Weddings galore!

So if facebook is any indication, a good percentage of you is looking blearily at your computers this morning after a weekend of wedding madness. I've seen photos from 4 sets of wedding not including the one I went to myself, our very own Harry Potter girl, R.'s and let me tell you: my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

Here's a quick hit of what I loved about it:


Everything was simple and elegant. Candles lined the way from the Church to the reception hall (bottom right) and they had different lanterns and tea lights as the centerpiece for each table. Both the Church and reception hall were natural wood and white so all the flickering candles gave it a magical touch without needing to find a way to float thousands of candles in the vaulted ceilings (a la Hogwarts). It seems odd to write, but with the simple elegant set up let them be center of attention. The wording in the ceremony, little wax seals on the place cards, Knight and Queen table toppers were little extras that helped carry though their personalities without being IN YOUR FACE but it was that their friends and families helped with what they could and were all just really exciting for the couple that all the minutiae that usually goes with weddings wasn't necessary.

Well done, Mr. and Mrs. V. I hope you're having heaps and tons of fun in Quebec!

Martha's Crafts

For some reason about 2 months ago I went momentarily ga-ga (more so than normal) for Martha Stewart and signed up for a slew of daily emails. Because apparently getting 20 you-asked-for-it corporate emails (target, IKEA, macys, crate and barrel, borders etc) a day just wasn't enough for me! BUT Martha's have been kind of great. I get a dinner email and craft email every day.

I'm not sure about you but just about every other day I have a near melt down at 5:30 when Michael and I look at each other and go "what do you want for dinner?" "I don't know- what do you want?" and back and forth that goes. Now I have little email folder called "dinner" and everytime I get something that seems appetizing I save it in there. So the other night we had:

Aparagus and Gruyere Tart.

First, it actually looked just like the picture (which almost never happens); second, it was ridiculously easy to make and third, very tasty. Also, it looks really fancy-schmancy so if you needed some finger food for a bridal shower- there you go!

Next, there are two crafts that would be perfect for weddings. I can't justify buying every Martha Stewart Wedding issue lately so forgive me if these are repeats.

Under a Big Sky: Craft How-Tos and Leaf-Covered Candleholder
and

Both nice and nature-y but each in a different way.

Awesomeness

So despite the incessant rainyness (raininess? meh- I'm making up a word so let's go with the first) in Boston I have found AWESOMENESS.

First- I agree with Kathryn from Snippet and Ink and this is "currently my most favorite wedding ever" too. Why?

(photo by Josh Goleman)

Yeah. Prepare to blow your mind. The first several photos are photos of them getting ready then it escalates to you gasping a lot then finally by the end you're just doing silent guppy mouth gestures. Also I was really glad to see that they had a wedding planner. I'm not saying that the couple is any less talented but I'm always glad to see that someone didn't just fall into being amazing with no wedding experience. By the way, in case you're in the South, their wedding planner was Liz Demos from Vintage General, a blog I may have to start stalking.

Secondly, I came across Camp Comfort via Nib's Blog and HELLO, NEW HAIRSTYLE!

(collage by Camp Comfort)

I've (thankfully) come to my senses and realized summer in all its humid glory is not the time for me to getting bangs but when Fall rolls around my hair should be long enough where it can be cut to that. The woman in question is apparently Alexa Chung who is "an English television presenter, model and fashion journalist" (thank you Wikipedia). Camp Comfort is definitely bumping out something on my google reader (I'm trying to restrict how much I have on there otherwise I get overloaded) and will hopefully help get me past my summer style which has been dubbed "out of work camp counselor". Iterations have been "slutty camp counselor", "this is the only time I get out camp counselor", or "my clothes are the same age as these children camp counselor" so it's nicely ironic that Camp Comfort will bring me to a newer better level.

Grab bag

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. (How can it already seem like a distant memory?) I had a whirlwind trip to NYC for my friend's 30th and learned there are some amazing perks to knowing someone who is a sommelier. I have also learned that staying out to 4 am and drinking like you're on shore leave is not something you can just jump back into. :)

Things have been pretty cold and gray up in the Northeast which has been unfortunately reflecting pretty closely to how things have been going for me this past week (friend's birthday excluded) so I'm going to keep it simple and try and turn things around with clearing up all the things I've been saving on my desktop.

First, a gorgeous new font, Memoriam by Canada Type:All my loving, indeed. I'm always looking for scripty fonts that won't make people gag on wedding invitations (cough *scriptina* cough) and this definitely fits the bill.

Secondly I came across this surprise wedding on Studio7 (wedding photography). That's right. A SURPRISE wedding. The couple invited all their friends over for an "engagement party" and little did they know when they got there it was the actual wedding.

(photos by Studio7 Photography)

The photographers caught each of the bridesmaids reactions as they saw the bride in her wedding dress (I love the girl on the bottom left!) and apparently the brides brother told the rest of the guests that "the engagement had been called off... [dramatic pause].. because they're getting married tonight!" Talk about dialing it up to 11!

The next wedding I've had saved was found on Snippet and Ink and was planned by Alison Events. Growing up I started dance in Pre-K and continued to my senior year, was tech crew in Middle School for the musicals (I had auditioned but never got in to any of them but all my friends were in it so I still wanted to be apart of it*) and then in high school was in all 8 shows offered over the 4 years, and then 2 more shows in college so I think it's safe to say I liked the stage experience. So when I saw this wedding had taken place in a small club with the ceremony on stage, you know I was all over it.

(Above three photos by Adi Nevo)

The guys wore pinstripes and fedora, there was a slight Mexican vibe throughout complete with tequila shot and Pacifico waiting to the guests at their seats, a swing dance lesson before the dancing got started and the Mood Swing Orchestra for people to practice their new skills to all night long. I can't tell you how many of my friends from high school this would be perfect for.

Wow, my desktop is overcrowded. I still have 3 more random photos but I think those will wait until Monday. Have a great weekend!

Their labor of love

On Thursday last week when I was gearing up for the Harry Potter trials, I found myself staring at that very last Harry Potter in the hizzouse inspired picture from Once Wed, and decided that I MUSTMUSTMUST find out more about it. To the left is the picture in question again so you don't have to go clicking around.

The picture is the combined efforts of Joy Thigpen, who has some lovely close ups of the above table as well as fabulous inspiration boards, and Our Labor of Love photography which you are just going to have to go take a look at after this. There's just no other way around it. Becaaaause, in addition to having awesome (what's one step above awesome? ahh yes, of course, thank you townsfolk) wicked friggin' awesome photos, you can totally spy on other weddings and use it as a giant inspiration board for yourself!


Like... maybe rethink the ban on line/group dances at the reception...


Or realize you don't need to grow your hair out for your wedding when this short to medium 'do looks so great (and thank you for the overhead shot so it will be that much easier to show the hairdresser!)...

Or find the perfect way to coordinate your bridesmaids in the winter without demanding jacket styles (the salmon colored wraps)...

Hello? Flowers? Get your printer and your pointing finger out! I want that, that and that.

Or need something crazy gorgeous that you probably wouldn't have thought of yourself? LIKE UPSIDE DOWN FLOWER CHANDELIER THING-A-MA-BOBS?!? Yes, please.ALL PHOTOS BY OUR LABOR OF LOVE

BRIDE BEWARE THOUGH-- WARNING WARNING-- if you click on the link that says "Smilebooth" on their blog, any holdout feelings on whether or not to do the whole photo booth thang at the wedding will be crushed. Obliterated. You will neeeeeed a photo booth. You'll give up the schmancy shoes just to get a photo booth. You'll wonder how you can start incorporating it into your non-wedding-related life. And finally, you'll want to work at Google because they apparently throw kick ass parties for their employees.

Distressed without the 100 year wait

My friend, R., of Harry Potter in the hizzouse fame, asked me the other day if I knew about any ways to distress wedding invitations and- shockingly- I kind of did. Two Christmases ago my husband and I got his niece and nephew Watson Scavenger Hunt tickets (which are awesome and in many cities in case you're wondering) so I decided to make it a scavenger hunt to find the tickets. I got a little overboard and found myself in the kitchen with a lighter try to figure out how much is too much singed edges and trying to find things to stain the clues.

This is not quite a tutorial since you'll still have to play around with the technique but here are the results from my first trial.

(before left; after right)

Staining with Tea
I first started with a brewed tea bag concentrating on the corners and let that sink in for about 5 minutes, and gently blotted areas that pooled too much in the center over the text with a paper towel.

To keep the staining to the corners I perched the invitation over the paper towel and let that sit. Play with this time to see how much it will stain the corners.

This was probably the best idea from the new trials. I was trying to find a way to singe the edges without lighting it on fire because that tends to streaks of ash across the front and would definitely leave ash all of the envelope. I used the flat iron when the invitation was only slightly damp but if you do a slow fanning motion you can create a stiff curl (kind of like you would if you were flipping your hair).

So here's the before and after again. It's not a style for everyone but it's nice parchment-y look.

I printed several test versions so I can keep on experimenting. I'm thinking Coke maybe the next trial since it would stain and not smell (like coffee would).

And, yes, it's a Harry Potter invite. I did it quickly for something to test with but... I'm liking it. A lot. So you'll definitely see more of it in the future.

(The paper used was Paper Source Luxe Cream Cover. I also tried their Opal Cover which had a nice sparkle to it but the tea just beaded off.)

April Showers, where are my May flowers?

In the Northeast we had a peak of sunny weather in the end of April. Just enough to haul out the grill and the lawn chairs and it's been dreary and rainy ever since. But at least it's about 50 degrees.

I think I've mentioned before that when I went to go pick out my wedding flowers I could name four (roses/irises, which I don't like and peonies/rananculus which were both out of season) and dislike both. Thankfully my florist had a stack of books and I went through and pointed.

Since then I've been getting my flower education slowly by surely through yoga. Strange, I know, but one of the women in my classes, Jeri Solomon, is a the owner of Jeri Solomon Floral Design and brings new arrangements every week and for all of us not quite in the know, leave a small card explaining what is what. I can now spot forsythia in yards in the neighborhood. Today we had lovely hyacinths (which I originally thought were lilacs but hey- they're pretty close- get off my back). :)


Jeri was a featured floral designer for Bloomingdale's Registry in April and I have some gorgeous pictures that might help you forget gray skies for a bit.




I really can't decide which one I like best. The first one is so vibrant and I love the textures but the second one had such elegant structure to it and the pop of the yellow against the black vase in the third one is so snappy. Now I suppose the real challenge now would be if I could say what everything is. I'm seeing orchids in all. Calla lilies in the last two. And I'm 80% sure those are gerber daisies in the last one. But then again, you could always just point and say "I like THAT one."

If you're in the Northeast definitely check out Jeri Solomon Floral Design. She creates gorgeous arrangements for weddings, corporate events, social events, and even if you just need to impress your guests with a kick ass arrangement in your house. And when I find a new spectacular flower from her yoga arrangements- I'll be sure to let you know.

Stickin' it.

My latest design love is definitely packaging and branding. I've started reading a slew of blogs (err... um 2, Dieline and Brand New... but it SEEMS like a slew) and one of them mentioned something that really stuck with me: packaging is the advertising. Sure if you're a big company you still dole out the big bucks for advertising but when the consumer faced with 39 packages of new health conscious potato chips-- that bag better look good. And think about, how many of your favorite brands has re-designed lately. Or seems to re-design every other time you go to the store. (I feel like Green Giant frozen veggies that are targeted for some kind of health [antioxidant, healthy weight, etc] and Wheat Thins are always changing).

As a result a good portion of the packaging design coming out these days rocks my socks AAAAND has got me thinking.

(left: Student work by Shon Tanner: right: Azul Reál Cachaça by Adam&Co.)

(left: Student work from Melissa Adams (this is actually a lot like some custom work I've been doing but you'll have to wait to see that later); right: Student work from Eyal Baumert)

(left Est natural cosmetics by Satelite, right: Lovejoy Vodka produced by Integrity Spirits and designed by ID Branding)

How lovely, right? So this got me to thinking- does a wedding invitation really need to be paper? I've been writing this post for a couple days and thinking what could be accomplished by just using stickers. Looking at these packages you can definitely have beautifully designed stickers and I've been trying to think of cool ways to base wedding invitations around it. I have some ideas but I'm not 100% there yet.

The more I think of weddings the more it seems everyone has these grand ideas of what it HAS TO be and less about what COULD work. Less thinking outside of the box- more building something better entirely, if that makes any sense*. :)

*It's hot today. My brain may be melting.

Just call me LiLo.

The paparazzi is coming to town. My good friend and rampant photographer is rollin' into town tomorrow and will be here for the weekend which means a host of wonderful things: a) I'll have quality photos of the invitations instead of my wobbly hand photos (I need a tripod but haven't bought one yet), b) we'll get to go have swanky drinks, c) you may find yourself a wedding photographer if you live in the DC/VA/MD and d) maybe, just maybe, I'll get a new facebook picture. Totally lame, I know, but I'm pumped.

EXCEPT for the fact I'm now realizing that I'll have a photographer with me for 3 days. Weddings are a day of looking good- I need to look good for 3 whole days. Thankfully Mother Nature has accepted my "step up" for some nice weather from a couple of days ago and it's been gorgeous here so I'll have some natural light on my side but- my hair?! Disaster. Skin? Well, that's doing fine except for the fact I'm not pretty sure I just jinxed myself. Clothes?! The fear is rising. I may need to go hide under my desk for a bit.

But in honor of my neurosis I'm going to bust out the Oprah move for you all. My bridesmaids are way cool and therefore have been asked to be in other weddings. At my shower, Jenn pulled us all aside and said "Listen- when we take pictures at the wedding- this is how you have to stand. I heard about it on Oprah." We all leaned in eagerly the hear the Gospel of the Mighty Oprah. "You need to rotate your body about 15 degrees so the photo isn't taken of you straight on or you'll appear wide. You'll have your bouquet but you NEED to carry it with your arm away from your body otherwise you'll have a big fat smooshy looking arm. And plant the bouquet at your hip so it doesn't block your entire middle."

Check it out:
Look at those toned arms! We're not completely swallowed by bouquets! Just rocking it.

Boys kind of look they're worried about getting punched downtown but I'm not sure if there's a boy "Oprah Move". Eh, boys don't have to wear strapless dresses though so they're on their own.

Have a great weekend!

Taxes suck- have something for free!

Yes--- FREE! In my trolling the internet for any free thing I could find after the IRS took everything short of a kidney from us, I thought, "Hey self, you have a business. YOU could give something away."

Self, that is a lovely idea! But what to give away? A quick ponder up to the heavens:
Oh right! Those fois bois* table numbers I've been meaning to make because I love the Martha Stewart Macy*s brochure with the fois bois cover I got while I was planning my wedding 3 years ago and finally decided that would be a good idea for table numbers and wrote it on my chalkboard ceilings to remind myself over three months ago but hadn't done anything with until my new custom bride mentioned her wedding was going to take place under an oak tree and found some lovely fois bois making it so much easier for me to make actual table numbers today!

Whew.

I made 7 different colors all with table numbers 1-12 (and named them increasingly silly names): [row 1] gray, marigold, red, [row 2] moss, sky blue, stained and [row 3] raw.

Click each of the color names above to download your very own copy. The files are all about 14MB so they may take a couple of minutes to download.

(sample page of "Raw" pdf)

If you still need more:

• Subway is giving out free cookies,
• PF Chang's is offering a 15% discount on your meal tonight,
• buy a coffee at Dunkin Donuts today and get a free donut,
• Walgreens is offering 15 free 4x6 prints (enter coupon code TAXDAY at W Photo check out on April 15, 2008 only),
• board games are 10% off today at Troll and Toad,
• McCormick & Schmick's is offering diners a $10.40 certificate for future use and there'll be $15 to $20 entrees discounted to $10.40,
• MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery will give away single-scoop servings to customers at 200 stores,
• Cinnabon will give out Tax Day Bites, free bite-size cinnamon rolls usually known as Classic Bites (from 5 to 8 p.m.),
• T.G.I. Friday's will give Wednesday customers $5 Bonus Bites gift cards for food and beverage purchases of $15 to $25 and $10 cards for those who spend more than $25 as well as members of the 1,000-outlet chain's frequent-customer program also will get double points,
• (for those West Coast readers) Taco Del Mar will run a promotion: "Taxes Suck. Tacos Don't." People can register at the Taco Del Mar website for an e-mailed coupon for a free tax day taco,
• and I BET that California Tortilla is giving away SOMETHING but, alas, I'm no longer in DC so I don't know.

ENJOY! And it would be so very lovely if you send pictures of the table numbers if you use them. :)

*Edited at a much later date to add: I took french for 7 years and now am having a panic attack that "fois bois" is incorrect and it should be "faux bois" which seems to make more sense but google is showing both as viable. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know. Merci!

And the winner is...

ARIEL AND ERIC ON THE DARK BACKGROUND!

(Ariel and Eric photo by Azetylen found on deviantart)

And by Ariel and Eric, I am referring, of course, to the Little Mermaid and what Hans Christian Anderson probably wanted them named. Nothing at all to do with a very powerful mouse. All Hans Christian Anderson, indeed.

Thank you to everyone who voted!!

Rut-ro George!

I just took a look at the poll (on the right hand navigation) for the Ariel/Eric or Jackie/John invitations and we have a 3 way tie!! So in keeping up with recent elections-- every vote counts. I don't know who I'll call in for recounting votes and special election panels so let's just have a definite winner, okay?

I'm running off to yoga now but I wanted to share something else I found on my old CDs the other day:

This was a banner ad from Target's Club Wed that I saw the very first time I logged onto the Knot. I loved it. I thought, "Dress-- check-- just need to track it down." So I posted it to forums and scoured designer sites and email Target's main office and stalked their stylists' blogs and-- SQUAT! In the end I found another dress that was nothing like the one above and loved it and we've been living happily ever after since then. Moral of the story-- everything will be okay. Maybe not how you first envisioned it-- but it will be okay.

Come one, come all-- get your ephemera!

I love the idea of vintage tin cans or old cigar boxes used to carry flower, favors, or just as decoration. In the description of the Martha Stewart photo above she (or rather, her people) say "New or vintage, the containers are inexpensive and easy to find at specialty-food stores, tag sales, and online auctions." Riiiight. I mean it sounds feasible but I bet somewhere in the world right now there's a bride gearing up to go on ANOTHER search through thrift stores this weekend hoping to find cans like in the picture, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and wondering why the 5 cans in her recycling bins can't just look more interesting.

So, when I came across papier valise provisions this morning I needed to share. Feast your eyes on these:

I think the question you should be asking yourself is what CAN'T you attach those to?! All for under $5 and in most cases you get several in a package. And did I mention that it's $5 Canadian?!! Which is, as of 10:31 am on Friday April 3rd, $4.04 American dollars.

OH... planning a garden wedding... how about these for table numbers?
For the low low price of $4.50 (CAD) for 7.

Or are you having a photo booth, you lucky duck, and need some tickets?
Take your pick because the above is one of many tickets they sell.

And I'm sure you can find uses for these gems as well:


And those are only the highlights so go take a look for yourself: papier valise provisions

The REAL Special Preview!!

Note to self: there is a deep love of grammar in those who read this blog. :)

I thought my funny joke from yesterday's ghastly "invitation" would be that it was printed on an index card trying to be letterpress that had "BYOB" on it and was generally hit by every branch of crappy wedding invitation foof on as it fell out of the ugly tree. The grammar error of "you're"/"your" was something I thought would be my own little "tee hee" in addition but you all are quick on the uptake!

Anyway, thank you for putting up with my attempt at humor. :) Here's the real deal.

Errr...but it's not that simple. The bride came up with two fabulous ideas for a famous couple names and now I can't decide which I like better. On top of that we originally tried out both light text on dark background and dark text on light background and the two friends I polled on it, of course, each picked one. Let's throw it all on the wall and see what sticks!




I've added a poll to the right hand side of the blog so vote for your favorite!

Harry Potter in the hizzouse!

So my wonderful lovely friend R. emailed me the other day asking:

in your online searches have you seen anything about how to have a harry potter/fantasy wedding? i can find stuff for little kids birthday parties. im thinking things like instead of floral centerpieces, candlescapes with river rocks and dried moss, and there will be lanterns placed around the property. where/how can i incorporate other things like that?!

which of course is awesome sounding so I went all crazy today and found stuff I thought would be cool and I was half way into entering it all into a big inDesign document which I would pdf for her and I thought, "Perhaps there are others. Perhaps I should share"

And here we are. Any images that are small you can click to make larger.

Elegant rustic


First of all my scanner crapped out on me but I was able to find some of the photos that I had flagged online. This is one of them. (Tee hee this was just for R. but we'll keep it)

I think it has that floating candle vibe which I’ve always liked about the Hogwarts Dining Hall (which is apparently the dining hall of Christ Church College’s in Oxford if you’re looking for specific pics but I’m sure you knew that). I’m sure it’s a little flowery-er than you were thinking but I think replacing the flowers with moss and such would get the idea going. The one downside to this one is that the centerpiece is tall which makes it harder for people to talk. But that might not bother you or you could scale it down.

http://www.brides.com/planning/flowers/gallery/editorspick/detail/164942?f=3126%3a58&f=664%3a2023&offset=9#_chip=0


Images from Brides.com “Go Green”


These were the other images from my book that I found online, conveniently in the same section. Instead of searching for Harry Potter or fantasy I started looking at the elements you were looking for- moss, candles, etc and most places categorize them as “rustic”, “eco”, or something like that. I think that gets at half of the Harry Potter theme but adding the candles and whatnot will give it more of an elegant- exclusive children’s magic school vibe.

I think the crazy plants in the second one again, might not be hitting the mark, but definitely will give a magic-y non-standard look.

Oh and everything is green (color not environment) b/c that’s what I had flagged for myself back in the day.

http://www.brides.com/planning/ecochicweddings/feature/slide/164830/?nav=redirect_slideshow#_slide=164832

Martha Martha Martha

I thought these candles were kind of cool. When I think Harry Potter/fantasy I also conjure up the spells classes with all the cool sciency looking glass stuff. Also I didn’t get a chance to search for it but try “enchanted” or “fairytale” weddings to see if that gets at the theme without being specifically Harry Potter.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/50-great-centerpieces?lnc=00e72f09fba1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_Homepage&lpgStart=1&currentslide=11&currentChapter=1

Mood Lighting

So I liked the look of all the candles and then OMG - there’s a book in the middle too. Fabulousness. This site had a bunch of cool stuff on the page so I kept it to the label not just the one post.

www.dcnearlyweds.com/labels/Decorations.html

Jackpot
(click to make larger)
I’m sure this is about 6 billion times girlier than you were thinking but it has a bunch of fun elements. I found this by searching for “beaker centerpiece” not really sure what I was going to find but I think the beakers and the fern-looking plants look cool BUUUUT I kind of freaked out when I saw the last jar on the bottom is labeled “love potion”. I think it would be hilarious if you put booze in them too. But that's just me.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/11/10/real-wedding-by-james-abel-ii-5/

Birchwood Centerpiece Tutorial

Kind of self-explanatory.
http://kurtcyr.com/birchwoo.htm

Mossy Centerpiece From Blog

http://highwaytomarriage.blogspot.com/search/label/Center%20pieces

Martha Stewart is a God


The mushrooms may be a little much but this has a small tutorial about working with the moss and some info about buying stump vases. Also we used some mushroom bits in my centerpieces but they were more large abstract looking leaves or pod-like.

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.58031cf9775720e593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=26d552c56ed38110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f66452c56ed38110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=print&currentslide=1&rsc=communitytools_gardening&lnc=8599cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&page=1

You can see the mushroomy bits a little in my knottie bio- scroll down to flowers: http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/default.aspx?UserName=kreinertsen&m=1&MsdVisit=1

More mossy stuff
These had a little more whimsy in them.

http://blog.kimvallee.com/archive/2007/07/17/trend-report-the-raw-materials-are-the-honor-guests-of.aspx

Now more stumps
I think this has a link where to buy as well.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2007/10/16/wedding-details-by-small-stump/

Nice mix of nature and elegance

This site has a lot of looks like this. Fun and out of the box. And yes, I've mentioned them on the blog before.

http://hatchcreativestudio.com/

The second photo is by the same people but from here:
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/08/21/table-inspirations-by-hatch-creative-studio/

I LOOOOVE this place


If nothing else it gives you an idea of what is out there. Also since I’m thinking of it now my cousin once told me that she gets all of her candles at Church supply store b/c they’re much cheaper there.

I’m not sure if the lanterns come with the place but I think Pearl River has lanterns that are pretty cheap.

http://www.jamaligarden.com/

Ok well it's not one definitive answer but hopefully enough ideas that can be cobbled together to something out of this world. Although if I've totally missed the mark, R., just let me know and I'll keep working at it. :)