Being half Lebanese, I always have a place in my heart for middle eastern inspired decor. Cortnie from Canvas & Canopy traveled to Egypt and Jordan last year, and came back so inspired by the richness of the culture. When we found out Rue Mag’s summer issue was inspired by travel, we just knew this concept would be the perfect fit! Papyrus, reeds, bright colors, spices and a CAMEL named Caleb… this shoot blew me away! We brought on Momental Designs to hand paint all the stationery on papyrus and La Partie to create the gorgeous floral displays. Everyone involved did such an amazing job bringing it to life, and of course Jose Villa captured it all perfectly!

Travel Inspiration created by Cortnie of Canvas and Canopy

It’s no surprise how much I love Jose Villa‘s work, so when I got my copy of his new book “Fine Art Wedding Photography”  (you can purchase it here) in the mail last week it was a little slice of heaven. And on top of all beautiful pictures I was thrilled to have a picture from my wedding day included!  Thanks to Joyful Joyful for making our sweet banner. Congratulations Jose, so excited to go to your book signing on Wednesday, the book is gorgeous!

]]> http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2011/03/love-this-fine-art-wedding-photography-jose-villa/feed/ 5 http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2011/02/be-inspired-prs-ashley-and-her-fiancetyman-their-santa-ynez-love-shoot/ http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2011/02/be-inspired-prs-ashley-and-her-fiancetyman-their-santa-ynez-love-shoot/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:55:58 +0000 Leila http://inspiredbythis.com/?p=374 We are so proud and excited to share with you our very own Ashley and her fiance Tyman’s love shoot shot by Jose Villa! You may remember her amazing surprise proposal that we featured, well just a week later they had the privilege of modeling for one of Jose’s workshops up in Santa Ynez, Ca.  [...]]]>

We are so proud and excited to share with you our very own Ashley and her fiance Tyman’s love shoot shot by Jose Villa! You may remember her amazing surprise proposal that we featured, well just a week later they had the privilege of modeling for one of Jose’s workshops up in Santa Ynez, Ca.  Aren’t they so adorable!? Kacee Geoffroy did an amazing job on her hair and makeup, and Dannielle of Plush Tan gave Ash her gorgeous and natural glow!  We are in full wedding planning mode in our office and can’t wait for their upcoming nuptials. Its such a privilege for us to help her put everything together, it’s going to be fabulous!

Ring designed by Mike Gurunlian through jeweler Karen Hogue

]]> http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2011/02/be-inspired-prs-ashley-and-her-fiancetyman-their-santa-ynez-love-shoot/feed/ 32 http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2011/01/featured-in-c-magazine-wedding-edition-spring-2011/ http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2011/01/featured-in-c-magazine-wedding-edition-spring-2011/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:00:21 +0000 Leila http://www.inspiredbythis.com/?p=23863 We are so honored to have a client featured in the first C Magazine issue completely devoted to weddings!  Cupcakes Couture MB created beautiful desserts for our New Years Eve Party and Carissa of JL Designs put together beautiful floral arrangements, the whole shoot was coordinated by Cortnie at Canvas and Canopy, all inspired by [...]]]>

We are so honored to have a client featured in the first C Magazine issue completely devoted to weddings!  Cupcakes Couture MB created beautiful desserts for our New Years Eve Party and Carissa of JL Designs put together beautiful floral arrangements, the whole shoot was coordinated by Cortnie at Canvas and Canopy, all inspired by metallics. An extra congrats goes out to JL Designs because one of her amazing Balsa Wood Flowers was featured in the fashion section!

Cupcake Photo by Jose Villa

I was absolutely thrilled and honored when my dear friend Kathryn from Snippet and Ink asked me to guest post for her while she was away on her honeymoon! She asked me to create a post revolving around a color palette I love and what do you know, I picked GREEN. I loved my post so much I decided to share it here today, just in case you missed it!

If any of you have visited my website, stopped by my office or can guess what color my home is then you know that GREEN is my absolute favorite color. I don’t discriminate when it comes to Green: Lime, Chartreuse, Emerald, Mint, Olive… they all get me oh so excited!

Photos by Elizabeth Messina

However, green has more than surface beauty. It symbolizes living and thriving, it is growth, abundance and forward motion. We see it daily at traffic lights signaling people to move ahead, on a vine bearing new fruit, and in tiny stems pushing their way upward from the earth.

Found on Sunday Suppers

Every Winter, the weather strips the trees of their leaves and the fields of their grasses, but we always know Spring will evoke life once again.  Green is everywhere: Symbolizing life is fresh and new and full of beginnings!

Photo by Jose Villa

As you plan your wedding, look for what inspires you! Is it a texture? A picture? A season? or a Color? If you love Green like I do then this post is for you!

Photos by Leo Patrone

Now that summer is officially here and 4th of July festivities have calmed down I think it is the perfect time to go to the beach or the lake and relax on a boat! I just love sitting on a boat, smelling the salty ocean water and watching for whales and dolphins, it’s one of the best parts of summer! ( thank goodness i live right by the beach) I also love it when brides include nautical details into their planning. How cute are  anchor decals and even a boat ride getaway? LOVE. Take a look at some of our favorite ways brides have included nautical details! Many of them are on a boat- how could we not love that?!!

Photo by Jose Villa

Photo by Katie Headley

Photo by Amelia Lyon

Photo by Millie Holloman

Photos by Chris and Lynn

Photo by Our Labor of Love

Photo by Boutwell Studios

Photo by Susan Stripling

Photo by Our Labor of Love

Photo by Amelia Lyon

Photo by Max Wanger

Inspiration board from Snippet and Ink

I’m so excited to finally share all of my wonderful wedding vendors and friends with all of you. I can’t believe that it’s coming down to days until my wedding and I’m so honored and blessed to have such a dream team of vendors making my inspiration come to life. Below you will find my vendors for event design, photography, videography, and printed materials.  Tomorrow and Thursday there is much more…I’m such a lucky girl!

Lollipop Events and Designs: It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the Lollipop Girls. Their design blog has been one of my daily reads for a long time. Everyday they amaze me and surprise me with their creativity and style and I’m so excited to show everyone the design elements of my wedding! They have helped me to custom create the look and feel of my wedding, from my printed details to the design and production of the event as a whole, and have had their hand in the long list of elements included in all three days of wedding events. Jen (in the blue dress below) has been my rock and is the queen of logistics, not one stone has been left unturned. Cortnie and Vanessa (the blonde beauties) are so unbelievably creative and think so out of the box that at times I was left speechless and in awe of their gorgeous ideas. Without these Lolli Ladies there is NO WAY I could have done any of this.

Jose Villa: I don’t think I can really say exactly how excited and fortunate I am to have Jose Villa as my wedding photographer. I’ve been a loyal fan of his for quite some time now and picking my dream photographer when I first started planning my wedding was probably one of the easiest decisions I made. His images are so dreamy and magical and I know they will stand the test of time when I show them to my children and grandchildren. Not only am I obsessed with his work and the quality of images he puts out there, but I also love him as a person! I just can’t stop singing his praises! I’m so excited to see my beautiful wedding pictures. And we haven’t done our engagement session yet BUT we are doing a super fun shoot this summer that I’m already planning and excited about. Having Jose photograph us again? ummm, yes please

Joel Serrato: You recently saw my love for Joel on one of our Love This Posts so you know how excited I am to finally say that he is our videographer! He tells stories through films in a way that really speaks to me. I just had to hire him! I remember all of our tweets and DM’s and Joel you made it so easy on me. Thank You!! I can’t wait to get my wedding video back. It will truly be a work of art.

Mimio Papers: All of my beautiful paper goods were printed by Margaret Yasuda and her team at Mimio Papers. I can’t say enough about how wonderful and easy they are to work with! Any questions or concerns (late night stress outs??) she has been easy and accommodating through it all! I’ve known Margaret for six years and there is NO one I would trust more in helping to produce the designs that Lollipop created and making them all come to life. From the save the dates, to the invites, menus, place cards, welcome letter, and beyond… I’ve been saying to myself a lot lately, “God bless Margaret!” ( if you know her.. you would say that too!)

I have loved too many weddings that we have posted this year and am so grateful for the talented photographers who sent them our way. Here are a few of my very favorites! It will be of no surprise who captured these stunning weddings.

Wedding at San Ysidro Ranch Photographed by Elizabeth Messina

New York wedding by Shira Weinberger

Planned by Duet Weddings and Photographed By Jose Villa

Hats have always had some presence as a bridal apparel option. My mom wore a hat on my parents’ wedding day and I so wish I could get my hands on a digital copy of an image of her from that day for all of you to see. Ever since I was a little girl I always said that when I grow up and get married I want to wear a hat in my wedding just like my mom did. Whether or not I do decide to wear one for my wedding next year, I think hats add a a touch of timeless elegance and I just can’t get enough of them! It seems we are seeing a lot of the cage veil these days and as much as I adore them, I would love to see some daring brides take a courageous step and choose some less mainstream head gear for their wedding walk. There are so many options out there. Hats off to the below images of the beautiful brim shaded brides and grooms. Have a fabulous weekend!

Images from Martha Stewart

Images from Elizabeth Messina

Image from The Brides Cafe, photograph by Orange Girl Photographs

Found on JL Designs, photographed by Stephanie Williams. Top and bottom image produced for Utterly Engaged.

Guys can wear hats too! Love this one photographed by Tec Petaja

Images by Jose Villa

Found on Amy Osaba’s blog Images from Harwell Photography

I LOVE tulips! They can successfully work their way into several settings and look completely natural. They pop up at elegant dinners, playful parties, in a garden, and on your kitchen table. I like to think I have the same adaptive abilities :- )

My favorite tulip is the parrot and no surprise to my devoted readers, green is my favorite. I love their modified mullet appeal-business on the bottom and party on top. I love that even when you cut them they continue to grow! They seem to have a resolve all their own. What  a nice reminder for us in business and in life. Go on… be resilient, be beautiful, be you. Have a great weekend!

By Rae Florae

The Below Images were designed by JL Designs, Photographed by Stephanie Williams and Featured in Utterly Engaged

Photographed by Jose Villa

Love this by Elizabeth Messina

Beautiful image from Martha Stewart.com