The ladies will just love these mini-top-hats by Lil Lady Blue

Set the tone for the party with these tea party invitations by Your Blissful Day.

These pretty tea bags by Kristyn’s Kards will make perfect tea party favors for your guests to take home.

One lump or two? These sweet sugar roses from Le Chic Bakery are simply adorable.

Pin your guests’ names on these cute little mice from Rose Cottage Boutique to use them as precious little place cards!

Any girl knows that a tea party is not complete without sugar cookies, and these girly heels from Whimsical Originals fit the bill perfectly!

Let’s take a look at some of my cherry blossom inspirations:

This ring dish by Mary Elizabeth Arts would make a great bridesmaid’s gift.

This cool design is actually a decoration for the dance floor by Wicks N Candlesticks.

This pretty ring bearer’s pillow is the perfect compliment to a cherry blossom themed wedding. By White Thistle Bridal.

Rose Blossom wedding shoes by La Claire Boutique.

What better way to thank your guests than with these cherry blossom thank you cards by Sweet Bella Cards.

The wedding favor boxes pictured above are an inexpensive option for brides looking to send their guests off with cherry blossom favors.

When planning a butterfly themed wedding, you want to make sure to keep it as simple as possible. Butterflies are ornate little creatures, so adding to many butterfly elements can easily make your wedding look overdone. Also, try to stay within your wedding’s color scheme. Let’s take a closer look at some of our butterfly wedding inspirations.

This real butterfly hair clip from Auralee Thompson can easily (and beautifully) be your something blue.

I absolutely love this butterfly garter from Woomi. It is subtle yet simply gorgeous.

We’ve featured these edible butterflies from Sugar Robot. These are my fave out of all the edible butterflies because they are so colorful and lifelike.

This is the first ever save-the-date handkerchief I’ve ever seen, so I just had to share. Artful Beginnings actually has quite an assortment of these unique announcements.

These butterfly place cards are probably about the most unique you will find. By Timeless Paper.

The butterfly wedding favors should be kept simple. Something edible is always appreciated. Another great idea for this theme is to give plantable wedding favors so that you may attract butterflies into your own garden after the wedding day has passed.

This is a really fun theme to carry throughout your wedding, but make no mistake about it — it is not for the faint of heart. This theme will make a statement like no other.

Let’s check out some of the inspirations for this very unique, peacock themed wedding.

Headpiece by Gardens of Whimsy.

Peacock inspired wedding shoes by Nora Karen.

Peacock inspired men’s tie by Cyberoptix

Peacock felt bouquet by Tiana CHE

Peacock inspired clutch by Red Ruby Rose

Peacock inspired invitations by Purplebox Design

As for the wedding favors for this theme, just about anything would do. I would keep it simple, though. A little wedding favor box with chocolates and a single decorative peacock feather would be just perfect.

The music:

Music is a great way to set the tone for the event. And there ain’t nothin better for a fun and folksy wedding than with this Keegan Smith song, Smile! Click the arrow below to listen.

15 – Smile

The cocktail:

Folk music is all about tradition and heritage. So I thought the Old Fashioned Cocktail would be a perfect fit.

Ingredients:

2 orange slices
2 maraschino cherries (stems removed)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1/2 tsp. superfine sugar
2 1/2 oz. bourbon

Image and recipe from Saveur.com.

Wedding Favors:

For a wedding steeped in tradition the best wedding favors come from sharing old family recipes. Here is a d-i-y treat from Project Wedding. Follow the link here for instructions on how to make your own bread and jam wedding favors.

Regardless of their origins, these colors work amazingly well for summer or beach themed weddings. Learn more about out my inspirations from this cool color combo below.

I love the typography on these fun coral and turquoise invitations from Two Yellow Shoes.

Write a message of thanks to your guests on these coral and turquoise wedding favor tags by Catnip Studio Too.

This coral and turquoise necklace has a vintage feel that I just adore. It would work well to add a pop of color to a bride in vintage white wedding dress or as an accent to bridesmaids donning coral-colored dresses. A Hilary Caroline creation.

I love decorating with Poms. It is such an obvious (but still pretty) way to re-enforce your color scheme. These coral and turquoise poms are from My Silly Bear.

A must for the bride who is committed to her theme down to the very last detail. This coral and turquoise cosmetic bag from A Touch of Stardust is just super cute!

Ring pillow by White Thistle Bridal.

The Invitations
Set the tone for your event with blue and orange wedding invitations and/or save the date cards. There are a lot of creative and stylish invitations out there. This one is from Invite Me.

The Venue
These colors are very fresh and flirty so they’ll work well at a beach or any outdoor wedding in the warmer months. If you’re getting married at a resort, be sure to get some great pics of your bridal party near the aqua blue pool – very striking with this color combo! Another great venue would be an orange orchard – just imagine the photo opps there!

The Attire
This is where the fun really happens! With this sometimes unexpected color combination, the style is most often on the casual side. Here is where a short bridesmaid’s dress would be totally appropriate. As for color, you can dress your girls in aqua blue with white and orange bouquets, or flip it around and have them wear orange and hold pretty blue flowers.

The bridesmaids above are wearing dresses from Aria Dress.
Whatever color you choose for the bridesmaids you may want to use for the men’s accessories – with a splash of the other color for balance.

The groom above is wearing a bowtie from Me and Matilda .

The Accessories
Here is a showcase of the fun accessories we’ve found that would fit the blue and orange wedding color scheme perfectly!

Stardust Clutch in Orange Damask by A Touch of Stardust

Blue and Orange Flower Girl Basket by Orange and Blossom

Goldfish Poms by My Silly Bear

Mr. and Mrs. Blue and Orange Signs by Our Hobby to Your Home

And I saved my favorite for last . You’re Getting Hitched Garland by Earmark

Wedding Favors
You’ll want to be sure the wedding favors have meaning to your event’s theme. If you’re getting married at a beach, you may want to give these seashell scented soaps.

If you aren’t able to tie in the theme with the wedding favors, then be sure to associate the colors. Maybe some sweet treats in an aqua blue box with an orange ribbon.

The Cocktail
Try this recipe for a classic orange Negroni and garnish with an embellished aqua blue drink stirrer.

Happy Memorial Day!

From the time I was very young I can remember having ideas about what a wedding should be like.  I think this is the case for most little girls.  We watch movies like “Snow White” or “Cinderella” and we start to imagine ourselves as princesses just waiting for our prince charming to arrive.

Many of us start out with the same wedding fantasies, but as we get older it becomes more important to show our unique individuality. But just because we want to be unique doesn’t mean that we completely have to forgo the fantasy of being a princess, if even for just a day!

The Invitations:

What I love about these invitations by Tulaloo is that they are fit for a princess, while keeping the fairy tale theme subtle.  You want to build up to the big event, not necessarily give it away in one shot. I would however give a small hint in the invite wording. Try adding a nice quote before the formal invitation wording:

“Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.”

The Venue

If it’s in your budget, try finding an old castle or mansion. Many of them have been converted into really nice reception halls. The one pictured here is the Josyln Castle in Omaha, Nebraska. Generally a smaller mansion will be less pricey than a famous historical castle. The up side to it is that you will most likely be the only wedding at the venue, possibly even for the whole day.

The Dress:

I’m not going to spend too much time on the dress, because we all know that there are tons and tons of princess wedding dresses out there. Any of them would suit the fairy tale theme perfectly. But because we are going for a little bit more of a modern approach here, the dress I chose is a bit more unconventional. In fact, it’s not even a dress at all. The bride in the picture above is sporting a really fun ivory tutu skirt, from Allie J Designs, with a simple white top.

And while you could easily go with a matching tutu for the flower girl (and it would be equally adorable), I thought it would be nice to add some more bold colors. We’re talking 2010 princess here, there’s no need to stick to the basic whites.  The little cutie pie above is modeling a tutu dress from Juju’s Tutus.

Accessories:

Escort them to their seats, Cinderella style, with these cute paper place card holders from Cuddle Creature.

It’s important that your wedding favors coordinate with your theme. You want your guests to remember how special your wedding was long after the big day. Carriage candle wedding favors and princess compact can be found on www.partease.com

And one of my favorite finds is this charming sign: “Happily Ever After Starts Here”. How great is that? You can even get it made with an arrow to point your guests in the right direction – which would be especially handy if you’ve chosen a large castle or mansion to get married in!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my modern day fairy tale wedding inspirations.

So what inspires you?

In my effort to help make this process a little easier, today I’ve featured a very sweet and fun-loving song. Perfect for a casual wedding and a light-hearted couple. The artist, Katie Vogel, is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter from the UK.

Take a listen and let me know what you think!

5 – Fly Away With Me

Listen to the podcast version of this post: