Happy Friday everyone! I have to say that I am officially in love with today's Real Wedding. This darling couple, Julia and Ben, went for a casual, fun and food filled wedding that was totally their own. They chose to incorporate all the things that were important to them, and left out anything that didn't feel authentic and like an easy fit. From the looks on their faces in this first lovely image by Belathée Photography, I'd say they chose right!

Without intending to officially have a wedding color palette, as the planning went on gray, white and yellow naturally emerged as their "colors". Julia made her own veil and the flowers for her bridesmaids' hair, and then chose fantastic jewelry and accessories from Etsy seller Medowbelle Market and creative jeweler Nervous System.

As a wedding gift a number of Julia and Ben's friends picked the wedding flowers at a local farm and put together all of the bouquets and arrangements. They also surprised the couple by buying an assortment of colorful lollipops to use as wedding favors since Julia had decided against them in the beginning, but was regretting her decision on the wedding day. So sweet, and as Julia said, "beyond generous". The wedding ceremony took place in the bright, airy and modern Georgetown Studios and involved lots of audience participation. Julia's step-father played guitar and performed Such Great Heights by the Postal Service (adapted by Iron and Wine) and the whole audience pronounced them man and wife.

The wedding reception was held at The Corson Building, an amazing Seattle area restaurant dedicated to bringing the community together with incredible organic and local food. It was truly a celebration of all things delicious, and Julia and Ben were thrilled that they chose to host their reception there.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your wedding day with us Julia and Ben! What a treat!

To see all of the talented wedding professionals who contributed to this wedding, please visit our Real Weddings section. 

To plan your own Seattle area or Southern California wedding check out our Plan Your Wedding hot list!

Being a maid of honor is a big responsibility, often with a long to-do list! If your chosen gal could use a little inspiration and friendly a helping hand with bridal shower planning, point her in the direction of The Hostess with the Mostess to check out their section on bridal shower themes. Each one comes complete with an image gallery, DIY instructions, recipes and other fun ideas to put together a fabulous party with ease! Here are a few of my favorites...

A green, purple and plum colored tropical paradise bridal shower, decorated with orchids and served up with coconut cake and cocktails...

A lavender themed bridal shower brunch, with lavender, lilac and lime colored decor and scented soaps to send home with the guests...

A bright orange citrus themed bridal shower with mimosas, lemon deserts and easy to create table top settings...

Need a pretty pick-me-up this afternoon? Here you go! Take a peek at these amazing, modern, fondant wedding cakes from New York artist Liz Shim of Eat Cake Be Merry. I love her use of clean, simple lines and slightly abstract floral designs that still feel classic and serene. And with Liz's impressive experience in culinary training, I bet you anything these wedding cakes are just as delicious as they are beautiful!

Congratulations to the three winners in our Southern Weddings magazine give-away! Heather, Sylvia and Cecilia you'll soon be receiving your shiny new issues in the mail. Thank you so much to all who participated, we loved reading about what you are most looking forward to on your wedding days! Here's a peek at what our winning readers had to say...

Heather- Of course I'm looking forward to marrying my best friend and partner in crime. But I'm also looking forward to sharing our marriage with all of our family and friends. I'm hoping they will truly be able to experience who we are as a couple through all the details (big and small) of our wedding.

Sylvia- I am most looking forward to the moment that we leave the reception. Then we will be able to revel in our newly married status and still be glowing from the hours spent celebrating with all of those that we love.

Cecilia- I'm looking forward to our wedding day, to see all our plans fulfilled and to be able to share it with our families and friends.

Do you plan out color palettes for everything you do (your home decor, your wedding style, your outfit for tomorrow)? Could you write an essay on the difference between peacock blue, royal blue, majolica blue and midnight blue? Are you, to say it mildly, a color freak? Then this is for you! The Dessy Group, one of our "sponsors we love", recently began producing all of their bridesmaids' dress and wedding accessory collections in Pantone colors and offering official Pantone color swatches to go with them. Fun! Now you can be exacting with your wedding color palette and use your handy color swatches to pull all the visual details together as you work with the rest of your wedding planning team. You can also log on to their website and create inspiration boards with all of your colorful fashion and design ideas. So whether you're a Deep-Peacock-Blue-Pantone-color-17-5029 lover or more of a Rapture-Rose-Pantone-color-17-1929 kind of girl, you're one step closer to finding exactly what you're looking for!

Gloria Wong, the wonderfully talented San Francisco wedding designer, is one of the fabulous new friends we made last month at the Engage09Encore wedding conference. Gloria is delightful in person, and as you'll see from the following photos of her work, an incredible artist as well. As a designer Gloria focuses on the look and feel of a event, using ultra-creative decor design to make each wedding striking, personal and totally unique. As she says in her bio, she's all about "color, composition, style, and how visual elements can stir the heart." We agree! Today she's sharing her approach to a fun wedding decor extra, the escort cards. Thanks Gloria!

An escort card display is a great vehicle to showcase a couple's wedding concept. I always try to create something that reflects the couple's style and personality. Here are a few examples...

For the Backyard Chic wedding, the concept was taking old basement goodies and salvage home parts and using them for an eclectic backyard affair. Hanging escort cards with vintage keys on a white picket gate made perfect sense because keys represent home. A vintage key for each guest was a nice way to welcome friends and family to the couple's home. (Photography by Lisa Lefkowitz)

For the Old-Time Elegance wedding, it was all about silliness and sweets delivered in a classic manner for this fun-loving couple. Since sweets were such a huge part of their lives, they decided to offer escort cards in the form of yummy petit fours! Mini paper flags with each guest's name and table assignment were inserted into all the petit fours. The sweets were laid out evenly on a round table as spokes on a wheel. A sign next to the display read "A little something sweet for you to mark our sweetest day!" (Photography by Lisa Lefkowitz)

For the French Whimsy wedding, the concept was based on Chinoiserie art which features many paintings with branches and birds. We didn't want to use fake birds on the escort card table, so we decided to interpret the essence of birds with yellow flower balls in black lacquered birdcages. The whole look was very Viceroy-esque which the stylish couple loved! The Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica has a wall filled with framed mirrors. The collection of lacquered black photo frames that sat on the table with the yellow escort cards was a nod to the Viceroy Hotel. (Photography by Anna Kuperberg)

For the Pop Modern wedding, this particular couple loved watching romantic movies together. So, we inserted a movie quote within each guest's escort card. The colorful cards sat on top of a bed of green mums. Across from the display of escort cards was a collection of signs each with a different movie title. Guests were encouraged to guess which movie their escort card quote was taken from. When guests were invited into the banquet room for dinner, the respective movie titles were revealed as each person found their table. The tables were named after the corresponding movies! (Photography by Karl Ko)