Growing in popularity, especially over the last five years, inspiration boards are easily becoming a bride’s best friend. They are the road map to the details that will comprise your wedding motif. An inspiration board showcases color palettes, theme ideas, dresses, venues, anything wedding related. It’s your collecting of inspirational wedding images.

Consider this the contest kick off! If you win, you will get a $100 gift card to use however you need in the planning of your wedding. Think about what you can get, use it toward your flower arrangements and spring for the exotics, use it to splurge on those pretty invitations, or save it until all the commotion is over and spend it while unwinding with your wife or hubby on the honeymoon…but THERE’S MORE!

The winner of our Inspire Me Bride contest giveaway will also have their ideas turned into a photo shoot sponsored by A Monique Affair and Adeline & Grace Photography, which will then be featured in a very special blog post dedicated to our winner! How cool is that!?!

The contest will run until noon on February 23, 2012, and the winner will be announced on February 25, 2012 after verifying all the data.

Contest Rules

There are a few requirements (explained below) that must be met in order to be entered into the contest. All participants will need to submit an email to amoniqueaffair@gmail.com with the participants full name, wedding date and must write “Inspire Me Bride Contest Giveaway” in the subject line.

All submissions and votes must be received and lodged by 12:00pm (Pacific Standard Time) on February 23, 2012. Our team will then go over all submissions and votes, verifying that all requirements were met before the winner is announced.

What you need to do:

1. Create an electronic wedding photo collage inspiration board, in JPEG format and post it on A Monique Affair’s Facebook page,as well as on Adeline & Grace Photography’s Facebook page with your name as the caption to the photo.

1. “Like” both A Monique Affair and Adeline & Grace Photography on Facebook.

1. Follow A Monique Affair (http://twitter.com/amoniqueaffair) on Twitter.

1. Get your friends to log onto Facebook and visit your inspiration board in our Inspire Me Bride Facebook photo album, and ask them to vote for your photo by “LIKING” it. The photo with most likes by 12:00pm February 23, 2012 wins.

IT STARTS NOW!

In the time it took you to read this blog post, others have already started, so get to it! If you really want to win start scouring the net for all those inspirational images and watch us bring your wedding vision to life in a top of the line, artistic photo shoot. We can’t wait to see your vision! May the best bride win!

Jenna & Brandon’s wedding at Trentadue Winery was a wonderful way to kick of 2011.  The day was made special by friends and family who came in from all over the world (including them!) and the arrival of the bridal party in a yellow school bus…

Florence & Dave’s intimate wedding at Auberge du Soleil was made special by the Malaysian influence by Florence’s family.  They had a beautiful tea ceremony to honor all the key members of each other’s families.  To tie in the Napa Valley theme, Florence’s mother gave her a beautiful grape necklace.

Jill & Brian tied the knot at Carneros Inn, their day was full of so many beautiful details…

Evan & Susan’s wedding was so beautiful and romantic which made it perfect for Auberge du Soleil.  Their ceremony was beautiful and intimate, with a close friend even serving as officiant!  Her veil completed the romantic feel of the day…

Nic & Jessica’s wedding at V Sattui Winery went off without a hitch!  Everyone was so cool, calm & collected and really seemed to enjoy each other.

Emily & Sergey tied the knot at Auberge du Soleil which was perfect for their super intimate wedding.  Everyone traveled from out of town and I think the guest list topped off at 35!  Needless to say, they really got a chance to spend time with each of their guests and savor each moment.

Lara & Preston’s wedding was all about beautiful details; and with the bride being the woman we dubbed Queen of Etsy, every detail was unique!  The day was perfectly bright and blue which showed off all the beautiful colors of The Carneros Inn where they celebrated their day together.

Debbie & Bryan are one of our Texas couples but they really wanted to celebrate in Napa Valley style!  The flowers were in full bloom at Auberge du Soleil and really made her pink bouquet pop!  They had a few memorable moments in the beginning but overall it was a fun day with a lot of tears of happiness…

Prairie & Jeff’s wedding at Murrieta’s Well was absolutely beautiful!  They simply adore each other and their day was filled with lots of love, laughter and heartfelt toasts…

Kayla & Geoff’s wedding at Auberge du Soleil was so much fun… Their day was tailor made for these two foodies with all the wonderful food that was served and the favors for their guests being custom made recipe books made by the bride and groom themselves!

Lindsey & Adam’s wedding at Beaulieu Gardens was full of beautiful details, amazing food and a fabulous getaway car!  They took the prize this year for the most visually stunning wedding…

Stacey & Keith got married it true vintage style at Auberge du Soleil…

Nothing says California more than a wedding at Solage Calistoga!  Miriam & Mike’s wedding was no exception; they had sunny skies, huge oak trees and bicycles!

I have never seen a bride so excited to get married!  Heather & Sean’s wedding at The Carneros Inn was a truly joyful occasion…

Jessica & Scott’s Wedding at The Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena was an international affair.  They had family and friends who came from all over the globe, even from the southern hemisphere!  Those Aussies really know how to party….

Michelle & Brian’s intimate wedding at Scott’s Seafood in Walnut Creek was beautiful and quiet with just family members in attendance.  You wouldn’t have been able to tell that they planned the entire wedding in just over a month!

Jennie & Aaron’s elegant backyard wedding was made possible by Jennie’s generous aunt.  They had such a good time, lot’s of dancing, laughing and delicious food!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Texans really know how to party!  Sarah & Alex’s wedding at Kunde Family Estate was done  California style under giant oak trees but with a Texas flair with cowboy boots and lots of dancing…

Jessica & Serdar’s elegant wedding at The Carneros Inn was a super fun all day party!  These two are crazy in love and really know how to have a good time; and with relatives who came in from Turkey, you know the dancing was sensational!

Jessica & Matt’s wedding at Cline Cellars had that California Mission feeling.  These two are sweet and seemingly low key; neither of us expected the crazy dance party segment at their reception!

Christine & Calvin’s intimate backyard wedding was held in the biggest backyard we’ve ever seen!  Not sure if it can even be called a backyard with a duck pond, fountain, tennis courts, life-size doll houses and stables.  It was a truly unique experience…

Katie & Wallace had a true wedding adventure!  Beginning in Tiburon and ending in San Francisco, this was one day we will never forget…

Janine & Dionne’s wedding at Mills College was absolutely perfect; the clouds even parted long enough for us to get some amazing photos of them outside on the beautiful grounds of the college…

The fall leaves were at their peak for our last wedding of the season; Andrea & Ron at Auberge du Soleil.

Whew what a year! Here’s to seeing what 2012 has to offer!

Volume one: Prep photos, first sight and all family/bridal party photos.

Volume two: Ceremony details, ceremony, reception details and then reception. More photos of Lindsey and Adam (what photographer can complain about a client wanting to take MORE photos???!!)

Taupe album with 4×6 horizontal and vertical images with white liner.

You can mount your invite into the front page. We decided to mount the whole invitation suite… which I love. Her paper products were phenomenal so we couldn’t leave them out.

While my sample album looks a bit different you can still get the feel for the day. I personally love full panorama spreads and clean pages. I want my clients to pick up their albums 20 years from now and have them feel timeless and classic. Not soooo 2011 if you catch my drift.

Happy viewing!

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Quite a view from Auberge eh?

Branch Out Floral & Event Design does it again! This was my first season working with her and every time she blew me away!

Janine and Dionne opted for a first sight since they were  having an evening candle lit ceremony. They wanted some daylight photos from the day. This is during their first sight… Dionne played “iPhone DJ” and put on a love song for when they first saw each other. LOVE!

During the ceremony they presented their boys with special charms that happened to be puzzle pieces. This killed me! I totally started tearing up! I caught the boys putting the pieces together during the ceremony:

Janine said her vows with the help of her iPhone. Are you notcing a pattern here? They love their phones!

The reception took place at the Montclair Women’s Club which is one awesome venue! Chanda from A Monique Affair took care of all the details. She is SUCH an easy person to work with!

The rest of the night was a dance off. Its been a long time since I laughed so much at a reception… man those toasts were funny! Congrats to you both!

While Katie and Wallace currently live in Massachusetts, Katie’s heart still takes up a part-time residence in San Francisco.  She lived there for a time a while back and it made a huge impression on her and she knew that it was where she would eventually want to get married.

Their fun and adventurous day started out with a beautiful, intimate and emotional ceremony at the historical and beautiful Old St. Hilary’s chapel in Tiburon.  We then took a tour all around San Francisco and eventually landed at the grand Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, safe and sound.  And let me tell you, getting there safe and sound was a worry at one point!  We had the craziest limo driver that got lost at every turn, and we also had to brave one of the rainiest days I’ve seen in a long time.  Being in the limo, and huddling under umbrellas together made us all fast friends, however; and everyone ate, drank and laughed through the whole day!  It was truly an honor to be included in this small group and I will never forget the fun we had.  Congratulations to you two!!