Nautical Inspiration

If you can't already tell, I'm slightly obsessed with all things nautical. Especially nautical weddings. The coolest one I have ever seen was found on the Armorology blog, photographed by WeddingbeePRO, Amelia Lyon.

I'm in love with every detail of this wedding, I love the navy and white color scheme with pops of aqua.

And of course, I love the Starfish accents.

Every detail is incredible, but I especially love the postcards they had made.

Heather from Armorology worked with Courtney Scowby of Brightly Designed to create all of the paper elements for the wedding, including vintage style post cards which sat atop each plate. The back side allowed for all guests to leave the couple a message, which Kaite's mom offered to mail to them throughout their first year of marriage and on anniversaries. The front side featured various engagement pictures (also by Amelia Lyon) as well as several love and beach quotes such as, "If you want to know how much I love you, count the waves." I would love to do something similar to these instead of a guestbook at our wedding.

My second favorite element? The photo booth! I love photo booths, as you may have noticed! All of the amazing photo booth shots were taken by The Digital Orange.

See more of this wedding here and here.

Have you found a wedding that just completely inspired you?

Inspired

As wedding Season is coming up, I started thinking of all the weddings I've attended in the past. The past couple years have been a huge source of inspiration wedding wise. Mr. Newport and I have attended quite a few weddings. At each wedding, I find there is always something that sticks out to me. It could be a first dance, a new trend, a unique favor, the vibe of the wedding, the band, anything at all really.

After we got engaged, I found myself sort of judging weddings. Not in a negative way, but I became more intuned to those little details that really make a wedding unique. I found myself looking for these items and assesing what the most wonderful thing is about each wedding.

Last October, we attended Mr. Newport's childhood friend's wedding. We'll call him Mr. Villanova. Mr. Villanova. and his wife met in college. They held their ceremony at their alma mater's chapel. The ceremony was given by their college pastor. They had grown close with him, which made the wedding more personal. They truly made their wedding about their relationship. I felt like I really knew the couple by the end of the night. We heard their story during the ceremony. Their sibling's the maid of honor and best man, gave toasts that were so sweet and gave you such a special glimpse into their lives. We danced all night, with people I had just met. At the end of the night, they hosted an after party, at one of their favorite bars from college. We hung out with all the people who were there when they first met, in college. It was an amazing wedding. I felt nervous attending a wedding, in which I pretty much knew no one, but it ended up being one of the most amazing weddings I have attended. I love how personal everything felt. It wasn't about physical details, it was more about the atmosphere they created by including special places and special people.

At my cousin's wedding, we'll call him Mr. Foxboro, I left raving about his first dance. I've known my cousin for 25 years. Mr. Foxboro is not a dancer, but you would never know it that night. He and his wife had surprised everyone by taking dance lessons for their first dance. It was the sweetest first dance I had ever seen. In addition to their amazing first dance, they also had a mashed potato bar, which I thought was amazing! I love potatatoes, and I had never seen something like this before. It was a huge hit!

At a family friend's wedding, last summer, all of the guests were surprised when her brother in-law showed up halfway through dancing in an easter bunny costume. Apparently at each of his friend's and family member's weddings, he chooses a different costume to show up in. It made for some great photo opportunities, and must be a fun tradition for the people who know what's coming.

I love seeing unique traditions and coming across new trends. Other items that have stood out at recent weddings have been an amazing band, a candy bar, a hot apple cider station, signature drinks, photo booths, groom's cakes, and in general seeing couples who are truly in love.

I think it will be interesting to see how our wedding unfolds. I wonder what will stick out in our guest's minds.

Do you "judge" weddings now that you are engaged? What usually stands out to you?

"You're my Lobster"

Most brides are on some type of budget, and wedding dreams sometimes need to be toned down or completely cut to make the budget work.

When we started planning our dream Newport wedding, I had big ideas. I wanted it to be a weekend affair with events throughout. Then reality set in.... a.k.a. the budget. My dreams of additional events were toned down, and we had to figure out what would give us the most bang for our buck. We decided to go with a morning after brunch as a send off for our guests. I'm so excited about the brunch, but I would have loved to treat our guests to a welcome dinner in addition to the brunch.

I had dreams of a traditional lobster bake. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I am in love with this rehearsal dinner shown on the Brian Phillips Photography blog. Click on the link to see more gorgeous photos!

I love the lobster details in this rehearsal dinner, photos by Snap! Photography, another RI photographer. The event was planned by Raina of Raina Dawn Events.
We had a senior event during our college years hosted at Kempenaar's Clambake Club in Middletown, RI. The photo possibilities would be fun! They have a built in photo area, as seen in the lovely photo by Newport photographer Faith Dugan. The site also has volleyball nets and horseshoes, which would make for a fun welcome event.

And no event is complete without a little inspiration from Martha. How cute are these diy place cards and invites?

What wedding dreams did you have to tone down or completely cut due to your budget?