Rustic Formal Events

I absolutely love these photos from Colin Cooke, seen on the Housemartin, the Ink & Peat blog. I think I'm drawn to rustic settings because of the beautiful contrast made between them and a formal occasion. Plus my wedding was rustic, so I always get a warm feeling seeing photos and settings like these... Definitely more to come on this topic!

Wedding Movies and Wedding Scenes

The weather here has been kind of crappy lately, and it's perfect for snuggling up on the couch and watching a good movie. Some movies about weddings or with good wedding scenes (you can check them out on IMDB or request them on Netflix!):

• Love Actually
• Mamma Mia!
  
• Monsoon Wedding
• Father of the Bride (Did anyone else know that the Steve Martin movie was a remake??)
  
• Steel Magnolias
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Wedding Crashers (ha!)
• Runaway Bride
• Bend It Like Beckham
  
• Kill Bill
  
• Sweet Home Alabama
• Made of Honor
• The Godfather
  
• The Wedding Planner
• Monster-in-Law
• Clueless (at the end!)
• Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason (at the end again!)
• The Wedding Date
• The Best Man
• The Princess Bride
• The Marrying Man
• The Graduate (classic wedding scene!)
• Sixteen Candles
• Oklahoma!

Recommended wedding movies that I have yet to see:

• Father of the Bride (1950 version)
• A Wedding
• That Old Feeling
• It Happened One Night
• The Deer Hunter
  
• It Had To Be You
• Betsy's Wedding
• The Philadelphia Story
  
• 27 Dresses
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Muriel's Wedding
• The Bachelor
• The Other Sister
• My Best Friend's Wedding

Can you think of more? Recommendations welcome!!

Vintage Wedding Dresses/ Rockabilly Wedding

My friend Lea has always said that she is going to have a non-traditional wedding in Vegas. I suggested that she check out some vintage prom dresses to wear as her wedding dress—my favorite site for finding vintage dresses is Vintageous—they have SO MANY dresses! The only thing is that you have to surf often because these dresses get snapped up quick.

This is my pick for Lea:I think we could make this pretty easily ourselves, now that I think of it.

And some fun Lea shoes from Zappos:
Cute and EASY pin-up girl hair tutorial from ilovegerardo on YouTube! And slightly less easy (for me—I'm bad at blending) but very detailed makeup from askmemakeup.

Her man can get his outfit off of eBay... there are a ton of "rockabilly suits" there.

Rockabilly wedding cake? Why yes, please! From My House is Better Than Yours on Flickr, via Offbeat Bride.Or she can just go to the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel and ask for the Rockabilly Package—with optional Elvis cake add-on! (I LOVE Elvis, who doesn't??)
And the next time Lea goes to Portland to visit her friend Jessica (or the next time she shops online), she can pick up this swimsuit from Popina—the better to lounge by the pool in! (I wouldn't trust a vintage swimsuit. I guess it's personal preference...)

Did You Know: Old, New, Borrowed, Blue, Shoe??

So we've all heard the little wedding ditty: "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue..." but as I often find out, not many people have heard the last part: "and a silver sixpence in your shoe." The origin of this rhyme is generally accepted as being Victorian, but some of the customs that it refers to are as old as ancient Rome.

Something Old
According to The Phrase Finder, "something old" respresents continuity in the form of the couple's friends or family who will support them during their marriage. Items usually are given to the bride by a happily married woman, to pass the happiness on to the new bride. Often the "something old" will be a piece of family jewelry or other keepsake item. My husband's family has a diamond that has been passed down through generations and reset in each wife's engagement ring, so I had a special something old right off the bat!

Something New
No shortage of options here—but for the traditional symbolism, Georgia Girl's page on wedding traditions says that the wedding gown is often chosen as "something new," meant to represent good fortune, success and good hopes for a bright future in a new life. It makes sense that you'd want to step out to your new life in your new dress!

Something Borrowed
The symbolism behind "something borrowed" is similar to "something old," except that the bride would have to return the valued item to ensure good luck, according to The Phrase Finder. Georgia Girl agrees and restresses the value of the borrowed item coming from a happily married woman.

Something Blue
This is actually the oldest part of the traditions and has lots of meaning behind it. Ancient Romans believed that blue was the color of love, modesty, and fidelity, according to Ask Yahoo. It is also well known that the Christian Virgin Mary is most often depicted wearing blue, and the color has been associated with purity since biblical times. All three of the aforementioned sites mention that in ancient Israel, brides would wear a blue ribbon in their hair to represent fidelity, and often both the bride and groom would wear a blue band on the bottom of their wedding attire. Before the late 19th century, blue was a popular color for wedding gowns. (I LOVE this idea, see the blue gown I found!)

A Silver Sixpence in Your Shoe
A quick lesson for the non-British among us: Wikipedia says a sixpence is a coin worth 1/40th of a British pound, made of sterling silver until 1920. The first sixpences were struck in 1551 and continued until the acceptance of decimalisation in 1967. Ask Yahoo says that the shoe custom may date back to a Scottish custom of the groom putting a silver coin under his foot for good luck. In any case, the sixpence represents financial security and wealth of both money and children. Some brides substitute a penny or a dime in their shoe (left shoe for best results). Andy's grandfather collected foreign currency and I was lucky enough to find an actual silver sixpence!

This whole poem is the most purely symbolic tradition in wedding lore, and can be taken as seriously or as lightheartedly as you want. I had the old diamond, new dress, borrowed my mom's pearls, wore blue underwear, and had the sixpence in my shoe because although I'm not superstitious, my wedding wasn't the time to push it!

Locket Up

I have always loved lockets—the idea that you've got a secret is very appealing. They're great for weddings, whether a photo of your sweetie around your neck or a photo of a lost loved one pinned to your bouquet. A locket would also be a nice gift for a bat mitzvah, sweet 16, or quincenera, because what girl doesn't love jewelry? :) You could pre-fill the locket with a special photo or leave it up to the secrets of her heart.

Some great lockets of all shapes and sizes:
Dahlia Jewels
Banana Republic
MStevenson Designs (AWESOME)
Old But New
Macys
Red Envelope

Birdcage Veil: To Make or To Buy?

It seems like everyone and their sister are wearing birdcage veils lately. And it's easy to see why this style of veil is so trendy: they are SUPER cute! Not for everyone, either by personal taste or face shape, these veils will add a cute touch to any gown.

The easiest way to get one is, as with most things, to buy one. There are a ton of veil sellers online; two bigger websites are Something Bold and BirdcageVeils. Within the realm of birdcage veils, these suppliers have multiple styles, from not only with simple combs, to veils with flowers or feathers, to multi-layer veils with lots of volume.

Another source, and maybe one that's a little more fun, is to hunt for handmade birdcage veils on Etsy. I just did a search, and you can find birdcage veils between $130 and $5, depending on your taste and how much you want going on up there. My favorites are by sellers Joei Reed Custom Millinery (if you want to be unique, kick it up a notch with some color or a hat!) and Brenda's Bridal Veils (she has lots of ready-to-wear variety and she takes custom orders as well!).

Other than purchasing your birdcage veil, you could also try your hand at making it, if you're crafty (or even if not—it's not very hard to make the simple net-and-bobbypins style) or if you have a friend/sister/mother you can talk into trying it. The absolute best site that I found with directions was VintageSewing.info. There are step-by-step instructions along with old-school illustrations to show you what to do. Another site with directions is this personal site where the author describes how she made her simple net-only veil and has a little hand drawing to boot.

To make or to buy? That is a question you have to answer for yourself.

By Pattern

I came across this great site tonight: ReproDepot. So many great ideas if you are looking for a party theme to tie things together. It could be an all-out theme (I think an Alice in Wonderland party would be so fun!) or just a few details to make the event flow and make everything mesh.

This bold pattern really caught my eye—I love the combination of a really bold architectural frame with the soft freeform of botanical elements—so mod but still fun. Everyone loves a black and white party; it's a theme but people don't have to look "dorky" to participate.

I picture this vase with bright yellow roses as centerpieces and using the fabric as placemats at a white table with black chairs, bright yellow plates (like Fiestaware or something equally chunky), and some really great black and white drinks: Black or White russian, Blackout, Piña Colada, Cement Mixer (recipe from a vast source), and Guinness beer (close enough!). Additional yellow accents here and there would add that necessary kick of color.

Playlist:
Pearl Jam—Black • Jefferson Airplane—White Rabbit (so awesome and fitting with the modness!) • AC/DC—Back in Black • The White Stripes • My Chemical Romance—The Black Parade • Barry White • Amy Winehouse—Back to Black • Cream—White Room • Black Velvet • Black Crowes • Velvet Underground—White Light/White Heat • Procol Harum (or Elliot Yamin)—Whiter Shade of Pale • Plain White Tees (they have better stuff than just "Delilah") • Black Eyed Peas • Black Flag • Dido—White Flag • Blaque • The Black Keys • Vanessa Carlton—White Houses • Michael Jackson—Black or White (oh yeah, I went there!)

P.S. Someone pleeeease give me a reason to use this fabric/theme (Lea???):