plum & peach

wedding planning. travel inspiration. food & drink favorites. home decor ideas. affordable fashion. & celebrating all of the wonderful little things in between!

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Rentals

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Cake Tasting

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Venue

The hardest part of wedding planning so far has been the venue search. We knew that we wanted to get married in wine country, because of our shared love of food & wine as well as Jordan's passion for wine making, but weren't set on a particular spot. After searching in Sonoma, Napa and St. Helena, we decided on Healdsburg in Sonoma County. It is a bit more low key than Napa, and we fell in love with the quaint town square. We stumbled upon our venue, Chalk Hill Estate, while up there for a wedding. We stopped to taste wine, noticed the Equestrian center up on the hill, and it was fate. After taking a tour of the property, we decided that we will have the ceremony in the beautiful chapel and then head up to the Equestrian center for cocktails, dinner and dancing. 

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Floral Mood Boards

Pinterest has been the best way to keep wedding ideas organized. I have created a pin board to share with vendors, such as the florist and photographer, but I have found that creating mood boards has been the best way to prepare for meetings with potential florists. Bringing along printouts is the best way to showcase what you like and don't like, and to have something to leave behind for florists to reference as they pull together a quote for you.

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The SF Flower Mart is located right next to Fantistico in SoMa. It is a great place to browse for colorful blooms and for wedding floral inspiration! Since my favorite peonies won't be in season in October, I also love ranunculous and full garden roses. I am narrowing down my florist search and am excited for how the overall decor aspect of the wedding is coming together. More on that later!

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Fantastico is located on 6th and Bryant street in SoMa. They have a great selection to choose from for parties, including wedding decor and favors. I personally loved the mini hanging bud vases & chandeliers, colorful tulle and garden baskets.

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Registry Fun

Jord and I had so much fun attending a Macy's "Sip & Scan" event with our friends Suzanne and Brian. We recommend registering at Macy's not only because they have everything, but because of their rewards program. You get 10% rewards on every eligible purchase you make, plus 5% rewards on every eligible gift that you receive! It is a great way to complete your shopping after the wedding. We also decided to register at Pottery Barn for additional home decor items!

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Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

I have been on the hunt for the perfect bridesmaid dresses for the past couple of months. These Jenny Yoo convertible dresses have been on my mind since the first time my sisters and I went shopping! They are made from a soft tulle and have loose panels that can be tied up into a pretty structured bow. It comes in a variety of colors and I love the idea of mixing two shades of pink!

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Paper Goods: Bachelorette Invites

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Paper Goods: Save-the-Dates

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Paper Goods

Jordan and I have decided to DIY as many as the paper goods for our wedding as we can. We used Adobe InDesign to create our own custom Save-the-Dates, using a photo taken right after Jordan proposed. I am a huge fan of calligraphy (I recently took my first introductory class and have been busy practicing, more to come on that later!) and decided to go with Carolyna Pro, a more whimsical yet still elegant font. This will be carried across all of our paper goods. Stay tuned for more Save-the-Date DIY tips!

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That's Amore

Meg gave me this ring dish as an engagement gift. I am pretty forgetful so whenever I take my ring off, I place it in the dish. It's a good way to avoid misplacing it! It also reminds me of the trip to Italy that Jordan and I took after we got engaged in Amsterdam. As more and more of my friend's are getting engaged (including Megs, who got engaged in April!), a ring dish is a great idea for a celebratory gift. Here are a couple of my favorites:

1. BHLDN Seashell Ring Holder $38

2. BHLDN Monogram Ring Dishes $18 for set of 2

3. Kate Spade Grace Avenue Ringholder $40

4. Anthropologie Landmark Ring Dish $12

Etsy is also a great place to shop for unique gifts!

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Afternoon Tea

I love everything about tea parties - from the bite size snacks and treats to the pretty teacups to the feminine decor. It is a great idea for a get-together with girlfriends, such as a bridesmaid's brunch. Here are some ideas to host a party of your own!

|| Flea markets are a great place to find antique glassware. This set of pretty champagne coupes is perfect for entertaining ||

|| The croissants from Tartine are a delicious addition to any brunch ||

|| Dainty teacups in different shapes and sizes borrowed from Jordan's Mom - these are also good flea market finds! ||

|| Bite-size treats on a pretty cake stand ||

|| Individual yogurt parfaits: layer Greek yogurt, granola & berries ||

|| The tablescape wouldn't be complete without fresh pink roses ||

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the secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new

- Socrates

A lot has changed in the past couple of months, the largest being that Meg has moved out of the city. Change has always been tough for me, and Meg leaving has not been easy. I miss her! But I have a wonderful new roomie, my little sister Chrissy, and Jordan and I are starting to think about our future plans and moving in together. This quote is my inspiration for taking change head on and making it into something positive. Over the next several months, I am going to use plum&peach to continue to document my wedding planning and activities, as well as all of the little things in between that bring happiness to my life. I'm excited to see what is in store!

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friday "food for thought" part II

Happy Friday! After another great book club this week with friends and lots of good food and wine, we decided to update this must-read list to include some of our recent favorites. There is no better time than fall to cozy up with a good book, warm blanket and a cup of tea!

And The Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner)

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Defending Jacob, by William Landay

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards

And here is a great blog post that was shared with us that we recommend reading for some weekend inspiration! 25 Things Every Woman Needs to Know

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chinese chicken salad & dumplings

Straying away from their usual homemade pasta projects, Nicki and Jordan decided to create an Asian inspired meal over the weekend. It was a really nice evening so they lit the BBQ and grilled chicken with a mango-soy glaze (marinated using store-bought sauce). The salad consisted of the following ingredients:

1/2 head of iceburg lettuce, chopped

3 peeled & sliced mandarin oranges

1 shaved cucumber

1 shaved carrot

2 chopped green onions

1/2 package of Chinese style noodles (pictured above & cooked according to instructions on package)

1/2 sliced red bell pepper

Handful of parsley from the porch garden :)

The dressing was a mixture of olive oil, white wine vinegar, soy sauce, sambal oelek hot sauce and toasted sesame oil (only use a little, it is really strong!). 

They added leftover green onion and bell pepper to cooked ground pork meat for the dumpling filling - the dumplings were a delicious addition to the salad!

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favorite things

Here are some of our favorite pictures from this past weekend. We were in Beverly Hills for our friend's beautiful wedding at Greystone mansion. It was such a fun time and we are so happy to have been a part of her special day!