I love all of the creative ways people display their escort and seating cards. Like a ribbon board (how cute are all the buttons scattered at the bottom?), via Snippet & Ink.

I’ve seen several hanging from branches, but this one on Style Me Pretty has some really cool, unique little hangers.

These are actually favors, but I really wanted to do this for seating cards — until I realized how many of my guests would be traveling. Via MSW.

This would be perfect for a summer wedding. And that calligraphered mini-scroll? Love that. Via Snippet & Ink.

How fun to do some on black paper and others on white. From Kristina, with calligraphy by the wonderful Jenna Hein.

Another Snippet & Ink find. This would be fun with an ecclectic mix of playing cards from multiple decks too.

Something like this, with the names attached, would be a great way to combine sweet treats and escort cards. Via MSW.

The classic favor seating card never goes out of style. Also via MSW.

I really, really, really adore this. But of course I do, seeing as I have a deep affinity for cards. Found on Oh So Beautiful Paper, and designed by one of my most admired letterpress shops, the Lettered Olive.

One of my all-time favorite ideas: using fabric swatches. The best part about this is that the fabric swatch matched the napkins on that table. From Details Details.

I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to do a magnet or pin board. A pin board I could make out of cork and cover with fabric (like the one above), or I could make a magnet board with magnetic paint. In either case, I could frame it — either by finding a cool frame or making one out of moulding from the hardware store. Something like the ones in Shabby Vintage Mom’s shop.

I could attach the escort cards with a variety of bird magnets, to tie into our “fly away with us” quasi-theme. Kikkerland makes two sets (I know this because I have some from each set); one is sold at Anthropologie, the other I can get through the Arbor in Salem. These would double as favors, or I could keep them and cover every square inch of my fridge after the wedding.

And then the board itself would go on display on a metal floor easel. I’m sure I could find a place for this in my house after the wedding, no?

We aren’t doing a served dinner, but I think there’s a certain amount of comfort in knowing where you’re going to sit. There’s none of that “cool kids table” awkwardness, and you can seat people together who have never met but would enjoy each other’s company. And I know that I, for one, would love to have a calligraphered escort or seating card for my memories box.

I’ve never been so excited about mailing a deposit check. As of today, we have a florist — at long last!

On Friday, I met with Kim at Geranium Lake Flowers in Portland. I was so impressed with her. For starters, she is super efficient and organized. She has a multi-page form that she fills out while you talk, and she actually gives you prices as you go along! Having waited weeks (err, months, in some cases… in other cases, five months and still counting) for bids, that instantly won my affection.

Geranium Lake is big on sustainability and supporting local growers, both of which are important to me. They let you come down to the shop a few weeks before your event to check out their current flower stock and see if there’s anything you might be interested in that wasn’t on your original flower wishlist.

And she really got me. As we were wrapping up, she flipped to the front of the proposal and wrote “lush, romantic” on the cover. I could’ve hugged her. I hadn’t used either of those words when I was going on and on and showing her photo after photo, so her read on my vision really knocked my socks off.

Did I mention that she did Amber’s flowers? Amber is a friend of a friend who lives a block up the street from me, and when she got married last year, she had the most personality-filled black tie wedding I’ve ever seen. Case in point:

How could you not love the florist who did that?

So now, looking at my flower inspiration photos doesn’t make me start hyperventilating.

Speaking of which, I talked about flowers for the reception tables a couple of weeks ago, but I skipped over the held flowers. The three inspiration photos for my bouquet are from Martha. The first one sets the overall tone and color scheme and includes many of the flowers I’m hoping to use — garden roses, tweedia, lisianthus, and ranunculus. And the shape is absolutely perfect… Not too round, not too flat or cascading. Enough definition to be modern, but enough soft movement to suit my romantic sensibilities.

But there aren’t any peonies in there, and we can’t have that. Plus there will be some soft pink in my bouquet — not too much, just a touch. Hopefully the pink will come from my beloved Sarah Bernhardt peonies. I’m in love with the ribbon here, but the jury’s out on whether or not that would detract from my dress.

And we can’t forget about the lily of the valley, a.k.a. my all-time favorite flower.

My beautiful bridesmaids will carry peony bouquets (or, if peonies don’t come through in April next year, garden roses).

I don’t have a good inspiration photo for the boutonnieres, but they will be very simple — a single lamb’s ear leaf with a spring of lily of the valley. The corsages will be DIY (hopefully), so we’ll see how those turn out.

The florist was the last big vendor to get on the books — hooray! Next up: sending the save-the-dates.

I’ve been sitting with my summer 2008 Martha Stewart Weddings for a couple of weeks, and there really are some fabulous finds in there. I must admit I was slightly irritated that one article is talking about being a bride on a budget (aside: anyone else notice the expanded DIY section?) and a few pages later, they’re talking about giving iPods as attendant gifts. (I love my girls, but how does $1,500 for gifts fit into a smaller budget?) But once I got past that, I found some fun music suggestions and downloadable templates. Oh, and the cuff links… Definitely one of the highlights, great variety.