Friendly Inspiration: Clara

Week Five: Clara
Our Relationship: I met Clara my freshman year of college and now we're living together for the second year!
Her Major: Bio-Psychology
Her School: University of California, Davis
Her Interests: cats, tv, eating, tumblr & YouTube

Clara's Questionnaire:
Colours: blues, greens, coral
Feeling: rustic, home-y, not too fancy, relaxed
Season: spring
Dress: not mermaid, no big ball gowns (minor is okay), simple with a little flair, nothing too beaded or ruffled
Location: outside ceremony and reception
Special Requests: would like some kind of photobooth

Clara's Dream Wedding:

The Colours: Shades of coral and aqua are the perfect combination for a spring wedding!

The Invitations: With its unique design and coral and aqua colour scheme, this invitation is the perfect choice!

The Bride's Attire: This bateau top and lace fabric bridal gown by Modeca incorporates just enough flair for Clara's low-key garden wedding.

The Bride's Beauty: Clara wishes to have her natural features enhanced without wearing too much makeup, so we chose a natural eye colour, voluminous eyelashes, and a perfect pink pout. Along with natural makeup, Clara will also have naturally coloured nails (she's not a huge fan of nail polish). Clara has beautifully thick hair, but when she's going to be dancing up a storm, she definitely wants her hair up, so we chose this unique braid-bun updo for her.

The Bridesmaids' Attire: This seafoam green dress by Social Bridesmaids is a perfect mix of colour and detail.

The Bridal Party Shoes: I love the idea of colourful shoes for a wedding, and Clara totally agrees! To offset the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses, we chose this beautiful coral pump by Thomasina. As a way for Clara to match her bridesmaids, she will be wearing Jessica Simpson pumps in the same colour as the bridesmaid dresses.

The Groom & Groomsmen Attire: In keeping with the lightness of Clara's colours, the men will wear a medium-grey suit with fun bowties to match the bridesmaids.

The Flowers: This bright coral and pink bouquet was an immediate favourite for Clara! The groom and his groomsmen will wear matching boutonnieres.

The Ceremony: Clara wanted a casual, yet elegant, outdoor venue for her ceremony. When we came across this garden location (Lake Oak Meadows) in Temecula (Southern CA), it was meant to be!

The Ceremony Decor: Lining the aisle will be hanging mason jars with coordinating flowers to Clara's bridal bouquet. To add a light-hearted feel to the ceremony, we'll create a ribbon backdrop for the couple in the wedding colours.

The Reception: Lake Oak Meadows also has a great reception space with the exact feel that Clara wants - especially with the fire pits!

The Reception Decor: Minimalistic decor is the name of the game! With these adorable wooden boxes filled with beautiful garden florals, it's the perfect mix of garden and rustic elegance. Rather than table numbers, words will be written on the boxes to add some uniqueness to the tables.

The Escort Cards: The font used on these escort cards is perfect and the little hearts give them character!

The Cake: Clara wanted a simple cake with some wow accessories!

The Guestbook: Clara loves photobooths, so this guestbook will incorporate the photos taken by her guests.

The Favours: M&Ms in the wedding colours fill a mini mason jar that will be given to the guests.

Little Extras: Some extra little details to make Clara's day unique.

Photo: Clara is beyond in love with her cat, Kitten (also known as Bootle), so this is a must-have photo!

Reception Fun: A photobooth for the guests is a must-have at this wedding! 

Drink Bar: Drinks in both aqua and coral in mason jars will be a for sure hit with the guests!

Next week, I'm going to do my bestie, Kiley's, wedding - and fun fact, she's actually getting married! :D

Sources:
Colours: Colour Lovers
Invitations: Truly Engaging
Bridal Gown: Modeca
Bridal Beauty: Jennifer Lawrence, Indulgy, Pretty_Design, Nailstah
Bridesmaids: Dessy
Shoes: Thomasina, Jessica Simpson
Groomsmen: GQ, Divine Domestication, Little Vys, CCA Design
Flowers: Style Me Pretty
Ceremony Venue: Lake Oak Meadows, Nick Corona, Hulse Photo
Ceremony Decor: Style Me Pretty, Your Wedding Keepsakes, Rebecca Shepherd, Style Me Pretty
Reception Venue: Lake Oak Meadows, Hulse Photo
Reception Decor: Wedding Bee, Inspired by This, Ruffled
Escort Cards: Emmaline Bride
Cake: see my Pinterest
Guestbook: The Knot
Favours: My M&M's
Photo: see my Pinterest
Photobooth: Stace Cadet Designs
Drinks: Breakfast with Audrey, Kitchen Treaty

Friendly Inspiration: Caitlin

Week Four: Caitlin

Our Relationship: I met Caitlin in Mrs. Matthew's Grade 3 class & we've been best friends ever since!

Her Major: Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Her School: University of Arizona

Her Interests: Dance (she wishes she still did it)

Top Left: Grade 8; Top Right: Grade 10; Bottom Left: First year of college;
Bottom Right: Going into our third year of college

Caitlin's Questionnaire:

Colours: red, black, white, silver

Feeling: vintage, cozy

Season: summer

Dress: simple, maybe lace or little sparkles

Location: outdoor ceremony, indoor reception

Caitlin's Dream Wedding:

The Colours: Caitlin's colour scheme inspired me to create an old Hollywood feel to the wedding.

The Invitations: These black on black wedding invitations are elegant with an added vintage touch.

The Bride's Attire: Caitlin was hesitant about a lot of sparkle or beadwork, but when she saw this Lazaro gown, she fell in love!

The Bride's Accessories: To give her look a vintage feel, I found these pearl and diamond accessories to pair with her dress.

The Bride's Beauty: For Caitlin's hair, we chose effortless waves, partially pinned back, which work perfectly with the cut of her dress. For her makeup, we had to include the hollywood glamour of the red lip and dramatic eyes, along with the classic look of a french manicure.

The Bridesmaid's Attire: To match the cut of Caitlin's dress, these bridesmaids dresses were chosen. To incorporate the red into the bridesmaids' look, these beautiful red pumps were chosen (and the crystal heel is such a bonus!).

The Groom & Groomsmen: All black suits (including the dress shirt) are effortlessly glamourous, and paired with red ties (so the groomsmen match the bridesmaids) and a silver tie (so the groom matches his bride), the look is perfect!

The Flowers: I absolutely love the bouquet that Caitlin chose! It's so luscious and adds so much colour to the bridal party and groomsmen's looks! (Now don't quote me on this, but I believe these are garden roses.)

The Ceremony: I lived in Yorba Linda for three years (and still visit every year), and never knew that the Richard Nixon Library hosted weddings - and beautiful ones at that! The backdrop to the ceremony is the gorgeous First Lady's Rose Garden, which creates the perfect space to get married.

The Ceremony Decor: The arch featured below stood out to me for two reasons: first, because of the gorgeous chandelier, and second for the natural feel of it. Rather than the vines that cover it here, I would use twinkle lights. Lining the aisle, I would hang florals (most likely Ranunculus) and on every other, hang vintage tea-light holders with crystals. Ideally, I would like to hold to ceremony at dusk so that the lights and candles can be visible to the guests.

The Reception: The Richard Nixon Library offers a grand ballroom filled with gorgeous chandeliers and an elegant atmosphere. The feeling of the room is completely in keeping with the feel that Caitlin wants for her wedding.

The Reception Decor: I decided on two looks for the tables, each of which are described below!

When I saw this table, I knew that I wanted to recreate the look of these
plates!

I couldn't find what I was looking for online, so I made a quick sketch of
what I was thinking of with the plates. On the silver tables, I would start
with a square black plate, a red napkin on top, and then layer it with a
silver plate. For the black tables, I would do the opposite colours for
the plates.

On each table, I would include all of the above.

Black Table: black, pleated tablecloth & silver Chiavari chairs
Centerpiece: vase filled with diamond vase filler; crystal hangars around
vase; red calla lilies & red orchids in vases; red orchid & rose petals
around the centerpieces, along with crystal holders for tea-light candles 

Silver Table: silver, pleated tablecloth & black Chiavari chairs
Centerpieces: mirrors to base the vases; vases filled with diamond vase
filler; crystal hangars around vase (like in bottom left photo); white
ostrich feathers in vases; red orchid & rose petals around
centerpieces, along with crystal holders for tea-light candles

The Escort Cards: This elegant way to display the escort cards, along with the beautiful calligraphy used, was exactly what this wedding called for!

The Cake: This cake was practically made for this wedding with its vintage black lace and red roses. 

The Favours: This black, white, and silver candy buffet is a great way to allow the guests to create their own favours, getting exactly what they want! (Slight edit: I would want to add some red candy to the mix.)

Next week, stop by to see a bright and happy spring wedding for my roomie, Clara!

Sources:
Colours: The Perfect Palette
Invitations: Paper Ink Love
Bride's Attire: JLM Couture
Bride's Accessories: Something Jeweled, Bride Shop, Lolam Bridal
Bride's Beauty: Brown Eyes Blue Skies, Bridal Expo, Daily Makeover, Style Bistro
Bridesmaids: Bloomingdales, Dessy
Groomsmen: The Tie Bar
Flowers: Style Me Pretty
Ceremony: Wedding Wire
Ceremony Decor: Mariage-Original.com, Wedding Chicks, Fifty Flowers, Blank Canvas
Reception: Wedding Wire
Reception Decor: Joann's Fabric, Save-on-Crafts, Stuart Rental
Black Table: Pacific Callas, FTD, Chiavari Chair Rentals, Stuart Rental, Amazon
Silver Table: Tradesy, My Dream Fiesta, Save-on-Crafts, Chiavari Chair Rentals, Amazon, Stuart Rental
Escort Cards: Martha Stewart Weddings
Cake: Cake Coquette
Favours: Hostess with the Mostess

Friendly Inspiration: Bethany

Welcome to Friendly Inspirations, my weekly planning session!

How it Works: I sent out the following questionnaire to some of my friends and from there chose things for their weddings. Each girl has a board on my Pinterest account (link below) where I showed them some of my ideas and they told me what they liked and disliked.

The Questionnaire: For your dream wedding, if you could have anything you wanted:

Colours (or theme if you want a theme):
Feeling (warm, cozy, modern, extravagant, etc):
Season (spring, summer, fall, winter):
Dress Style (halter, ballgown, sparkly, lace, etc.):
Indoor/Outdoor Ceremony/Reception (location):
Any Special Requests:

Week One: Bethany
Our Relationship: Bethany is my younger sister!
Her Major: double major in Communications & Editorial Photography
Her School: Sacramento State University
Her Interests: Photography, Alpha Chi Omega, Make-up, Beauty, her YouTube channel (check it out!)

(Bethany's on the Left)

Bethany's Questionnaire:
Colours: Sage Green, Butter Yellow, & Cream
Feeling: Warm & Cozy but Elegant
Dress: Lace
Location: Preferably a Winery

Bethany's Dream Wedding:

The Colour Scheme: Colours of the Ranunculus Flower

The Invitation Suite: Introducing the colour scheme and feel of the wedding for the first time.

The Dress: Justin Alexander dress with Queen Anne Venice lace.

The Bouquet: Bethany completely fell in love with this wild flower bouquet!

The Bride's Beauty: Bethany wanted a natural make-up concept, including her nails, with her hair in an up-do.

The Bridesmaids Dress: Dessy Collection dress in Kiwi.

The Groom's Attire: Calvin Klein suit in black, matching tie to the bridesmaids dress, and a unique boutonniere.

The Flower Girl Dress: Dessy Collection dress in kiwi.

The Ceremony Location: In keeping with Bethany's winery request, we found her a beautiful location to hold both the ceremony and the reception in Napa Valley - the V. Sattui Winery.

The Ceremony Decor: To decorate the ceremony space, we decided to line the aisle with an ombre effect (created with petals), along with hanging candlelit globes in the surrounding trees.

The Rings: Bethany's ideal ring would be a simply designed diamond ring like the one below.

The Cocktail Hour: To decorate the cocktail hour space, we chose to add lighting under these ruffled tablecloths to add some flare.

The Reception Location: The V. Sattui Winery offers a barrel cellar to hold the reception, which was perfect for Bethany's wishes!

The Reception Table Decor: Lining the tables will be similar flowers to the bouquet, tying all the colours into the reception space.

The Escort Cards: To add to the winery feeling, cork place card holders are used to hold the escort cards.

The Cake: The butter yellow cake is simply elegant.

The Favours: In keeping with the winery setting, Bethany chose to give her guests maple leaf wine stopper favours.

The Getaway Car: Bethany is an avid car lover, so I thought it would be appropriate to give her a vintage car (in keeping with the colour theme) to leave in with her future husband.

I had so much fun planning a wedding for my younger sister! Next week, I plan to show you what I've come up with for my best friend, Emma's, wedding!

xo

Sources:
Colour Scheme: Design Seeds
The Invitations: Martha Stewart Weddings
Bridal Gown: Justin Alexander
Bridal Bouquet: Style Me Pretty
Bridal Beauty: Sunday in Bed, Mac, OPI
Bridesmaids Dress: Dessy
Grooms Attire: Calvin Klein, Dessy, The Knot
Flower Girl Dress: Dessy
Ceremony Location: Vsattui Winery
Ceremony Decor: The Knot
The Rings: Kristin Vining
The Cocktail Hour: The Brides of Oklahoma
Reception Location: Vsattui Winery
Reception Table: Style Me Pretty
The Escort Cards: Wedding Favor Discount
The Cake: Brides
The Favours: Wedding Favor Discount
Getaway Car: Cars with Distinction