Inspired by the Viceroy Palm Springs

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Viceroy Palm Springs for the weekend. Be sure to check back tomorrow to see photos of the gorgeous property by the one and only Jose Villa! Today, though, I have a fun tablescape that some wonderful, creative vendors put together to show as an example of what could be done with the beautiful outdoor event space.

Kelsey from Alison Events and Danielle of Brown Paper Design were the creative minds behind this fun table. The Viceroy has a very mid-century modern look, with a color palette centered around whites and blacks with splashes of yellow. They thought it would be fun to play off that color scheme, but also add in some flirty, playful touches as well. From Danielle, We were really inspired by Kate Spade's current campaign. There is something so fun and lighthearted, yet still very modern about her ad's lately. We wanted to bring that feeling to the Viceroy and thought doing such a bright palette would be a bit unexpected bride's looking at Viceroy. Sort of a weekend escape wedding. Gorgeous photos below by Jose Villa.











We had the cutest guest stop by! Another great thing about the Viceroy Palm Springs - they are a dog friendly hotel, so you can have your puppy there for your big day. :)







Such gorgeous + fun bouquets!







And what a creative idea for the place card table! From Danielle, because of the heat of Palm Springs- fabric flowers seemed like a really great way to bring in tons of saturated color without having to worry about things wilting in the heat. It was a lot of work to make those flowers, but I think it really added a nice tactile touch. And they are great memento's of your wedding.



event design: Alison Events + Brown Paper Design
florals: Brown Paper Design
photography: Jose Villa
videographer: Joel Serrato
paper products: Hello! Lucky
rentals: Classic Party Rentals
linens: La Tavola
napkins: Lotus Bleu

Thanks everyone for sharing your ideas with us! Check back tomorrow to see more from the Viceroy Palm Springs - including a great super 8 film from Joel!

Handmade Wedding Theme: Birds

Birds can be a perfect theme for weddings. Weddings do center around love birds after all. From the Etsy Wedding Team, here are five ways to incorporate birds into your wedding style.

Iconic Birds. With a bird theme you can use birds as a large graphic element, or as part of a larger design as seen in this wedding invitation. {handmade by www.DesignCircus.etsy.com}

Nests. Play off the idea of birds by incorporating nests. From alternative ring pillows to jewelry there are many ways to use nest designs during your ceremony and reception. {handmade by www.bobbijordan.etsy.com}

Feathers. Both whimsical and elegant, feathers add texture and dimension to wedding designs. {handmade by www.Mikiye.etsy.com}

Bird Seed. For the send off or as wedding favors, bird seed can carry a bird theme to the very end of your wedding. {handmade by www.2birdsinlove.etsy.com}

Peacocks. Great for vintage and elegant weddings, peacocks can be used to add high style to your wedding. {handmade by www.cutthecakedesigns.etsy.com}

For more handmade wedding style, browse the Etsy Wedding Team members on the left.

{Holiday Entertaining} Serve in Style

Beautifully display 3 colorful beverages of your choice in our elegant contemporary Trio Beverage Dispenser. Perfect for entertaining. Self-service through the spigot. Dispenser is made of glass. Exclusive to Z Gallerie. Glasses sold separately.

And who can't have glassware that is just to die for gorgeous from ZGallerie.com.

This Majestic glassware has a beautiful amber luster with exquisite detail painted on the stem. Its grand size and height makes an impressive statement for your table setting. $51.80 (set of 4)

Brighten up those dark and stormy holiday evenings with our dazzling Puccini glassware. The most common libations are transformed into festive drinks in these bright reflective metallic glasses. The intricately etched gold exterior is cleverly paired with a Silver interior, supported on a clear glass stem. $31.80 - 51.80 (sold in set of 4)

Beautiful amber colored glass interlaced with white gives this glassware collection unique character. $31.80 - 39.80 (sold in set of 4)

#674: our cake topper.

we didn't really have a cake topper. in fact, we didn't really have a cake. remember?

anyways, i thought that was that. done and done. but then something happened.

a couple of weeks before the wedding, we received one of our most favoritist wedding gifts, from a dear dear dear (three times, dear!) friend of mine who lives in ireland. she couldn't make it to our wedding and instead sent over something that squeezed the juice from my eyeballs.

i knew there had to be a place for it somewhere in our wedding. and it took me all of 2 seconds to figure it out.

on the day of, i had one of my bridesmaids put my friend's gift next to our cake. as a kind of cake topper. but the kind of cake topper that didn't go on top of the cake.

like this.


photo of our cake and 'cake topper' by max wanger.

p.s. it's wanger. not wagner. just sayin.

p.p.s. our venue ended up providing the cake table, a cake knife, a cake server, and cake stand...with no instruction from me. cool, huh.

#664: light it up.

any excuse to have a party. or to buy a house with a backyard.


so gorgeous. instructions via once wed.

Master of Ceremonies

Patrick and I were lucky enough to have my Brother In Law act as the Master of Ceremonies. Boy, oh boy, we couldn’t have had a better person to do this for us. Paul is a natural public speaker - he did such a great job!


My brother in law/MC with my sister and Matron of Honour Karen (his wife)

Below is our MC Itinerary. Though no fault of Paul's, the schedule did not stick to the timeline. Dinner ran waaaay later then we thought it would. This would be something to double check with your caterer. I *think I gave a copy of this MC outline to the University Club, but I think they forgot to look at it ;p

Dinner didn't necessarily seem long and drawn out, but the length of time between courses paired with the length of time it took to clear out some of the tables made for a very late start to the dance. As a result of the late start paired with the use of our iPod/laptop made for a very ho-hum dance. We have a couple of regrets to go along with this. The first would be hiring a DJ. We shoulda, coulda, woulda but didn't. The second would have been to have an open/hosted bar for the dance portion. Our bar tab (meaning my Dad's bar tab) was waaaay under budget… In our families, more booze equals more fun - I'm just being honest when I say this!

Anyhoo, here is the outline :)

Ashley & Patrick’s Wedding Day MC Itinerary – Saturday, June 21, 2008

5:30pm Cocktail Hour (and a half) begins @ Queen’s University Club
168 Stuart Street, Kingston ON

5:40 Test out sound equipment with Matthew (Pat’s cousin/DJ) upstairs; mingle

6:50 Head upstairs and get ready to begin J

6:55 Bridal Party to be seated – no introductions at this point

7:00 Ready to begin J
-Announce Bride and Groom as “The New Husband and Wife: Patrick & Ashley”

7:00-7:30 -Welcome guests
-Introduce self and give a little speech about your relationship to the Bride and Groom
-Go over “housekeeping” stuffs:
-Note that the bar will be closed over dinner, but will re-open once the festivities get underway once again, around 8:30
-Centerpieces: “At the end of the evening the guest at each table with the next birthday may take the table’s centerpiece home.
-Introduce Wedding Party (when you say their name they will stand J)
-Michael Harris, Best Man and the Groom’s brother
-Daniel Tomlinson, Groomsman
-Richard Olsen, Groomsman
-Scott Hume, Groomsman
-Karen Cundy, Matron of Honour and the Bride’s sister
-Meagan Harris, Maid of Honour and sister of the Groom
-Stephanie Suurdt (pronounced “cert” – like the mint), Bridesmaid and sister of the Groom
-Invite Father Stan Alanen up to say grace (?)

7:30 Dinner is served
-Salad
-Intermezzo
-Main course
-Dessert

-Call up the Father of the Bride, Nesbit, for speech
-Call up the Mother of the Groom and Father of the Groom, Karen and Martin, for their speech
-Call up Maid of Honour, Meagan, to make her speech
-Call up Matron of Honour, Karen, to make her speech
-Call up Best Man, Mike for his speech
-Call up Aunt Cindy Bratkowski (brat-cow-ski) for speech
-Bride and Groom to give thank you speech and toast to guests

8:30 -Thank all of the speakers
-Announce that the bar will be reopening momentarily
-Suggest to guests to take a step outside for some fresh air or to get another drink, so the tables can be rearranged for the dance


9:00 -Welcome everyone back, and announce the Bride and Groom’s first dance
-Announce Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance
-Tell everyone to have a great night!

9:45 -Announce Cake Cutting

10:15 -Announce Bouquet toss
-Announce Garter toss

10:30 -Pizza arrival

12:30 -Reception ends