Project Wedding Blog

This past weekend, Project Wedding got a first look at some of the gorgeous bridal styles for 2010!  Among some of our favorite collections of the new season was Claudine for Alyce Designs.  We found the Claudine collection to be a perfect fusion of European elegance and contemporary style and we fell in love with the rich fabrics and intricately beaded embellishments.  Here are some of our favorite styles from the collection:

From Left to Right: Style 7261, Style 7222, Style 7227, Style 7703

Style 7227

This dress features asymmetrically draped fabric which is great for the figure. We love the very sweet, yet intricate light blue beaded belt at the natural waist and bubble hem skirt.

Style 7222

A great alternative to strapless- this sweetheart neckline with off-the-shoulder straps reflects a timeless sophistication that we simply adore.  The draped and elongated bodice adds a contemporary and curvaceous twist to a classic style.

Style 7223

While this dress features beautiful shape and fit, we are head over heels for the embellishments.  This dress is for the feminine and romantic bride who is not afraid to make a statement and be the center of attention.  The strapless lace bodice makes a stunning contrast to the ruffled skirt and can be complemented by an exquisite lace bolero.

Tags: Alyce Designs, Claudine Bridal.

PW and Papeterie have partnered together to offer a set of designer wedding invitations that match your wedding website or wedding map! One of my favorites is the Dogwood Branch invitation suite, which has a matching website and map!

Papeterie just redesigned their website, so please check it out and let me know what you think! Even better, they are offering a 10% discount exclusively to Project Wedding members! Enter the coupon code “projectwedWL” and get 10% off at Papeterie until October 31, 2009.

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The bride and groom held their reception at the Academy of Sciences, where the animals and penguins are exhibited! I love the playful way the reception decor pops in the images with vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, and greens.

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My sister’s friends got married this weekend and were extremely fortunate that one of their friends, Dave Lu, is actually an amateur photographer who took some amazing non-pro pics! I love how the bride played with color and texture in her wedding - from the peach sash, to the gorgeous patterned bridesmaids dresses, to the whimsical centerpieces and invitations. This wedding just screams PARTY! It just goes to show how fantastic a “frendor” can be for brides who are planning with a limited budget. If these are just the non-pro pics, I’m sure the pro pics will turn out fabulous!

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Our Budget Savvy Bride Contest just started this week, and already we have some absolutely fantastic entries with great tips on how to save big time when planning a wedding.

Check out the story of Amy’s Black and White Wedding with amazing texture and details, all for less than $7,000.

Hillary has some amazing advice on getting friends and family members to help out. Even better, her wedding day attire (dress, veil, brooch, bracelets, earrings, and shoes) came out to just $213! Find out more about Hillary’s amazing story here.

Sophieblossom is using her second-hand know how to create the wedding of her dreams for less than $1,000. Check out the details here.

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Event Design and Description by Lollipop Events and Designs, Photography by Cary Pennington

Sunny days under the palms transform your party into a modern deco event! Bright colors of yellow, black, and white give your table a contemporary look that could work for any event, from a cocktail party to wedding reception! This bold table combines the glamorous illusions of mirrors, to the enchanting touch of the daisy flower balls, for an stimulating effect!

Table:

Start by simply throwing a standard white table cloth onto your table. Then, to add the bold stripes of this contemporary look, find a table runner that is brilliant with colors! We used black and white for this look, but get creative and use the colors that inspire you! To add the bright sunny Palm Springs feel to our décor, we added a small table runner made out of wrapping paper on top of the striped table runner, to give a pop and layering affect to this modern look. To line the paper, we glued on black velvet ribbon to finish off the look, giving it the appearance of a fabric table runner. Use any color of ribbon or size to create a different effect on the table.

Centerpieces:

Can you see me? Mirrors are the inspiration! From the mirror candlestick holders to the placemats, your guests will see themselves from every angle! Simply get three mirror candlesticks, one higher than the other two for a main centerpiece. To play with the illusions of the mirrors, top off the candlesticks with a ball of dainty daisies, incorporating the colors of yellow and white!

On each side of the mirror candlesticks add a playful modern ceramic animal, giving the table a bold geometric pattern look. From a horse to a geometric shape, be creative with this simplified ceramic form, to create look you want for your fete!

Next, add four square small black vases, two on each side of the ceramic shape, to integrate the bold modern look, while tying together the black stripes of the table runner. Simply add white roses into the vases, arranging the roses so that the buds are perfectly above the rim of the square vase, giving it a full bodied affect.

Table Settings:

Sophistication, elegance and glamour were the inspiration for this table setting! The mirror placemats are the epitome of elegance! You can find simple circle or square mirrors at your local craft store. We then placed classic patterned platinum-lined china onto the mirror to transform this table setting from ordinary to extraordinary! If you don’t have this china, simply use all-white fine dinnerware to give your table the same look.

For the napkins, simply find a pattern that offsets the bold strips of the black and white table runner to mix & match the patterns. We then used the same wrapping paper and velvet ribbon of the small table runner to make stylish bellybands, linking together the sunny bold yellow color of the deco look with the glitzy facade of the mirrors. You can place the napkins in any position you’d like! Play with them to see what fits your table! We positioned ours hanging down, springing color onto the white table cloth. To finish this table off, put your baking apron on! We had cupcakes made with yellow and black dots to add a sweet taste to our modern look!

Paper Candy:

For this super stylish table featuring bold colors, patterns and centerpieces we wanted to remind the guests the goal of the night… to have fun! We played with them a bit by making them find their own dinner! Menu items were hid in the word jumble for the hungry guests to find. Little yellow golf pencils could not have matched more perfectly! Please see our paper candy section to purchase semi-custom menus similar to these.

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I was reminded this weekend at a baby shower how lovely and simple these hanging bursts of color are!  Martha Stewart really does know a good thing or two.  This is from 2006, but a great idea doesn’t go out of style.  These pom poms are so easy to make, and truly customizable for any wedding, bridal shower, or even for decorating your own home!

Martha Stewart tutorial

Tags: decorations, DIY.

Because of the current economy, lots of couples are opting to exchange vows and celebrate at home. Whether you have your wedding inside during the colder months or outside during spring and summer, there are several things to know about having your wedding at home.

First of all, unless you own or can use a very large house, it probably helps to keep the number of your guests manageable and realistic. Home weddings are often very intimate and involve close family and very close friends. Usually, the décor is kept to a minimum inside the house, but outside can another story altogether. A backyard wedding can be a blank canvas and really is only limited by the couple’s imagination. You can do any theme you desire: posh backyard BBQ, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, or traditional.

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You can set up the ceremony as you wish using an arch or perhaps even a concrete bench with candles. Lots of couples rent tents and the decoration can be no holds barred.  You can sprinkle rose petals down the aisle or put luminaries on the ground to light the bride’s path. Trees can be used for hanging lights or even paper lanterns. Small, inexpensive chandeliers would also add some flair and luxury. 

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Catering can be done anywhere, so having your home wedding catered should be easy. Hiring a bartender is nowhere near as expensive as people might think and buying your own liquor at a wholesale club will save you money. Serve beer, wine (both white and red) and one or two signature drinks, plus water, soda and juice. Also having wait staff with passed appetizers for just the cocktail hour will add a touch of class to your affair.

If you’re outside on a chilly day or evening, think about getting a fire pit where your guests and can roast marshmallows for s’mores. Hot Cocoa, coffee and tea would be great to warm up your guests.

Tags: Home Wedding.

We all love a little J.Crew in our lives, but its not always so easy on the pocketbook. Well, we did a little digging and have found a beautifully economically-saavy ensemble not only for you, bride-to-be, but also some very cute ideas for your bridesmaids that won’t break the bank!

For the bride…total cost under $850.00

Silk tricotine Sophia long dress, $295.00

Carmen Satin Peep Toes, $265.00

Pearl Garden Bracelet, $75.00

Pearl Stud Earrings, $55.00

And for your Bridesmaids…each outfit is under $150.00!

Option One:

Silk chiffon Sophia dress, $49.99 (regularly $165.00!)

Martine two-color satin heels, $79.99 (regularly $245.00!)

Option Two:

Strapless Florence dress, $59.99 (regularly $250.00!)

Martine two-color satin heels, $79.99 (regularly $245.00!)

Option Three:

Silk chiffon twist-tank dress, $49.99 (regularly $170.00!)

Tabitha T-strap satin heels, $79.99 (regularly $235.00!)

And there is even something for the little darling of the bridal party…and under $110.00!

Girls' cotton eyelet Liya dress, $69.99 (regularly $158.00!)

Girls' Millie satin ballet flats, $39.99 (regularly $118.00!)

Want a coordinated look? J.Crew has got you covered!

Grenada palm pleated halter dress, $139.00 (regularly $198.00!)

Girls' silk palm-flower Beatrice dress, $59.99 (regularly $158.00)

Happy shopping!

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Now these are probably some of my favorite DIY entries so far to our DIY wedding challenge. (By the way, I am not a judge for the challenge… I just appreciate and recognize good DIY.) Anyway, TheBunny posted some photos and directions for all her DIY projects and… wow… I was absolutely floored.

From the bride…

Above is a picture of the silk box that housed our wedding invitations. I saw these on-line but they were way over my budget so it became my very first “DIY”. I purchased the chocolate silk gate fold box on-line, hand selected the gold duponi silk ribbon (used all throughout the wedding) and ordered a swarovski brooch closure. After figuring out the slack needed for the ribbon and the perfect fabric glue…I was off! They came out GREAT and VERY affordable. They really set the tone for our wedding!

Above is a picture of the hanger I made for my hubby! I felt that the grooms role was really minimized by all the accessories the bride has and my honey is not to be minimized.

I purchased VERY small wood letters from a local craft store, stained them with the same wood stain I used to create our centerpiece box (another DIY below). I had a custom made stamp of our “wedding flourish” created so I could emboss items such as this to make it personalized to our wedding. I used the stamp to emboss the letters and I purchased a crown that I used wire cutters to cut in half. I then unscrewed the metal hook of the hanger just enough to add a bit of height so the crown could have room to sit on top. I also spray painted the hook gold.

Hubby Loved It!!!

Above are three serving trays I made. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!

Tray #1 is full of crystals with a chocolate brown ribbon trim and a oval swarovski slide buckle. Tray #2 was a tufted luster paper with swarovski jewels on the high tufts. A gold organza ribbon accent and I attached a brooch that WAS actually a napkin ring from Target (set of 2 for 4.99!) The swarovski band was actually a dismantled belt from a tacky little store. That belt went a LONG LONG way……I purchased yards of swarovski trim from the fabric store and it was so expensive…I was determined to find a cheap alternative and still have genuine swarovski…well rhinestone cowboy “THANK YOU!”  Tray #3 was my FAVORITE…photos don’t do it justice. The movement of the ostrich feathers looked so wonderful when it was being passed! Again I finished it off with a 4 row Swarovski band (and again……..thank you to the belt and my wire cutters)

All of these trays were made from acrylic picture frames and I reinforced the center with additional acrylic so the middle would not sag with the weight of the drinks. This way it was functional and looked like the drinks were being carried on feathers, crystals and clouds!

The above picture is my Swarovski mirror! SO MUCH SPARKLE!!!!! OMG! I purchased a vintage hand held mirror on Ebay. I first spelled out my NEW last name (Mrs. Borges) in Aquamarine swarovski crystals and then filled the rest with clear swarovski stones. I will cherish it forever!

Above is a picture of the gifts for the moms. I had a few invitation boxes left over so I used them to present the gifts in. I stuffed the box with ostrich feathers and had a calligrapher write a poem that I made up on it. We had so may extra pieces of paper from the calligraphers request 15% overage it was needing to be put to use. On each side of the box I attached a gold organza ribbon and adheared a locket. On the left, a sephia image of my husband when he was a toddler and on the right, a sephia image of me also when I was a toddler. Of course I then stuffed the pockets with plenty of Kleenex! The actual gift was a gold necklace with a gold nest pendant that held three pearl eggs in the center. I was very maternal to me and symbolic of motherhood. Also, something I thought they would both actually like! The poem read a bit differently for each, I presented my mother-in-law with her gift and my husband presented my mom with hers:

You brought him up in a warm, loving nest,

Cared for him and raised him to be the best.

Wear this pendant as a symbol of his love for you

and my gratitude for a man I am honored to vow, “I do”

 Shawn and Erin 01/03/09

 You brought her up in a warm, loving nest

and cared for her and raised her to be the best.

Wear this pendant as a symbol of her love for you

and my gratitude for a woman I am honored to vow, “I do”

 Shawn and Erin 01/03/09

 As you can see, they LOVED the necklaces!

The centerpiece box was a 12′ wood box that we constructed and stained chocolate brown. It housed three manzanita trees and was so beautiful! The box was wrapped with two layers of ribbon and a two-row swarovski trim. The layers were: gold duchess satin, Sage organza with a silver edging and then of course the two row swarovski crystal banding to top it off. I spent MONTHS lightly gluing the organza to the silk and many more months sewing between EACH swarovski to attach it to the two layers. Then I carefully nailed it to the box! I used the same ribbon all over the wedding (gold ribbon was on the invites remember????). Here are other ways I decorated the venue with this DIY ribbon accent.

 I used the ribbon to create a clean edge on the mantles of both fireplaces at our venue.

 I left the crystals off and attached a HUGE swarovski ornament to the end of the ribbon and use it to cinch the linen into an hourglass shape on our highboy tables.

Above are our favor boxes. They were wooden boxes I purchased from the craft store. I wrapped them in chocolate brown silk, padded the inside by wrapping cardboard pieces with silk and attaching it to the base and the top of the box. I used the same ribbon to attach to the box that is used in all other areas of the wedding. I wrapped cardboard craft picture frames in the gold ribbon and placed it on the top of the box with each guests name calligraphied in the open frame area.

Above are the pictures of our “I DO” cards. we read love letters to eachother and they were held on the back of these cards so when our guests were watching us the could read the words “I DO”

Above are the “WE WILL” card I gave to the bridesmaids. They were cute friendship vows we exchanged before the ceremony. They were the same as the “I DO” cards and I thought my girl were so great we should be bound for life with vows as well!

 Not sure if these socks qualify as a “DIY” because I did need to have a lady embroider them for me but it was my creation. The socks you can buy are always black and it’s on the leg of the sock…. I liked it across the toes so much more and so we cut the back of a pair of brown socks and after 15 different failed vendor attempts we finally got the right lady who could embroider on socks…I guess it’s hard because of the size and stretch of socks….so it’s a 1/2 DIY but unique and worth mention…i think.

 1 week before our wedding “Emilie” was born, she was obviously too small for her own chair and place card so I sprayed a wooden letter gold and attached swarovski crystals to it and suspended it with brown ribbon. It dangled over her sweet little head, off the edge of the table during the reception 

Above are our love birds card box. I wrapped a cardboard oval box with brown silk and created a mini bow tie from the left over fabric my hubby’s cravat was made from. The girl bird had lashes, twinkle toes and a swarovski hair comb just like mine.

Last but certainly not least…… I created a card that went on top of my hubby’s gift. It said “Can’t wait to meet you at the altar” and it gave a mini replica of what it would look like when we finally saw eachother there. I found a stamp with a silouette very similar to my dress and embossed it in the center of the card. I gathered twigs to replicate the manzanita trees, used a icecream come 3-D sticked to create our urn for the manzanita to sit in (cut off the ice cream and just used the cone), stuffed the urn with moss and hand strung crystals and hung them from the trees and twisted little petals into what looked like orchids and glued them to the tips of the branches (below is a pic of our actual altar)….I think i did good.

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