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It’s nice to have inspiration boards back, isn’t it? This one is for my girl Katharine, who’s getting married on Saturday! I am thrilled and honored to be standing next to her as a bridesmaid. She’s a classic kind of gal, and her wedding is going to be black and white and beautiful all over. Though it won’t look much like today’s board, I’m dedicating it to her, anyway. Want to see what her wedding will look like? Check out this post that I made as inspiration for Miss Katharine last August!

The Details
First, left to right: bouquet by JM Flora, tablescape by Coty Farquhar, tablescape from Martha Stewart Weddings
Second: bow tie photo by Justin & Mary Marantz via Style Me Pretty, brunch setting from Country Living, lemonade station from Martha Stewart Living
Third: secret garden photo via Black*Eiffel, honey jar photo by Red Ribbon Studio, menu photo by Josh Goleman via Once Wed

There will be much more to come from Kate + Cormac’s wedding, but I thought I’d pop in with this simple DIY before the pro pics arrive! As one of our projects, K and I put together tons of beribboned drink stirrers for the reception. They were easy to make and a big hit with guests.

I’ve heard from lots of brides that made something similar and were disappointed when they had piles left over at the end of the night because they sat unused on the bar. My tip? Ask your bartender to stick one in each drink before handing them over.

For this project, you will need wooden skewers, ribbon (I like using 5/8″), and a sharp pair of scissors.

Begin by cutting your skewers in half. J was my right hand man for this step, so I’ll have to double check with him as to the method he settled on, but I believed he used the mini saw from a utility tool.

Next, cut a length of ribbon (approximately 8 to 9 inches should do). Fold the ribbon in half, then fold it in half around the skewer.

Pull the tails through the loop you’ve created…

…then cinch the knot tight. If you’d like, notch the ends for an extra-polished look.

Of course, if you’d prefer I do the heavy lifting for you, I have a few for sale in my Etsy shop. Colors are completely customizable!

Yep, you read that right! I almost can’t believe it myself — I mean, heck, I only have 13 sales on Etsy! But here I am, on the last page of the current issue of Brides Magazine (the September issue):

The article offers 15 unique options for cake toppers, and my cupcake pennants are one of them! My flags are completely customizable, and I’d be delighted to put something together for you. Check them out here!

And a huge thanks to Brides Magazine — I think I’m still in shock!

Kate and Cormac are married! It’s hard for me to put into words how wonderful their wedding weekend, and the week preceding it, really were. I feel like I came away with a whole new perspective on weddings, which I suppose isn’t all that surprising, because although I deal with weddings all day every day, I’ve never been this close to one.

It’s become normal to hear two things from brides after their weddings. The first is that the day zipped by so fast they can hardly remember it. The second is that there were inevitably disappointments, and whether they were major or insignificant, they are hard to leave behind. Like a lot of people, I just accepted these things as the way it had to be for super-involved, detail-oriented, DIY-heavy brides, particularly ones who are flooded with fabulous imagery from wedding blogs and magazines.

Kate might correct me, but I don’t feel like either of these were true for this wedding, and this was largely because of Kate. She was an exceptionally calm and laid-back bride, but it was more than that. She didn’t put as much pressure on her one wedding day as I think most brides do. It wasn’t that she had low expectations, it was just that her expectations were realistic. She took everything as it came and was thrilled about it. She thanked everyone enthusiastically and often. Her guests knew she was happy to have them there and so grateful they made the trip to celebrate with her and Cormac. She wasn’t worried about timelines or what vendors were doing or spilling things on her dress once she got to the reception, she just wanted to eat delicious food and visit with family and friends that we don’t get to see often enough.

At one point on Saturday, one of the guests came up to me and congratulated me on a successful reception. She said something along the lines of “I’m sure things went wrong that we didn’t see, but everything looked great to us!” When I thought about it, I realized that actually, nothing really had gone “wrong.”

Did everything go exactly as we had planned? Not quite. The ferry to the Island ran out of gas in the middle of one of its runs transporting guests to the ceremony. The icing on the cakes was more royal than navy. The linens on the cocktail tables were a tad bit shorter than I would have liked.

But I say nothing went wrong because both in the moment and in the end, it didn’t matter. The ferry situation was fixed within minutes, and the details were just a vehicle to create an atmosphere where our guests felt welcomed, celebrated, and a part of something special. No royal blue icing was going to change that.

I’d love to hear what you think. Did you have realistic or unrealistic expectations for your wedding day, either in relation to how you would feel or how things would look? Were you disappointed on your wedding day or post-wedding? Do you think we just got lucky with our beautiful weather and beyond-excellent vendors and that I would feel differently if something major went wrong? Let me know!

And now to tide you over, a recap of the weekend in three photos courtesy of Jenna’s Twitter and blog.

We played wiffle ball:

We had a welcome dinner:

And we had a wedding:

It was wonderful.