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Ribbon DIYs for Your Wedding {or home!}

Midori Ribbon sent me a few beautiful samples this week and I decided to get busy putting those pretties to use. Ribbon is such an underrated accessory - it can really transform and elevate a piece. And it's a great, affordable option whether for your home or wedding. Hope my few ideas are able to inspire some simple DIYs for your big day!

My absolute favorite sample was this black and white striped Ascot ribbon. It's wired which is so helpful in creating shape and depth. I originally thought it would be perfect for a vintage beaded belt I had {below} but the ribbon was just a tiny bit too skinny. So, instead, I fancied up a gal I had sitting at my bar {I found the pretty bust at a tiny vide grenier during a day trip in France ... boy, do I miss those days}. I love the contrast of the modern stripes against the chippy patina of the bust! And I think a fancied-up bust like this would be gorgeous decor at a garden wedding - can't you see it??


And I had enough left over to create a little something special for my new friend, Maxwell:

Doesn't he look dapper ... he's ready for a black tie wedding, no doubt.


And if I get tired of the striped look, I could swap it out for this classic checked taffeta ribbon.


And I adore how this Dupioni Silk Ribbon in Corazon looks against my vintage beaded belt. It's still a little short on the width but I might be able to make it work. I think it would look pretty delicious with a full black-and-white skirt for the holidays.


Loving the regal twist of this Velvet Ribbon in Evergreen around one of my French demijohns.
ps. I have several I'd be willing to sell if you're interested ... they'd be beautiful aisle markers at a beach wedding! Just e-mail at theclassicbride@gmail.com for more details. ;)


And, lastly, I was inspired by Pinterest to transform my European charm bracelet into a necklace using this checked taffeta ribbon in black and red. How fun!

Thanks to Midori for sending me these pretty samples. I had so much fun putting them to use!
What ribbon DIYs are you doing for your wedding {and/or home}? Tell!

This post is sponsored by Midori Ribbon. Ribbon c/o Midori. All images by moi.
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Sweet Engagement Session under the Eiffel Tower

Sometimes simplicity is best and that's what I really love about today's engagement session. Jessica and Matt chose to do their e-sesh with just one backdrop: The Eiffel Tower. And it worked out pretty well! // Photos by Krystal Kenney, of Romantic Portraits Paris.


Says Jessica, "My husband and I live in the Passy area of Paris, so we thought taking pictures around the Eiffel Tower would be a perfect spot. Not only is the monument symbolic of a romantic city, but it also represents this special time in our lives where we were able to live down the street from the Eiffel Tower, in such a beautiful city for the first two years of our marriage.



We both enjoy Paris by taking bike rides on the weekends to Porte Dauphine, and around the city streets. When we're not riding bikes, we're walking the streets exploring new bars or restaurants in the Marais or Chatlet areas of Paris. Our favorite thing to do is probably discovering new craft beer bars like Brewberry, in the 5th arrondissmont.



We love Paris because of its effortless beauty, the romantic aura, and of course, the pastries, bread and wine. We also love the fact that we are so close to famous wineries and just a short plane or train ride away from other European countries. We are truly blessed to experience life as a Parisian!


Congrats to Jessica and Matt and thanks to Krystal for sharing her photos with us!

Krystal's also an ex-pat and I was curious about the big leap to Paris so I had to ask. And since I thought you'd be curious, too, here's her story: "I was a photographer for six years in the Washington, D.C., area before moving my business to Paris. I sold everything, packed my bags and moved to Paris without speaking a word of French. lol. The not learning any French part was the hardest part of it all, but luckily most of my clients are American so it didn't matter for work. I fell in love with a Frenchman and the rest is history!"
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Intimate + Timeless Mountain Brook, Alabama Wedding {at a gorgeous 1927 Tudor Estate!}

I have a huge photographer crush on Leslee Mitchell. I honestly imagine glitter and confetti exploding every time her finger hits the shutter button because her photos are just pure magic. Every one of them. You might remember that I shared this darling Harvard love shoot of Leslee's awhile back. And today I'm extremely thrilled to share a wedding Leslee shot in Mountain Brook, Alabama. And, omg, is it a doozy. The wedding took place at the bride's gorgeous 1927 Tudor home and includes so many couture DIYs that my head is spinning. One more thing I love about this wedding: Mary Catherine and Les are in their seventies and their beautiful grandchildren wanted to be with them at the altar so they all held hands - doesn't that just make your heart melt?? // Magical photos by Leslee Mitchell.

Says Mary Catherine, "My home is surrounded by beautiful gardens and we decided to have a seated dinner in the formal garden for family and friends.  Everything just came together after we made that decision. The invitations set the tone by using an old-style printing technique called letterpress. They were cream color Crane card stock with a rich chocolate brown ink. I picked a non-traditional set-up with an old engraved oak tree design. [...] The huge old oak tree is central to the house and grounds. A can-do-anything family friend wired it for electricity and we hung 12 antique chandeliers of various sizes and styles from the branches that spread out over the circular drive. They were fabulous!"



Says photographer Leslee, "When my website went live, Mary Catherine was the very first person to inquire about my wedding photography. We e-mailed, her daughter, Kristin, and I e-mailed, we all talked on the phone & in February I visited MC and the wedding site, the formal garden of her beautiful 1927 tudor home. MC met me @ the car door with a hug & to this day I still feel like family. One of many favorite things about Mary Catherine is that she's an artist & a photographer. As a photographer, I've never been hired by a photographer. It's extremely flattering. MC is one of the coolest, classiest ladies I think I've met. Definitely."


Says Mary Catherine, "I picked the wedding date when the gardens would be at their peak so we kept the arranged flowers very simple. I have many friends who are talented floral designers and gardeners so most of the flowers came from their own gardens. We ended up with a beautiful mix of garden roses and hydrangeas.


I used the same antique tussie mussie to hold my bouquet that all the brides in my family have used in their wedding ceremonies.


I wanted something different and unique-looking [for my wedding attire] because, being in our seventies, we are not the typical wedding couple. I went up to my attic thinking about antique clothing and found a vintage cape I bought years ago from an antique mall in the Hamptons. It was a beautiful faded pink color and I had always loved the fabric. I thought the design of the fabric would lend itself to a cool skirt so I worked out a design and took it to a seamstress to implement. An artist friend brought over a scrap bag of ribbons and lace and I found the perfect ribbon in a beautiful moss green that perfectly complemented the pale pink color of the skirt. I added fabric roses from a jacket I wore to one of my daughters’ weddings twenty years ago. I remembered a pair of shoes from even longer ago that I thought would work well. They were a perfect fit and, amazingly, back in style. My granddaughter also wore a vintage dress I purchased at a flea market in France that fit beautifully after a few adjustments.


My two young grandchildren, six and seven, decided this was such a momentous occasion that they stood with us through the entire ceremony, held our hands and each other’s at the pertinent parts, even through the exchanging of the vows. I’m not sure, but we legally may all be married.

Since the wedding was not in a church, we wanted a religious symbol for the ceremony. A friend created a free standing floral cross with the combination of garden roses, spray roses, hydrangeas, variegated ivy and smilax which served as the centerpiece on an old farm table layered with embroidered antique table linens and surrounded by sterling containers filled with smaller floral arrangements. The table stood in the timber arbor at the end of the formal garden and made for a truly striking backdrop and focal point for the ceremony.


Les + Mary Catherine's Love Story:
Les and I met through a blind date arranged by a mutual friend.
We dated for more than nine years before I accepted Les’ proposal of marriage.



Since we had a small ceremony for our family, the dinner was really the main event. We are both very passionate about the art of food and the feel of the dinner was especially important to me. When the weather turned bad, we rented a large tent at the last minute that fit exactly over the center of the formal garden. Since I didn’t want groups of round tables that would separate the guests, we decided on a banquet-style set-up. I was really pleased with the look of the long, narrow tables arranged end to end. We covered the tables with painter’s drop cloths I purchased online. The drop cloths were absolutely perfect; they looked like rough linen! To create an intimate look and feel, I borrowed (rather than rented) just about everything for the dinner. The chairs ranged from modern to old church chairs. I borrowed different plates that all had a unique garden pattern. We kept the table decorations simple, choosing simple pillar candles in glass cylinders and spray roses clustered in sterling mint julep cups. The wine and champagne bottles were placed on the tables for the guests to help themselves. (Trust me: they loved that!)

We really wanted to have an open sky over the tables with light strung between the trees, but the tent ultimately gave the dinner a wonderfully intimate feel we just loved. In the middle of dinner a weather check showed a perfectly round circle of clear weather with Birmingham in the center surrounded by rainstorms. How lucky were we?


Thank you so, so, so much to Mary Catherine and Les for sharing their beautiful day and to Leslee Mitchell for sharing her exquisite photography with us! xx.

Mary Catherine will leave us with some wisdom on wedding planning {and I couldn't agree more!}: "Keep it small with family and special friends, and always be mindful of what is important to you and don’t skimp in that area. Whatever that may be, do it spectacularly. For me, as an artist and photographer, the photography was very important. I knew I would want pictures that were more artistic than typical wedding pictures. I wanted to have pictures that captured all the little moments and special details of the day. It was worth the extra effort to find a photographer I knew would be able to do that for me."

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