Top 5: Wedding Themes

I don't know what it is about weddings lately, but it seems that all of a sudden EVERYONE I know is planning their upcoming nuptials. I have already been to one wedding this spring, have three on my calendar, and know two couples who got engaged over the weekend. Apparently the entire world is twitterpated right now (or maybe it's a residual effect of Ring by Spring?) because even I have bridal on the brain! So far I've been able to suppress my desire to create a cliche dream wedding Pinterest board but that hasn't stopped me from keeping a hidden Gmail folder full of links to ideas. After searching through my archives, here are my current favorite wedding themes and trends.

5. The Hunger Games-Inspired Wedding

Photography by
Courtney Clarke Photography

When it comes to creating a wedding around a movie or novel, I can tell you that recent phenomenon The Hunger Games wouldn't be at the top of my list. But the ladies over at The Wedding Chicks used the characters to inspire a beautiful rustic wedding with vintage glass, bows and arrows, and - what else? - wonderful artisan breads. I especially like the invitations with the line "together with the blessing of the Captiol"

See the entire photo shoot at The Wedding Chicks




4. Up-Inspired Wedding

When it comes to love stories, it's hard to beat Carl and Ellie's in Pixar's UP. Their heartwarming romance inspired couple Lynnette and Jimmy to design their entire wedding around the film. It's perfectly adorable, with balloons, picnic blankets instead of seating, even the hand-print mailbox. My favorite piece is the sweet bottle cap pin worn by the groom.

Photos by Wildflowers Photography

 See the whole wedding at the Disney Wedding Blog








3. The Princess Bride-Inspired Wedding

Why didn't I think of this?? For a movie that centers around a princess getting married, it sure doesn't get used as wedding inspiration much. Inconceivable. While this (like the Hunger Games wedding) is only a photo shoot, their details were fantastic - from swords at the end of each pew, to vials of iocane powder, white horses, and a cake declaring "as you wish", it captured the film fantastically. I love the peanuts as favors/snacks - although there is no mention of "wuv, twoo wuv," which I would absolutely have to include were I throwing a Princess Bride wedding!

View the entire photo shoot at Green Wedding Shoes






2. Bright Backyard Wedding

This colorful and whimsical event is exactly the kind of wedding I would love to have. It's fun and playful, with paper lanterns in the trees, chevrons, custom beverage bottles, mason jars, paper flags, and best of all, pompoms to throw at the newlyweds instead of rice or bubbles. Not to mention the circus tent and bistro lights! It looks like a fun wedding to attend.

See more of the wedding at Merriment Events

1. Bright DIY Wedding

Take the #2 wedding, combine it with this one, and you have the perfect Sweet Madness Dream Wedding: bright colors, vintage pieces, unique floral arrangements, and everything do-it-yourself. They even gave out custom-wrapped jars of peanut butter as favors! Talk about creative. The only reason this wedding earned the #1 spot, though, is because of those fabulous tights the bridesmaids are wearing. I can't wait to make my future bridal party do the same!

Check out the rest of the wedding at 100 Layer Cake

Top 5: iPhone Apps

After waiting (rather impatiently), I finally have an iPhone! My home computer, laptop, and mp3 player are all white Apple products, and it had been killing me that my cell phone was a clunky black first-generation Droid. Two weeks ago my phone upgrade was finally available, so I used the money I got back from my state tax return and purchased a shiny white iPhone 4S. Now everything matches! And syncs properly! I'm one happy girl.

Since getting my new phone I've been downloading all sorts of things from the App Store, since so many apps are only available on the iPhone platform. It's weird how some companies wouldn't (or for some reason couldn't) create the same app for the Android system. I actually had a list of all the things I wanted but was not able to download on my old phone, ready and waiting for my upgrade. Below are my favorite (non-gaming) apps so far.

5. Instagram

I had been checking periodically to see when this would be available, and was so excited to finally be able to use it on my new iPhone - then they released the Android version the same weekend as I turned off my Droid. Figures. I love being able to take/edit/share photos so quickly; it's great to be able to share things I'm seeing or experiencing almost instantly. And now it's owned by Facebook, so we'll see how that goes...






4. WhatTheFont

As a graphic designer, I use MyFont.com's What the Font! tool all the time. I even have it pinned to my bookmarks bar next to the link to iStock, that's how often I use it at work. Often we'll get low-res logos and need to replicate them larger, and What the Font! is a super easy way to identify a font when you don't recognize it or know its name. With the iPhone app you can take a picture, run it through the program, and it will tell you the closest font. How sweet is that??




3. Flipboard

I actually discovered this app in an iPad commercial - it was one of the apps loaded on the home screen in the ad. It had a great looking logo (I totally judge apps by logo/user interface) so I looked it up to see what it did. Turns out that Flipboard is basically an RSS reader - it delivers news and updates to your phone either from sources you frequent (such as popular blogs or online magazines) or from a variety of sources on a specific  topic (like technology, book reviews, or celebrity gossip). It's easy to use and gives you a quick visual overview of everything that is happening in your sphere of interest. 

2. SoundHound

I've been using SoundHound for a couple of years on my Droid, and it's one of the few apps that I carried over to the new operating system. It's a music recognition app that you turn on while a song is playing to find out the title and artist. There are other apps that do the same thing but I've always had good luck with SoundHound, with the exception of one locally-based band whose song always came up as some obscure song by The Bangles. Plus it features a giant "start recording" button that is really easy to hit while going 70 on the highway (don't tell my mom I do that). I often use its bookmarking tool to remember songs I want to download later.


1. Evernote

This is one of the best apps ever created, probably in my top 3 after mobile banking and DropBox (that was a LIFESAVER during college - if you don't have it go sign up now!). It's a cloud-type service that lets you save web clippings, photos, and text (for free!) to reference later. What's awesome about this is that you can access it from anywhere - your phone, your desktop computer, or online using any computer. So I can type a grocery list and have it on my phone, or make a note while waiting in line at the bank and have it saved to my laptop, or even save photos and information in a note and collaborate with another Evernote user. I use it to store things I want to post to Pinterest, keep lists of books I am looking for, and keep ideas for future blog posts (yes, there is a whole list of Top 5 ideas!). You can even tag your notes and search them by keyword or category. The possibilities are endless - they already make Evernote Hello (a way to remember people you meet), Evernote Food (for recipes, food photos and restaurant locations), and Evernote Peek (a flashcard app that utilizes the iPad smart cover), but you can use the app for just about anything.

What app do you use often? Anything I need to be downloading?

Best Thing: Stock Photography

When working at a computer for 8 hours a day, you come across some really ridiculous things on the internet. One of my favorites is searching for an image on a stock website and finding something completely irrelevant or just plain weird. Following the template of design critique blog Pr*tty Sh*tty, below are good and bad samples from one of my past searches:

Search Terms: "farmer, field"


Good

It didn't fit my project, but isn't this kid freaking adorable? I bet that is his favorite outfit. And that he listens to a lot of Toby Keith.














Bad

This photo is titled "Amish lifestyle." First of all, Amish religious practices do not allow pictures to be taken of their faces. Second, if they were a married Amish couple, that guy would have a full beard. And third, since when are Amish hipsters??








Photos are available through iStock photos.