Etsy Wedding: Retro Diner Inspiration!

A lot of people live for those special nights when they go out to a 5-star restaurant and order the most expensive thing on the menu... Well, I'm not one of them. In fact, my favorite place to eat may just be a diner. They're often open 24 hours and serve breakfast all day long. Life just doesn't get much better! So today's Etsy wedding was inspired by a retro, 1950s style diner. I decided to veer away from red and do a little black, white and teal and used this image from City Light Photography (Have you entered the giveaway yet?) as my inspiration!

This vintage floral dress is so perfect I could cry-- great for a maid of honor! A little bow action for the bride and flower girl and some record inspired accessories for the whole bridal party (men included)!

{1. Vintage 1950s Dress by LipStick Whisky, 2. Record Cufflinks by Dabble Designs, 3. Record Cuff by Eye Pop Art, 4. Record Bowl by Deliverance05, 5. Flower Girl Dress by Elsje Boer, 6. Bow Dress by ShugaRose, 7. Anemone Hair Clip by DK Designs}  8. Hat Box by Sarah Anntiques, 9. Checkered Bow Tie by Xander Design Shop}

Serve a signature cocktail in vintage coke bottles with a fun striped straw! Set up a photo booth with these diner-style stools and provide tons of records for your guests to sign with their well wishes! Stick to black and white for the florals (couldn't resist throwing in those anemones) and place cards and then pop the table with teal accents-- like plates, napkins and table numbers!

{1. Aqua Stools by Johnny Vintage, 2. Anemone Photo by Kari Herer Photography, 3. Vintage Coke Bottles by My Sweet Savannah, 4. Vintage Cadillac Ad by Arcanium Antiques, 5. Toy Record Player Print by City Light Photography, 6. Place Cards by The Posh Event, 7. Record by Mod Podule Vintage, 8. Wall Phone by Zen Hen, 9. 1950s Radio by Johnny Vintage}

Giveaway Reminder!! See that fantastic record player photo? YOU could win a print of it (or another of your choice!) in our giveaway from City Light Photography! Click HERE to enter!

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly

Etsy Giveaway from City Light Photography!

Today is a very, very exciting day here on Notable Inspiration! It marks Notable's first giveaway, ever, and what a giveaway it is! If you remember, two weeks ago I featured an utterly fantastic Etsy vendor... Diana of City Light Photography, and lucky for you all she has offered to do a special giveaway of one of her fab inspirational photos here today! And if that isn't enough, I have a little interview with Diana to share with you too! After you check out the interview, be sure to scroll down to get all the details on how to enter the giveaway!

Can you tell me a bit about how your business got started?


My flickr contacts would ask for prints of my photos. A few people suggested opening up an Etsy shop. The support has been overwhelming. My family, friends and blog readers are a big part of the motivation.


Name your three favorite sources of inspiration.


Flickr, California and antique stores.


If you could pick one place/person/thing you would love to photograph but haven't yet, what would it be?


Place: I hope to take photos of Salvation Mountain. It's such a hidden treasure of California.


Person: Surprisingly, my mom. I want portraits of her but she's so camera shy.


Thing: I would love to capture Aurora Borealis.


What are five items you couldn't live without?


My MacBook for on the go, my iMac for at home, my polaroid, my Canon Power Shot (it's a point and shoot but I love how small it is) and my Kindle for constant reading.


Since I love using Etsy here on Notable, do you have any other favorite Etsy vendors?


Yes! I have a few. I love The Blue Balloon and Flapperdoodle. I also have a few tattooed pictures from Matouenpeluche. 

Now, on to the giveaway details!

City Light Photography is offering one lucky reader a 5 x 7 print of a photo of their choice! In order to enter you must do the following:

1. You must follow Notable Inspiration on either Blogger, Twitter or Facebook, if you aren't already.

2.Visit City Light Photography's Etsy Shop and pick your favorite 5x7 print (I know, tough decision!)

3. Comment on this post (below!) with your choice, as well as your email address so I can contact you if you win!

4. That's it! You can enter up until Sunday, May 9th at 10pm EST and the winner will be announced Monday, May 10th!

City Light's photographs are unbelievable inspiration for a wedding concept (frame it with a large mat, too, and allow guests to sign it as a guest book!) Or, if you aren't getting married quite yet (or your theme is already set in stone!), they make a great piece to hang in your home!

And since, if you're like me, you probably just can't get enough of City Light Photography... so be sure to check out Diana's blog for more inspiring goodness! A special thanks to Diana for the giveaway and the interview! Good luck readers!

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly

Color Inspiration: A Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo and what better reason than that to post a fun, mexican fiesta wedding! Mexican food may just be my favorite, and the culture and experience that goes along with it is so bright, festive and exciting! There's a lot of color going on in this one! If that's not how you picture your wedding, it would be a fantastic rehearsal dinner too!

You really have to limitation on flowers here. Just make sure they are bold, bright and wow-evoking! I really love the orange, pink, yellow and aqua palette... and do you just love those bridesmaid dresses? Like I said before, not your idea of wedding attire? Gift your 'maids fun mexican-inspired dresses for the rehearsal! This yellow scarf and these awesome barrettes would make great finishing touches!

{1. Bride & Bouquet Shot by Jose Villa, 2. Boutonnieres Shot by Tec Petaja, 3. Scarf by Anthropologie, 4. Barrettes by Anthropologie, 5. Ring Shot by Jose Villa, 6. Embroidered Clutch by Free People, 7. Bow Tie by Buttered Toast, 8. Flower Girl Dress by Lillipops Designs, 9. Bridal Party Shot by Daisy Varley via Elizabeth Anne Designs}

Now, for the decor and entertainment... you must, must, must have a mariachi band (perfect for cocktail hour!)! Nothing like that music to get your guests pumped for the rest of the evening. This really is ideally set outdoors, with benches for seating, bright flags hanging above and paper flowers in aqua vases! No place setting could be more fit-for-fiesta then this, and of course there has to be margaritas! Why not host a margarita bar, where guests can choose everything from the classic marg to a pomegranate or watermelon concoction!

{1. Table Shot by Tec Petaja, 2. Margarita Shot via Flickr, 3. Mariachi Band Member Shot by Sabine Scherer via Style Me Pretty, 4. Sherbet Bowls by Merchant of Kismet, 5. Table Number Shot by Tec Petaja, 6. Paper Poppies via Creature Comforts, 7. Table Display via It's Mary Ruffle, 8. Fiesta Flags via Martha Stewart, 9. Place Setting Shot by Jessica Claire via Style Me Pretty, 

Happy {early} Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly

Notables: Red Gingham & Aqua for a Good Cause

In case you missed my tweets yesterday, I was helping out Janice Carnevale of Bellwether Events with a very special tablescape. She is a part of Relay For Life and one of the fundraising events leading up to the walk is a tea. Any team participating in Relay For Life is able to buy a table at the tea and decorate it as they please. Now, of course we didn't just do any ordinary tea setup... we did iced tea, inspired by this color inspiration I posted a few weeks back...

{See the original post here for image credits}

Yep, we chose red gingham and vibrant aqua and the table turned out fantastic! But the best part is, it was for a great, great cause.

We simply hemmed gingham fabric for the tablecloth, trimmed the votive holders with ribbon and served iced tea, sweet tea and lemonade!

Berry cartons trimmed with mini gingham ribbon!

I DIY'd the cupcake stands... look for a full tutorial later this week!

Of course, we had to incorporate my favorite Ball jars, filled with simple white florals...

And last but not least, who could resist a little Georgetown Cupcake?

Now that's an adorable twist on a picnic if I've ever seen one! Don't forget... look for a tutorial on the DIY'd cupcake stands later this week, come back Wednesday for Notable's first ever giveaway (you're gonna want to see this one!) and check out Relay For Life to find out how you can get involved too!

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly

An Indiana Trash the Dress Session from Stacy Able

I had the pleasure of meeting Indiana-based photographer Stacy Able when I attended the Garter Girl launch party a few weeks back and when I saw this fun, country trash the dress shoot she did, I just knew I had to share it with all of you today! Now, normally trash the dress shoots scare me a bit, maybe because I can't imagine ever, well, trashing my future wedding dress. But Stacy has shot so many awesome ones, she's really changed my mind!

My favorite part about this shoot is that the dress wasn't slopped with mud or dunked in a lake in typical trash the dress fashion. In fact, it really was minimally "trashed." The bride, Erin, simply wanted to do the shoot with one of her horses and the beautiful background of an Indiana field and I just am in love with how it turned out!

{All Images by Stacy Able Photography}

A special thanks to Stacy for sending over this fabulous shoot and be sure to head over to her blog to see all of her latest work!

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly

Introducing... My Etsy Favorites!

{via It's Mary Ruffle}

I apologize that I do not have an Etsy wedding for you all today, life has been a bit hectic these past few days and I decided to bring you a little something different while I get these crazy times worked out and keep Making Things Happen!

A few weeks ago I told you about the tumblr blog I will be launching in May and today I'm sharing another little piece of goodness with you. Etsy, as many of you will know, has a fabulous feature where you can "favorite" items and sellers. Well, I've had a ton bookmarked for awhile because I am just so madly in love with Etsy, and since I can't share each and every one with you on Notable, I wanted to give you all the link to my favorites so you can check them out! Some are wedding appropriate and some are for your home... it is pretty much just the beginnings of my favorite items I find while I scour Etsy each week. So if your feeling the need for something fabulous and handmade, click here to find my current favorites, and keep checking back as I add more!

I'll be back tomorrow with a super fun trash-the-dress session!

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly

As Seen On Etsy: Vessels and Wares

The design blogs have been all a buzz over Vessels and Wares, an Etsy vendor who creates the most divine cake stands (and other goodies) and I just had to feature them today! This is pottery done right. Cute little cupcake stands and jaw dropping tiered cake stands! Sign. Me. Up. Plus they offer other beauties that are perfect for your home, post wedding, like hanging bowls, colanders and dessert plates! Items that work for your bridal shower, wedding AND home? I know, it's almost too good to be true!

{All Products and Images from Vessels and Wares Etsy Shop}

Aspiring to Inspire,

Kelly