Feather Bouquets!

I've opened up to the idea of including flowers in my wedding, but it's still tough for me to justify the cost for flowers when you have to throw them out later (though admittingly, that's part of the appeal for me as well... less clutter afterwards!).  On the rare occasion that a boyfriend has bought me flowers, I enjoy them for the short time they're in bloom, but I always feel guilty about tossing them out as soon as they die.  So today, I looked into feather bouquets!

Feather bouquets are a little tricky.  While browsing through Etsy, there were more misses than hits for me, and the hits range from $100 or more for a bridal bouquet (with the high-end ones being about $150-$250), so it's not really a cost-effective option.  But enough of the talk.  Let's look at feather bouquet porn!

This blue bouquet is from Etsy seller Ardesign for $150.  The colored ribbons make it easy to customize a bouquet to one's wedding colors, and the feathers make really great accents.

This feather bouquet is from Croska for $185.  I love that it's almost 100% feathers except for the pearl stamens.  The feathers also vary in texture and give the bouquet a more interesting structure and composition.

This really lovely bouquet is $219 from Etsy seller jujubee455.  It's my favorite bouquet that I've seen so far, and the feather flowers really remind one of peonies!

Still, budget is our focus here!  The mister wouldn't let me drop $200+ for a beautiful feather bouquet.  And frankly, I'm thankful that he's here to stop me! :)

Luckily, a blogger bride was excellent enough to post a DIY on how to make your own!  I'll do a cost analysis estimate on this soon to see if it's worth it to try making my own.  Quick note: the poster suggested buying coquille feathers which have that natural curl to them.  However, one commenter noted that she found curling the straight feathers with a large barrel curling iron helped enormously and helped keep the overall feather cost down as well.

EDIT: On a related note, check out this adorable feather flower headband! Perfect for a flower girl. :)

More cake toppers! And other fabulous accessories!

Oh my GOD, I am loving the cake toppers on Etsy.

This one above is from Garden4Arts.  They make these cake toppers in several animal varieties with different accessories, similarly styled to the one above.  Priced at about $60 each + S/H.

Here's a similar set from kikuike.  These are just as adorable, maybe a little more elegant, and the sticker price on this one is $100 + S/H, which looks like the least expensive set Kikuike has on her Etsy site.

From StyleMePretty, these photo accessories caught my eye from a Nashville backyard wedding.  It's a more DIY-version of the popular photo booths you see now in weddings; I like that quite a lot.  I tried to find similar accessories on Etsy, but so far all I can find are these, which are fun but not as cool-looking as their polished counterparts above.

Last but not least, I love this idea of puzzle-style escort cards from 100 Layer Cake. 

See the original post for a better view.  Basically, guests pick up their escort cards and find the corresponding phrase at their seat.

All super-fun ideas! :)

Hairpieces

The butterfly theme continues!  What an adorable and unique hairpiece!  Another gem from Etsy.