If I were getting married in the winter...

If I were getting married in the winter, and if I were getting married somewhere where it snowed, this is the wedding I would want:
Inspiration board via Snippet & Ink. Click the board to go to the original post and see all the photo credits.

Here are more of the edited Engagement Pics by Jen Richardson. If you are interested in contact info for the photographer just leave me a comment or email me at atouchoftheblues at gmail dot com.

With so much time left until our wedding, and as much as I love playing in Photoshop, how am I ever going to decided on a personalization design for our wedding.

If I had all the money in the world...

I would pack my bags and travel to NYC and go gown shopping at Kleinfeld's. But that is really just a pipe dream. Doesn't stop me from drooling over their gowns online though.
Like this Alvina Valenta gown:
Or this simple yet gorgeous Augusta Jones:
Or this Augusta Jones:
Or this Lazaro:
There is no way that I could afford any of these dresses but I have heard about a lot of other brides having replicas of designer dresses made for a much more reasonable price. I know that the quality probably wouldn't be the same. But I am still considering it as an option. Has anyone else done this or considering it for their bridal gown.

Because it is very important to me to keep this wedding to a reasonable budget, it is also important that our wedding party not break the bank being in our wedding also. I want each of my girls to wear a dress that makes them feel comfortable. Here are some of the dresses that I found and like, and the best part is that they are all under $30 at Forever21.

E-pic teasers, undedited. All pics by Jen Richardson.

We did our engagement photos today! We had so much fun. It's always fun when you ignore no trespassing signs, climb up on things that look like they are about to collapse, and cause other forms of mischief. We'll get a digital copy of the photos unedited tomorrow.
It was great to be working with friends because we were much more comfortable with them than I would have been with anyone else. I can't wait to post some of the pics!

Some of you who know me may be wondering how I came to choose a bird theme for our wedding. After all I am a cat person. So here is your answer:

I first saw this birds nest for the ring bearer by Muscari soon after we were engaged and I was smitten. It was like I could see the entire essence of what I wanted my wedding to be in this tiny little birds nest. And this is where the plan began. Be sure to check out all of Muscari's delightful creations at their Etsy Shop.

We are having our engagement pictures taken next Sunday! I was so excited that I had to go shopping for cute outfits to wear for the pictures. I even found a handsome new shirt for Kenton. The above is a collection of engagement pictures that I have found and really like. If these are your pictures let me know so I can give you credit. Like most people I started saving things before I knew to note credits.

Here are some of the monograms/designs I have been working on lately for us.
I also fell in love with another invitation company that creates really gorgeous pieces of art.
Check out some of these gorgeous invites from Wiley Valentine:

Return from MIA status

I've been MIA for awhile... grad school is so much more hectic that undergrad, it is taking me a while to adjust.
Now for the good news:
We have a date and venue! We mailed the deposit this weekend!
We are getting married at T & S farm on May 22, 2010!

In other wedding news:
I bought some of the paper for our DIY invitations. I know it seems a little early, but I have been hunting and hunting for a pretty light purple textured paper. I finally found one, but of course it is being discontinued. So this means I had to go ahead and order it, but I also got a better price. This is the paper that I found at cardsandpockets.com, in the canvas texture, color is Thistle.

I have spent so many hours drooling over the invitations at East Six
These really are just some of the most detailed and beautiful invitations I have ever seen. Take a look at some of these gorgeous invitations and be sure to check out their website for some serious creative inspiration.

a venue and an inspiration board

I think we have found our place! After going to visit T&S Farms in Batesburg we are even more convinced that this is where we want to get married. We loved it! The inside was so cool! I wasn't sure that I was going to like the decor, but it is so fun and shabby chic. In celebration of this huge step down I've created an inspiration board... here goes

Venue search...

We finally have an appointment to visit T&S Farms on Monday Oct. 6th. I am so excited to finally go and visit. I am working on my list of questions to ask. I hope this location lives up to my expectations.

Mr. Jim LeBlanc

One thing we knew before we ever got engaged, was that if we did get married we definitely wanted Jim LeBlanc to play at the wedding. My fiance has been going to see Jim play on a regular basis for years and I have been going with him since we met. We love Jim! He is a very talented musician and we love the music that he plays. We always have such a good time singing along and that's exactly the vibe we want to carry over to our wedding. We are so excited that Jim has agreed to play!
Here is a picture of Jim playing one night at Delaney's in Five Points.

grading papers, bleh...

So one of the many joys of now being in graduate school is the hundreds of papers I get to grade each week now. School has pretty much entirely consumed the last week or so, with little time for wedding planning stuff. I have worked on our Christmas cards a little more. And I've bought most of the stuff for my cake decorating class now. We don't meet this week though. My mom is all excited about making this wedding cake now. The problem is, my mom's idea of a wedding cake, and what I want are two very different things. I absolutely HATE columns on wedding cakes. If I am going to have a tiered cake, it will not have columns. I am still not convinced that I don't want cupcakes, but if I do end up with a cake this is the one I want with slight modifications:

I am also considering having several small cakes displayed on pedestals.

diy projects... the beginning

My mom and I did a bunch of wedding crafts shopping today while my dad and FI worked on fixing my computer. I found the envelopes for our Christmas cards/engagement announcements. We also bought several purple flowers that were on sale. We also bought several more large birdhouses.

On Saturday FI and painted the smaller birdhouses that we had bought at the dollar store. Here is one of those birdhouse perched on top of the flowers that I have arranged. We are planning on having these on the tables.

And here is a mock up of our Christmas card/engagement announcements:

stamps

Yay! I got my bird stamps! I've been loving these stamps for a while and a finally have a reason to buy them and a 50% off coupon. I've been having fun playing with them and my new heat embossing tool tonight.

photographer=found

I am so excited that we have a photographer. We have a good friend (who just got married her self) who is a fantastic photographer. Before we could even ask her if she would do some pictures for us she excitedly asked us if she could be our photographer. This is fantastic news for us!

i love these photos

I came across the blog of Justin & Mary today and I am just in love with their photography. Here are some of my favorite engagement pics from their blog:





































Now I just have to remember these images for when we go to take our engagement photos (hopefully soon).

everything is cuter in miniature

I absolutely want to have cupcakes at our wedding. I love to eat cupcakes and they are just so darn cute. Plus they are cheaper, especially since we are going to make them ourselves. To help us with our cupcake decorating skills my mom and I are signing up for a Wilton Cake Decorating class at Hobby Lobby. (This class is 50% off in the month of September!!!) Hopefully by the end of the month we will feel absolutely ready to take on my wedding cupcakes.

Some lovely purple cupcakes from Martha Stewart.

a farm wedding?

My newest find in the search for a venue is T & S Farm. It is owned by Shealy's Barbeque, which has awesome food. We were originally not going to have the wedding catered and were going to try and do it ourselves. But the rental fee is much less than the other places we looked at so we would have more money for food and this would be way easier than trying to do it ourselves. Here a couple of pictures:
Outside Inside


























Things I love about this location:

• I love the chandeliers, although I still think I will hang paper lanterns
• I really like the idea of having long tables instead of round ones
• They provide tables, chairs, and linens
• I feel like this location has a lot more personality than a banquet hall or ballroom.
• I totally want to get married with me and my FI standing on this little bridge
• We can keep a very casual feel to the whole event
  

Things that worry me about this location:

• The closest "decent" hotels are 15 miles away
• It is about 35 minutes from where we and all of our friends live. The only reason this bothers me is because of people having to drive home after our reception.

So far the pros outweigh the cons, but then I haven't even been to visit yet. Here's a look at some great barn weddings though:


Photo credits: (Top) Real Wedding on The Knot (Bottom) The Knot