Happy Friday! I made a fun inspiration board to get us all ready for the weekend!

photo credits: butterfly  and shoes(Squaresville Studio), cotton candy (the swell life via Beth Helmstetter Events), sign (Next Exit Photography via Style Me Pretty), mug (Postroad Vintage etsy shop), truffles (tabbyCat13′s etsy shop), cake (Shyla Dalirifar via Once Wed), bridesmaids (Maw Wanger via FFFFOUND)

here’s a wintery version of a purple and aqua wedding. You can find a way to make almost any color combo work in any season. Have a great weekend!  :-)

photo credits: jewelry (Jagger Photography), bridesmaids (Next Exit Photography via Style Me Pretty), flowergirl shoes (Anna Sawin via Style Me Pretty), fireplace (unknown) , aqua shoe (Erin Hearts Court via Style Me Pretty), (purple flowers (Carla Ten Eyck via Style Me Pretty), Converse (Jagger Photography)

another must see wedding from Amelia Lyon….click below to go to see the full wedding on her blog.

photo credits: bowls (Catherine Reece etsy shop), macaroons (fffound),  cake (Mike’s Amazing Cakes via Brides.com), aisle cones (RedLoft Studios via the Knot.com),  table (Punam Bean via Once Wed), cloth (Beatriz Da Costa via Brides.com), centerpieces (Beatriz Da Costa via Brides.com), drinks (Martha Stewart)

similar to yesterday in color…but totally different in style.

This board has Shari written all over it- it is totally me! Hope you like it too.

photo credits: book (housemartin via fffound), ranunculus invite (pink lily press on etsy), orange macaroons (vi.sualize.us),dress (Sarah Seven on etsy) floral gown (martha stewart), flowers (James Abel Events via Style Me Pretty), lanterns (Design*sponge via Party perfect), blue flower veil (Twigs & Honey on etsy), program (Darling Dexter via Once Wed)

Dont forget to enter our giveaway with WristieLove! Just visit the shop and leave a comment telling your favorite item here!

I was so excited when Katie from this post told me she would share her budget with me. And I was even more excited when I saw that it was a $10,000 budget! I love this wedding!

Couple: Katie & Matt

Wedding Date: 10-11-2008 (what a great day that must have been, cuz it’s my birthday!)

Number of Guests: 86

Initial Budget: $10,000

Ceremony & Reception Site Fee: $762 – “We had our ceremony and reception at the same place so this is for the ceremony site as well as the reception hall. This saved us a good bit of money and also made it easier since we had quite a few out of town guests.” Price also included chairs and tables.

Officiant: $0 – Matt’s family friend officiated.

Catering/food: $2,454 total (about $24 per person, they estimated 100 people), $250 beer/wine

Rentals: $850 ($600 for linens, $250 plates, glasses, silverware)

Bridal Gown & Alterations: $450 “I purchased a really lovely bridesmaid dress. It was simple but that, again, saved a ton.”

Bridal Accessories: $90

Hair/Makeup: $150 ($90 for the bride, $60 for mom and maid of honor)

Groom’s Attire & Accessories: $180

Groomsmen Attire: $140 for ties and pocket squares

Paper: $250 all paper was DIY including my menus, invitations, save the dates, comment/escort cards

Transportation: $50

Photographer: $2,080

Videographer: $0

Ceremony Music: $0

Reception Music: $0 “we downloaded songs onto our mp3 players”

Flowers: $175

Other décor: $400 paper lanterns, skeleton keys, glass pieces from thrift stores, candles

Favors: $0 “we didn’t do favors but some of our guests took our table numbers and the keys attached to their escort cards home with them which was actually really sweet.”

Cake: $270

Wedding Planner: $0

Gifts: $280

Day of Grand Total: $8,831

Rehearsal Dinner/Day after brunch: $500 for casual rehearsal dinner at Matt’s parents’ house.

Honeymoon: $500 “we are so lucky –a family member contributed a beach house for use for our honeymoon as a wedding gift”

Wedding Bands: $400

FINAL GRAND TOTAL: $10,231

I am so grateful to my brides from this week that were willing to share. Thank you Katie! Your day was truly gorgeous and obviously a reflection of you and your husband!

Advice from the bride:

Best cost-saving advice: One of the things that saved us the most was finding a good deal on the site that we used for both reception and ceremony. We looked with the local parks department and found a bunch of duds and one beautiful site that was a fraction of what we would have paid for a private venue. It was really worth looking a little harder for our site. I would also say for any DIY brides, to calculate the cost of doing it yourself vs. paying someone to do it and make sure it’s actually worth doing yourself. Buying decorations and DIY items gradually also helped us spread out a lot of the cost. We were also really fortunate to have friends and family who offered different things to help us (a family friend cooked our rehearsal dinner, for example) and not only did it save us money, it added a really special touch to our day.

If you can splurge, do it here: I’d say that’s a personal decision. Matt and I followed the old advice about picking 2 things that are most important to you (in our case food and photography) and prioritize that in your budget. We ended up very happy with how we spent our money.

Don’t bother with: Anything that is not important to you. Do not stress about something that barely matters to you because chances are, most of your guests won’t even notice – your friends and family are just happy to be there to celebrate with you.

Other Advice: Work with vendors that you trust and if you can minimize the number of vendors that you have by letting one vendor take over several tasks, then that is less headache for you! Our vendors were amazing and the way they handled our event totally made our day extra super special. Most importantly I would say – have fun.  When it’s all said and done, it is your special day and you are the one that will remember it most so have the best time of your life and don’t stress about small things. Things are going to go wrong, that’s just the way it is but it’s up to you how much it affects your day.

Photos by Whitney Elizabeth Photography

These fantastic photos that I came across on photographer Whitney Elizabeth’s blog got me started on a nice little internet hunt for vintage key goodies.  Whitney is based in Santa Barbara, California and all of her photos just seem so sunny, happy and full of life. This is Katie & Matt’s shades of blue wedding. I love the little flags on the cupcakes that coordinate with the menu!

Visit the Whitney Elizabeth Photography blog for more great photos (and a pretty interesting blog)!

Finds from my vintage key hunt coming up!