It was a soggy day for Joe and Alicia but neither of them seemed to mind. For June, this wedding felt like it was March, I showed up with the flowers wearing a scarf, long sleeves and jeans if that tells you anything about the temps that day. Alicia and Joe were troopers, pulling out the umbrellas and moving the ceremony inside The Inn at Hudson Gardens. It may have been a downpour outside but the weather didn't dampen anyone's spirits and the cozy Inn with two roaring fireplaces kept the guests warm and dry.

The very talented Rene Tate shared these awesome photos of their beautiful day.

The gorgeous girls!

The Stylin' Groom

Love this picture, the color of the sky intesifies the colors of the dresses and the flower in Alicia's hair, just perfect!

The new Martha Stewart Weddings is out this week and the magazine highlighted one of the coolest weddings I've seen in quite awhile! From the handmade apricot dress to the hearts on the sidewalk under the Brooklyn Bridge, this wedding is cute, sweet, terribly creative and will be added to my favorites file.

These pictures came via 100 Layer Cake from Photographer Ann Rozenblat. Take a look and jump over to 100 Layer Cake and Martha Stewart to see more!

The dress was handmade.

Hearts on the sidewalk with messages led guests to the ceremony.

The bridal party played "Here Comes the Bride" on kazoos as they marched the huppa in.

The coolest huppa ever, designed by a former Anthropologie coworker of the bride.

Lucky for us, Colorado, Denver specifically has a wholesaler that not only sells locally grown flowers, they grow them too. Stevens and Sons has been operating in Denver since 1966. They manage a 100,000 sq foot greenhouse in Arvada and are the region's largest producer of Oriental and Asiatic lilies. They also grow seasonal flowers which were ideal for my May bride's bouquets.

Because growing flowers is a risky business and one never knows when or how they'll bloom, choosing specific locally grown flowers is a gamble. It is easist to set your heart on certain colors rather than flowers just in case they don't bloom or aren't available.

For last weekend's wedding I used locally grown snapdragons, hydrangea, freesia, asters and sustainable grown gerbera daisies, wax flower, stock and tulips. All were fresh, green and smelled wonderful.  If you're interested in a "green" wedding contact me and I'll help you choose the best options for your wedding flowers.

I originally saw these cookie favors on Intimate Weddings. The link has been saved on my computer for quite awhile and I finally had a chance to create these favors.

Supplies:

Cookie Dough

CD Envelopes

Full Sheet Label Paper

To start, bake some yummy chocolate chip cookies.

This recipe from Intimate Weddings is great:

Chocolate Chip Cafe Cookies (These are like the big, fat, chewy cookies that you find in cafes – only better!)

Makes 18 big cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Cream together melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy.

Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

Drop the cookies 1/4 cup at a time onto baking sheet. Cookies should be approximately three inches apart. (1/4 cup is the key here, don't try 1/3 cup, they won't fit in the envelopes)

Bake for 21 minutes on non-stick pans or 15-17 minutes on regular cookie sheet. Cool on baking racks.

While the cookies are baking, or even before you start, print out your labels. I created my own to fit the shower theme but you could use these from the Intimate Weddings site.

Cut out the labels with fancy scissors, or not.

Once the cookies have cooled, you may want to cut a piece of wax paper the same size as the CD envelope so the yumminess doesn't spot your envelope.

Take a plain white CD envelope and put the cookie inside with the top side up.

Take the cut labels and place them right in the middle of the window, peel off the back and stick it onto the envelope, sealing the cookie inside.

Display the cookies where everyone will grab one on their way home from the party.

That's it, an easy, cute and affordable favor for your next party.

The Lumber Baron hosts numerous events throughout the year, from weddings (just did the flowers for a bride there a few weeks ago) to meetings and event Murder Mystery Parties. Today's Groupon (if you don't know what Groupon is, definitely sign up) is a VIP ticket package to Icing Bridezilla, a comedy/murder mystery/wedding reception including a three course dinner, a glass of beer or wine, digital photo and a souvineer hat or t-shirt. In otherwords, $29 for an awesome night out with your girlfriends!

Below is the information from the Groupon site, act fast, these deals are only around for one day!

A picture of a Lumber Baron Wedding from Kabloom Studios for more, visit their website.

Icing Bridezilla begins at cocktail hour in the parlors, where guests mingle with the professional actors behind the eccentric cast, including the titular bride and perhaps even a soon-to-be murderer. Once the ice is fully broken, patrons will head to the ballroom, where the three-course dinner provided by The Food Guy Catering will be served with a warm glass of comedy and a cold side order of murder. Unite the collective brainpower of your table while enjoying entrees such as the lemon-honey brined and grilled chicken breast with a lemon and pancetta reduction sauce. Nibble on homemade lemon custards for dessert while enjoying the hilarious conclusion to the wedding-themed web of deception that the audience will help unravel. (Check out the full menu about a quarter way down the page here.)

The production takes place inside a majestic three-story Victorian mansion built by an actual 19th-century Scottish lumber entrepreneur. One glimpse of the Lumber Baron Inn's lavish wooden interiors will have your magnifying-glass grip gesticulating wildly in anticipation. The shows are crowd pleasing and pressure free-the amount of interaction with the cast is entirely up to each guest. Call ahead to make reservations.

Make a fabulous pillow! If you're not going to be wearing the dress again, why not use the great fabric to make something that will be seen?

Check out this link for detailed directions.

I received the new Anthropologie catalog a few weeks ago and was blown away by their use of flowers and botanicals in the pictures. Flowers in the model's hair, flowers used upside down and completely out of context in their product. The catalog was genius, but then again, I'm biased, I think the whole company is genius.

There are quite a few things I wouldn't wear at Anthropologie, the shoes below are an example but the way they are camoflaged in the leaves of the plant is just so creative and gorgeous:

Anyhow, the whole point of this post is to spread the word the Anthropologie and their parent company Urban Outfitters, Inc. have announced their new venture into bridal! They will offer heirloom wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses and wedding accessories! The concept, still unnamed, will launch a website in spring 2011 that brides to be will be able to schedule local fittings before branching into stores.

With all of the Antrhopologie inspired weddings out there, this is sure to be a huge success for the brand, I for one will be waiting and can't wait to see what they introduce to the market. Their gowns will be in the $750 to the $5000 range with bridesmaid dresses starting around $200.

Content from here.

  I've always loved ice skating, like a could watch it all day long, kind of love. While the only sports I could do that are in the Winter Olympics would be snowboarding and skiing (ok not really but a girl can dream, I can go down a hill standing up on both), figure skating would be my first choice. When I think of the Olympics, I think of figure skating, much to the dismay of my husband who thinks of boardercross and the halfpipe.  I'm sure if you asked anyone what sport they think of when they think of the Olympics, they'll say figure skating. It may be just because it receives so much extra press and seems to be the one sport that everyone talks about or is aware of. Think about it, up until the Americans medaled in the Nordic Combined, did you even know it existed? Nope, but you knew about figure skating.

Anyhow, last night was the men's short program competition. I watched all of it. Stayed up past my bedtime and watched it to the end. I'm obsessed. I love the costumes, the theatricalness (not a word, I know) and the drama....that may be because the infamous Harding-Kerrigan incident took place right as I was starting to become aware of the importance of the Olympics but I digress.

Last night Evan Lysacek was one to watch. When he took the ice I was in awe of his costume, the feathers on his hands, the criss-crossed fabric and that deep black accented his performance perfectly. I loved it...then today while perusing facebook Vera Wang posted a link to this on MSNBC about the designs of the figure skating costumes. Who knew. Turns out this amazing woman not only creates fashion forward bridal gowns, but also aspired to be a competitive figure skater, missing out on a chance at a national competition in 1968. How fitting that she now designs a few of their costumes. She has designed for Michelle Kwan and Nancy Kerrigan but I think my favorite is Evan's costume from last night:

Vera Wang with Evan Lysacek

As I was googling away for some images, my autofill prompted me to search for "Evan Lysacek girlfriend" "Evan Lysacek gay costume", "Evan Lysacek Edward Featherhands" and "Evan Lysacek is gay" Made me giggle a little.  And in case you were wondering, he's not gay, his ex-girlfriends is one of ESPN's hottest female athletes, Tanith Belbin, also a skater who also happens to be competing and rooming with Evan's close competition Johnny Weir. How's that for a weird love triangle?

If you've ever tried to navigate through the hundreds of thousands of amazing listings on etsy, you'll appreciate Mel's blog. She explores the handmade world and posts her finds making it much easier for the non-searching types to find exactly what they're looking for. The pictures are there with a link to the seller's shop, how easy could it be. You can take Mel's advice on style too, she's a pretty fashionable lady!

Add it to your reader, become a follower....you may find yourself just as big an etsy addict as I am, and well, that could be dangerous.

Here's a little preview of today's post, who doesn't need a fabulous bag? Follow her here.