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. :)

Beach Wedding Dresses

I've been pretty enamored with the idea of a beach wedding ceremony and daytime reception lately, and while I've been exploring beach venues around California (leaning towards southern Cali because it's warmer), I think it's time to examine some beachwear, too.  While I miss the structure that comes from more traditional gowns, I love that beach gowns are easy to wear and are a lot more affordable!

This one is Style BC148 from InWeddingDress.com and is currently on sale for $238.00.

This following one is Destination Bridal Style 1034 from Dessy.com.  I ran a quick search for it, and the first online retailer that I found is selling it for $394.00.  If I could fit size 0, Dessy.com has a Sample-On-Loan for $35.00 (what the heck is "sample-on-loan"?  If that's like renting a wedding dress, I would strongly consider that).

I'm also gravitating towards a lacy, trumpet/mermaid style gown minus a train for a beach wedding.  This one was in a previous dress-related post and is the Monique Lhuillier Monet.  Unfortunately, the price point is closer to the thousands, and the used dresses on sale are about $2500 or $3000.  I suppose that's to be expected for good-quality lace.

Suggestions from the peanut gallery

These came in at my sister's suggestion.  I like that you can get them all in similar--if not the exact--same color and fabric, so my bridesmaids would have their choice of dress provided that I choose the color and fabric.  I think Dessy.com's ocean blue is the closest thing to the color I'm looking for.  (They have a teal color, but it looks too gray to be teal.)

Pretty Noms!

Just a couple of adorable cakes that (as far as I know) were not originally wedding cakes.

I think my favorite is the faux sunprint cake.  Food coloring and an airbrush gun!  I love the minimalism and elegance of the design.

Edit on 8/12/11: Adding this!

Adorbs!  I DIE.

Wedding Colors

I've gone back and forth on the color thing, and I'm still undecided, but it'll be good to get some thoughts down on it now and see if it helps.

I'm a big fan of varying shades of blue, but one that I really love is teal.  Teal looks great with a lot of different accents, but I love it best with orange or a dusty pink color.

However, the problem with a color like teal is that there seems to be different definitions of teal.  Add the fact that teal options are difficult to find, and you end up either having to pay more to get the color or DIY more decorations.  So now I need to look at other color options that are more readily available.  Turquoise or Aqua might be acceptable options to teal since they're pretty similar but more available.

Here are some other palette contenders that are variations of teal and rose/orange.

Turquoise, navy, and grey (wintry palette)

Yellow, orange, and aqua (summer or autumn palette)

Royal blue and gold (spring or summer palette)

Maroon, aqua, and "bubble gum" (spring or summer palette)

(Okay, so I'm not thrilled with the name "bubble gum," but it's a fun color combination.)

Papaya, navy, gunmetal (autumn palette)

(Seriously, who comes up with these names? No wonder colors are so freaking hard to find!)

I could live with any of these color combinations for a long time.  Maybe the best thing to do is to see which season would work best, which means seeing when ideal venues are available.

Flavored Salts and Sugars as Favors

I had wanted to do flavored salts as Christmas gifts last season, but I think I might save them as potential wedding favors instead once I figure out the costs.  There are a couple of benefits to using flavored salts as a wedding favor:

• Edible wedding favors are fun!
• Flavored salts probably last a long time since you don't need to sprinkle a ton of salt in one sitting (though I'm not sure what the shelf life is on these babies considering any moisture content).
• They're easy to make in batches as long as you have a food processor!
• There are so many flavors you could make that there's really something for everyone.
• Different types means different colors, too!  So pretty!
• They should be pretty cost effective.  How much is a pound of salt at the store, maybe a few bucks?  Add in whatever flavors you want to combine, and I'm guessing you could make it for less than $1 per favor (add in the cost of the container and labels, and it's probably about a dollar per favor).  I think the salt bowl and spoon are super cute, but I gotta keep this under budget.  Maybe wooden spoons.

 

Tangerine Salts recipe from StyleMePretty

Other potential flavored salt recipes to use:

• Sriracha salts
• Sichuan peppercorn salt, citrus salt, or matcha salt 
• Bacon salt, yo! (not the vegetarian kind)
• Almost too many recipes to name (including curry salt, vanilla salt, and Chinese five spice salt)
• No recipes on this link, but they have so many pretty colors! (vintage merlot salt, espresso salt, Thai ginger salt, and more!)
• Or I could just make up a recipe and call it the signature wedding flavor!  Maybe something representative of the bride and groom. :)

We could also try the flavored sugar variant, but I don't see as many recipes for this online.  However, I did find these babies on AlwaysOrderDessert.com:

Holy crap, flavored/colored sugar cubes??  I DIE.  Probably too much DIY work for what I want to do, but how adorable are these???

The Most Important Things

I've been thinking a lot about wedding budgets lately.  I've been serious enough to attempt to fill out a budget sheet with various numbers just so I could get an idea of how much to save and for how long.  Eventually, when we get this planning thing started for real, it'll be useful to get realistic estimates.  But for now, the numbers aren't looking fun yet.  To help with this, I'm going to break down the most important things and the least important things for me.

Top 3 things I'd spend my wedding money on (no particular order):

• Day-of wedding photography
• Food (catering mostly... my cake priorities are not as high)
• A great DJ/emcee

Standard wedding costs I'm happy to nix completely:

• Videography
• Engagement photos
• Flowers
• Engagement party (added 9/8/11)

I know my only 2 readers might will think I'm crazy for wanting to nix those first three things, but they're really not that important to me.  The flowers are probably unavoidable, but I've never been much into florals and am open to alternatives (e.g. fans for the bridesmaids, non-floral arrangements, feather boutonnieres).

I'm also considering hiring a wedding planner--not just a day-of coordinator.  The mister and I are capable of planning really tiny events, but when it gets to be, for example, 15+ people (ahem, birthday events), we stress out.  Neither of us like to haggle prices, either, so negotiating contracts seems daunting.  We'd want to enjoy our wedding day, and putting the coordination responsibilities on our friends and family is only going to keep them from enjoying the day, too.  And they say that the planners end up paying for themselves in the cost savings they can get you--if we're going to spend x amount anyway, I say we get a little extra peace of mind with that.

All in all, the most important thing to me is that everyone (guests, wedding party, groom and me!) all have a great time on our day.  I don't think that would be best served with the nicest invitations, the prettiest wedding video, or grand floral decorations.  So I'm going to put my money in where I think people will enjoy it the most: delicious food, a fun DJ/emcee to keep the night going, and great wedding photos for guests to relive the moment a little longer. :)  But I still want a reasonably nice environment for all of this to happen... on a budget.  Crossing my fingers for the planner of my dreams.