A Wedding Color Story

Photo Credit: Erica Loeks Photography

I got married kind of a long time ago.  But I still love poring over photos of weddings, especially photos of my own wedding.  One of my favorite parts of planning my wedding was choosing a color scheme.  I had a lot of different ideas floating around in my head ranging everywhere from all white to all black to everything in between.  Then one night I had a full vision: bright green and royal blue.  A week or so after my vision, Emerald green was named Pantone's color of the year.

Because I was going with such bold colors, I knew that the reception could get tricky.  How do you use  the colors without overusing the colors.  Here's where I think it's crucial to work with a wedding planner.  Wedding planners have seen it all, and they have a great knack for reigning in the crazy.  I had a fabulous wedding planner, Stephanie Johnson of Park Place Planning, who helped me see my vision without overdoing it.  I cried a lot on my wedding day, but I have to say that walking into the reception ballroom took my breath away.  It was months worth of effort and agonizing over every single decision.  When I walked into that room I saw my very vision come to life.  It was one of my favorite moments of my wedding day.

Photo: My Own
Flowers: La Petite Fleur

There were two areas of wedding planning where I really wanted to see my vision shine through: the flowers and the linens.  I am lucky enough to be friends with an amazingly talented florist, Carra Otten of La Petite Fleur.  The flowers were actually easy because I went into a meeting with Carra, told her my color scheme, told her I like sequins and shiny things, and asked her to work her magic.

Photo Credit: Erica Loeks Photography
Flowers: La Petite Fleur

The flowers were nothing short of perfection.

Having nice linens at your wedding is worth it.  It ties everything together.  I went back and forth on where I should spend my money and where I should add color.  I have one major tip for spending money on linens.  I wasn't going to do chair covers at first.  I talked to multiple people who work in the wedding industry and the answer was emphatically and unanimously the same: chair covers are a must. They can get expensive, but weddings are expensive.  And nothing can ruin all of your hard work in decorating than a gold and teal chair clashing with your pink and white color scheme.  For the love of Pete, people, use chair covers.  Or don't, whatever, it's your wedding.

I went with chair covers, and I never looked back.  In the end I chose a kelly green tablecloth for all of the round tables, white chair covers with royal blue sashes, and royal blue napkins.  Then for the head table, I decided on an all white look.  White cloths, white chair covers, and white sashes.  I think it turned out sensational.

I know this look is not everyone's cup of tea.  It's definitely bold, but that was what I wanted.  I loved the brightness and the clean lines and thought it was the perfect mix of preppy and modern.  Speaking of modern, when I was at the linen rental showroom shopping for linens, I stumbled upon these clear, acrylic candelabras that I could not live without.  We used three of them on the head table and they literally made my entire night.  Every time I see photos of them I talk about buying one for my home.

Photo Credit: Erica Loeks Photography

If you want to plan a colorful wedding, I say go bold or go home.  I also say hire a wedding planner because nothing is worse than decor that is ugly because someone took the expression go bold or go home literally.

I leave you with one last image of how color can really beautify a wedding.

Photo Credit: Erica Loeks Photography

Sparkle, Sparkle

I would be totally remiss to start posting things about the wedding without first talking about the most awesomest bachelorette party that my girlfriends threw for me.  The night started out on a high note.  The girls surprised me with tarot card readings!

The tarot card reader was pretty awesome and so far has predicted some things right (Congrats Kara on winning your school board election!)  I love tarot card readings.  I think they are a good tool to clear your head and get you thinking about things.  I actually do my own tarot card readings sometimes just to bring back clarity to murkier situations.  So, this was such a fun and unexpected thing for the girls to put together. 

After my tarot card reading, there was lots of fun drinks and game playing. 

First was the Bridallini Bar, with different prosecco mixers.    My favorite was the Raspberry, but I also loved the Blackberry.  The little one in front was actually ground cherries and not ground tomatoes. 

We started a spirited game of homemade Headbanz.  Have you guys played that game?  So fun.  This one was specially made, so it was all famous couples. 

My couple was Mike and Molly and I did manage to guess it.  There was also a Blind Soda Taste Test between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.  No question should be asked here, I nailed it.  I could tell the difference based on taste alone and I'm pretty sure that I could also tell the difference between DC and Diet Pepsi based on the sound of the carbonation as you pour the drink.  The girls also decorated a shirt for me to wear on the wedding day during my hair and makeup session.  It was such a cute idea and I did, in fact, wear the shirt with pride.

After the fun games, we moved to dinner.  The party was held at Ginger Hop in Northeast Minneapolis.  Love, love, love.  I have eaten at almost every thai restaurant in the TC area and this is one of the better ones.  Everything was perfect.  Look how adorable the table was set!

After dinner, we had even more fun with cupcakes from Cupcake.  These were the perfect treat and we were lucky to have some leftover for the hotel room after we left the dance clubs.  Nothing tastes quite as good as a cupcake at 2:00 A.M.  We also did a gift opening and my favorite gift of the evening was a can of Spotted Dick. 

Here's a picture of all the ladies. 

Okay, so once dinner was over, we headed to a few hotspots in NE Mpls.  It was such a fun and lovely evening filled with laughing, dancing and bubbly.  It was the best way to celebrate with all of my favorite girls. 

The next morning, we all woke up and went over to the Nicollet Island Inn for a delicious 5-course tasting brunch.  Holy Hannah, deliciousness does not begin to cover it.  For each course, you could choose between a few options.  Here was what I had:

Course one: muffin and mimosa

Course two: Eggs Benedict

Course three: lobster bruschetta (my favorite)

Course four: salmon and brussel sprouts

Course five: warm apple crisp

The meal was so good and so filling that I didn't eat for the rest of the day.  Which is something for me because I am hungry a lot.  If you ever get a chance to do the five course brunch at Nicollet Island Inn, do it!  It's an indulgent experience, but very fun and the food is top notch.

The weekend was perfect and I was sad that it had to come to an end.  Thanks to my girlfriends for putting on a spectacular party.  Love you girls.



Ode of Balls

A couple of weeks ago, we threw a bachelorette party for my dear friend Grace.  It was off the hook.  Probably the best bachelorette party in the world.  The theme was balls.  Seriously, balls.

We started off at a restaurant called The Devil's Advocate in downtown Minneapolis.  This was the perfect setting because all they serve is balls.

Here is the bachelorette with an appetizer of buffalo balls.  They were amazing!  And courtesy of our friend Angie, who couldn't be at the Bachelorette Ball, but still was kind of enough to give the gift of balls.

When you ordered, you chose how many balls you wanted, what kind of meat you wanted your balls to be made of, what type of sauce your balls should be covered in and a side dish.

I got a sampler of balls because I wanted to try all the balls that they had.  I really enjoyed the balls because they fit right into my mouth and were a little bit spicy.  

After dinner, we went to Bryant Lake Bowl to throw some balls down the bowling lane.  We also played games that had to do with balls.

Can you guess how many candy balls are stuffed into this Ball canning jar?

There were also gifts of all ball shapes and sizes.  People got very creative.

And because we didn't want any girls to go home without a handful of balls, I put together these ball sacks for favors.

Balls made for a hysterical bachelorette party.  There's a lot that you can do with the ball theme and it keeps it a little more tongue-in-cheek than the penis straw.  Happy Bachelorette Ball Grace!

All Those Places You'll Go

Last night, my little brother graduated from high school.  How weird!  This is the best picture that I have of him getting his diploma.  The graduation ceremony is at the Cathedral of St. Paul, so it's not the best place for picture taking due to it's dark and Gothic interior.  Boo.

I went to an all-girls high school.  My brother goes to the all-boys military academy that is the "brother" school to my high school.  They have a couple of awesome graduation traditions that I love.  The ceremony is pretty standard.  Except the part where they tell you that we are in a place of worship and not to make too many loud and inappropriate noises during the handing out of diplomas.  Okay, no fun Sally!

Alright, so after the ceremony is over, they ask all the friends and family to gather outside for the class to march out.  Everyone gathers on the large Cathedral steps to wait for the class. 

The graduates march out, there are cheers and then the hats are thrown!

I love the sight of it.  At my high school graduation ceremony, we wore long white dresses and no caps, so I never got to throw one there.  Then I don't remember doing it in college and for law school, we had to rent those ugly ass octagonal hats, so there was no throwing there either.  This is as close as I get, I guess.

Once the hat throwing is over, the fight song is sung and the boys are allowed to smoke their "first" cigar on the Cathedral steps.  I'm sure that's what Jesus would do.

It was a fun night.  This fall, he will begin college at UW-Madison and I will forever make fun of him for being an honorary sconnie.  Here's a pic of me and the grad.  Please pardon the double chin.  Blech!

Engagement Fun

Some super cute college friends of mine threw Mike and myself a really sweet engagement party awhile ago.  We had the best time.  It was an intimate affair and so much fun to be able to celebrate this time in our lives with some of our closest friends.  I wasn't the best photographer that night (I'm usually not), but I did manage to capture pictures of the clever food titles that my friends came up with.  Mike and I both work in the law, so that was kind of the theme. 

When you first walked into the house, you were greeted with this cute drinks table.  Red wine on the table and a cooler with beer and white wine was beneath.  What cracks me up about this picture is that it clearly shows a bottle opener sitting on the table.  10 minutes later, the bottle opener had disappeared and I think someone had to run to the store to get a new one.  Kadie, here is proof that there was one there at some point in the evening.

Other fun drinks were the Tazer and Night Court.  The Tazer was half lager and half cider.  Night Court is my favorite martini with Chambord, pineapple juice, champagne and vodka.  Just don't ask Becca to make you one or you will be crawling home.

Now for the food.  So, sometimes I'm an idiot, or photographically challenged, and here I showed this by usually only taking pictures of the sign instead of the food that goes with it.  Weird, I know.  But, it can't be helped.

This sign was for some amazing pulled pork for pulled pork sammies.  The pork roast was brined for 24 hours and it was amazing!

 The Usual Suspects were veggies and dip.

This was my favorite sign.  It was for homemade spring rolls.  If you ever want a great recipe for homemade spring rolls, you can find it in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything cookbook.  They are so good and, while a little fussy to make, really not that difficult.  Sorry I didn't get a picture of them.  Next time!

Another no picture where there really needed to be a picture.  Cavity search were these things of crispy bacon rolled with a fig, cream cheese and maple syrup inside.  Honestly, it had me at the bacon.

"Spread 'Em" was the sign for your traditional spreads of hummus and thai tofu dip.  There was also veggie dip and peanut sauce for the spring rolls. 

After eating way too many of the bacon things, we played a fun game where I learned that Mikey had Dukes of Hazard sheets until he was 15 (or something like that) and that he once was so excited to receive a video game for Christmas that he actually found where the gifts were hidden, unwrapped the video game, brought it over to his friend Jim's house where they played it for hours and then he re wrapped it and hid it so that he could open it on Christmas morning.  I love him so, so much.  And our children are going to cause me to tear my hair out.

Here's a photo of the game playing.