With spring brings the start of wedding season! How many are on your calendar already?
Weddings are definitely a cause for celebration, but all too often they cause unnecessary stress-especially for the bride to be. I think one of the best ways to ensure you don’t drive yourself crazy, is to pick the details that matter to you most, and focus on making those perfect. For me, those details would definitely be food (the best part!) and florals.
I’ve been seeing a lot of embellished bouquets this season, and I’m really drawn to the trend. Adding feathers provides a vintage feel, especially when paired with a mint inspired palette, and ribbon turns any grouping of flowers into a statement. My favorite is that cameo, above, but any pendant that’s special to you would work. Lastly- have you thought about non-floral arrangements? Picture vintage brooches, berries, and even things like wheat and kale! I kind of love the earthiness of a kale bouquet.
Next, food- the area where I’d invest most of my time. There are so many options out there, but I’ve picked a few of my favorite trends for this season. Cakes that are either printed (some even hand painted!), or embellished with bright colors, provide a fresh perspective. My very favorite trend is including options besides the cake. Here‘s a great list of fun options, but I’d have to go with a s’mores bar- only the best food ever invented. I’m also always impressed when couples dream up a creative cocktail reception- rather than your traditional sit down dinner. I’ll take those mini tacos and margaritas over the chicken option any day.
Would you include any of these trends in your own wedding? If you’re married, what was your favorite detail?
Floral images: feathers, ribbon, baubles, kale
Food Images: cocktail bites, printed cakes, s’mores bar, brights
Sarah, what beautiful colors! Love the kale bouquet! But how do you preserve it? Any tips on this?
I got married 11 years ago; I love my bouquet of orange-yellow roses which I wanted to dry and keep forever. It did survive my move from Toronto to Europe and today it’s showcased safely in my library room.
The roses were my floral detail. I ordered more bouquets of roses in bright colours for the church decoration. It’s in my religious tradition (Greek-orthodox) e.g. that the bride receives bouquets from guests just after the wedding blessings by the priest in the church. I ended up with so many flowers that would have filled up my bathtub. But I donated them the next day to two other churches, as I had to leave after breakfast, to France for the honeymoon…
Now, regarding food: it’s my big thing too!!! Plus red wines and Champagne!!
Coctail parties were ‘in’ back in 2002 in Toronto, especially for small get-togethers (under 50 people). I had a French caterer, who I used for all my birthday parties in the past. And just after the church wedding mass, all guests gathered in the church yard for a glass of Champagne wine and for a cocktail party. The caterer – Daniel et Daniel, was impeccable in any respect. His people were at the top of their game; as part of writing this message, I checked their site; I’m glad to see they have now much more choices for cocktail menus (I had a variation of Menu 2:
http://www.danieletdaniel.ca/menus/festive/menu_02.shtml
After the cocktail, which was early afternoon, we got busy with our photographer and we had a late (8 pm) dinner for 20 guests in an old mill near Toronto (which was also the hotel we stayed the nights before and after the wedding). The Mediterranean habit of late dinner time played a big role in justifying the choice of the late hour…
We do not have big families and this added up to a relatively small scope of the party. I’d say small, but with much attention to detail. The mill owner kindly allowed us to ‘bring our own wine’, meaning that we got served our favorite French wine from a specific region (where we used to go each year). The bottles were sent to the mill directly by the producer in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France. I must tell, we were so much hooked on this that we were thinking, we would have to host our party in France if the restaurant owner would not accept our request. (No need to say how trilled our guests were at the prospect of going there on vacation and having a wedding as part of it:-))
All the best and have a good weekend.
Thanks for sharing- it sounds lovely
Funny – many of the bouquet trends are ones I plan on doing, haha. Not so much the kale or feathers – we’ve talked about incorporating herbs like rosemary and sage because we love to cook. I definitely need a beautiful ribbon on there (textiles are my love right behind Ryan!) and I plan on attaching a small heart shaped ceramic pin – it has a rose and “Maggie” painted on it and used to belong to my grandmother whom I’m named after (she died the year before I was born). And we’re having a cocktail reception! Apparently I’m more hip than I realized
How funny! I love all those ideas- especially the pin from your grandmother. Happy planning
I really like the Smore’s bar idea! I hope whenever I get engaged I can have a wintery bridal shower and give those out!
It’s the best, right!?
I love that you included kale (which I haven’t seen yet but love already) and bright colors (which I have seen this weekend!).