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Inspiration and Decor

Real Inspiration: Going nautical on Block Island

Block Island… what a beautiful island to have a nautical wedding.  Emily and Joe’s wedding is a nice treat for all nautical brides.  The beautiful sea of sailboats provided a perfect backdrop for the ceremony.  I love the rope touches on every little detail, from the invitations to the knot handle of the favor boxes.  At the end of the day, Emily and Joe invited their guests to a bonfire on the beach.  They provided the guests with lanterns, flip flops, and tote bags with fleece blankets in them to keep them cozy.  Just awesome!  Photos were taken by Snap! Photography.

Real Wedding Inspiration: Going nautical on Block Island

Real Inspiration: A wedding and a bonfire

All I can say is “Wow.”  Not only is Shani and Colin’s wedding gorgeous, but all the details that went into creating the whole event are unique and amazing.  Unlike in typical weddings, the couple was introduced at a pre-ceremony cocktail hour.  They were announced to guests by drummers.  The guests were then invited to take tropical flowers provided by the florist, and build the arch the couple would be married under.  After the post-ceremony cocktails and dinner, the newlyweds together with their guests headed to the beach and by the bonfire… danced the night away.

To see more of this beautiful wedding, head to Jessica Lewis Photography for the slideshow

Vendors
Photography: Jessica Lewis Photography
Location: Rancho Dos Pueblos
Event Coordination: Events by Ann Johnson
Flowers: Nico
Catering: Creative Services Catering

On the 6th day of Christmas… Flowers into Paintings

One great way to preserve your wedding flowers… turn them into a work of art that you can display on your wall.  Just look at the samples below:

It can be pricey, but they’re gorgeous.  If interested, head on to FlowersIntoPaintings.com.

If you want to share your own favorite thing/s, please leave a comment.

Wedding Reviews Vol.6: Wedding Day Vendors

OFFICIANT
Rev. John Sweeney (www.nondenomwedding.com)

Rev. Sweeney (Skip) is very personable and fun to talk to.  He was very professional and very easy to work with.  He was also funny, which I love.  With my permission, his wife went to the wedding with him to take pictures of the ceremony and she was equally nice.  We invited him and his wife to the reception, but they respectfully declined.  Skip however offered to offer blessings at the reception.  His prices are not the cheapest, but he’s worth it.  I highly recommend him.
~ Highly Recommend

PHOTOGRAPHER
MKD Photography (www.mkdphotography.com)

I am very pleased with our photos.  I still couldn’t stop staring at them.  MKD Photography is a husband and wife team.  It was so nice to work with them.  They are a fun couple and I love hearing about their adorable kids.

I was a little disappointed that there weren’t many pictures of my husband during preparation.  He didn’t have a single posed portrait.  I am aware my husband hates getting his pictures taken, but I wish they were more persuasive.  I also wish they were more forceful in giving directions.  They said my husband and I were a natural infront of the camera.  We really aren’t and there were a few moments we didn’t know what to do.  I told them I want a lot of detail shots, but we didn’t get some that I thought were the usual must-take detail shots (e.g. photo of the reception set-up without people, photo of a whole reception table showing the table set-up).  But our photos turned out great.  They were the best pictures we’ve gotten.

I think their prices were reasonable.  But the prices of the prints on Pictage were too high ($15 for 4×6 print).  I also didn’t realize til we received the DVD of our photos that we don’t get the files from our engagement shoot.  Regardless, I would still recommend them.  Did I mention I love my photos?
~ Recommend

DJ
Alan of Moondance DJ (www.moondancedj.com)

We had Alan from Moondance Productions and we were pleased with his work.  I was very strict with the timing of the music at our ceremony, but he did great even though processional took a lot longer than expected.  Our first dance music was too long for me, so I asked Alan if he could cut it short and he gladly edited it.

At the reception, Alan stuck with our do and do-not play list. What I loved about him was that he knew the type of music we liked just by our do play list. And when a guest requested a song out of our genre, he told the guest that he would need our permission first. So he asked and I appreciated that. Some brides noted that he approached the brides too often when they didn’t really need to be bothered.  He only asked me once at our wedding.  For a day wedding, I didn’t expect most of my guests to be dancing, but they did.  I think Alan did a decent job.  Moondance prices are very affordable too.
~ Recommend

FLORIST
Florals by Alisa (www.floralsbyalisa.com)

I love my flowers and our guests were raving about them!  I can’t say enough good things.  And I want to thank Florals by Alisa for doing such a great job.

I loved working with Florals by Alisa.  They were very responsive. I always get a response the morning after I sent my email (I usually email late at night).  They were the quickest to give me a price quote.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got the quote. The prices were very reasonable and their flower design proposal was similar to what I had in mind.  Their flower choices were perfect – garden roses, peonies, ranunculus, orchids, etc.  I didn’t have to change anything.  Their quote was the cheapest of the all the price quotes I’ve gotten. 

We met with Lisa once to see a sample centerpiece and she was very sweet.  She even admired the tissue paper mock-up I created!  They charge for a sample centerpiece, the same price as what they have in their price quote.

I highly recommend Florals by Alisa. They’re very easy to work with and you get a lot for your money.
~ Highly Recommend

BAKER
Konditor Meister (www.konditormeister.com)

I went to 5 different bakers and I loved Konditor Meister’s cakes the best. I was surprised that their prices were very reasonable too. They were actually the cheapest out of the 5 bakers I’ve gone to.  I enjoyed their tasting.  They gave us 8 huge slices of cake and they were all delicious!

They weren’t very responsive to emails. And when we went back a couple of months after our tasting to drop off our deposit, they couldn’t find our initial contract. I had to fax them our copy. However, they were very accommodating. Two weeks before our wedding, I changed the design of the cake and they were able to accommodate that. They were even able to mail me samples of ribbons for the cake for my approval in a very short period of time.

The cake didn’t turn out the way I want it to look. The cake I wanted was a bit narrow, but the cake I got was wider. I think they just stick with their regular cake pans and do not make special sizes. The cake tasted great though. They use rolled chocolate instead of fondant. The rolled chocolate looked just like fondant and tasted great. And the cake was huge! I ordered cake for 75 people ~ 3 tiers. The middle tier was enough for my 60 guests. So we got the top and bottom tier to take home. That was a LOT of cake.

I would highly recommend Konditor Meister if you’re not looking to have a complicated cake design.  If you are, make sure you ask them if they can do it and be very specific on what you want.
~ Recommend

HAIR
Sam Colavolpe

I was so happy with my hair.  It turned out better than I expected.  Sam Colavolpe was very accommodating.  I am not used to long hair so I had to cut my hair a month before the wedding.  Sam was forced to work with short hair – a little longer than chin-length.  But she did a great job.  At the trial, she first styled my hair down, then half up, then all up.  We decided on the updo.  She took pictures of my hair to remind her on the wedding day.

My wedding hair turned out a little different from the updo we had at the trial.   Thankfully, it turned out even better.  I loved it so much that I am considering hiring Sam to come down to New York to do my hair for my friend’s wedding.  She is so much fun to talk to, you won’t get bored while she does your hair. But that’s not all what is great about Sam.  Her prices are unbelievable.
~ Highly Recommend

MAKE-UP
Krystal Treanor

Krystal was great at choosing the right colors for my face.  She made a custom lip color for me.  My make-up looked very natural, the way I told her I wanted.  It didn’t feel heavy and I was very comfortable.  It lasted the whole day.  I didn’t even have to touch up.  She did however provided me and my girls lipstick for re-applying.  She also provided blotting sheets.  I love the make-up she did on my bridesmaids, but I didn’t like the make-up on my mom very well.  We told her that we weren’t very happy with my mom’s make-up and she willingly re-did her make-up.
~ Recommend

This review is based on wedding that took place May 2010. Photos by MKD Photography

Real Inspiration: Gorgeously Modern

If we live in California, I would definitely love to have our wedding at the Shade Hotel and have it designed by JL Designs. Just see how gorgeous and modern Rachael and Ryan’s wedding was.  I love how the photos show how so much in-love they are.  Photos were taken by Gabriel Ryan Photography.

Real Wedding Inspiration: Modern Simplicity

Engaged: Getting wet

Mae and Nala got wet for their photo shoot.  They played underwater while Eddy of Renai Photography captured them on camera.  The result… a beautiful and fun pool photo shoot.

Real Inspiration: Meredith + Jason

Meredith and Jason’s wedding was filled with unique and fun details.  Don’t you love the photo of the girls with the surfers?  And it’s such a cute idea for the guys to wear the caps of their favorite teams.  What a great way to integrate something personal into the wedding.  My favorite was the decor, the merging of the sea and land.   Photos were taken by Millie Holloman Photography.

Real Wedding Inspiration: Surf

Engaged: Going vintage on the beach

Real Inspiration: Getting Maui’d at the Mill

You have seen the gorgeous Haiku Mill in my previous post.  And now here’s a real wedding to inspire you more.  Natalie and Lou got Maui’d at the Mill.  The rustic charm of the venue is just perfect to set the mood for their beautiful vintage weddng.  Photography by Visionari.

Get Inspired: Haiku Mill Maui

Select Hawaii vendors have teamed up to create this beautiful photo shoot at Haiku Mill in Maui.  The place adds a rustic touch to the tropical ambiance of Maui.  Just beautiful.  Stay tuned for a real wedding at this beautiful venue.  Photos were taken by Kevin Chin.

Head to Green Wedding Shoes for more inspiration and the list of participating vendors.