Friday Favorites: Love Wins!

My favorite thing this Friday, you ask? Well, that's an easy answer: SCOTUS RULED IN FAVOR OF MARRIAGE EQUALITY! With this ruling, all state bans on same-sex marriage are struck down, and marriage equality is the law of the land. Words cannot describe how proud I am of my country today. Please enjoy/sob uncontrollable to the video below, which was actually released from the Hillary Clinton Campaign just days before this ruling. It's pretty beautiful so get your tissues ready. And the White House in Pride colors! Can we just change the White House to the Rainbow House from now on? It's gorgeous! Now, bring on the wedding cake an let's party!

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Back to Business!

Well, sometimes you blink and seven months go by. Grad school took over, and this little blog took the back seat. Not only did school take up nearly all of my time, whenever I did have a small break from writing papers, I just couldn't bring myself to sit down to write for fun. But the good news is I've graduated and now have my Master's! And so, I'm back to bridal blogging!

Even though I took a step back from posting, following bridal was a really great way to pause, take a break, and recharge. Of course, Pinterest is an easy way to keep up with trends, but I thought I'd also share the other tools I've found to be easily accessible and enjoyable, even when super busy.

Instagram is a perfect way to get a quick fix of just about anything having to do with weddings -whether it's fashion, flowers, table settings, stationary, etc. Here are just a few of my faves to follow:

 Calvet Couture Bridal: @calvetcouturebridal

www.instagram.com/calvetcouturebridal/

Super Event Weddings: @super_event_weddings

www.instagram.com/super_event_weddings/

Maggie Louise Bridal: @maggielouisebridal

www.instagram.com/maggielouisebridal/

Another way I get a quick fix of wedding pretties is The Knot's Look Book app, which is free in the iTunes App store. You can browse wedding dresses, rings, accessories, and more, with new featured designs posted regularly. You can use the app without logging in, but if you submit your email address and a wedding date, you can save your favorite picks. If you're comfortable sharing your location with the app, it can even show you where certain products are available in a store near you. It's good for browsing, and includes many of the same product details available on the www.theknot.com.


Update: Just started playing with the "Discover" feature. It's kind of like Tinder but instead of strangers, it's wedding dresses. YES. PLEASE. 

Finally, I just found a wedding podcast I'm really enjoying, which is great for long commutes. It's called Wedding Podcast Network. The episodes I've found are actually a couple years old, so it might not be the best source of current trends, but it is entertaining and educational. I recently learned a lot about stationery. They talk to a variety professionals in the wedding industry, and it's fun!

I Do...nuts. Doughnuts.

Let's get one thing straight. I love doughnuts. Who doesn't? I also love creative weddings, which is why I think it is super rad when couples incorporate doughnuts into their big days. There are a few different ways this can be done. Doughnut wedding cakes can be a absolutely stunning, and make life easier as they don't need to be sliced. Doughnuts as favors are also a great option - again, who doesn't like donuts? Your guests will be happy and it can be a nice way to incorporate a rustic or fall theme into your favors.

[CAKE SOURCE]
[FAVOR SOURCE]

One of the coolest way to incorporate doughnuts into a wedding? As the cocktail hour! I was at a friend's wedding last month that had a "cider and doughnut hour" and boy, did I feel the love! It was perfect for this October wedding with an early afternoon reception. And it was perfect for the couple. They love visiting local cider mills every fall, and their wedding cider and doughnuts came from their very favorite mill. Not only was it adorable, season-, and time-appropriate, but it also conveyed a part of the couple's special story.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the cider and doughnut hour at my friends' wedding. Let that be a sign of how good of a wedding it was; I was far too busy crying, laughing, eating, dancing, and crying some more to take pictures! But, here are some ideas I found around the web that could inspire a beautiful alternative cocktail hour...

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Friday Favorites: Bridal Fashion Week *Saturday Morning Edition

Happy Fri... uh, Saturday! Life happens, and before you know it, 20 days pass without a blog post! To get back into the swing of things, here's a Friday Favorites, one day late. Bridal Fashion Week was a great time, surely for folks attending runway shows and galas, but also for the common Instagram follower. Here are some of my favorite Instagram pics from #BridalFashionWeek!

@wedberry_com

@badgleymischka

@bridalmusings

@amsalebridal

@calvetcouturebridal

@misshayleypaige

@wedberry_com

Refined Wedding Showcase!

It's hard to believe that the Refined Wedding Showcase was already a week ago! A friend and I drove 5 hours last Sunday to Events at Refinery where we had the chance to meet Randy Fenoli! Before his hour-long presentation, there was a bunch of cool stuff to look at. Fun DJs, prop rentals, a pole dance instructor doing demos, etc. AND there was cake! 

There were dresses galore! 

Then there was Randy! His presentation was hilarious, informative, and inspiring. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone talk for an hour straight with that much energy. As if that wasn't enough, he followed his presentation with a lip synced rendition of Pharrell's 'Happy'. And then he met with every person who came to the showcase. Not only for a quick "Hi" and photo op; he spent time really talking, listening, and laughing with people. I spoke with him for about five minutes and presented him with the cross stitched "Hello Beautiful" I made for him. He was so sweet! He even asked if it was OK for him to change the frame it was in so it would match his apartment. 

He mentioned during his presentation that he was staying at the same hotel as us, but we didn't actually think we'd see him. As we were checking out the next morning, though, we saw him in the lobby. He was such a good sport. It was an AWESOME ending to a very fun weekend!

Friday Favorites: Fall Bouquets

Autumn definitely seems to be the hot, or rather cool, season for weddings these days, so here are a few beautiful fall bouquets for your viewing pleasure. Happy Friday!

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Officially Mrs. Tell!

Congratulations to Lauren Conrad and William Tell, who got married on Saturday! My US Magazine cannot come in the mail soon enough. I don't know about you, but I need a full photo of the dress!

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Bridal Expo + Fashion Show

Last weekend, I attended my first full-blown bridal expo! I've been to a smaller DIY bridal show, but nothing at the convention center level. Two engaged friends were going to join me but when they couldn't make it, I decided to crash this party, anyway! While there weren't nearly enough cake samples, there were dresses galore. I loved stopping by the bridal salon booths to hear their advice for an aspiring bridal consultant.  The top tip from everyone was to just apply but also set up an appointment to meet with the shop owner. The fashion show was really the highlight of the expo. So much pretty and so much fun!

Friday Favorites: Sequined Bridesmaids

Maybe it's a side affect of having been a competitive dancer for all of my childhood and adolescence, but I LOVE sequins! Gimme that sparkle, I don't care if it's itchy. So obviously, I'm a big fan of forcing your bridal party to endure the itch for all the glitz and glam. Check out these beauties...

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DIYing Cake Toppers

When my brother and his husband were married a couple of years ago, both were oblivious to the concept of wedding cake toppers. With a week until the reception and no time to order custom made, I decided I would make their set. I'm crafty, but not a professional. Having never made cake toppers, I went to the dollar store and bought objects in the shapes that I thought I might need. My brother loves fish and caring for his aquarium, so I decided simple goldfish were the way to go.

They turned out better than I could have imagined! The top hats are foam hair curlers, the bodies are decorative artificial lemons, the stands are pencils. It was a perfect topper for their cheesecake tower and basically one of my proudest moments! Now that one of my best friends is getting married, I hoped to recreate the magic but with cats. However, it turns out cats are much more difficult than minimalist goldfish!

Where things got more tricky were the faces. Unlike the goldfish, faceless cats didn't look right to me. The goal was to have the groom be a black cat, and the bride a white cat. The groom's face evolved rather quickly into looking like my own cat (which worked because the groom loves Kitty Posner!). Painting the bride, though, revealed some design flaws. The white paint accentuated every grove in the artificial limes used for the body and the Styrofoam ball head. Switching to grey paint helped.

Though they didn't turn out exactly as I had pictured them, they are awfully cute! Once I realized that they were more likely to be shower decor than on the actual wedding cake, I was able to have a bit more fun. The bride is a big fan of Lil Bub, so I added a Lil Bub tongue to make the kitty bride more personal. My favorite part of the process? Adding the necklace and sewing the tiny veil. Kitty bride needed to be "jacked up!" To tie the whole thing together, I displayed them in a flower pot as the bridal shower had a garden theme. So cute! Now, to start my dollar store crafted pet statuette business!

Friday Favorites: Courthouse Weddings

For many couples, a courthouse wedding is the perfect way to get hitched. For some it's a money saver or simply more practical. Some can't wait to be married, some are about to be deployed in the military, and others just don't see the point in a lavish occasion. For others, it might be the only option. For lesbian and gay folks in Michigan, for example, there was only a 4-hour period the day after the marriage ban was overturned during which couples could legally marry, before Gov. Snyder appealed.  While I could go on and on here about how awful and unfair Michigan's government is being right now, I will spare you and keep this a fun Friday. Here are some of my favorite courthouse weddings from around the web.

You need to check out the source for this one. Looking at this couple's entire wedding got me all teary. So happy and beautiful, these two really set the bar high for eloping!
[SOURCE: Munaluchi Bridal]

[SOURCE: Christy Cassano-Meyer]

[SOURCE: Aphrodite's Wedding Blog]

[SOURCE: Huffington Post]

[SOURCE: 100 Layered Cake]

[SOURCE: Kate Murphy Photography]