Scrabble-Inspired Place Cards

Scrabble is useful in so many ways. It's a wonderful game for nights spent relaxing, a great incentive to maintain an extensive vocabulary, and an adorable theme for a wedding!

Briana from Elizabeth Anne Designs is using Scrabble tiles to accent her seating cards (which also double as bookmark favors for guests!):

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This couple is using the game as a prop for their engagement photos and to use as their Save the Date:

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You could use those Scrabble tiles to accent just about every part of your wedding! Table numbers, cufflinks, cake design, programs, monogram/logo... There's just so much you can do with little wooden blocks of letters! Look for the letter tiles sold on eBay!

Fab Escort Card Ideas

Just to be clear - escort cards (or "escort items", as many couples forgo the traditional folded paper card) tell your guests at which table they will be seated. Escort cards are normally placed on a table at the entrance of the reception location so guests can find their tables when they arrive. Escort cards can also be referred to as "seating cards". [Not to be confused with place cards, which tell your guests exactly which chair they will sit in at the table.]

Escort cards are generally a good idea to have at all receptions (unless you truly want your seating to be first-come, first-serve), while place cards are optional. Place cards would be good to have if you are having a plated (sit-down) meal where your guests chose their entree on their RSVP card, but wouldn't be necessary if you were having a buffet or dinner stations.

Here are some fabulous escort card options from Martha Stewart Weddings:

{All images credited to Martha Stewart Weddings}

Garden Wedding Decor

I've never been much of a gardener - I'll be honest. The previous owners of my house THANKFULLY did an amazing job landscaping my yard, so I just have to make sure it doesn't get overgrown or overrun with weeds (still a challenge!). That doesn't stop me from buying cute gardening gloves & all types of tools to dig things out of the ground (at least I'm prepared!)... I have good intentions. :)

When it comes to gardens & weddings, I really love the idea of using common gardening items as decoration... especially for spring & summertime weddings

Example: Seed Packets. They make adorable table numbers. You can find flower, fruit & vegetable seed packets at your local lawn & garden store, or buy vintage seed packets on eBay or other antique shops online.



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Another example: Potted Plants. They could be used as place cards or favors...



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... and of course, as centerpieces! I just adore this color scheme + potted plant idea...



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Sweet Details!

Of course, Martha Stewart showcases only the coolest of the cool weddings, and I'm so glad I saw pics from this fun-loving wedding! [I know I've seen these pics before at some time in my life, but was reminded of them after viewing Ritzy Bee's blog...]

I'm in total love with the color palette, by the way...

How great are these placecards?? The couple created a unique button pin for each of their guests (that must have taken a while!!), attached them to some folded cream cardstock & their guests could wear the buttons around all night! Fun!

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This guestbook idea is so cute. They provided little envelopes stuck to each page of the guestbook for guests to slip little notes inside of... and then seal them up with simple little stickers! I'm thinking of using all of the colors in this photo as paint chips for my entire house... so cool and calming!

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Lastly, their cupcake stand is just too adorable. Understated and simple... sometimes the best way to go, in my book!

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Bright Pops of Color

I have admired this New York State wedding for over a month and have yet to post about it... since I've got some spare time today, I just had to pick out a few of my favorite photos. The details and cheery colors are so amazing!

{Credit: I discovered this wedding on Design*Sponge's blog and all images were found on frecklegirl76's Flickr page}

Ceremony location... Pomanders are the cutest floral arrangements ever. I love them as aisle-liners, too.

You all know by now how much I love paper lanterns... and I'm starting to prefer long tables over round tables for receptions...

A beautiful rendition of the branch-seating-card display... Check out that calligraphy! I wish I could have splurged on having all of my paper items done by a calligrapher. It just adds a very distinct touch of personalization to everything!

Favors for guests: Homemade syrups with funky cloth squares covering the lids...

Table setting... Totally love the "groom" tag pinned to the glass. I did this for my Thanksgiving table setting!

Table numbers & menu... the turquoise ink really pops against the soft orange of the dahlia. Speaking of the dahlia: who says a centerpiece has to be elaborate and consist of tons of flowers?? The tiny tree trunks and clear glass vase for the bunch of flowers get the job done simply and (probably) cost-effectively!

This wedding is just beautiful!! I absolutely ADORE all of the personal touches.

Rolodex Seating Cards

This is one of the best seating card ideas I've ever seen! So simple (you can DIY), yet ultra-effective in getting your guests where they need to go at your reception.

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Rolodex Seating Cards!


Imagine how cute this would be if the bride or groom worked at a library (think: Dewey Decimal System!). :)


The full DIY post and more pictures can be found here on Vintage Glam's blog.


{Blog post found via Elizabeth Anne Designs}

Awesome Autumn Wedding

By now, you should know that I love Fall-time. It's pretty obvious that I have a thing for the colors, the leaves, the crispy weather...

I saw some pictures of a wonderfully creative & chic Autumn/country wedding over on Brides.com (found via Hostess with the Mostess blog) and had to share!

First off: Here is the setting for the wedding. Note the haystacks!

And could their escort cards be any simpler (but still adorable)?!

Using table letters instead of table numbers is a great way to mix things up ~ I love the typeface and colors she chose (the bride went to school for graphic design ~ a degree that becomes extremely useful when planning a wedding)!

They even dressed up their reception tent by adding (my favorite) paper lanterns in their wedding colors.

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Oh the Places You'll Go...

[EDIT: Many people confuse place cards and escort cards, and even the most experienced wedding professional on TV/in a bridal magazine will mix them up (I've seen it happen many times). And unfortunately, I have done the same exact thing! ESCORT cards are pictured below. They tell the guest what table they are seated at. PLACE cards are set at each place setting and tell the guest exactly what seat to sit in. Please excuse my mistake! I have corrected the following blog post accordingly.]

One of the cutest aspects of reception decor (in my opinion) where you can really let your creativity shine through are (edited) escort cards. Escort cards are those little cards that tell your guests what table they are seated at and they are pretty much necessary unless your guests will be sitting wherever they please. The cards are normally placed in a common area at your reception facility (i.e. on the table alongside your guest book and/or gift card basket).

I was looking at Southern Weddings' blog (found via Oh So Beautiful Paper's blog) and saw the best array of escort card options. Here are three of my faves:

1) Escort card tiles. I love this idea! The color and design of the tile's face is so bright and festive, while the terra cotta back is perfect for writing your guests' names and table numbers. The picture below is from Laura Hooper's Calligraphy website and shows calligraphied names. You could recreate this look by handwriting guest names yourself, or having a friend with neat handwriting help you out.



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2) Escort cards hung on a horizontal string. I don't know what it is about clothespins, but I love 'em! For an outdoor wedding, this would look so cool! String a line of "whatever" (ribbon, rope, sturdy thread) between trees, posts, etc, and pin the escort cards to the line. Easy peasy! [This idea comes from InStyle Weddings.]



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3) Escort cards hung on a vertical string. I think this idea works better than #2 for indoor spaces (but, of course, there are ways to make horizontal work if you really love that look). Hanging strands of clear crystals or beads in your wedding colors would look so amazing when attached to the ceiling of your reception's foyer... just attach placecards and you're set! You could also add flowers (or something else... you could include some pictures of the bride & groom & guests between the escort cards) like the picture below from Brides.com.



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Real Wedding: Ashley & Chris

As promised, here are some professional pics from Ashley & Chris' October 11th wedding... openField Photography took some amazing photos and were nice enough to create this handy collage! :) Thanks so much! To view all of the Ashley & Chris' wedding pics, here's a link to openField's blog post.

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Again, I should put a disclaimer here: I didn't come up with these wedding designs. These were all Ashley & Chris' creations - I just made sure everything was set up appropriately, kinda like a day-of wedding coordinator would do. It was so much fun to be a guest at their wedding!


Another disclaimer: I still need to post pics of their candy bar ~ it was so perfect! In fact, Ashley's candy bar was so cool, I told her she would have to be my "candy bar consultant" if my brides choose to have one! :)

Real Wedding: Ashley & Chris

As promised, here are some detail pictures of Ashley & Chris' reception decor... You'll have to forgive me because I only took pictures of the seating card display and the results of the candy bar buffet (not the candy bar itself), and my camera takes pretty awful pictures with the flash on (I think someone should buy me a new camera for Christmas!). But I think you'll get the idea and see how great everything looked!

Here is the seating card display:

There were 3 glass vases filled with clear glass stones at the bottom. Branches were arranged in each vase, and the seating cards were hung from the branches (in alphabetical order, as best as I could!).

Since each vase arrangement held a certain group of placecards according to the guest's last name, Ashley created signs to tell guests where to look for their placecard.

Ashley & Chris' guestbook was a custom-made album with their engagement pictures inside. This was such a great idea and the guests loved seeing their professional pics!

Here is a picture of my husband holding our candy bar favor... Pink and green were the couple's wedding colors, and the candy bar was filled with around 10 different pink & green candies! [Doesn't TR's tie match their candy perfectly?!]

And here's a picture of the newlyweds!!