Creative save-the-date ideas you can buy or DIY

Folks get pretty creative when it comes to their invitations and save-the-date notices. Earlier this year, a Redditor’s picture of his save-the-date went viral. Because they are having their wedding at a library — and if you read further down the thread, you’ll get more details about their wedding, including the fact that they’re having a gelato stand instead of a cake — their save-the-date was designed as a check-out card for a library book, with the relationship milestones and their approximate dates included. The final date and milestone on the check-out card is, of course, their wedding on June 22 of this year.

Reddit photo by bsbtauldl

It got me thinking — what other themes could you do when it comes to your save-the-date? The great part is that all the ideas I’ve found can either be bought for pretty cheap off of Etsy (here’s a library checkout card you can simply buy, or a bookmark in keeping with the books/library theme), or do yourself with some creativity and Photoshop, like this guy did.

Continue reading →

Wedding venues with pre-installed ceiling decorations

The readers here love, no, seriously, love ceiling decorations, which is why I’ve written a variety of articles about the subject. But its not an easy thing to accomplish and finding the right wedding decorator who can do ceiling decorations plus a venue that will let you do so might be more trouble than its worth. So why not find a venue with built-in ceiling decorations?

Facebook photo from The Castaway Restaurant

Continue reading →

Where to have a barn wedding in Southern California

Love the idea of a romantic, rustic wedding? Southern California is perfect for it — the weather is almost always warm and dry, and there are so many beautiful non-urban areas that have such facilities.

However, if you were hoping to find an actual barn in Los Angeles, I don’t know that you would have much luck. Most of the barns that I found were in Ventura and Orange counties, which makes sense — Los Angeles is known more for its city and ocean views, not so much for its farms. Most of these barns are also under the management of other entities — museums, cities, golf courses — so you don’t have to worry about having to muck out stalls to prep for your wedding.

Probably the closest barn for a wedding you’d find is just up the freeway from me, in Simi Valley.

Facebook photo by Strathearn Historical Park and Museum

As I’ve previously written, Strathearn Historical Park and Museum houses a 100-year-old church, a gazebo and a barn — and is probably a deal because it is a venue run by the Rancho Simi Recreation And Park District. Simi Valley is an easy 20-minute drive from most of the San Fernando Valley.

Continue reading →

Trends In 2013: Use your photos as decorations

I love taking photos, always have. I’ve been taking photos of my loved ones since, gosh, junior high, when taking photos involved film and a couple of days to get your pictures developed at the local drug store. Seeing as how we’re all so crafty and DIY now, and armed with smartphones with cameras that give us instantaneous photographs, it makes sense to incorporate more of those photos into wedding decorations.

Photo from photojojo.com

One of my favorite sites lately has been Photojojo. It has all sorts of accessories for iPhone users and photography enthusiasts, and its blog is chock full of DIY ideas on how to make your photos the centerpiece of your event. For example, the under-$5 contraption holds photos with the help of florist wire and rocks (or seashells). They call this the DIY Stone Photo Holder.

Continue reading →

Trends In 2013: Rainbow wedding theme

Whilst reading the tea leaves on Pinterest, it seems to me that there are some brides out there who really don’t want to settle on one color when it comes to their wedding. Instead, they seem to want to go with a rainbow theme, but with different details — bridesmaid dresses and shoes, jewelry, decorations and especially cakes. Who has the ovaries to go this route? I don’t know anyone personally, but judging by the photos out there, there are more than a few brave brides who incorporate the whole rainbow into their wedding.

Flickr photo by linh.ngan

As an aside, I was actually talking with a coworker about this topic, and impressed her by singing the colors of the rainbow, thanks to a ditty from The Cat In The Hat cartoon on PBS. So, what are the colors of the rainbow? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The Cat in the Hat indeed knows a lot about that!

Continue reading →

What wedding decoration trends will we see in 2013?

I’ve been busy looking over Pinterest to get an idea of what brides are planning for their weddings in 2013.

Source: 100layercake.com via Darleene on Pinterest

I know its only September, but before you know it, it’ll be the holidays and couples will be getting engaged left and right. Then, all of a sudden, it’s 2013, and what are people going to be doing to decorate their weddings? More burlap? More peacock themes? I’ve seen some predictions so far, namely from 3D Memoirs (which has some great ideas and examples). But based on what’s getting pinned, I have a few of my own ideas.

Continue reading →

Customized and printed aisle runners

When I was doing research on another post, I kept coming across these photos of custom aisle runners on Flickr. I was not even aware you could customize your aisle runners!

Flickr photo by www.chicuniqueinc.com

There’s a couple of ways that your aisle runner can be customized. The most popular customization seems to be the last initial of the groom (the new family name), the bride and groom’s first names and the date of their wedding. Makes sense, and its a nice souvenir of the big day. This aisle runner was done by a company called Chic Unique.

Continue reading →