Our Peg People Cake Topper

One of the things I am most excited about is our cake buffet. Although I'm not a big fan of eating cake, I just love the idea of it. It's kind of like eggnog in December. Every year I get wildly excited when I see eggnog invade the grocery store shelves and every year I finish about half a cup before declaring "Over it!" and moving on to another holiday novelty.

Still, cakes are just so pretty and a cake buffet is my dream. It's both beautiful and - since we have friends varying across a spectrum of dietary requests (paleo, vegan, chocolate, no chocolate) - it's practical too.

A beautiful assortment of sweets via Sweet Bloom Cakes

So many options via The Sweetest Occassion / Photo by Emilie Inc

I knew I wanted each cake to have a topper to make them special and originally thought about collecting an assortment of vintage toppers. In the end, I decided that would be a lot of work and wouldn't be as put together looking as I'd like. So instead, I'll be creating bunting for each cake.

Via The Sweetest Occassion

But what about our special gluten-free paleo cake? Of course, that needs something extra special. Per usual, I fell in love with a cake topper on Etsy. But at $150 it was out of our price range.

Via Lollipop Workshop

What's a girl to do?

Admittedly terrified, I decided to craft it myself. Thanks to some crafty girls ahead of me like Mrs. Armadillo and Mrs. Splatterpaint I gathered my supplies and gave it a whirl.

I was most terrified of the painting part, but it actually went pretty well! The clothes were not easy though. In the end, I think they're fine, but if I look for too long I get the urge to undo everything.

Peg people in the nude!

All dolled up. I still need to figure out a way to make a bouquet.

What's your DIY inspiration - are you an Etsy idea thief like me?

Anthropologie Sea Gleam Centerpiece Inspiration

Mr. Rucksack and I visited his family in Minnesota over the holidays and in addition to meeting even more of his wonderful family and eating all sorts of yummy foods we also did lots of shopping!

I can always count on FMIL Rucksack for a fun day of shopping, and this time was no exception. We stopped at the Mall of America, Crate & Barrel, CB2, West Elm, and my favorite: Anthropologie. We don't have any of my favorite stores nearby, so it was a treat!

While we were on our way out of Anthropologie I spotted the cutest Hurricane candle holders that I thought would look great as vases for our centerpieces. I quickly snapped a picture and began wondering if I could make them myself. (It turns out I can't.)

Unfortunately, they were sold out online, so back in Connecticut I dragged BM Penny with me to the closest store 45 minutes away.

With the last two remaining vases in hand, I begged the woman at the register for help and told her I was getting married. After reminding me that I better start planning soon because I don't have much time left until my wedding (thanks, lady!), she did some checking for us. It turns out that she could order a bunch more for us through their system!

Via Anthropologie

Even though they're made for candles, I think they'll look great holding our centerpiece bouquets.

Which, speaking of flowers - I have no idea what they're going to look like. I'll be using Whole Foods for my flowers and while I was able to give the florist a general idea of what we want, it will all really depend on what's in season and looks good that week. Since everything is local, the selection can totally change from week to week.

A bright summer bouquet of dahlias, zinnias, and billy balls like this may be a possibility:

Image Via Serendipity Flowers / Photo By AJH Photography

Or this fun, pink arrangement comprised of garden roses, ranunculus, freesia, billy balls, and lily of the valley:

Image Via Handmaker of Things/ Photo By K&D Photography

More zinnias:

Photo by Handmaker of Things

To be honest, it's a little exciting not knowing exactly what our flowers will look like. (I will have to remember to come back and read this when I am freaking out the night before the wedding because I have no clue what our flowers look like!)

Where did your decor inspiration come from?

Preppy Beach Color Scheme

There were so many schemes we could have gone with for our little beach wedding. We considered red, white and blue. Or even a play on red, white and blue with Nantucket red and blue & white seersucker. Then we thought about doing the classic sea glass scheme with greens, blues, and white. I even briefly considered going with natural with white and tan. But it didn't take too long to settle on navy, pink, and gold. After we had our initial colors down, I started playing with PowerPoint and Photoshop - creating tablescapes with different design pieces and elements. But as much as I played, I couldn't get it quite right. That's when I realized we needed to add another color.

Every time I imagined my personal bridal style, I pictured myself adorned in gold, pink and aqua/mint jewelry. Something like these babies:

Via Etsy Seller Julianne Blumlo

It seemed only natural to add aqua mint to the mix. So we now have this lovely color scheme:

Ta-da! Colors! I think they're the perfect mix of preppy and beachy.

After the colors were refined, I played around with my growing list of inspiration pics and assembled them into a mood board using PowerPoint:

Clockwise from left to right: Navy & White Chevron, xoxo Cake via Somewhere Splendid, Navy & Pink Nautical Wedding via Green Tree Photography, Ceremony Flags via Carley Rehberg, Holla via Lil Hoot, Flamingos via Joie Lala, Tablescape via Wedding Chicks, Pink Anenome Bouquet via Elizabeth Anne Designs

Look at those flamingos! I love me some flamingos and think they'll be so cute holding signs directing guests to the ceremony and reception!

For the overall scheme, I was going for modern, but still classic. Casual, but still chic. Fun, but not too kitschy. And beachy without screaming "Hey guys! We're at the beach!" It's the Hand in my Pocket of weddings. (Broke, but I'm happy and all that.)

Did you create an inspiration board to hone in on your scheme?