This is a special post for all you fresh-out-of-the-box engaged peeps out there (yes, I’m talking about you, Michelle!) If you’re recently engaged, and not a stalker of wedding blogs as I might have been prior to getting engaged (ALLEGEDLY, alright?), you might be wondering where to overload your eyeballs with all things WEDDING. Sooo, with that in mind, I’ve put together a list of my favorite places to get inspired (aka over-indulge on wedded bliss, visual-style):
Magazines
- Martha Stewart Weddings: you can’t go wrong with Martha. She puts out 4 wedding issues a year, and each one is like pure bridal-crack that goes straight through my veins into my heart. Also, the fact that she more than occasionally puts giant diamonds on the covers of her mags? Really, Martha? It’s kind of just mean. You know I can’t turn away from a perfectly antique-y looking emerald-cut. (Shhhh, ok, nevermind, you don’t have to stop, Martha. I’ll probably still buy them even after I’m married, but NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW.)
2. Real Simple Weddings: If you’re thinking about shelling out $25+ for one of those wedding binder planner thingies, buy this magazine first. This “magazine” has boiled down the wedding planning process into an easy-to-read-and-digest little booklet. (It’s wayyyyyy better and more helpful than those other bride magazines which are basically just ads for wedding dresses and hideous bridesmaid attire. TRUTH.) Honestly, it’s probably the most helpful planning tool I bought for my wedding, and it’s only $12 (I think? I can’t remember). They don’t sell this everywhere, but they have it at pretty major retailers like Target and Crate and Barrel. Bonus: it has a little tear-out information card at the back with a registry checklist and other helpful info for when you’re out planning. Sa-WEET!
Blogs and Other Online Inspiration
- weddinggawker: This site is like the be-all and end-all of the wedding blogisphere (blogosphere? WordPress seems to think both are misspelled, so, anywho…). I don’t know if you’ve ever checked out the sister-site, foodgawker (it’s one of my absolute faves), but it’s the same idea, just with weddings instead of recipes. Each day there’s a whole new lot of weddings to check out and inspire (or overwhelm) your senses.
- Snippet and Ink: This is probably my favorite wedding site, of all the ones I check out on a regular basis. Snippet and Ink is based in the bay area (bonus points!), and Kathryn, the author, has impeccable taste and rightfully pointed out the newest (and in my mind, annoying) wedding trend: designing a wedding where it appears that Anthropologie has exploded all over everything. I, A. love that she noticed this too (because it drives me freaking crazy), and B. like that she doesn’t post weddings of this certain persuasion. (Seriously, you guys, they’re everywhere. I can. not. handle it.)
- Grey Likes Weddings: This is another basic wedding blog that features classically beautiful weddings on the daily. Most recently, it featured a deep-south engagement shoot that made me want to move to Georgia like, stat. (Sadly, I don’t know that my delicate California-weather-loving constitution could handle it though.)
- Style Me Pretty: This is another mecca for wedding inspiration. The site generally features multiple real-wedding posts daily; so if you’re not sure where to look for something — check here, they’ve probably done a feature on it.
- Ruffled: Vintage-inspired wedding blog. Weddings and crafty ideas you can implement for your own wedding day.
- Love and Lavender: One of my early faves, wedding-blog-wise. There’s always lots of details featured here, so if you’re trying to figure out centerpieces or what to do for your seating chart — look here!
- Green Wedding Shoes: A So-Cal based wedding blog that seems to always have the scoop on what’s new and hot in the wedding-world. I fell in love the day they featured underwater-photo save the dates that read “We’re taking the plunge!” A-dorb.
- 100 Layer Cake: A go-to for those in the wedding blog world (though they do tend towards those hipster-Anthro weddings I mentioned above… I swear, if I see one more freaking newsie-cap-clad groomsman…)
- Martha Stewart Weddings: Um, OBVIOUSLY. Do you have questions about vows? Etiquette? Your guest list? Talk to Martha. She knows her wedding shiz. If you look at one wedding site, and one wedding site alone — LOOK HERE.
- And if you’re still at a loss, browse through the Top 100 Wedding Blogs of 2011. If there’s nothing in there you like, well, I don’t know what to tell you (other than I’m kinda glad I’m not your wedding planner. Just sayin’. I still like you though. Hugs!)
Other Online Tools
- Create your own wedding website (for free!): I used WeddingWire, but The Knot is also very popular. I’ve heard good things about Project Wedding, and the themes over at Wedding JoJo are super cute. BEWARE: Some sites claim to be free, but are only free for a limited time after you sign up (yes, I’m talking about you, ewedding), or only offer certain features for free. Make sure to read the fine print before you spend all that time putting your site together and printing it up on your save-the-dates, because it’s super annoying to have to shell out cash for something you could have gotten for free! (Because, for real, you’ll have enough little wedding expenses slowly draining your bank account. “I have you get all my bridesmaids GIFTS???? S#!t! Isn’t that hideous dress I made them buy enough??” Umm, no, no it’s not.)
- Wedding budget worksheet: I use this one from Real Simple. You can print out a new copy whenever you want! (Oh, the simultaneous joy and pain of having all your wedding expenses neatly organized into one little sheet!)
Ok, that’s all for now, folks! I hope that I have sufficiently attacked your eyeballs and brain with more wedding inspiration sources than you can even handle. Now are you feeling stressed and overloaded with all the prettiness that is wedding inspiration-land? (Omg, they have individual hand-written thank you notes for every guest as their seating card… Am I supposed to do that? And everyone has their own homemade mini-pie-in-a-jar? F%$@, how am I going to make 200 pies? How do you even make jar pie? I don’t even have any jars yet! It says these were sourced individually at thrift shops and every single one is from prior to 1950… Mother F, my wedding is going to be the worst wedding ever UNLESS I GET 200 HOMEMADE PIES IN INDIVIDUALLY THRIFTED VINTAGE JARS!). First of all, calm the F down, Jesus. Second, we’ll cover that whole “I’m overloaded with details and I feel like my head is going to explode” feeling another time.
Until then, BREATHE. And ask Martha.
Until next time!
Chelsea