How many of you are married but still love to flip through bridal magazines for decorating inspiration? Me me me me! I find many great ideas in wedding mags from the dreamy color palettes to floral arrangements, wedding favors, the general styling of receptions, it's all simply amazing. That's why when I noticed that an editor by the name of Madelyn kept visiting decor8 leaving comments that linked back to Southern Weddings I had to see what the blog was like because their print magazine is pure bliss.

The Southern Weddings blog maintained by the editors of the magazine has now occupied my time for the past 30 minutes... And I'm married already! If you are looking for inspiration either for your own wedding, one that you are helping plan, or you simply love to look at beautiful photographs, head on over to the Southern Weddings blog. That's where I found floral designer Katie Elfers and in this blog post you can see some of her work, however there is lots more on her website.

I can't get enough when it comes to floral design, I love all of the latest techniques that I see whenever I scan bridal mags or blogs. I make it a habit to buy flowers each week from the local farmers' market and I take about 30 minutes to style them in a way that is just a little different from my last arrangement. It's a very peaceful 30 minutes for me, I usually stand over my kitchen sink arranging them in one hand as my mother taught me, then tying them, I set them in a vase and often I'll secure a pretty ribbon around the vase or maybe use small paper butterflies or some other accent from the hobby shop and glue it onto a thin stick and stick it into the arrangement to make it look a little more interesting, not too kitschy though as I don't want to take away from the beauty of the blooms.

I just love the portfolio of Katie Elfers and the talented editors of Southern Weddings magazine and blog, which they've pulled together so nicely. Thanks Madelyn for stopping by!

(images from katie elfers, photographed by german photographer Tine Hoffman.)