Wedding Planning Inspiration – Blush and Gray Backyard Wedding

At the beginning of this month Sean and I celebrated our first year of marriage. So, I figured it would be good to go back, reminisce a little. Starting with the inspirational photos behind our wedding. Tomorrow, I’ll show you how the wedding actually turned out based on what I was inspired by as well as giving you a breakdown of the budget. I know it’s so easy to dream of things that aren’t affordable, or you don’t know what the final cost was to get to that price, which is why I want to be transparent. If I can help even one person plan a wedding without completely breaking the bank, I’m all for it! But, for now, let’s get on with the inspirational photos I started with.

Of course, before I even had the venue’s picked out, the guest list written, or the food menu picked, I started with Pinterest. Once I was able to create a board that I loved the look of, a few things really started to pop out for me. I wanted an outdoor, light and casual, but elegant wedding.

Colors

The colors I chose were blush, gray and white. Even though I wasn’t a stickler for exact shades, I knew that I wanted to make sure that I stayed as light and soft as possible. Also, since I knew that I wanted an outdoor wedding, by keeping everything as light as possible, everything could stay simple and still let the outdoors shine.

The Cake

I think everything really started with the cake. Once I saw these simply beautiful cakes, I knew that having something like this would set the course for everything else. Wait till you see what my cake ended up looking like and who made it. It’s incredible. These photos also helped me set the colors for the wedding.

Cake 1 // Cake 2 // Cake 3 // Cake 4

Flowers

I about died when I saw these photos of bouquets and boutonnieres. The greens are so soft and gray and the pinks were so soft. My florist did an amazing job of taking inspiration off of these photos. One thing I did find out is that anemone flowers are really delicate. By the end of the ceremony the boys boutonnieres were really wilted, but they were so beautiful while they lasted.

Boutonnieres // Bouquet // Boutonnieres

Food

The last thing I wanted for our wedding was your typical catered food. I knew that it was going to be the most cost effect for me to choose the more traditional route. But, it actually ended up not being the case. We weren’t sure if we wanted food stations or food trucks. What we did know, is that we didn’t want waiters serving a meal, we wanted people to get up out of their seats and mingling with each other. I also wanted a more casual, family table style of food for the appetizers and desserts.

This is probably one area that I was the most stressed about, invested most of my time and the biggest portion of our budget. What we ended up with, we were thrilled with. Serving 140 people on a budget was no easy task and not cheap either, but I think we ended up with a great outcome while spending approximately $19 a person for food, drinks and alcohol. Considering the typical caterer was $35 a person not including drinks and alcohol, we were happy with where it ended.

Appetizer Table // Coffee Bar // Food Truck // Dessert Table

Decor

Containing with the outdoor casual feeling, we landed on burlap, but I didn’t want the brown burlap you typically see, but gray instead. Babies breath and pink roses as centerpieces. Breezy curtains to frame spaces. Vintage windows, frames and painted wood to define menus, set directions and name spaces. And last but not least, a collected feeling for centerpieces and other decor areas.

Table 1 // Window Sign // Table 2 // Table 3 // Table 4 // Centerpiece // Outdoor Curtains

So there you have it. My wedding inspiration photos that helped set the tone for our day. Check out my pinterest board for more images and stay tuned tomorrow to see how it all turned out!

*Flowers in intro image by Mishelle Shaw and photograph by Heather Anderson Photography

Hop on over to see how our wedding turned out!
Related: Real Wedding Budget Breakdown