Inspirations & Creations - Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog

Real Weddings: Sarah + Josh

Ami Elizabeth — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:41:59 +0000

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Heather Gilson’s photography, or about the spirit and joy that I see in the photos from Sarah and Josh’s Bainbridge Island wedding.

As Sarah describes in her wedding graduate post on A Practical Wedding, Sarah and Josh’s wedding began with quite a snag, as two of the ferries that run across Puget Sound from Seattle to Bainbridge Island broke down! But Sarah didn’t let it faze her – she simply let it go and enjoyed her wedding day.

The veil that Sarah wore belonged to her great-great-grandmother and was over 100 years old. Such a treasured belonging and a wonderful, personal, addition to her wedding!

The couple was married at Sarah’s mother’s home. How lovely to be surrounded by the warmth and memories of not only your family and friends but your family’s home as well.

Beautiful white birch branches supported the chuppah.

A klezmer band played during the reception, and everyone was up and dancing!

Heather, thank you for sharing Sarah and Josh’s wedding! More photos can be found on the One Love Photo blog, and in Sarah’s wedding graduate post on A Practical Wedding.

Pillow Fight!

Ami Elizabeth — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:15:00 +0000

I absolutely adore this fun and unique trash the dress session. Jeremy Lawson visited Rebecca and Scott’s home in Fort Lauderdale for a pillow fight!

One of my favorites, I love the feathers in this photo:

A little cleanup…

Yes, I’m a sucker for cute puppies. :)

And a few others post-pillow fight – check out Jeremy’s blog for more photos, including a dip in the chilly ocean!

A Little Dose of Sunshine

Ami Elizabeth — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:28:52 +0000

I returned from Vegas to a bit of warmth in Chicago and it’s put some pep in my step. Here’s some spring-time inspiration to kick off your weekend!

{funky purple and orange living room and yellow and green vases; photos by Christina Schmidhofer via Desire to Inspire}

{spring-like garden bouquet tied with yarn, photo by Joshua Aull, floral by Adorations, via Weddingbee; single flowers in colored vases from Wohn Idee mag via She Walks in Beauty}

{orange and yellow bedroom with an office in a closet from Apartment Therapy; sunny yellow bedroom photo by Trevor Dixon via A Room Somewhere}

{citrus tablescape from Country Living via In This Instance}

{portrait session along the Seine, photo by Olivier Lalin}

{retro kitchen inspiration, left photo by Axioo Photography, right photo from Domino}

{pink and yellow bridesmaids dresses from Sunny and Trey’s wedding, photo by Jennie Andrews; bright centerpiece inside miniature vintage car photo by Leah McCormick via Snippet & Ink}

{vintage ledger tags and packaging from Banana Fish Studio via Oh, Hello Friend}

{yellow wedding cake with scallop icing, photo by Joy Thigpen via The Bride’s Cafe; white cake with yellow roses, photo by Ben Harrison}

{yellow and orange typewriter-theme wedding programs, photo by Angelica Glass}

{basket of apples from Holly and Brian’s wedding on Lucky Me!, photo by Allison Davis}

{citrus wreath from Pierre Deux via the Paris Apartment; yellow rose inside hollowed orange from Matthew Mead via Little White Book}

Crocheted Wire Necklaces

Ami Elizabeth — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:10:58 +0000

Leah’s wedding made me fall in love all over again with gorgeous statement necklaces on a bride. How gorgeous are these crocheted gold and silver necklaces from etsy seller Galit? I think they are the perfect mix of modern and sophisticated.

Are you wearing a necklace with your bridal ensemble?

Making It Your Own

Ami Elizabeth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:53:52 +0000

This week I am in Las Vegas at the fabulous WPPI convention – many of the talented wedding photographers I feature on the blog are here as well, including someone whose work really resonates with me, Elizabeth Messina.

While obviously her panel class was geared towards photographers, while hearing Elizabeth talk about her art and showcase her work my thoughts naturally turned towards EAD and weddings.

I love Elizabeth’s work because she brings her own perspective to each photograph. They are completely and innately her, while also being fully focused on the subject of the photo. When I see a wedding that I love, it’s for the same reason – a unique perspective.

What are you doing to make your wedding your own? What voice are you bringing to your event? Are you truly representing your love and your relationship?

And related, to that:

What do you want to see here on EAD to help you achieve your goal of a unique and personal wedding?

Searching For Inspiration?

Ami Elizabeth — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:20:20 +0000

I adore blogging real weddings, or inspiration photos that I find and treasure, and of course DIY projects from across the web. But what I enjoy the most is connecting with all of you and experiencing your planning process.

{Because every post needs pretty pictures: photography by Meg Smith, floral by Ariella Chezar, via Snippet and Ink}

So what I’d love to do is to hear what you’re looking for and where you are in the process. What inspiration are you in search of?

{Polly Wreford via This Is Glamorous}

Are you trying to decide on your color palette? Need an inspiration board to pull your look together? Looking for the perfect centerpieces? Struggling with the right venue, the right theme?

{Allison Miksch via Desire to Inspire}

Comment below (or if you’d rather, use the contact form) and tell me about you and what it is that you are looking for as you plan your wedding. I’ll post as many of your questions as I can and hopefully get to know all of you better in the process!

Real Weddings: Melissa + Diego

Ami Elizabeth — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:00:21 +0000

Melissa and Diego’s Charlotte wedding is beautiful in so many ways. They are a stunning couple, to be sure, but what is so amazing about this wedding is the strong sense of love and connection that they share. Cheyenne and Geoff Schultz did a wonderful job capturing the magic of their wedding!

The couple have a son, Sandro, and he is just the most adorable little boy, isn’t he?

This light is just … etherial, perfect. I adore how Melissa paired neutral bridesmaids gowns with red bouquets – they really pop!

OK, so how gorgeous is Melissa? I love the feathered headpiece, and her classic and understated makeup.

The Charlotte skyline is a beautiful photo backdrop.

The ceremony was held at the St. Gabriel Catholic Church…

… and then they moved to The Palmer Building for the reception. The dark beauty of the room was accented with lush burgundy linens and deep red and green centerpieces.

Escort cards were pinned to a lovely world map – such a unique display!

And of course, fun was had by all!

Cheyenne and Geoff, thank you for sharing this wedding with EAD! More amazing images can be found on The Schultzes blog here and here!

Vendors:

Photography – The Schultzes
Ceremony Location – St. Gabriel Catholic Church
Reception Location – The Palmer Building
Wedding planner – Alyse Woodward Events
Florist – Flowers from the Cellar
Catering – Best Impressions Caterers
Cake – Decadent Designs
DJ – All the Right Grooves
Escort cards – Three Little Birds
Makeup – Elizabeth Tolley
Hair – Fuze Salon
Dress – Mecklenburg Bridal

Happily Ever After

Emily — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:42:52 +0000

First, I want to thank all of you lovely and supportive ladies for sharing this experience with me. I appreciate your advice and sweet comments, and I hope you’ve enjoyed following along in our wedding preparation and celebration.

My advice to the soon to be hitched is this: Savor. Every. Single. Moment. I know invitation construction can seem tedious and table assignments can get frustrating. I know you can feel overwhelmed by registries and cake flavors and playlists. But before you know it the “I dos” will be said and the first dance will end. You’ll look back on the months of planning and only remember the overwhelming love that surrounded you on your wedding day.

Now before I sign off, I want to share with you one more project and one more unexpected and memorable moment.

The Favors: It took 2,500 sheets of paper, 20 ink cartridges, eight sets of hands, and ten days to make our favors.

The idea took shape during a conversation with my sister-in-law. She suggested we incorporate our passion for food and cooking into our wedding day. And since we’ve been blogging about our culinary adventures since 2007, we had a plethora of recipes to choose from. Thus the Family Cooking cookbook was born.

We organized our recipes into the following categories: Hers (my family favorites), His (Nick’s family favorites), and Ours (recipes we’ve made together). We ended up with close to 60 recipes, and that was after thorough editing! Once we had collected and organized the recipes and photos (all taken by us), I laid out the pages in Adobe Illustrator.

Then, with MUCH help from Nick and my dear sister-in-law, we printed all 2,500 plus pages. It was incredibly time consuming, but it was more cost efficient than having the pages printed by a professional. (We wouldn’t have been able to print full color if we had gone the professional route.)

After the pages were printed, I toted them to my parents’ house for help with the assembly. It took four of us to properly stack all 125 books. And let me tell you, it was a relief when I dropped them off to be bound!

In addition to having the books professionally bound, we also had the covers professionally printed, with help from a photographer friend and a graphic designer friend.

Finally, sister-in-law once again volunteered to help wrap and label each book. She wrapped the books in kraft paper, tied them with red raffia ribbon, and attached cardstock name tags with our monogram stamp.

{photos credit to author’s personal collection}

We were thrilled with the final product — both inside and out! We asked our day-of-coordinator to place each book on the appropriate table, and they were opened before we even entered the tent for the reception!

{photo credit to Robert Winton}

I love seeing the cookbook displayed in the kitchens of our friends and family members. And I especially love hearing about the recipes they’ve tried: Dad’s Fluffy French Toast, Uncle Lloyd’s Potato Salad, Aunt Jane’s Apple Dumplings.

It’s something I know our guests will cherish forever.

The Finale: Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.

By now you know we were not graced with the warm and sunny August wedding day that we envisioned. This caused several changes in our plans. Guests gripped umbrellas during the ceremony. The cocktail hour was moved under the tent. We had limited time for outdoor photos. And we were not able to use sparklers for our grand exit as Mr. and Mrs.

Nick and I spent hours assembling matchboxes and sparklers based on templates from Twig & Thistle.

{photo credit to author’s personal collection}

They were neatly displayed for guests to pick up at the end of the night and wave as we exited the tent and walked along a path of candles suspended from shepherds hooks. By 10pm we knew this was not going to happen.

While I was on the dance floor with my bridesmaids, my dear husband and devoted photographer wandered into the rain to get just one sparkler shot for me. That is love.

And so when the time came for the newlyweds to leave the party, our DJ asked everyone to form a “tunnel” while he played “Mexico” by James Taylor. (Yes, we honeymooned in Mexico.) Again, it wasn’t as we envisioned, but it was intimate and celebratory nevertheless.

My cousin — who graciously volunteered to drive guests to their cars in a golf cart provided by the venue — waited for us with an umbrella just outside of the tent. He helped us climb into the back of the cart, and then our photographer snapped the final photo of the night. Please note my muddy and disheveled dress and my shoes that were no longer red. But you know what? I was — and am — a happily married woman.

{photos credit to Robert Winton}

You can continue to follow my newlywed adventures at Wiley Wifey. And best wishes to each and every one of you!

Real Weddings: Leah + Mike

Ami Elizabeth — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:39:48 +0000

Leah and Mike’s Minneapolis wedding is so sophisticated and classic. I love Leah’s whole look: the gloves, the multi-strand necklace, the gorgeous veil… and of course the glowing smile.

Erin Johnson beautifully captured the love that Leah and Mike share.

Champagne bridesmaids dresses are my favorite, they will never go out of style!

The beautiful Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church was the setting for the wedding ceremony…

… and the reception was held at the Calhoun Beach Club Boulevard Room and Solarium. I love this ballroom, don’t you? To me, it mixes the classic with the modern perfectly, and the gold, champagne, and white color palette complemented the room perfectly.

Vendors:

Photography – Erin Johnson
Wedding Coordination – Mi Mi Design
Ceremony Venue – Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church
Reception Venue – Calhoun Beach Club Boulevard Room and Solarium
Catering & Bakery – D’Amico Catering
Floral – Hilltop Florist and Greenhouse
Rentals – Apres Party & Tent Rental

Pretty Packaging

Ami Elizabeth — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:02:04 +0000

{oh, hello friend. } has a gorgeous post up today with some drool-worthy packaging ideas! So many of the boxes and bags on her post would be perfect for tucking wedding favors inside. I’m especially loving this vintage Parisian packaging from Sea Unicorn…

{Sea Unicorn}