paper lanterns

Paper lanterns have been popular in wedding decor for the past few years. But I am still a huge fan - what a simple {and cheap!} way to infuse colour and a feeling of celebration into a decor scheme. Check out these pics {from Martha Stewart, Home Companion magazine, Rebecca Thuss} and you'll see what I mean! Paper lanterns can easily be found in many markets in Chinatown, or online at Pearl River.

wedding face

Has anyone else noticed that wedding make-up and hair is often really old-fashioned and boring? Just because you're getting married doesn't mean that you shouldn't look like the rock star you are and throw all style consciousness out the window. It always looks so matronly and unnatural - like an older aunt who isn't up on the latest fashion trends. And the hair...its almost unspeakable sometimes. You spend a year painstakingly growing out your gorgeous hair only to have it curled, sprayed and pinned in ringlety curls Gone with the Wind style! So I'm on a quest to find natural and young looking pictures with wedding faces that glow! After all, getting married doesn't mean your whole style has to be gone with the wind. Here is what I've found so far.

I'm liking Hillary Duff's style. I'm feeling pretty partial to one or the other of these pics right now. Her make-up in the first one is young and fresh looking and not too much for a wedding face. I really like her hair in both pictures. Maybe the top one can be for my practice wedding and the long, beachy waves can be for my beach wedding! Now to decide on the colour...hmmm...

This pic of Mischa Barton is stunning. I love the glowiness of her face here. She looks so ethereal. And her up-do is pretty great too. Because there are no ringlety curls!

Natalie Portman is a great one to channel if you are still angling after that classic look. She does it really well. Somehow she manages to keep herself looking young and fashionable while every inch a hollywood leading lady. Of course it helps to have her cheekbones..eyes...mouth...teensy tinsy nose...

I found this hair and make-up combo in the InStyle Wedding Fall 2008 issue. I'm intrigued by the possiblity of having a beachy, casual up-do for the ceremony and letting your hairs loose for the party! Its like a bridal mullet....business up front and party in the back....the best of both worlds! Now that I've compared it to a mullet I have a feeling no one is going to want to choose it. I'm terribly sorry... I just couldn't resist. But her make-up is very nice as well. And has anyone else noticed the braided hair trend happening on The HIlls this season?!

So a funny thing happened to me on the way to a wedding in Espanola the other day. As I was driving along the highway heading to the smelly little town of woodchips, I spilled my expensive Starbucks hot chocolate on my favourite white shirt!! I had no water, no kleenex, nothing to wipe it up. As I sat and helplessly watched the brown stain sink into my precious fibres, I realized I had one last chance...a pantiliner in my purse! I took out a little pantiliner, the kind with the plastic-y coating on top, and lightly laid it on my hot chocolate disaster. Lo and behold, my pantiliner sucked the hot chocolate right out of my shirt! Talk about absorbent, holy smokes! With no water, no scrubbing, I realized the underestimated power maxi pads - apparently, they are made of wood cellulose fibers specially "fluffed" to absorb (so they say at Kotex)! My mind is rehashing all the times I stained my clothes and didn't even think of the plethera of pantiliners hiding in my purse. I think I'm on to something now. Some red wine on your wedding dress? Perhaps we should try a pantiliner! The kotex boxes are pretty cute with those red dahlia flowers on them...I wouldn't mind trucking a box around with me!

show and tell

inBloom recently created some papery details for my friend and beautiful bride Jessica, who just got hitched this past Sunday! She had an art deco theme for her wedding, with little birdie touches thrown in (she got married at the old Eglinton Grand theatre in Toronto, and used bird cages of all sizes as her centrepieces). The very elegant 'Paris Retro' invitation was customized in deep red and black, and little birdies were added in to symbolize the bride and groom. As mentioned before, and probably again, I do love a birdie! A matching program was created too...voila! A set of wedding stationery as lovely as the bride herself.

wedding eye candy

I love decorating. If I could sit all day and just come up with inspiration boards for wedding after wedding I'd be in design heaven. There are just so many delicious things to look at in this world. So many odd little ways to put it all together. Here are a few things that I've collected over the last little while that have been inspiring me for my own wedding[s]. I'm so happy I get to decorate two of them. My big "real" wedding seems to be shaping up to be a elegant, beachy affair with breezy layered fabric, bushy sprays of orange flowers, flower pots and jars of candles. My "practice" wedding more of a whimsical combination of found objects, vintage inspiration, lace and old-fashioned tent circuses.

These next pics are inspiring my practice wedding. I'm thinking of hanging objects from the trees on my family property. I've picked a section of the property that is mixture of old evergreen trees with spindly arms and big maple trees that create a beautiful natural canopy. It gives a feeling of an enchanted forest that fits perfectly with my whole circus tent vision!

Top picture of mason jar candles courtesy of East Side Bride. I think I'm tempted to double this idea for both my practice and my real weddings. Mason jar candles are equally appealing in both venues! Pictures two, and three from adorable vintage wedding found on Snippet & Ink. And the last two pics are from Martha Martha Martha!

And not to forget the beachy wedding inspirations of my real wedding. These are a few of the things I've added to my list of desires:

The flower pot is from IKEA. The invitations are courtesy of Kenzie Kate's Something Old, Something New blogspot. Message in a bottle guest favors originally from Martha Stewart (of course!) but found on Bridalwave site. And the succulent guest favor was featured in the InStyle Weddings Fall 2008 issue.

our new windy logo!

inBloom Events + Design has got itself a new animated logo! Click on it to see how super awesome it is - with the wind blowing through the leaves & the birds in motion, it's nature at it's finest - exactly what inBloom really stands for. Thanks to our sister company inBloom Studio for the new logo, and thanks to Craig Morrison at BIT Communications for the totally cool animation.

paper nerd

A paper shipment arrived today! It is always an exciting time when I tear open the box, and get to gaze longingly at the stack of colours, textures, shapes. It is glee! It is paper nerd porn! I will just keep staring at the stack until I proceed to transform it into menu cards and little scalloped signs for a 'marigold and pewter' wedding that inBloom is designing. Do you see what I mean? The possibilities that can come from a stack of cardstock, the potential waiting to happen? Perhaps I am alone in my paper nerdism...

pretty wedding shoes....i do, i do!

I'm trying most hard to be practical at my "practice" wedding but if I spent just an itty bitty bit of extra money on a snazzy pair of shoes that also double for my "real" wedding shoes would that be considered practical? Even if they are just a teensy tiny bit over my budget by about $300? Because technically it would be like buying two pairs of sort of cheap shoes plus a really cheap shoe and a sandal all in one year which I would totally, normally do. And in fact, I've already spent this year's money on next year's shoes because just last week I scored on two pairs of Havaina flip flops for $6 each and the month before that I bought a pair of royal blue pumps I've been coveting all summer for a mere $60 so if I'm good all winter long I do believe that by next summer I should be entitled to a pair of snazzy shoes to double for both my weddings right?!

I'm drooling at the prettiness right now. Beside myself in glee...imagining my little feetsies finally touching a Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin...I'm not picky...they can touch either of them I swear!

tippity tap typewriters

This clearly has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a "Segal" like the cutie petootie caketoppers below, but I sure do love this idea. As your guest book, out with the polaroid guest books and in with a new idea! An old vintage typewriter - your guests can tippity tap type their well wishes to you on a long scrolling piece of paper. You might be thinking, hey where the heck would I find an old typewriter?! Well, Joelle finally found the source - go to Etsy Vintage and scroll through the most delicious selections of vintage typewriters. Picture above is from Martha Stewart Weddings.

On another note - congratulations to the Italian women who was awoken from her coma to marry her long term partner! See the story here.

cutest l'il caketoppers ever!

I'm not sure if it's because I'm a 'Segal', but I've always had a little thing for birdies. While studying illustration in Australia a while back, birdies were a common theme in my work. And lately, in decor and design, bird motifs are all over the place! But I don't think I've seen birdies quite as cute as these ones. Created by hand by Ann Wood, these adorable little creatures are meant to be placed on the top wedding cakes! And what a lovely little wedding cake that would be. Check out Ann's collection and her blog that keeps us updated on her creations...and I'm quite sure you will fall in love with little birdies too!

celebrating my -1 year anniversary

We just had our -1 year anniversary for our 'real wedding'! So in celebration I thought I should re-cap what has been decided so far.

It has been determined that it will be a beach wedding at Shonit Beach Resort in Atlit, Israel. Stunning venue on the beach with a chuppa on the edge of a rocky cliff overlooking the water.

A combination of natural fibres, layered linens, and beachy sprays of orange flowers for the centrepieces. Both these inspiration pictures were found in Bride and Bloom magazine - Summer 2007 and I will be using various parts of both of them! However we've opted for a muted aqua and orange colour scheme thanks to the cake I posted a few blogs ago that I found on Weddingbee! I'll post again just because its worthy of a second glance!

bountiful boutonnieres

So, one thing that has always nagged at the back of my brain throughout my career as a wedding planner is the issue of the boutonniere ... a floral decoration meant to be worn by men. Firstly, let's clear up the spelling - the number one question when trying to google for funky boutonniere inspirations: One "T," two "N"s. And the "I" goes before the "e". Ok, so here's my dilemma - sometimes a dainty little rose just doesn't match our ruggedly handsome grooms. He needs something a little more unique, a little more...sporty? The inspirations seem meager on the net, but I've picked some of my favourite boutonnieres of all time, and will continue to post as I find more!

Image 1 & 2 from Martha Stewart Weddings (incidently the word boutonniere comes from the french word bouton, which means button - i love buttons - could image 2 be any more perfect?!), and third image from the super great magazine Bride and Bloom.