landlocked bride® | midwest + mountain west wedding inspiration

Image courtesy of Jodi Schlosser Photography

I love a good love story. Just as much as I love finding new talent and sharing the work (well, they may not be new, but they are new to me). And, I love finding photo shoots that are a true representation of a couple.

Jillian Bisinger recently shot a friend of hers and his husband while they were in town (in town = Los Angeles) visiting. If there is something I’m a die-hard advocate for, it is same-sex marriage. So, of course, I love the fact that Alton and Andre were married several years ago while on board a cruise ship off the coast of Rio de Janiero in a fantastic ceremony with friends and family. Now, if only we can make the move to allow that to happen in the States (as in all of them, not just a few).

Jill was able to capture some wonderful, and high fashion shots of the two – of course while enjoying a few glasses of the bubbly. Besides being a fun, and perfect couple, the two have small ties to the wedding industry. Alton is the Creative Director at Kate’s Paperie, a paper boutique in New York and Connecticut. Andre, on the other hand is a jewelry atelier out of Rio de Janiero where he runs his own business A.Costa Deluxe. And, of course Andre made their wedding bands – which could not have been a more perfect situation.

Images courtesy of Jillian Bisinger Modern Photography

P dot S: If you have already jumped over to Jill‘s site, please do so – she does some amazing work. Not to mention she is extremely sweet. AND, add her blog to your Reader (no pressure or anything)!

P dot S dot S:  On April 8, the No H8 Project is hosting an exhibit featuring the photos from the St. Louis shoots. I urge you to check it out if you’re available!

I know a one or two ladies who are quite fond of these shoes and couldn’t believe they were, at one point, made in that gorgeous orange!

Image courtesy of Stephanie Williams via Project Wedding

Images courtesy of Melissa Jill Photography via The Bride’s Cafe

It was 70 out a little over a week ago, so I’m longing for the arrival of Spring and Summer. Can it please get here fast? (Yes, I know, the first day of Spring was March 20, but there’s still a chill in the air).

Area photog, Megan Thiele took these shots while on destination in Destin, FL to shoot the wedding of a former co-worker of mine, Ashley.  Makes me wish it were 80, or that I were on vacation. Either way, these two had a ton of fun during their e-photo session.

Images courtesy of Megan Thiele Studios

Because we decided on envelopes for our save the dates, we had to figure out a way to address these puppies. There was no way I was handwriting anything. And, I surely did not want a plane label. So I searched for ways to create a wrap around label. I mean, they’re all over the place, but considering we wanted to mail these out pretty soon, I was working with a short timeline. Which left me with very few choices.

My mom had purchased what she thought were Avery 5160 labels (you know, the traditional, 3 across, 10 down labels). When she opened the box, they were the 2 across, 10 down type. So basically, longer that the 5160 labels. How convenient? I picked them up from home one night, and downloaded the Avery DesignPro program. I was not about to figure out if Photoshop could do a mail merge of about 200 addresses, and Word only gives you so many options in terms of design. DesignPro, is like the easy, free (and extremely low tech) version of Photoshop with a mail merge.

So, with a little magic and inspiration from our Save the Dates design, I crafted a wrap around:

Boy, did this make the addressing process entirely too easy. I already had everyone’s address in an Excel file, so it was a matter of merging the two files together. Taking off the labels (and stamps) from their backing sheet, and sticking them on the envelopes!

After a marathon sesh of label/stamp sticking, we were ready to mail them off!

How did you address your save the dates?

P dot S, I promise the reveal is coming!

Image courtesy of i am blessed

While it is no secret that I love Colorado, I do love Fall in the Midwest, and the colors. A lot. It is one thing I will really miss once we move. And, this is why.

Images courtesy of Lemongrass Photography

What sucks was that I spent countless hours designing our Save the Dates. Countless, people. I’m a perfectionist, and so it took me about 15 plus tries to design something that I was pretty happy with.

Design One: Bleh. Was based on an invite design I did back in April 2009 (yes, you read that correctly, almost a year ago).

Design Two: Update of design one. Do you see a trend here?

Design Three: I decided to play off of a Frank Lloyd Wright wall stencil I found (the Mr. just loves the work of FLW).

I seriously have about 4 or 5 iterations of each of the above designs. I originally thought I wanted something edgy, but each time I designed something, the result was something more simple (hence why the three fairly art-deco-y designs above).

On top of that, I would spend endless amounts of time swooning over all of the save the dates I found online and from which I wished I could get inspired. So, what did I do? I walked away. For six months (wha??). Yeah, I totally forgot about them for six months, until we had our engagement photos taken, and I realized we should use one of those pretty little photos with our save the dates. Duh!

How long did it take you to pick out or design your save the dates? (Hopefully not six months, like me).

Now, I know there are plenty of brides and grooms who would love an intricate and over-the-top design on their cake, but I say keep it simple.  There are plenty of other ways to embellish your wedding.  Make your cake a timeless, classic and fresh piece of your wedding.

And, I’m quite the fan of Mrs. Gloss’ (from Weddingbee) cake.

Image courtesy of Erica Lyn Photography/&Unlimited