Gone but not Forgotten

Curtis and I wanted to find a special way to honor those who will be watching us from above. We thought a candle would be a perfect to way to include our grandparents who cannot be there and we will have my Ma and his Grandmother light the candle together. This will be done during the processional when grandparents are being sat.

After the quick Unity Candle project, I decided to finish this one as well. I included a poem on this candle and listed out the names of those we have lost. I hope that this will help include them in our ceremony and let them know they are not forgotten.

The poem reads, "For those gone in presence, but here in essence, this light shines as a symbol of lives and loves remembered."

They are greatly missed and we wish they could be there with us to celebrate the start of our lives together.

United We Stand

I completed the EASIEST DIY project ever a few weeks ago! I knew all along I wanted to make our own Unity candle instead of spending $30 on one since I could customize it. And lord knows you all know how I feel about putting that monogram on just about everything by now. :)
We had purchased some large pillar candles at Ikea over Christmas in a really nice ivory color. I had already gone ribbon crazy last year so I had lots of ribbon to play with. I also bought vellum paper around Christmas because at the time, I just KNEW I needed it. Sure enough, I did! All you need is a candle, vellum paper, some ribbon and hot glue gun.
I printed our monogram on the vellum paper and trimmed it a bit so it would fit on the candle. Here's the before photo.:

I wrapped the vellum around the candle, lining up the edges, and hot glued it to the back of the candle. I then took 2 pieces of ivory ribbon and made a border. Voila! I love how simple it is. I played around with different designs and poems but we both love how this turned out.

I then took some navy semi-sheer ribbon I would have never used otherwise and tied it to the candles we'll take to light the main candle. I may end up making a bow out of the ties but I kind of like how it hangs. What you do guys think?

So simple and another DIY project checked off of the list! :)

DIY Bridal Bouquet

This past Wednesday I headed out to Garrett Creek Ranch to take my bridal portraits I had mentioned before. Hair and makeup was awesome and I've booked both girls for wedding day already! On Monday, I stopped by Tom Thumb to pick up some flowers for my DIY bridal bouquet that I needed for the shoot. Just expecting to buy a few dozen roses, I figured putting together a bouqet of such would be a breeze. Luckily, I was right!

It helped that I had a very kind florist at the counter of Tom Thumb who walked me through the basic steps. She asked what my favorite flower was and I told her the orchid. She ran to the back quickly and emerged carrying the most beautiful, and largest, cymbidium orchids I had ever seen! I immediately committed to buying themon the spot (praying so hard that I wasn't about to spend my entire paycheck on a single stem of 12 orchids) along with 2 dozen white roses and to my surprise, the entire bouquet was less than $40! The average bridal bouquet is around $250 so this was a steal!

I let the flowers open up a bit overnight and stored both in the fridge, requiring an impromtu fridge cleaning. :) When I was ready to assemble on Tuesday evening, they were in perfect condition! I am making all bouquets for wedding day (5 bmaids and 1 bridal) so this was an excellent excuse to practice. I was thrilled with how well they held up and I'm very confident in doing this for wedding day.

I started off by cleaning each stem of the rose to rid it of thorns and imperfections. Then I moved on to opening each flower by hand, easily the most time consuming part of the whole thing. Since the roses were still tightly together, I peeled each petal back to make each rose about 3 times larger than it originally was.

Before they were fully opened...

After!!!

These orchids were so pretty and huge!

I started by taking 3 roses and wrapping floral tape around them. Then I bunched each set together, 2 at a time, until the bouquet was complete. I realize now that I should have done taped only 2 roses together at a time to create a rounder bouquet but that's why I did a trial! :) Each bridesmaid will have a dozen roses and I'll have a dozen roses as well as hydrangeas.

After the roses were complete and I had gone through almost an entire roll of floral tape, I took floral wire and threaded it through the center of 5 orchids. I then positioned each orchid randomly in the bouquet and wrapped the remaining wire around some of the stems. They were very hardy and are still going strong despite being without water for almost a week!

The last step was really easy as well. I took wide width ivory ribbon and wrapped it around the floral tape to hide everything. I forgot to cut them stems again at the bottom so they were even but again, lesson learned. I used pins to fasten the end of the ribbon to the stems and voila! Bridal bouquet! :) It took about an hour and a half from start to finish, with 45 minutes of just opening the flowers. Another DIY project I'm proud of! :)

Hello Lover....

For as long as I can remember, I vowed that I would marry in pair of truly, utterly ridiculous, over the top shoes. Designers I would lust after included Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, etc. The one that I always defaulted to though for truly classic, yet gorgeous, shoes was Christian Louboutin. The details, the handmade designs, the unique shapes, that oh-so-recognizable red sole, you get the idea. Something about a Louboutin just screams class. I had made a decision that my very first bonus check, after paying off my debt, would go towards a pair of these incredible beauties. Every woman, after all, needs one pair of truly amazing shoes in her closet to wear to that last minute black tie event (because we have so many you know, haha), a high end wedding or that week in Paris for your anniversary. :)
You all know how much of a slight fanatic I am of Sex and the City. I nearly passed out yesterday when I happened to notice the new trailer for the new movie came out and promptly watched it 5 times over. The clothes, the locations, the jokes and most of all, the shoes. It made me lust that much more for my dream shoes but I stayed on the "do not even look" track. But I digress...
As life continued, my goal was starting to work out nicely. I'd have 2 bonuses not allocated towards wedding expenses at all and I'd be out of debt. This is where God decided life was going a little too well. After going through a rough patch, my dream of my Loubs disappeared. And as life decided to kick me in the butt, I gave up. It's just not possible, nor remotely feasible, to drop over $800 on a pair...of...shoes. I realize how ridiculous it is for anyone to spend that kind of money on shoes but when it's the only indulgent thing you own in your closet, there's something that just makes you happy to look at them every morning.
So coming to terms with what will be DSW shoes (nothing wrong with it! I've been sporting an array of $4-$15 shoes from Charlotte Russe for quite some time so DSW is a nice change) for my wedding, I stopped looking. Then, yesterday, Caroline decided to show me the shoes she wanted to wear for the wedding. The link took me to a pair of Loubs. Did she secretly become a lawyer last year just didn't tell me and saved up for these? I was so confused! Then I clicked on the link...and angels sang!
There, staring at me on my computer screen, were over 50 pairs of Loubs, ALL UNDER OR RIGHT AT $200. Yes, still ridiculous, but $167 for a pair of shoes that last year were selling out for $1,200?!?! I mean, there are shoes that some people wear for "comfort" that cost $167. (flashback to Christmas shopping with mom...) Some of the beauties on the site include....



For those who would like a small prison for their feet. :)





A little animal print for those who like animal prints.



Easily the most fun pair of shoes EVER! I love these!



Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. We're in a magical place that has fabulous shoes!



Yes, these are so Sex and the City that they became the hottest selling pair of Loubs 4 years ago and you can just now find them.


And now for the classics. Clean lines, great build, and a red sole.



(this tiny peep toe makes me smile)



And this shoe just screams wedding to me. I picture our photographer going nuts during our coupley, "Just Married shots" with a hint of red peeking out. I image myself wearing these 10 years from now when Curtis and I are perusing some gorgeous vineyard in the Champagne region of France or for dinner on our anniversary while we're overlooking the Sydney Opera House. It's the shoe that makes me smile because I can think of our wedding day just by looking at them and know it was fabulous and I'm the luckiest girl in the world. :)

So, a BIG thanks to Caroline for possibly making my Loubitan dreams come true again! I have NO idea if this is something I can even get but with free shipping and no sales tax, it's most definitely a more "attainable" goal.

Curtis still thinks I should paint the bottom of a pair of $20 shoes red but something tells me that's not quite the same, lol.

Another DIY Project Idea!!!

I saw this for sale on Weddingbee.com and of course, HAVE to have it! :) They're tissue holders that say "For your tears of joy..." Very simple to make and I'm only going to make 50 or so but they'll have our monogram and will be in our wedding colors. They're so perfect for our formal wedding ceremony and with a family of waterworks (mom cries at all things wedding, haha) I know they'll come in handy. It's something small and super easy to make but again, one of those small details that help make this wedding personal and just awesome. :) Added to the to-do list!

Bridal Portraits

About 6 months ago I got an email from a vendor I met at a bridal show. Shocker, I know. This one, however, was holding a contest for brides to enter for free bridal portraits. She had a venue that doesn't have any wedding photos to show brides and wanted some test brides to do a test shoot at. After sending her a picture of my oh so beautiful dress and a headshot (what, you don't have one of those on handy at all times???) she selected me as one of the two brides to shoot!

After going back and forth for a long time, we finally settled on a date. May 5th at 8am at the beautiful Garrett Creek Ranch in Paradise, TX. Here's why I freaked out. 1) I just got my dress a few weeks ago and haven't even tried it on yet. It needs hemmed but luckily, that's it. 2) Hair and makeup. I haven't selected this vendor yet. 3) Makeup I can do before 8am (in an effort to save costs) 4) A hair stylist willing to do my hair at 5:30 am 5) The fact that I have to be awake at 5:30am 6) No shoes, jewelry or bouquet picked out or purchased.

After a mini panic attack I realized how fortunate I am to have these done for free and settled down a bit. The average bridal session with our wedding photographer is over $350 so this was a nice surprise! I am currently scouring websites looking for hair inspiration and makeup looks. I am having a mild dilemma though. Do I try and find my wedding day 'do now and try to recreate it for portrait so it's more traditional? OR Do I let loose and have fun with this since it's not something I originally planned to do?

I think I am going to blend both by having fun shoes and props but keep the overall look about the same. Here are some hair and makeup inspiration photos!





I love the loose curl look but I think I may end up with something like the last picture. It feels more formal to me. And here are some makeup inspiration photos!

All of these ladies are beautiful even when they're not made up but I love how their makeup accents their best features, looks "bridal" and yet, still has a dramatic look to them.

So now that I have some looks pulled to show the hair stylist, I feel a little better now. And I even found someone to do my hair that early in the morning without charging me 3 months salary to do so. So now I just have to find jewelry, shoes, get my dress hemmed and make a bouquet between now and then. The bouquet will be nice practice since I plan on making my own on wedding day as well.

Time is flying by it seems at this point and I can't believe I'm already planning my bridal portraits!!!

Flower Power!

TLC aired a show last year that changed my life. No, it wasn't one of those health shows or a show about families with 8,000 kids. It was Flowers Uncut; a reality show that followed the crazy vision and world of Mr. Jeff Leatham. I was instantly hooked, obsessed and starting googling this man every second I could. I had found the floral inspiration for our wedding. The talent, the unique arrangements, the beauty he brings it out in every flower; my jaw drops with each new show that airs. (It's finally back on TLC after a 6 month hiatus, probably due to my many angry emails to the TLC programming staff) He brings to life all the insane ideas I have in my head and it's rare to find someone who can do that. Here are some pics of his incredible talent:

I love how traditional he is with his flower choices (hydrangea, calla lilies, roses, etc.) and yet he uses them in a very unconventional way. Through it all though, it looks complete, polished and unique and still has that nod to arrangements people are used to seeing. From there, the stage was set. Our floral design would be a Jeff Leatham knock off.

I scoured dozens of florists websites and one kept jumping out at me. Their eye for detail, knack for original designs and very modern/traditional wedding arrangements was oh so perfect. The company is A Stylish Soiree and it is run by two young women who truly love what they do. From the second we sat down with Becca and showed her my, um, 17 page picture inspiration board, she instantly got it. There was no explaining who Jeff was, there was no playing of the 20 questions to try and understand the vision; she looked at the pictures and said "So you want Jeff Leatham to design your wedding and came to me to make it happen? :)" Since I hadn't mentioned his name yet, she stole my heart right then and there. They have done hundreds of weddings in DFW and she loves doing weddings like this one. It gives her the ability to be very creative with the designs and allows me to breath a big sigh of relief. I never imagined I could have a vendor this amazing!

For the ceremony, I'm doing a replica of Eva Longoria's wedding in Paris. The church itself (it's almost done!) is so beautiful that I wanted to do something to compliment it and not compete with it. I'll have pics soon of the church! Here are my inspiration photos:

If this isn't bridal done right, I have no idea what is! We'll have rose petals everywhere, lining the aisle and all around the arrangements. I'll have a few large vases in the back of the church to draw the eye in but the bulk will be at the front of the church on the alter. We'll have four 5-6 ft vases with large hydrangeas and phaleonopsis orchids in them and then it will taper down to 4 ft vases on the outside of that with roses and calla lilies in them as well. Add rose petals and candles to the bottom of it and viola, Eva Longoria's wedding! I literally cannot wait to see what this looks like all setup!!

Moving on to the reception: Becca drew out each of out designs for us for each table based on what we discussed. She also provided a picture of the flower she'll be using for each table to help visualize the entire process. Here are the flowers we're using;

Each table will have a different arrangement on it and the arrangements will only be featured twice. (so 6 different ones on 12 tables) The vases are varying heights ranging from 2 feet to 4 feet and I love the idea of having all of them "pointing" towards the center of the room. Here are the drawings she sent to us.



Our head table will be in the shape of an X with a large set of arrangements in the middle and vases filled with water and floating candles coming down each arm. The focal point will be this table and particularly the center arrangement.

I am so excited about the flowers that I'm having a hard time waiting for it all to get here! :) I hope everyone enjoys them during the reception and they feel like they're part of something truly special.