planning.

1.19.2011

I talked to my artist friend Beth about what I wanted and she sent me a sketch, we discussed a few changes and she whipped this whimsical beauty out. 
Then my sister-in-law, Reachel, worked her magic to figure out how we could get a quality print from canvas to paper. 
I didn't even see the final product until they were already in the mail, but I couldn't have been happier!
Front/Back
Once I had decided that I wanted a whimsical/bohemian style wedding party, I began discussing ideas with my Maid of Honor/sister, Leisel. 
This was our inspiration board:
Thank you ebay and etsy!!! 
I got such beautiful colored depression-glass from those sites. 


My mom and sister also spend countless hours sifting through thrift stores looking for hidden treasures, they were freakin' saints!!!
And for filler plates we went to Target, TJ Maxx, Crate&Barrel, and Pier1. 
Once we had collected 180+ plates (60 place settings: Salad, Dinner, Dessert), borrowed gold flatware, and sewed 10 table clothes, we set up practice tables, figuring out how to best combine this eclectic array of china. 
It was more than stressful, and some tears may have been shed...
Once the plate combos were official, we label each set and packed them away for their journey to San Diego, and I began working on the place cards. 

The idea came to me out of the blue.
I love words. I (almost) alway carry a tiny, red, vintage pocket dictionary with me. 
I also love learning the history of names.
 So, I decided to combine those two loves and everyone was thrilled at the results, especially me.


Next, I had to figure out flowers.
The problem was, I wanted poppies, ranunculus, and billy balls and they weren't in season...thank heavens for the internet and express shipping! 
I got all the flowers for around $200, shipped from South America, I think, and they were BEAUTIFUL, seriously, I wish my house were constantly full of them!
I had my announcements, my tables, my flowers, but I still had 
no location and no dress...Both--sort of a big deal.

Well, my parents own a condo at the Lawrence Welk Resort, so they drove over one weekend to scope it out. 

They called me and said they had found the perfect place and it was FREE! 

I'm still not sure if we were allowed to do it there, but we did, and no one kicked us off :)
The weirdest part was that the location looked so much like the DreamedUpLand on my announcement--the pond, the weeping willow, the unicorn...?

Now all I needed was a dress...

36 comments

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh everything looks amazing. i loooove the theme...and all of those plates are just so darn adorable! The place card idea is also so creative and cutesy. I can't wait to see more!
xoxo,
jess
http://flourchildjessie.blogspot.com/

Ariane said...

I love all of these details. So wonderfully Ashley. :)

ilene @ muchloveilly said...

aaaah its all so inspiring! love it!

Laura Eve said...

oooh love the announcement! so creative. and the plates are fantastic! Loving those colors.

Cambriaaaa said...

So sweet! I love the whimsey and free spirited-ness!

Irene said...

It muast have been so hard to fin all those wonderful plates and combine them! but i love the idea!!!!! except that in Spain people don't really do thins kind of things, they just hire a restaurant with service :S

oona said...

ohh thisis exactly the style of wedding i've always wanted! (even if it's in style now and everyone else are doing it too) maybe a little more...um...hoboish though. or hippie? wo knows. but i adore your plates. i've always wanted miss matching plates

desorden150 said...

this is awesome and I can't believe you did all of this in such a short time! Wow. Quick question, where all the plates expensive and what did you do with them after the wedding?

Anonymous said...

oh my! this is all so perfect!

kylee said...

oh my gorgeous wedding! plan my future one will you?

Alexis Kaye said...

Wow how amazing! Will you plan my wedding? the options are yes and definately!

Jenni Austria Germany said...

wait, where is the unicorn? i'm not seeing it! am i blind? and i'm pretty obsessed with everything about your wedding.

Jenni Austria Germany said...

found it! ha

Jenni Austria Germany said...

oh and i am loving that your dad's name is errol. mostly because that's a harry potter name and i love anyone with a harry potter name.

Erica said...

http://ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com/canned-unicorn/2010/04/24/

Made me think of you! xo

anna said...

your wedding looks so beautiful!
i'm excited to hear the story of your beautiful gown!

Jenny said...

Ashley I am still not over the fact that we never made it to your reception. You can ask Jack about how frustrated I was because we couldnt find it. I might have shed a tear or two. But we made it to the wedding which was amazing. I love all the details! Your cupboards must be filled with those beautiful plates! What DID you do with all of them? Well we need to get together. ASAP!

Cody McWilliams said...

Okay so I saw a post about your wedding right after it occurred on Stephanie's blog and I was thinking "Who the heck is that gorgeous girl with the cutest wedding ever and why can't I be her?" Seriously. Anywho, just thought I would share that random tidbit of my mind.

Emily said...

Beautiful. All beautiful. And I love that you totally scrapped the typical young mormon wedding (though those are great too) and had it at a different location. It's a wonder with temples all over the world that we don't see it more often.

styleisinfinite said...

What awesome unique ideas! I like the place cards best - they're so sweet and personal.

Sara K.S. Hanks said...

Whoa, so many thoughts running through my head! Let's hope I get them all out!

1. That plate collage has some seriously great stuff! I have the yellow one with the bird (except I bought the red version). The second one down on the left, the paisley-ish pattern, is gawgeous. Do you know where that one came from? Anyhoo, I just love the idea of gathering up all those plates from thrift stores. Can I just go back and re-plan my wedding and borrow that idea? PLEASE???

2. I can't decide which I love more: that invitation or your flower choices.

3. My fam and I went to the Lawrence Welk resort a few times when I was a teenager. What a great location! My dad was totally embracing the high life while we stayed there, while at the same time embarrassing us with his insistence on wearing socks with sandals when he went to the pool. Ahhhh, family.

=) Excited to see the rest!

angela hardison said...

beauuuutiful. all of it.

L!$@ said...

seriously cute :D Loved how individual it all was!

Ashley Bagley Nielson said...

Everyone: Thank you for letting me share all these crazy details!

desorden--it was the most expensive part of my wedding for sure, but not unreasonalbe. at all. plus, i have a large supply of RAD dinnerware now. some of my sisters bought things off me too :)

Kylee and Alexa, you guys are hiliarious!
erica! i love it, only i hate the idea of eating unicorn...

jenni--errol! i know, you never here that name, i was surprised when it was on harry potter

jenny thomas--we were so distraught too, i mean we were driving to our honeymoon and we were stressing over why you guys never showed! so so sad :(

Cody--you little sweety pie! thanks so much for sharing the story :)

emily-ya, i'm such a rebel, right? haha

Sara K.S.--those plates were from anthropologie, and i have them in my cupboard right now! i love them :) so funny about lawrence welk memories :)

Jaimie D said...

Where in South America did your flowers come from? My wedding is in PHX this summer and my flowers choices are very minimal!! Do they have a website?

Ashley Bagley Nielson said...

http://www.fiftyflowers.com/

congratulations! i hope you're as happy with your flowers as i was with mine! (i ordered them like 2 or 3 days early so they had time to open up--if you happen to order ranunculas)

Hopeless Chest said...

Wow. Such a beautiful wedding. Congratulations.

I love that you did so much of it your self. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE billy balls.

Hopeless Chest said...

Wow. Such a beautiful wedding. Congratulations.

I love that you did so much of it your self. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE billy balls.

Jennifer Thomas said...

Ashley I am still not over the fact that we never made it to your reception. You can ask Jack about how frustrated I was because we couldnt find it. I might have shed a tear or two. But we made it to the wedding which was amazing. I love all the details! Your cupboards must be filled with those beautiful plates! What DID you do with all of them? Well we need to get together. ASAP!

anna p of just me. said...

your wedding looks so beautiful!
i'm excited to hear the story of your beautiful gown!

angela hardison said...

beauuuutiful. all of it.

Jenni Austria Germany said...

found it! ha

styleisinfinite said...

What awesome unique ideas! I like the place cards best - they're so sweet and personal.

Alexis Kaye said...

Wow how amazing! Will you plan my wedding? the options are yes and definately!

O O N A said...

ohh thisis exactly the style of wedding i've always wanted! (even if it's in style now and everyone else are doing it too) maybe a little more...um...hoboish though. or hippie? wo knows. but i adore your plates. i've always wanted miss matching plates

ilene @ muchloveilly said...

aaaah its all so inspiring! love it!

© i believe in unicorns. Maira Gall.