A Fantasy Fairy Tale Wedding

Idea #5. One of the cutest ways to add fairytale oomph to your wedding is with flower girls. As in multiple! One just isn’t enough.

Here’s pro number one to having all those FGs. You can dress them up in the kind of layered organza and tulle and foof and floral wreaths and ballerina shoes and skirts that even the most romantic bride would blush to wear. It’s like reliving those doll days all over again!

Pro number two. Adorable flotillas of flower girls give your wedding a subtly European flair. Big entourages of bridesmaids aren’t such the thing overseas, but gorgeous groups of pint-sized attendants are!

Pro number three. Gaggles of flower girls are more confident and even cuter than normal walking down the aisle.

Sold yet? But what do fairytale flower girls carry? Baskets of rose petals are classic, of course. Silk butterfly petals are a cute alternative. Or a super-chic choice: pomanders, or "flower balls", dangling from a ribbon.

Only caution with the pomanders is that they not get too big or heavy, or your tykes will ditch them! Silk are lighter than real, because the real ones need wet foam to keep the blooms fresh.

Photo credits: Michael Haslam, shirley77, mcuscire, rydeeroo, eddidit, teacherholly, neonrobotclub, eli jeproks, mchasesteely.

Here’s a tantalizing glimpse of a OTT pink and black fairytale wedding shot by the cake designer, N’Cakes. It’s all about chandeliers! Crystal! Marabou feather boas! Decadent rose pomanders and more crystal! Great palette, and what a fabulous couch for the B&G.

I’m so mad at myself. Idea #4 .. days and days late! [-(

This is a simple one that I really love, a decoration idea Kirstie Kelly used behind one of her Snow White gown designs.

If you don’t mind mixing your fairytale metaphors a tiny bit, this is so cool. Arrange a few large branch arrangements or potted trees around something important, like the cake table or reception entrance. They could be natural, like here, or sprayed white, bare or with twinkle lights.

Then hang apples (real or not). Here, they’re dusted with faux-snow. You could also sugar the apples, or just brush on glitter/glue, or just hang them as they are.

Guess who missed last night! Whoops :-” I’ll have to post two today.

First is from a woman who had a vow renewal at WDW in 2004 after 20 years of married bliss. She went all out — had the ceremony in the Wedding Pavillion (seats up to 300), reception in the Disney MGM studios theme park after hours, and even a custom fireworks display.

The wonderful thing is, in addition to posting plenty of photos of the planning & actual events, she also snapped and posted every single page of the WDW proposal the Disney planners sent her, with all their suggested options for cakes, linens, favors, CPs, you name it:

Janette - WDW Vow Renewal Proposal

Definitely prices have increased considerably since 2004, but it’s still fascinating to look over these docs and you don’t even have to call a DW planner!

You can see the rest of Janette’s great photostreams here:
Janette’s WDW photo collections

Fairytale week! Here’s idea #2. This is a Georgia bride who put together a fairytale wedding with a simple but successful design scheme. Her colors are gold, red and white, with dark foliage accents to set off these colors. Take a peek:

The best thing about this set, IMHO, is that it contains a VERY simple, fast, and pretty CP. (click through to see the whole photo.)

Basically this bride has filled an attractive glass goblet with craft store pearls, lots of crimson rose petals, water and a gold foil leaf. Then, there’s a small avalanche of more rose petals covering the base. Really, this looks great, doesn’t cost much, is totally fairytale and can be assembled by non-pros … relatives, friends … fast before the reception.

Plus, this CP looks great against the topiaries draped in twinkle lights in the background. Again the contrast of dark green lends elegance and weight. Overall, a scheme that’s sweet, not at all fussy, fits the theme … thumbs up.

Shaunta:
My programs are going to be based on the disney princesses and their men…I got this idea and pic during an image search on yahoo but I’m taking the idea and personalizing it…It will have the disney couple on the front with a ribbon at the top, but it include our names as well as the wedding date in the front too….Also, my fiance and I are Big theatre people and I’m having our programs look similar to a Playbill, except Weddingish instead of Broadwayish. Hope this helps some…

Hi Shaunta, cool idea! I think you’ll find what you’re looking for. My thought is to look around for mini scrapbooking books.

For example, this lot of 5 x 5″ blank mini board books on ebay; it has a ‘proper’ binding and four inner pages plus the two boards (covers).

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-X-5-Blank…Z005QQ

I’m imagining this with a small fairytale bookmark (brocade ribbon) tucked or glued between two pages and a beautiful cover you’ve designed, printed out and stuck on. (Or, a raw silk cover embellished with satin ribbon. Or, red velvet with tiny fringed or braided trim.) But search on “mini scrapbook album” or “blank mini board book” and see what you turn up. It sounds gorgeous.

I am trying to plan a Cinderella Wedding. I don’t want the original dreary wedding programs, instead I would like each program to be like a mini storybook in which it actually looks like a storybook and it opens up to be the program. Anybody have any suggestion where I could get something like this made or how would I make it myself. The wedding is November 1st and I’m have 350 guest….Please help!

Ok ladies, this is fairytale week. Every day this week (fingers crossed /:D ) I’ll be attempting to post a fairytale idea found on the web. It might just be a small detail, but something I hope someone can use in their planning.

So, here’s idea #1. This goes back to the idea of easels adding ambiance to your reception. Only, instead of staging a photoshoot, this woman scrapbooked several personalized fairytale posters to display around the room, some featuring gradeschool pics of the bride and groom. Of course, you could quickly change the mood by using engagement pics.

This woman is great with paper; she made an amazing letter book with a fairytale theme for the bride’s shower. Go here to see more on the posters and letter book: Kenlin86 Flickr stream

Hi Amber, definitely post some pics of your first dress, you might find a buyer here! And congrats on finding the dress of your dreams, even if its timing was a little off I’m sure that won’t matter much when you walk down the aisle in the one you really love.

Is there any way you could add a single layer of ivory or champagne tulle or organza to the skirt of the flower girl dress to darken it up some … maybe a latte sash? I’m looking at these colors side by side in the photo above and definitely see what you mean.

If not, I’ve heard ebay is a good place to get an inexpensive new flowergirl dress. Maybe someone here can suggest another good place … you might be able to sell the first on craigslist.

Hi everyone!

So I have a dilema! Last week I went to look at my girls dresses for the wedding, well they are beautiful. As I was leaving the bridal salon I saw this beautiful dress hanging on the rack. Actually beautiful isn’t a stong enough word, AMAZING is more like it. Well I went back the next day, because I kept thinking about it, tried it on and fell absolutely in :?:? with the gown. Well I went and purchased the gown. So here is my dilema…I now own two gowns :-”

I can’t return the first gown I purchased because I bought it at Davids Bridal and they said they don’t accept any returns. The dress has never been worn, tags still on it, never taken out of the garment bag.

My question is…has anyone ever sold a gown on line and had any luck? Or if anyone is looking for a gown (total princess gown) let me know!

Also, my new gown is the color diamond white. The flower girl dress is white. We paired the two together and her dress makes mine look dirty. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with this? A color that may work better (ivory, etc) or should I just deal with the white?

AGH HELP!!!!

Hi Rachel!

Actually, I took a look at the few photos I could find of Dave & Busters’ fabric-draped event rooms and they really look perfect for a medieval theme. I think a lot of brides with that theme would be thrilled to have an event room pre-decorated with all those heavy red velvet curtains so … good choice!

See if this Medieval section doesn’t give you some decorating ideas:
Medieval & Renaissance Weddings

Esp. the bottom one, “Your Medieval or Renaissance Reception.”

Lots of iron and pewter would be great here … can you bring in props? Will they let you into the room to decorate well ahead of time or is your time limited? It would be great if you could bring in a pair of rented thrones, a grand focal point like that. For centerpieces, someone on this site recommend Pinch n Paw for inexpensive Moroccan lanterns on table stands and iron candelabras. You have to look under Earthshop -> Candleholders & Lanterns and then patiently scroll through all the pages but the prices are good. You could twine ivy, ribbons or silk rose garland up the stand and sprinkle the bases with rose petals.

I’m seeing this with crystal-look faceted glassware and pewter-style chargers under the plates … also with floral arrangements of pink, red and ivory roses alternating with the table lanterns, to play up all that romantic red in the setting. (Of course on re-reading I see you already have your CPs, so please indulge me and excuse the bad reading!)

Other decorating tips that might or might not be practical for your setting: potted trees with twinkle lights are VERY effective for adding fairytale ambiance to a room. If you have enough room along the edges and can have a landscaper or rental co. come and set these up/break them down they will be beautiful. A bit of spot or pin lighting in between the trees can work wonders, too. Gobos with monograms are very fairytale and dramatic and would look wonderful projected along those walls.

With all this red it would be lovely if you could have a “red carpet” aisle runner at your ceremony, just as a foretaste.

rachel

if you google artificial moss rocks, you can find several discount craft and florial sights. Michael’s and/or Jo ann’s may have them too. i was at a wedding that used then. they had a woodsy theme, and everyone loved the extra touches she used. the moss rocks on the tables with floating candles, the moss rocks were used at the base of the cake too (the cake was leaves, mushrooms, and ferns). i think the moss rocks would be great for your theme too. the red and black in the room could really work for the medieval feel use lots of candle light everywhere. drap the balcony with lights and thick garlands of greens or thick garlands of fall leaves might be cool. i think you can do alot with it.

hello robyn,

thank you for the advice. I like the moss rock idea. Where did you see them? at a crafts store? like Michael’s or Jo ann’s?

I’m back. I have another question. We had to change our reception site and the only one we could find that was affordable and on our wedding date was Dave and Busters. Their hall is light years away from being “fairy tale”. It has red carpet, red curtains everywhere, and red lighting. The ceiling is black and it has a black railing (kinda like a balcony). Anyway, what can I do to make this place look a bit more fairytalish? The overlays for the tables are going to be in burgundy and gold and I have the grey cardboard castle centerpieces with the ivy wrapped around them (they were made out of wine boxes from hobby lobby and look like realistic castle towers with turrets). In addition, the towers have a luminarie in them since I don’t think it would be wise to use actual candle in them since it would be a fire hazard. I also have two gold suits of armor that I have yet to put anywhere and my card box is also a castle with the same color as the towers. My wedding is on October 11, 2008 so I only have a few months left and I have no idea how I am going to decorate this hall decently. My church does not need decoration since it is pretty just as it is (its a neo gothic church with stained glass windows, etc. So, if you have any suggestions, please e-mail me at ealfric@comcast.net. Thank you

Hi Rachel
castle cakes don’t have to be childish! Think about doing something more realistic,, or if you used cocolate icing with the gold and burg. The cake with the drap could be cool with gold drap and a realistic castle topper. Sounds like that would look good with the towers you and your mom have made. i have seen moss rocks (fake moss) that would be cool at the tower base with your rose petals.

This cake was perfect, my wedding theme was the Princess & The Frog…my caterer had a bible cake that he and I transformed into a storybook instead with a picture of my choosing on the left and a small story of how our wedding day came to be…on the other side.

it was gorgeous and everyone is still talking about how beautiful it was

I am getting married in October and I have also decided on a fairy tale theme. However, it will not be disney nor cinderella. I am going with a medieval/rapunzel theme which has been difficult to decorate. Currently, my mother has made castle towers for my centerpieces with some ivy wrapped around them. I have thought about using chargers in my colors (burgundy, gold, and ivory) and putting rose petals with some colored beads around it. I am wondering if it looks good at all. I would love some suggestions. Also, I want to have a castle cake but to many that I have seen are too disneyish or childish. I am having a hard time finding the perfect one.

Hi MaryAnn, what cute touches are you seeing at fairytale style weddings lately? Would love to hear some details if you have a moment.

Don’t forget the the very eligant Queens style, horse drawn carriages. The Romans used the most elegant and impressive horses and carriages to show their brides Royalty, LONG before Disney thought of Cinderella. The Cinderella Pumpkin carriage is nice…but some people feel too Princessy in it, and choose the more Queens style vis-a-vis or surrey. The type of horse really makes a difference too. Most certainly, choose a company that uses draft horses, but make sure they have the showy wedding horses, with show harnesses, not the field horses. They should braid and decorate their hair with roses to match your wedding.