This spring, all trends point to eco-friendly, economical, and Eclectic! The key is TEXTURE! You want every detail of your wedding to be a "touchable" experience.
There are so many places to add texture: start with your tables and skip the ho-hum standard white catering cloth. One option (and by far the easiest) is to rent table runners (or use a chair tie as a runner!), tablecloths, or overlays, in beautiful and fun textures. Of course you want it to match your overall wedding theme, but you can do anything from burlap, to antiqued lace, to screen-printed sheers - even fabrics made from recycled bottles! If you already have the white catering cloths provided by your vendors, give it a personal and eclectic touch by borrowing antique handkerchiefs or napkins from your family and friends to place under your centerpieces... as a bonus this can be your "something old".
On the topic of centerpieces make it feel "touchable" by using fruits, vegetables, or other "fruits of the harvest" like cotton blossoms, wheat stalks, or even branches. You could use these exclusively, or mixed in with your flowers. As for containers, the biggest trend we're seeing is Mason jars - they're economical, easy to find, reusable and recyclable! Mix it up by having several small centerpieces in different size and shape vases or containers on each table - just remember that odd numbers look best!
The wedding menu has taken a turn towards "comfort food". Brides and guests alike have become tired of leaving weddings after enjoying the most beautiful and tiniest dinner of their lives. Treat your guests to your great-grandma's lasagna recipe, or your mother-in-law's potato salad (bonus: you get on her good side early!) Just find a caterer who is willing to cook up the recipes (in large quantities!). Keep the YUM coming with dessert - opt for buttercream icing instead of fondant, or skip the cake completely and serve fruit pies or have a cookie bar (another fun place to use family recipes)!
Hopefully this has helped you kick off your Eclectic Elegant wedding! Check out our inspiration board, and give us a call to talk about your plans!
Happy Planning!
~Valerie
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Fabulous Arroyo Grande Vendors
Last Friday we had a wonderful time (despite the California Tsunami warning) enjoying the beautiful weather and friendly faces in downtown Arroyo Grande.
We stopped by Eclair Bakery for a mouth-watering chat with Kirsten about their fabulous wedding cakes and special order pies. I got a sugar rush just from the aromas in their quaint shop in the middle of downtown.
We also breezed through the Papery and had a blast browsing through their stock of wedding supplies, including a really fun collection of peacock themed items. While we haven't done a Peacock Wedding (yet!) Pam and I agreed that it would be a fun and colorful twist on the eclectic and eco-friendly weddings of 2011 (as long as your Peacock feathers are collected in a "bird-friendly" way!)
We rounded off our trip through downtown with a stop at Down the Aisle. Their salon is so elegant, and the owners are super friendly. Most of the time our brides go dress shopping without us, so it was fun for us to have an opportunity to peek through the latest styles and preview the trends for the coming season.
We highly recommend that you check out downtown Arroyo Grande for your next bridal excursion!
Happy Planning!
~Valerie
We stopped by Eclair Bakery for a mouth-watering chat with Kirsten about their fabulous wedding cakes and special order pies. I got a sugar rush just from the aromas in their quaint shop in the middle of downtown.
We also breezed through the Papery and had a blast browsing through their stock of wedding supplies, including a really fun collection of peacock themed items. While we haven't done a Peacock Wedding (yet!) Pam and I agreed that it would be a fun and colorful twist on the eclectic and eco-friendly weddings of 2011 (as long as your Peacock feathers are collected in a "bird-friendly" way!)
We rounded off our trip through downtown with a stop at Down the Aisle. Their salon is so elegant, and the owners are super friendly. Most of the time our brides go dress shopping without us, so it was fun for us to have an opportunity to peek through the latest styles and preview the trends for the coming season.
We highly recommend that you check out downtown Arroyo Grande for your next bridal excursion!
Happy Planning!
~Valerie
Sunday, March 13, 2011
My first blog post & launch of our About.com videos
Hi everyone!
So I've finally decided to start a blog. I realize that I'm probably the last 20-something in the country to do this, but here it is! My goal here is to provide all you ladies out there in Bridaland with the inside scoop on wedding venues and vendors in the San Luis Obispo through Paso Robles areas. Every now and then I might even post some random wedding inspirations from my adventures around the beautiful are we call home - the Central Coast! While you won't find any rants here, I promise to be totally honest in my raves and only give other vendors kudos when it's truly deserved. There's far too many groups and blogs out there that promote just for the sake of promoting.
For now, I wanted to share the links to our first ever About.com How-To Videos! The topics are: How to Cut Your Wedding Guest List, and How to Choose a Wedding Venue. Hummingbird House in Templeton was gracious enough to let us use their beautiful setting. Daniela the owner is super sweet and so easy to work with. If you're looking for a beautiful garden wedding venue, you definitely should check them out. They even have a pond with swans! Anyway, I had a blast making these videos, and Pam and I wrote the scripts so you get some of our best wedding advice for free!
http://video.about.com/weddings/Cut-a-Wedding-Guest-List.htm
http://video.about.com/weddings/Choose-a-Wedding-Venue.htm
Until later,
Valerie
P.S. If you have any questions, just send me an email. You never know, your question just might end up having a blog or a video written about it!
So I've finally decided to start a blog. I realize that I'm probably the last 20-something in the country to do this, but here it is! My goal here is to provide all you ladies out there in Bridaland with the inside scoop on wedding venues and vendors in the San Luis Obispo through Paso Robles areas. Every now and then I might even post some random wedding inspirations from my adventures around the beautiful are we call home - the Central Coast! While you won't find any rants here, I promise to be totally honest in my raves and only give other vendors kudos when it's truly deserved. There's far too many groups and blogs out there that promote just for the sake of promoting.
For now, I wanted to share the links to our first ever About.com How-To Videos! The topics are: How to Cut Your Wedding Guest List, and How to Choose a Wedding Venue. Hummingbird House in Templeton was gracious enough to let us use their beautiful setting. Daniela the owner is super sweet and so easy to work with. If you're looking for a beautiful garden wedding venue, you definitely should check them out. They even have a pond with swans! Anyway, I had a blast making these videos, and Pam and I wrote the scripts so you get some of our best wedding advice for free!
http://video.about.com/weddings/Cut-a-Wedding-Guest-List.htm
http://video.about.com/weddings/Choose-a-Wedding-Venue.htm
Until later,
Valerie
P.S. If you have any questions, just send me an email. You never know, your question just might end up having a blog or a video written about it!
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