Guestbook/Photo Booth

Another Chalkboard concoction.

We are having a photo booth/guestbook. Basically the photo booth prints 4x6 photos instantly and we printed Madlibs. Guest will take a picture, print it, and glue it to a page in the guestbook (another feature I will have as soon as I get it in) along with their completed Madlib. 

I bought a frame at Hobby Lobby (50% off) and took the glass out of it. 

All that was left was the board backing. I painted the backing with chalkboard paint and painted the white with a chalkboard marker (also found at Hobby Lobby-- use your 40% off coupon)!

Chalkboard Love

CHALKBOARD!

I love the look of chalkboard art. So how could I not make add it into my special day?

Down by Stuart's parents house is a a darling little antique store called Vintage Junky. The couple that own Vintage Junky are a hoot! First, the wife paints vintage furniture like no other. The husband does chalkboard art. So I commissioned him to do a piece for us. He has many examples on the walls but I wanted to do something different. I wanted to incorporate the five stars because of our location
 (Five Star Retreat) and the arrows because our dog (Arrow) won't be able to be there on our big day.

CJ's custom chalk art website is here: CustomChalk

Here were the end results:

Some of my Favorite Purchases!

Here are a few of my favorite purchases for the wedding!

1. Cake cutting and serving utensils. Aren't they lovely? I saw them on Pinterest and found them at Distinctive Decor.

2. Wooden Monogram. I got this made from tHrEeJuMpiNgMoNkEys off Etsy. I will be painting it yellow and display it at the reception!

*Be sure to know what size you are getting. I ended up ordering what I thought would be a small one to put on top of a wreath... it ended up being bigger than my whole upper body! Whoops! 

3. Luna Bazaar candle holders in vintage blue. All I can say is "amazing." Not only are these beautiful and vintage looking (the raised pattern is lovely), I got them off Craigslist! Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. 

Bridal Shower!

All I can say is wow! 

My girls went all out. Big thank you to two of my bridesmaids Niketa and Nicole for making my bridal shower one of the greatest day I have ever had. Everything from the decorations, food, games, and homemade Sangria was perfect! 

Here are a few pictures:

Pin The Bow Tie On Stuart

*This was like pin the tail on the donkey but a bow tie on Stuart. Too much fun!

We also played a garter game. Sort of like hot potato.. standing in a circle each girl had to put the garter on her leg (past her knee) and get it off as soon as possible. If the music stopped and you still had the garter you were out. 

Here is some lovely decor:

We had sweet tea and Lemonade in mason jars. Colored straws and yummy cupcakes! 

We also had homemade Sangria!

Each girl got her own little tumbler with their name painted on it. 

Guests also got hair clips as favors. The clips had burlap flowers on them.

Engagement Photos

Oh man. Anyone who knows me knows that photos are my favorite of all time ever. 

May I just say that Nyk+Cali, Wedding Photography was the best wedding decision we have made.

These two crazy funny laid back super in love photographers are AHHHmazing. Not to mention they have some intense curly hair and they know how to have a good time!

First, I wanted to make sure we had a cool local location to work with. I chose Southall Eden in Franklin, TN. This place is a the cutest little barn/hipster wedding venue that we could not afford. So, I rented it for two hours for our engagement photos.

One cool thing about getting married is you get to go to new places and meet new people!

Nyk+Cali met up with us (and Arrow) at 5:45 and we had a blast! I do friends photos for fun (not a legit business) but it was weird being on the "other side of the camera." Even Stuart mentioned that I looked nervous at first. That all went away when Cali kept making Santa Claus laughs to make me laugh!

Poor Arrow was so distracted and not very photogenic, but he did have fun running around. Here is a preview of our photos. I will post more when we get them! Enjoy.

Cake Topper

Wedding cake- YUM!

I wanted a unique topper. Stuart brought me down to earth after begging for a $190.00 topper-- see it here: Unique Cake Topper

Is that not cool?

We are having a small ceremonial cake and doing cupcakes in a jar; thus, I went beautiful but simple.
Enter Baumbirdy.

Our finished product (Needless to say, I am in love):

Things Remembered & Facebook

When you get engaged Facebook starts putting advertisements on the side of your Facebook page (all wedding related). Well, I am glad I looked the other day!

Things Remembered had a post that said they were having a special. If you brought in your phone and showed you were engaged on Facebook they would engrave a key chain saying "Future Mrs. __________" for FREE!

I love FREE. So, I went to the local Things Remembered booth in our mall and got this lovely star key chain.

**Little secret-- this offer came up again about 2 months after I got this star key chain. I went again to a different Things Remembered and asked them for a key chain that said "Mrs. ___________" and they obliged.  After I get married my star key chain will become a Christmas Tree ornament and my new key chain will proudly hang next to my house keys!

Say Yes To The Dress

Well... it was time. Wedding Dress Shopping.

My main idea was to go to David's Bridal and try on different silhouettes to see what looked good with my figure. I had NO intention of buying my wedding dress at David's Bridal. I wanted to be different, get a unique dress, something no one else really had.

I saw two dresses I liked (only one of them Stuart would like!) I tried on both and was torn.

Luckily my mother,  my grandmother, Stuart's mother,  and my bridesmaid Niketa accompanied me!

One dress was simple and elegant and the other was flirty and fun. I knew what Stuart would say about both dresses. I knew he would like Dress #1 more than #2. The only person I wanted to show the dress to and get approval from could not help me because he can't see the dress! DARN!

I asked my dress consultant (Dori) if many people bought Dress #1 and she assured me most people did not even try it on because they did not like the look of it (sorry no hints allowed)!

Throughout the next couple of days my mind kept drifting to one and then the other but I finally decided. I loved dress #1 and with the help of my lovely bridesmaids and MOH I chose.

I can't show you my dress but I can show you my dress consultant Dori and I after I rang the bell at David's bridal for getting a dress!

*Special thanks to Niketa for coming with me to both dress appointments!

Ringing the bell with Dori (David's Bridal Brentwood, TN)

Paying for my wedding dress!

Save The Dates

Well, again I was inspired. I couldn't afford to buy these Save The Dates... so, what should I do? MAKE THEM!


My Inspiration: Woodland Invites

Here is what I did...

I purchased the stamp from the shop owner here: Stamp
I purchased wooden pieces here: Wood Slices
I purchased ink from Hobby Lobby
I purchased the cards and envelopes here: Paper
I purchased magnets from: Walmart (98 cents!)





I stamped the wood slices and let them dry. Then I attached (via hot glue gun) a magnet to the back of the wood slice.

 I printed on the card and cut triangles as pennants and glued them to the card (The same paper  used for my Brides Maid boxes). I tied the wood slice to the paper using my grey/white yarn (used with my bridesmaid boxes, as well).

I printed on my envelopes using free fonts from dafont.com-- Simon Script & Penelope Ann.

**Remember these do cost extra in the mail as they are thicker than a normal card!

Monogram

Monogram-- YAY!

I saw something similar to this that had one initial in it but I didn't like that version or the font used. Golly, what should I do?


Set the design up myself and order a custom stamp for less than $20.00 on Etsy. DUH!

* The shop I ordered my custom stamp from was: BlossomStamps

Will You Be My Groomsmen?

Well I couldn't make something for the girls and not make something for the boys!

Here is a picture of the "Be my groomsman?" pouches. They included a sweet card, information on our wedding weekend, our attire ideas, pictures of attire examples, and paint chips (for color references). Lets not forget the shot-sized bottle of Maker's Mark!

I made the pouches by using a hot glue gun and burlap pieces (the type you buy by the roll). I printed the "Wedding Weekend" and "Attire" sheets on Kraft card stock.

Here are some pictures:

Here are a few pictures of the card (we thought it was awesome!)

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

For my wedding I wanted to make sure I did something sweet right away for my girls. I found an example of a "bridesmaids box" on Pinterest and my creative juices started flowing. Here is the link to the original idea: Bridesmaid Box: Original Link. Of course, I wanted my boxes to be a little different in order to match my wedding ideas and scheme. Here is my finished project:

Here were my materials:

1. Get boxes (unfinished cigar boxes), gray spray paint, yellow acrylic paint, Kraft stickers, and yarn   from Michael's.
2. Get paint chips (for wedding dress colors), adhesive spray, sealer spray paint from Home Depot.
3. Get cream textured card stock, yellow paper, small "confetti items" from Hobby Lobby.
4. Mini Liqueur bottles (Pearl Wedding Cake & Kinky Liqueur).
5. Chocolates
6. Vintage inspired paper stack (already owned, from Hobby Lobby).
7. Heart shaped cut out puncher and Martha Stewart edge creator (already owned, from Hobby Lobby).
8. Kraft card stock paper (already owned, from Hobby Lobby).
9. Black photo corners, hemp string, and Tim Holtz tickets (already owned, from Hobby Lobby).
10. Print outs of: dress idea photos, color scheme ideas, photos of me and my girls from online and  Walgreens.
11. Hot glue gun


Steps:

I started by spray painting the outside and inside edges of the boxes gray. Then I painted the inside top yellow (you will need more than one coat). It didn't take too long to dry!

Next, I cut pieces of yarn and hung them with a hot glue gun. Then I attached my stickers with a hot glue gun to the yarn. I also put a dab of glue on the sticker to stick to the bottom to the box.

The longest step for this masterpiece was creating the information sheets (I used the cream colored card stock) in a word document and then cutting them to size. I lined the sheets up and cut them to look like the picture below. Then I used the Martha Stewart edge creator and cut the top corners (just to make them look more fancy). Last step was to tie them together using the hemp string!

I cut the paint chips I got from Home Depot and tied them with a piece of lace and then the hemp string.

I took my Kraft card stock paper and attached the pictures of me and my girls with the black photo corners. Then I used the heart shaped punch and the yellow paper to make heart shaped confetti. I also bought some fake stamps (Michael's) and the Tim Holtz tickets (Hobby Lobby) and used those as confetti as well.

The vintage inspired paper pack was used to line the bottom of the box (I used the adhesive spray for this). I also used this paper to create the letters for the top of the box. I took the paper and cut the letters from a die-cut machine I had at school!

I put everything in the box, closed it, and sprayed the outside with sealer spray.

Here are some photos:

Here are some reactions from my girls:

Wedding Photography

As most know, photography is my hobby. I do a few weddings here and there, but I knew what I wanted in a photographer for my wedding. 

On my list of top wedding priorities:

1. Venue (Outdoors)
2. Fall
3. Photography

Stuart and I decided on Nyk+Cali. 

We met Nyk and Cali after getting lost and being about 30 minutes late to our meeting. 

We figured if they could deal with us through that-- they will do just fine at our wedding! 

Check out their website and work here: http://www.nykandcali.com

Stuart and I sending off Nyk + Cali's deposit.