Ultimate Bridal Show Navy, Gold + Magenta

Today on the Martha Stewart Weddings blog, The Brides Guide, Britney Peterson offers a look at the wedding colour palette of navy and pink. Well, what a coincidence! At the Ultimate Bridal Show yesterday in Mississauga, my tables were inspired by a similar palette of navy, deep magenta and shimmery gold. Take a look at the Martha inspiration board, then scroll down for some shots of my table set up and dessert table!

Photo Credit: The Bride's Guide

I arranged the flowers myself! Go me! The table runner I also handmade.

 

My booth was beside fellow wedding planner Stephanie Thompson Wedding Design.

You can see my inspiration board there in the background. The title of this was "Royal Whimsy"

My chiavaris and candelabra were graciously lent to me by Will at Chiavari Chair Rental

GORGEOUS cookie tree custom made by the very talented Angela of The Cookie Queen.

What do you think? My tables were well received at the show, and I really was pleased with how they turned out.

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Welcome to 2010!

New year, new look! I hope you like the new layout and design of the Celebrate It! blog and the jessica laine celebrations website. I have a lot of fun things planned for the blog this year, and some parties from the end of the year that I will be featuring including an adorable sock monkey themed first birthday party, a Christmas vegetable buffet display and a Mexican theme New Year's Eve bash! Coming up in early 2010 is my 25th birthday, Super Bowl XLIV and my mom turning the big 5-0 in February.

I'm also excited to continue the features Etsy Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Wedding Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday and Frugal Friday, and my New Year's Blogolution is to write with frequency! ;-)

So, here's to a great year of parties, events, weddings and fun!

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Wedding Wednesday: Vendor Hiring Guide

Photo Credit: Blue Orchid Blog

As soon as I saw this post come through my Twitter feed yesterday, I knew it would become my Wedding Wednesday post. Blue Orchid Designs is a wedding planning firm based out of Arizona, New York and DC and their blog is chock-full of useful information and inspiring images and ideas. Owner Liene Stevens also fronts a wedding industry social media consulting company called Splendid Communications with a great blog for vendors called Think Splendid. It is definitely some of my fave blog-candy around.

Yesterday she posted a compact little guide for brides on her blog to help them hire the necessary vendors to make their day a success. It is a compilation of posts from a series she authored over the course of a few months all neatly packaged together as a printable e-book. The Wedding Vendor Hiring Guide has useful information for hiring your wedding planner, florist, DJ, officiant, caterer, photographer and more. It covers some basic and not-so-basic questions to remember when interviewing your vendors and serves as an excellent jump-off point for your wedding planning if you are just starting.

Enjoy your free download!

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finding inspiration: best entertaining websites

Photo Credit: Sergio

My list of websites and blogs to visit daily is about a mile long and consists mainly of entertaining, lifestyle, design and recipe sites. I love sites that are beautiful to look at and have quality content. I get so much inspiration from these blogs and websites everyday. When my boyfriend asks what I'm doing on the computer, my response is often 'checking my daily sites'.

Here are the all-stars in my bookmark tab:

YumSugar I started frequenting the Sugar Network a number of years ago and I've watched it blossom into one of the best online communities for women. I visit YumSugar everyday to get filled in on food and drink trends, party planning, recipes and food news from around the globe. For more inspiration on the Sugar Network, I also like to check out CasaSugar, their home décor blog, from time to time.

Hostess with the Mostess and Hostess Blog I actually prefer the Hostess Blog to the main Hostess site [the blog could easily stand alone as the main attraction] but together they are a duo of drool-worthy online pleasures for partygeeks like me!. The Hostess Blog is an invaluable resource for party planning inspiration. Jenn Sbranti, the founder of HWTM, pulls from all of her favourite blogs as well as her own experiences in the party planning world and reader submissions to churn out one of the most visually appealing and content-rich entertaining blogs around.

WeddingBee I don't remember how I stumbled upon WeddingBee, nor do I remember how I lived without it. Actually, I think I may have found it through a Google search of some random wedding term where I happened upon this wedding blog of a girl who was simultaneously blogging her wedding planning experience on WeddingBee. The bloggers on WeddingBee are brides-to-be from all over the US [and sometimes other places... like Canada!] who write about the process of planning their wedding and they are a veritable pantheon of wedding and party inspiration. Whenever I am at my computer I am checking WeddingBee for updates. They also have a 'Pro' website featuring wedding vendors and their own daily exploits which is inspirational to me in two ways: creatively and as a 'vendor' myself I can glimpse into the lives of other people who are in the industry. I also follow some of my favourite 'pros' on their personal blogs.

Roundup
I also frequent the following websites and blogs on a less-than-daily basis, but would like to send some love to them.
Etsy.com
Mix Mingle Glow
Alison Events
Cookie Mondays
Ready2Spark
Tastefully Entertaining
Totally Tabletops
100 Layer Cake


What websites inspire you to create what you do?

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