Art as a Wedding Gift

I love these sweet vintage looking typographic art pieces by Coulson Macleod. Each piece from the Love series is printed on wood and then framed in rough-sawn solid oak. How perfect would these be for a wedding gift or anniversary gift - or maybe even a holiday gift!? Oh - and these are all limited editions, so once they are gone, they are gone!

More Winter Wedding Decorations

I hope everyone enjoyed the week of winter wedding inspirations! It was fun coming up with some new color palette options and sharing the work of some talented photographers. I know those of you on the east coast are prepping for some snow this weekend, so I'm sure there are plans to keep warm by the fireplace and maybe watching some holiday movies (Elf and Love Actually are my favs for this time of year). It's unseasonably warm here in LA (75!) - feels like a tease before my trip to the east coast next week! Anyways, a few more favorites from around the web to inspire..

I love this rustic and warm color palette from Color Me Pretty on decor8.

And how fun to incorporate some of your own snow globe creations!

I think this would be the perfect favor to hand out - Hot Chocolate Spoons! Lots of fun flavors such as Walnut Bourbon Vanilla Brownie (via Simplesong).

And I think these guests below will need some of those spoons. This couple were married in a snowstorm this past year! What a unique (and cold!) ceremony! Photos by Grazier Photography.

And in case you missed any of these, some other favorite winter inspiration from the week:

• This winter wonderland dessert table from the Lollipop girls
• Summer's creative winter styling for gifts with sweaters seen on Style Me Pretty
• A winter holiday soiree created by lots of talented ladies.

Happy weekend and keep warm!

A New Year Eve Celebration

Thanks so much to Amanda from In The Now Weddings for sending me this fabulous New Year's Eve Inspiration. From Amanda, The way this came about was to revitalize the humble, homespun New Year's Eve soiree. I tried to stick with the traditions but took the colors a step further and the decor up a notch. Palette: Chocolate, Gold, Copper/Rust with accents of bone.

The Favors: The obvious choice was to go with the traditional trinkets of NYE- horn blowers and tinsel "sparklers", which were re-purposed from party store accessories. We simply dressed them up modern style [the gold blowers gold a chic corset wrap and the tinsel was glued to sleek acrylic rods and finished with ribbon]. They were tied together with a rust ombre ribbon and tag to remind the guests of the reason for gathering [to ring in the new year]! And who can forget the classically cheesy New Year's gold hat! I re-worked the design to tie a stunning chocolate ribbon around it and added two copper-toned feathers to add that designer's touch.

The Papers: I wanted a simple feel for our paper products, so we went with gold shimmer paper and copper design/writing. Each place card featured a name and picture of a random object with a quote/statement underneath pertaining to starting over in the new year. The one featured, with the name Amanda, says "you already know where you're going". I wanted them to be simply inspirational about how we have a new start in just a few hours. For the menus, I focused on the idea of being the iconic "last supper... of 2009". I felt the play on the idea of a heavy, regrettable meal along side the inspirational and positively-toned place cards was a hoot!

The Decor: My favorite part of the setting was the over-sized, hand made metallic confetti. It brought in the simple "celebration" element that really set the tone for the dinner. The non-floral centerpieces, which is what I saw most fit for the party, were actually just jewelry "tree" holders and the pod-flowers were affixed to them with hot glue. The faux bois candle holders were actually from my home- as I'm totally head over heels for faux bois. I really liked playing with the metals and organics together- the tree out of metal, the flowers out of wood, the candle holders out of metal made to look like wood.

Vendors:
Rentals - Classic Party Rentals
Linens - La Tavola Linens
Design - In The Now Weddings
Photography - In The Now Weddings [Josh and Amanda Auer]

Thanks for taking the time to share this wonderful inspiration with us Amanda!

shopping palette: a plate of french macaroons

I spent the holidays dreaming of these little macaroons from Kelly and Jim's Parisian elopement. Can you blame me? If ever there were a perfect sweet, these little colored cookies are certainly it. French macaroons can be custom made in any color imaginable and have been seen on everything from wedding cakes to table decor. I love the way they are used as accessories here. Here are a few more Parisian accessories inspired by Kelly and Jim's wedding.

Clockwise from top: Annick Goutal Eau De Toilette, $80, available at Anthropologie. Paris Chandelier, $3,800, available at Horchow. Destination Charm Necklace, $24, available at Urban Outfitters. Candle in a Jar, $25, available at Anthropologie.
{photo credits:  one and only paris + laduree macaroons}