The Knot Magazine Features my Preppy Wedding

As I was heading out the door last night to see Atonement with some friends, a little package from the Knot Magazine was propped up on my doorstep. Take a look - it's our wedding. If you live in DC/MD/VA the issue will be on stands soon!

Preppy Wedding Favs

Bonjour mes amies!

Hope everyone is doing well and had a fabulous weekend. Ours was lovely, we attended a fabulous wedding with lots of friends and had a great time in Charlotte, NC. It was good to get farther south to the land of sweet tea and hear lots of y�alls and aint�s being exchanged. I even dragged the husband into this awesome boutique and I went stationary comatose for a few hours.

Next weekend, we have another wedding to attend and tomorrow I leave for extended work trips to Miami and Raleigh. So, I guess you could say things are just a little busy. I am trying to finish up a bunch of requests from readers, so please just bear with me these next few weeks.

But, just because I love you, here are a few of my recent wedding favorites.

• The multiple monogram cake
  
• An ice cream sundae bar instead of a traditional cake, as seen on Platinum weddings last night
  
• Greeting guests of an outdoor ceremony with a lemonade bar (think lemonade, limeade, with fresh fruit as garnishes and alcohol for those who wish to partake)
  
• A personalized wedding mix for brides to play as they get ready for their wedding (Sexy Back was certainly included in my mix)
  
• The new Martha Stewart Collection for Macys (for all you girls who still need to register)

What are your current wedding favorites?

Oh and I know congrats are in order for a few of our summer blogger brides. Mrs. Seven Spot and Mrs. Marriage Magnolias & Manhattan - Cheers to you both.

Fun Wedding Monogram Details

Martha, Martha Martha. Ms. Stewart and her Good Things could keep you up all night thinking of all the things you could do for your wedding. Martha has given me lots of sleepless nights these past few months, but let's face it, her ideas are good. And so preppy. And her Weddings magazine is really the bible for all you preppy brides-to-be.

Well, here are a few of her Good Things that I will be incorporating into my wedding. Surprise, Surprise they involve monograms.

First, take a look at this genius idea for incorporating a monogram into your bouquet.












Just take a hanky, it could be one that means something to you or one that you have purchased with your monogram and the date of your wedding and envelope wrap your bouquet. If you (like me) have no idea how to envelope wrap, I am sure that our florists probably do!

If you're looking for hankies, The Lace Shop is a great resource. I mean look at this beautiful hanky for 10 dollars.

I think these would also serve as great bridesmaid or MOB/MOG gifts. A thoughtful keepsake that can be passed down, again for under 10 dollars!

If you would rather stick with a satin wrap for your bouquet, fear not. They, too, can be monogrammed. There is a seller on ebay who is offering this beautiful wrap with customizable colors for 20 dollars.

I don't think I have mentioned my love/borderline obsession with ebay. Let's just say, I am a frequent ebay shopper. As evidenced by purchasing my wedding dress on their site!

Martha has another great idea for adding a unique monogram touch to your wedding. We always search for that something blue, she has helped us find it. Her suggestion is to create a dress monogram to pin inside our gown.

Now, again, if you are not the crafty type you can certainly purchase your dress monogram. There is an ebay seller offering one for only 15 dollars.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, if you order your dress from the amazing selection at J.Crew Weddings, you can spend an extra 20 for their super cute dress monogram tag.

Well, I hope you too are inspired by the endless opportunities to integrate the monogram into your perfectly preppy wedding. Don't worry, this is not the last post about monograms.

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.

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.