reading a few at the reception. Fun!
• Ask guests to include the dance song they would most like to hear the band/DJ play. {This will help you build your playlist too.} And, you’ll have great memories of the special songs played.

It’s all about sharing your style and making lasting memories. Have fun wording your RSVP Cards in the style and spirit of your wedding.

p.s.

Tip:  Number your RSVPs to match your guest list. In the event you cannot read someone’s handwriting, you will at least know who you sent the invite to in the first place.

Happy Planning!

Image source: from the Inspired Devotion Invitation ensemble from MagnetStreetWeddings

If you are having a spring or summer wedding, chances are that you’ve already found the perfect venue for your ceremony and reception….a lakeside gazebo, a garden arbor covered in purple Wisteria or sweetly scented Jasmine, the city’s botanical garden, etc.  However, you may not have chosen all your accessories or decided how to set the stage for your guests to be wowed at the reception.  One of the great things about an outdoor garden reception is that you can use the natural surroundings to set the tone, backdrop and color scheme for your tablescape.  While perusing the Weddingstar accessory catalog, I found this great photo of a table set for a garden party.  I love the combination of natural green and outdoor elements.

Here’s how you can create this beautiful garden party tablescape:

A lovely wooden teak table covered with a natural tablecloth provide the base for the tablescape.  Use simple pots filled with local grass varieties such as purple fountain and pampas grasses along with wildflowers such as daisies, snapdragons, cosmos, or guillardia to create stunning natural centerpieces.  By using a love bird theme, you can pull in elements such as mini love nest birdhouses and love bird salt and pepper shakers.  Simple white ceramic plates provide the place setting base, but elegant crystal stem toasting flutes provide a bit of sparkle against the otherwise natural base.  A top each place setting is a organic green woven box that was filled with candies and then tied with a palm reed.   Natural polished stone place card holders are cleverly slotted so that they hold a place card perfectly at each place setting.  Finally, oil stainless steel torches can provide some light once evening begins to settle in. 

What a beautiful way to celebrate your garden nuptials with a small group of family and friends!

Black and white is truly a classic wedding color scheme that has been used again and again by brides over the years. That said, a recent trend amongst brides is to add a great accent color such as green or yellow to the mix. And why not? A timeless classic spiced up with a punch of color is a great way to modernize a wedding.

Planning a Spring Wedding? Nothing symbolizes spring more than the emergence of green foliage so why not tie a fresh Springtime green into your wedding color scheme! One of my favorite things about green is the wide range of hues to choose from….lime, a yellow-green chartreuse, or a bright grass green are my favorite shades to pair with black and white.

If you are looking for some inspiration, check out the collage of wedding cake photos below. I’ve pulled together some of my favorite black and white cakes that feature green accents.  Whether you are going for a fun whimsical look or an elegant more traditional look, you can utilize green to achieve amazing results.  Patterns such as polka dots, stripes or tilted layers can be used to create more laid-back cake designs while patterns such as damask, quilting, and flourish can be used for traditional cakes.  Accenting with green bows or flowers such as calla lilies or orchids can also add a bit of pop to a beautiful wedding cake.

For more great green, white and black wedding ideas, check out this post on the What Junebug Loves Blog.  You’ll find all kinds of amazing photos to help plan your big day!  You can also find a wide range of black and white wedding favors at Wedding Favors Unlimited.

Photo Credit: Black and White Wedding Cake Ideas

Add a Splash of Romance to your black and white wedding….use red accents on your wedding accessories and of course, on your wedding cake! A classic black and white color scheme can sometimes be a bit stark and boring if it isn’t done correctly, but you can avoid the “boring” label by using an accent color like red. You can see in the montage of photos below that when it comes to the cake you can go in a wide range of directions.

Want a bit of whimsy?  Consider a topsy-turvy style wedding cake where the layers appear misaligned and seem to tilt as though they might fall over at any minute.  For good cake bakers, the threat of a great topple is truly an illusion.  Another way to bring in a whimsical touch is through the use of interesting patterns such as retro polka dots, diamonds, or stripes.

Prefer to have a classic style?  No problem, use red roses as accents on and around the cake.  Or use a classic pattern that is applied on the white fondant such as toile, damask or any type of elegant scrollwork.  The cake in the lower left corner of the collage that utilizes pearl-shaped modeling chocolate along with black bows around each layer would be a great choice for a classic, elegant black and white wedding.

If you got married in Las Vegas and are throwing a celebration party when you get home, a black and white cake with red accents will tie in the Vegas theme perfectly.  After all cards, dice, and poker chips all play off a black, white and red color scheme.

A classic cake or one with a bit of whimsy? 
No matter which one you choose, red is always a great choice with black and white.

Photo Credit: Black & White Wedding Cake Ideas

A romantic adventure! Whether you’re embarking on an adventure that takes you across the pond or one that takes you across the country, make sure you’re giving your guests plenty of time to plan for your destination wedding. Send Save the Dates ASAP and have your wedding website printed on them too. Your wedding website will be “command central” and a much needed resource in getting valuable planning info out to your guests.

Once the Save the Dates are sent begin brainstorming ideas for bringing the flavor of the destination into your wedding invitations. What is it that you love about your destination? Perhaps it’s the beauty of the area, the culture, the weather, the food…  Incorporate that special design or motif that resonates with your style and the locale. Sprinkle it throughout your wedding stationery. From the Invites to the RSVP and Enclosure Cards, to your Favors and Thank Yous, your wedding look will be consistent and you’ll generate incredible excitement with your guests about traveling for your big day!

Enclosure Cards are your Friends! Use them to include pertinent info: currency, airport and shuttle, average temps, reception times, local attractions… What else?

Welcome Baskets help guests feel special and right at home! Have them waiting in the hotel rooms when your guests arrive. Here are a few ideas of what to include:

• welcome note
• a wedding itinerary
• tickets to a local attraction
• toiletries: lotion, cotton swabs, sunscreen, travel sewing kit, mini-mani set, clear nail polish
• for the guys: shavers, shaving lotion, shoe polish
• Mini champagne bottles
• water bottles

What else?

Happy Planning

Destination Wedding Invitation

Image: wedding invitation design by MagnetStreet Weddings

Spring is just around the corner which means that it will soon be time for the cherry blossoms around the Washington D.C. tidal basin to be in full bloom. It just so happens that Spring is the season when brides choose cherry blossoms as the central theme for their wedding. These days brides incorporate cherry blossoms into the reception centerpieces, bridal bouquets, wedding favors and of course, the wedding cake. Traditionally, cherry blossom cakes feature brown stems with light pink to almost white blooms on the branches that meander gracefully up and down the cake tiers. Recently though, many brides are still using the cherry blossom motif, but they are incorporating other colors such as purple, teal green, light blue, and mauve into the color scheme for the cake.  Below are just a few of my favorite cherry blossom cake designs (be sure to scroll to the bottom to find the resource link for each photo in the collage).  If you are utilizing this theme at your wedding, be sure to check out this Cherry Blossom wedding idea lens at Squidoo for tons of great ideas for dresses, decorations, cherry blossom wedding favors, and more!

Image Resources:
1. Asian Inspired Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake, 2. Red Cherry Blossoms Wedding Cake, 3. Purple Cherry Blossom wedding Cake, 4. Stacey’s Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake, 5. Cherry Blossom Wedding cake, 6. white cherry blossom wedding cake, 7. Cherry Blossom Cake, 8. Wedding – 4-tier cherry blossom, 9. Cherry Blossoms and Pears Wedding Cake, 10. Cherry blossom wedding cake, 11. cherry blossom wedding cake, 12. Blue Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake, 13. Cherry Blossom Wedding Cake 2

Save the Date… or Not

It’s up to you!

I once read an extremely funny blog post whereby the author blamed ‘Save the Dates’ for guilt-ing the guests into attendance… because they’re sent early enough for people to adjust their schedules. So, he expounded on their inherent evils and selfish imposition on people’s time.  

Hilarious post. Ridiculous reason. {I’m quite sure that people still have free wills and attend events because they want to}

I’ve also read that Save the Dates aren’t needed stationery items.

If like we need air to breathe… then no, Save the Dates aren’t needed.  But then I really don’t need mascara or earrings~ yet I’m always wearing them.

It’s up to you!

Save the Dates are Helpful Planning Tools! If your wedding is on or near a holiday… during the busy summer months… OR perhaps if you’re planning a really cool destination wedding in the Bahamas… then your guests may need ample time and info to adjust their schedules and make the necessary travel arrangements.  In this case, Save the Dates are a courtesy that can easily include: your wedding website, travel, hotel and any other info you deem important.

Save the Dates are FUN! There are virtually no rules to follow. Yay! Since they’re sent anywhere from 6-12 months ahead of the wedding date, colors and styles are often times still being explored. So, unless you know your colors and want to start setting the tone with your Save the Date, you have free creative reign! So go ahead, show off that personality of yours! Have fun with it! I always recommend using a Save the Date design that has room for 1-3 photos. That way, you can introduce your fiancé to those out of town guests. 

What are your thoughts on Save the Dates?

I say go for it!

~Heidi

Save The Dates from MagnetStreet Weddings