TAYLOR + COLLIN | LOFTY SPACES

Yay! It's #MarriedFaceMonday!

We are beyond excited to share this wedding with everyone! Taylor and Collin's wedding was one for the ages. Every detail so thoughtfully chosen and every moment so full of love!

Taylor really wanted to create a colorful, overgrown garden aesthetic in a very industrial venue. We brought in lots of lush florals and vintage details to transform the loft space. Some of our favorite details include the paper suite (all designed by the bride herself!!), the maids in mixed dresses (coolest #girlgang ever!), and that cake table!! A spread of gorgeous cakes surround by a draping garden floral installation!

Of course, it wasn't just a beautiful wedding. It was an incredible celebration of love. If we had to absolutely pick just one, our favorite moment of the day would be the ceremony toast. Instead of a unity candle, the couple chose to have champagne passed to every one and to do a toast with all of their loved ones present and witnessing their vows. It was such a breath taking moment where you could feel all the happiness radiating from every guest.

And we can never say enough amazing things about our photography, Morgan Chidsey of A Sea of Love. She captured the whole day perfectly. Please enjoy this gallery and be sure to check out the full vendor team below.

VENDOR TEAM

PLANNING + FLORALS | CELEBRATE COLORFULLY
PAPER + WOODWORK | GYPSET CREATIVE
PHOTOGRAPHY | A SEA OF LOVE
VIDEOGRAPHY | TAYLOR JAMES
VENUE + CATERING | LOFTY SPACES
ENTERTAINMENT | DECADES BAND
CAKE | EAT MY CAKE
MAKEUP | ERIKA CURRY
HAIR | STYLING BY MACEY

TIPS | SAVING MONEY ON FLORALS

Summer is here, and we’re ready to talk flowers! This week we’re sharing some advice on saving money on your wedding flowers. Everyone planning a wedding knows how expensive a beautiful bouquet can be, but they don’t have to! Here are four tips on how to get the best bang for your budget.

Stay In Season

This tip is tried and true. If you want peonies in the dead of winter, you're going to be paying a pretty penny. Ask your florist for recommendations on flowers that fit your season and aesthetic.

Photo by Avery Earl.

DIY Does NOT Mean Easy

I always say you can DIY anything, just not everything. Flowers are something that I am very hesitant to encourage brides to do themselves for a few major reasons.

You must do a test run! This is non-negotiable! Give yourself the opportunity to try floral arranging a few months ahead of time and determine if it’s really something you feel you can tackle the week of your wedding. You might find that you love it, and making centerpieces is calming! You might also find that it’s not your thing and doing 20 centerpieces and ten bouquets two days before your wedding is more stress than it’s worth. Either way, you’ll feel good about your decision!

Flowers are perishable. IE. You can’t do them more than a day or two ahead of time. So on top of your family coming into town, last minute appointments, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, etc. you’ve got to find time to arrange flowers.

You have to buy much more than just blooms. In pretty much every wedding, we use pins, ribbons, shears, floral tape, wire, foam, vases, etc. It’s not that these things are complicated or challenging to track down, but these things can add up if you have to buy everything at once!

Photo by A Sea of Love.

Be Upfront With Your Budget

When you meet with a potential florist for the first time, come with a number in mind. Nothing is worse than a client coming in with all of these gorgeous inspiration photos, not knowing what they want to spend, and receiving a proposal from their florist that is way way WAY more than they wanted to spend. Flowers can be beautiful on any budget (seriously)! And there is absolutely no need to feel embarrassed by yours. Say it confidently and ask your florist for any expertise they can offer to maximize it!

Hire A Florist You Trust

If you hire a florist you trust, you can give them your color scheme, style, and budget and let them work their magic! If you trust your vendors, your wedding day will be stress-free because you know you've got a team working to make your day magical!

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle

Another piece of advice we like to give is if you want floral arrangements for tables, but don't want to spend the extra cash... use the bridesmaids' bouquets! Set some pretty vases on the tables, bars, or anything you want to decorate and ask the girls to place their flowers in the vases when the ceremony and pictures are done. Two birds, one stone! And honestly, no one will even notice.

A budget and a creative florist will make all your floral dreams come true!

VENDOR HIGHLIGHT | DELICIOUS CAKES

Cake. A dessert that hardly needs any more of an actual introduction beyond just that, simply because cake quite possibly just might be the eighth wonder of the world. At the mere site of cake, our inner hungry-child reawakens and beckons for a piece of the yummy sweet and soft deliciousness! 

Delicious Cakes, located in Addison and Southlake, is hands down one of the absolute best bakeries in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. With over 25 years of experience baking the most divine tasting and beautifully crafted cakes, you are sure to love both the taste and look of your next cake, cupcake, or grooms cake! We have personally tried several different cakes from Delicious Cakes over the years and have loved and savored every single bite! Keep reading to find out more about this wonderful Dallas treat that was voted into the 50 best wedding cake bakeries in America by Daily Meal! 

1. What are five words to describe your business? 

Fun, Creative, Delicious, Unique, Savory 

2. How did Delicious Cakes come to be?  

Ruthie (co-owner) works for Bridal Shows Inc. and in 2003 one of her clients who owned Delicious Cakes wanted to retire. At the time, Ruthie, her husband Butch, and their four beautiful girls were thinking about purchasing Delicious Cakes because of how it would be a great way for their girls to learn something about business and work ethics. In March of 2003, they sealed the deal and put Ruthie in charge and three of the four girls to work. Miranda, the oldest, took on the role of manager, Abigale, the second, had the responsibility of getting everything organized and setting up customer service policies and Katherine, the youngest and most artistic, took on the role of meeting with brides and helping them design the cake of their dreams and also started working in the kitchen decorating cakes. Butch was working for Trane air conditioning at the time and after piling up well over 2,000,000 miles on airplanes, he retired from Trane. He then realized he too had a talent for design and started sitting with brides and helping them design cakes and loved being able to spend his evenings at home with his family. Fast forward 13 years…Ruthie and Butch still own the bakery and have managed to put together an awesome staff that share the same values and commitment. 

3. How does Delicious Cakes stand apart from other cake bakeries?

Delicious Cakes has been in business for over 25 years and has established a wonderful reputation around the metroplex. With somewhere around 600 – 700 wedding cakes a year, 8000 followers on Facebook, and a passion for their work, the team at Delicious Cakes is one of a kind! As quoted from owner Butch, “I often tell people; “What makes our bakery stand out is LOVE”.  Our staff is like family and we love each and every one of them. One of our Baker’s secret ingredients is LOVE and that’s what makes the cakes so delicious. We love all of the brides that come to us and we try to make their experience with us enjoyable. We also have some specialty flavors that set us apart. They are the amoretto and toasted almond cake, chocolate liqueur, raspberry liqueur, kalua mocha and pink champagne ...and what makes them unique is the fact we use real booze in the recipes.”

4. What is your most popular cake? 

The Princess Cake, which is a moist vanilla cake made with the egg yolk to make it rich and creamy.  With 23 wonderful flavors to offer, this one sells twice as much as the others!  “Styles change every year.” said Butch. “Years ago, the meringue look finish was popular, last year it was horizontal spatula lines and this year the naked cake is popular.  Of course being in the Dallas market “BLING – BLING & more BLING” is always in season.”

5. What is a fun fact about your business?

“I really like to refer to us as a team. We all work and play with each other really well.  Our team is diverse and can pitch in whenever any one of us needs help.  A fun fact about our team is that we tease each other all day long and just have a good time at work!” – Butch. 

And the cherry on top…Delicious Cakes has been voted the “Best Of” from both The Knot and Wedding Wire! They also regularly bake model cakes for Brides of North Texas photoshoots and as mentioned above, were voted one of the 50 best wedding cake bakeries in America from Daily Meal! Now that’s delicious!

A special thank you to Butch for taking the time to share the story of Delicious Cakes with us! As you all know, Celebrate Colorfully has a major crush on wedding flowers and we especially love the wedding cakes featured in this post with their attention to detail and floral inspiration! We hope that we awakened your sweet tooth and you'll think about Delicious Cakes next time you need a cake!

INQUIRES 

Website | Facebook

All photos from Delicious Cakes

OUR NEW STUDIO + WORKSHOPS ARE HERE!

OUR NEW STUDIO!

We couldn't be more exited to share the big news that we will be moving in to a brand new studio in the Bishop Arts District in August! The Coterie will be a creative and colorful space full of the coolest wedding vendors in DFW! Hop over to the new website to stay updated with our progress and get an invite to our grand opening party later this fall!

WORKSHOPS ARE HERE!
 
We've been waiting on this one for so long but finally workshops are here! Whether you're a DIY bride, a #girlgang out on the town, or an aspiring florist, we want you to come hang out with us! You'll learn techniques to make flower crowns, centerpieces, and bouquets and have the time of your life in the process! Hop over here to see open dates!

AUGUST 18TH

AUGUST 25TH

AUGUST 28TH

TIPS | REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Most girls have a Pinterest, whether it's for DIY home ideas, clothing, or our personal favorite, weddings! On the other hand, most girls have also found that the pictures they quickly fell in love with on Pinterest, are often out of their wedding budget. 

This week, we have some tips and tricks to educate brides on the price tag of a pinterest wedding and how to have realistic expectations for your budget, because really... who doesn't have at least some sort of budget for their wedding!? People all around the world see the same images and fall in love with the same ideas, without any knowledge of where that venue is or how much that gown truly costs. Here are a few things to keep in mind! 

That venue doesn't always look that perfect at your budget.

Those drapes with twinkle lights are not always so perfectly placed, and in fact, the cost of the venue might not even include them. Having a venue add drapes and lighting can cost up to thousands of dollars extra! The additional costs at a wedding venue, for example, upgrading the color of the reception chairs from a black chair to a nicer white chair, can quickly add up and surpass your budget, so make sure you know what you want and if the venue includes those little details in their rental price. 

Photo courtesy of Nessa K Photography found on Pinterest.

That "discount bridal dresses" caption might be paired with a designer dress picture.

Pinterest can be deceiving at times... you can't always trust the caption that goes with the picture! Personally, I have about a million (okay, maybe not quite THAT many) dresses pinned for ideas when my time comes around, many of which have "cheap wedding dresses" as the caption. After doing some digging, I've found that most of the dresses, which I have imagined myself walking down the aisle in, are accompanied by a not-so-cheap top dollar price tag! Take those pictures and use them as inspiration for your own wedding gown, shop around, and find similar styles at local shops that are within your budget. 

Sometimes, we have to go to the professionals for help.

DIY this, DIY that. Yes! Don't get me wrong, you can save quite a bit of money doing things yourself, but if you're anything like me, there are just some things you gotta know when to turn to the pros. One of the most common examples this wedding season is calligraphy.  Welcome signs, menus, invitations, you name it and it's being done this season! I know my handwriting isn't the best, let alone trying my hand at calligraphy! So if your budget allows, find a professional from your area and spend the extra change to get that sign so perfectly written everyone will think it's printed! We highly recommend Ellie and Ace, and you can learn more about them here!

Photo courtesy of Ellie and Ace.

All in all, some of the best advice I have, is pick what is most important to you, and splurge on those things. For some brides it will be florals, for others it will be the photographer, and for me personally, the cake! Pinterest should be used for ideas to help get those creative juices flowing. Make your wedding your very own at a budget that won't break the bank!