Color Inspiration

 Aqua & Orange... again, I love the idea of decorating with oranges, rather than pumpkins, which for an October wedding would seem to theme-y to me.

 These invitations (center) are where I finally decided that I could do my idea of varying oranges & blues & it would work.

 Again, the varying blue & orange top upper right.

 I love the bright/bold colors of the background on the lower pic!

BEAUTIFUL!  Varying Blues

 Orange Dessert Table

I really like the guy's attire here.

Room Decor

 I love the look of the lanterns in the trees.  I'd like to see some of these above the 'alter' or ceremony sight.

 Again, poms or lanterns above the tables.

 The hanging mason jar here is lovely, and could be used to guide people.

 The mason jars from the ceiling are cool.

 Lights & lanterns in the trees!

 I LOVE the way this looks with the lights, lanters and poms of all different shapes & sizes.

 This is pretty.

 A little too uniform for me, but an idea for hanging the poms.

 I love the two types of hanging objects in the lower left picture here!

 I like the tumbleweed chandelier... mostly in that it's something different and unexpected.

So much color from the vintage umbrellas!

Candy / Dessert Tables

 Though it's somewhat difficult to see in the center picture above, I really like the candy table look, especially the casual look to the banner and the sentiment, "LOVE IS SWEET"

 This one is almost too 'streamlined', or everything looks a little too similar for my taste, I'd like varying heights, sizes, colors, textures, etc.  But I do like the jars & signs.

 The candy table at the bottom has more of the variation that I'd like to see.

 Chips & Dip bar is a cute idea, and I love the set up here making it easy to dish out as well as the added interest of other objects/decorations on the table as well.

 I want to jump through the screen and eat here. Love the dome in the background!

 I love the 'wild' look to this one, with the branches, flowers and edibles intermixed throughout the whole table.  I also like the idea to have the lime-water on the dessert table so someone could serve oneself instead of having to go up to the bar. 

 Love the branches, but they might overwhelm the table.

 I adore the look of this table with the focus above.  Though we could probably achieve this with branches also, it would be cool to do this with lanterns.. and what about oranges hanging from the ceiling?!

Smores table.  Love the setup!

Table Decor

 The first two images are more of a color inspiration, but I also love the idea of decorating with oranges.  Having a few flowers nearby, and I also love the cake plate as decor.  This might be good either as a table centerpiece, or on one of the serving tables.

I like the varied colors, heights and visual interest of the somewhat random placement of table decorations here.

 LOVE this outdoor space.... I'd like to have cocktail tables on the deck and possibly inside the lodge, too?  But how awesome would it be to bring in couches &/or benches?!

 Again, bringing in benches for the outdoor ceremony.  Possible?  I think so!

 Another view with the simplicity of smaller table decorations.  It still looks very nice, cozy and understated.

 These images are great, showing a lot of different, little items combining to create a statement for the centerpieces.  I like that the idea of having the flowers/branches inside the cylinders mirrors my ideas of having glass containers on the food serving tables - candy, dessert, salad bar, spud bar...

The brightly wrapped cylinders are nice, too, really adding to the colorful & bright look of these centerpiece items.

Again, I apologize for using images that I didn't save the web addresses for.  I may have to take down these posts soon.

Flowers!

I dropped off the face of the earth on this blog, I realize, but I wanted to get some images of the 'look' I've spent a lot of time pondering for the wedding & reception.

First up, flowers!
Unfortunately I've lost the links to a lot of these images, so I hope no one gets offended by that.

 The first is probably more what I'm looking for.  I love these orange flowers and the longer stems in the center of the bouquet.  Not too sure about the 'folded' leaves at the bottom, but I like the rest!  Maybe a navy ribbon to wrap at the bottom?

I found this one awhile ago, and I like that it looks more like wild flowers, the variation in color, size, texture, and heights of the flowers.

 This third bouquet, again I like the wild flowers, though this bouquet is much to big for what I'm looking for... something more subtle and manageable.

 Similar to the first one, these bouquets are my favorite!  The orange ribbon is pretty here, too instead of the navy suggested for the first.

 Another similar bouquet.  Maybe too much height... I think I might end up dragging this one on the ground if I held it down like this, and it'd cover my face if I held it up!

 I like that the bridesmaids have solid orange and the bride has orange & white instead of having a larger version of the same.

 This was one of the first bouquets that I found and liked.  The more natural & wild look to the flowers are very appealing, as well as the shape of the bouquet and the visual weight where she holds the bouquet while the overall bouquet seems visually light.

NOW it's official: October 1, 2011

We have finally made a decision for the wedding, and it's a big one!

We booked our reception venue for October 1, 2011.  Now it really feels official!
Luckily it's still 15 months away, so I don't feel stressed that we haven't made any other decisions yet.

We'll be having the reception at Black Hawk State Park Lodge.  It's gorgeous!

I think the last one is one of my favorites on their website!

Some of my favorite things about having this as our reception venue:

• It has great indoor and outdoor spaces.  Guests won't be isolated to one space throughout the night.

• (It includes tables and chairs! I certainly don't want to have to rent everything!)

• They have plenty of space to accommodate the live band that we plan to have.  And the park rental coordinator said the acoustics are excellent!
• It's set in a Historic State Park, so the woods surrounding are well-maintained, and even though it's early fall, we might have some fall colors around!  Also, the lodge is so nice, that we don't need a lot of added decorations!
• They have a nice kitchen for the caterers, so that's convenient!
• They really include a lot in their rental (security, clean up, etc).

Yay!  The countdown can officially begin!

More to come soon...

Wedding Slacker

I know I've been a slacker on the blog, but I promise, we've been making progress.
Here's how the last month has happened:

May 14.
Ben decides to buy a new motorcycle.
After finding 'the perfect bike' about 1,000 times, he declares that this is an offer too good to pass up.
We figure out how to pay for the bike, and I spend the next week (an extremely busy one at work, mind you) helping him figure out how in the world he's going to get it home from New Carlisle, OH and still make it to our planned trip to Chicago.  So much unnecessary stress...

May 21.
Ben gets his new motorcycle, and all is right in his world.

May 21.
I drive up to Chicago to enjoy 'couple's weekend', though Ben doesn't manage to make it.  Funny how that worked.

May 24.
The beginning of another crazy-busy work-week.  (My first huge beginning-to-end design project.  A dental office!)

May 28.
The beginning of vacation!

May 29.
Fly to North Carolina for a week on the Outer Banks!

June 4.
Fly home

June 5-6.
Float Trip VI.  Intended to be a relaxing float down the Wisconsin River.  Storms led to slightly less relaxation.  Still fun.

June 7.
Return to work, expecting the worst.  Find worst, and work like crazy for the next week.

June 11.
Go to hear our favorite local band, Minus 6.  This makes us reconsider a lot of what we had been thinking for the wedding (more to come on that).

June 13-15.
In Chicago for NeoCon (world's largest interior design trade market).  So cool!  I think my favorite part was that from about 1pm - 6pm the whole place is a giant cocktail party!

June 16-now.
Making super progress on my work to do list, but still don't feel like returning home after work to wedding plan and blog.  We have actually made some decisions, and have some plans in the works.
We decided that we are going to have a local (Quad Cities) wedding.  I think we'll be able to make everything more personal and special by being able to have the wedding and reception in the places we love, and have the other details that have more significant meaning to us.  The major decision that we made was to have Minus 6 play at our reception, which led to more questions and a couple of decisions.

I'll post again with more of those details.
Just didn't want to leave everyone in the dark forever.  Sorry it's been so long, as is!