Haute Cake of the Week

 Pink Ombre

Wedluxe.com via Belle the Magazine

Haute Cake of the Week

Maggie Austin Cake

Tangerine Ombre

Love Locks

Alstereisvergnügen Hamburg

Love Locks at the Schwanenwik Bridge

Love padlocks have existed for quite some time, though there are no certain sources for their origin. The reasons love padlocks started to appear vary between locations, and in many instances are unsourced.

Rome Italy
Ponte Milvio

In Rome, the ritual of affixing love padlocks to the bridge Ponte Milvio can be attributed to a 2006 romance movie based upon the novel "Ho Voglia di Te". It started a ritual now wildly popular with young couples. In the movie, a teenage couple is seen writing their names on an ordinary padlock and locking it with a chain around a lamppost. Both the novel (a sequel to "Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo") and the movie were hugely popular with Italian teenagers, who began to imitate the practice on the Ponte Milvio, then throwing the keys into the Tiber in a gesture of undying love.
So many young lovers imitated the ritual that the lamppost had begun to buckle under the weight of so many padlocks. The loss of the lamppost did not stop young lovers from the rest of Italy coming to the bridge in order to chain their locks.

Vrnjack Banja Serbia
Most Ljubavi "Bridge of Love"

In Serbia the origin can be traced to even before World War II.  A local schoolmistress named Nada, who was from Vrnjačka Banja, fell in love with a Serbian officer named Relja. After they committed to each other Relja went to war in Greecee where he fell in love with another woman. As a consequence, Relja and Nada broke up their engagement. Nada never recovered, suffering from overwhelming sorrow she faded away day after day and finally died.  Upset by Nada’s destiny, girls, wishing to keep their own romances, started writing down their names along with the names of their lovers on padlocks that they bound to the railing of the bridge which used to be the favorite meeting place of Nada and Relja. Afterward the keys were symbolically thrown into the river. New wars and sufferings came up. The story fell into oblivion, and the girl’s custom to “bind” their love became uncustomary. It had been case until Desanka Maksimovic, according to the stories of old residents of Vrnjacka Banja spa, became acquainted with this tragic story. Inspired by it she wrote down one of her most beautiful love poems “A Prayer for Love”, (Molitva za ljubav). Although we tend to forget things, this story remains to be unforgotten, and in order to prolong its existence the young couples kept on with the tradition of “binding” their love and it bridge itself got the name “THE BRIDGE OF LOVE”

Moscow Russia
Luzhkov Bridge

In Russia, it is common for newly-weds and lovers to write their names on locks and lock the locks in a public place (trees, bridges, etc.); thus celebrating their love and commitment to each other. The key is then tossed into the Moskva river to seal their love...may the lovers never separate.  Originally the padlocks were attached to the sides of the bridge, but then these 'Trees of Love' were "planted" on the bridge, so the padlocks placed on the trees are more decorative as you see. The bridge called "Luzhkov most" takes you to the Tretyakov Gallery.

Montevideo Uruguay
Fountain of the Locks

On a fountain in Montevideo in Uruguay, a plaque is affixed to the front of the fountain that provides an explanation in both English and Spanish. The English version of the text reads, "The legend of this young fountain tells us that if a lock with the initials of two people in love is placed in it, they will return together to the fountain and their love will be forever locked."

By Design 2012 Leap Day Challenge

http://www.facebook.com/ByDesignEventDecor

Pinning Wedding Love

What is Pinterest?

• An online bulletin board that lets users organize and share images from around the web.
• According to Mashable, "brides-to-be have replaced bulky three-ring binder wedding planners with the simplicity and portability of a Pinterest account". Nearly 60% of Pinterest users are female, and it's all about visual engagement and effortless sharing.
• Like Facebook posts, pins can go viral since followers can like, comment or re-pin your pieces of inspiration to their boards.

Getting Started

• Get an invite! From the Pinterest homepage you can request an invitation, but expect to wait. A quicker option is to request an invite from a current Pinterest user like By Design Event Decorating ....hint hint.  
• Create boards! Each pin must be assigned to a board so you'll need to create a few boards before you start pinning. You can create general wedding inspiration boards, or boards focused around your interests.
• Start pinning! Download the Pin It button and anytime you see an inspiring photo, click the button, select the image, assign it to a board and write a brief description.
• Follow up! The more pinners you follow, the more relevant inspiration you see, and the quicker you build up your boards and follower count. Don't you just love the social media circle of life? Start by following By Design Event Decorating then check out the Pinterest users we follow and who follow us.
• To find more pinners to follow, hover over the Everything dropdown and click Weddings & Events from the Pinterest homepage.

We can't wait to see you on Pinterest!
https://pinterest.com/bydesignevent/

Haute Cake of the Week

Calligraphy & Scrolls

Whimsical scroll patterns and cherished words unite

to complete this sweet display of cakes.

Wendy Kromer

via marthastewart.com

Include Your Groom in the Planning

You know you love this guy and you can't wait to marry him, but how do you get him to add some input into the wedding details?  I asked myself the same question as I was planning my own wedding.  My husband doesn’t say much, unless it’s about guy stuff, so discussing wedding plans was one of the last things he wanted to talk about.  I wanted to make sure the wedding wasn’t all about me.  Sure it would be girly, but I wanted to find a way to incorporate him as well.
He only had a few things he was very adamant about; an outside reception in our front yard and no Church for the ceremony.  Well, I gave in to the front yard reception, but he had to compromise on the Church part.

The next task was to stop and listen to some of the cues he was giving me as I mentioned wedding details.  I knew he wanted to be comfortable and feel like he was in his own element, without the stress of being put on stage, so I went with a family table dinner seating arrangement.  Instead of being up on a stage or risers, we opted to be in the center of our guests and invited our parents and grandparents to sit at our “head table” with the bridesmaids and groomsmen.  It felt like we were just sitting down with the people we would normally have Christmas dinner with; in other words, comfortable.

My husband hated the idea of tuxedos; too traditional, uptight and uncomfortable for him. Instead of tuxes we opted for khaki pants and a button up dress shirt.  All of which I found on sale and he could wear again, if needed.  I even decided to one up the attire and allow him to wear his “work boots”, which he lives in (no tennis shoes for him).  But the week before the wedding I realized his boots had reached their last days, so I went out and bought a new pair of Doc Martens as a substitute; new, but casual and he could wear them again.

My husband is very in to tractors, Farmall to be exact.  I wanted to add in some of his cute tractors that he played with as a child and decided the cake table would be a perfect place for the splash of red.  Just that little touch of red on the table didn’t detract from any of the other areas of the “girly” type décor, but made him feel a part of the décor, or maybe I should say, I felt like he was a part of the decor. 

Even though I wasn’t able to incorporate all of the hints he gave me, for fear of a redneck party, I was able to add some smaller touches that made him feel comfortable and in his own element so he could enjoy the fun day as well.  We ended up with a perfect blend of his and her styles.

We would love to hear about some of the ways you incorporated your fiancé/husband into your wedding details, so please leave us a comment below.