{Click to enlarge!}

Love red and orange, and love the idea of bowls of cherries and brightly colored citrus fruits as centerpieces. Lots of patterns in this board, too, from the seating chart by Cheree Berry to the fabric homemade jam jars. Who’s ready for summer?

The Details
First row, left to right: Johnny Miller, Martha Stewart Weddings, 100 Layer Cake

Second: flickr via Creature Comforts, The Knot, The Knot

Third: Minted, ElseaChelsea’s flickr

Fourth: red and orange dresses, ElseaChelsea’s flickr, Martha Stewart Weddings

{via flickr}

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I’m coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light —
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I would shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

–Billy Collins

P.S. This one’s for Jenna. Once upon a time she wrote about loving a poet whose name she couldn’t remember. I guessed Billy Collins and it turns out I was right! Plus, she has a new little bebe of her own.

My buddy M currently has about thirteen girlfriends planning weddings. True story. Several of them got together last week, and one conundrum followed them home:

“Mary and DJ are saying ‘I Do’ at our university chapel, which unfortunately does not permit any thrown celebratory items post-ceremony. (Au revoir rice and confetti!) The bride, however, is attached to the image of walking out of the church doors with her new husband with celebration literally in the air. She and I have been brainstorming other options and she is thinking streamers, however we are struggling with ways this idea can be a. not too feminine for male guests to participate in, and b. not too homemade-seeming. Do you have any inspiring images or ideas for ways we could logistically piece together streamers for waving, or other items that would photograph well in the air –short of being tossed?“

My wheels instantly started turning, because as much as I love the image of streamers waving in the air, I’ve always had a hard time swallowing that men would voluntarily participate in such an activity. After putting some feelers out to friends, here are the best ideas we came up with.

{Kim Box via Southern Weddings}

First, let’s take a moment to pause and mourn the loss of moments like this one. Jenifer and Kenny had a confetti canon. Yep, that’s pretty cool.

{Amy Squires via Style Me Pretty}

{Catana Photography via SMP}

Okay, moving on. The first option is streamers. They do make for lovely photos, and the guests in these photos appear to be participating wholeheartedly. They seem simple to make, too. The bride above suggests buying dowels from a home improvement store and cutting them into thirds (leaving each about 16 inches long). She then cut one inch thick organza ribbons into 20 inch sections, dabbed a bit of hot glue on the top of each rod, tied a loose knot at the end of each ribbon, and then tightened it over the top, over the glue.

{Beaux Arts Photographie via Style Me Pretty}

Fairly similar to streamers are pinwheels. You could do the standard size, or you could go oversize. Certainly whimsical, but depending on the paper used, could also be sophisticated.

Hooray flags! You can purchase them from So Inviting on Etsy, or figure out the DIY. I also like the idea of making triangle flags from colored paper or fabric, like so:

{Feather Love Photography via SMP}

{Kristin Vining}

Wedding signs! Never seen this before, but it looks very cute here!

{Martha Stewart}

And finally, wedding bells. I have to say, this is my favorite option of the bunch, even if it isn’t the most original. I think the sound of hundreds of tinkling bells would be magical, it’s not as girly as waving a ribbon streamer, and your guests will definitely “get it.” (Which they might not with, say, wedding signs.)

What do you think? Which of these options is your favorite? Do you have a better idea? And how about it — are ribbon wands just too girly to be practical, or have you seen them used successfully?

P.S. Of course, there’s always sparklers, but the logistics of getting them all lit at the same time is a little much for me. I also love the idea of kazoos or those party blowers that unroll, but I couldn’t find a good photo to illustrate!

What’s on your Netflix queue? J and I share one, which means that we’re as likely to have an old black and white romance (me) or a random nature documentary (him) as we are a feature film. But these are some of the picks I’m most looking forward to in the coming weeks (or months… we’re kind of slow!).

500 Days of Summer (I’ve heard Zooey Deschanel’s fashion is amazing); The September Issue (I’m always game for a peek into the world of magazine publishing); Memoirs of a Geisha (loved the book, have been wanting to see the movie for about five years now)

Slumdog Millionaire (love Indian music, hence I’m pretty sure I’ll love this movie. Am worried about it being devastatingly sad??); Mad Men (period details. Enough said.); Young Victoria (the Oscar buzz piqued my interest, and I’m always a sucker for the English monarchy)

Atonement (read the book, am curious about they will have adapted it for the screen); An Education (see: Oscar buzz); Fantastic Mr. Fox (this was my absolute favorite Roald Dahl book growing up, and I love both George Clooney and Meryl Streep. Hope it doesn’t disappoint!)

Would love to hear your recommendations! Or, if you’ve seen any of these and think we shouldn’t bother, would love to hear that, too!