Its official… Prince William is married to Catherine Middleton! As the world watched this morning you couldn’t help but be inspired by romance, royalty, and that first kiss.

As everyone waited for that first glimpse of the wedding dress we found ourselves breathless when she stepped out of the Rolls Royce.

She showed the world she was a traditional bride with a gown designed by Sarah Burton for British fashion house Alexander McQueen. The dress showed touches of modern craftsmanship and resembled Grace Kelley’s wedding dress from 1956. You might remember my post Inspired by Kate Middleton, although I hoped for British designer Ben de Lisi, Catherine’s dress didn’t disappoint.

I’ve been Inspired by Alexander McQueen from the very beginning and so happy to see a dress made of such unique modern design. So, today I’m inspired by the British designers, Catherine Middleton, and red, white, and blue (the colors of the British Flag).

Photos courtesy of CBS News, OMG I’m Getting Married via Style.com, Elizabeth Messina, FY Wedding Ideas via Style Me Pretty, Bride.net, {Roses} Jeffery & Julia Woods, Half Baked-The Cake Blog, J. Crew.

Katrina and John have a love of cars. So, what better way to celebrate their wedding then taking photos at Delaware Speedway in Ontario. Their yellow inspired wedding got me swooning over Katrina’s yellow shoes and the small touches throughout the wedding.

Katrina turned to the Shoe of Prey website to custom design her yellow wedding shoes. If you haven’t been to Shoe of Prey’s website yet, then you are missing out on customized one-of-a-kind shoes.

Today’s real wedding comes via Renaissance Studios Photography. You can check out more of their work by visiting their website and blog.

Photography: Renaissance Studios Photography

Venue: The Oaks Golf and Country Club

As you may know from my About Us page I’m a sucker for beautiful photography. My walls are covered with beautiful images from great photographers and photos of my family. If your like me once the wedding is over all you want to do is decorate your walls with the amazing photos from your wedding.

The problem I found was finding an affordable option for printing. I wanted great quality, but I didn’t want my pocket book to suffer. Some canvas companies promise big results and once you get your canvas you’re disappointed. Easy Canvas Prints was a surprising change. Their website is VERY easy to use, simple to order, and the canvas was delivered sooner than I thought. I love companies that over deliver.

Let’s first talk about quality. If you ever want to test out a printer order a big print, the canvas featured in today’s post is a 30×40. You will be able to see every flaw and every eyelash. Easy Canvas Prints’s quality is amazing and the construction of the canvas is superb.

When the canvas was packaged for delivery it was just right. No moving around and no opportunity for damage they wrapped it twice before putting it in the box. As I mentioned before the canvas was delivered before the estimated delivery date (we’re talking almost 4 days early) which made my day!

You need to plan ahead and check out Easy Canvas Prints. Their canvas designer starts with an easy 4 step process, advanced image effects, and customizable sizes. The decorating starts today with your engagement photos with a 20% discount off all canvases! These are the perfect gifts for your family or yourself.

Happy Shopping!

In celebration of Earth Day I wanted to revisit some eco-friendly posts from the past year to help give you some ideas on how to make your wedding day greener. Although we only celebrate Earth Day once a year its easy to make Earth Day everyday when planning your wedding.

You might remember my post on 5 Ways to Make your wedding GREEN, its full of ideas (big and small) to help reduce your carbon footprint.

We can’t forget natural organic fabrics and our post on Eco-Friendly Wedding Gowns. You can also look into Pre-owned Wedding Gowns for another great alternative for your wedding dress.

From DIY: Potted Centerpieces to Recycled Bottle Centerpieces and DIY: Sugar Cookie Wedding Cakes we featured a ton of ideas to help make small GREENER choices for your wedding.

When talking about eco-friendly choices we also can’t leave out our blog posts on Rent the Runway! and Eco-Friendly Jewelry. Both are very fantastic ideas for bridesmaids dresses and recycled gold.

Making small greener choices can make a huge difference in our carbon footprint. The Earth will thank you.

Jessica and Jarrad headed to Banff from Calgary for their winter wedding. They chose St. Georges in the Pines nestled in the beautiful Banff National Park for their ceremony. Their reception at the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort had several personal touches including homemade cupcakes decorated by Jessica’s mom.

Jarrad and Jessica also had snow globes made with their pictures inside of them. Their purple inspired wedding was simple and elegant and was documented by White Leaf Studios.

You can check out more of Brian Van Tighem of White Leaf Studios work by visiting his website and blog.

One of my favorite gifts from my wedding is my crock pot. It makes cooking easy and simple. This past week I’ve been sick and now that I’m finally feeling better I wanted to share a recipe I recently came across.

We all turn to chicken soup when we get sick. We want something that reminds us of our mother’s chicken soup when we were growing up. I liked this recipe because it included barley which I love because its consistency reminds me of pasta.

This easy crock pot chicken soup recipe is perfect for those days when your home sick from work and mom’s not there to take care of you.

Enjoy

Crock Pot Chicken Soup with Pearl Barley

Serves 6

• 1/2 lb. pearl barley
• 1 small stewing chicken, in pieces
• 2 carrots, sliced thick
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 C. chopped onion
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tbsp. fresh Italian parsley, chopped
• Chicken broth, as needed

1. Place the barley and chicken pieces into the crock pot.

2. Sprinkle carrots, celery, onion, and garlic over the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage, and pepper.

3. Cover just over the top of the ingredients with chicken broth.

4. Cover and cook on low heat 5 hours.

5. Remove chicken and shred the chicken meat from the bones.

6. Return the chicken meat to the crock pot.

7. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour more, or until the barley is tender.

Photo courtesy of My Recipes & recipe courtesy of Divine Dinner Party.