You can find color inspiration from just walking through your garden of wild flowers or even an art gallery.
Whatever your wedding colors may be, they should create a sense of your personality and style.
For more tips on color inspiration, check out our planning post titled Choosing Your Colors.
Written by Ashley Mason- TwoFoot Creative/Grand Rapids
I’m sure many of you have heard the saying “Nothing is new under the sun.” It’s so true when it comes to trend styles. While many things aren’t new, we find new uses for them… like these vintage library card catalogs.
I’m a fanatic over them! For weddings, you can use them as sweet tables, family photo displays, or even a creative way to hold your escort cards. For home, they’d be great as kitchen islands, jewelry dressers, or any stylish furniture piece.
Card catalogs are so versatile, I’m going to add one to our baby’s nursery. If you happen to pick one up, send us a picture!
Written By: Ashley Mason - TwoFoot Creative, Grand Rapids
When you get engaged, people immediately start asking you “When’s the wedding date?” and after you set a date the question changes to “What are your colors?”. Figuring out what colors to go with can be an easy process when you have a narrowing down plan. Consider 4 categories: seasons, personal style, association, and complimentary pairs.
Seasons: Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter
Certain colors are best highlighted in certain seasons. For summer, bright and bold colors work great. For spring, refreshing shades of muted pastels with neutrals are a favorite. Fall pulls out warm color pallets like yellows, browns, oranges, and reds. Winter highlights cool colors like pure white, pinks, purples, blues, grays, and black.
Personal Style
Narrow down the list of colors by crossing off ones you absolutely don’t like. Consider your wardrobes… take a moment to browse through both of your closets finding colors that are common factors. If one of you wears lots of neutrals and the other gravitates toward bold colors, try pairing the two using a neutral and a bold.
Association
There are color combinations that automatically bring things to mind like holidays/events and characters.
Complimentary
Certain colors are not meant to date. Example: Black & Dark Brown, Black & Dark Blue, or Dark Brown & Navy. The colors are so dark. To lighten them up, pair a dark with a lighter shade of the other. Example: Navy & Toffee Brown make a much better combination than Dark Brown & Navy.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to take a risk and use colors you don’t always see together but work really well. Have a balance in your colors and stay away from using all the colors in the rainbow. Having a planner helps because we can envision what an entire room will look like with your colors and give you advice on what will look good and what won’t.
Written by Ashley Mason - TwoFoot Creative, Grand Rapids
Since we’ve started our second branch of TwoFoot Creative in Grand Rapids, I’ve learned why couples from all over the State, and many from Chicago, want to have a West Michigan wedding. Here are my top 3 attractions:
1) Lakeside Beaches
2) Vineyards
3) Renovated Venues
If you’re thinking about having a West Michigan Wedding, contact our West Michigan branch for a consultation.
Written By: Ashley Mason - TwoFoot Creative Grand Rapids
My name is Elyse Bairley, and I’m so happy to be an Intern with Two Foot Creative! I currently work full time for Ann Arbor Public Schools Rec & Ed, programming and coordinating sporting events for the youth of Ann Arbor. I’ve always thought about going into wedding planning since I graduated from Western Michigan University in April 2007.
I rediscovered why I wanted to go into wedding planning when I was preparing for my own wedding in October 2010. I’m most excited to see each event run smoothly through the whole wedding process. So much time goes into each wedding to make it special. It’s our job to make sure this happens, from start to finish, from the beginning of the day until the end.
In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, and most importantly with my husband Jeff. We enjoy going up north, golfing, cooking, and watching any sports we can!
My favorite wedding movie of all time is Father of the Bride.My only regret about my wedding is not breaking out my tennis shoes and playing one on one with my father like Annie Banks did in the movie!
The next member of the TwoFoot Creative team for 2011 is Karissa. When asked to describe herself, she said:
Karissa is very excited about this internship because of the all the details that go into the each individual wedding and the special moments created.
“I don’t think I really have a favorite wedding movie. I like action movies!”
Carissa is the newest TwoFoot Creative intern at our Grand Rapids branch. She is a junior at Grand Valley State University and is majoring in Communications and Spanish with a minor in Advertising/Public Relations. As an intern, Carissa hopes to learn all that she can about the wedding and event planning industry. She loves the wedding atmosphere and cannot wait to make couples’ dreams come true on their special day. She loves meeting new people and working hard, so interning with us is the perfect fit for Carissa!
TwoFoot Creative has the pleasure of working with another wonderful intern this season - Brenda!
Brenda describes herself as brave, fast (she is a runner too!) and with a big heart for animals as well as people. She strives to stay enthusiastic and learn from daily mistakes, and is very excited to learn about everything involved in the business of wedding planning.
Brenda’s favorite wedding movie is “Bride Wars”.
The aspect of her internship with TwoFoot Creative that she is most excited about is having a chance to witness couples saying “I DO!” That is one of the biggest and most beautiful moments of our lives.
Now that we are just a month away from the start of the 2011 wedding “busy season”, I thought this would be a great time to start introducing this year’s team of interns!
Melanie is an accountant by day, and attends Washtenaw Community College at night taking business courses. She loves to cook and try new recipes for family and friends, and her perfect night is one that involved a glass of wine, her husband, their fur-babies and a great movie!
Melanie’s favorite wedding movies are “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “The Wedding Singer”.
She is excited for the internship with TwoFoot Creative because it will give her the opportunity to experience the special moments throughout each wedding day and help make it the best day for the couple!
“In addition to helping make your wedding dreams come true within your budget - and perhaps saving you from costly mistakes - a consultant will save you time. With today’s hectic lifestyles, many bridal couples and their families do not have the time for the detailed planning and work that a beautiful wedding requires.” Association of Bridal Consultants.
Relief
Stress or Rest? Yes, planning a wedding can be a stressful process at times but it doesn’t have to be. Having a planner allows you to enjoy the process from a bride’s point-of-view so you can rest easy knowing they’ll make sure everything is the way you envisioned it to be. Most wedding professionals will at least recommend hiring a Day-of Coordinator so even if you’ve lost hours of sleep worrying about the wedding, you can relax on that day.
Time
Not Enough Hours In The Day? Planning a wedding takes a lot of hours from researching to vendor meetings and everything in between. Some wedding professionals even book all their weddings 1-1/2 years in advance. Imagine having a full-time job and trying to do all the planning yourself after work hours… It becomes a second job! For the majority of wedding planners, this is their only job - working on your behalf so you don’t have to balance it all.
3-2-1! Most online and magazine countdowns are for 12 months general to any bride but what about the brides who decide to get married 4 months from their engagement? A planner knows how to personalize and prioritize your countdown based on your needs and wants.
Money
A Little Or A Lot: Whether you’re working with 10,000 or 100,000, you want to get your money’s worth. Sure, you can search online looking for and comparing the best deals but planners already know the ends and outs of where to get the best value for your bucks. Most planners have relationships with other wedding vendors who will cut some percentages of the bill just because you’re their client.
Where’s My Calculator? When planning a wedding, you sometimes get that “scanner syndrome”, ringing up everything you want. Then there’s that moment when the cashier tells you the total amount. It doesn’t have to be a jaw-dropping reaction if you have a well-planned budget. That’s where a planner is able to guide you through the financial process keeping track of your estimated expenses and the actual costs of things. They’re able to realize your wish list and play the role of your budget conscience so that you don’t far exceed what you plan to invest.
Advice
Where Do I Go From Here? You may have your entire wedding mapped out or maybe just an idea or two. Either way, how do you put the puzzle together? Planners help conceptualize your ideas taking the big picture and breaking it down a piece-by-piece picture and vice versa. They’re inspired by your personality and style using those elements to create an event that’s uniquely you.
So, What Do You Think? When you get engaged, it seems like everyone has a few suggestions for planning your wedding but planners are the ones to go to for advice. Anything from great vendor recommendations to etiquette on putting your guest list together, they know the ends and outs of the do’s and don’ts.
Emergencies
How On Earth Did This Happen? Its your wedding day and what’s supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life is turning out to be more like a series of unfortunate events. The strap on your shoe breaks, it’s raining on your outdoor ceremony, and one of the groomsmen has had one too many drinks. This is where a planner comes in handy. They know the tricks to fix just about any situation to pops up on the big day. Most planners have an emergency kit stocked with quick fixes for common situations.
Details
It’s The Little Things Count. Whether it’s incorporating how the two of you met into your table numbers or suggesting that one thing to take your event to the next level, planners know how to finishing touches on every aspect so you wedding is cohesive and represents you.
Can you do all the planning yourself and have an exceptional event, yes, but at what cost? Investing in a wedding planner is one of the best decisions you can make. You’ll be able to look back at your wedding and say how unforgettable it was… for all the right reasons!
Written by Ashley Mason - TwoFoot Creative Grand Rapids