My inspiration board - Green

When I was going through my wedding preparations, I got into forums wherein brides-to-be made their wedding inspiration boards. They're like a collage of pictures that go with their theme -- from the gowns to the entourage details to the decor. I never got the time to make my own, but I did get photos on the Net for inspiration.

Guess I have some free time on my hands that I collated some of the pics I've gathered and made my inspiration board based on our color motif, which was green with some pink accents. The gown on the top left was one of my favorites that I had my wedding dress made almost like that.

1st column, from top: Pearl Collection wedding dress, Little Flowers by Odyssey bridesmaid dress, both from Brides.com; table setting with hydrangeas, tulips, orchids, peonies, kimies and dahlias from BlueSkyWeddings.com.

2nd column, from top: David's Bridal bridesmaid dresses from Brides.com; scroll wedding invitation from MajesticInvites.com; Salon Verona wedding shoes from BellissimaBridalShoes.com; 'The Temptation' graduated drop earrings from Overstock.com; Floral Sweet wedding cake from Brides.com.

3rd column, from top: Wedding bouquet of mini callas, pink roses and green cymbidium orchids from BlueSkyWeddings.com; Jacquelin Bridal wedding dress and Jordan bridesmaid dress, both from Brides.com.

You can also make your own inspiration board. It's pretty simple, too. Plus it's very helpful when you're doing a lot of DIY stuff, too.

Finding your color(s)

One of the first things hubby and I thought of during the preparation stage was what color motif we were going to have. Yes, that was a big deal for us. Okay, so maybe for me.

He didn't want anything too feminine or girly, so initially we opted for his favorite color, which was green. But of course, brides have their way, one way or another, so I got him convinced to pick my favorite color, pink, as an accent.

Now the thing was, which shades to use?

Believe me, it took us weeks to decide what exact shades to use: celadon green, pomelo pink, fuchsia, emerald green, baby pink... heck, finding what shades match even made our heads ache.

Good thing I found the Color Studio over at Brides.com. Here, you can choose from numerous basic colors, spin the wheel, and see which shades go together. I kept on "spinning" the wheel until I found these shades: Pink + Lime + Pearl. Perfect! Well, we didn't include the Pearl color. But the combination of those shades were exactly what we were looking for.

Though this isn't exactly the effect it had on our actual wedding, it was something close to this. What we like about it is that the colors are light on the eyes and perfect for our morning ceremony.

You can find a lot of other combinations using your favorite color as base. Just a warning though -- this tool is very addictive. I couldn't stop clicking my mouse just to see all the other pretty combinations for wedding color motifs.

Photo credit: Color Studio by Brides.com

Where to start?

He's popped the question, you said "yes."

Now let the preparations begin!

But, wait... where do you begin?

I remember when my hubby gave me the engagement ring. After letting our families know that we were getting married, the first thing that came to our heads was, "What now?"

At the onset of planning our wedding, the initial thing we did, after determining our wedding date, was to plan a budget. Getting inspiration from friends' weddings, we more or less had an idea of how much to save. The first stage was purely forming the discipline of setting a portion of our income for the wedding budget. And because we had a year to go, and chances are prices were going to increase sometime during the preparations (which it did), we thought of saving double of what we initially planned.

During the "saving period," we were also planning about our ceremony and reception: when and where. Hubby and I are both Catholics, so it was an automatic Church wedding (here in the Philippines). The question now was, "Which church?" I think it took us three trips and numerous phone calls before we decided on the one.

At the same time, we also looked for reception areas that are near the ceremony venue. The church we wanted had a reception hall near it -- a convenient walking distance. A plus to us and our guests, which led us to reserving both ceremony and reception venues in one go.

After that came the photographers, caterers, invitations, dress and flowers and all other stuff, in no particular order. I guess after the church and reception venue we reserved what we thought was priority among the wedding suppliers. You could always prioritize one over the other, depending on how you allocate your budget. But what's important is that you know your budget early on, so you could avoid overspending.

Photo credit: diamante by lifan, sxc.hu

Welcome!

Hey everyone and welcome to this blog. I've created this to help soon-to-wed bloggers in creating their beautiful weddings.

So why the interest in weddings?

Actually, I don't know. To tell you the truth, I've been married for six months now (as of this writing) and I still can't get over the joys of my own wedding preparations. Looking at our wedding pictures and worksheets and collated photos for inspiration still puts a smile on my face. I think ever since preparing for my own wedding, I've been fascinated in all its aspects. From setting the budget to making the guest list to forming the entourage to finding the best suppliers at the best value (we pretty much had a low-budget wedding). In the 14 months of wedding preparations, I have learned a lot from my parents, friends, and even from online buddies. And because I appreciate their help so much, I thought of paying them forward. But I'm too sloppy to be a real wedding planner, so I decided to put up this blog.

So what can you expect from my blog? Basically I'll be posting inspirations gathered everywhere -- from personal experience, from others' experience, and even those that I came by with while browsing the Internet. I won't say I'm an expert, because honestly I'm not. I just want to share my own experiences that you may yourself encounter during your preparations. Hopefully with my blog, you could get some tips (culled from real-life experience) and you'd also be able to find your own inspiration for your dream wedding.

Will be posting again soon. Later! :)