I'm loving the coordinated and customizable items from Tina's etsy shop Better Off Wed. She's a crafter/designer that is currently planning her own wedding and after working on her own wedding items, she decided to set up shop so other brides could use her designs. Tina says the big idea for her shop is shabby chic, customizable “wedding in a box”.

All of the essentials can be found in the Better Off Wed shop including: save the date photo props, driveway signage, reception signage, table numbers, name cards, bride & groom chair hangers, cake toppers, guest books, just married signs, happily ever after photo props & signs, thank you card photo props

Tina offers these complete sets in gingham and burlap which are perfect for a retro, vintage, country western, rustic, or shabby chic themed wedding. The cake toppers {as seen below} come in a number of colors. For the full set, they are offered in either navy gingham {as seen in the cake topper photo} or red gingham.

Now the bride-to-be can have a unique, totally customized set of of wedding decor and as Tina says it best . . . "it’s super duper economical". Love that! And, speaking of economical - Tina is offering readers of my blog 10% off with code: Ilovebrendasblog

Before I leave for a mini break to celebrate Thanksgiving, I wanted to share with you a beautiful photo shoot that I was a part of. Please enjoy the inspiration and I'll see you back here on Monday. Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving. And, don't forget to enter the current giveaway.

As some of you may remember, I was part of an Inspiration to Reality photo shoot on Style Me Pretty and worked with an amazing group of talented vendors. The original concept was created by Cherin of Customized Wedding Creations and myself. And, then we worked to gather the many talented vendors and artists together. The wedding planner, Jennifer, of It's a "Shore" Thing, chose to create several tablescapes and today I have one to share with you that hasn't been shown yet. Based on the original inspiration board we chose to focus on three words - Sweet, Love and Kiss and of course we had to incorporate the beautiful script font {see original SMP feature here with inspiration board}. The overall color scheme was chocolate brown, gold, and cream. We added an amazing teal blue for pops of color.

For the invitations and place cards, I knew it should be something with a bit of glam and elegance, so an illustration of peonies immediately came to mind. And, adding some hand-painting with glitter paint gave them a bit of extra sparkle. You can find the peony invitations and place cards in my etsy shop {please note: colors can be changed to match your event}. To match the invitation and place cards that I had designed, we chose to go with a French shabby chic look. And, I must give a big shoot-out to Wes and Rae of Rae Leytham Photography for the beautiful photos. The details were captured perfectly.

What was Sweet?

The pastry chef custom-made sugar peonies with crystal centers to match the one on the invitation. They were used as napkin rings at each place setting. I still can't believe this napkin rings are sugar - no matter how many times I look at the photos. Truly amazing. The cake {which you'll see later} was a French vanilla cake with a mascarpone cheese and white chocolate filling infused with pear nectar and vanilla rum. It was decorated with a toile print - to match the French theme and was placed on a shabby chic cake plateau. Running with the "Sweet" theme - we added some miniature mocha cupcakes topped with chocolate covered espresso beans and some vanilla custard creme brulee cups on top of a "Sweet" hand-painted table runner from Cherin of Customized Wedding Creations.

What was Love?

The bride and groom's chivari chairs were enhanced with custom eyelet-lace chair covers adorned with the hand-painted word "Love" by Customized Wedding Creations and hand-made dupioni silk peony flowers in teal from Marie of Emici Bridal.

What was Kiss?

The specialty cocktail was a French Kiss Martini which consisted of Godiva White Chocolate Liquor and Grey Goose Vodka. And, the bride and groom could sneak a private moment behind the custom-made umbrella from Cherin that is hand-painted with the word, Kiss. Or, in the case of this shoot, the bride could kiss an adorable dog.

The mahogany wood-grain table was dressed with hydrangeas in white french vessels. Jennifer wanted to create a "Family Style" dinner, so each table was dressed with a variety of rustic loaves of bread, imported cheeses, tapenade and marinated olives. The appetizers were sweet potato French fry cones with cayenne & cinnamon sugar dust. I just want to sit at this table and join in the feast - it looks delicious.

A variety of flowers were used that included blushing bride protea, white ranunculus, cafe au lait dalias, French tulips, soft pink ranunculus, white nigella, soft pink roses, white garden roses, scabiosa pods, white hydrangea and artichokes. I LOVE the finished look of the arrangements and the bouquets.

I have been so honored this year to work with amazing vendors and to meet new ones. I can definitely wait for 2011 to arrive as I want to relax and enjoy the holiday season, but I'm excited to see what 2011 brings.

Wedding Vendors that helped make this photo shoot such a success:
Conceptual Design and Planning: Cherin of Customized Wedding Creations, Brenda of Brenda’s Wedding Blog, and Jennifer W. Lewis of It’s a “Shore” Thing
Coordination: It’s a “Shore” Thing
Photographer: Rae Leytham Photography
Venue: Kelli Arnold at Alys Beach
Floral Design: Briane O’Dell & Hillary Fosdyck of Monark Events
Invitations and Place Cards: Brenda of Wedding Girl
Hand-Painted “Love” Chair Covers, “Kiss” Parasol, “Sweet” Table Runner: Customized Wedding Creations
Wedding Garters: Julianne of The Garter Girl
Card Box: Marni of Creative Custom Card Boxes
Hand-Made Flowers: Emici Bridal
Catering (food, place settings, linens): Townsend Catering
Pastry Chef (cake, mini desserts, sugar flowers, sugar flower napkin rings): Confections on the Coast
Model: Briane O’Dell from Monark Events
Hair Stylist: Ashley Carter
Makeup Artist: Yvette Nation

Today's gorgeous shabby chic Real Wedding comes to us from Ariel Yve Design in California and was photographed by Raya Photography. The wedding took place at the Rockwood Women's Club with the main colors being ivory, pale pink and grey with bits of green. The bride's gown was designed by Melissa Sweet. And, wait until you see the chandeliers hanging from the trees . . . so romantic.

I LOVE this ring shot! And, it's on a Ring Bearer Bowl™ from Paloma's Nest.

Aren't the bridemaids peony bouquets gorgeous? The perfect shabby chic flower, I think.

Centerpieces consisted of hydrangeas, peonies, garden roses, viburnum and tulips. They were all arranged in a variety of "vintage" silver and crystal containers.

I have to say, I really do love the idea of ending the wedding with a sweet treat for your guests to take home. For this wedding, it's a cookie bar. It's such a lovely and unexpected surprise for your guests.

Thank you so much Ariel for sharing your beautifully shabby chic wedding with my readers today. To see more from Ariel Yve Design, please visit her web site. Her gallery photos are simply stunning.

Wedding Vendors:
Wedding Planning: Ariel Yve Design
Photos: Raya Photography
Florals: Camille Panzarello from Modern Day Design
Linen Rental: La Tavola
Music: Josh Jones from Goodbeat Productions
Ring Bearer Bowl™: Paloma's Nest