Hobnail Cake

I still haven't ordered our wedding cake, which means I can still ooh and aah over beautiful cake inspiration photos.  Look at the hobnail texture on this beauty by My Sweet and Saucy!

The Inspired Bride

ETA: Weddingbee's Miss Gazelle is planning on having a cake inspired by vintage milk glass, too- check out her inspiration picture and sketch here!

If you'd like to add any of the images in this post to your Pinterest boards, please click the link below the image and pin from the source so the creator gets the credit they deserve.  Thank you.

Happy Planning!

Royal Wedding

Married to the Sea

I got up at 4:00 AM today to make a cup of English Breakfast tea and watch the Royal Wedding.  My mom and I flipped between CBS, NBC, ABC and E! for a variety of coverage :)

Getty Images

I loved watching the wedding.  I thought Kate's- er, Duchess Catherine's- dress was perfectly suited to her elegant sense of style and her drop veil was breathtaking over the Cartier tiara.  If any of you are still searching for a dress and covet her look, Southern Weddings has featured some beautiful dresses today.  Want an even more obtainable Kate-inspired detail?  Her nail polish was Allure by Essie.

I loved the touches of modernity and personality in the wedding- Kate's arrival by car, Prince Harry looking back to see Kate before William did, Kate's brother reading from a modern Bible translation rather than the KJV (and all of the colors he managed to work into one outfit!), Pippa's gorgeous Hollywood-style gown.

But my favorite part came after the ceremony:

Sky News

The Duke and Duchess left the palace not in a carriage but in a sweet vintage Aston Martin decorated with ribbons and helium balloons- looking very much like many, many other couples who have left their weddings with those same gleeful smiles.

I wish we got to see the receptions on television!  Since we can't, here are some details via Sky News (and an even more beautiful image of the wedding cake can be found here on Flickr- go check it out!):

"Every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them unto the future." - Right Reverend and Right Honorable Richard Chartres, Bishop of London (the Washington Post)

Makeup - first trial

I hadn't given much thought to bridal makeup until the little "hair and makeup trial" alerts started popping up on my various wedding checklists. I had done some web searches concerning hair and makeup prices at upscale salons in Roanoke, but WHOAH they are expensive! Then I remembered Angela, the awesome Mary Kay consultant who'd taught me to do a smoky eye at a friend's party. I e-mailed her, and she is available to do my wedding makeup. She wanted to meet ahead of the wedding as well to discuss skin care- and that was fine with me, because my acne is terrible at least once a month.

My makeup inspiration is a little unconventional: Katy Perry in the "Firework" video!

Carnival Engagement Inspiration

In typical Spinningstars fashion, the mister and I have thrown together a last-minute engagement session. You see, my town's Dogwood Festival is this week, and with that festival comes a carnival. I drove past the lot where they were setting up the rides today, and that familiar wedding lightbulb clicked on in my head. Back at home, I Googled "carnival engagement" and "fair engagement" and found TONS of awesome inspiration pictures.

Then I got a call from Mr. Spin "I talked to our photographer today, and she can do tomorrow evening, Thursday evening or Sunday morning."

To get the best effect of the colors and lights of the carnival, we'll need to shoot in the evening. Thursday night I have a meeting with my makeup artist (remember, this is Spring-Break-knock-out-wedding-related-tasks-week!). So tomorrow it is!

Here are some of my favorite carnival-style e-pics from the wedding blogosphere:

Luster Studios

Hulmut Walter

Mason Jar Bride

Style Me Pretty

100 Layer Cake

SPRING BREAK!

Things I'd Like to Accomplish this Week:

- Block hotel rooms for out-of-town guests

- Set up our registry

- Schedule engagement photos

- Finalize ceremony readings and ask readers

- Ask ushers and attendant

- Order my jewelry and bridesmaids' gifts

- Maybe start shopping for dresses for my mom and Spin's mom?

Crafty Projects:

- Bar menu chalkboards

- Flower girl basket

Sunday Simplicity #15

Style Me Pretty

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday.

One and Only [My Dress]

MR. SPIN, DO NOT DARE GO ANY FURTHER INTO THIS POST. ENJOY THE PRETTY MUSIC AND MOVE ON.

EVERYONE ELSE: RIGHT THIS WAY...

Dress News

I love my dress shop, but my consultant's many talents do not include leaving good phone messages. While I was at a reading conference, she left a rambling message on my voicemail asking if I had any other bridesmaids I hadn't told her about- I guess some bridezilla didn't tell the shop about an extra girl once and raised hell when they didn't order her a dress? This Wednesday, she left a voicemail that just said, "This is -- from --, please give us a call."

I immediately thought, "Oooh, maybe my dress is in!" but when I told my mom, she pointed out that if that was the case the message could've just said, "This is -- from --, your dress is in!" So my mind went to worst-case-scenario place, in which my consultant was calling to tell me that the dress factory had burned down or something. When I called back, she couldn't remember why she'd called me. Girlfriend sounded stressed out to the max. "Let me look at your card... Heather... we ordered your bridesmaids' dresses... you know your dress is here, right?" No, no I do not. "Oh! Well, if you'd like to come try it on, come on over, and we'll make an appointment for your alterations- but don't come tomorrow because we have four brides coming in and it's going to be ridiculous."

My mom and I made plans to go on Saturday for a try-on. I don't actually have my shoes yet, but plan on purchasing a pair while we're there (remind me to post about my EPIC SHOE FAIL) and we're going to bring a tape measure because we don't actually remember what the back of the dress looks like, and need to know where it hits so I can find undergarments and a veil that doesn't hide the details!

Not My Wedding: Light Colored Suits

While Mr. Spin has settled on a black, pinstriped tux which I think will look smashing and totally hot on him, I still like the look of men in light-colored suits. I apologize that most of these pictures were saved LONG ago so I don't have the exact URLs. But aren't these dudes (and their brides) lookin' fabulous?

The Knot

Stone Blue Productions

The Bride's Cafe

Sunday Simplicity #14

Sun-Dance Photography

Guestbook Options

There are so many options for couples who want to give guests the opportunity to leave wishes for them on the big day!

1. Photo mat or gallery wrap- I've seen several of these at real weddings. My friend K had her photographer print one of their engagement pictures onto a canvas gallery wrap for everyone to sign with a metallic pen. I like the more traditional version, the signing mat, because it can be used to display a wedding-day photo in the home later on. This one from Exclusively Weddings has lots of signing space and you can get an engraved plaque to attach to the frame. It's elegant, yet still more unique than a traditional guestbook.

2. Wish box/vase

But what if the guests want to leave more than just their signatures? I got really excited when I saw a Weddingbee post about the Anniversary Box and began thinking about ways to incorporate something similar into our wedding.

I like this monogrammed vase from Invitations by Dawn; it's 28.95. The vase is 8 3/4" tall. This would be a nice way for guests to leave a wish, and the vase would look nice on display in the home.

Finally, I had a burst of inspiration! While searching for a card box, I kept coming back to the Antique Style birdcages at Save On Crafts, but I'd been questioning the value of the purchase because I didn't know what I would do with the smaller birdcage. Here's my plan: as shown in this picture, I'm going to use the larger cage as a card box, and use the same rubber stamps I'm using on our table numbers to decorate some "wish cards" for the smaller cage. I may paint the cages either black or ivory to match our other decor items...

I am looking forward to working on some DIY projects over spring break next week, and can't wait to share the process and the results with y'all. I am so appreciative of the community I've found via the wedding blogosphere, Weddingbee boards, and weddingplans community on Livejournal- it's so nice to be able to commiserate with ladies who are going through the joy and stress of wedding planning as well!

DIY Flowers - Trial #2

The one thing holding me back from going all-in on a decision to DIY our wedding flowers was doubt about being able to make a bouquet and personal flowers, so I'd been considering having a florist do those and DIYing the centerpieces. of me just wasn't sure I'd want to *deal* with the flowers on the weekend of our wedding. It seemed like it would be a stressful hassle. Just to be sure, I bought ribbon, some bouquet pins, and flowers from local grocery stores that were as close to the actual flowers I want as possible. Here's what I came up with. Pretend that the hydrangeas are blue and the ribbon around the bouquet is an indigo purple.


I think my DIY practice bouquet looks pretty good! I also mocked up a boutonniere, but I think I need a little more practice in that department :)

Cost breakdown for this grocery store bouquet:

- 1 Dozen Vendela Roses - 8.99 at Fresh Market

- Purple Statice - 3.99 at Fresh Market

- 6 stems baby hydrangea - 12.00 at Kroger

Let's see... a healthy-looking made-with-love bouquet for about $25, or a professional bouquet for $150. I've decided- I am going to DIY all of our wedding flowers with help from friends and family!

Sunday Simplicity #13

Elizabeth Anne Designs

cake table ideas, part II

This picture appeared on Style Me Pretty today and I think the combination of details that come together in this cake table designs is amazing. The ombre cake is just trendy enough to be special, I love the idea of candles on the cake table, and I like seeing the bride's bouquet and toasting glasses on display as the bride and groom cut the cake.

Please note:  If you'd like to add any of the images from this post to your Pinterest boards, please click on the links below the images to pin from the source so that the creators get credit for their work!  Thank you!

We know that we will be having more of a "dessert table" setup at our wedding, because we want to offer a variety of flavors. I am a chocoholic, so we will have some mini desserts, and Mr. Spin is super psyched about his banana pudding cups. The only dessert table we aren't sure about is the biggest one of all- the cake we will cut together! We have yet to meet with a cake baker, but it is on the to-do list for the month of April. Here are some of the pictures stored in my "cake table" inspiration folder.

I love the look of messy buttercream icing. Photo by Anna Kuperberg.

Brides.com

What a beautifully decorated table... the lanterns, cupcakes and is that pink lemonade? Photo from Elizabeth Anne Designs.

A very feminine cake table design from Weddingbee

More Cakes I Love:

- Chocolate cake by Cherry Blossom Cakes with edible dogwood decorations from Diane's Cakes and More

Sunday Simplicity #12

Anna Kuperberg