Friday, November 28, 2008

beautiful mismatches

A few days ago, Joelle Bloomer stumbled on a most awesomely inspired wedding ever on Flickr photos. The mismatched details are so so so cute, and well, surprisingly well-matched. It's a mismatched match, hardy har har. Methinks it could be a pretty good do-it-yourself project... take a look at some of frecklegirl76's inspiration
{via Design Sponge}.



all mismatched yet matching vintage vera napkins - with different patterns!



cute little jars of maple syrup with the same mismatched matching fabric
And here, take a glimpse at all of the patterns of the vintage vera napkins:












it's amazing how they all come together so sweetly...

And voila, the big picture of frecklegirl76's wedding!



Tuesday, November 25, 2008

fascinated by fascinators

I'm loving some of the headpieces that brides have been wearing recently, in lieu of veils. A lot of them are feathery numbers, some are just flowers, and some have a hint of a veil or 'birdcage' that falls over the eyes. I just learned that these pieces are called 'fascinators' and have been worn by women in England forever - however I just kind of re-discovered them as a bride's modern take on a vintage style {photo above of textile designer Heather Palmeri}.

I'm sure they would be easy to make, but a quick search on Etsy revealed a few fascinators that I love...and I wish I had discovered them last year before my wedding!

above by Portobello


above by FeatherBrain {and as seen on Gossip Girl}


by Myra Kim

above, cute little Flapper pieces, both by House of Telsa

Monday, November 24, 2008

how to plan a wedding in 10 days!

Final Post: Odds + Ends
What a whirlwind! So finally all the pieces are together. There were a few more appointments and trips not really worth posting about but I wanted to finish with the design element. This and the vogue cheek totally made my week!
I was worried because I realized I couldn't be there on the day decorating the venue to my satisfaction as well as getting my Vogue makeup and hair but I was so reluctant to give up creative control with this project as you can imagine. Designing is what we do and the idea of letting someone else be in charge of creating the look of my very own wedding gave me panic attacks. But in a stroke of amazing luck, we were told that an event designer was provided to us as part of our venue costs. Of course my first thought was that we were going to get some in-house designer who provides only cookie cutter wedding decor and I'd have to fight tooth and nail to have my way, but much to my pessimistic surprise, the designer is absolutely amazing and fantastic and talented! He listened to all of my ideas and gave me suggestions (via my personal translator - thank you so much Dan!) of his own and told me he had a huge warehouse of rental equipment that we can use so I don't have to bring or buy anything else!! Can you believe it?! Everything I wanted he had plus more! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post because he will be sending his designs in the next few weeks. But here are a few pics I made the venue manager send me of what comes included!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

how to plan a wedding in 10 days!

Day 5 & 6: Caterer + Make-up Artist Attempt #3

We met the catering company finally and were able to look at their selection of linens. You can pick as many as you want to and it all comes included in the price! Woo hoo! We were also given a delicious selection of chocolate desserts to nibble on as we chose, these people truly know the way to my heart! And to even further excite me, that Krembo dessert I was talking about last post is on the menu! YUMMY!
Here is an example of the linen colours we selected:

And finally...finally...after another make-up artist cancellation at the last possible second (that makes 2 out of our 3 scheduled appointments) , an extremely talented and lovely woman by the name of Sigal Grushka (http://sg.form.co.il/), agreed to take us on at the end of her horribly busy day and thank goodness that she did because not only were we completely out of time, BUT she gave me a cheek worthy of Vogue magazine! I'm in love. I can't believe I have to wait another 9 months to have my Vogue cheek back!

Seriously...look at my vogue cheek!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

how to plan a wedding in 10 days!

Day 4: Make-up artist trial #2 (or so I thought)

Unfortunately my second attempt at a make-up artist didn't prove much better...she cancelled on me!


So instead....I discovered Krembo!!


Like a little bit of heaven fell in your mouth....yummy!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

how to plan a wedding in 10 days!

Day 3: Visit the Agorim!

When planning a wedding in ten days (did I mention in Israel?!) its important that you have yourself a little break! So on Saturday we took one day to ourselves and went up north with friends to Emek Hulatha to see the millions of birds from all over the world that migrate across Israel every autumn. Pretty much every family in Israel also came out for a beautiful walk in the northern countryside, near Galilee, to enjoy a rare opportunity for birdwatching. We rented a golf cart and were given a very special tour from our good friends Yoni and Rina. Rina took the wheel and gave us a very 'thrilling' ride around the trails providing us with much history and education about the agorim. I felt like I was on the show Wildboyz! If they are casting, I have to say Rina would make an excellent companion to Steve-O and Chris!
A view of the Golan Heights as we were driving around.

The Agorim!


After, we had a nice dinner in Rosh Pina which is up the mountain close by to the birds. It is all cobblestones and beautiful little stone cottages. We didn't get to spend much time there but it is definitely on my list of places to explore in the future.

Monday, November 17, 2008

how to plan a wedding in 10 days!

Day 2: Meet the Photographer
Well day two proved to be extremely successful. We've met the coolest, quirkiest photographer/videographer duo! AND they have the most adorable little studio in a Kibbutz in Natanya. Its this wee building that has one wee room and one wee bathroom. They painted the door my favorite colour of the season, chartreuse green, and everything else is white-washed. They have one of those cool, modern industrial looking lights hanging over an old wooden table in the centre of the room. They have a little couch, a teensy tiny kitchenette and they've set up a television on the wall so they can prepare a slideshow for you to see their work. They also serve you tea with fresh picked mint and luiza leaves and have yummy chocolate biscuits to snack on while you are talking. Yum! I've never been a videographer kind of girl but this guy actually makes real documentaries for a living and so your wedding day becomes a 10 minute documentary that doesn't look fake and forced and awkward. I'm still a bit skeptical that I won't look fake and forced and awkward but thats up to me I suppose! Anyways...we bought the package....and we are very happy with our purchase!
You can also have a look at the photographer's website to see more of his pics...just note everything is in Hebrew and you'll need to click on every link on the side and keep on clicking! I'm getting good at guessing the good links...it's like I've developed some sort of Hebrew intuition...

Saturday, November 15, 2008

how to plan a wedding in 10 days!

Day 1: Book Venue and Make-up Trial #1

Success! Our venue is beautiful! I'm stunned by the greenness of the grass, the blue sea and sky and the gardens all around us! This venue almost doesn't need any decoration....but I'll add some just because I'm me! Wow we are stunned and excited...gigantic check mark for task number one done well! We feel such relief.
Here are some pics of the venue the way it looks empty and picture of a recent wedding they had there. So beautiful!
Went to the first make-up trial and every fear came true! Big, huge failure for task number two. I'm slightly embarrassed to put the picture up but it is just too funny not to. Its provided much comic relief for fellow Joelle and Melanie Bloomer. Gotta say its not quite the natural, beachy look I had envisioned. And who said anything about putting blue under the eyes?!! You really need to click on the picture so it gets really big and you can have the full magnitude of sparkliness!

And this is after I asked for the blue to be removed. Such a beautiful bride...

Until next time...shalom from the Holy Land!

xo
Sparkle Bloom

Friday, November 14, 2008

real wedding - emily + sharon


This summer, inBloom assisted the lovely couple Emily + Sharon in designing their overseas wedding in Israel! Working closely with Emily to hone in on her favorite ideas and how to put them together inBloom-style, this is how it all turned out! Emily wanted a clean, simple white design with soft green accents, carried out with the simple elegance of a garden party. From adorable clothesline seating cards to her linen napkins on the table settings, mission was accomplished! Great job to Emily for carrying out all the details to perfection.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

beautiful piles of dirt!

As Shayna Bloomer jets off to Israel to plan +design her own wedding, I will tell you the latest design project in my own life. I, Melanie Bloomer, just bought a house - well, actually, just a pile of dirt right now. It won't be built until 2010, but that excites me more. Now I have, with the help of my Bloomers, a year and a half to plan the way I'd ideally like my house to look! FUN FUN FUN.

Take a look at my beautiful pile of dirt. I want to just plod right in there on my horse at top speed and drive my flag right into the ground, just like Tom & Nicole did on Far & Away!



There's something sort of cool about that Warning sign!



Oh the possibilites this blank space offers!

I must say, I have always loved the Oprah Winfrey Show episode where Nate Berkus decorates his small Manhattan apartment. I love how simple it is with the stark white walls, the large artwork, brown leather couches, but when he painted his doors a glossy blue/black, I was SMITTEN. Nate says painting your doors offers architectural interest to the space. Sigh, did I mention that I love him?

Come and appreciate dreamy Nate and his dreamy apartment with me (photos compliments of on the Oprah.com) ...



Love this layout - very natural looking, very open.



I absolutely love this colour blue, but also, look how great his stainless steel backsplash looks?



I like the way the vintage lamp looks in his modern bedroom.



And oh, I could design some pretty amazing events from this workspace.

Oh the possibilities....this is what I call fun!

Monday, November 10, 2008

wedding planning update

So it seems to be a long time since I've given an update on my wedding plans. I think it would be a good idea to do a quick summary of what has been going on! I know some newer followers of our blog cannot figure out which one of us is getting married so to avoid any further confusion here is an abbreviated version of what has happened so far:

I, Shayna Bloomer, will be getting married next August in Israel. However, since many of my nearest and dearest will be unable to come ( AND since we need to legally get married in Canada anyways!) we will also be having a small little wedding on my family property in July. For my own pure enjoyment, I have decided to call the little wedding in July my "Practice Wedding". Since my wedding in Israel will be slightly more "traditional" I have decided that my Practice Wedding should be every wild and whimsical idea I've ever seen or thought of. I've also decided that I would like to keep the budget under $6000 and prove once and for all that it can be done! So as a result I am decorating creatively with found objects and it will be a cocktail style wedding with finger foods and a wine-only bar. Although it will be a wee wedding, it will be packed full of character, meaning and fun!

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Israel to finish all the planning for the Israel wedding. It looks like it will be the last time we'll be there before the wedding!! We'll be meeting with all the vendors and I'll finally be able to get into the venue to take some measurements and figure out once and for all what I'm up against! I'll try and blog about my travels while I'm away but in the meantime, here are a few more inspiration pics I've collected since the last time:

These adorable fabric birdies were found on the Spool Sewing blog. They also have a pattern you can download so you can make them yourself!! I'm thinking they would be a cute DIY project for the Practice Wedding. Although I don't know how to sew...

I bought these cuties from Chatelet. I might use them for both weddings...

Some pictures of our venue in Israel. Its called Shonit. I'll be getting more pictures of the layout once I get there. Can you believe I booked it without really seeing it for myself? I've seen the outside and I've been a bit further down on the beach. Its a stunning area and I'm told its incredible. Here's hoping!My glorious shoes came in! I saw them on one of my favorite wedding blog's Once Wed and was so excited. I was looking endlessly for aqua coloured shoes that would work for both a beachy wedding and my Practice Wedding and jeans! I ordered them from zappos.com, had them sent to our friend in NYC who then sent them on to me. It was quite the operation but well worth all the efforts. I'm in love...