Here's a taste, I'll be doing another post and share more later!
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THIS LITTLE ARTIST
13 hours ago
Monday, June 29, 2009
Pictures of Love
My guy and I went up Mount Lemmon this weekend to take our own engagement pictures and I can't recommend it enough for those DIY brides out there! It was great, we dressed up, played in the grass, got some awesome shots, and saved a ton of money! We're going to use these for our postcard invitations that we're designing ourselves, I can't wait for the finished project which I'll make sure to share with you.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Green Goodness
Oh wow. Tree stump seating and world traveling pictures on fallen logs? If I could pick and choose pieces it would look a lot like this amazing wedding.
found via {Project Wedding}
And this cool idea where guests tied their best wishes to tree branches:
via {Project Wedding}
And this idea somehow got me thinking about using wood block printing in some way... bring in some of the Southeastern Alaskan art that's so dear to my heart.
via {Project Wedding}
Probably because the lanterns are hand stamped.
And I like her hair, also found here from {Project Wedding}. The greenery in her hair rocks.
Cuuute couple.
And moss! I'm loving the moss. I want moss.
via {Style Me Pretty}
via {Project Wedding}
Gorgeous. Love the lace, and my guy's gonna rock the vest.
Low Lights
My sister found these great tea lights on etsy from CarolinaCottege's. What would we all do without that amazing life saver of a website, and amazing Maid of Honor sisters?
She thinks we could make these, I wonder if it's worth it or cheaper. So neat! Makes me wish I could have thought of it first. Have to get those creative juices flowing. But I love including music and literature, music is huge for us as my guys a musician and it's like secondary air to me. I'm starting to like these more and more.Real Wedding: Grant and Ashley
Via {Once Wed} taken by {Tec Petaja}
I'm loving the green. She even has green earrings, how rad are those? This makes me excited because where we're getting married there will be yellow flowers everywhere by the end of August. Green and yellow? A lot different than the muted vintage colors I was thinking but I'm liking it.
Ohhh, the people that have money.
Mountain "I Do's"
Other people find gems like this and write the check with a shrug of their shoulders and say, "Wedding planner, plan."
Look at this lucky couple.
They could have it in the winter...they could have it in the spring.
Here, have some amazing antlers to dance under.
And a friend. How stinkin' cute is he?
FUN.
Pretty please?
Colorado was always an option. BUT, we're set on Flagstaff. The point of these pictures are inspiration. So as long as we get a little porcupine to come visit us during the reception and a meadow with wildflowers everywhere and PERFECT weather then we're set.
But it really is beautiful.
All pictures: Beano's Cabin via {Charlotte Geary Photography}
Also, I must have a thing for antlers.
Keystone Ranch is amazing, I've always had my eye on it. Good thing it's a little too yuppy for my taste. Still an ammmazing place. Not that I'm looking at more venues. Just sayin.
Keystone Ranch via {Charlotte Geary Photography}
Oh God. This woman's website is going to get me in trouble. Look, you can view all the different venues she shoots at! Now why can't someone do this for Northern Arizona?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
To the Flagstaff Brides
The lovely Jess at {A.Mountain.Bride} was asking about a few of the different venues I checked out in Flagstaff while my guy and I were looking at places to marry each other. Since I completely (completely) understand her desire to find the perfect place, I wanted to post a bit more about it for all those Flagstaff brides.
I did want to go look at the Snowbowl after seeing so many wedding shots taken there by a few of my favorite photographers. I had never really been attracted to the pictures I'd seen of it on the website, but since it seemed so popular I thought we should see it before it was ruled out. My guy and I met with the event organizer who showed us around while it was being set up for a wedding that evening. On first impression I honestly wasn't very attracted to the place. As my guy put it, it felt like any other worn down ski lodge we've been to over the years. I'm sure it can be pretty all done up, but it didn't speak to me. It didn't tickle our fancy.
On the way down from the Snowbowl we pulled over to a hiking area and started searching for a wedding site I had seen via {Glass and Plastic}. It was love at first sight, can you see why?
This wedding sent me searching for these perfect little log benches. We found them, thanks to the lovely photographer and bride, tucked away on the left side of the road as you're headed up to the Snowbowl. You can't miss the area, it's a large dirt pull off with a meadow and hiking trails going off into the woods, and only a short distance before you reach the Snowbowl. The wedding site was on the right side about a 1/4 mile hike in. These benches were utterly perfect. There wasn't enough seating for a large group of people (realistically the rest could stand), but it was right off the trail for easy access and still hidden a bit in the aspens and lush grass. We absolutely loved it. If we were going to have our reception at the Snowbowl we would without a moment of hesitation get married in that little clearing. But, since we're looking at having the reception about 45 minutes away we decided it's just silly to make people drive that distance in between, even with shuttle service (that with our budget we have no business looking at.) My heart is there though.
Our #1 option for the reception, the beautiful Foxboro Ranch Estate, was found through Peak Events by one of their blog posts. I thought I had exhausted the Flagstaff search so I was completely thrilled when I clicked on the website and bam--goooorgeous pictures of my dream cabin. I called right away and had a great chat with Suzanne, the main woman who runs the show. We drove straight from Tucson on an early Saturday morning and showed up there around 10am, where we found her waiting to show us around and give us the low down. The best part? This beauty only will cost us $500 to rent. W-o-w. (Update: As of June, 2009 the rates have risen to $1,200 and will possibly increase to triple the original cost.)
And this is what it's going to look like at the end of August:
Yellow flowers, everywhere! It's love, true true love. This place is located off of i-17 at exit 317, about 20 minutes south of Flagstaff.
Because of the location we were first interested in having our guests stay at the Mormon Lake Lodge and doing a meadow wedding in between the two locations, but as we found ourselves still driving the bumpy dirt road 30 minutes later along the fenced meadows, we decided it probably wouldn't be the best setup. For us, fine. For other people, they may show up grumbling about sore booties.
We want a simple wedding. We want it to be about love and community. We want the planning to be simple and reflect that. So we'll be booking the Foxboro for August 29th and occasionally sit down together in the evenings on our warm patio underneath the stars to chat about what we want our big bash to be like. We'll let the vendors know, book it, make it pretty the day before, and then party on.
I will, in the meantime, be enjoying the creative part of the planning I love: looking for DIY decoration ideas, biodegradable serving ware, easy ways to use local farmers market products, fun things to add to the day like polaroid guest books and lawn games, ways to string low mood lighting, and how to find the ever elusive cheap catering. I enjoy it, and can't wait to see the end product.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Moving and Dream Venues
Moving is not fun, moving 3 times in 6 months is really not fun, and not having internet at the new house is definitely not fun. It puts a serious dent in my blogging groove. I'll rejoin the cyber world asap. It's a good break to step back and live in the present world that surrounds me full of cactus, birds, rabbits, and the unnaturally large rats that run around our 4.5 acre property in the desert.
In the meantime, enjoy this eye candy. If I lived in Wyoming (or even if this place had any openings for a wedding this year), I would be there in a heartbeat. It's amazing. You can have your party in the barn. Double amazing.
Moulton Ranch Cabins
Found via {IDO!JacksonHoleWeddings}
Friday, June 12, 2009
Beyond the Rockz Contest
Look at these gorgeous earrings:
found via {Beyond the Rockz} esty store
Heck yes I would wear those beauties on my wedding day. Go to their {facebook} to enter their contest, or don't :) Less is more for me.
Imagine these with a simple flowy ivory dress. Bohemian, not white and fancy. A-mazing.
..and then he put a ring on my finger.
I had no idea that a proposal was going to happen a few Sundays ago on May 17, but the boy took me up on top of the mountain and said, "Woman, marry me." It was all very romantic with a picnic and full day of exploring the mountain's ski lift, back roads, and tucked away hidden meadows.
He had worked for weeks custom ordering this ring for me with my mother at the local jewelers, and while neither of them keep secrets very well they held out on this one from me for almost two months. And I love them both.
via {my flickr}
And I love my ring.
Antique Love and Retro Invitations
Look at this amazing table center design! Wowzers. I love the book vase, follow the link to my lovely sister blog at {Once Wed} and you can read how it was created. Wouldn't this look lovely on vintage inspired tabletops in the dreamy log cabin?
Imagine those with soft candles lit around, twinkle lights wrapped around the logs and strewn across the ceiling... now how to make that happen I have no idea.
After talking last night and going over the guest list (which quickly rose to over 150!), my guy and I are leaning towards the "Dreamy Log Cabin" as I'm starting to term it. It's really a freaking amazing building, we'd get the whole place to ourselves without some overpowering event organizer/owner, we could make it into what we'd want and use the property for our wedding if we found a doable location. It has a great wrap around porch that we could light up for guests to enjoy, a great balcony, a place to get ready in... it's really going to be perfect I think. Except I need help. So I'm pulling my lovely Aunt aboard who's an interior designer and hopefully we'll be able to collaborate and come up with some ideas to make it work. Now I need to contact a Caterer and see if they'd bring tables/chairs.
Things may be falling into place!
As our date is coming up fast, August 29, 2009, we need to get invites out ASAP. I came across this design, and I am in LOVE. Evan was wanting to write out a little story and send to the people that wouldn't be able to make it, and this would be perfect! We could rewrite it, find a local printer, and get it done fast! That may be our Friday night love project tonight.
Take a look:
via {Mother Board} and designed by {Kayrock}
Genious.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
