It’s a Jaime Thing Friday: To Silk or Not to Silk?

Spotlight On Silk vs. Fresh Flowers…

…To Silk Or Not To Silk?

Today, florists are finding ways to really put the “wow” factor into bouquets for the bride.  The modern bouquet is becoming an art form, with creations including feathers, twigs, rhinestones, berries, jewelry, metal and more.  Today’s bride is not only a princess, but a rock star in her own mind, so providing that same “wow” factor for the wedding guests is becoming a craving that many brides desire.  But at what cost?

What exactly is this “wow” factor going to cost?  There are so many things to think about before choosing your flowers.  So let’s chit chat, shall we?

First things first, decide on your budget and how large you see your guest list and the size of your wedding party being.  It adds up quickly, my dears!  Think about how much money you could save by just cutting down the number of your guest list and bridal party attendants.  The more money you save, the more you’ll have available for those “wow” factor details.  Need help deciding on your guest list?  Take THIS quiz, featured on the Wedded Bits Blog by Brides.com!  You’ll love it.

If you’ve already decided on your budget, bridal party and guest list, now you’re probably wondering what’s better…fresh flowers or faux?

Silk and other faux flowers are really making a big comeback.  You’re seeing them a lot right now, in accessories especially, adorning beautiful wedding dresses, handbags, ring pillows and hair.  So why not use them for your wedding flowers too?  We’re not talking the same silk flowers found in your grandma’s attic.  Today’s faux flowers are looking hotter than ever!  Take a look at these fabulous silk bouquets, from www.bloomedtolast.com:

As fashionable as faux flowers may be right now, does it really mean they’re more affordable than fresh flowers?  Not necessarily.  In fact, sometimes silk flowers can even be more expensive than real!  It’s all about researching your options.  Look around.  Get quotes.  Even visit your local craft store, throw a bunch together yourself - do you love the look?

There are some great things about using silk or other faux flowers for your wedding.  Silk flowers don’t wilt in warm weather, nor do they freeze in cold weather.  They’re lightweight, making them easier for you to carry and easier to transfer from one location to another.  Silk flowers are more durable, and will obviously last a lot longer than fresh flowers…how nice to have your bouquet looking the same way it did on your wedding day, on your 25th anniversary!  Not to mention the fact that they’re great if you or your soon-to-be hubby are allergic to fresh flowers.

The only issue I see brides really having with faux flowers is that they don’t have the fresh scent as real ones do.  Also, depending on the quality, silk flowers can either look really fake or really real.  Often, the ones that look more real can end up costing more, but not always!  There are good deals out there, so don’t get discouraged, dearies.  Just keep your eyes open.

If you prefer fresh flowers, take a look at some of these beauties below for inspiration.  Notice how many of them incorporate the different things as mentioned earlier - like feathers and rhinestones.  What if you cut back on the flowers, and added more affordable feathers?  What if your accents became your “flowers” and your flowers became your “accents”?  These are just ideas to think about.

If you wanted to achieve these looks below but still stick with your budget, consider using helpful tools like The Flower Finder at Brides.com, or even this Floral Generator from BlissWeddings.com.  These tools will help you choose flowers by style, color, season, etc.

After you’ve done your own research, don’t be afraid to ask your florist for help too - give them a realistic budget, don’t expect them to be able to read your mind, because they can’t (though don’t you just sometimes wish they could?).

In the end, whatever you choose, your wedding will be beautiful.  Don’t let people tell you what to choose…let it be YOUR decision, it is YOUR wedding.  Best of luck!  Now let’s look at some more eye candy!

I LOVE these bouquets below by Asiel Design, thanks to Tanja Lippert Photography for introducing me to them!  If you haven’t checked out either of these vendors, do so now…your jaws will drop.  Their work is so beautiful!

For you faux flower lovers…I know you could create these same looks, print a copy of this post, take it with you to your local craft store and play around in the floral section.  We’d LOVE to see what you’ve come up with!

Aren’t these darker bouquets so dramatically lovely?

These brighter ones are super sexy, aren’t they?

So romantic.

Stylishly angelic!

Hope you enjoyed and found this week’s guest blog post helpful!  If you want to read up some more on faux vs. real flowers, check out these articles:

Silk bridal bouquets v.s. Fresh Flowers at HappyNews.com, Why Silk at BloomedToLast.com, Wedding Flowers: Silk v.s. Fresh at TheKnot.com.

Thanks for reading!  Don’t forget to check out my blog, “It’s A Jaime Thing” for even more wedding inspiration, ideas, and all things creative.  Happy planning!

Awesome Jaime I love the whimsical bouquets- anything magical looking is delightful. So what do you think to silk or not to silk? I’m thinking why not do both!

gift girl

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It’s a Jaime Thing Friday: Color Your Wedding Beautiful

Color Your Wedding Beautiful…

…With Bright, Bold And Happy Colors!

If you’re like many brides, you may be trying to decide what you want your wedding colors to be.  How about pink?  Or maybe orange.  No…why not yellow?  Green?  Perhaps blue.  Oh but what about purple?!  You love purple!  But you also love pink.  Oh, dear…what’s a girl to do?  They’re all so pretty!  I bet you never thought it would be such a challenge to just pick a color, did you.

Oh, heck, why not just be happy and choose them all…after all, you’re the bride and you can do what you want (well, to some degree anyhow…wink wink)!  Seriously though, why stress when you don’t have to?  You’re engaged.  You’re happy.  So let that happiness shine through with bright, bold, happy colors!

My darling little sister is getting married next year and she is the one that inspired me to share these ideas with you.  She’s planning a very colorful wedding, using mostly a gerbera daisy theme.  The best part?  Since she couldn’t decide on a color, she chose them all.  I couldn’t be more excited!

If you haven’t seen it done before, take a look at the fabulously colorful weddings below found on The Knot.:

Love the idea of using several colors, but looking for just a few punches of color instead?  Here is what my lovely sister is planning on doing.  Each bridesmaid will be wearing short black dresses in their choice of styles between 81591, 83259 and 81594 from David’s Bridal, with the colored slips underneath and matching colored sashes.  The slips underneath end up making the dresses appear tea-length.

Before I show you the dresses with the colored slips and sashes, take a look at how cute they are just by themselves!  Which means that after the wedding, you’ll indeed be able to wear it again, as a “little black dress” for a night on the town.  Not only are they cute, but they’re super affordable too.

Thanks to a nifty little tool that David’s Bridal offers called Dress Your Wedding, you can play virtual paper dolls and make the look you’re going for “come to life”.  Here’s what they’ll look like after the different colored sashes and slips have been applied:

Of course, we can’t forget the guys.  My little sister is looking to have them wear black tuxes, black shirts, black shoes, with different color ties matching each of the bridesmaids’ colors.

The bride and groom will be wearing a very faint ivory color, which she’ll wear a turquoise blue sash and he’ll wear a turquoise blue vest and tie.  I’m not sure the groom is currently aware of the fact that the bride wants him to wear an ivory tux.  I’ll let you know how that goes, later on my BLOG.  Who knows, the groom just may end up wearing black!

In case you were wondering, here is my sister’s wedding dress.  It’s style # 8228 by Da Vinci.  Fear not, she’s already shown her fiance.  I know, she’s crazy!  However, all is good in the neighborhood, because now I can share it with all of you.  I love how she’ll also be wearing a different color sash, along with the bridesmaids.

Now who’s ready to look at some fabulous shoes?!  If there’s one thing I love about weddings, aside from all of the romance and beauty of it all, it’s the shoes (okay, I’ll be honest, I love the cake too!).  Every time I go to a wedding or stand up in one, it’s the perfect excuse to buy a new pair of fun and flirty shoes.  I’m sure all of you shoe lovers out there are with me on that, right?

If you love the idea of adding punches of color to black bridesmaid dresses, do it with shoes!  David’s Bridal offers a great line of dyeables in their shoe collection, however, it doesn’t hurt to look outside the box for other options - so I went ahead and peeked outside for you!  Here’s a few of my favorites that I found:

(Shoes from top to bottom, left to right: Light Blue Chinese Laundry Amelia Sandals at DSW,  Green leather Argent Sandal from Nine West,  Yellow Candy Glam Sandal from Payless,  Pink Satin Jasley Sandal from Nine West,  Purple MaxStudio Sunset Satin Slingback from DSW, and Orange Satin Juliarae Slingback from Nine West.)

Picking flowers can be as difficult as picking dresses, sometimes even more so.  Especially if you’re dressing your maids up in different colors!  My sister is hoping to do mostly gerbera daisies in each bouquet.   However, she’s incorporating a few other bright flowers into the bouquets as well. 

Here are a few of my favorite colorful and vibrant bouquets from The Knot (top left and top middle gerbera bouquets) and Brides.com (top right and bottom row bouquets):

I love the idea of having each bridesmaid carry a bouquet to match the colors in their dresses, like shown in the pictures on the top inspiration board.   Head on over to the Brides.com Essential Guide To Flowers & Decorations, to brush up on your flower knowledge before meeting with your florist.

If you’re on a budget, try picking out flowers that are in season and grown locally - that should save you some dough.  Also, be sure to check out this extremely helpful tool - the Wedding Flower Generator I posted about on my BLOG back in January.  That will help you figure out which flowers are available in which colors, which ones are available in certain seasons, which ones are local, etc.

That’s all for now!  If you love any of the items I’ve featured on today’s Wishpot Wedding guest blog, be sure to check out my Wishpot lists as I’ll be adding these items to it. 

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to sign up for free and start creating your own lists and registries on Wishpot.com, where it’s easier to register because you can shop anywhere and add the items to one simple list.

After you’re done visiting Wishpot, please feel free to head on over to my wedding blog, It’s A Jaime Thing, for even more wedding inspiration, ideas and all things creative.  Thanks for reading and happy planning!

-Jaime

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It’s a Jaime Thing Friday: Vintage Wedding Style

This week Jaime brings us …..Vintage Wedding Style……Inspired By Timeless Looks!

Daaahlings, pick up a magazine.  Turn on the television.  Read the blogs.  Vintage is coming back in style, but did it ever really leave?  Years ago,  Audrey Hepburn and Jackie O set the bar for fabulous fashion.  Their stylish looks have since been admired throughout the decades, and now they’re back.  They’re classics and classics never go out of style!

Vintage glamor, vintage vixen, vintage this, vintage that.  It’s all about the vintage look right now.  If you’re planning a wedding around vintage style, you’re in luck.  Today I’m going to feature inspiration for the vintage bride by featuring something old that has become something new…that classic, timeless look.

Travel back in time with Conde Nast to grab some ideas from old magazine covers!

1.  The April 1954 cover of Mademoiselle featured a young woman wearing a white pin-tucked cotton dress with a flared skirt by R&K Original and a Simon market bag.  She’s accessorized with matching green belt, pearl-shaped necklace, bracelet and earrings, wearing short white gloves, leaning against a pink Ford Crestline Skyliner.  Love it!

2.  The June 1952 cover of Gourmet Magazine inspires us with a lovely pyramid of champagne glasses for the “ultimate wedding indulgence”,  and a bouquet of baby’s breath and white roses.

3.  The June 1954 cover of Gourmet Magazine, featured a wedding cake with roses and pearls complete with a silver sword which was used to cut the cake in traditional military weddings.

4.  The May 1949 cover of House & Garden’s Bridal Issue featured a stylish newlywed setting up for a dinner party in her new home.  In this issue, a suggestion for newlyweds to achieve high style on a low budget was to bring your nice outdoor furniture into the dining room.  If it’s anything like the furniture on this cover, what a fabulous idea!

In the picture, you can see the new bride wearing a classic white dress with pearl earrings.  Mounted on the wall appears to be their wedding sword showcased, white dinnerware, and two tall hurricane glasses.

(Vintage magazine covers & information from www.condenast.com.)

Now, take a look at these fun modern vintage-inspired pieces that you could use to incorporate into your own timeless wedding!

1. Cake By Carlos Bakery in New Jersey,  2. Wedding dress by Melissa Sweet - Style Plum,  3. Bouquet of white peonies,  4. Pearl necklace by Siman Tu,  5. 1956 Chevy Bel Air,  6. Champagne flutes from TriServe Party Rentals.  All images in product inspiration board thanks to Brides.com!

Those are just a few images to get your ideas flowing.  I will be featuring more on my blog, “It’s A Jaime Thing” soon - so keep your eyes open, and don’t forget to check out my Wishpot lists to find fun inspiration no matter what style wedding you’re planning!  Thanks for reading!

Jaime, as always, great post timeless and classic in true vintage style!

gift girl

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