Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Flowerless Centerpiece Ideas

The venue we are leaning toward is not the most economical option, so I'm already brainstorming places to adjust the budget and one of the areas I have in mind is the flowers. Of course I plan to have a beautiful bouquet for myself and my maids as well as sprinkled throughout the decor, but there are so many creative ways to avoid pricey arrangements.

How about veggies or fruit?


Potted greens?


or beautiful candles?


(Martha Stewart, 1, 2, 4, 6, Project Wedding 3, 5, 7, ?)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Venue (Urban Space)

The last two venues we are visiting have a more modern, urban feel, yet still ooze character.

(Martha Stewart 1, 3, Project Wedding, Goei Center, ?)

Venue #5 - Grand Rapids Public Museum
This venue is a little more modern than I envisioned, but beautiful, large and airy. Plus Kyle's prom was held there and there's a carousel!


Venue #6 - Goei Center
From the photos, this venue looks a lot like the Harbourfront Grand Hall, but the setting is the city and not the waterfront. I love that this space has lots of character with the exposed brick, original beams and wood floors.

The Venue (Garden)

The next two spaces are beautiful West Michigan gardens.

(One Love Photo, Martha Stewart 2, 3, ?, Dress Design Decor)

Venue #3 - Fredrick Meijer Gardens
This venue is huge and offers several ceremony areas and several reception areas, including the atrium, an old farm house and a sculpture park. It's also right in Grand Rapids, which makes it convenient for our guests. I think the only down side is that the spaces that I really like are most likely too small for the amount of guests we plan to invite.


Venue #4 - Windmill Island Gardens
The more photos I see of this venue, the more and more I like it. The reception is in a tent with a a backdrop of sweet little Dutch-style houses, as seen here. So excited to see it in person.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Venue (Beach)

We are looking at six venues this weekend, all very very different. If the wedding reception wasn't happening in a barn, I knew we needed a unique space, and that was the only jumping off point to begin my research. First I'm going to introduce the beachy venues we are going to see.

I never really envisioned getting married on a tropical beach, but the shores of Lake Michigan feel a lot more like Cape Cop than Cozumel. Here is the beachy inspiration board.

(Project Wedding 1, 5, 7, Martha Stewart 2, 4, Shutter Sam, Pearl Events)

Reciption Venue #1 - Harbourfront Grand Hall
This is the only hall we are looking at, but with views of the waterfront, exposed brick and no ugly patterned carpet, this place is a real contender.


Reception Venue #2 - Camp Blodgett
It's a summer camp, so the nostalgic feel gives me an instant connection to this venue. Add the fact that it's on Lake Michigan, offers on-site ceremony and a large deck to open your indoor reception to the beautiful Michigan sunsets, puts it on the top of my list.

(Craig Watson Photography via Pearls Events, Lizzie Photo via Pearls Events)

I'll be back tomorrow with two very different options.

Monday, March 21, 2011

The Venue

This weekend we get down to wedding planning business and make our first trip to look at venues. Here are a few of my very favorite venue inspiration photos I've collected.




For years I pictured my wedding reception in a barn. I saw raw, exposed beams with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I saw classy, yet casual fun. On another hand I've heard people talk about their destination weddings with warm fondness. They reminisce about about how their guests became good friends by the end of the reception. I moved to New York, boyfriend less, directly after college, I assumed the man I would marry wouldn't also be from Michigan, in that case, destination would make sense. As luck would have it, I've fell in love with my best friend whom I met at Michigan State, the state where we both grew up. Neither of our families are travelers, so that kind of nixed the destination idea.



So we settled on a Michigan wedding, one small problem, Kyle is from the west side of the state and I am from the east. After some discussion we made our first decision and we decided to have the wedding near Kyle's home town of Grand Rapids.

In a state feeling the recession more than many others, Grand Rapids is a thriving city, the second biggest in Michigan. It has a nice size airport not far from downtown, convenient for our out-of-town guests. But the icing on the cake is the city's proximity to Lake Michigan, which makes it a gorgeous place for a wedding.

For the rest of the week I will be sharing with you the possible venue sites we'll be visiting this weekend.

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Engagement story

Some of you may have read this on Undeclared Panache. For those of you who did not, I thought this was the perfect place to start. Enjoy.

Several months ago Kyle and I went ring shopping. I knew I wanted a vintage ring so we went to a couple of antique showplaces and the beautiful, Doyle & Doyle. I tried on several I liked, but fell in love with a very special ring. During this trip Kyle kept telling the vendors that we would be engaged by Christmas.


Flash forward four months, still no ring. Not that I was getting antsy (well, maybe a little), mostly that every time anything was even kind of romantic, I got nervous that it was the day and had to plan what to wear, just in case. So, Kyle sweetly planned a over-the-top romantic Valentine's dinner for me...no ring. He took me to the top of the Empire State Building...no ring. He tried to take on a day trip to Montauk, but it rained...no ring.

Friday began with my soon to be fiance telling me to meet him at a secret location after work. I really didn't want to get psyched up again, so I played it cool. Here is our text thread.


So I met him here and he informed me we were on a "Love Trip" around the city and began recounting the roots of our relationship it ended with a rhyme that lead me here. Next we went to my first apartment in the city in the East Village. Then he lead me to one of my favorite spots in the city, here. By this time I thought that this must be leading to something, but I didn't know where or when he was going to get down on one knee. After City Hall park, he lead me to one of our favorite bars in the city, Crocodile Lounge, for a couple beers and free pizza. I struggled with the next clue that lead me to Grand Central. Here's my man with something up his sleeve.


After Grand Central, he lead me to another bar where our romantic relationship first began. That's where we took photos in the photo booth. The last stop on the "Trip of Love" was our apartment. He sent me to the bedroom where there was a note on the bed that said, "Close your eyes and count to ten and turn around." There he was on one knee with THE RING. The one that I fell in love with months ago. Of course I said yes and we kissed. It was my perfect way to get engaged, with my perfect ring and my perfect man. On top of that, we had our housewarming party the next day, which was now a housewarming/engagement party, so we got to celebrate with all of our friends.




What an amazing weekend! Thank you to my wonderful fiance and to all our friends and family for the warm wishes and support.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

and it begins...

Hi, I'm Lauren. I'm designer, blogger, do-it-youselfer and a new bride-to-be. If you visit me at Undeclared Panache, you know that I've been engaged for two whole weeks. Inevitably, the first question people ask, directly after the congratulations is, "have you set a date." I've had a few wedding blogs on the roll for a while now, I'm a natural planner, so of course I've thought about my wedding (a lot), even kept a secret wedding binder, but I'd had a ring on my finger for under an hour when this question was first posed. How could I be behind on wedding planning, when we hadn't even celebrated the engagement? The next day I joined the Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding, etc. and got to work on my research.


Kyle and I decided that we wanted to have our wedding in West Michigan, near Kyle's hometown, some time in September 2012. One thing down, one million left. I did some research on budget and learned that the average wedding costs $27,000 (!!!), I began feeling overwhelmed. At least I have (roughly) 550 days to plan (and save), but where do I start? That's when I decided to chronicle my wedding planning through this blog. I'm so excited to share inspiration, details and DIY projects with you, maybe Kyle can even chime in and give the groom perspective.

Please enjoy and feel free to give me feedback or tips.