Inspired by albums designed mostly in the 1950s through early ’60s [above], graphic designer Josh Korwin and his love Alyssa pulled off this mid-century-ish album cover wedding invite.

According to Josh “the reverse side of the ’sleeve’ was a blend of early-to-mid-1960s album backs. The two biggest immediate influences were the back side of The Beatles’ Revolver, and a Laurie Johnson LP. …there were plenty of jokes and puns to keep recipients entertained, like a track listing that corresponded to the timeline of the ceremony and reception.”

He continues “Like the front side, the back side showed plenty of faux wear and tear, including the unmistakable circular ”ring wear” impression of an old LP.”

Wow.

The How About Orange blog shows you how you can turn old magazine pages into pretty bows.

And best of all — it’s FREE! Me likey.

Instructions found here.

Bachelorette parties at bars, clubs, restaurants or spas are soooo yesterday…For this bachelorette party, the girls were told to wear the ugliest bridesmaid dress they could find, because it was time to play with some paintball guns! 

The bride-to-be wore a vintage 1970s gown.

All images taken by Vibrant Pixel
Source: BrideTide Blog

More and more ceremony facilities are saying “no” to dropping fresh flower petals along the aisle because the flowers may stain the carpet or floor. Here are a few alternatives for the flower petal tradition.

Instead of scattering petals, the flower girl can:

Blow bubbles

Twirl a parasol

Ring a bell

Carry a pinwheel, single blossom, or paper lantern

Carry a teddy bear

Wave a ribboned wand or “cupcake wand” made with cupcake papers in a rainbow colors. Coordinating ribbons are attached to the base of the pom pom.

Wear a crown of flowers in her hair

Carry a single floral pomander instead of the traditional pomander on ribbon

Carry single stems (with thorns removed) and give them to people as she goes down the aisle

Flutter a flag or pennant in your wedding colors

I think it is so cute personalizing your very own invite. It ties in even more if you are getting married, and want a really thoughtful way to ask your girls to be your bridesmaids. I’ve created paper doll invites for a bride-to-be, and I think they turned out pretty darn cute (minus a few tweeks here and there). 

All you need to do is find your “inner grade school girl skills” and this project will be a cinch.

You will Need:

Directions:

To make sure my paper dolls fit into the A7 envelopes, I made them 6 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches wide. I drew tiny marks every 3 1/2 inches.

I used large craft paper to make the actual dolls. If you get regular sized craft paper to cut your dolls, it will make about 3 dolls. If you want 6 dolls (like mine), use larger craft paper.

I created a template for the paper doll before I started cutting.  Trust me, this is a lot easier than tracing a doll for every set. (ask me how I know).

Fold your craft paper in an accordian-style fold.  Next, trace your template on top. (excuse the poor photo)

Start cutting. 

This is what you should get.

Next, create your template for your dresses and hair. My bride’s colors are dark and light purple, so I alternated the dress color and styles on the paper dolls.  I also used different hair styles to give the dolls some individuality.  I used a metallic pen to write the names on each doll.

I created my invite and printed it on some left over paper I had, cut it to fit and glued it to some stock paper.

To finish it, I wrapped a black piece of craft paper around the card and wrote the name of the person I was sending it to. 

If you try this, let me know how yours turned out!

Resources:

Rifle Design
The Wedding Chicks

So you wanna dj your own wedding?

Many couples are doing just that. But many DJs are not thrilled about this new trend and have pointed out the drawbacks of using an iPod at your wedding, namely that a DJ does much more than play music.

However, the cost of a professional DJ can run upwards to $1500, and a band is often two to ten times as much. When you’re pinching every penny, it might just be worth it. When you hire a DJ or band, that’s a lot of people that you have to feed. With an iPod, that’s a few hundred more dollars saved. If you don’t have the music you want already, a good starting place is Apple’s iTunes, which currently has three different 70-plus wedding song collections for under $75 a piece, with each collection broken into three $25 purchases. There’s the 80’s-infused modern collection, the soulful R&B collection, and a more traditional classical collection.

Keeping it Real

Using an iPod at your wedding puts much responsibility in your court:

You may already have an iPod but do you have also own a great PA system? You might think that you’re saving money by using your iPod, but unless you already own a great sound system, you’re going to have to rent one. Some of the equipment you will need to rent includes speakers, speaker stands, amplifiers, a subwoofer, cables and a mixer. In addition to the iPod you should have at least one backup iPod and probably a person to run the iPod and make sure no one messes with the equipment.

- Lighting equipment is another important part to any reception—without it you will have no ambience on the dance floor!

- You will also need wireless microphones for toasts and speeches, otherwise the guests will be unable to hear these things and that will be very awkward. It’s hard to grab the attention of a crowd when your voice isn’t amplified.

- There’s no guarantee that the gear you rent will be reliable or that it has been kept in good condition and properly maintained. What will you do if it breaks down? Do you know what kind of high-quality gear to get in the first place?

- When you do-it-yourself as a DJ, you will be responsible for moving all the equipment, setting it up, taking it down, and it is a lot of work! Do you know how to set up and take down DJ equipment and a PA system?

- You could ask a friend or family member to be in charge of the music and deal with any technical difficulties that may arise. However, this will detract from them having a good time and also you might have to pay them.

In the event that the equipment catches on fire and burns the venue you rented to the ground—you are liable and responsible for covering the damages.
Do you own all of the music that you intend to play? Purchasing music that you want to play but don’t already own is another thing you’ll have to factor into the costs. You probably don’t have the most-requested songs that the guests want to hear—you’ll have to pay to purchase them from iTunes.

With an iPod, you don’t get the timing or beat-mixing and fading that a professional DJ does. This can lead to awkward moments on the dance floor as people have to stop dancing to wait for the next song. A professional DJ fades the songs together and makes sure the beat and the energy keeps going no matter what. An iPod can’t tell the mood of the crowd or know how to create atmosphere.

The DJ serves as a master of ceremonies of sorts—who are you going to get to fill this role? Without it, your wedding reception could be a disorganized mess.

I’m all about saving money, but these are just some pointers to think about!

Let me know your thoughts!

Resource:
www.rentmygear.net

Information resource articles used:

www.mydeejay.com

www.wedaholic.com

Uber-talented Marie of Sweets Indeed helped put this buffet together for her sister who graduated from Nursing School. She and her family used ol’ school items such as sour lemon “urine” samples, cherry “blood” bags, chocolate band-aids, and lollipop bones. Vanilla Bake Shop provided meyer lemon raspberry and chocolate vanilla bean mini cupcakes, dirt cake dessert shots, and raspberry chocolate cake.

Check out the fondant stethoscope, pills, and band-aid.

This reminded me that being a nurse is a tough and often underappreciated job. Hats off to all the nurses out there!

Photo Credits: The Pixel Studio
Created by: Sweets Indeed

Presentation is everything. Here is a way to make your popcorn bar classy. Xerox a graphic on transparency. Make a cone out of it to fill your popcorn and let your guests pick their favorite toppings. Easy.

Photo Credits: Bonnie Tsang

These flowers take centerpieces to another level.

How to? Each clear vase holds one white ranunculus suspended in air by clear fishing lines.

Photo Credits: Food+Flower+Style

This is a cute and creative idea for a Save the Date.

“After ten years together, Jen + Kevin got engaged in Paris – a location they subtly acknowledged in a nod to Albert Lamorisse’s short film The Red Balloon when designing their save the date announcement. Wanting to treat their wedding as a big party more so than a traditional event, each guest received a deflated, red balloon tied to a letterpress printed card reading: “Hello! Please inflate the balloon.” Once inflated, the piece reveals all relevant information and sets the desired tone with humor and playfulness.”

Photo credits: underconsideration.com