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Inspiration: A rainbow of vintage typewriters

A vintage typewriter can tie your vintage-style wedding together nicely. And what guest wouldn’t love to type a sweet note to the bride and groom on one of these beautiful typewriters.

Bonus: with a little searching, you can find a typewriter in nearly any color to match your wedding decor.

Image from curtisztypewriters.com

Image from The Girl Can’t Help it Vintage Blog.

Image from Brunette on a Budget.

Image from Poetic Home.

Image from Polyvore.

Free gorgeous table numbers, place cards, favor tags and more

Wow. Seriously, wow. The fine folks at Chelle Paperie have created a fabulous suite of FREE printable templates for table numbers, place cards, napkin rings, favor tags, thank you cards and more. This is SUCH a gorgeous set!

image from theinspiredbride.net

Find these lovelies, and more incredible inspiration at The Inspired Bride.

DIY simple and sweet wedding favor treat

Look at these sweet little cookies! What a fabulous wedding favor they’d make for a casual, crafty wedding.
LOVE!

Forty-sixth at Grace shares a visual tutorial on how to make these shortbread buttons.

Check it out!

Simply inspiring

I love paper doilies. They make such a lovely little detail for a wedding (when used properly). I’m not talking about a doily under your slice of cake, I’m talking about using them as a repeating theme, tied together with some other lovely elements (in this example, tulle).

And, wow, does The Sweetest Occasion perfect the use of simple paper doilies in this amazing tablescape.

I’m in awe of how very lovely this look is! The colors, the soft details, the simple, yet impactful way that it all ties together.

See more photos here.

Vintage Fab Headpiece

Feathers & Frills on Etsy has some fantastic bridal headpieces. I love this dramatic rhinestone headband. It’d look spectacular at a traditional ballroom wedding with a simple strapless gown or a slinky 40s-style dress.

Love. It.

The prices are pretty amazing (the style is comparable to what my local Priscilla of Boston carries) and these pieces make me want to get married all over again!

Details: The Centerpieces

The centerpieces were simple, exactly what I wanted. I purchased 60 old blue Ball quart jars on Craigslist. The day before the wedding, my sister and I purchased 12 bouquets of flowers from Trader Joe’s.

We paired them with tealights and a mixture of bamboo table runners and polka dotted runners. My awesome aunt Vivian sewed the runners and arranged the flowers.

The results: bright, cheery and perfectly matched for our casual spring wedding.

All photos taken by Laura Ivanova - and cannot be reproduced or used, on the web or otherwise, without permission.

The Budget – Broken Down Into Percentages

Neither R nor I ever wanted an extravagant day. While I completely appreciate those weddings, and love attending them, we knew that it was most important for us to have our wedding, and have it paid off on the day it occured.

We didn’t want to incur or carry any debt from the wedding, just as we didn’t carry any debt for my gorgeous engagement ring (which is a testament to the awesome saving-skills of my husband).

Well — the wedding is over, and we can proudly say that we do not owe a dime – to a single vendor or a credit card or anyone. This wedding is PAID FOR!

Here are the percentages of what we spent:

Venue Review – Arneson Acres

Venue grade: A+

We weren’t originally planning to have our reception at Arneson Acres. In fact, we were all set to have it at another location, with a ceremony at AA, until several surprises caused us to change venues.

We are SO glad that we did change!

Vendor Review – Caterer

(note: this review is absolutely separate from the cake/cupcake review)

Vendor grade: D

We were really struggling with the menu for the reception. We wanted something nontraditional and delicious. We wanted roasted vegetables, meat and something other than potatoes. We wanted a meal that our guests would remember.

We decided to work with Miel y Leche for our reception meal.

istockphoto

I approached Sheela with a price that we were comfortable with (with room to wiggle in either direction, we were completely ready for a counter-price) – a price that was right in the range of their catered meals – and she accepted the price.

I presented my thoughts on the menu:
chicken skewers —– beef skewers
roasted vegetables —– fresh fruit
bread and butter —– couscous
cupcakes
(no drinks were included and we provided our own dishes)

When we met, Sheela suggested we add:
eggplant rolls with mint and chili
quinoa with fruit and nuts

I was all for the additions — how delicious!

When we presented the quote, we were anticipating 150 – 160 guests and MyL was to plan for those numbers, accordingly.

The day of the wedding, dinner started late. The catering team arrived late, so we gave them a little slack. Dinner was supposed to begin at 5, and they pulled up to the reception site at about 4:50 – and started to unload.