Then there’s the Etsy route.. I think Sarah Seven makes particularly pretty ones.

Etsy is is also great for hair accessories, jewelry, bridal shrugs, purses, bridesmaid gifts, etc. They have really expanded their offerings, some you can find on their weddings dedicated blog.

For other inspiration, I relied heavily on blogs like Style Me Pretty and 100 Layer Cake, and Martha Stewart Weddings. New York Magazine has a wedding section that provides endless information for everything you need.

For Bridesmaid dresses the companies I like are:

• Simple Silhouettes
• Two Birds
• J.Crew
• Coren Moore
• Thread
• Jenny Yoo
• Nordstrom
• Priscilla of Boston

Our Wedding:

Will and I were married in June, 2009 at Eolia Mansion located on the grounds of Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, CT. When it came to deciding where to get married, despite our initial idea of a casual Mexico beach wedding, our focus shifted when we realized our grandparents would not be able to travel. We had so many other things to consider including sticking to a planned budget. While scouting for locations, we were hoping to find something on Long Island sound, but given our short lead time and hurdles like finding places we loved but they were already booked, it felt like it was taking forever to nail something down. I finally found our location one night while looking at public parks. Even though I was raised in CT, I had never been to Harkness State Park, (it’s 2 hours north of my home city) or realized it was one of the most idyllic locations for a wedding. We loved the fact that it was on the water, had historical significance, was gorgeous without being ostentatious, and was a comfortable size to hold our guests, yet still intimate. We especially loved that the rental fee was going back into the upkeep of the mansion and park, and that we could come back whenever we wanted and walk the grounds.

I wanted to add to my dress to give it some detail, and make it unique. Looking at a UK Bridal magazine gave me an idea to do a flower shoulder, and I went to the Garment district in Manhattan and picked out silk flowers and they made it for me while I waited. It had snaps so that I could remove it while dancing. My sweetheart sister-in-law gave me a gorgeous silk hair flower from Twig & Honey that coordinated with the flower shoulder.

It was fun putting together my bridesmaid’s gifts. I used vendors from Etsy primarily, and filled personalized tote bags with a necklace with their initial, perfume customized specifically for them and packaged in vintage bottles, travel-size Korres items for the weekend, an emergency kit via 100 Layer Cake, and snacks like almonds and M&M’s.

I made the little nest that held our rings with craft supplies bought at Michael’s.

The wedding had a bird and garden theme and one of the highlights of planning this was working with our florist, Elisabeth of Blush Floral on decor. I had so much inspiration to share with her, and she was eager to collaborate on ideas and execute my direction while still contributing her own special touches. For favors we gave trees, as a nod to the environment as well as a celebration of our new beginning. My mother and father-in law took the remainder of left-over trees and planted them on their property. They are hoping that in say, 10 years, our bridal party can come back and cut down their Christmas trees from them! The escort and table cards were really fun to put together. Elisabeth and I worked on an idea to have two wooden box garden beds filled with moss and fern and stake the escort cards in the beds. Each table had a card with a different bird in a bright color which matched the birds on the escort cards. I sometimes miss the fun of all the planning, and I was so lucky to find some amazing vendors, in particular, Elisabeth of Blush Floral, Jennie Fresa of Jennie Fresa Beauty Library, and the wonderful Maggie Conley. They are truly talented professionals and it was a pleasure working with them, and knowing them.

All of the stationary was primarily designed by me using a combination of methods. Our letterpress invitations and reply cards {top left} I designed in Adobe Illustrator, and we had them letterpress printed in Brooklyn. The remaining pieces of the suite including the Directions card, Save the Date, Rehearsal Dinner invite, were ordered from Wedding Paper Divas. The ceremony programs, escort cards, table cards and menus, were designed and printed on my home printer using various papers I purchased at Paper Presentation. One night in the subway at Union Square, we met Ming who cuts your silhouette while you wait, and I loved them so much that I used them for the menus and ceremony programs. Here’s a paper related story: We were so stressed out trying to finish the ceremony programs a couple of days before the wedding because the alignment was off on the printer, and we had to do so many test-runs taking much more time than we had planned. We were packed and supposed to leave New York that night to go up to Connecticut for the rest of the week before the wedding. I had put everything in our living room that we needed to bring and told Will to take everything he saw that was out and packed, and put it in the car. This included my wedding dress which was covered and hanging on the door above my suitcase. I guess he didn’t notice it as “one of the things to put in the car.” Well, in all the craziness, and leaving at 4am completely sleep deprived and frazzled, I took a look in the back of the car about 40 minutes into our drive and realized I had forgotten my wedding dress! So we had to go all the way back home through an obstacle course of tolls in Queens and retrieve it. Now we can laugh, but as a lesson, if you decide to do all this printing yourself, try to do it ahead of time so that you don’t make mistakes like that!

Our lovely bridesmaids wore dresses by Priscilla of Boston with gold shoes. Our dashing grooms wore black suits from Macy’s and we picked out green silk ties by Rooster that matched the green in our color scheme.

Lucky for us we had 2 close DJ friends who were able to provide music at the beginning and end of the night, and we hired a soul reggae band called Buru Style that included great vocals by lead singer, Toussaint. Everything came off without a hitch, including the weather which gave us a good scare up until the day of. It was a truly magical night that I sometimes wish I could attend just as a guest this time to experience all that I missed being a busy bride. It’s true as they say…it’s the best night of your life and it goes by in a flash!

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All the details:

Venue: Eolia Mansion at Harkness State Memorial Park | Floral: Blush Floral | Bride’s Gown: La Sposa | Shoes: J.Crew | Silk flower: Twig & Honey | Bridesmaids: Priscilla of Boston – Vineyard Collection | Grooms: Suits by Macy’s and green ties by Rooster | Make-up and Hair: Jennie Fresa Beauty Library {the BEST in the biz}| Our amazing Photographer: Maggie Conley | Catering: A Thyme to Cook | Tree Favors: The Green World Project | Tent Paper Lanterns and lighted trees: Garden of Eden | Music: Buru Style with Toussaint and DJ’s Lord Lewis + David Freeburg

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{All above photos by Maggie Conley Photography}