Happy Holidays . . .

May your holiday weekend be filled with all things merry and yummy - wishing all my readers a wonderful holiday weekend. Join us again on Tuesday when we'll be back and featuring all new inspiration including a few weddings and even a New Year's Eve styled photo shoot.

Above photo © Stephanie H of Raspberri Cupcakes - shown: Christmas Red Velvet Snow Cake

Friday Favor of the Day : Winter Romance Gift Tag

This is the new home for Brenda's Wedding Blog

Noted for its purity and unique appearance, the snowflake is the perfect representative of a one-of-a-kind harmonious relationship. Featuring uniquely designed snowflakes, the pieces within this stationery collection are perfect for any winter wedding. The Small Rectangular Winter Romance Tag from The Wedding Outlet will add instant charm to any favor, decorating item, take-away gift or other wedding or party accessories. Combine with other coordinating components available in the Winter Romance Stationery Collection to create a cohesive look.

The Wedding Outlet is one of our sponsors

A Berry Sweet Birthday Party {for my daughter}

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Now, I know this is a wedding blog, but I just had to share with you the birthday party décor I put together for my daughter's 5th birthday in later November with the help of Colleen of Bellisimo Weddings & Events. Colleen was absolutely amazing to have on the day of the event - she helped get all the food ready to serve and when it was time to open the presents we were only off the timeline by 4 minutes. Now, with kids being the star of this party - that was just amazing to me. Things would most definitely not have run so smoothly without Colleen. The theme for this party was of course, Strawberry Shortcake with the colors being primarily red, pink and bright green. Many of these ideas can easily be used for bridal showers or any other parties you may be planning. I was able to re-use many of the items I already had on hand to make this party a huge success. The girls had so much fun celebrating. {all photos were taken my myself with a Canon 60d, except for the first one taken with my iphone. I LOVE this Canon camera. HUGE hugs to my hubby for surprising me last Christmas with it}

As guests entered the living room from the foyer they entered thru a wall of ribbons that my mom helped "rip". I bought red and pink fabric and my mom made a tiny slit every 2" inches and then ripped it all the way down. I then attached the ribbons to a tension rod - the girls loved it.

The menus did double-duty and also served as place cards. This would be super-cute for the little ones at your wedding if you have them seated at their very own special table.

The red carnations were trimmed shorter and placed in a teacup I already had {the flowers were actually from the grocery store a week prior so there was no need to purchase new florals}. The milk glass bottles were actually re-used from the Archer Farms lattes at Target and I added the paper straw flags for a little something extra.

The strawberry pillow I purchased from ArtSnack on etsy and used as an accent pillow as well as for the hot strawberry toss game. I downloaded music from the Strawberry Shortcake shows that I played during the game. When the music stopped, whichever girl was holding the pillow would receive a gift set of Strawberry Shortcake nail polish and lip glosses.

Colleen brought this tulle skirt with her which matched the party colors perfectly. We tried it around the coffee table and it fit perfectly - just the right girly touch for the necklace making table. I found the bottle cap charms on etsy from Keep Calm and Cap On and each girl strung their own necklace to wear. {And, yes, I should have pressed the red linen napkins, but I realized I had them last minute to add more color to the table - but the girls didn't even notice, they were to excited to get crafty}. The little bowls that held the beads were from my daughter's Dole fruit cups that I saved after she enjoyed the fruit - I love being able to re-use.

For the "freshly picked berry" balloons I placed their weights into paper berry baskets with shredded pink paper.

Colleen made the tissue paper flowers in 2 shades of pink and I just loved how the chairs looked with the little something on the backside. It's amazing how just one decor element can add so much extra to the party.

The cupcakes were of course strawberry with sprinkles from Realist Mermaid that were naturally colored. You would never know the difference. I also ordered all natural strawberry marshmallows from the same shop on etsy and they were delicious. The cupcake stand is from The Cupcake Tower and instead of using the colored ribbon banding you can use, I used self-adhesive paper and where the strips met, I added a strawberry cut-out.

I just loved how my daughter's cupcake looked on the single paper cupcake stand {with her strawberry shortcake doll joining her in the background for the yummy treats}.

Featured in Bridal Guide Magazine : Lavender Love with Lemons

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I am super duper excited to share this news with you - I am featured in the currently issue of Bridal Guide Magazine {which is on newsstands until Jan 17th, 2012} along with the amazing talents of Aleah and Nick of Valley & Co. and Shannon of Shannon Lee Images. The lavender photo shoot graces the Party Planner pages of Bridal Guide with a 3 page spread and was held at the breathtaking Keys Creek Lavender Farm. A huge thank you to Alicia for welcoming us to her beautiful farm for this spectacular photo shoot that I created all the paper goods for . . . invitation, dessert tags, place cards, advice cards, drink tags and more. Below, you can see a preview of the pages in the magazine followed by more photos from the rustic-chic lavender inspired bridal shower. And, all of the paper goods are available for purchase in my etsy shop, Wedding Girl. Please be sure to pick up your copy of the Jan/Feb issue of Bridal Guide Magazine to see the full scoop on this lavender infused bridal shower.

From Aleah . . . "the shoot was a mix and match of rustic, natural elements like burlap, linen and twine with vintage French scalloped-edge china and antique crystal and silver."

Instead of flags on straws for the drinks, we used festive "Cheers" and "Enjoy" drink tags that were tied on mason jars with twine.

Subscribe to Bridal Guide Magazine here

Giveaway : pre-designed or custom wedding invitations from LePenn Designs

Happy Tuesday!!! And, welcome to the new home of Brenda's Wedding Blog and the ever popular weekly giveaways. For the next two weeks, you will have the opportunity to win a $150 gift certificate towards the purchase of Lepenn Designs custom wedding invitations and a $50 gift certificate for any store purchase of pre-designed invitation (no minimum required) as a bonus from Le'Trice. Lepenn Designs is a custom invitation and event design studio that specializes in branding your event with high style and creative invitations, programs, menu cards, signage, favors and other decor. They love to come up with original designs guaranteed to excite you and your guests. Since the invitation sets the tone for your wedding day, Lepenn Designs is here to help bring your ideas and visions to life through the use of beautiful papers, printing techniques, stylish graphics & fonts and embellishments.

To enter the contest, please leave me a comment {wedding thought} with your wedding date and your favorite invitation design from Le'Trice's portfolio. The contest runs thru Monday January 2nd, with a winner being selected on Tuesday January 3rd. Please be sure to leave your email address on the comment form so I can email you if you're the lucky winner {it will not be published}. PS: don't forget to share this post with all your engaged friends.

Contest prize: up to $200 worth of invitations from Lepenn Designs
Contest Deadline: Monday January 2nd, 2012 at 11:59pm EST
Contest Question to Answer: What is your favorite invitation design from Lepenn Designs?
{PS: don't forget to include your wedding date to be eligible to win}

Would you like FOUR additional entries into the giveaway?

For Entry Number 2: Simply like Lepenn Designs on Facebook and then come back here to leave a 3rd comment letting me know you've now liked Lepenn Designs on Facebook

For Entry Number 3: Tweet the following . . . "I just entered to win up to $200 in invitations from Lepenn Designs on @weddingsites. Enter Here http://ht.ly/84JFS" and then come back to leave me a 3rd comment with the link to your tweet and your twitter id.

For Entry Number 4: Simply follow me on Twitter and then come back here to leave a 4th comment letting me know you're now following @weddingsites on Twitter

For Entry Number 5: Simply like me on Facebook and then come back here to leave a 5th comment letting me know you've now liked Best Wedding Sites on Facebook

Bridal Flip Flops

Don’t forget to keep your bridesmaids and flower girl comfortable! These Bridal Flip Flops from Weddings are Fun are adorable! In this shop, you will find many unique designs and colors to choose from for the bride, bridesmaids and even the flower girl{s}.

Weddings Are Fun sells beautiful Bridal Flip Flops in your wedding colors. Choose from more than 53 ribbon colors and 9 flip flop colors. Wedding Flip Flops are great for your bridesmaids and flower girl to wear because they are so comfortable. Their tired feet will appreciate wearing our high quality, beautiful Bridal Flip Flops. Some brides want their bridesmaids to kick off their heels for the reception, and these Wedding Flip Flops are perfect to dance the night away in. Bridal Flip Flops are great to wear for both the wedding and reception. They make great bridesmaid and flower girl gifts, too. Everyone, including the bride, will love wearing them.

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Inspiration Board : a Vintage Holiday Glamour Party

It's been quite some time since I've put together an inspiration board and with the holidays approaching faster than I care to admit, I decided it's time to start putting some new holiday themed ones together. Today's inspiration is all about a glamorous vintage holiday party. It all started when I saw the amazing black vintage dress from Sui Numeris Bride. I fell in love and immediately started putting this inspiration together. And, of course I couldn't resist adding in that amazing bedroom and the pretty lace slip-on dress with the pop of red for when the party is over :)

Image and Shopping Links:
Dress from Sui Numeris Bride, Bouquet from Aileen Tran, Ornaments from Flea Market Style Mag, Chandelier from Plastic Land {this one is only $69 and when I wrote this post there were only 2 left}, Invitation from B Studio Wedding Invitations, Bedroom from Dwelling Gawker, Black Flower Necklace from Jacaranda Designs Jewelry, Rhinestone Earrngs from Plumb Crazy, Black Feather Fascinator from Ms Formaldehyde Couture, Bohemian Black Lace Red Silk Holiday Dress from Izzy Roo