Holy Whole Foods, Batman

In the past year, Mr. Rucksack and I have joined that whole Paleo/Crossfit cult you may have heard of. Because of our commitment to eat healthy, non-processed foods, Whole Foods is kind of our mecca. Of course, our love affair with Whole Foods isn't entirely new. In fact, Mr. Rucksack worked at Whole Foods when he was a graduate student in Hartford. (He worked in the cheese department and his dad still sometimes refers to Mr. Rucksack as the king of cheese!)

Soon after we got engaged, Mr. Rucksack and I were shopping at our local Whole Foods when I literally stopped to smell the roses. "I would totally just use these as our wedding flowers," I told Mr. Rucksack. He asked "Well, why not?" And I thought well, yeah....why not?

These tiny bouquets are a mere $9.99 and they're gorgeous.

Via Yelp 

Plus even more full sized (and cheap!) options from my last visit:

Whole Foods will work with you to create custom floral arrangements too, so that we won't just be buying up a bunch of flowers at the last minute. (Pretty sure that's what Momma Rucksack pictured when I first told her our plan.) The only downside is that because everything is sourced locally (which is really a good thing), we're extremely limited in availability. Luckily, the Milford Whole Foods Florist, Frankie, was able to help out. She made a lot of phone calls and was able to pre-order pink dahlias, pink ranunculus (my favorite) and billy balls.  The rest she'll choose from whatever comes in fresh that day. It's a little scary, but I think I'm in good hands!

From Left to Right: Dahlia via Wikimedia; Ranunculus via Whole Blossoms; and Billy Balls via Whole Blossoms

In addition to purchasing our flowers at Whole Foods, they'll also be making our cakes for our cake buffet. They have the yummiest strawberry shortcake layer cake and one of the best chocolate cakes ever - and that's coming from someone who's not a big cake fan. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't feel like I'm eating a pound of confectioner's sugar when I eat their cakes. While they won't be making our small paleo cutting cake (I'm trusting that to a gluten free baker), I totally trust them to serve up a bunch of yummy cakes for our guests.

I would honestly be happy scooping up any and all of these cakes on our wedding day. 

At $27 per cake we'll be way under the typical cake budget and our guests will have plenty of options.

There are a couple of downsides to going the grocery route though, two points that Momma Rucksack keeps pointing out every time she's given a chance.The biggest being that someone will have to pick up all of the goodies the day before the wedding. Currently I've volunteered myself and a bridesmaid, but we'll see what sorts of drama unfolds. Worst case scenario, there will be plenty of family and friends around that I can bribe. Not to mention, my car was born for this job:

Via Cookin with Mama

That's right. 3 rows of fold-down seats in that baby. We can fit all sorts of wedding goods in that trunk.

Would you consider using a grocery store for any of your wedding items?

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?