Thursday, November 30, 2006

Preppy Wedding Attire

The perfect preppy wedding would be nothing without great preppy attire.

Upon deciding our colors were going to be a powder blue/chocolate brown, we had to make one of our larger wedding decisions . Are you ready?

Suit versus a tux. Long bridesmaids dress versus a short bridesmaids dress.

After lots of sleepless nights, we took the more casual approach. We have always been one to admire the beach wedding and really do like the thought of flip flops and a navy blue blazer. I just knew that would not fly in our church. Oh and did I also mention that I am from the South? Our mothers are very particular. About everything.

So, I took the middle of the road. Husband-to-be and I have been to MANY weddings. We've seen it all. But we like a more casual style. For almost the same price as renting a tux, our groomsmen bought these navy blue suits from Jos A Banks.


The guys don't know it yet, but they are getting these fabulous groomsmen gifts for the wedding from Brooks Brothers.



And my lovely ladies will be wearing this precious dress from J. Crew. (Which is now on sale for 39.99 - WOW).



So all in all we struck the balance of casual preppy, but not too casual. If I learned anything, it was to make a decision and stick by it. There are so many options out there for making choices and EVERYONE has an opinion. So we just took our taste and added my grandmother's favorite color (powder blue) and we could finally cross that one off the list!

The Perfectly Preppy Proposal

Wow. Let me digress from the monogram madness to tell you a little about the perfect proposal.

Well, the husband-to-be thought it would be fun to completely surprise me with a proposal. Now, I knew enough to know he was the guy (told my mom on the first date), but I didn't expect a proposal for a while. After all, we had only been dating 1 year and 1/2. However, the husband-to-be had other plans. He plotted with his mom, sister and my best friend to purchase this amazing ring:










Now what girl could say no to such a beautiful bauble?

To surprise me, he just asked me to go for a walk in the park with my perfectly preppy pooch, Dempsey. We sat at a bench and all of a sudden, he was on his knee. It was a great moment for us both. And Dempsey too!









We followed up the proposal with a surprise brunch with our families and then met up with our friends for a party that lasted into the night.

Since March, I have been overwhelmed with every detail of throwing the perfectly preppy wedding. Today, I think I am just going to remember that special day where I was the happiest girl in the room!

Using Your Logo

The possibilities for using your wedding logos are endless.



I created my own save-the-date cards using our logo since it is the first thing most guests will see about the wedding. Working with a printer, I chose a stark white card and white envelopes. The printer worked out the rest. The font you'll see is high-tower and a personal favorite of mine.



I also created a little business card sized insert with the save-the-date that provided our wedding website. I've seen lots of save-the-dates that include information on lodging and tourism for out of town guests, but I wanted to keep everything simple. Since our website has all of that information, I just directed guests there.


One of the great things about using a printer is that we saved lots of money! For 130 invites with envelopes (with a return address), we only spent about 100 dollars.

There are lots of other uses for your wedding logo. Use it on...

  • Favors. A label on a miniature bottle of wine or champagne. Personalized wedding CDs (this is our choice). Gift tags to accompany home-made or purchased baked goods.
  • Welcome bags for out of town guests. I chose to create a fun brochure for our out of town guests that led with our wedding logo. You can include information on the schedule for the wedding along with information on what to do while visiting.
  • Your program. We haven't designed ours yet, but you can bet our wedding brand will be there.
  • Parking signs to the reception. We are having our reception in a downtown area, so I am working with a sign printing company to use our logo on all the direction signs.
  • Napkins, cups, matchbooks.

  • Gifts for those in the wedding party. Who wouldn't like a logoed wedding T-shirt or Koozie?

In the coming weeks, I will make sure to post pictures of all our crafty logoed wedding stuff.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Wedding Logo

The first thing a girl does when she gets engaged is buy every bridal magazine she can find. Perhaps, we say yes first. But then we head to the nearest Barnes and Noble as a newly engaged person. No longer are you "jumping the gun" by flipping through the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings. Nope, now you have a ring. And instant justification to buy all 12 magazines with a bride on the cover.

But, to my point. One of the first things I read talked about the need to brand your wedding. Now, for the perfect preppy wedding, a brand lends itself naturally to the monogram. In my case, I decided to use my first initial, the husband-to-be's first initial and the initial of my soon-to-be last name. If you are totally traditional, stick with your fiance's initials.

Here's our wedding logo. In our perfectly preppy colors: blue and brown.





I had access to Illustrator and a best friend who is a graphic designer who helped me with the design process. However, there are lots of companies who can help you with the initial wedding logo design. Bliss Weddings has a great selection of create-your own wedding logos in many wedding styles. And for 50 dollars you really can't go wrong.

Here's a more classic design from Bliss Weddings:



And a more modern take:




On a tight budget? Don't worry. You can even create your logo in word. Browse or download your favorite font and away you go.

Next time I'll let you know what to do with your perfectly preppy wedding logo.

Welcome to The Preppy Wedding

Welcome! With four months until my wedding, I am starting this blog as a stress reliever AND a helpful tool for other brides to be out there who want the perfect preppy wedding.

I am a preppy girl. I like my pearl studs (Tiffanys, from the husband-to-be). I like my lacoste polos. I graduated from an ACC university. Well, the greatest ACC university if you ask me. So, it makes sense that I would have the perfect preppy wedding.

The wedding planning - not so perfect. It sometimes makes me want to tear my hair out. It sometimes makes me wish we would have considered eloping. But mostly, it makes me shudder when seeing just how many non-preppy wedding products there are on the market. 1980 was a great year for weddings. Just not my wedding.

So enjoy and please e-mail me with any comments or suggestions on throwing the perfect preppy wedding.