Simply sweet centerpieces

Here are some simple sweet centerpieces that caught my eye. I'm having trouble deciding on my color palette - way too many options - so I'm hoping that maybe flowers will guide me in the right direction.

I can't get enough hot pink!

The colors on this next arrangement are a little soft and blushy for an Indian wedding but the choice of flowers is lovely and how sweet is the vintagey monogram?

Here is a super glamorous look. The varying heights of the vessels add a lot of drama. I would bring in at least one color into this table setting.

This dahlia centerpiece is exactly what I expect for Summer wedding flowers - a fresh burst coral color.

Another glamorous option - the crystals draping dramatically over the table edge are very ooh-la-la.

Color Palette Inspiration Board 1 - Burgundy, Red, Pink, and a Touch of Green

Check out my first color palette inspiration board! It just wouldn't be an Indian wedding without lots of color. As you can see, I created this board around some stunning images of flowers because well, flowers are just gorgeous. The rich, vibrant colors will fit perfectly with the location of our wedding since it's at a winery but also bring in the Indian flair. Rather than go purely with rustic vineyard colors (burgundy, chardonnay, and green), I chose to add some big pops of color with the fuchsia and flame. The champagne gold helps ground the bold colors while keeping with the rich look. I'm really loving the analogous palette of purple, red, and pink - they create a cohesive statement and at the same time allow for some needed variation in the color scheme. Sigh, I could never decide on just one color...

Image source: Karen Tran Florals (top left), Fifty Flowers (top right), Town & Country Magazine (bottom images)

Peacock feathers galore

One of the themes I'm considering for the big day is the Peacock theme. I've been seeing this in a lot of blogs but it would actually be meaningfully significant at our Indian wedding. Known for its beauty and grace the Peacock, which is the national bird of India, symbolizes beauty, prosperity, love and peace and is considered sacred. What a beautiful symbol for a wedding! Here are some lovely ideas I came across based on the theme.

Source: Momental Designs

Source: Karen Tran Florals (tons of stunning pics on her blog)

(love how they mixed the feather with a hot pink color scheme!)

Source: ThePartyDress.Net

(a clever and dramatic idea to keep the cake simple and put the feathers on display)

Source: OneSourceWedding

Source: The Fairmount Bride

Laura Kranitz hair clip

Tasty Cake and Dessert Ideas

The tall multi-tiered wedding cake is certainly dramatic and traditional. I found some beautiful exotic Indian style cakes that would fit with our wedding. But lately I've been thinking that it would be great to do a twist on the traditional wedding cake. I'm all about tradition with a twist! Rather than going so high on the cake I think it would be a little more contemporary to just do a smaller version of one of these cakes (say, the top two tiers) and then bring in other desserts for a nice variety. It seems like cupcakes have been all the rage for the last few years so what about donuts? They would be so whimsical. Anyone who knows the fiance knows he loves PIE - doing a variety of cakes, pies and Indian desserts would be a fun way to make everyone happy and express our personality too.

Source: Maharani Weddings

Source: The Knot

Platinum Weddings on WEtv features a decadent Socal Indian wedding

My Tivo is now filled with an array of wedding shows, much to my delight (and to the fiance's chagrin). I stumbled upon Platinum Weddings recently which is a show on WEtv. A recent episode featured a lavish - and I mean lavish - Indian wedding. It's a hotel wedding overlooking the beach in Santa Monica and let me tell you, no expense was spared. The show tells you what each major item costs so you can see and be astounded. The total budget was (gulp) $425,000! Makes me feel less guilty about my budget.

The style isn't quite what we are going for because our wedding will be at a winery (think rustic elegance), but I took special note of a few unique touches. One of the bride's outfits featured a unique peacock design on the back and on the bottom of the lehenga. The turquoise blue color scheme makes a huge impact. The mandap was made out of acrylic and was filled with flowers and had crystals. Check out more pics here.

Engagement gifts lead to yummy delights

We were fortunate to get a Macy's gift card as an engagement gift. I really haven't given much thought to the registry yet. But as of late, the fiance and I have been on a foodie kick. Well, probably more me, but he's along for the ride. I'm pretty much addicted to the Food Network (Barefoot Contessa and Tyler's Ultimate are my current favorites). Needless to say, we had a field day getting a few fun gadgets for the kitchen, including a two-sided grill pan, a silicone basting brush, immersion blender, and cake pan.

The latter two resulted in this yummy Raspberry Buttermilk Cake (baked at 1:00 am last night). It seemed only fitting to get a cake stand. We found this simple little glass number at Target for $10. And get this - the cloche (aka dome) that comes with it can be turned upside down to make a punch bowl! Two for one, love it.

Tips on Entertaining from a Fashion Designer

My previous post included a beautiful table setting featured in Town & Country Magazine that was designed by Naeem Khan, who is a fashion designer to celebs like Beyonce and Eva Longoria. I found this wonderful little article on WSJ.com that has some great tips from him. Here are my favorites:

o Keep it simple... use color but don't go crazy with colors (it's so easy to go crazy with colors!)

o Line up a row of white candles in varying heights along the center of the table (hmmm, more impactful on long tables but probably a decent idea for round tables too)

o Use herbs to decorate... wrap a rosemary twig around a napkin (so simple and rustic)

o Serve your guests a special cocktail as soon as they walk through the door (I am all over the "signature cocktail" idea, now if I can only decide what it will be...)

The Lush Look with Flowers

In my slightly obsessive search for all things amazing for my wedding, I frequently find myself dawdling on flowers. What gal doesn't love flowers?! And I've been gravitating towards low centerpieces that showcase big blooming flowers in a streamlined palette. Being that it's an Indian wedding and all, I pretty much know that I've got to have some vibrant colors going to keep with the theme. But I love the notion of sticking to a simple bright palette to make a strong statement. It dawned on me that Indian weddings, in a way, sort of decorate themselves because all of the "aunties" wear such bold and colorful prints in their sari's. So it could easily get muddled by going crazy with all different flowers in too many colors. Sticking to one color family also seems to make it easier to achieve a full, lush look. At the risk of using a ridiculously overused word in the world of wedding blogs, I think these are just super CHIC while still being colorful and vibrant.

Source: Town & Country Magazine, October 2009

Source: Huckleberry Karen Designs

Source: Huckleberry Karen Designs

Lovely invitation designs

Here are some invitation inspirations that are fun, bold, colorful and wonderful eye candy. These are all from Momental Designs. Absolutely stunning work with vintage and exotic flair. Right up my alley.

More images to come...

The search for the bridal dress

In actuality, there may be more than one dress – but let’s start with one. I will freely admit that I am not the mostup-to-speed on Indian weddings. Frankly, I haven’t been to that many and so I’m not really sure about a lot of protocols. One thing I have discovered in talking to friends and looking at photographer blogs is that it seems like most Indian American brides wear one outfit for the ceremony and then change into a completely different outfit for the reception. I’m totally down for two different outfits!

There are a couple of reasons why this works on a practical level. My ceremony is probably going to be fairly conservative and therefore I want to be covered up to be more respectful. On the other hand, for the reception I expect to be bee-bopping around and, of course, dancing(!) so I want something more fun and easy to move around in. I’m pretty sure I want a lehenga for the reception and for the ceremony either a lehenga or a sari. As a sari novice, I don’t think I could boogie down in it – I would constantly be stiff and worrying about it unraveling.

Here are some pretty options I found.

Engagement party thank you cards

So I will be the first to admit, I am not the craftiest of brides. Mind you, I really really want to be, but I am just starting the wedding planning process so we're taking baby steps here people. My first foray into adding a little DIY flair to the mix is with the thank you cards for my engagement party. My wonderful parents were kind enough to throw my fiance and I an engagement party to celebrate with family and friends (mostly family friends :)). It was a lovely fete and everyone who attended was as kind as can be. To thank them for their generosity with the gifts, I of course wanted to send thank you cards as soon as possible. Since we haven't had to make very many decisions on colors and themes just yet, I decided to find a cute little box o cards at Target. (Can I just exclaim by the way, I so HEART Target. Might not be the last time I exclaim that.) Target has great stuff, case in point some cute letterpress cards - affordable luxury! 50 cards for $12.99. Can't beat that.

Here is the result. What exactly did I DIY? I have had these cute rubber & acrylic stamp set from before and I decided to stamp the envelope seal on the back. It was a teeny gesture, but it made me happy.

Source: Target.com

Credit: own image

Credit: own image