The Reams Photo Blog! Portrait and Wedding Photography in San Diego and Orange County

Melanie Crutchfield is a writer and designer living in San Diego with her filmmaker husband and genius daughter (20 mos). They’re artsy. You can read more over her work over at www.melaniecrutchfield.com.

I’ve been working with Paul and Amy on their “Inspired by Love” wedding contest, and Amy and I came up with the brilliant idea of having me do a sample pinboard for all you folks getting ready to enter. Who cares that I’ve been married for 12 years? In fact, that’s awesome. Because now I get to do my WHOLE wedding all over again (in my head, but let’s not get too picky, okay?)!

Let’s face it, 1999 was not as cool as 2012. It’s the truth. I mean, sure, we could play Prince’s 1999 over and over and feel like we’re bending the fabric of space and time by doing so, but really, wedding style has come a LONG way in the last decade +.

First, let me say that planning a wedding is so hard! I guess I can’t even say that, because I’m not really planning a wedding, I’m just imagining it. But still! Regardless, I love the look that I’ve come up with and now I TOTALLY want to renew our vows. Well, rob a bank, THEN renew our vows. But the nice thing about 2012, too, is that there are tons of DIY tips out there, and you can really make your money go a long way. (Seriously, y’all, the internet was barely a thing in 1999…could you imagine doing anything, much less planning a wedding that way?! Insanity!) So, here’s what my Inspired by Love wedding would be like:

Creative Idea #1 – It’s a Glam-B-Que!

Okay, let’s be honest—I don’t even know what that means. But here’s what I WANT it to mean: a fun, relaxed get together where Stephen and a get all goofy with love each other, then we have dinner with all of our guests in a casual, intimate, and BEAUTIFUL setting. See? Glam meets the back yard

BBQ, right? Glam-B-Que! I’d put up these amazing lace curtains as a back drop for the ceremony, and also to border the space where we hang out and eat and stuff. I’d also send out instructions to all of our guests ahead of time so they can make and bring one of these pretty paper lanterns! We’d string the reception area with the cords and bulbs, then the guests would bring their paper lanterns, we’d hang them up and bask in their glow all night. They can use copies of hymns or poetry or other beautiful words and those words would hang over us as we celebrate. LOVE. IT.

Creative Idea #2 – It’s the Palette of Love!

Well, I can’t claim that it’s the pallet for all love of all time, but I think it’s pretty. We’d use a range of neutrals (cream, white, chalkboard gray and black) and highlight with pink and a blue-green. The neutrals would be on the chalkboard elements for the seating charts, the lace curtains, and the dresses, then we’d

pop in some pink and blue-green in the bouquets (made of paper!) and on the tables. It’s soft and pretty but not exclusively so. The black and dark gray elements will ground the color scheme and keep it from being too dainty. Love isn’t dainty—it’s delicate and gorgeous, but deep and mysterious and strong as well, so our colors would be too.

I hope all you brides and grooms out there are having as much fun creating your pinboards as I had creating mine. If you haven’t got started yet, go check out my full pinboard for inspiration, then hop to it! Congrats to you all!