Cheers!

prior to being engaged i always thought it would be cute to have our toasting glasses 

say "Mr. on his & Mrs. on mine".... a very trival detail i was concerned with huh? 

shows where my pre wedding planning priorities were!

(invitations by dawn)

but all i could really come up with were flutes that looked like those pictured above.

but they just weren't the "look" i was going for... i wanted something with more of an heirloom-ish quality (is that even a word?)

then thanks to my parents, we were given our toasting glasses, etched with our wedding date on them, along with these adorable tees from a time when we were adorable little children! =)

here's a picture of us opening our gifts at our engagement party.

here's a picture of a flute up close, i didn't have one of us actually toasting with them... go figure!

now this still did not remedy my desire to do the cutesy Mr. & Mrs. for the glasses.

then..... i was stalking my photog's previous weddings and out it jumped!

i don't know if you can tell what it is, but it's a simple card stock tag with colored ribbons at the base of the stem.  so... woo hoo, i get my Mr. & Mrs. wishes!

i bet this minor detail with drive my fiance nuts, but i love surprise small details at weddings. i think it's really cool to see how thought out every little element is.

what great lengths are you willing to and are going to to personalize your weddings small (yet noticeable) details?

My Martha Wedding Inspiration...

a long while back, i think before i was engaged (yes, i am one of those brides, shhh...) i was flipping through a Martha Stewart Wedding mag (yes i did buy one prior to being engaged) and i came across this inspiration for one of the main focal points  of our wedding reception.

once i became engaged i stumbled across this reception look again, i had been searching for paper lanterns, i had seen many pics of receptions incorporating them.  although at that point i wasn't quite sure what look i was trying to achieve, other than a nautical feel....

then the above Martha inspiration came my way, instantly i knew i wanted white, blue, and a few purple lanterns in various sizes.  rather than Martha's approach of hanging the lanterns over a table, i wanted to use them to focus the attention on our dance floor.  after realizing my vision, my mom and i made the trek up to china town in los angeles on a mission to get great prices on paper lanterns, sure enough 16 lanterns and $60 later, my lanterns and i were driving home. 

 i was quite pleased with myself!

also, a few days ago my sis-in-law informed me that paper lanterns were on sale at 

Cost Plus World Market, so i found these fabulous brocade style lanterns! i think they are all really neat, but the blue are by far the winners in my book, since they work so

well with my color scheme!

so the problem is now, what would i do with these.... hmmm...

ha! i know, i could use them outside at the cocktail hour for decor! genius... 

this way the lanterns will tie the cocktail hour decor and reception decor together without being the same exact style! 

the next plan of attack was to use the centerpiece idea for some of my reception tables.

after that same LA trip, i was about ready to give up on the idea of 5 various sized hurricanes on each of these tables, wow that would cost more than just sticking with flowers!

well one night at Big Lots, i spotted a drinking glass set that was uber cheap, and had 3 various sized cylindrical glasses, which a candle would fit very nicely in... hmm.. since all the hurricanes will be wrapped in a white paper, it really didn't matter what they looked like! ha, i saved money again for my smaller "hurricanes."  

now the problem of the tall ones, well on a visit to good old WalMart, my brilliant sis-in-law saw the Catholic prayer candles (for lack of a better name) and thought hmm... hurricane plus candle all for $.99, can't beat that! cross off the candle situation, and it looks like the table decoration problems were solved.

crisis averted! 

Reception Decor ideas....

so i don't even remember how i stumbled across this company but i know i've seen some event planner use them for a "platinum wedding".

Wonderful Wedding Graffiti is truly fabulous in my opinion. not only do they specialize in tying together an overall theme for you wedding invitations, favors, and day of details... they also have a whole world of domestic graffiti for the home or other creative projects.  this image is what i plan on doing at my reception, since the yacht club has a massive fireplace that i had planned on making the focal point of the party! i love it because it places attention on the vows of a wedding, which in my opinion, aren't cherished these days the way they used to be, especially since so many couples opt for writing their "own vows".  not me, i'm sticking to the traditional vows, and i will showcase them on the mantle! =)