Printed at Minted

I think every bride has an element to her wedding about which she becomes a little obsessed.  A little --shall we say bridezilla? -- about. Mine right now is invitations. I feel like I can make no further decisions about the wedding until I find the perfect invitation. So I've been cruising the internet (a lot.)

For moderately priced invites, Minted has my favorite collection of Cape Cod wedding-appropriate invitations. Here's a few:

{ Find them all on Minted. }

Obviously these are all beach-y, but the inventory runs the gamut to include traditional/vintage/contemporary/etc.

Tuesday Shoesday: Paper Shoes

{Lynn Dennison via popgloss }

Pretty paper shoes for this "Destination: Paper" week. Don't they look like a pair you'd want to wear with a wedding dress?

Destination: Paper

Full time job, full-time wedding planning does an abandoned little blog make.
Thankfully Amanda Zoss of Zoss Design emailed me the cutest Cape Cod-inspired wedding invitations to put Shoreside Bride back on track and heading for Destination: Paper. Where I may stay for this whole week.

{ Find them here. Thanks for sharing Amanda! }

How quickly will your guests' minds go from "Opening the Mail on a regular Monday" to "Awesome Destination Wedding on a Cape Cod Beach!" when they open this little number? Just looking at the seagulls and the dune fence makes me feel like I'm on vacation.

Tuesday Shoesday: Snow Shoes

OK. A little earlier this winter I was really wanting snow. I really wanted to take a walk while the flakes fell gently all around. I wanted to make snow angels and go sledding, do some skiing, make a snowman.

I'm all over that now.

Despite the Cape having been spared the brunt of these weekly (literally, weekly) storms, an obscene amount of snow has fallen this year. All you in Connecticut? The suburbs of Boston? I'm really sorry. Really.

But I'm going to put on a brave face (and a pair of these) this Tuesday Shoesday because Puxatawny Phil said spring is just a few weeks away, and I'll probably miss the snow when it's gone.

{ Bride on snowshoes via Orange Girl Photographs }

The Story of a Cape Cod Wedding: Inspiration

I have promised not to dominate this with posts about my own wedding planning, but I can't promise that I won't share a few details here and there. The story of my (gasp! really, mine!) Cape Cod wedding starts with this inspiration board:

 { Bouquet, pumpkins, mason jars with candles, cake, basket of blankets from Style Me Pretty;

Bridesmaid bouquets from James Bass via The Sweetest Occasion;

Groom's tie from Bows 'n Ties; 

Centerpiece from Real Simple; Dress from J.Crew; 

Tent from William Tangorra; Ribbon wands from Flights of Fancy  }

(Maybe someone wants to know how you put together an inspiration board. These are photos mostly collected over months of looking at blogs and saving copies of things I like. Some images I searched more specifically for based on an idea I had in mind. Keeping track of where the images can from is the hardest part. Then I play around with text blocks in MS Word and arrange the pictures until I like the way it looks. Snippet & Ink elevates this whole process an art form. Perhaps she'll one day let us all know how she does what she does.)   

What I (ahem, we) are looking for is neutrals, natural textures and seasonal without being overwhelmingly "fallish" for our October wedding. 

 

Why make an inspiration board? I think it helps your vendors understand your vision; it can act as a visual interpretation of the mood you are trying to set and the degree of  formality you are trying to achieve.    

But let's back up a second... what happens if you don't even know where to start an inspiration board? What happens when you have *no idea* what you want your wedding to look like, how you want it to feel?
Each wedding has to start somewhere. Maybe it's your favorite color. Maybe it's the venue you've selected or the dress you've fallen in love with. Like lemonade? You can plan a whole wedding around that. 

I really believe you need to pick just one thing that you LOVE, and base the rest of your decisions around that. Stick to things you love, omit the things you don't, and the end product will be an honest and unique reflection of who you are as a couple.