Photo Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Today’s Happy little Martha Wedding tip is adorable so I decided to share with ya’ll.

Yes I said ya’ll. Well Mason jars are southern right? People sing about them, and drink out of them. It’s pretty great. I love it.

So now you can use them to light the pathway to your reception venue, or place on your tables as easy-peasy centerpieces. I kind of love them. Plus… they’re super inexpensive. This version plays with the aqua and emerald color scheme which, yes is pretty darn great, but you can do this with anything. Use clear mason jars and adorn with pretty pink ribbon, or bright yellow polka dot ribbon or go effortlessly classic with simple white. Whatever works for your particularly fabulous soiree. You can buy mason jars in bulk from craft stores or online at Amazon. Or shop thrift stores and garage sales for unique glass blown mason jars in a variety of colors and shapes for a more casual vintage feel.

If you want to hang them, check out this easy DIY tutorial from A Backyard Wedding.

 BEWARE: Jars can get very hot!
*Martha’s tip: Fill each jar with 1/8 inch of water before setting votives inside.

Hello lovelies! So, last weekend we packed up our bows and headed west across the great ( and seriously full of cows) state of Pennsylvania, to Pittsburgh for an impromptu Bridal Shower for my friend E! It was a long trip, but we managed to make it pretty damn fun. It was a really wonderful bridal luncheon that was short but very sweet. I wanted to share a couple of really cute ideas from this shower with you all…

CENTERPIECES

Keeping things simple, the Bride-to-Be’s MOH used gerber daisies as centerpieces (which also doubled as prizes in the games) and surrounded each plant with adorable and USEFUL (keyword) favors. The bride, E is very into photos and so picture frames made sense and were made very personal with pink and yellow ribbons and a sweet little poem in multi- colored paper inside.

The poem below:
“(Bride’s Name) is becoming a bride & soon (Groom’s Name) will be by her side. Let’s shower her with love and cheers and wish her luck in the coming years!”

GAMES

CENTERPIECE GIVEAWAY
The MOH put a little sticker on the underside of one frame on each table. The person who had that sticker won the centerpiece. Nice and Easy. One down.

CELEBRITY COUPLES
Everyone got one piece of paper with a list of famous people (Fred Flinstone, Lucille Ball, Zac Efron etc.)  and a blank next to each. We had roughly a minute to fill out the list with their respective significant other. This game is pretty simple and you’d be surprised how many names you can’t come up with on the spot. Keep the time down to limit prizes.

“I LOVE YOU” AROUND THE WORLD
Another piece of paper… easy enough no one has to get up… with a list of “I Love You” in lots of different languages. Guests have to write down next to each one what language they think it is. Countdown from the total for a winner. (Did anyone get all 20 right, 19, 18? etc.) to find winners. This is an especially good game to do if the couple has done lots of traveling or somehow can be tied back to the couple. ALWAYS try to do that. It just make it that much better.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BRIDE
You saw the other version of this game which I posted at my friend J’s Bridal Shower. But for this version, you list, on another piece of paper, questions about the bride (What’s her favorite season? How many schools has she attended? How did the couple meet?) and countdown again from the total to find winners. In theory the bride’s mother and family should have a little bit of an advantage here, but again… you’d be surprised.

 Congrats E! 

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I would think green and give you some of my WED favorite “eco-friendly” ideas to style your wedding all happy and green without wasting and killing unnecessary trees and shit…

Ahhh…It’s the little things… 

Dressed to Impress…

Go classic with this twist on the little black “organic” dress for your rehearsal dinner. The  CMarchuska  Sylvia dress is perfect for toasting in, and perfect for the environment using high fashion, and highly sustainable fabrics and a super reasonable price. This hot up and coming line from designer Christine Marchuska  debuts on the runway tonight in NYC, and I’m told her Spring collection offers a brighter eco chic look for your favorite ladies in waiting. Stock up on her “Vivons Vert” (Live Green en francais” organic  tees for welcome baskets or out fit your girls in them instead of those terribly tacky “bridesmaid” shirts for wedding day errands, and bachelorette party weekends. I mean… would you really prefer to wear a rhinestone encrusted tank top?

CMarchuska Sylvia Dress $164

CMarchuska Vivons Vert T-shirt $38

ALSO.  Brides… check out this AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL eco-friendly wedding gowns from Natural Bridals on Etsy. They are really simply magnificent and elegant and totally great for the environment and you and your hubby and the bridal party… just about everyone. 

Natural Bridals (Etsy) Eco-Chic Wedding Gowns $6,800

The dress above is made from Bamboo and Organic Cotton Jersey Dress with Organic Linen Flower Details and Charmeuse bust and sash. So pretty. And the one below is made from Hemp/Silk with Floral Jacquard Halter and a full gathered skirt… and that one is just $2,600.

Natural Bridal's Charlotte Couture Eco-Friendly Wedding Gown $2,600

Do Me a Favor…

Lose the favors altogether. thanks. Seriously. People throw them away… so instead of wasting money on cheap plastic doodads for weddings that will end up in someones junk drawer at home… keep it simple and donate to a charity. Your guests will understand, and probably be very impressed at your willing and giving spirit. If you MUST give your friends and family something to remember your special day by, keep it natural. Plant miniature herbs like lavender, rosemary and basil in tiny containers for guest to take home and plant in their own garden. Another idea… think locally and give your guests something that’s meaningful to you and your hubby. Jars of honey, homemade jam, and peaches might be local to your area and look adorable with a touch of ribbon.

Photo Courtesy of The Knot

Photo Courtesy of The Knot

Photo Courtesy of The Knot

Be Our Guest…

Paper is wasteful. Yes, yes we know. “But what about our invitations?!” She cried. Relax. There are plenty of recycled invitation options out there. Try 100-percent recycled paper from TwistedLimbPaper.com or plantable invitations from BotanicalPaperWorks.com are embedded with seeds that guests can plant and grow! How’s that for remembering your special day? If you’re feeling like you have a trendy and eco-chic crowd as it is who will understand your decision to opt for digital invitations over paper, go with MyInvitationLink.com and customize your invites with music and pictures.

CENTERPIECES…

Yes. Flowers are “green” already. But some of them are loaded with pesticides and garbage that make them less pretty, expensive, and dangerous to you and your guests. Stick with flowers that are in season to avoid shipping costs and fuel usage associated with bringing in exotic flowers from far away just because you refuse to settle on something that’s in season. Seriously. Pick your diva moments. This isn’t one of them. Go local and use fresh flowers from farmers markets and local gardens to decorate tables with recycled glass containers like these beautiful green glasses made from… beer bottles! So cute. Found objects and mismatched containers make great centerpieces.

Recycled Beer Bottle Glasses from Yava Glass (Etsy) 2 for $20

If you’re still not sold on the eco-wedding and you think it’s totally impossible to integrate “green” into your wedding world check out the Etsy Handmade Wedding Blog post on “Crafting an Eco-Friendly Wedding”. 

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

So the Steelers won the SuperBowl, and the all-knowing rodent in Puxatawny saw his shadow…6 more weeks of freezing weather. I’m so over it. I cannot wait for spring. I’m a winter girl. Born and raised in upstate New York plus four years in frigid Boston weather…you’d think I’d be used to this. But I’m totally over it. So I decided to gather some of my favorite flower arrangements to look forward to Spring. We’ll go in color palettes. First up… Pink. ( Everyone secretly loves pink. They just don’t know it.) 

Photo's courtesy of Brides.com

Courtesy of 1-800- flowers.com

The Champagne and Cupcakes post is one of our most popular and now you can make the perfect centerpieces for a Champagne & Cupcakes shower. I work with a serious cupcake maven named Megan at my happy little day job. She does not mess around when it comes to cupcakes. So for her birthday someone sent her this fabulous non-confectionary cupcake made out of flowers! The credit goes to 1-800 Flowers, but there are plenty of how-to’s out there on how to make your very own Cupcake Centerpieces out of my favorite cheap and easy stems- Carnations, peonies, mums and more! Perfect for your cupcake themed shower!

For step-by-step DIY directions check out Inspired Ideas.

Courtesy of Inspired Ideas

Two of my favorite people got married in what proved to be one of the most beautiful and all around perfect weddings I’ve ever been a part of on the coast of Maine a few weeks ago.    The weather was incredible, the bride was stunning and the priest managed to make it through the ceremony with only one reference to global warming. Killer right?

Fun, would be an understatement and I intend to tell you all of the reasons why. There was lots of dancing, (some was even choreographed) a teeny tiny bit of drinking of adult beverages, and even a little country music for the rednecks in the bridal party.  But really, as a virgin bridesmaid this was one of the best experiences of my life. My cherry got popped, and I loved every minute of it.

The setting was incredible on a golf course overlooking the coast of Maine, with perfect, perfect weather.  The weekend was full of delicious food from the Lobster and Duck served at the rehearsal dinner to the seafood hors d’oeuvres and entrees at a formal sit down dinner.

Jenn is pretty organized…she was yelling orders over the top of her laptop to a very bewildered priest, who, I’m sure it’s safe to say, hadn’t given a mass in the last ten years. At least.  He was kind of a nightmare, but I’ll be honest it made for a really animated mass, and we’re already looking back laughing, so it wasn’t that terrible. So they lit the unity candle after everything was over… ehhhhh god doesn’t judge right?

The rehearsal dinner was at a beautiful Inn/Restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating which worked out perfectly. Jenn handed out personalized itineraries to the out of town bridal party telling them exactly what time to be where and what to be wearing when you got there. Not as crazy “bridezilla” as it sounds. Trust me. It was hilarious, and really truly helpful. 

The day of the wedding, the bridesmaids were shuttled in shifts back and forth to the hair salon and the makeup place while the groomsmen slept off the post rehearsal dinner antics. (There’s a small chance golfing was involved the morning of the wedding… but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a whole lot of activity happening on that front.) The limo was a really nice touch and something that was completely unexpected. Who doesn’t like champagne at 10 am?

 We carried sunflowers, which went beautifully with our dresses, and Jenn carried a small bouquet of white roses. It was a  gorgeous summer wedding set against some of the most  magnificent scenery I have ever seen.

They did a Sunflower Chardonnay from Pindar Vineyards for a favor and tall Sunflower centerpieces at tables which were named after the people sitting at them.   Jenn, Jason,the maid of honor and two best men sat at the “VIP table”, college friends sat at a table named after their freshman dorm, and some of the Jason’s Northeastern teammates sat at tables named after college bars in Boston.

As always… I give you my list of reasons why this wedding rocked my world and made it to the top of my list as one of the best, most perfect, and most memorable weddings I’ve ever attended.

1. Seeing people you haven’t seen in a long time (3 years) is kind of awesome.
2. Guys, especially good looking ones, who enjoy to dance are pretty darn great to have around at a wedding.
3. A beautiful bride calms any grooms nerves.
4. Dancing around a beer bottle in the center of the dance floor, yields incredibly inappropriate behavior but is so entertaining it should probably be mandatory at every wedding you attend.
5. Hockey guys can drink more than baseball guys… yeah I’m sayin’ it… and might be a little bit more fun… just a little though.
6. Kicking your new husband around the dance floor…literally… to the tune of “Maneater” is a great way to break in the in-laws, AND become famous on You Tube.
7. Someone falling is funny. Someone losing half of their pants mid-split on the dance floor is HILARIOUS and unforgettably amazing.
8. A midnight romp across a golf course and down a rock wall after two or twenty cocktails is a great way to break your face, OR catch up with friends.
9. Jews aren’t the only ones who get to lift people up in chairs at weddings.
10. Wine bottles can be opened and enjoyed without a corkscrew. For further information see Keni Gibson.
11. Suspenders can do much more than hold up pants.
12. Bribing bartenders is a great way to get a round of shots.
13. Having a slideshow is a great way to relive the good old days, show guests the wonderful times you spent together and embarrass the hell out of your bridal party.
14. Vodka AND tonic dry magically on satin
15. Watching two people, who you’ve only known together, finally get married is a wonderful thing to be a part of.

That’s what I told my friend Stephanie who married my friend George this past weekend at one of the most wonderful, beautiful, loving, perfect Carolina weddings I have ever witnessed.

This post is going to be a bit more unconventional, in that I’m going to let you all in on a more personal part of my world instead of critiquing and revealing the planning and the details. There’s a little bit of that here, but mostly it’s just me saying how happy I am that I was able to travel to North Carolina to see two of my favorite people get married with the most important people in their lives in attendance.

To be honest, I have never really been around in the days leading up to a wedding unless I was working or planning it. You’re not nearly as emotionally invested as you are when it’s your best friends trying to make everything perfect in time for the rehearsal dinner. I have to say it was a very stressful and chaotic experience for everyone involved (Not me, I just showed up and observed the chaos… by that time there was nothing left for me to do but watch). But people don’t do things like that if they don’t love you, and these two had a whole lot of love in the air and a whole lot of help too.

I don’t know anyone else in the world who could have dealt with the last minute stress that developed along with some very uncooperative weather as well. Plus, as long as I have known George, being prompt has never really been his strong suite. But there were other factors, and they dealt with everything so calmly that it made my head start to spin a little.

The reason this was one of the most wonderful weddings I’ve ever been to because it was so authentic and wonderful. These two have been dating for something over 6 years now. Steph you can correct me if I’m wrong… because to me it seems like you have always been together.

The bridal luncheon was so sweet, and very new for me- a southern soul stuck in a Yankee upbringing. I had never been to a bridal luncheon- different from the shower and bachelorette- where the bride thanks all those women close to her who helped in planning and participating in the wedding day. We had the beautiful back courtyard at Toast Cafe in Davidson, NC to ourselves where we laughed and cried and exchanged gifts before getting back to the craziness of the day. I think it was a much needed break for everyone.

Later that night a rehearsal dinner was given at the Harbor Club in Davidson, NC which was wonderful and full of laughter, reminiscing and speech after speech from friends and family toasting the bride and groom-to-be. I am a crier. I’m not afraid to say it, and I was waterworks that night, all night. Of course it didn’t help that a friend of ours who lives in Japan flew in and surprised the groom. Stephanie and a few others knew all about it, but I was conveniently kept in the dark, and therefore proceeded to cry in public for the next 20 minutes. Awesome. Thanks guys.

There was drinking and dancing later and it was just so wonderful to be in the company of my favorite people in the world.

The wedding was beautiful. George was literally giddy. He had the goofiest smile on his face as Steph walked down the aisle and she was actually bouncing down the aisle, she was so excited.

The brunch on Sunday was fantastic and a wonderful way to say goodbye to the huge amount of family and friends that were in town. Plus who doesn’t love to have a little helping of cheese grits before hopping on a plane back to LaGuardia…

A little rain never hurt anyone, and despite the very wet conditions at the reception, everyone made the best of it, and by the middle of dinner the sky cleared, the stars and lightning bugs came out, and it was the perfect Carolina night. Here are some highlights I’d like to share.

1. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem -It started with people loosing their shoes early in the night and by midnight, three groomsmen lost their shirts to the theme of New York, New York. What’s a little wedding strip show? Only in the south. Or maybe in Maine… I have a funny feeling we might see a repeat of this in July…

2. Make It Rain - Yes, the dance floor was wet, there were buckets catching water at every corner of the outdoor tents, the hanging lanterns were full of water and the poor place cards were covered with garbage bags in an effort to stay dry. But no one seemed to notice. We just ditched our shoes and walked around barefoot, ordering Blue Moons from the bar and eating Grit cakes waiting for the rain to stop. And when the bride and groom were announced they came strutting in under a huge black umbrella. How cute is that?

3. Don’t Stop Believin‘- When the dj makes a mistake and plays Don’t Stop Believing by Journey instead of the song you picked out to dance with your mama to…just improvise. This was incredible. Steph danced to My Girl with her dad, and then George and his mom took the floor to some serious hootin’ and hollerin’ from the tent perimeter. By the end of the song everyone was out on the dance floor fist pumping to Journey. How great is that? It was seriously the best thing ever. Let’s get this party started!

4. Best Man speeches are really important ( And it will probably never be as good as this one)- Why not go out of the box a bit? Regular speeches are boring. My best friend, and george’s best man made the best man speech of the year. In this toast/roast to George he literally hit on everything we love about George in the most hilarious way possible. In song… I apologize for the side video…tilt your head. It won’t kill you.

5. Other Treats- The cake was visually beautiful and delicious. There was an ice cream sundae bar with do it yourself toppings, amazing appetizers traditional to the south, a delicious dinner buffet with roasted vegetables and chicken cakes and salmon and sides that just kept coming. The flowers were absolutely incredible and the pictures do not do them justice.

In short, this was the best wedding I’ve ever been to because of how much I love George & Steph and it was an incredible treat for me to be able to participate and attend in this wonderful wedding with my incredible family of friends. I am so blessed by having the unique privilege of having an incredible extended family of friends who have been, and will continue to be a major part of my life, by letting me be a part of there’s. Cheers to you guys. I love you!

I love flowers.  I think they are absolutely necessary to make a good event, and like music, they’re a subtle added detail, but if they’re missing, you definitely notice

My very first job ever… unless you count babysitting…which I don’t, was at a florist.   This is the start of my obsession with flowers.  When I turned 16 I marched myself into a flower shop on Main Street on Mother’s Day weekend, grabbed an apron and kind of fell in love with flowers.

It was really just the flowers that I fell in love with.  Everything else about that job sucked.  The pay was really bad, the tips if we got any, were mediocre at best, the location was less than desirable. (More than once I had to brandish a box cutter to scare away a crazy just before close. )

In the summertime, I stood in the sun for hours watering plants under this ridiculous striped circus tent, popping sour sweet tarts and warding off Sunday morning hangovers with my best friend Jen, doing our best to look busy when “management” came around.

But in between there were the flowers, and I quickly navigated my way through the buckets of gerbera daisies, tulips, sunflowers, roses and lilies in the back cooler.  (Plus it was a great place to hide out in the middle of August.)

We had our favorites. Jen liked daisies and lily of the valley.  I liked tulips, hydrangea and hyacinth.

We both liked Chris & Dave.

Hot, hired and in college.  The perfect summer job trifecta for any high school girl. They were great.

I digress.

Anyway, that was the beginning of my summer love… for flowers… and it has lasted well into adulthood.  It being Spring I have started treating myself once a week to fresh flowers. Yellow tulips with blue hyacinth, white hydrangeas with pink roses, and this week…peonies.

I love peonies. They are BEAUTIFUL and smell incredible. A photo editor I worked with once did her own flowers for her wedding and used all different shades of peonies. I was so impressed then, and when I stumbled across them last week I justified spending $10 on 3 stems of perfect pink peonies.

Because they’re so big, you can really arrange them by themselves in oddly shaped containers.  If you don’t have a vase, use a teacup, a mason jar, or even a little bowl.  using differently shaped containers as a centerpiece gives the arrangement depth and height variation, plus it’s a little bit more fun than flowers in a vase.  They’re also a beautiful bouquet flower because they’re so fluffy and you only need a few to make a statement.

My wonderful friend Jenn is getting married this summer to her college sweetheart, and last weekend we threw her a shower in Kennebunkport, Maine. For those of you who haven’t looked at a map since 5th grade, Maine is not exactly close to New York. But, after just a little bit of travel, the weekend turned out to be one of the best in awhile. We all joked that Jenn picked us to be her bridesmaids not because she loves us, which she does, but because she knew that with all our powers combined shit would get done.

And done it did. Good times in Maine last weekend, minus the rain. Here are some ideas I wanted to share from cute little seed personalized seed packet favors and menu cards to amazing chocolate centerpieces and strata. Yes, Strata. It’s pretty darn good. The love goes into the details. I think we had the best damn bridal shower prizes on the east coast. Who doesn’t love getting matching wine glasses and a bottle of deliciously alcoholic vino to take home?

Jenn & Jason, who also happen to be featured in this month’s Modern Bride in an article called, “Divine Inspiration,” are incorporating sunflowers into their wedding, so we wanted to do the same thing at the shower.

I found these personalized Sunflower Seed packets that we tied with yellow raffia online, and placed in front of each place setting.

One of the other bridesmaids who is also simultaneously planning HER wedding made these adorable chocolate sunflower lollipop centerpieces. She literally melted the chocolate, and poured them into sunflower molds and added sticks. Super cute. Plus everyone got to take one when they left!

We also made individual menu cards, which sounds like a lot of work, but really totally worth it. Putting the effort into the details makes a difference. We printed everything on translucent paper and then pasted them onto card stock with alternating yellow and green polka dot ribbon.

In the April/May issue of Modern Bride, floral designer Kim Hirst of Fresh-Cut Design, creates a spectacular pink and gold centerpiece in their (how-to) guide. This month’s theme… “Have a Luxe Wedding for Less.”

Kim’s ornate centerpiece looks expensive but won’t break the bank, showcasing again how pretty, under-rated carnations used in mass quantity can actually be! She uses bright pink carnations and roses in a three-tiered centerpiece with multiple muted pink/gold shades. We love it! Check it out!