Tags: trends

"Make your wedding a celebration that brings you and your partner, and the family and friends who celebrate with you, closer together."

Lilo and Gerard Leeds, “Wonderful Marriage”

The wedding: The big party you host to tell family and friends “we have decided to spend our lives together, and we want you there to celebrate with us!” Naturally, you want this celebration to be perfect; one of meticulous detail that will remain in memories for years to come.

If you are planning a wedding, chances are, you have a good idea of what the perfect wedding day looks like to you and your partner. More than likely, you know whether your event will be traditional or non-traditional, how many guests will be present, how big the bridal party will be, and where the ceremony and reception will take place. Though these are vital wedding planning details, it is the little nuances of the celebration that will turn it into the unforgettable day you and your partner desire. These specific details can be harder to place a finger on. On occasion, brides and grooms may find themselves in a wedding planning rut, and in need of some creative inspiration. This is where Style Me Pretty's new Style Circle can come in very handy!

Style Me Pretty, the "Ultimate Wedding Planning Blog," recently launched its sensational Style Circle, creating a new realm of communication and inspiration for the avid wedding planner, and a whole new social network in and of itself! "So what is this Style Circle," you ask?

Stated simply, it allows wedding planners to scroll though vast collections of categorized wedding photos, drop them onto an "inspiration board," and create an inspirational piece of their own; no artistic ability required! If you are not into creating your own board, you also have the option to scroll through the inspirational boards of others to get your creative juices flowing! This is great for providing ideas for colors, themes, favors, food, level of formality, location, and the list goes on. Though I am not getting married myself, I chose to create an Inspiration Board of my own after scrolling through several others. I must admit, it was quite easy, and really fun!

Pictured left, my "Fun and Casual" Inspiration Board. After scrolling through all of the photo categories and selecting images that caught my eye, I determined that I apparently would like to have a fun, casual, outdoor wedding. I especially loved the pictures on the left hand side of my board; the drinks served in solo cups and the bin of flip flops labeled "dancing shoes." What great ideas for a wedding where you want your guests to be able to kick off their shoes (literally), feel at ease, and have a great time!

This is something you must try! Whether you are looking for inspiration, perusing the inspiration of others, or just want to see what your "perfect wedding" may look like, it is certainly worth a visit to the Style Me Pretty Blog Page.

Thanks Style Me Pretty!

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Style Me Pretty's Style Circle

Kristen Desrosier

Recently, I read an Engagement 101 Mag article, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now update your relationship status. The subjects of the article, a Chicago, IL couple, had a non-traditional wedding. The bride said,

We didn’t have a first dance, or throw the bouquet or have a garter or anything like that, so why not change our Facebook status ceremoniously?

Like the Chicago couple's wedding, my wedding is going to be non-traditional and my fiancée and I have integrated some technology along the way. I don't think we'll be including our Facebook relationship status updates in our ceremony, but I admit, the thought had crossed my mind. Perhaps sometime after the reception, when we have some quiet time alone, she'll pull out her Palm Pre and I'll pull out my iPhone and we'll update from "Engaged" to "Married." But here are some examples of ways we are using technology as we build up to our wedding:

On our direction card that was included in our pocket fold invitation, we showed a link to a password protected page on my blog where further information can be found about our wedding. There's an embedded Google map, a link to a satellite image of the wedding site, a photo from the day of engagement, things to do in the area, information about a local hotel, and a comment area.

The exclusive blog page was a nice idea, but these days, I think the online spot where people are really connecting is Facebook. A couple weeks ago, we had an engagement party at our favorite beach. Instead of sending out paper invitations like we did for our actual wedding, I invited my guests via e-mail. My fiancée invited her guests by sending messages to her friends on Facebook. Soon after the event, I posted some of the photos on my Facebook page. I've enjoyed reading comments from old friends and family members who might not have seen me in many years, and who now realize that I'm getting married. They know what I look like these days and what my fiancée looks like. Through seeing photos of our guests and their interactions with us, they can interpret the vibe of the day. I hope they can see the love and support that our friends and family gave us by being there and by interacting with us and one another. So many old friends have found me on Facebook. Although I'd like to make time to reach out to each of them on the phone someday, in reality, it's probably never going to happen. There just isn't the time in the day. Yet with Facebook, we're able to connect on whatever level you might call it. To me, it's still a meaningful connection that I just wouldn't have without the technology.

What ways have you used technology during your wedding and wedding planning?

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Joshua Birch

Earlier today, as I was reading the Weddingbee blog, I found a post by Miss Sunbeam entitled "Suit Yourself!" Like me, the author is getting married this fall, and had originally thought of fall colors. However, her fiancé was sure he wanted to wear a navy blue or black suit. She didn't identify navy blue with a fall color, and since the wedding wasn't going to be "super formal," she wasn't feeling the idea of a black suit either.

Inspiration struck the author when she found photos of men in a wedding party wearing just vests and white striped shirts (no jackets). To summarize, the couple have settled on a non-traditional look. He will be comfortable as will his groomsmen, and his fiancé is supportive. Miss Sunbean closes with the question,

Are your men going jacket-less for your wedding? Did you give your guys freedom to pick out their wears or did you pick it for them?

Since my fiancée and I are planning a non-traditional wedding, we've been confronted and reminded of wedding traditions, mainly by our mothers. In many cases, we've altered our original thoughts because some wedding traditions make a lot of sense. In other areas, we are sticking to our guns. We want our wedding to be a reflection of our personalities and we want our guests to feel both honored and comfortable at the same time.

In terms of what we're wearing, she lucked out and found her dress early. And now I'm getting to the reason I found the "Suit Yourself!" article so interesting. One of my favorite colors is orange. We're having a fall wedding. Orange is a fall color. I'd like to wear orange. Is that odd?

I want to be informal and non-traditional. But I know I need to look good and I owe that to my fiancée and our families. We decided on a look that I'm really happy with. I think it's a fall look. The orange is represented on my tie and vest. The jacket and pants are dark brown with subtle pin strips. My shirt is cream colored. If we sold the shirt at LCI, we'd call it Ecru. ;-) I'll be in black patent leather shoes. The cuff links are gold and black. I'm 30 pounds lighter than I was a couple years ago, so I'm especially happy with the way I look in the tux. I'd include a photo, but my fiancée took them with her Palm Pre and the quality isn't good.

I'm sure she's happy with the look, but I'm also sure that her happiness comes partly from the love she has and her motivation to make me happy--to show support for my decision and my taste. Isn't that cool? She weighed in and helped me choose the components, but but she allowed me to have a non-traditional look for my wedding, and for her wedding.

So ladies, how do you weigh in in terms of giving your fiancé the freedom to do something different with his attire on your wedding day?

Joshua Birch
josh@lcipaper.com

This vibrant pink, white and silver ensemble is a flashy combination of our Stardream Azalea pochette and frosted silver deckle stationery. The way this kit came together was happenstance: the pink Azalea pochette was sitting on my desk amidst an array of other papers, and one happened to be the silver deckle card. The chemistry between the two was obvious. The radiant white color of the card really accentuated the vibrant pink color of the pochette, and the frosted deckle complemented the pleasant shimmer of Stardream's metallic card stock. Coworkers walked by and thought it would make a nice invitation kit, and conveniently, Josh and I needed a fresh idea for a pochette how-to video that was in the works (check out the video in a separate post, How To Make LCI's Silver Azalea Pochette Video, to see how easy it is to print and assemble this invitation).

Our Hot Pink Satin Ribbon turned out to be a near perfect match to the Stardream Azalea color, so I embellished the finished pochette by tying a bow around it. It's a very simple task to print this ensemble, since the invitation card, response card and the silver lined white envelope can be easily printed on any inkjet or laser printer. The only thing to note is that the Stardream Azalea response envelope is made with metallic paper and therefore can only be printed at home using a laser printer. It is recommended that you order a sample first to test the papers on your printer before placing a full order.

We have free templates to download for use with Microsoft Word. Click the links below to download them:

• Silver Deckle Card Template
• Silver Deckle RSVP Folder Template
• Silver Lined Radiant White Square Envelope Template
• Stardream Azalea Response Envelope Template

Click the link below to order this kit. It comes without adhesive or embellishments, so consider the tape dots and ribbon if you plan to order this pochette:
Silver Azalea Wedding Pochette
Hot Pink Satin Ribon
Double Sided Tape Dots

This is a pocket fold invitation I designed for Volume 1, Issue 2 of LCI's Creative Invitation Guide print newsletter. As I browsed for a chiyogami (yuzen) paper to start with, the pattern called Red Swirl Flower Tree caught my eye. This paper has a rich pattern of dark golds and reds accented with bright white and fuschia blossoms, and these colors went really well with our new Stardream Bronze Pocket Fold. I took an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of the chiyogami paper and used a simple home paper cutter to cut out a layer that measured 6 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches, the perfect size to glue to the pocket fold invitation panel. The bright white flowers in the pattern contrasted nicely with the dark, shimmering bronze, so without further ado I picked out a bright white Vice Versa card to go on top of this layer. I picked the smallest card I could find to print the invitation wording, because I wanted to reveal as much of the chiyogami pattern as possible. This was an A4 size response card, and I used this same card to print the response card that you see in the pocket.

To finish the look of this invitation, I used the remaining part of the chiyogami sheet to cut a 2-inch wide strip to use as a band around the folded pocket fold. I secured the band on the back with double-sided tape dots, and then finished it up with white chiffon ribbon tied in a bow on the front.

One thing I like about this invitation is the rich color dynamic between the chiyogami paper, the bronze pocket fold, and the bright white invitation card. I asked Barry, our resident printer and coincidentally LCI's Sales/Marketing Manager, to print the card on his Canon inkjet printer in chocolate brown ink. I thought the ink color worked well to really tie the whole ensemble together.

The fine textures and finishes of the stationery also make this invitation stand out. The metallic pocket fold shimmers with the authentic look of burnished bronze, and the chiyogami paper is a perfect complement with a background of gold paint. Vice Versa Albus is a brilliant white and exquisitely textured card stock that is imported from Germany. In the picture below you can see the thick horizontal lines that are embossed on the Albus envelope.

You can easily make this invitation at home. The only real work involved is cutting the chiyogami layer and band, and gluing or taping the layers onto the pocket fold. You can use either glue stick or LCI's tape dots (see components below). The Vice Versa stock is compatible with some inkjet printers. Be sure to order a sample of this paper first to test it on your printer.

This sophisticated-looking invitation is surprisingly easy to make! With the link below you can order the kit at LCIPaper.com. Also see my step-by-step instruction page with printing templates.

Order the Flowering Bronze Pocket Fold Kit
How To Print & Assemble Our Flowering Bronze Pocket Fold Invitation

Components:

• 113lb Stardream Bronze Pocket Fold 5 x 7
• Chiyogami Red Swirl Flower Tree 8 /12 x 11
• Vice Versa Albus White Card 3 1/2 x 4 7/8
• Stardream Bronze Response Envelope 3 5/8 x 5 1/8
• Vice Versa Albus White Envelopes 5 1/4 x 7 1/4
• White Chiffon Ribbon
• Double Sided Tape Dots