Flower Girl Power

Let’s just say it: flower girls are often the “awww” moment at your wedding. They make your guests smile. You can make that moment even more meaningful with the right accessories that reflect your style.

Here are 4 handmade style ideas for your flower girl from the Etsy Wedding Team.

Floral Wear. Beautiful floral hairpieces, corsages and necklaces in your wedding colors can make an adorable impact. {handmade by www.MGMart.etsy.com}

New Flowers. Looking for something a little different? Try unusual types of flowers, or even leaves. {handmade by www.Spoccdesign.etsy.com}

Flower Keeper. When your flower girl is too young to drop petals, or you simply don’t want to, flower balls, mini bouquets or baskets with attached flowers can substitute. {handmade by www.MackensleyDesigns.etsy.com}

Beyond the Basket. Try unusual shapes to carry petals. {handmade by www.NutfieldWeaver.etsy.com}

For more flower girl and handmade wedding ideas, browse the Etsy Wedding Team on the left.

Flowers for Haiti Relief

The Etsy Wedding Team has been running a shop to help in the Haiti Relief efforts. Today, February 12, is the last day to purchase some the over 60 beautiful items donated by team members, all of which have free shipping.

Flowers are a wonderful symbol of birth and renewal, what we all wish for Haiti. So on that thought, here are 5 flower-themed designs currently available. Get them before they are gone!


Under wedding accessories, these would make beautiful decoration for a bride and groom table.

These are actually made with hand calligraphy, now that's a really personal note. Under stationery.


This design can work for many bridal styles, from hip to chic. Found under wedding accessories.

The rose color palette and great shapes makes this necklace at home in a vintage wedding or funky wedding. Found under jewelry.

Under decoration/home, these clay flowers would make a beautiful permanent reminder of your wedding for a maid of honor.

For more wedding and non-wedding designs to benefit Haiti Relief, visit the www.EtsyWedTeam.etsy.com shop today. And for more handmade style for weddings, browse the Etsy Wedding Team members on the left.

Handmade Beach Wedding Bridal Fashion

A beach wedding, like any theme wedding, can give you a chance to express yourself through your design choices. And your aisle style is probably the biggest signal of your personal style.

Here are 5 handmade design ideas for the beach bride, from head to toe:

Think tropical. Tropical flowers, plant life and birds can be an interesting addition to your theme design…and your bridal wear. Here plumeria flowers are the inspiration for these lovely hair pieces. {handmade by www.heartinhawaii.etsy.com}


Light and airy. Formal or casual, a beach wedding often has a “less is more” feel. But that doesn’t mean you necessarily have to go without. Just think lighter, and in theme. This pearl hair piece, for instance, gives you the presence of a tiara, just lighter. {handmade by www.Handwired.etsy.com}


Beyond shells. Mixing shells designs with other beach inspiration, like the water, will give you a fuller wedding design. These freshwater pearls evoke the theme in a subtle way. {handmade by www.WeddingJewels.etsy.com}


Theme floral. For a fuller theme, look to add tropical flowers or beach elements to your bouquet. Here fabric and shells form a “forever bouquet”, that will last beyond your wedding. {handmade by www.hairbowswonderworld.etsy.com}



Don’t forget your feet. Yes, it can be difficult to get heels on the sand. So if you are looking for sandals, make them beachy with an appropriate accessory like this starfish clip. Another alternative is to go barefoot with beautiful jewel “beach sandals”. {handmade by www.ShellScapes.etsy.com}

For more beach wedding inspiration, browse the Etsy Wedding Team members on the left.

Some RedSpiration!

Featured from Left to Right: mikiye, beadz2pleaz, artisticedition, hairbowswonderworld, yandebridal, arippke, originalsbylynnette, parsi, and invitesbyjen.

These items were found searching etsyweddingteam + red on etsy.

5 Planning Tips for a Memorable Handmade Wedding

{This sign is by www.SignsByDiane.etsy.com}

The best weddings are felt in the details.

They capture the mood of the day that we remember most. And handmade details show the care and thought behind your special day. Use these 5 tips to make your wedding more memorable with handmade details:

1. Make the Moments Special
What are the most important wedding and reception moments to you? Opening the invitation? The walk down the aisle? When guests enter the reception? The guest book signing? The cake cutting?

Look for handmade touches to make your favorite moments shine.

{This necklace is by www.jurgitahandmade.etsy.com}





2. Add Surprise
From modern to traditional weddings, an unexpected touch delights your guests and makes your wedding unlike any other. Find something that makes you smile and it will brighten your wedding as well.

Want quick inspiration? Break out of the box by browsing through handmade items made by the Etsy Wedding Team.

{These cake toppers are by www.dandelionland.etsy.com}


3. Share the Love
No matter the size of your guest list, sharing something you love will make the gathering feel more intimate. Whether it’s your culture, sense of style or some of your favorite things, you become more connected to guests when they see you in your design choices.

Find handmade items that speak to you and can speak for you. {These cake servers are by www.Beadz2Pleaz.etsy.com}



4. Define Your Style
When you are looking for pieces from a variety of artists and vendors, it’s important to unify them. An easy way to do that is to choose a style or define a mood for your wedding. That way as you are shopping, you can easily see what works.

And because handmade items can fit almost any style, you’ll still have lots of choices. {This invitation is by www.maidavale.etsy.com}

5. Be Free with Color
Think beyond 2 colors and choose a color palette for your wedding of 3 to 5 colors. This will give you more choices as you are seeking out unique pieces. And what you create will be more visually interesting and result in a more creative design. {This bouquet is by www.AmoreBride.etsy.com}

Do you have more ideas or tips for how to use handmade details to make weddings special? Share them here. Get more inspiration on Etsy by searching “etsyweddingteam”.

Paper In Bloom-An Interview with St Jude's Creations

Today we take a look at the beautiful work of the talented Maria Noble of stjudescreations. She uses the techniques taught to her by her mother to create customizable bouquets are perfect for the budget-conscious bride who desires a floral keepsake to remember her special day.

Where are you located? Bristol, CT 06010

Tell us a little about yourself. I am a part time web designer, a floral designer and the mother of a 3 yr old and 1 month old!

What special things do you create for weddings? I have made bridal bouquets, toss bouquets and paper flowers for arrangements, favor flowers in custom colors for the budget conscious bride. I do centerpieces, hair pieces also.

Who or what sparked your interest in making wedding-related items? My mother learned a tradition of making flowers and from the time I was young I used to see her make bouquets for brides and make flowers for arrangements. My house was always full of handmade flowers and everyone used to come and admire them. Now when I became a stay at home mom I decided to put my spin on her art and St Jude's Creations was born. Many of my friends like the arrangements I made and hence it `bloomed'. I put up a web site and have been receiving orders through the site mainly.

What is a little known fact, or something unique about your work that is interesting? Paper flowers, these flowers are made from paper! That was mostly everyone say. I do flowers from many materials like fabric,clay,solabo wood too just that I haven't been concentrating on them so much. It's some thing I will be doing in the very near future.

If you are married, what's the one thing you wish you had for your wedding that you didn't? Hmmm…wish I did the reception arrangements!

What is your favorite part of the wedding journey? Kids!!!

What advice can you share for all the brides getting married this year? Plan early

What is your perfect honeymoon spot? Somewhere near the sea

If you could pick anyone famous that would purchase your items for their wedding, who would they be? I have been quite fortunate to have my paper flowers featured in an Oscar nominated movie starring Anthony Hopkins. The paper flowers the director ordered were featured in the movie for about 5 mins!

You can watch it here (seen only for a short time than in the movie) in a trailer here on YouTube:

http://stjudescreations.netfirms.com/worlds_fastest_indian.html

Mathew Robbins contributing editor of Martha, (he does most of the bouquets in the magazine), ordered some flowers from me for a wedding, I was floored! Wish Martha would! (You can see the large paper flowers he ordered here http://stjudescreations.netfirms.com/large.html)

If you could choose 1 item from your shop that you wish every bride could have, what would it be? A bouquet of paper flowers as it would last forever and could be kept after the wedding

Links where we can find out more about your work: http://stjudescreations.com and my blog at http://stjudescreations.blogspot.com or at http://stjudescreations.netfirms.com

A Etsy Wedding Treasury!

This gorgeous treasury was curated by Elena of TickledPinkKnits.

In Full Bloom-An Interview with DK Designs

Today's featured artist is Diane of DK Designs. She creates gorgeous floral wonders out of DECO Craft Clay, bringing bouquets of joy to brides everywhere!

1. Where are you located?
San Jose, CA
2. Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a former Silicon Valley high-tech marketing professional, now a stay at home mom, making clay flowers out of CLAYCRAFT by DECO Soft Clay for weddings and events. I also teach interested crafters how to make their own clay flowers and figurines out of this fantastic clay from Japan. I’m a certified DECO Clay Craft Academy Instructor and have been doing this since 2001. I’ve been featured on the Martha Stewart Show - which her producers happened to find me via my Etsy storefront and weddings where I’ve made clay flowers for favors and my wedding stationery have also been featured on TheKnot.com. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE what I do and I enjoy making each bride’s wedding uniquely their own!

3. What special things do you create for weddings?
Clay flower bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, favors, centerpieces, cake flowers, save the dates, wedding invitations, programs, menus, table cards, place cards, seating charts, guest books, favor tags, pretty much anything!

4. Who or what sparked your interest in making wedding-related items?
I always loved the wedding industry. I guess getting married at 33 I had a lot of time to look at bridal magazines wondering if I would ever get married. Weddings are always a happy occasion and even in a down economy, weddings still take place. I love helping brides create a theme and a motif to really bring their weddings together and everyone just raves about the items I produce.

5. What is a little known fact, or something unique about your work that is interesting?
I obsess over getting the flower just right for my brides. If it’s just okay (which my brides probably wouldn’t even know the difference) I start over and perfect it.

6. If you are married, what’s the one thing you wish you had for your wedding that you didn’t?
Although we had a fabulous dessert buffet at the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki -which I didn’t get to try but heard it was fabulous and yummy, I wish I had done the candy bar thing! I love the ideas that brides come up with these days.

7. What is your favorite wedding song?
Push - our wedding song by Sarah Maclachlan. It’s different and not the norm, but the words touched my husband and I.

8. What is your favorite part of the wedding journey?
Designing something new and trying to think outside the box.

9. What advice can you share for all the brides getting married this year?
Although the invitation sets the tone for your wedding, I recommend doing the wedding website link and posting your most up-to-date information there instead of doing the 3 inserts (things to do, directions, etc). Use that extra money you save there on the wedding day details that make your wedding ceremony and reception much more special (programs, candy bars, table cards, favors, etc). I would also say, try giving clay flowers a shot. I think more and more brides are realizing that clay flowers are a great alternative and they have something to show for it well after the wedding. I LOVE fresh flowers, but with the amount of money you spend, it’s a great gift for guests to take home!
10. What is your perfect honeymoon spot?
Hawaii - where we used to live…

11. If you could pick anyone famous that would purchase your items for their wedding, who would they be?
That’s a hard one… any celebrity who has great sense of style!

12. If you could choose 1 item from your shop that you wish every bride could have, what would it be?
Well, since my Etsy shop is more about just vase arrangements, I would say, I hope they see that my flowers are really lifelike and could pass for real flowers and it will entice them to order my clay flower bouquets which I don’t currently sell on my site because it’s all custom work. They do however the pieces on my site make great cake toppers!

Links where we can find out more about your work:
www.dkdesignshawaii.com
www.dkdesignshawaii.blogspot.com
www.flickr.com/photos/dkdesigns

Everlasting Flora-an Interview with PaulasPetalPastries

Our Featured artist today is Paula of Paula's Petal Pastries. She creates unique centerpieces, favors and decor for your special day.

1. Where are you located?
St. Peters, MO

2.Tell us a little about yourself.
I am 27 years old and a stay at home mom to my wonderful 2 year old son! I have a great husband and we are a young and happy family J I have a degree in Communications and a Minor in Dance. I love decorating my house, planning parties, organizing playgroup activities, and just recently being a part of esty!

3. What special things do you create for weddings?
I create unique centerpieces, favors, and gifts.

4. Who or what sparked your interest in making wedding-related items?
I made a 3 tier fresh flower cake for my grandmother’s 75^th surprise birthday party and my dad looked at me and said, “You should sell those.” After much research I realized there isn’t anybody out there who specializes in silk floral wedding cakes so………here I am!

5. What is a little known fact, or something unique about your work that is interesting?
All of my cakes are made from floral foam and come to life when I start applying the flowers.

6. If you are married, what’s the one thing you wish you had for your wedding that you didn’t?
Better centerpieces.

7. What is your favorite wedding song?
From This Moment

8. What is your favorite part of the wedding journey?
Shopping for the dress, there isn’t another experience like it!

9. What advice can you share for all the brides getting married this year?
Enjoy yourself because it will go by so fast!

10. What is your perfect honeymoon spot?
Hawaii

11. If you could pick anyone famous that would purchase your items for their wedding, who would they be?
Paula Abdul

12. If you could choose 1 item from your shop that you wish every bride could have, what would it be?
My rhinestone and glitter cake

13. Links where we can find out more about your work:
http://divadea.blogspot.com
www.paulaspetalpastries.etsy.com

Etsy Wedding Scrapbook: Amy of BeadsinBloom

Here's a story from Amy of Beads in Bloom, about how her wedding is what got her started in her current art.

"This isn't really mushy, funny, or cute, but my wedding is actually why
I started French Beading in the first place.  The "package" we got for
our little beach wedding only came with flowers for my husband and
myself.  Nothing for the bridal party.  In an attempt to continue the
DIY theme for most of our wedding, a friend of mine suggested beaded
flowers.  I had never heard of them, but after a several trials and
completely cursing and putting aside this lovely craft because my first
attempts were atrocious, I 'saw the light', so to speak, and fell in
love with this age-old craft." 

Amy and her wedding party, with handmade bouquets

Etsy Wedding Scrapbook: Valerie Tyler

Throughout this blog, you will have the opportunity to meet many members of the Etsy Wedding Team who will also share with you some of the photos and details of their own weddings, weddings we have attended, or our" Always a bridesmaid stories" I figured to kick off the series, I'd share with you a few details of my own wedding.

I happen to be a jewelry designer, and a teacher. These two things make me a bit of a micro-manager. So when it came to the details about the role of flowers in my wedding I was really rather anxious.

For starters, I knew I did not want to spend a fortune on floral centerpieces for my tables. I toyed around with the idea of ordering fresh flowers in bulk, but knew there was no way they would ever successfully make it to the tables. The solution came from a lot of brainstorming on my part and the help of my rather artistically created mother. I wanted the centerpieces to be natural, but not particularly fragile or pricey. What we ended up doing was get affordable glass vases. I then used natural bamboo poles, grasses, and money changers (unfortunately I couldn't find enough **real** moneychangers, but they still looked and felt real). We then recycled smaller glass bottles as well and put the bamboo inside the bottles to center them inside the vases and filled the entire vase with glass pebbles to weight it. The bottles were then wrapped inside vellum, and a black ribbon added for flair. I think the total cost per centerpiece came to about less than $10.00 a centerpiece.

Since my wedding, I've noticed different versions of this. I had a friend who took beautiful branches and put them in a vase. She made personalized cards to commemorate occasions and events that she had in common with her wedding guests and typed all the happy memories on artsy cards. She hung the cards from the branches. They were a great way to get to know the other guests, and let each guest know how much the bride and groom cared about their special memories of their times spent with the guests.

I've had also dreamed for ages of doing the old-fashioned toss of the bouquet coming out of church. It had always seemed so elegant and glamorous to me. The whole bouquet toss and accompanying garter dance at the reception just didn't really fit with my personality or my husbands. The solution was that I had a throw away bouquet of simple daisies, tied loose. I walked out, untied the ribbon and tossed the flowers to----the children! It was a delight to watch the flowers scatter through the air and watch the children gleefully catch them all.

Having been married on the Fourth of July weekend however, I think one of my favorite moments was when we all lit sparklers under the tent outside. Cute little tin buckets filled with sand and star cut outs were perfect places to put out the hot sparklers. The grown ups were more hilarious than the children even running around twirling their arms in the air (note: my change of dress for late night dancing too!)