Happy Halloween!

Here are the Mister and I last year as Fred and Velma from Scooby Doo. I'll have pictures from tonight's debauchery to share tomorrow.

Also, I had my first two venue visits this week, so I'll share reviews over the weekend.

Art Deco

Pink Pretty

It's been a pretty stressful weekend - I'm stuck working nights and trying to prep for midterms, and I just needed something pretty. Hopefully it perks your day up, too.

The Venue Search

I had a definant favorite long before the venue search began, but being the practical-minded engineer that he, the Mister wanted to make sure that we looked into all feasible options. We started with a list of rentable spaces on the Bloomington Vistor's website, and narrowed it down to about 15 based on our list of venue criteria:

• able to hold at least 125 people comfortably
• space for both ceremony and location
• non-generic menu options
• ample parking (parking in Bloomington near the IU campus is a nightmare. We wanted to make sure that there was parking close to the venue, and if the only close lots were pay lots, that we could buy vouchers and pay for the parking for our guests)
• pretty! Small midwestern towns have a lot of "wedding venues" that are more like pole barns

What criteria did you use to come up with vendors to visit? Anyone know of good Bloomington locations?

Reading Inspiration

"Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog" by Taylor Mali

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.

But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Springtime Preppy

The Big Wedding Decision Part 4: Our Choice(s)!

I told you we picked three of themes to keep in mind, with plans to make the final choice after we secured our venue. The winners are: Alice in Wonderland (my favorite), Chocolate (the mister’s favorite), and Dinner at JFK’s White House (shared 2nd favorite). I am really falling in love with idea of a Wonderland Wedding in red, hot pink, blush, and black, with “Eat me” signs on the candy buffet, a white rabbit on the response cards . . .I could go an on about this (and will! I have a second set of boards for each of these themes coming soon). With these ideas in mind, we set out to find a venue that was both budget-friendly, practical for our guests, and able to be transformed into something themed and magical.

Before we go any further . . .

Before we go any further, I feel the need to share something with you, dear readers.

When the mister and I began searching for a wedding venue, I came in with a lot of knowledge, and not simply because I am one of those women who have been planning my wedding “my whole life.” The truth is that this is not the first wedding I have planned, not the first ring on my left hand.

I met B when I was a senior in high school. He was in his early twenties, a computer programmer and musician. We met playing for a community summer band, and soon I was head-over-heels in love. We got engaged a little over two years later, before my sophomore year of college.

But a few hours distance and a few years of maturity greatly changed things, and by the time I was a senior in college it was over, and there was someone else in his arms. I learned more about communication and acceptance through that process that I could have imagined, but I also emerged scared to trust, skeptical of romance, and cynical of the whole engagement-wedding “thing.”

When I met the mister a year and a half later, it took a lot of thinking and a huge leap of faith to let myself get into a relationship where I could risk getting hurt again. I couldn’t be happier - and I partially have B to thank, for teaching me not to settle, and for setting me free to find the mister. As Miss Cheese says, the mister is the “first love of the rest of my life.”

My Favoritest Weddings Ever Part 1

I have some wedding porn for my dear readers - my all-time favorite weddings. I'll start with this one, Megan and Randy, featured on Bride's Cafe: http://thebridescafe.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/megan-randys--1.html

It is a crazy-amazing vintage inspired wedding, and she is the prettiest bride I have ever seen. You need to go check this one out.

The Big Wedding Question Part 3

Now that you've seen the boards for the themes we were thinking about (ok, so a couple got omitted - namley, Grease and Across the Universe. I felt like if I couldn't easily make a board for a theme, there was no way I could make a wedding around it.) A few things stood out to the mister and I as we went over them: first, that some themes only seemed to influence color and food, like strawberries, cherries, and chocolate. Second, some ideas are really hard to convey, like Jackson Pollack or Warhol. We then had the hard choice of narrowing it down.

The criteria we used:

• Can influence many different aspects, like invites, favors, and linens
• Unexpected, but not over the top
• Fun!

Since we don't have our venue secured yet (the venue saga is coming up next), we decided to choose our top three, and look at venues with those in mind.

Before I tell you what we decided, let me know what your favorites are! Are you using any of these themes for your wedding?

Studio 54

1950s Clambake

Dinner at JFK's White House

Hamptons Picnic

Kitsch Hawaii

Jackson Pollack

Andy Warhol

Walk The Line

Alice in Wonderland

Chocolate

Cherries and Cherry Blossoms

Strawberry Wedding Theme

I'll wait til I get a few of our possible wedding theme boards up before I talk about them. What do you think? What is your wedding theme?

The Big Wedding Question Part Two

The next step for the mister and I was to make a list of theme possibilities. We each took a piece of paper and wrote down anything that came to mind. Then I divided them up by categories. (Have I mentioned I'm a little obsessive about list-making?).

• Food themes: Strawberries, Cherries, Chocolate
• Movies: Alice in Wonderland, Across the Universe, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Walk the Line, Grease
• Art: Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollack
• Other: Kitsch Hawaii, 1960s picnic in the Hamptons, dinner party at JFK's White House, 1950s clambake, Studio 54

As you can see, the mister and I are a pretty eclectic pair. Some themes are pretty easy to image (kitsch Hawaii) and other are much more abstract (Jackson Pollack, no pun intended). From this list, I did what seemed to make the most sense for me: make inspirations boards.

Up next: Strawberries and Cherries.

Blue Hawaii

The Big Wedding Question Part I

You know how when you read wedding books, they tell you to consider a few key items first? Usually, these include budget, season, location, and guest list. All valid concerns, I agree. But that was not the first big question for the mister and I.

If you can't tell by earlier entires, I am a sucker for a theme wedding. Not nessecarily a costume-wearing, exact-detail replica of an event (not like a Star Trek wedding in Vegas - good for you if that's what you want, though!), but I love a cohesive wedding, like Mrs. Shortcake with her 1950s details, Mrs. Lovebug and her "Sweetest Type of Love," and my most-beloved Mrs. Petunia and her Monopoly theme (If you don't read Weddingbee, go there. Now. You can catch up and come back to me later.)

We both knew we wanted something like that. But what? That became our first big concern.


Are you having a theme wedding? What themes have you seen, and how did you decide?

Yellow Submarine

Wizard of Oz

Just have to say . . .

Good job Colts!!!!

Dukes of Hazard

Movie Weddings Week

In hopes of doing something fun for all my readers out there this week, I thought I'd share some weddings inspired by my favorite movies, starting with this one. When I began to think about movie love stories, I immediately thought of Gone With the Wind. I think Scarlett O'Hara is every Southern girl's icon for at least a little while in childhood. I didn't want to be too literal with this theme and risk being cheesy, so I tried to picture a modern-day wedding at Tara: lots of greens and whites, classic letterpress invites, green BM dresses (to mimic the one Scarlett made from her curtains!), and plenty of southern food. The ballgown is Vera Wang, and seems perfect for a Southern princess.

English Garden Wedding

I love grey - I know, I know, it's trendy. The "new" chocolate brown, which was, I think, the "new" black. But grey is certainly unexpected, and it pairs really nicely with other colors in a relaxed, cool sort of way. Something about grey and pink make me think English Garden - warm, fresh, but still sort of old-school and stately. As a side note, I had a cocktail last night that involved a drink poured into a martini glass over cotton candy. Delish, and would make a great signiature cocktail.

Red and Tan Tulips

This board sprung from the gorgeous picture of the Sample Gates at IU-Bloomington, in the upper-left corner of the board. I love red mixed with neutrals, and think a tulip-theme could really work well in these somewhat unexpected colors for a chic spring wedding.

Sophisticated White and Black

Oranges and Sunscreen

Reader Request

I received a request for a spring brunch wedding, with yellow, pink, and Tiffany blue colors. This is one of my favorite color pallets (my bedroom and bathroom are in these shades), because I think they look classic but a tad quirky with the blue thrown in. The reader asked about some food ideas for a brunch, which are a great way to save because #1, caterers charge less for the food, and #2, you don't have to provide as much, or even any, alcohol. Here are some of my favorite menu ideas:

• omelet station
• crepe/pancake station
• Fruit, gourmet yogurts, bagels, rolls, pastries
• Assortments of sausages, bacon, and different types of eggs
• Small tea sandwiches
• Belgian waffle station
• Juice and/or coffee bar
• Or you could do it southern style: grits, buttermilk biscuits and gravy, hash brown casserole

Are any of you having brunch weddings? What is your menu?

~~~Feel free to comment with a reader request, or send your request via email to hoosierbride@gmail.com

A Country Bird Wedding

Following the earlier peacock wedding board, I think this next wedding, with a few country birds is another darling idea. The little birdie from the beyond amazing Ann Woods on Etsy, looks like she would be right at home at a rustic, casual, country bash. Add in some grilled chicken and farmfresh veggies, a bluegrass band, and lots of cheery gingham and stripes, and you'll have quite a party.

Reader Board!

I got a reader request for a peacock themed wedding - what an unexpected, but gorgeous idea! I absolutely love bright colors for weddings, and have subtle themed, like peacocks can make making other choices a lot easier. How amazing are the orchids?

So sorry!

What a bad, bad, blogger I've been lately! Life got seriously crazy, thanks to some family health issues, and all things wedding related went on the back burner. Here's what's coming up for us here at Backyard Bride: I'll be fulfulling the couple of reader requests I have (feel free to send requests my way, too!), and sharing some of the nuts and bolts of my own wedding planning - I finally have colors picked, and some other decisions made.

Thank you to all of my readers of there - the links and the comments left on here did wonders to boost my spirit the past month and a half.

I'll leave you with some inpiration:


"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
~the velveteen rabbit

English Tea Party

Modern Red

I love bold, crisp red weddings. The colors makes for a very dramatic statement, and a big impact can be done extremely cost effectively with carnations. The venue in the bottom corner is one I considered for my own wedding: the art museum at Indiana University.

That night at the hotel, in our room with the long empty hall outside and our shoes outside the door, a thick carpet on the floor of the room, outside the windows the rain falling and in the room light and pleasant and cheerful, then the light out and it exciting with smooth sheets ad the bed comfortable, feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone, walking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal. We slept when we were tired and if we woke the other one woke too so one was not alone. Often a man wishes to be alone and a girl wishes to be alone too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together, alone against the others. It has only happened to me like that once

~ from A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)



Happy anniversary, J.

Reader Request 2

Here's another board I put together in a similar color scheme as the last one. Here's the bride's request " . . . My colors are sage, lilac (more like a Victorian lilac or European lilac) and a rich, dark brown. I don't really have a style I don't think, but my flowers are tulips"

I think she definitely has a style! This is another green and purple board at its core, but the slight change of color intensity makes for a more earthly, elegant feel. Don't you just love the sage boutonnieres?

Reader Request 1

This is a board I put together from one the wonderful ladies on the knot message board that I frequent. Here's her style: " . . .Our colors are a lime/citrus green primary with fuchia and lavendar. Sorta wine-inspired colors/theme, but more of a modern girly sort of feel . . ."

I love paring purples with a bright green - the colors together are both glam and still playful. I am somewhat obsessed with the cake, from the current issue of MS Weddings, because pansys are just such an gorgeous yet uncommon flower.

Thanks for letting me put a board together for you - hope you like it!

Sunshine

Teal and yellow, one of this week's featured color combos, is reminiscent of so many things I love in summer: sunshine and pool water, lemonade, those mysteriousy colored raspberry sno cones I eat whenever I'm in my parent's neighborhood. It makes for an equally refreshing wedding pallette - at once energetically bright and yet mellow.

Color Combos

I love color, and finding creative matches that go outside the more traditional wedding color schemes is a lot of fun for me. I hope to make this a weekly feature, showing what shades I'm currently loving. Here are the combos I'm "feeling" right now.







Which one is your favorite? Anyone using one of these combos for your wedding?

A Callout to my readers

To everyone reading (hopefully someone is!) I will happily put together an inspiration board for your upcoming event. Just let me know some detials like the date, colors, theme, or style you'd like to incorporate, and I'll come up with something for you. Trust me, having a board makes planning so much easier! Either leave a comment on this post, or drop me an email at hoosierbride@gmail.com. Thanks!

About Us: How we met

I know that these stories have a tendency to be bornig, long, and overly detailed, so I'm going to try not to do that to you. Here's a just a quick blurb on how this started.

We met at work. I was placed on third shift (night shift, for those of you not from a 'round the clock industry) to coordinate a cleaning project. The Mister is a lead supervisor in the area I was working in. We went out for coffee after work one morning, and coffee turned into a fourteen hour date. A month later, I moved in, and here we are.

What I love about the Mister is that he is so innovate, so forward thinking, and able to push me outside my comfort zone. He has taught me that keeping up with the Joneses, or doing what is expected of you is no way to live a happy life. We celebrate our anniversary this month, and I couldn't be happier.

How did you and your "other" meet?

Pink Lemonade

It's an absolutely gorgeous day in central Indiana today: bright, sunny, and remarkably not humid. It would be a perfect day for a summery wedding, and something about yellow and pink screams "girly summertime." Find a little pretty church for the ceremony, and a church hall or local shelter house for an ice-cream social and cupcake reception. What better way to be girly, seasonal, and budget friendly, no seated meal needed.

Glamming it up

As you know, I love retro touches in a wedding, and something about this set feels slightly 1940-ish to me. Red, white, and black make for a glam color pallette but I think even the most formal events should be fun - how great would an evening snack of cookies and milk be? The fabulous red shoes are by Mr. Manolo,and would such a nice pop of color sticking out from the bottom of the dress. This could make for such a glitzy winter affair - scatter crytsals on the tables, have some yummy carving stations . . .and if you do this, please send an invite my way.

Wedding Things I Love Part 2

My mother says the most memorable wedding reception that she has ever attended took place in 1967, when her cousin Sonny got married. For the reception, the couple asked each of their aunts and mothers to bake their "signature" cake instead of giving them a wedding present. All of the cakes were served with ice cream from a big freezer. There were something like twenty-three cakes, all different flavors. My mother gets a sugar craving talking about it

I know there is no law saying that a wedding should have a cake, but I must admit that it one of the things that I look forward to the most when going to a wedding (I'm sure I'm not alone in that!). While there is a timelessness to a tall, tiered, white confection, I love nontraditional wedding cakes, both for their stylistic value, and for their cost saving ability - you could make a few pies or cupcakes on your own, then arrange them the day of. I'm sure it would be just as sumptuous as any over-priced store bought confection. How fun are the cake centerpieces?

While I adore the idea of a cheesecake and pie buffet, the Mister LOVES cake. So we'll probably have a cake buffet, with a few of our favorite flavors. We may end up buying them, but I do the love idea of having (willing!) family members contribute by sharing their own homemade cakes.

Who is the backyard bride? Part 1

I guess I haven't properly introduced myself yet. I'm a twenty-something alumni of Indiana Univeristy, and I work as a project manager for a major automotive company. I have four great loves: the Mister, our two dogs, design, and fancy shoes. Vintage cars, 1980s pop music, and thrift store shopping round out my list of favorite things.

The Mister is a thirty-something mechanical engineer, a Purdue University alum, and is addicted to his Playstation 3. He adores Colts football, obessess over having our lawn perfect, and would eat cupcakes for every meal if we could.

Next up: how we met

Daisy Chains

Yellow is my favorite color: my car is yellow, as is a good portion of my accessory wardrobe (my clothing tends to be more neutral: gray, black, navy, and more black). Yellow with white makes for a cheery, relaxed vibe. This pallette also makes saving on flowers possible - so many wildflowers are in these colors, you could easily raid a garden and put together your own bouquet.

Food Themed Weddings

The Mister and myself shared our first date at a Starbucks. (Isn't that horribly cliche? I try to justify it by explaning that we were both working nights, and coffee is a mainstay when you get off work at 7:30 am. Truthfully, it was only place open in the morning in our small town.) I love the muted brown color pallette in most coffee shops, and think it lends itself nicely to a warm, wintry, wedding feeling. I went to a wedding last winter year with a coffee and espresso bar, and that would be a great touch for any cold weather affair.






This board is inspired by my favorite food: strawberries. With a red and pink pallette (and a short dress!), I think a strawberry theme could be delightfully kitschy - and I'm a sucker for some retro kitsch. How fun are the flowergirl wings?


Is anyone getting their color pallette from favorite foods? Anyone planning a kitschy wedding?

Wedding Things I Love Part 1

I feel like the best way to begin to talk about my own wedding is to talk about the details and styles that I love: the colors, shapes, and design elements that inspire my own event. There will be several parts to this "series" but I though I'd start with favorite detail first: the dress.

I love a short wedding dress, with its ability to retro, sassy, and still timeless. My mother and one of my older sisters were short dress brides (in 1964 and 1988, respectively), and I hope to be as well. Here are my most-adored images:



Any other short dress brides out there?

A summery soire

To contrast with this morning's wintry board, I thought I'd share something a little brighter. While pink is not usually one of my favorite colors for weddings (it seems as though every wedding I;ve ever been to has been pink and white, or pink and brown), mixing it with brights, like orange, yellow, and green, seems to make it fresher. I can imagine this as a fun, casual brunch with fruit salads, frittatas, and a fruit-filled wedding cake.

With this blog . . .

I am an avid wedding blog reader, a future bride, and a polyvore fanatic. As I began the wedding planning process, I became somewhat obessed with making inspiration boards, and I'd like to use this a way to share my ideas with you all, and also to chronicle my wedding planning experiences. I hope you enjoy.

A White Wonderland

I love the idea of a wedding with a "non-color" pallette, simply white, ivories, and creams, and think this would be perfect for an evening winter wedding. It seems so clean and modern, and still a little vintage - maybe that's the 1950s Rolls and the white dinner jacket talking.






Thank you for joining me!