hello lions,
i am really pleased to have carmen from Closet Case Vintage chatting with us for our local feature friday. she’s going to share some of her favorite wedding pieces, but first a little background:

dL: how did CCV get off the ground? and where can we find your products?

carmen: Closet Case Vintage started in 2008 after I had been collecting massive amounts of vintage for a few years. it’s available at pre to post modern on 8th avenue south in nashville, tennessee and worldwide at http://www.etsy.com/shop/closetcaseVNTG

dL: what are the types of clientle who seek your services?

carmen: my local clientele varies widely in age and personal style, as i try to cater to the open minded artistic crowd. the clientele on etsy tend to have exotic names and locales, as i ship mostly to australia, france, japan and italy. it’s so exciting to say that CCV has gone international!

dL: what are some of your hopes + goals for CCV?

carmen: CCV’s goal is to continue to do better in all aspects of the company, from the advertising to the photography to making hard-to-find items available!

dL: give us your take on vintage weddings. what do you love? what’s coming up next?

carmen: weddings are so exciting because there are endless possibilities! whether you have an endless budget or a limited one, vintage and hand made is the way to go! i love the idea of a black and white wedding, where everyone wears black expect for the bride and the decor has hints of red. my dream wedding them is valentine’s day! Since I go to etsy.com for EVERYTHING, here are my picks for the black/white wedding:

my top wedding dresses in all eras and price ranges (always clickable):

1890's

1930's

1940's

1970's

vintage accessories:

steampunk cufflinks for him

red pendant for her

to find out what will happen next

many thanks to carmen + Closet Case Vintage for giving us some beautiful options for vintage wedding attire!

love to all,

lindsey

say hi: lindsey@dandylionevents.com

hello lions,

sometimes it’s hard to ask what you think might be a stupid or obvious question. my advice is to hash out every single detail: it can cost you money to not know. for instance, did you know that churches charge you money to be married in their facility?

photo credit here

yes it’s a holy and sacred space- but it’s a business, too. for a popular church or during ‘wedding season’ there can be a rental fee exceeding 4 digits. that doesn’t include the fee for the tech person to be at the rehearsal and wedding to mic up the officiant, your intended and you. do you see how fast this can spiral out of control? ask every question. this is part of why we recommend getting help with your wedding or event. doesn’t have to be from us!

what questions do you have? you can ask here anonymously or send me an email at lindsey@dandylionevents.com

love to all,

lindsey

so if you saw this

and are now considering eloping because of the cutesy overload

and wanted to take that vomitrocious crap and make the happy couple into zombies

you’re in the right place.

love to all,
lindsey

hello lions,

this little lioness is going to paint the jungle of nashville black + yellow!

logo + claw poster are the creative products of meredith our graphic design lioness

have you entered our contest yet?

with love,

lindsey

say hello: lindsey@dandylionevents.com

hello lions,
for our local nashville feature, i’m happy to be sharing pictures and stories courtesy of stephanie at la photographie nashville. (she also provided the awesome images for our giveaway post.)

la photographie can travel through the entire planning process with you, from your engagement photos,

to boudoir shots,

to the big day itself!

plus, my personal favorite- their classic pin-up style!

whether your style is rockabilly, 1920s- 1940s glamour or timeless + classic, la photographie can provide a powerful set of clear + beautiful images. they’ll make your wedding photos pop! how do you want to remember this special time?

with love,

lindsey

say hello: lindsey@dandylionevents.com

hello lions,
it’s unfortunate that more emphasis goes to the wedding itself rather than the relationship. our purpose is to bring the focus back on celebrating the couple in love.

what are you including in your ceremony? what are you leaving out?

with love,
lindsey

say hello: lindsey@dandylionevents.com

Good day, my darling lions!

Have you entered our very dandy giveaway yet? If not, click here to read about our amazing give-away!

You know floral design is something near and dear to my design-y, ambiance-y heart. I see so many brides choosing the same-old, same-old when it comes to bouquets. You know what I’m talking about…hand tied with ribbon, spherical mixed mounds of flowers. I’ve made so many of these, I could probably whip one up in my sleep.

Alright, lions, time to toss those mass-produced bouquets. You’re unique, you’re quirky…why can’t the flowers you carry down the aisle reflect this? Here are some different shapes and variations on the traditional that you can try!

Love that round shape but want something different?

Okay, let’s start with something akin to the in vogue design. A biedermeier bouquet is comprised of concentric circles of individual colors and flowers…kind of like a floral bulls-eye! These bouquets are very formal in feel and design and work really well with a very traditional looking gown.

Scale down that round bouquet and you have a nosegay. Nosegays are teeny little bouquets (very Victorian in feel and look) comprised of smaller flowers, greenery, and sometimes mounted in a tussy-mussy (a little metallic holder…very cute and very vintage!).

Are you wearing your grandmother’s dress from the 1940’s or 50’s? A ballerina bouquet is a sweet tip of the hat to your nana. Instead of lots of flowers, this uses tulle, fabric, ribbon, and greenery to create the illusion of a bouquet with only a few flowers woven in.

Now, take your typical round bouquet and tug on it. A teardrop bouquet is based on the same shape, but with some length towards the bottom. This style can draw attention to an intricately beaded and embellished bodice.

Take that length a step father to the super-romantic, dramatic cascade bouquet. Short brides, beware…cascades might make you look short. However, for those of us comfortable in our short stature, these bouquets are romance all wrapped up in one neat package! Princess Diana rocked one of these when she got married, so if you’re looking for a royal wedding, choose one of these.

Next is my personal favorite as far as the round bouquet family goes. A composite bouquet is a large flower that is assembled by gluing or wiring petals together to make a larger flower. In one of my earlier posts, I referenced a duchess rose I created out of eighteen individual roses. You can also make a glamelia (a camellia made out of gladiolus florets) or a galax rose (made out of galax leaves wired together).

Not a roundy-moundy girl?

Consider taking a page from yours truly and having a presentation bouquet draped across your arm. You can channel your inner Miss America with this bouquet. I carried a bouquet of bells of Ireland, jade roses, Tropicana roses, mango calla lilies, super green carnations, lily grass, and one very sneaky red carnation that draped across my arm. I loved it because I had a very heavily beaded bodice and chiffon overskirt that split at an Empire waistline, and I didn’t want to disguise that. Besides, I’m the floral + ambiance lioness!

Pomander bouquets aren’t just for flower girls anymore. These little orbs of flowers leave your hands free to hug friends and family, but when hung on a shepherd’s crook, double as reception décor. Double duty means less cost, dear lions!

Going with the same idea of keeping your hands free, a wrist bouquet would look amazing. No, this isn’t your traditional ribbon and lace corsage. Instead, think of a few flowers woven with my favorite tool, deco wire, cascading off your wrist with a shower of crystals and petals. It’s fun, funky, and far from traditional.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas of different ways to accessorize with flowers for your weddings. So I challenge you again dear lions, as I always do, push that envelope! Don’t settle for the same old, same old; expand your floral boundaries! I’ll be right here to help you along the way.

Unbridled love,

Amanda

floral + ambiance lioness

want to pick my brain? e-mail me at amanda@dandylionevents.com

hi lions!

today is the big day! we are beginning our dandy giveaway!

(c) Stephanie www.laphotographienashville.com

hang on to your hats- we’re offering free wedding/commitment ceremony coordination to one lucky couple!

it will include meetings, event direction for the rehearsal dinner and the day of the event, aid in venue and vendor search, set-up and take-down, access to borrow all our existing materials, assembly and mailing of invitations, managing rsvps and more depending on where the couple is in the planning process.

entering is easy! just email your creative ideas, individual perspective and unique projects to lindsey@dandylionevents.com. if you refer a friend to us (and tell us) via email, twitter, facebook, commenting on the blog, etc- you’ll be entered twice!

deadline to enter is February 20 at midnight, central time. on February 22nd, we’ll post the top 3 and open it to an audience vote. the winner will be chosen on February 26th, notified by email and announced on the blog.

nitty gritty details

your wedding date can be no sooner than May 21, must be over 18 to participate, must be awesome, must be in middle TN, and willing to let us talk about how dandy you and your partner are on our blog and other materials after the event. if you’d like to send us pictures of the two of you we would welcome that also!

we’re doing a give-away. the details are super-secret right now but i’ll be sharing more info on friday. in the meantime, sign up for our rss feed in the top right corner or subscribe to our dandyMail so you don’t miss a thing!

whatever could it be?

with love,

lindsey

got something to say? give it to me straight: lindsey@dandylionevents.com

Hello, my darling lions!

Do you know what I think is the hardest part of starting to plan your wedding/party? Picking your color palette tops the list, especially if you’re a design- nut like yours truly. My own wedding went through three different palette changes before I finally settled on one! Here are my quick tips for forming a jaw-dropping color palette that will transform your fête into a very dandy celebration!

Find the color that you can’t live without!

Close your eyes. What’s the one color that always makes you smile; that one color that seems to speak to you? It could be the color of your first bicycle or car, or maybe that color you always dressed in as a child, or even the colors of your alma mater! For example, a bride very near and dear to my heart loved the color purple. She didn’t want to wear an ivory colored dress (she was Snow White-esque pale with long dark hair and naturally red lips…gorgeous girl!), and her husband-to-be wasn’t wild about bridal white. Her reply was “Well fine, I’m going to wear purple,” and boy, did she live up to her threat. I loved her wedding colors; dusky Victorian lilac, intense royal purple, light green, and onyx. They really lived up to her rocker-chick vibe!

Got that color? Now break out your color wheel!

A color wheel is an artist’s best friend. I have one I keep in my floral toolbox for design purposes and for when I’m having a brain-block moment when trying to come up with centerpiece ideas. A great online color wheel is located at Colors on the Web. Got your color? We’re going to use dusky slate (hex value #B3C5D0, which is a toned down version of sky blue) for our base color.

Okay, look 180 degrees away (directly across the color wheel) and mark that color. That’s your complimentary color (e.g. red-green, purple-yellow), which you’ll need for these next color combinations. Our complimentary colors are the tints, tones, and shades around warm peach (hex value #FFB183).

Monochromatic colors are within tints, tones, and shades of your base color. So, for our dusty slate color, some monochromatic colors are cerulean blue, silver, white, and sky blue.

Analogous colors are directly next to each other on the color wheel, like purple and blue or yellow and orange. These ensure you stay in the same color family. So, back to our slate; add soft blue-greens and true greens into your color palette.

Triadic colors high-energy colors that are found by choosing three colors that are separated by 120 degrees on the color wheel. The primary (red, blue, and yellow) and secondary (purple, orange, green) colors are examples of triadic colors. With our slate blue, we have spring green and dusky rose thrown into the mix.

Tetradic colors take the color wheel to the next level! Locate your color on the color wheel and draw a rectangle/square with your color as the first corner. These four values (e.g. blue, green, yellow, and red) are tetrad colors. Our slate blue is tetradic from spring green, dusky rose, and lilac purple.

Split complimentary color is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement (like blue, orange, yellow, and red). Our slate would be split complementary to peach, tan, silver, white, and sky.

Now you’ve got some schemes. Time to mix and match!

I’m a firm believer in using tints, tones, and shades to your advantage. If you’ve got one soft pale color, don’t be afraid to pump up the intensity on your remaining color values. For example, I chose Tennessee orange as my focal color which has always been my favorite summertime color (for multiple reasons), which is a coppery-orange. Being a bit more daring, I went with a tetradic color scheme and used lime green and orange with little touches of turquoise and magenta over black dresses and linens. I wanted a dress that my girls would use again and again, so I picked a black tea-length dress, and black is a wonderful neutral that makes any color pop.

My one big piece of advice is DON’T BE AFRAID OF COLORS! Pshaw, don’t stick to two colors. Push the envelope as hard as you can, lions! Love purple but want red dresses? Throw purple against oranges and reds in a bouquet for an intense pop of color!

Until next time, dearest lions, I encourage you to keep pushing that envelope and enjoy your colorful celebrations!

Unbordered love,

Amanda

floral + ambiance lioness

say g’day: amanda@dandylionevents.com