Real Wedding Inspiration

Check out this post from Once Wed (a great wedding blog). I love this dress, the shoes, and the jewelry. The bride's hair is also amazing. The bride designed the dress and had it made for her. She is a jewelry designer and made the pieces herself. I also love the photo of the couple in front of building - beautiful!

Photos from Leo Patrone

Winner!!!

So I am always entering contests on the Wedding Blogs I read. Usually they are for different on-line stores that sell wedding favors, invitations, jewelry, etc. Well I finally won one! I won 25 free Save the Date cards from Minted via the Brooklyn Bride blog. Brooklyn Bride is an awesome blog full of great ideas. Minted is also an amazing on-line shop with hundreds of pretty paper designs. This is the save the date I picked out:


Usually with these blog contests you check out the on-line store and post about your favorite item. We had just gotten our engagement pictures back and thought this invitation (called Exotic Lovebirds) would look really cool with the photo below. I am very excited! Unfortunately we won just 25 and am not sure we can afford any more (these 25 are about the cost of our entire invitation budget). So yet another decision to make - who gets one of these. Oh, decisions...

Love this dress!

I love this Spainish inspired lace dress.


Photos found here.

Why didn't I think of that....

I would be rich now if I would have thought of the idea below. Definitely trying these for the dessert reception. I have seen a similar idea using cheesecake cut into triangles and decorated like Christmas Trees. But think the pops lined up on a tray would be divine.


From the Brownie Pops website you can order 11 different flavors of brownie balls on a stick dipped in chocolate. Seriously why didn't I think of that? Maybe here is where I can infuse some chipotle flavors into chocolate for a Mexican spicy kick. Sprinkles or drizzling with a different color of chocolate both look great. They also have some cute ghost and pumpkin designs for Halloween.

Catering

We made our catering choice for the Fiesta Reception. After looking around at some options and trying some great Mexican food, we decided on going with the in house cater at the Antique Wedding House. They sent us some pictures of their food. Now we just have to decide on the entree choices. They have 8 choices on the Mexican Buffet option and 10 appetizer choices!! I wish someone would have told me how many decisions there are with planning a wedding....

Photo Time

Yesterday Matt and I got engagement photos taken. We weren't going to do this but I got an advertisement from a really cool photo studio that was having a special on portraits just in time for the holidays. It was such a deal that I couldn't say no. I am glad we did is yesterday because today we went to the field and now I have a fieldwork tan and cut up my legs because I walked into a cholla cacti.


The studio is Brides for Brides located in an amazing location in north Phoenix , Tlaquepaque Center. It was built to be a mini version of the one in Sedona. It is a a Mexican inspired shopping center with fountains, archways, tile, stone columns, and small courtyards. It was really beautiful and I am super excited to see them. We have to wait a couple of weeks to get the CD after they touch them up and I will be sure to post some.

I was also super excited about this location. Once we got there I realized it was also the location of the Aldea Reception Center. I REALLY wanted to be able to have our party here because it reminds me so much of Mexico when we got engaged. However it was a little large and also expensive so wasn't practical for us. But having photos taken here is just as good!

Hot New Trend

Mini Caramel Apples must be the hot new trend in desserts. I saw a posting for them on Party Perfect (an entertaining blog) and my mom couldn't wait to tell me about the ones she tried this weekend while antiquing in NE. These seem easy enough so I think we should give them a try for the NE reception. In my research I discovered that the trend started with Cat Cora on Iron Chef America.

Photo Tutorial via flickr.

The following is the recipie from Family Fun.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	4-inch lollipop sticks
	Melon baller
	Granny Smith apples (one apple makes about 8 mini apples)
	Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
	Chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, shredded coconut (optional)
	Small paper candy cups

1. First, cut the lollipop sticks in half at an angle (the pointy end will go into the apple pieces easier). With the melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Each ball should have a section of apple peel. Push half of a lollipop stick into the peel of each ball. Pat the apple pieces dry.




2. Melt the chips according to the package directions. Dip and swirl the mini apples in the melted chips, then roll the apples in nuts, sprinkles, nonpareils, or coconut, if desired. Place the mini apples in paper candy cups to set.

It is interesting that the recipe calls for butterscotch or peanut butter chips. I wonder if these stick to the apple better than caramel. Another recipe I found said to roll the apple in flour to make the melted caramel stick better. Many people complain that the caramel just slides right off the juicy apple. But I say go for milk chocolate chips.

Sweet Treats!!!

Over on the Once Wed blog they have an amazing post about Amy Atlas Events. Oh how I wish our dessert reception could look like these!!!

Real Wedding Inspiration

I love this wedding found on Style Me Pretty (also one of my favorite blogs). Love the backyard decorations and casual vibe.

DIY Cake Stand

I found a great DIY project on one of my favorite blogs, Once Wed (full of great ideas and also posts for designer wedding dresses for less). The project included instructions on how to make a simple inexpensive cake stand.

I think I may try this but will also look for some glazed pots and saucers in addition to painting terracotta.

Cupcake Wrappers

It must be a cupcake kind of week. I found these incredibly cute laser cut cupcake wrappers on the Fancy Flours website which is full of baking goodies. Not really materials for baking but rather materials for decorating your baked goodies. The cutouts fit with our papel picado theme and I was already planning a similar thing for the cake stands. Unfortunately they are over a $1 a piece so a little pricey but they are fabulous! I think the filigree design is my favorite.

Click to enlarge