Martha, Martha, Martha!

With all this talk of inspiration, it seems downright unfair and almost misleading to omit this lovely lady from my posts:

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Martha. Yes, Martha Stewart. The queen of the craft world, and the master of all things "good" and lovely, in my humble opinion. Strange, that for so many years, I didn't care for her in the media, and I certainly took no interest in her wares. I avoided her as much as possible; I changed the channel if she was making an apperance, I scoffed at her magazine covers (sacrilege in my mind now, I assure you), and I would never have been caught dead with any of her craft products.

Oh how things have changed!

Martha, I am sorry for doubting you. Clearly, I wasn't ready for all the bridal inspiration you have to offer. My goodness, it's sad to say. My only guess is that I was still rebelling against all things handmade, after a childhood spent embossing scraps of paper, planting flowers, and creating jewelry for my friends, I lost it. I took a time out. And I took it out on you. But that's all changed now. About a year ago, I picked up your wedding magazine, and oh my goodness, wow, are you serious? I was hooked. The colors, the images, the textures! Again, I'm at a loss for words...

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Let's not forget this lovely lady too. Darcy Miller, she's the Senior VP of MSLO (Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, because where have you been?) and the Editorial Director of MSW ("Martha Stewart Weddings," again duh) among other things--got that? I don't have any particular insight into their organization, but I'm guessing the structure, at least as far as MS Weddings is concerned, is that Martha is #1 and Darcy is #2? Yes, in my mind I'm right, and so that's how it is. These two, combined with an amazingly talented staff create my quarterly obsession: Martha Stewart Weddings.

And now, two of my favorite covers:

(Winter 2009)

(Fall 2009)

Hmm...so pretty. So colorful. Sadly, I can say with complete honesty, that I've grown anxious waiting pick up the latest issue of MSW to see the coverwork. What a nerd. But can we just discuss this for a moment? I can't keep my eyes off of it. The colors are my favorite thing, does it sound like I'm 5 years old? So be it! I have always had a slight obsession with colors, shades, and hues. I loved color so much, I got stuck dying fabric for samples EVERY DAY for the semester I worked as a fashion intern. It was heaven! That is, if heaven is a (oddly) dark closet with a sink, tons of plastic quart containers, and and boxes upon boxes upon bottles of Rit dye. So maybe not so much, but it was great. Anyway, Martha does color like no one's business. And really, with all the effort that brides put into color schemes, it would be ludicrious thing to skimp on.

I can't forget to mention that they know how good the magazine is--they must. It's so good they put nearly every bit of content from the mag online. So you don't have to buy it, but you know you're gonna. Being a book nerd myself, I am not satisfied until I have a tactile copy in my hand. I must look through and dog ear and put aside for review at a later date and time.

The other thing that I love about MSW is how each and every issue is centered on a theme. Yes, I know, this is not groundbreaking in the world of magazines, each issue has a theme. Except in the world of bridal mags, it appears that many publications simply stopped at "The Spring Issue." Ehem, season is not enough detail for the event-obsessed. There are some that take it a little farther--"hmm, how about 'Summer in Santorini'?" Yes, editor at some other bridal mag, Santorini is gorgeous, and if you haven't been there, you really must go, but it's not enough to center a shoot on a beautiful island and expect me to go for it. Martha gets it. You want a themed issue? How about "confetti?!" You know those teeny tiny pieces of paper that people throw around on New Years Eve, if ever? Yeah, let's make an entire issue and center it around confetti. And they do, and they do it so well that when I'm done reading, all I can do is wait for the next issue and store inspiration pictures like this in a special folder on my desktop.

(From the Winter 2009 Issue)

Yes, a gorgeous cake, showered in confetti. I could have thought of this, but sadly, I doubt I would have, if it weren't for MSW. Alright, I'm off to look for the destination weddings issue! (Will I have a destination wedding? Probably not. But I can't sit here with the knowledge that there is a new Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine on stands and not run out and buy it. Plus, I'm running to CVS anyway--it has to be there.)

So, anyone else heart Martha?