Everyone loves cake and desserts - typically guests are served a slice of cake for dessert and that is that! Excite your guests with your awesome wedding cake alternative. No plates or forks? What more could you ask for? This stunning french macaron wedding cake is so unique! Ask your bakery for color options to match your wedding palette to get this great look!

Breakaway from cake pops and make pie pops! They are simply adorable and look absolutely delightful. Pops are great for single servings and easy clean up! With cake pops you can offer a variety of flavors and colors for your guests to choose from.

Creating tiers of cake pops or pie pops creates a traditional wedding cake illusion. You and your spouse can still feed each other these cute pops with ease and without the mess of stuffing each others faces with sticky frosting and crumbles on your dress.

If you aren't into the traditional wedding cake then consider a large flat cheesecake! This is totally nontraditional and your guests will love the change in pace compared to all the other wedding cakes they have tried.

If your wedding is in the morning and you don't feel like having dessert for breakfast opt for gigantic Belgium waffles! YUM. Or even a doughnut cake! Doughnut cakes give guests the option to choose different flavors and will stand out from any other wedding they have been to.

If single serving pie pops aren't your thing - choose a few different sizes of your favorite types of pies! Stacking pies on different tiers looks bridal but adds your own personality into the mix.

For more great ideas, check out Wedding Inspirations other blogs or check us out in person in Downtown Asheville!

Macaron Cake from The Perfect Palette
Ombre Cake Pop Cake from Buzzfeed
Cake Pop Sign from Sodium Girl
Pie Pops from Every Last Detail
Heart Cheesecake from OMG Cute Things
Waffle Cake from ODDEE
4 Tier Pie Cake from Intimate Weddings

Mismatched Bridesmaids

No one bridesmaid is alike - why should their dresses not fit their unique personalities? Break away from the traditional bridesmaid dresses and give them options! We see more brides giving their bridesmaids color palettes and swatches and letting them go wild with their dress choice!

 The Dessy Collection has so many dress styles to choose from! We carry this collection at our boutique in Asheville and brides and bridesmaids love this designer for their large selection of dresses.

 Staying within the same color family allows brides to fit into the color theme but lets them pic dresses that work for their body type and price range!

 A great way to get the mismatched look is to give your bridesmaids a list of dress styles to choose from that you handpicked and they can decide which dress works best with their body type.

 For more great bridesmaid dresses, come by our boutique in Asheville!

Nude and Sequenced Long Bridesmaids from The Huffington Post

Coral Bridesmaids from Paper Antler

Pale Purple Bridesmaids from My Luscious Life

Barn Weddings

Barn and farm weddings have always been extremely popular with brides. Big wooden buildings provide the perfect backdrop or even venue space for beautiful weddings to occur.

The rustic vibes of farms and barn venues create the ultimate scene for your big day. Decor is easy! Just grab a couple benches or haystacks for casual seating, a couple wooden barrels for tables and some cowboy boots and you're ready to go!

It is easy to upscale your barn wedding by simply draping fabric from the ceiling and adding strands of Christmas lights to them for intimate lighting.

How clever and adorable are these cowboy boot vases? To DIY this rustic look - just grab up some old boots, stick a tall glass or mason jar in the bottom to act as the water basin and just load them up with flowers! These would look great lined up along the aisle while the bridal party walked in!

Instead of clinking glasses, ring a cowbell for a kiss! What a great alternative to a well-known tradition.

And of course, last but not least, the cake! The way a couple designs and places the dessert table is becoming extremely unique! Easy and inexpensive - grab a bunch of old milk crates or palatte boards to create a multilevel cake stand!

For more great ideas check out Wedding Inspirations online or in person!

Reception Area from Style Me Pretty

Ring for a Kiss from Wedding Wire

Cowboy boot Vases from Wedding Chicks

Cake on Crates from Intimate Weddings

Vintage Weddings

Antiques never go out of style! Old keys, decorated teacups and muted colors scream vintage weddings to us! These types of weddings are beautiful and timeless and are sure to capture the beauty of the moment.

Recently, we have had brides asking for 20's styled wedding dresses and we have some great dresses to offer! This flutter sleeved- Maggie Sottero dress fits into the vintage and retro themed weddings perfectly!

When we think about vintage weddings, we love to see antique lace in delicate patterns used as table linens, veils or even cupcake liners! We love the use of muted colors on cakes, decorations and bridal gowns. A light gold dress would look chic walking down a lacy aisle!

The colors of light hydrangeas surrounded by champagne gold and creams looks great! Imagine a light romantic wedding cake on top of a wine crate as your cake stand... that would be stunning!

For more great ideas check out the rest of our blog, check back for new blogs or visit us in the shop at Wedding Inspirations in Asheville!


Vintage Suitcases from Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair
Just Married Cans from Blogs of Francesco Mugnai
Key Name Cards from Wedding Chicks
Teacup Candles from A Lowcountry Wedding
Vintage Cake from The Pastry Studio
I Do Cupcakes from Indulgy

Geometric Weddings

Wedding themes are getting harder and harder to come up with. Black and white, peacock, and floral inspired weddings are a thing of the past! Take a step into the future and take a glance at our new favorite, geometric weddings.

The geometric theme isn't just for math wizards and puzzles but for the modern bride. Here, we show you how to incorporate this unique theme into your big day.

From menu cards, invitations and cake to crazy flower vases and terrariums, the possibilities are endless! Lighting can even be a great way to accommodate for your geometric needs. Last weekend, we planned a wonderful wedding and the bride brought these awesome 3D lanterns to decorate her ceremony and reception areas.

This amazing wedding arch and backdrop (pictured below) is the perfect alternative to the tradition wedding arch. Think about how lovely it would look lit up at night glowing with candles...

The wedding cake is a great place to showcase your geometric theme. 3D shapes of different colors and sizes will be sure to wow your guests at your creative genius!

Instead of flower centerpieces, how about geometric cake pops? Your guests will never have seen something so personalized!

These cool hanging paper shapes would be even better with dim lighting hanging over each table. Make those shapes glow!

For more great ideas for your big day, check out Wedding Inspirations online or stop by the shop! We would love to help make all of your dreams come true!

Geometric Table Setting from Wedding Party
Floating Shapes from 100 Layer Cake
Geometric Backdrop from Bloglovin'
Black & White Cake from Intimate Weddings
Colorful Cake from Colin Cowie Weddings
Geometric Menu from Modernly Wed 
Geometric Lantern from Katie & Chris' Wedding

Wedding Send-offs!

Traditionally, when all of the fun of the wedding day comes to an end, the couple will leave the venue with a wedding send off. This tradition used to have guests tossing rice towards the couple to wish them well with their new marriage. However, times are changing and so are these send-offs...

For night weddings, sparklers are a great option! They make for great photo opportunities and are a crowd favorite. Make sure your venue allows for sparklers, some venues may be under fire restrictions due to dry land, just ask!

For a more colorful way to end the night, these adorable DIY glitter and confetti push-pops are such fun! They can be a little bit of a hassle to clean up afterwards but are worth the mess!

If you are looking to do a little less clean up after a whole day or night of dancing, biodegradable confetti options are a great alternative. Items such as lavender and earth friendly confetti are perfect for you. Good for the environment and good for your clean-up crew.

Even better, combine your send-off with a party favor! Ribbons in your wedding colors are fun for people off all ages! They also look great in wedding pictures.

Sparkler Send-off from Wedding Chicks
Heart Sparklers from The Sweetest Occasion
Ribbon Wand Send-off from Style Me Pretty
Lavender Send-off from Inspiring Pretty
Biodegradable Confetti from Ruffled

Katie & Chris' Wedding

This year, Wedding Inspirations had the privilege of working with Katie & Chris to make their wedding dreams a reality. On September 26, 2014 the lovely couple had a beautiful ceremony and reception at the North Carolina Arboretum.

Katie and her sister were quite the DIY team. They found dozens of unique vases and candle holders to house their gorgeous flower arrangements and air plants for their table decorations.

Katie's mother even hand-stitched this adorable guestbook sign to match her daughter's theme! All of the pieces of this wedding came together so beautifully!

The bridal party even made the arch that the bride and groom stood under during their intimate ceremony. The love and effort that went into making this day perfect and special was truly inspiring.

These amazing floral arrangements came from Karen Brown at Brown's Florist. They pulled Katie's DIY items and the venue together perfectly. The arrangements looked amazing on top of the great wooden tables from Classic Event Rentals.

 The delicious food was catered by Corner Kitchen Bakery and Short Street Cakes made this unique naked wedding cake flavored with maple bacon and apple

Wedding Planner: Gwenn Ford & Taylor Heist of Wedding Inspirations
Florist: Karen Brown of Brown's Florist
Catering: Corner Kitchen Catering
Photographer: Max Cooper
Reception Band: Marsellus Fariss
Rentals: Classic Event Rentals
Venue: North Carolina Arboretum
Cake: Short Street Cakes

Colored Wedding Gowns

Tradition? Shmadition! Who says you have to wear white? More and more brides are searching for that blush, champagne, gold or even purple dress for their big day! It is your day, wear whatever you want and what makes you feel like your best!

Blush Gowns 

 

 

Blush gowns are gaining more and more of a following as the spring wedding season approaches. This lovely romantic color makes for the perfect blushing bride - we cannot get enough of this color! We love to see brides pair this pink color with bridesmaids in neutral tans and grays.

 

 

Gold Gowns

 

Gold gowns are extremely elegant and give that WOW factor to any occasion. A gold sequined dress is sure to give you that glam and sparkle that you've been searching for!

Other Fun Gown Colors

 

Go BOLD! Be unique! Step out of the traditional white wedding dress and consider a green or purple dress! If that is a little too daunting maybe consider a big POP of color under your dress for hidden details. Light purples and oranges look incredible as an option for your wedding dress.

For more unique ideas check out Wedding Inspirations' Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Blush Maggie Dress available at Wedding Inspirations

Blush Bride with Groom from Her Campus

Sitting Blush Bride from Swooned

Blush Back of Dress from Burnetts Boards

Gold Maggie Dress available at Wedding Inspirations

Gold Low Back Gown from Wedding Chicks

Gold Halter Back Gown from Burnetts Boards

Gold Sequin Dress from Buzzfeed

Lime Green Gown from Wedding Party

Red Under Gown from Wedding Party

Light Orange & Green Gown from Zsa Zsa Bellagio

Light Purple Gown from Colin Cowie