Today we continue with day 4 of the April Wedding Vendor Challenge. This month the vendor teams worked with the color palette of bubblegum pink, mint green and robin's egg blue to create a bridal shower tablescape with a dessert display and like the previous challenges, there will be at least one DIY provided.?

Sarah of Events by Sarah Elizabeth wrote to me that she'd been wanting to do a styled shoot for quite some time but felt it was intimidating so she had put it off. She says that my call-out for vendor teams "was definitely a kick in the pants for me and got me moving and pulling together a team of great vendors". And, as I'm sure you'll see by the following tablescape, Sarah is no longer intimidated :)?

Once Sarah heard of the theme for this month, Sarah knew she wanted to hold the shoot at Terrain which is a boutique garden center in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I love what Sarah writes when she talks about shopping for items . . . "Whenever I need to pick up props for an event I head right to Home Goods! Most trips to Home Goods end in success, but if they don’t there is always Target! I love shopping with a theme because I’m always amazed at the unique things I can find. I also find that when I’m shopping with a theme I see things that I may have thought I originally couldn’t use, but I start thinking more creatively and come up with some of my best ideas!" This advice works for any time of event you are planning - and I have to say that I LOVE shopping at Home Goods and Target too for unique items.

I think these "Love Blossoms" tags are super pretty {which are also used later as dessert tags} and here's a little early surprise for you . . . they're one of the DIY Downloads today :)

DIY DOWNLOAD FREEBIE: Today I have 2 DIYs for you. First up, Brad with 23rd & 5th has provided the "Love Blossoms" tags for your to download. Simply print out the Love Blossoms Tags from Scribd, trim and attach around your flower blossom, drink stirrers, straws or lollipop sticks and you're all set. {the download link at Scribd is directly underneath the item's title in the right column} And, up second, Sarah has provided a step by step tutorial for creating her Thank You tags for the potted plant favors.

Wedding Vendors:
Coordinator and Stylist: Events by Sarah Elizabeth
Photographer: Jim Heine Photography
Florist: Peicha Chang with Falls Flowers
Baker: Emily Malloy with Le Fouet
Paper Goods: Brad Wason with 23rd & 5th
Venue: Terrain

In case you missed it over the weekend, the April Wedding Vendor Challenge is underway and all week long I have brand new inspirational photo shoots to share with you. This month the vendor teams worked with the color palette of bubblegum pink, mint green and robin's egg blue. For April, I asked vendors to create a bridal shower tablescape with a dessert display and like the previous challenges, there will be at least one DIY provided.

Today's beautiful vintage glam bridal shower features the talents of Sandra Downie Event Designs, Sassy Mouth Photography and Sweet SugarBelle. The lovely centerpiece features tulips, hyacinths and snapdragons. I love the pastel flower touches throughout and the Bride-to-be sign below is so cute to mark where the guest of honor will be sitting. {for me, the ruffles on the bottom of the sign resemble a garter, I love that little touch}

LOVING the engagement diamond napkin ring.

DIY DOWNLOAD FREEBIE: Sandra of Sandra Downie Paperie Studio has offered the Pretty in Pink Drink Flags as a download today. Simply print out the Pretty in Pink Drink Flags from Scribd, trim and attached around your drink stirrers or straws and you're good to go. {the download link at Scribd is directly underneath the item's title in the right column}

Wedding Vendors:
Project Design and Coordination: Sandra Downie Events
Paperie & Paper Accessories: Sandra Downie Paperie Studio
Photography: Sassy Mouth Photography
Cookies: Sweet SugarBelle

Happy Sunday. I'm continuing today with another fun photo shoot from the April Wedding Vendor Challenge. This month the color palette was bubblegum pink, mint green and robin's egg blue. Instead of an intimate table for 2 like the previous two challenges, I asked vendors to create a bridal shower tablescape with a dessert display and just like the other challenges, there will be at least one DIY provided.

It's a fun bridal shower picnic luncheon in the park with a hand-crafted country chic theme. This shoot features the talents of Kim from Something Spectacular Custom Floral & Event Design and Something Floral, Kate from Kate Elliott Photography, and yours truly {also of Wedding Girl on etsy} for the invitation and paper goods.

Kim explains the design of this tablescape . . . The casual, homespun, hand-crafted look was achieved by first covering the picnic table with a soft mint green, floral patterned, quilting fabric but leaving the aged wood of the benches exposed. The alternating blue and white and solid hot pink crocheted placemats added another handmade element to the look. Solid white, non-patterned plates, basic stemware, and paper napkins were used for a casual, picnic feel. Robin’s egg blue cupcake ramekins containing pink frosted and sprinkled cupcakes were placed on each plate and added a nice splash of blue and pink to each place setting.

This photo shoot was held at Warren Community Center Park, which was chosen as a location for its unique, 4-person picnic tables and its visually interesting, curvy and twisting mature trees. The tall but compact, garden-style centerpiece was created in a vintage-style, ivory, opaque, ceramic urn. It contained hot pink, Ravel roses, light and medium pink lisianthus, soft blue hydrangea, light green carnations, and blue/green seeded eucalyptus.

Kim writes the guestbook table was covered in the same mint-green quilting fabric as the picnic table. A mint green and white-striped journal containing a “shabby chic” style rose on the cover was used as a cute and casual guestbook, and it sat atop a crocheted placemat. {this guest book could either be used to have each guest "sign-in" and leave their mailing address, perfect for thank you writing time, or guests could leave words of advice to the bride-to-be. And, awaiting each guest at the guestbook table was a favor of hot pink miniature tin pails accented with coordinating ribbon and filled to the brim with pastel pink, blue, and white miniature Cadbury eggs.

For both the invitation and menu I included textural elements with the crocheted blue ribbon on each and on the invitation I even included 2 rows of garland with a button flower strung onto the pink and white twine. I love how adding something as simple as a ribbon can add so much visual interest to an invitation.

DIY DOWNLOAD FREEBIE: I'm offering you the Springtime Cupcake Toppers and/or Gift Tags as a download and they're even perfect for Easter too. Simply print out the Springtime Cupcake Toppers and/or Gift Tags template from Scribd, cut out with a punch and you're good to go. {the download link at Scribd is directly underneath the item's title in the right column} PS: I will have the paper goods shown above in my etsy shop later this week - but feel free to reach out to me if you might be interested in them.

Wedding Vendors:
Planners/Designers: Brenda's Wedding Blog along with Kim of Something Spectacular Custom Floral & Event Design in Warren, MI
Florist: Kim of Something Floral, Center Line, MI
Photographer: Kate of Kate Elliott Photography, Grand Blanc, MI
Invitation and Paper Goods: Brenda of Wedding Girl
Cupcakes: Meijer, Warren, MI
Photo Shoot Location: Warren Community Center Park, Warren, MI
Cupcake Ramekins and Crocheted Placemats: Christmas Tree Shops

A special treat for you this weekend - I'm starting the kick-off of the April Wedding Vendor Challenge on a Saturday and each day from now thru Friday you will see some wonderful inspiration for spring bridal showers {+ the ideas can easily be implemented for weddings or parties of any kind too}. This months color palette was bubblegum pink, mint green and robin's egg blue. I asked vendors to create a bridal shower tablescape with a dessert display and just like the other challenges, there will be at least one DIY provided.

Today I begin with a vintage circus themed bridal shower - which I just think this is the cutest idea. This shoot features the talent of Maria from StudioSister Photography, Samantha of Papermints, Krissy from Make Believe'N, Stephanie of La Coco Rouge and Amanda of Artisan Maskers.

Maria created the theme based on the color palette and those colors were the inspiration for this carnival of candy and circus of sweets, with a soft feminine touch. The fun and flirty bouquet from Krissy of Make Believe'N resembles a big round stick of cotton candy - perfectly fitting the carnival/circus theme. The incredible handcrafted flowers made an ideal centerpiece for such a playful table. PS: This Japan Cherry Blossom bouquet is part of the Etsy Wedding Team charity drive where etsy shop artists are dedicating sales for relief efforts in Japan. Each flower is made of silky satin and complimenting patterned paper to represent the petals of a cherry blossom. You can purchase the bouquet here.

Maria writes . . . the table displayed an array of desserts and candies, including jelly beans, salt water taffy, rock candy, cotton candy and cupcakes, all in coordinating colors to follow the established palette. The cupcakes were made with a strawberry cake recipe and buttercream frosting, then topped with either blue sugar crystals or pink glitter gel. Cupcake toppers (and all paper goods) were created by Papermints.

EASY DIY: The pink and white cupcake stand above was created out of a candlestick and a plate, some epoxy glue and pink paint.

EASY DIY: the cupcake carousel was created out of an easter egg holder (from Target) accented by candy sticks with attached carousel animals.

Mint green material was used for the tablecloth, as well as the chair cover. The chair was also accented with a plaid-patterned bow, which complemented the plaid/gingham print plates, cupcake wrappers and masquerade mask. All of the fabric was purchased from Jo-Ann Fabric in the clearance section.

Maria says no bridal shower is complete without delicious drinks. A pink lemonade cocktail was also displayed on the table, in a large glass pitcher, as well as a wine glass at the Bride-to-be's table setting. Fresh-cut lemons really make this drink look delectable. Set to the side is a bin full of ice cold glass bottle sodas {shown above}. Now doesn't that bring back great childhood memories?

DIY DOWNLOADABLE GOODIE: Samantha of Papermints has offered the Vintage Circus printable cucpake toppers as a download which can then be used as either toppers or tags. Simply print out the Vintage Circus Toppers and/or Tags from Scribd, trim and you're good to go. {the download link at Scribd is directly underneath the item's title in the right column}

Wedding Vendors:
Photographer and Designer: Maria Healey of StudioSister Photography
Invitation and Paper Goods Designer: Samantha of Papermints
Floral Artist: Krissy of Make Believe'N
Cream Mini Top Hat: Stephanie of La Coco Rouge
Papier-mache Masquerade Mask: Amanda of Artisan Maskers

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Today we continue with the feature of modern spring themed photo shoots from the Wedding Vendor Challenge for March. I asked vendors across the US and Canada to team up and create an intimate tablescape for two with a dessert display. I supplied a color palette for all vendors to work with and for this shoot it was green with accent colors of brown, cream and pale yellow. It could be St. Patrick's Day related, although this wasn't a requirement, so you'll be seeing a bit of both this week. I also asked each team to provide at least one DIY design. For today - the 4th Wedding Vendor Challenge for March is from Kim of Something Floral in Michigan with photography by Mark of You Bet I Do Photography. The paper designs are by yours truly and my etsy shop, Wedding Girl.

Today's photo shoot was held at O'Connor's Public House - this pub was designed and built by the Prairie Pub Company, one of only five Guinness approved authentic Irish pub builders in the world. The finished pub was then shipped to the US and reassembled in the historical downtown district of Rochester, Michigan. Other special features of this pub include the floor in the main bar area that dates back more than 140 years, the stone wall separating the dining area from the bar was once an exterior wall, and the stain glass and wrought iron in the pub was harvested from crumbling churches throughout Ireland.

above two photos courtesy of Kim from Something Floral

above photo courtesy of Kim from Something Floral

For the centerpiece, Kim repotted two, small shamrock plants (Oxalis) into a yellow ceramic container. And, then she inserted two different varieties (Sundee and Delmonte) of fresh, yellow mini gerbera daisies and light yellow, Limoncello spray roses into the shamrock plant to give the centerpiece additional color, texture, and to add some visual interest. Also, tucked into the arrangement are fun drink stirrers turned into floral picks.

The sweet treats provided by O'Connor's included Jameson Irish Coffee Cake with Bailey's Icing, Pecan Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Irish Coffee.

DIY Download : Today, I'll be shariing with you the template for the cupcake toppers and drink stirrers along with the paper napkin rings. Simply print out the pdf after downloading via Scribd and follow the directions that are included on the pdf for the toppers/stirrers. The napkin rings will just be trimmed out. {the download link is directly underneath the item title in the right column once on Scribd}. Please note that I added little rhinestones to add a bit of embellishment to the designs.

A huge thank you to Kim and Mark along with O'Connor's for joining us in the 2nd Wedding Vendor Challenge this week with a beautifully eco-friendly tablescape for spring.

Planner, Concept Collaboration: Kim of Something Spectacular Custom Floral & Event Design
Florist: Kim of Something Floral, Warren and Center Line, MI
Photographer: Mark of You Bet I Do Photography, Clarkston, MI
All Paper Designs: Brenda of Wedding Girl
Venue, Desserts, and Irish Coffee: O'Connor's Public House, Rochester, MI
Plates and Napkins: Pier 1

Centerpiece Container: Home Depot