Blogs to read: weddings

If I were to give someone just engaged any advice about what to do first, I'd say #1 read wedding blogs. Lots of them. Every single one you can find. Look at every picture. Read every post. Search in every blog for your city to learn about vendors, locations, budgets, what options are available in your area. Then before you make any other phone call or send any other email #2 hire a wedding planner. She will help you reign in the ten million ideas you got from those blogs and find ways to make them possible.

Now that I'm married, it turns out I still love looking at them! Do you remember when Andy so famously said, "KITCHENS AND WEDDINGS! KITCHENS AND WEDDINGS! THAT'S ALL YOU THINK ABOUT!"? (The full story is here) Yep. Well, I've dialed it back a lot now and only look at a handful of wedding sites on a regular basis, but I've learned most of these sites are great for so much more than just weddings. Are you throwing a party? Are you decorating your house? Are you looking for a great vacation? Then go to wedding blogs.

So here are a few of the blogs that I still read and still love, and that you should read even if you don't have any plans of walking down the aisle anytime soon.

Ahh, 100 Layer Cake is just so good. The tagline is "inspiration for life's parties," so it's more than weddings. The image above, for example, is from a baby shower (wow, that sparkly tablecloth!). There's also DIY projects and, well, lots and lots of really, really pretty weddings. {photo}

Ruffled is so great for weddings with vintage quirk and lots of character -- which also happen to be my favorite things. Looking through my pinterest wedding board, I think I've pinned more images from Ruffled than anywhere else. {photo}

You know how sometimes you see a photo, and your whole world changes? Ok, maybe it's not quite that dramatic, but holy moly, the neon inspiration shoot on Brooklyn Bride was like that for me. Weddings don't have to be pink and poofy and boring? WHAT??!! Awesome. Even though my wedding wasn't at all neon and I kinda like pink and poofy (but not at all boring!), this was really a wow moment for me. Brooklyn Bride is a great site for brides (or non-brides) who want to break the rules and bring a modern perspective to old-fashioned ideas. {photo}