From Emily…(From Left to Right, Top to Bottom)

Photo #1:  Taken at Krug Estate Vineyard / Photo #2 & #3:  Snippet and Ink /Photo #4 Melissa Sweet via Brides.com / Photo #5 & 6 via Beau-Coup / Photo # 7 by Snippet and Ink / Photo #8 by TSOGB / Photo #9 lilribbers by Etsy / Photo #10 on Crafty Rachel Knot Bio

From Emily…

I think incorporating pops of blue and green will go perfectly with the brides preferred color scheme, definitely “shabby chic”.  I love the strands of ribbon with place cards attached.  This would be gorgeous blowing in the wind at the entrance of the reception.I think purchasing various vintage, antique vases and filling them with peonies, roses and gardenias would make beautiful centerpieces! I see this bride wearing a beautiful vintage inspired, lace gown.  The bow, sweet little lace flutter sleeves, and the buttons down the back are oh so romantic!

I think wine cork place cards would be perfect to sit at each guests seat. The candle wine corks would be great to place on the tables for a sweet glow, and romantic feel as the sun goes down during the reception. Considering the wedding is outdoors and in May, guests would probably appreciate having a fan to cool off with.  These beautiful raspberry colored fans would be so cute to sit on guests seats and you could possibly even tie the program to each guests fan.

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Post tags: Beau-Coup, Brides.com, lilribbers, Snippet and Ink, TSOGB
Post categories: Contests, Inspiration Boards

image by Karen Wise…a peak into one of next week’s gorgeous real weddings!

*A sneak peak of Peculiar Pair Press’ gorgeous new Save the Date collection, along with a pretty great giveaway! Plus a first look at their new online wedding invitation line.

*We announced the Beau Coup giveaway winners and the hugely popular Sarah Drake giveaway. Congrats to the lucky ladies who stole the show!

*A Rocker Chic Affair that made us all swoon…you can check out the rest of their wedding here and here.

*A Zebra Inspired reception along with a fun Look for Less Feature…you can see the rest of the reception here, here and here.

*Fabulous Photography Tips by Karen Rusten, along with eight other pretty brilliant photographers.

*A Southern Inspired wedding that will make any girl fall in love. You can see each feature here, here, here, here and a look at the gorgeous, letterpress invitations right here.

*The winners of the Four Seasons Films giveaway and their gorgeous Rustic, Chic wedding.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Post tags: Beau-Coup, Four Seasons Films, Karen Rusten, Karen Wise, Letterpress Invitations, Look for Less, Peculiar Pair Press, Sarah Drake, Save The Dates, Souther Inspired Wedding, Zebra
Post categories: Look for Less, Wedding Favors & Gifts, Wedding Invitations & Stationery, Wedding Resources

So, we get to choose someone to pass the prize of $300 along to, AND someone to receive the $75 entry prize. Here are our picks!

The $300 Grand Prize: Chandra, who said…”I LOVE the petite julep cups! I would do different containers for flowers and candles in silver containers of every kind and make the look very vintage and “Great Gatsby”. And you could serve mint juleps as the signature drink!”

The $75 Prize: Kristina, who said…”I am going to have to order the Beau-Coup’s green woven favor boxes. I can just picture these boxes filled with chocolates and wrapped with Beau-Coup’s double-faced satin ribbon in navy with ivory and green place card tags attached. This would combine our wedding color and our minimalist just stunning style.”

I’ll be in touch with both winners soon!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Beau Coup for hosting such an inspiring contest. Definitely stop by their blog for fun celebrity wedding tid bits, beautiful real weddings and so much more!

We have the winner from the Sarah Drake Contest and a fun Real Wedding coming up. Plus, there is a pretty incredible not-so-real wedding on the Little Black Book Blog that is a must see!

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Post tags: Beau-Coup, Blog Contest, Contest Results, Little Black Book Blog
Post categories: Contests, Wedding Favors & Gifts

So, I have chosen the always yummy, Gourmet Chocolate Mints as my inspiration for this Sweet Winter Wedding board…

Clockwise from top left: Mints by Beau Coup, Dress by Saks, Nest by Mimosa Style, Chocolate Cakes by Martha Stewart, Flowers by Domino Magazine

I have a deep love affair with Winter Inspired Weddings…there is just something so dreamy, so romantic about the white snow, the beautiful gowns paired with cozy cashmere wraps, the hot cocoa served to guests, the incredibly warm, elegant styles.

For this particular wedding, I thought that it would be gorgeous to find inspiration in the crisp white mints, pairing them with a deep velvety chocolate, a feminine gray/blue and just a hint of pale rose in the florals. Perfect for a wedding in a rustic barn, with candles tucked in hurricane vases of all sizes in every corner. I totally see the bride in a gorgeous lace inspired gown accented with a pretty, soft capulet and a lush flower tucked into a low bun. Gorgeous. Wish this was my wedding I was dreaming about!

* * *

So, You might be wondering why I chose such a simple, rather traditional wedding favor as a starting off point. Well, it’s because I have officially fallen in love with the packaging options at Beau Coup and these cute mints would look so great displayed in huge candy bins among other white inspired candies, with these great take away bags nearby…

Just drape the table with something really organic, like deconstructed burlap sacks (or burlap fabric) to pair with the pristine white candies. You will have that perfect combination of elegance and rustic chic. Thus is the theme for my Beau-Coup, Winter Inspired Wedding!

Now, it’s your turn…pick a favor from the Beau Coup website and dream up your own wedding. All you have to do is leave a comment (no pics necessary) with your ideas and we’ll pass along two gift certificates, one for $50 and one for $75, from Beau-Coup to two lucky readers. Then, if we win the grand prize, we’ll offer our $250 prize to a third winner!

The deadline for your comment is this coming Thursday, the 20th…so don’t delay!

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Post tags: Beau-Coup, Contest, Domino Magazine, Gourmet Chocolate Mints, Inspiration Board, Martha Stewart, Mimosa Style
Post categories: Contests, Inspiration Boards

Materials

Mini Bird’s Nests
Jordan Almonds
4-bar Flat Cards in Butter from Paper Source
Hole Punch
Blue Ribbon
Tulle, cut in large squares
Bird Stamp and Thank You Stamp
Brown and Green Ink

Instructions

1. Buy mini bird’s nests from Beau-coup (3 sets of 12 for a total of about $35).

2. Filled them with 5 baby blue jordan almonds to look like robin’s eggs (I got the Almonds off The Knot wedding shop, with regular shipping they are a total of about $20 for two bags or about 200 almonds).

3. Wrap them in tulle (I bought mine at a fabric store, 3 yards at $1.99/yard).

4. Using blue ribbon, (mine was from Paper Source in “bluebell” for about $4 for 10 yards) tie the tulle together.

5. Cut your 4-bar cards into 4, then stamp them with the green birds and brown thank you.

6. Punch a hold in the corner, then tie the ribbon through. Voila!

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Post tags: Beau-Coup, Birds, DIY Project Instructions, Jordan Almonds, Nest, Paper Source
Post categories: Contests, DIY Projects

So, to celebrate life, love and everything weddings, we thought we would take today to announce our latest giveaway! Together with Beau-coup, the incredible favors company that we are featuring today, we are offering one lucky reader a $500 gift card to buy their favorite favors! All you have to do is answer a couple of questions that will help both SMP and Beau-coup understand what your bridal loves are…

1. In SMP’s honor…what would you like to see MORE of on SMP? Real Weddings, DIY projects, Inspiration Boards or more practical tools like printable checklists and such. Anything goes, we are just looking for good, constructive ideas!

2. And in Beau-coup’s honor…what will you buy with the $500 gift card to Beau-coup? We love to get a feel for what our readers are loving, so spend a minute browsing the Beau-coup site to see what you would put your money towards!

I love, love, love the products that Beau-coup is putting out there. They have a huge selection, and I have to say, a really beautiful array of favor ideas. Here are some of my favorite wedding favor picks…

And, the gift packaging ideas are awesome. LOVE the nests below…

Winnie, of Beau-Coup, will choose the winner over this next weekend so make sure to get your entries in by midnight (PST) on Friday. Both questions must be answered to qualify. We will announce the lucky bride or groom on Monday!

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Post tags: Beau-Coup, Contests, favors
Post categories: Contests, Wedding Favors & Gifts

* * *

Wedding Favors Assembly Parties

There are a great many readily available wedding favors to choose from. But for some of us, the best part about doing wedding favors is actually doing them! I love getting together with the girls for an afternoon of yummy treats, good conversation and fun crafts. It’s a great way to bond with your bridesmaids!

Some tips for a successful Wedding Favors Assembly Party:

* Prepare to have enough scissors, hole punchers, rulers…whatever you need to make the favors so that you don’t waste time taking turns

* Wait until you have all of your wedding favor components before sending out the invitation. Sometimes items in the mail get delayed and it would be a waste to have everyone over and nothing to work on.

* Do a run-through and take note of how long it takes, how much candy goes in a jar, how much ribbon goes around the box, etc. And then make sure you have enough of everything

* Calculate the cost of your favors. Sometimes the little pieces add up and you could be spending more than you expected

* Lastly, make it fun! Prepare food, have some drinks and put on some music so your friends have a good time (…and don’t go home spreading rumors about you being a Bridezilla)

Here are some wedding favors packaging ideas from Beau-coup:

For my friend’s recent brunch bridal shower, we gathered together to assemble her wedding favors. She’s a nature girl…I’m talking Prius-driving, works-for-an environmental-non-profit, barters-for-produce-at-the-farmers-market, nature girl. She’s awesome and she makes green look great.

Her favors were lavender sea salt and rosemary sea salt from her favorite farm (she’s the only person I know who has a favorite farm), Eatwell Farm. The salts were packaged in spice jars from Beau-coup and tied with hand cut, hand written hang tags.

At the wedding, tent cards were set out on each table with a note from the bride and groom about their favors, “We love to put the salts on popcorn, fresh heirloom tomatoes, as a marinade for meats and vegetables and scrambled eggs!” Yum!

By the end of brunch we had 100 wedding favors assembled with love and care. And of course the gracious bride sent us home with bridal shower favors that she made – a CD of her favorite music.

Thank you SO much to Winnie at Beau-coup for all of these great favor ideas! Defintiely check out the site if you have some time…there are so many more really great products!

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Post categories: Wedding Favors & Gifts

* * *

The Great Wedding Favors Debate

There’s been some chatter in the blogosphere lately about the necessity of wedding favors. Sadly, some folks seem to consider favors the most expendable item on the wedding checklist. Wedding favors are supposed to be tokens of “thanks” to your guests. Certainly, the choice is yours and if you have a small budget where favors just don’t fit, you need to do what makes you comfortable. But for those who dismiss wedding favors simply because they think favors are meaningless trinkets, we believe you just haven’t found the right favors!

At Beau-coup we encourage our brides to think about their favors as a way share something about themselves with their friends and family. Whether the favors reflect the story of how the couple met, express a shared passion or illustrate the couple’s unique style. When it showcases their personalities and comes from the heart, a thoughtful favor is never a waste.

Consider these fitting favor selections by some of our brides:

“We met at a candy store. We both went for the peach rings and the rest is history. We’re going to fill these mini candy dispensers with peach rings!”

“Well, we met on Match.com.so these match pen key rings are absolutely perfect!”

“We’re from Texas and we love Texas barbeque! The personalized barbecue sauce is so us.”

The key is to think about your story and figure out what piece you want to share. With a little creativity, the chances of finding a hit are definitely in your favor!

Stay tuned for more great ideas from Beau-coup!!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beau-Coup
Post categories: Wedding Favors & Gifts