WeddingWindow.com
A wedding website is a great way to build excitement about your wedding, while also serving as an extremely useful tool for sharing information. WeddingWindow.com offers some great options for creating and personalizing the perfect custom website for your big day, now with FREE wedding websites and planning tools. Not only can you include all pertinent wedding info in one easy place for your guests, but it’s also a fun and cute way to introduce your guests to your bridal party.
WeddingWindow.com also offers a wide range of customizable upgrade options, which start at only $39 for the year. This is cheaper than if you were to host your own site! Their premium themes also allow you to create a slideshow, receive a custom domain name and you can also add 10 handy dandy apps such as Facebook Comments, Google Maps, Photo Montages, You Tube videos, Orbitz booking widgets and more. Better yet, Premium themes have RSVP, eCards, and Email Blast tools to keep your guests up to date with the festivities.
For a chance to win a $100 gift certificate and a 12-month extension of your free or premium hosting term, enter the “Share Your Site” Contest, launching February 1st on WeddingWindow.com. They are also offering $10 off any annual upgrade option to Ruffled readers! Simply use promo code RUFFLED10 at checkout.
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Chic Santa Barbara Wedding
We absolutely love the fresh breath of air an ethereal blush pink wedding can provide. This next wedding has my inner girl positively giddy with delight, from the handmade fabric details to the darling, feminine bridesmaids dresses. As usual, joielala photographie was on hand to capture the day brilliantly!
From the bride, Tanya: Dylan and my story began sophomore year of college, we met through my best friend from high school who attended the same school as Dylan in San Diego. Although, our short-term summer romance didn’t last we remained good friends throughout our final years of college. After graduation from UCSB, I moved back down to San Diego. As luck would have it Dylan and I ended up settling in the same sleepy beach town in northern San Diego. That December, Dylan asked me to accompany him to his first company holiday party… fast forward six years later in the middle of Central Park in NYC Dylan dropped to one knee and asked me to be his wife!
It didn’t take long for me to get the planning bug; it began as soon as we sat down on our flight back to California. Santa Barbara was a no-brainer for us. Dylan grew up in Ventura, which is a short twenty minute drive and I graduated from UCSB; needless to say Santa Barbara has held a special place in our hearts throughout our relationship. My first and most pressing issue was finding a church and not just any church as I had my sights on The Mission. It took many persistent phone calls, emails and even visits and we finally secured our date for October of 2011, which left us seven short months of planning! Next course of action was the location for the party… I mean reception. Like my vision for the church, I was not willing to settle on just anywhere, it had to feel special. I had always dreamed of dancing under the stars on my wedding night which pretty much only left the option of a private estate. It took a couple of months of searching and contacting rental agencies, event planners and scouring Google until I found the most unbelievable location, La Bella Vita Gardens. From the moment Dylan and I walked through the grounds, we knew this was the spot!
After securing the locations it was time for the fun part – decor! Admittedly, I have been a slave to all of the wonderful wedding blogs long before our engagement. I had a pretty clear idea of what I envisioned and lucky for me the estate that we chose for our reception was pretty much a blank canvas. I wanted whimsical meets rustic charm meets shabby chic with some vintage details… if that makes any sense! The inspiration began with the idea to sew our own napkins… all 200 of them! My Mom and I made many trips to a local quilting shop and settled on seven fabrics including floral and polka-dots. During my stationery appointment I became giddy when I found out it was possible to have our selected fabrics stitched to the back of our invitations and reception cards! Then the light bulbs began to go off with all of the fun ways we can incorporate the fabrics. We used modge podge to secure the fabric on to wooden numbers for the table numbers, cut numbers out of scraps for the shoe sizes for the flip-flops, banners, squares for our quilt guest book, wrapped around the bridesmaids bouquets, hearts and bows for the canvas welcome bags … seriously the list could go on for days! My Mom and I also managed to track down 200 vintage china dinner plates at thrift shops, consignment stores and estate sales. For the bar menu, dinner menu and seating assignments we wrote on old windows and doors that we found at an architectural salvage dump in downtown San Diego. For the desert table we found large vintage platters and glued them to the tops of candle stick holders all ranging in different heights.
Aside from all of the DIY details there were a few other things that were on my must-have list. This included long feasting tables where we would serve a family style meal, lit chandeliers strung through the trees and a competitive game of corn hole! Our wedding day was an absolute magical day filled with love, laughter and a whole lot of dancing!”
View all pictures from this wedding in the photo gallery
Wedding Vendors (Santa Barbara, CA):
Ceremony Venue: Old Mission / Reception Venue: The Gardens of La Bella Vita / Wedding Photographer: joielala photographie / Event Coordinator: Toast / Invitations and Printed Materials: Paper & Thread / Wedding Dress: Tara Keely “Mon Amie” / Wedding Shoes: Manolo Blahnik / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: BCBG / Wedding Hair: Vanity Hair Salon / Wedding Makeup: Kacee Geoffroy / Groom’s and Groomsmen’s Suits: Jos A Bank / Groom’s and Groomsmen’s Shoes: Sperry / Wedding Caterer: Pure Joy / Cupcakes: Crushcakes / Wedding Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Event Lighting: Bella Vista Designs / DJ: Chris Cote – chris.cote@transworld.com / Photobooth: Scott Lawrence / Fabric Napkins: DIY by bride and bride’s mother
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Ontario Family Barn Wedding
This Canadian wedding is reception decor inspiration in a realm of its own. Bridesmaid and photographer Sara Wilde shares the day with us, and it’s clear this is a true labor of love affair — the barn used for the wedding is owned by the bride’s grandfather, and both friends and family pitched in to make the day one to remember. We love how they incorporated the barn into their theme – their song request bucket on a pulley is our newest favorite rustic wedding idea!
From the bride, Vicky: Being a graphic designer and visual stylist, I wanted to do as much as I could myself. My vision for the wedding started with an idea to make napkins for the tables in different patterns – yellow for the girls and grey for the boys. I also used these fabrics to make bunting and tassels which were used to decorate the space. My background in graphic design made me want to brand everything and the brown craft paper really worked with the space. The painted signs replicated the hand-drawn feeling of the font and the illustrations I did for the invitations and the wine and cider labels.
We knew that we wanted a sentimental setting, and my Grandfather’s old chicken barn, turned out to be the perfect location. The building’s cinderblock structure mixed with the old wood loft and ceiling really complimented our aesthetic that is somewhere between industrial and rustic. Many weekends were spent cleaning and decorating at the barn with our family and friends. While the girls hung flags and added flowers to the tree chandelier, the boys built the bar out of barn boards salvaged from Ryan’s family’s property. We all worked together to add features like the cupcake stand made out of an old ladder, lighting made from sap pails and chicken feeder flower pots.
We wanted everyone to have a great time so we made sure that there would be lots to do – a photo booth, candy table, guest tree, and DJ request bucket. We also wanted everyone to have a space to be comfortable and get to know each other, so we included intimate seating areas and lots of high top tables to mingle at around the bar.
View more images from this wedding in the gallery
Wedding Vendors (Durham, Ontario, Canada):
Wedding Venue: Bride’s Grandfather’s barn / Wedding Photographer and Photobooth: Sara Wilde Photography / Wedding Dress: Augusta Jones / Wedding Shoes: Anthropologie / Bride’s Headpiece and Veil: Vicky P Design / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Made by groom’s mother / Bridesmaids’ Accessories: Vicky P Design / Wedding Hair: Kristen Whetham / Wedding Makeup: Jenna Voss / Groomsmen’s Suits: Gorman’s Menswear / Wedding Flowers: Durham Florists / Wedding Caterer: Green Door Cafe / Cupcakes: Cake Creations by Renee van der Heide / Invitations and Stationery: Vicky P Design / Officiant: Pastor Randy Liedtke / DJ: Sensational Sounds DJ Service
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Weekly Wrap Up + Winners!
Thank you everyone who answered our 2012 Reader Survey! We are loving what you had to say and we’re excited to share new features this year. I’ve been obsessed with dark blue lately. Love it especially when paired with a bright poppy red and earthy tones with gold touches…Would love to see a wedding in these colors :) Both images are in our Pinterest boards, which you can follow here for more wedding ideas.
photos via Desire to Inspire and Oh Joy!
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In case you missed this week:
Napa Valley wedding
Syrian ballroom wedding
Backyard Canadian wedding
One DIY project, used in 3 ways
Organic Cali wedding
Wedding pie series
Dreamy rustic shoot
1930s Glam wedding
Portland rainy day wedding
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Thank you everyone who answered our 2012 Reader Survey! Winner of $50 gift certificate is Vivian L., congrats! We will be in touch shortly.
The 4 lucky winners from Vintage Invites giveaway are Terra J, Berkeley, Brielle aaaand Lindsay! Congrats ladies! They are also giving 100 dollars off to everyone on any order over 500 dollars, using discount RUFFLED100.
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