Category: Stuff We Love

Okay, gals&mdashthis is just too cute! A fun way to make your engagement announcements, save the date cards, wedding invitations and thank-you cards more personal: Create your own stamps!

Who says a vineyard wedding means you have to use bunches of deep purple grapes to decorate your cake, centerpieces, and bridal bouquets? For a garden wedding, I’d rather take my cues from a tossed salad: crisp greens with tomato and carrot-colored blooms. I’ve been in love with this cabbage leaf arrangement from Panacea Event Floral Design since we posted it. It makes me hungry just looking at it!

Northern California brides are so lucky: They can just look out the window and take their inspiration from the natural wonders around them: from the bright bottle blues found in San Francisco Bay to the vibrant Muir Woods mossy greens a little farther north. While your So Cal counterparts may disagree, taking inspiration from nature doesn’t mean you have to wear wildflowers in your hair or walk barefoot down the aisle. This palette is totally No Cal: sophisticated, sexy, and a little unexpected.

Before I begin my list of favorite wedding favor ideas from past events, let me tell you this: I have it on good authority that if you choose not to have favors at your wedding, your marriage will still be legal and binding. So if favors are not your cup of tea, give yourself permission not to have them at your wedding.

Here’s my project for the week that is affordable, great for DIY, but also something exceptionally charming to show that floral designers aren’t necessarily wedded to flowers: a button boutonniere!

Here are a few websites I found that might help you shopping-impaired grooms out there. And don’t forget to order the items at least a month or two in advance to ensure they’ll arrive in time!

As a lover of all things professionally printed, imagine my delight when my husband and I had a chance to visit the Hyegraph showroom in San Francisco. They have over 250 catalogs with literally thousands of styles. Proprietor Jacques Oskanian showed us samples of some of the designs, with prices ranging from less than one dollar to as much as $250 per invitation!

The 2009 edition of this luscious glossy (actually, the pages of Real Simple Weddings have a soft matte finish) is the kind of mag you want to read while soaking in a bubble bath…breakfasting in your sun-dappled garden…or curled up in bed next to that special someone. It has the effect of unraveling the pre-wedding stress by breaking down the planning elements into manageable components: Location, Flowers, Food, etc.