Dress Up Your Bouquet!

A bride's bouquet is an essential piece to establish her wedding day look. Everyone will see it as she as she walks down the aisle, so the wrap of the bouquet, which covers the stems, is definitely not something that will go unnoticed!  We have seen many brides here at The Allan House add flare to their bouquets by dressing up the wrap.  There are so many bouquet treatments from which to choose, so search around and find the one that will highlight your personal style and complement your wedding décor. Below you will find some of my absolute favorites.

Photo Courtesy of Wedding Chicks

Keepsake jewelry is a beautiful addition to a bouquet wrap that adds simple elegance and a personal touch. Incorporating a loved one's jewelry into your wedding wardrobe is not only beautiful but also incredibly sentimental and meaningful.

Photo Courtesy of Style Me Pretty

I love this delicate bouquet wrap that was featured on Style Me Pretty.  It is so girly and fun but chic at the same time. Perfect for the inner-ballerina in you!

Photo Courtesy of Style Me Pretty 

Tie in your color scheme with a bright ribbon!  I love how cheerful and festive this bouquet treatment is. The wrap adds a pop of color without overpowering the gorgeous flower arrangement.

Picture Courtesy of Style Me Pretty

Beautiful and sentimental, adding pictures of loved ones to your bouquet is a great way to commemorate your family in your wedding.  Find lockets to display the pictures, and use a colored string or twine to keep the lockets in place. Use pearls to add charm to the ribbon, and you have an elegant wrap for your bouquet!

Photo Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Use a personalized handkerchief with your wedding date or initials embroidered on it for a bouquet wrap. You can keep this as a memento from your wedding for years to come!

Burlap or twine is a simplistic way to wrap up a bouquet for a rustic wedding.  It looks gorgeous and natural without taking away from the flowers, and it goes with any color scheme.

Photo Courtesy of Style Me Pretty

For a more vintage look, use lace or burlap to wrap your bouquet, and secure it with an antique brooch.

I hope you had as much fun lusting over all these bouquets as I did! There are so many unique options to style up your bouquet, and I am sure that you will find one that fits the look you are trying to achieve.

Erin and Jonathan by Photography by Vanessa

I was beyond thrilled when I received a package in the mail containing the fabulous images from Erin and Jonathan's Central Christian Church ceremony and Allan House reception. Thank you so much, Vanessa!

Erin and Jonathan shared a first glance outside the church before the ceremony took place.

Anibella Ink + Paper created all of the gorgeous paper goods.

The Central Christian Church is even more stunning in person.

 

After the ceremony, the walk to the reception was less than a block away.

It was the first event of the season to take place in our Winter Tent and could not have been more gorgeous. Wedding  planner extraordinaire Becky Brock of BZ Events made sure the evening was perfect.

The luxurious linens were special ordered from Distinctive Details.

Last Petal created the beautiful florals and birdcage decor.

This simple yet flawless cake was the work of our friends at Simon Lee Bakery.

Erin and Jonathan, thank you for allowing The Allan House to be a part of your beautiful celebration. We wish you the best!

Sneak Peek: Trice and Bret by Lisa Woods Photography

Thank you so much to Lisa Woods Photography for sharing the details of Trice and Bret's recent wedding. We look forward to posting more of the images soon!

Innovative Guest Book Ideas

While many couples tend to go with traditional guest books for their weddings, there are several fun and fresh alternatives. I would like to share some of my favorite guest book ideas to help you discover a creative way to record the sentiments of your family and friends!

An old fashioned typewriter with a long piece of paper can be used for guests to type out their wishes for the newlyweds. The new couple can then roll up the paper, tie it with a ribbon and save it as a keepsake or display it in their home. 

Photo Courtesy of Style Me Pretty 

You can find inexpensive typewriters online, at thrift stores, or at flea markets. Typewriters come in many different colors to go with any wedding palate and would look especially great for a vintage wedding theme. 

Hanging signatures and wishes from decorative branches in a floral arrangement is a beautiful way to display your guest book, and it makes for a great centerpiece!

 Photo Courtesy of Anthology Photography. Wish Tree by ArtHouse Design.

The Fancy Prints store on Etsy offers a personalized poster version of this idea. Guests can leave their thumbprint to make the "leaves" of the tree and sign their name by their leaf.

Photo Courtesy of Etsy

Fancy Prints will provide everything you need to feature this gorgeous guest book at your wedding: poster, instruction card, inkpad and marker. Posters can be made to fit up to 150 guest signatures, great for intimate to larger weddings. 

For all of you crafty brides, use double-sided tape to stick festive envelopes into an ordinary album to add character to a traditional guest book.

Photo Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Guests can inscribe wishes and sentiments on cards and then tuck them into the envelopes so that the new couple can open and enjoy them for years to come.

Bella Puzzles Too is a store on Etsy that crafts personalized wooden puzzles that can be used as a guest book at your wedding. Guests sign the pieces and the new couple can assemble them and frame the finished puzzle to commemorate their special day.

Photo Courtesy of Etsy

The puzzles can be personalized to feature pieces that form your name, initials, wedding date, a short phrase, or even a special figure such as a heart or leaf.

Be inspired to use some of these creative ideas to produce a guest book keepsake that you will cherish long after the wedding is over.

Carrying Fashion Trends into Wedding Themes

So often we see wedding themes based around the seasons. Pastels and brighter tones for spring and summer, then warmer and darker colors for fall and winter, but this spring and summer boast some amazing fashion trends that I think would carry beautifully into the wedding world. Here are a few of my favorites, from colors and patterns to textures and themes. All photos were borrowed from theknot.com wedding ideas tab.

1) Nautical 

Nautical Dress by J Crew

The idea of nautical is to keep everything very simple and clean with red, white and navy being the typical colors used. The more simple, the better. I love how these all white flowers have a striped ribbon wrapped around them. The all navy bridesmaid dresses also go with the nautical feel, and you can always add gold shoes and jewelry to dress up the look. Feel free to incorporate rope, anchors and other east coast beach/bay accents like these adorable lobster cookie favors.

  

 

2) Bright Citrus Colors 

 

Citrus Dress by Anthropologie

Don't hesitate to use bright colors this summer! Tangerine and melon are among some of the citrus colors that are in style for 2011. These paper fan programs are a great way to ensure the heat of summer doesn't overwhelm your guests. Be bold!

3) Safari

Safari Dress by LOFT

The bold animal prints from fall have carried over to give us a safari trend for spring and summer. Use textures, warm lighting and patterns to give your wedding a classy safari feel. Tall grass and feathers will bring this exotic theme to life.

My favorite part about all of these themes/trends is that they can make your city wedding feel like a destination.  Can you imagine your guests arriving to your event and immediately being transported to the beaches of Maine, the warmth of Florida, or the wildness of the Sahara Desert. 

Take a risk and try turning one of your favorite pieces of clothes this spring/summer into inspiration for your wedding!