tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18347899938176451252024-03-15T18:09:23.023-07:00Keen To Be SeenAly's Wedding Inspiration BlogAlysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.comBlogger154125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-88139275315148824482012-03-22T13:27:00.005-07:002012-03-22T14:00:41.398-07:00Grab a tissue, you're going to need it.<div align="center"><a href="http://snippetandink.com/">Snippet & Ink</a> has always been one of my favorite wedding inspiration websites. I've felt like the author, Kathryn, and I are kindred spirits because we share so many likes and interests. I also appreciate the way she approaches her topics with sweetness and sentimentality. I still read her blog just about daily. The photos are always beautiful, but today's Real Wedding post made me cry. It's a sweet and heart-breaking love story. It touches me to see two people with such open hearts, and the love that they share is so apparent in their pictures.<br /><br />For those of you who are in the midst of wedding planning, and starting to feel like you can't catch your breath, this post really puts things in perspective.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.snippetandink.com/photo-features/real-wedding-bethany-ryan/">Real Wedding: Bethany & Ryan</a> </div><br /><a href="http://www.snippetandink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/br4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://www.snippetandink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/br4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722828722454551458" /></a>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-90538664671351354212011-12-02T05:30:00.000-08:002011-12-02T05:30:00.346-08:00Heads up! Great deal on chargers at Michael's! Today only!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-URFD4wCmMZnYqhm3AIXbB88iYNT9bibWwGKK8dqgryMQ0pvxclJWO_6UirD2Fyfy_KpUOMP65kA4J-YYndZf_ikMoVvQayck1dKWKBOL6F_BK_24AGKMMzjuEiIj9mR9lhdVV4B5lQ/s1600/MichaelsChargerSale.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 202px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681496488963310338" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-URFD4wCmMZnYqhm3AIXbB88iYNT9bibWwGKK8dqgryMQ0pvxclJWO_6UirD2Fyfy_KpUOMP65kA4J-YYndZf_ikMoVvQayck1dKWKBOL6F_BK_24AGKMMzjuEiIj9mR9lhdVV4B5lQ/s400/MichaelsChargerSale.JPG" /></a><br />I just wanted to share a deal I just found online. <a href="http://www.michaels.com/">Michael's</a> (the craft store) has a 1-day sale for TODAY ONLY (12/2/2011) that features <a href="http://www.michaels.com/Holiday-Chargers/hd0543,default,pd.html?cgid=products-homedecor-accessories&start=1">Ashland Holiday Chargers</a> for only $0.99 each! That's half off the regular price. Based on the pictures on the website, they appear to be available in silver, gold, green, and a darker red. Sure, if you combine those colors together, it screams "holiday celebration!", but if you choose just one color, they're very versatile for most wedding color palettes. I'm a big fan of using chargers for a more formal and elegant event. It makes the table seem more complete, especially while your guests are waiting for their meal. They're also handy to incorporate underneath some centerpieces.<br /><br />The reason I'm mentioning this at all is because that's a heck of a deal for chargers. A lot of the event rental places charge that much just to rent chargers. If you could buy them for the same price, you can then pass on the savings to a future bride and recoup some of your expense!<br /><br />In addition to the sale price, Michael's also has a coupon worth $5 off of every $25 you spend. The coupon is good for today and tomorrow only. Here is the coupon:<br /><br /><img src="http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aaeo_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-Michaels-Site/Sites-Michaels-Library/default/v1322805560383/120211-5off25threshold-www.jpg" /><br /><br />I think I might pick up a few of those chargers to use on our holiday table with our wedding china. I like the ideas on the website to decorate them festively, too. You know me, I love customized and heart-felt details! <br /><br />I hope that everyone is having a good holiday season so far. Are there any winter brides out there? Send me some pictures of your favorite winter wedding details!Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-45300615917152248792011-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:002011-08-03T08:00:10.559-07:00Jason and Joanna's North Idaho Wedding<div align="left">Our friends Jason and Joanna got married on July 9th, 2011 in Bonner's Ferry Idaho. Yesterday I shared details of Joanna's cute bridal shower, so today I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from their wedding. All of these photos were taken by <a href="http://calijenaephotography.com/index2.php#/home/">Cali Jenae Photography</a>. If you're looking for a wedding photographer, or someone to do your family portraits in eastern Washington / north Idaho, it looks like she does a great job and I know Jason and Joanna really liked her. Dylan and I have been wanting to do a fun, relaxed couple session, so we might have to give her a call!</div><br /><p align="center">{Click on any photo to enlarge}<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAVXWL1jurww-z_Yz6Sm0QZMKB2K3Of1ZQ0n1KfK7CzmwNbNNJ96sjc_uP49zsejQl4cQdt-xcGLO_y6Olbz4oRULcbLa8QcMi5kHorPKW-8Vf907IYGv0B1GAetM-f9va8Pw9EePWGg/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636369334561147762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQAVXWL1jurww-z_Yz6Sm0QZMKB2K3Of1ZQ0n1KfK7CzmwNbNNJ96sjc_uP49zsejQl4cQdt-xcGLO_y6Olbz4oRULcbLa8QcMi5kHorPKW-8Vf907IYGv0B1GAetM-f9va8Pw9EePWGg/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-1.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5AGd1L8NZ_MMQmxaqs2rHt1jP6xdwMoFE2a1Z-jfCmqaUuyAJT9S0ECZY6h2Rw6XbL5FTr6ZlVo5ad5FlGhwXHFjmM2PMuSdrHoGP9pE0gy0TS6V-8OBuMK4BcrItear5psaoN2sX8h4/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636369241485623186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5AGd1L8NZ_MMQmxaqs2rHt1jP6xdwMoFE2a1Z-jfCmqaUuyAJT9S0ECZY6h2Rw6XbL5FTr6ZlVo5ad5FlGhwXHFjmM2PMuSdrHoGP9pE0gy0TS6V-8OBuMK4BcrItear5psaoN2sX8h4/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-2.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzsj6Cz2FciXpZwidEtKOE4swptA5RFAD3ib0oDnv2acBOw6Yj3hkyMQJl2Xj3KYkhLvZOMrsgVPGZ7x-V5CAFEybX1ccrwxRzL-4nIXtprgbR3JKFyfhezVbGFTZBnloMhgVh9HjcKY/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636369150746853874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzsj6Cz2FciXpZwidEtKOE4swptA5RFAD3ib0oDnv2acBOw6Yj3hkyMQJl2Xj3KYkhLvZOMrsgVPGZ7x-V5CAFEybX1ccrwxRzL-4nIXtprgbR3JKFyfhezVbGFTZBnloMhgVh9HjcKY/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-3.jpg" /><br /></a><center>JoJo with her sisters, Maggie, Carly and Bryne.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NN6ZT336jXYXrwH3moCMBrtBDDCXkcUwDGD7ABECog2VdM9avakzPcJJtB9xrdi6W9h9tKy84qAv9pWByIQcF8Hg9L1oI-jaYHzvMWex9asUpa5T-ovqe1Mp8tl6Fy4En7j-_Kn7aM0/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-4.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636369043290119490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NN6ZT336jXYXrwH3moCMBrtBDDCXkcUwDGD7ABECog2VdM9avakzPcJJtB9xrdi6W9h9tKy84qAv9pWByIQcF8Hg9L1oI-jaYHzvMWex9asUpa5T-ovqe1Mp8tl6Fy4En7j-_Kn7aM0/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-4.jpg" /></a><br />I love this one extra! Jason with all of the girls sending smooches cracks me up! </center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM3NT-MtSCoq6Lrun2ylPGZwMjix_hby67ePH3L8q8ft217xYoLB8-P57MQZ4F4_4lzlXk5sc_XJE2j7M0g_Po9gmx-XXx-oNFTDg99RZaVcvyGOOHwwe_grk9WZVdcR1H9GCmak3YLKg/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-7.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636371600980236386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM3NT-MtSCoq6Lrun2ylPGZwMjix_hby67ePH3L8q8ft217xYoLB8-P57MQZ4F4_4lzlXk5sc_XJE2j7M0g_Po9gmx-XXx-oNFTDg99RZaVcvyGOOHwwe_grk9WZVdcR1H9GCmak3YLKg/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-7.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qcA0R9L2tTp_fhBBooWuLxYBdYMYD_Pv0E9mQUZ7vxLin0y5uGFf2vw8vkaNLqtV47g63zHETNXTvo7IgKdPyDUVzcsZGjHCX0ZR4UHJrKDF11s0cYoGxdJe5YA2g-nbWibjyLyE7sM/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-5.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636368937886380802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qcA0R9L2tTp_fhBBooWuLxYBdYMYD_Pv0E9mQUZ7vxLin0y5uGFf2vw8vkaNLqtV47g63zHETNXTvo7IgKdPyDUVzcsZGjHCX0ZR4UHJrKDF11s0cYoGxdJe5YA2g-nbWibjyLyE7sM/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-5.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFKJta1nvhN_o2FGnHShlvFTttLXRkoZHzozCz6gJA31ehZwTUQ5h-l7VRsBOHeixiRK9Uf_nWA7FiTyytJVkgEejCFioVJCOob_oM5IuiK2AvjOzgd5yB8Lh1-FBsfavlzahZYDkZYA/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-6.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636368802233613714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFKJta1nvhN_o2FGnHShlvFTttLXRkoZHzozCz6gJA31ehZwTUQ5h-l7VRsBOHeixiRK9Uf_nWA7FiTyytJVkgEejCFioVJCOob_oM5IuiK2AvjOzgd5yB8Lh1-FBsfavlzahZYDkZYA/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-6.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNW53kqfxZuU4vtTa_rSBhKB3WEpCAbIaDhEH9rAl_vLkuCCsuwFCBr2Pjyjjs0AlM2Vv4RkyWdSZ-JWxCsiB-TbWbJhG_6PnozvckRvHIgtu-FtSsaQEIP1Wf5VKXaqcwuYHBNTjTMI/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-8.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636367904830713970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNW53kqfxZuU4vtTa_rSBhKB3WEpCAbIaDhEH9rAl_vLkuCCsuwFCBr2Pjyjjs0AlM2Vv4RkyWdSZ-JWxCsiB-TbWbJhG_6PnozvckRvHIgtu-FtSsaQEIP1Wf5VKXaqcwuYHBNTjTMI/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-8.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl6WJdxX3tXGrTXfq5sn98ll1Y4swMvOep6x0TjnX8TxDga73SsAxp4wZBhZjbCBCnKj1EosWVofQSRBfn2ZaeUJ1KpdmiEKCdbFNKySDpFCEpKPJJaRVRFi08BGbOMFZzgK5-D9-dvds/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-9.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636367742790639298" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl6WJdxX3tXGrTXfq5sn98ll1Y4swMvOep6x0TjnX8TxDga73SsAxp4wZBhZjbCBCnKj1EosWVofQSRBfn2ZaeUJ1KpdmiEKCdbFNKySDpFCEpKPJJaRVRFi08BGbOMFZzgK5-D9-dvds/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-9.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpJIXVJpXBRUczZA-MAIzzdvugGMpO2oxb1J-5D9phfPc8aFsmqfGnHR-7ohCD4rLga9yWI90vfbPoOrF_s-i3iTIXwzS0PAU0QRcvTSY-5rdDPdcdugxz-oQD2k5hYeJg07iuMyNK9A/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-Cake.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636367556880875058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpJIXVJpXBRUczZA-MAIzzdvugGMpO2oxb1J-5D9phfPc8aFsmqfGnHR-7ohCD4rLga9yWI90vfbPoOrF_s-i3iTIXwzS0PAU0QRcvTSY-5rdDPdcdugxz-oQD2k5hYeJg07iuMyNK9A/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-Cake.jpg" /></p><br /><p align="center"></a>The talented Joanna made her own wedding cake! How crazy is that?! It looks so beautiful!<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgylUVmRdnMs_zRMFrnm-Eq58xekCGxOkuW9TX3BBmRr2pdUC6mx_G9H7I9OB3OOpJpMIlmXp2gAtPouN0TiKqeRKe3FvfKlQ4QeXb0izB07J5GohiUqNgON-QydnZ6rH5qKJRTQUP9BpQ/s1600/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-Cake1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636367447486479250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgylUVmRdnMs_zRMFrnm-Eq58xekCGxOkuW9TX3BBmRr2pdUC6mx_G9H7I9OB3OOpJpMIlmXp2gAtPouN0TiKqeRKe3FvfKlQ4QeXb0izB07J5GohiUqNgON-QydnZ6rH5qKJRTQUP9BpQ/s400/Jason-Joanna-Wedding-Cake1.jpg" /></a>That location in Bonner's Ferry looks gorgeous. It covers all of the bases -- they get a picture with mountains, a picture with meadow, a picture in the forest, and even a picture with a river flowing behind them! <br /><br />We just want to wish our dear friends the best! Jason and JoJo, we love you guys and we wish you a lifetime of love, health and happiness together! Congratulations! </p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-20218122413801621382011-08-02T12:55:00.000-07:002011-08-02T18:06:14.438-07:00Joanna's Rustic Carnival Theme Bridal Shower<div align="left">Recently I attended my friend Joanna's bridal shower. Her sisters Carly and Bryne created an adorable carnival themed shower that was laid-back and kid-friendly. I wanted to share the details, as well as capture the day for Joanna.</div><br /><div align="center">{click picture to enlarge}<br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlGR42W82IqCz37qkThVirrwiV0a3yWVFXHSeS3Wv_tDxNPfzKioCmDGZ8I9oe-NX16HQQ6Jy6X6o44XbQA3FKN3uHoAtu8ZN_fQQbIdDeT6fxiHBB70ueKo_wcvy_nLxEcxfq8U3INk/s1600/keentobeseen-Joanna-Rustic-Carnival-Theme-Bridal-Shower-01.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636350746240039890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlGR42W82IqCz37qkThVirrwiV0a3yWVFXHSeS3Wv_tDxNPfzKioCmDGZ8I9oe-NX16HQQ6Jy6X6o44XbQA3FKN3uHoAtu8ZN_fQQbIdDeT6fxiHBB70ueKo_wcvy_nLxEcxfq8U3INk/s400/keentobeseen-Joanna-Rustic-Carnival-Theme-Bridal-Shower-01.jpg" /></a>The bridal shower was held at the home of one of her bridesmaids in Rathdrum, Idaho. The song lyric "over the river and through the woods" summed this location up just about perfectly! It was a hidden gem in an otherwise residential neighborhood. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was; I envy Audrey for getting to wake up out there every morning! The surroundings were so rustic and earthy, I loved it!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ZnCb4DSYQ2vm_v75L3k25TVh1tmhSW_-IjKP6P0Z2wd4W3TnPcJuA3wt8qIaEN7ma5FjrsEqE_T0P9ARamuuwSAKmWBPkggxLTYpPIhl21Q3O-BiKqhvzbKO-TtDjowNTj-c_4dpJu8/s1600/JoannaBridalShower10.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636351568599134450" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ZnCb4DSYQ2vm_v75L3k25TVh1tmhSW_-IjKP6P0Z2wd4W3TnPcJuA3wt8qIaEN7ma5FjrsEqE_T0P9ARamuuwSAKmWBPkggxLTYpPIhl21Q3O-BiKqhvzbKO-TtDjowNTj-c_4dpJu8/s400/JoannaBridalShower10.JPG" /></a>The bales of hay really did double duty by adding to the carnival vibe and providing extra seating. Some of the kids put on a puppet show for entertainment using the elaborate puppet show stage.<br /><p align="center">{click picture to enlarge} <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbz8FbnSz1atY8n0zrVArGnX03qIs5Kzu7woDA6mINO11bB9FgHnrMiOw8FuA3IBXE-BfZP3vu3Epqes9doM_gNO8wzW-Uxux1UiuVHs1pUmTM8DX-qb5tjfdBScdwArYhiOO2_CJw44/s1600/keentobeseen-Joanna-Rustic-Carnival-Theme-Bridal-Shower-04.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636351070180338290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbz8FbnSz1atY8n0zrVArGnX03qIs5Kzu7woDA6mINO11bB9FgHnrMiOw8FuA3IBXE-BfZP3vu3Epqes9doM_gNO8wzW-Uxux1UiuVHs1pUmTM8DX-qb5tjfdBScdwArYhiOO2_CJw44/s400/keentobeseen-Joanna-Rustic-Carnival-Theme-Bridal-Shower-04.jpg" /></a><div align="left"><br />JoJo's mom and a family friend worked the food both. They served fun carnival themed food -- corndogs, popcorn, bags of peanuts and corn on the cob. They also did prize giveaways of gourmet treats!</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9RKalUbipHPG5ddvK8SCaaBugdpScM-UYKktkIN0xveok_zyha2j2B5BVIh1pz5IsPI2DBksbVX0jVbTlESOaIC-Uy2wdZQEQqxjZCW0nk_yYsOkKGA4D_62gNG4c3hpV2SwTq7DbC3Q/s1600/JoannaBridalShower15.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636351715393612946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9RKalUbipHPG5ddvK8SCaaBugdpScM-UYKktkIN0xveok_zyha2j2B5BVIh1pz5IsPI2DBksbVX0jVbTlESOaIC-Uy2wdZQEQqxjZCW0nk_yYsOkKGA4D_62gNG4c3hpV2SwTq7DbC3Q/s400/JoannaBridalShower15.JPG" /></a><br />The yard was filled with funny wedding related carnival games. The resident puppy especially loved the "Cake in the Face" game, because it meant he got to sneak over and help clean up the cupcakes and frosting that people were throwing!<br /><p align="center">{click picture to enlarge}</p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a3i_ULPTlPOmfV3pPvvhws4asH-ZnoWkqURLF9CLa4uS9p-2410H6vgBm4laOkUFhy9kPeSehKe4NOOSOS3kSqCGV3yVLXCu10bVyY21QCEUJkN7llK9LkEJg8otUoAsX6EXgjjzbfc/s1600/keentobeseen-Joanna-Rustic-Carnival-Theme-Bridal-Shower-03.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636350939650284754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a3i_ULPTlPOmfV3pPvvhws4asH-ZnoWkqURLF9CLa4uS9p-2410H6vgBm4laOkUFhy9kPeSehKe4NOOSOS3kSqCGV3yVLXCu10bVyY21QCEUJkN7llK9LkEJg8otUoAsX6EXgjjzbfc/s400/keentobeseen-Joanna-Rustic-Carnival-Theme-Bridal-Shower-03.jpg" /></a><br />My personal favorite detail was the fun face-cut-out prop of a bride and groom. That's Joanna as the bride and me as the groom!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirV0AJZEaMH-Y0jgQ5VueUJN7bdDx3MxTvvhSzpR1r_VH7y_pohEFrmjOQtScePbqFalYkwnVGSiboLBM3Bhboi-AUh5OdsklKalOslcznJgKapah74-y9LCwA3KCsqgyiJiFFjwo15oc/s1600/JoannaBridalShower16.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636351839972299570" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirV0AJZEaMH-Y0jgQ5VueUJN7bdDx3MxTvvhSzpR1r_VH7y_pohEFrmjOQtScePbqFalYkwnVGSiboLBM3Bhboi-AUh5OdsklKalOslcznJgKapah74-y9LCwA3KCsqgyiJiFFjwo15oc/s400/JoannaBridalShower16.JPG" /></a><br />This is Joanna with her newly married twin sister Carly. Of course they were maids of honor for each other.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIoUOw87RkQ3Ez58WQj8g0nouOMYukCy9M0AZQzYIAs4GK1x2dmOYMQ_xLvj17x9PfcqEfOGFQEDKK_KdyK7fVJOLUOtVBoz8ynNphk4VR_Qp1ozOFb40exHDeiMyNaDsem9P0pPEPUA/s1600/JoannaBridalShower18.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636351947008424546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIoUOw87RkQ3Ez58WQj8g0nouOMYukCy9M0AZQzYIAs4GK1x2dmOYMQ_xLvj17x9PfcqEfOGFQEDKK_KdyK7fVJOLUOtVBoz8ynNphk4VR_Qp1ozOFb40exHDeiMyNaDsem9P0pPEPUA/s400/JoannaBridalShower18.JPG" /></a><br />JoJo's sister Bryne and a friend made these sweet treats as a parting gift. What says carnival more than caramel apples? Yum!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2ayN5mpoFCi7WbtdYR5HOZckfGwmV6_1zH86syOSiALuCf0I0lCxkw_4HRJLGreVyw3TUddAqqLAmrXLXiE37xZO4A-rfZKRzj88d6mPL-fzjObYrcNpFrZjmVNUmTMdx4jHWX257ro/s1600/JoannaBridalShower19.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 208px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636352065736571874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2ayN5mpoFCi7WbtdYR5HOZckfGwmV6_1zH86syOSiALuCf0I0lCxkw_4HRJLGreVyw3TUddAqqLAmrXLXiE37xZO4A-rfZKRzj88d6mPL-fzjObYrcNpFrZjmVNUmTMdx4jHWX257ro/s400/JoannaBridalShower19.JPG" /></a>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-73434325394456315462011-05-31T15:24:00.000-07:002011-05-31T20:13:31.885-07:00Charming Vintage Farm Wedding Theme - Red, Aqua and PinkI hadn't built an inspiration board for a very long time. When it got down to doing all of the work to plan my own wedding, I just didn't have the time. After the wedding, although I still love all of the "details", I just hadn't found the time and inspiration to get back to it. Recently I received a sweet note from one of my blog readers, Traci. I think she was facing something that most of us brides run into during wedding planning -- feeling overwhelmed by all of the possibilities! She gave me some of the details for her 2012 summer wedding. She and her husband-to-be live on a farm, and that's where they plan to have their wedding celebration. I asked her to give me some words to describe the general feeling of the wedding she's imagined. The words she came up with included:<br /><ul><br /><li>country</li><br /><li>vintage</li><br /><li>a bit playful </li><br /><li>cozy</li><br /><li>relaxed</li></ul><br />Their plan includes using hay bales for seating, and a BBQ summer feast. She also mentioned possibly using some red gingham as part of the theme.<br /><br />I hope that some of my ideas here will help to inspire them with their future wedding planning!<br /><br /><center>{click to enlarge}</center><br /><a href="http://keentobeseen.net/45-KeenToBeSeen-Farm-Wedding-Inspiration-Board-Red-Pink-Aqua-Blue.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://keentobeseen.net/45-KeenToBeSeen-Farm-Wedding-Inspiration-Board-Red-Pink-Aqua-Blue.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613060327518400962" /></a><br />(I would definitely recommend enlarging this one, because there is a lot of detail that is hard to see in this smaller version.) <br /><br />The DIY Pie in a Jar wedding favors came from <a href="http://greenweddingshoes.com/diy-pie-in-a-jar-treats/">Green Wedding Shoes</a>. Nothing says charming vintage farm life like homemade pies!<br /><br />The beautifully simple dahlia bouquet is from <a href="http://www.heatherbayles.com/">Heather Bayles Photography</a>.<br /><br />The little girl on the top row in the red gingham dress is from PrimadonnaBride.co.za.<br /><br />The Vintage Gingham Blue Red and White Flower Bunting in the top right corner is from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/vintagegreenlimited">vintagegreenlimited </a>on Etsy.<br /><br />The Butterfly Mornings Flag Bunting (with the aqua polka dots, pink gingham and red floral fabrics) is a great exmaple of the color combination I had in mind. It's also shown in the larger picture with the little cutie holding a book. It's from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/leilalou">LeilaLou </a>on Etsy.<br /><br />The bright fuschia colored peonies in blue mason jars are from <a href="http://shellsshabbyshack.blogspot.com/">Shell's Shabby Shack</a>.<br /><br />Vintage hankies are one of the things that immediately inspired me with this board. The photo of a beautiful assortment of vintage hankies is from JacquieG on Flickr.<br /><br />I especially love the bunting on the left. It's the best of both worlds -- it's an adorable bunting, and it reminds me so much of vintage handkerchiefs! It's called Photography Prop 9Ft Long Fabric Flag from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/StarlitNestGifts">StarlitNestGifts </a>on Etsy.<br /><br />The red ranunculus flowers in the blue mason jar on the bottom left corner is from <a href="http://www.thebridescafe.com/">The Bride's Cafe</a>.<br /><br />The down-home feast is from <a href="http://greenweddingshoes.com/real-wedding-danielle-jeremys-barn-wedding/">this wedding </a>on Green Wedding Shoes. I know Traci is a fan of sunflowers, so that ranch wedding might also give her some fun ideas.<br /><br />The galvanized metal pedestal plate, simple flowers, and those vintage handkerchiefs (this time being used as napkins) come from <a href="http://www.flowermag.com/">Flower Mag</a>.<br /><br />The aqua and red plaid bowtie is from <a href="http://www.generalknot.com/collections/bowties/products/multi-plaid-classic-bow-tie">General Knot & Co</a>. The company specializes in ties made in the USA from vintage fabrics.<br /><br />The red gingham baking cups are from one of my favorite kitschy stores to buy baking supplies from, <a href="http://layercakeshop.com/">Layer Cake Shop</a>.<br /><br />I am currently obsessed with paper straws. I want those vintage looking stripey delights in every color. The red striped paper straws were used here as an adorable little Valentine's Day project that you can download for free from <a href="http://www.papermash.co.uk/collections/free/products/sweet-straws">Papermash</a>. If you want paper straws in gorgeous colors and designs, make sure to check Etsy!<br /><br />Okay, the last thing for me to explain is the mason jar picture in the center of the board. I saved these for last because I think this is so cool -- you can <strong><a href="http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/invitation-suites/mason-jar-invitation-suite/">download these for free</a>!</strong> You can customize the entire set of mason jar wedding invitation suite, including your save-the-dates, invitations, and RSVP card all for FREE! <em>How cool is that?! </em><br /><br />Here is a sample that I made for Traci and Ronnie. I filled in the blanks with generic information, but I loved being able to see a customized sample!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Ufc48oPi6EaTIu8EoGswFj1xG91mip9b3ut3x5XRbESKrm-Iq7p1sIoBvxgJrEUzEcWAH8IoyLIzQLsv3DRkMHhyphenhyphenLeYUIr9vT0BTAxr7flVqobqYwdYJifrYqC4khjQmIWdqaIyU9_Q/s1600/Traci%2526Ronnie-MasonJar-Invitation.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Ufc48oPi6EaTIu8EoGswFj1xG91mip9b3ut3x5XRbESKrm-Iq7p1sIoBvxgJrEUzEcWAH8IoyLIzQLsv3DRkMHhyphenhyphenLeYUIr9vT0BTAxr7flVqobqYwdYJifrYqC4khjQmIWdqaIyU9_Q/s400/Traci%2526Ronnie-MasonJar-Invitation.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613032453106484466" /></a><br />They also have this bunting design that I love! (I just thought the mason jar one went with the theme a little better.) You can also customize and <a href = "http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/invitation-suites/bunting-invitation-suite/">download this invitation suite</a> for free, too! <br /><br />I couldn't resist, here's the customized one for Traci and Ronnie in that design, too.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGY1mfJRvMtg5WnA1XexDHATUNTygE0A4zkTNSa5tohZ8VxO09Igatx7qVQtUqqVUs7Uk_NYFLZvhyphenhyphen2J8UGCjpl1XTIu2N9YXeLOYoJKtFZXebgzuLQ3zDsy3wY-z3_T1LXM_rH4NWwHs/s1600/BuntingInvitation-Traci%2526RonnieSample-WeddingChicks.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGY1mfJRvMtg5WnA1XexDHATUNTygE0A4zkTNSa5tohZ8VxO09Igatx7qVQtUqqVUs7Uk_NYFLZvhyphenhyphen2J8UGCjpl1XTIu2N9YXeLOYoJKtFZXebgzuLQ3zDsy3wY-z3_T1LXM_rH4NWwHs/s400/BuntingInvitation-Traci%2526RonnieSample-WeddingChicks.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613030709649037026" /></a><br />To see the other adorable designs available to download and print <strong>FOR FREE</strong>, please visit <a href = "http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/invitation-suites/">The Wedding Chicks!</a><br /><br />Okay, so some of my other thoughts on cool farm wedding details:<br /><br />For wedding favors: little jars of jam or honey, seed packets that can double as place cards, or the individual pie in a jar favors I showed above. This example is from <a href="http://myecowedding.blogspot.com">My Eco Wedding</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvlz0hyguvPQ3E1zNbCTcv9CPLt6xkJBDQlrvDErKijc-j-y5ePYQZBFJojsPm7agEzl862z9Qt5cS_eLzXBE1KyA2bQ4QBrxIME3RSXNoqCV_ICg8Jnj3tYwry0f4dKBLWxg_Fk_rfk0/s1600/SpreadTheLoveFavors-MyEcoWedding.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvlz0hyguvPQ3E1zNbCTcv9CPLt6xkJBDQlrvDErKijc-j-y5ePYQZBFJojsPm7agEzl862z9Qt5cS_eLzXBE1KyA2bQ4QBrxIME3RSXNoqCV_ICg8Jnj3tYwry0f4dKBLWxg_Fk_rfk0/s400/SpreadTheLoveFavors-MyEcoWedding.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613071580950236082" /></a><br /><br />For flowers: Dahlias and peonies are both great for the most bang for your buck summer flowers. I put an ad on Craigslist a few years ago for a friend's wedding and found multiple local farmers that were willing to sell huge gorgeous flowers for a dollar or less per stem. Sunflowers are always bright and fun if you want to add a little more yellow to the color palette. One of my personal favorites are ranunculus -- they come in perfect shades of reds and pinks for this palette, and I just love how romantic and ruffled they look. Either way, I think there definitely need at least a few of those old pale blue mason jars! <br /><br /><center>$1 for this big bloom? Heck yeah!</center><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUa9HfgJ5vNwUY8XBUjxj8PUlTAG9LvtQVNuyCxPzgeAy5KGhbQlrMnSwIsEp7wj5pzScZ_RVxqSGkIUGeluAB706-4LLX7RZYqHx4_jVYlzcbFFu2xmfLv6NwK_gfGOnHaQK3CRnj0MY/s1600/Dahlia-smaller-GiversLog.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 321px; height: 321px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUa9HfgJ5vNwUY8XBUjxj8PUlTAG9LvtQVNuyCxPzgeAy5KGhbQlrMnSwIsEp7wj5pzScZ_RVxqSGkIUGeluAB706-4LLX7RZYqHx4_jVYlzcbFFu2xmfLv6NwK_gfGOnHaQK3CRnj0MY/s400/Dahlia-smaller-GiversLog.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613064320572568098" /></a><br /><br /><center>$10 to $15 for a stunning bouquet or centerpiece like this? Sign me up!</center> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTanocFONRk3_WTq4dhOPSQN5NInZmORw6qPWui7TY6PiwlPpBtVnjSJ0SEzMBvqFK3iqIJqF_eYVw8EkLJpXc_IGSldIukHQO-X5L3Up6TCxUhG4U8B3xSl3dCg6vEvuezuAWwLMpXg/s1600/Peony-Bouquet-PollenFloralDesignStudio.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTanocFONRk3_WTq4dhOPSQN5NInZmORw6qPWui7TY6PiwlPpBtVnjSJ0SEzMBvqFK3iqIJqF_eYVw8EkLJpXc_IGSldIukHQO-X5L3Up6TCxUhG4U8B3xSl3dCg6vEvuezuAWwLMpXg/s400/Peony-Bouquet-PollenFloralDesignStudio.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613064867297337490" /></a><br /><br />I know Traci likes sunflowers, so I chose a few of my favorite sunny bouquets to share. I like sunflower bouquets to look a little wild and loose. My favorite is the one on the bottom right. I like the wheat, the color choices, and look -- vintage hanky!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPb6ZLfM28jM5UZ-o60g7Kcr1QTMF16VQljTszAw0dVnB57R0Nitw23wRERhiFFue3k0NxYwQPFgqp0Z_oFBVkVvrGL3ZNHHPTCQbSYGHOSqIqZrlIYajBvwWTnu9lxJg1a7jpXcYQco/s1600/SunflowerBouquetFavorites-KeenToBeSeen.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPb6ZLfM28jM5UZ-o60g7Kcr1QTMF16VQljTszAw0dVnB57R0Nitw23wRERhiFFue3k0NxYwQPFgqp0Z_oFBVkVvrGL3ZNHHPTCQbSYGHOSqIqZrlIYajBvwWTnu9lxJg1a7jpXcYQco/s400/SunflowerBouquetFavorites-KeenToBeSeen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613083315714097282" /></a><br /><br />For guests: Things to help protect your guests from the sun! You can make fans do double duty by having your programs printed as fans. A thoughtful touch that I really like is to have a tray or small table set up with a couple of bottles of sunblock, paper fans (if you aren't doing the program fans), and maybe a few inexpensive paper parasols for extra delicate guests. You can buy those pretty cheaply online at places like <a href = "http://orientaltrading.com">Oriental Trading Company</a>. You may also try to find some of those pretty vintage hankies I can't shut up about to give to your bridesmaids or closest female relatives to dry their tears of joy! <br /><br />I don't love the style of these, but they did kind of use the same colors as my palette, so I'm including these fan programs from <a href = "http://www.beau-coup.com/wedding-program-fans.htm">Beau-Coup</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzle0QGOo-oTVrYsuKMEtA_g7U_nq9XZ2PrnB1BpXoTczUISVF_ZuKTk_vDLSJUF3Kp9ik2aLH-i2w43MzsDHfw7W30__Z_vy8LYG-PzP3D-sdyOA8PLRz1jcz3FZaZwCM4yD7KLqdZs/s1600/wedding-program-fans-Beau-Coup.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzle0QGOo-oTVrYsuKMEtA_g7U_nq9XZ2PrnB1BpXoTczUISVF_ZuKTk_vDLSJUF3Kp9ik2aLH-i2w43MzsDHfw7W30__Z_vy8LYG-PzP3D-sdyOA8PLRz1jcz3FZaZwCM4yD7KLqdZs/s400/wedding-program-fans-Beau-Coup.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613054436113181298" /></a><br /><br /><center>I DO love this <a href = "http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/floral-paper-fans-how-to">fan template</a> by <a href = "http://marthastewartweddings.com/">Martha Stewart</a>.</center><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUm50jxjYhtxNHrMee9AQp-qYXcKnzN9MbM-toJm-tYepDzA6ladSkw6AlhMxrvsfeWRD2VIQ8WYN7bn08W4ECKvc6Et8Xmu5hCmfMJMZBKfIXkMMskBG_oo9zYiFY1LdEPbj9Jz9sTy4/s1600/a-customized-fan-MarthaStewartWeddings.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUm50jxjYhtxNHrMee9AQp-qYXcKnzN9MbM-toJm-tYepDzA6ladSkw6AlhMxrvsfeWRD2VIQ8WYN7bn08W4ECKvc6Et8Xmu5hCmfMJMZBKfIXkMMskBG_oo9zYiFY1LdEPbj9Jz9sTy4/s400/a-customized-fan-MarthaStewartWeddings.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613068874884418018" /></a><br /><br />I would also highly recommend having at least some ice water available to guests prior to the ceremony to help keep everyone cool. Lemonade would be a hit, too.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_GaLUB2vvilGBXMtviBBk8ujynN329bAMVF8pCfQPZKeCXm_Wwl69k57B8QpuadUWwXx5WvRgV8exFiqGQ0k55OvtBeP-f1122k3PRAnMFUtUuwlAWUYCab9a0zyy1U-b0MWRVg8oMw/s1600/msw_sum09_lemonade_xl.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_GaLUB2vvilGBXMtviBBk8ujynN329bAMVF8pCfQPZKeCXm_Wwl69k57B8QpuadUWwXx5WvRgV8exFiqGQ0k55OvtBeP-f1122k3PRAnMFUtUuwlAWUYCab9a0zyy1U-b0MWRVg8oMw/s400/msw_sum09_lemonade_xl.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613069595561130850" /></a><br /><br /><br />For the wedding party: I think it would be really fun to let the bridesmaids (or at least the junior bridesmaids / flower girls) wear patterned dresses. I showed little girls in red gingham dresses, but I also really like something like this dress that I found at <a href = "http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/iris-ivy-printed-babydoll-sundress-big-girls/3170768">Nordstrom</a>. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNU2_EgdKyb35nm90VMluj4AfYTqoA-gHUWiVwbuTRtLQWio8JVBfPd_rcTyyO7K9UmtJorVNdbTKC_VbImt6xCXOmSuAlQssGQfNlIpsQRoRlpFPLQTLD3Bc9jcg5Uv4eRAStV_Jifo/s1600/Iris%2526IvyPrintedBabydollSundressBigGirls-Nordstrom-Turquoise.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 261px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNU2_EgdKyb35nm90VMluj4AfYTqoA-gHUWiVwbuTRtLQWio8JVBfPd_rcTyyO7K9UmtJorVNdbTKC_VbImt6xCXOmSuAlQssGQfNlIpsQRoRlpFPLQTLD3Bc9jcg5Uv4eRAStV_Jifo/s400/Iris%2526IvyPrintedBabydollSundressBigGirls-Nordstrom-Turquoise.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613054073849165234" /></a><br /> <br />A couple of summers ago, I wrote about <a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/07/refreshing-summer-reception-idea.html">how cool</a> it would be to have someone like <a href = "http://www.ftfsnowcones.com/">Fresher Than Fresh Snowcones</a> at your wedding reception to serve gourmet snowcones to your guests. Traci and Ronnie are in luck, because Fresher Than Fresh is actually located near them! <br /><br />If you're looking for some more farm wedding inspiration, Green Wedding Shoes had several that I thought were really nicely done. <br /><br /><a href = "http://greenweddingshoes.com/real-wedding-lorin-reeses-wedding-on-a-goat-farm/">This one</a> on a goat farm uses a lot of cute touches, including the buntings I can't get enough of, doilies, and hay bale seating.<br /><br /><a href = "http://greenweddingshoes.com/real-wedding-roselyn-bens-strawberry-farm-wedding/">This one</a> is at a strawberry farm. It's one of the most colorfully fun and whimsical weddings I've ever seen. I love the details, including the rainbow selection of bottled soda pop. My favorite detail are the fruit and vegetable place cards and markers. That is one of the most adorable party details ever, and someday I might try something like that for a garden party. Doesn't that wedding just look fun though? I want to be friends with those people!<br /><br />This is a page from The Natural Wedding Company about <a href = "http://thenaturalweddingcompany.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/inspiration-hay-bale-seating/">hay bale seating</a>. I think hay bale seating can be a great element, but I definitely think you need some sort of fabric on top to protect your guests. I was thinking about it and I wondered about maybe just watching for some cheap linen sales and using a flat twin or full sized sheet to cover each bale? I've bought flat twin sized sheets for about $4 each, so that wouldn't be too bad. You could also check thrift shops to find a variety of floral patterned sheets for that purpose, too. <br /><br />This farm wedding from <a href = "http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog/2010/09/23/knoxville-farm-wedding/">Elizabeth Anne Designs</a> has some good ideas. I especially like the idea of having some games and activities for your guests to do, like playing horseshoes, bocce ball, or a beanbag toss game. They also have some cool hay bale seating ideas, like this one:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ST-Sj6Fdp6C8CF2B5tJO5bb05SwVzSmDBSrrmMLB2Gb3lG9yEkDufstgHgw6da1l1yTQnqc938nJvrnFI3LneNjmFDV9BGiEXzQDAp2TO8lvsN5yiQciUhfOlDpXX44UKNQzzAfGRlY/s1600/Rustic-Wedding-Seating-Hay-Bales-ElizabethAnneDesigns.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ST-Sj6Fdp6C8CF2B5tJO5bb05SwVzSmDBSrrmMLB2Gb3lG9yEkDufstgHgw6da1l1yTQnqc938nJvrnFI3LneNjmFDV9BGiEXzQDAp2TO8lvsN5yiQciUhfOlDpXX44UKNQzzAfGRlY/s400/Rustic-Wedding-Seating-Hay-Bales-ElizabethAnneDesigns.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613062872840131602" /></a><br /><br />Lastly, I had to throw this in for Ronnie. I know he's a John Deere fan, so I thought maybe he could do something like this tractor get-away car, also from <a href = "http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/">Elizabeth Anne Designs</a>:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTw0N5DTDV3u4GDxN-Abt-dQNTuJPcyrSnkzki9cMxdxVt_34rpbs9k_2BHSQtt6jxE0hQLiaiZCFkM4BFdmniaHtLCgXvXlB4s3wIoJFmxE2oZARdFmQUXjOEVgNh_nt46bXTumVsDI4/s1600/Tractor-Getaway-Car-ElizabethAnneDesigns.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTw0N5DTDV3u4GDxN-Abt-dQNTuJPcyrSnkzki9cMxdxVt_34rpbs9k_2BHSQtt6jxE0hQLiaiZCFkM4BFdmniaHtLCgXvXlB4s3wIoJFmxE2oZARdFmQUXjOEVgNh_nt46bXTumVsDI4/s400/Tractor-Getaway-Car-ElizabethAnneDesigns.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613037404559132818" /></a><br /><br />I hope that my ideas help Traci and any of the other brides that come here searching for inspiration! Thank you for the notes and the kind comments!<br /><br />Oh! <br /><br />P.S. These adorable <a href = "http://www.etsy.com/listing/73370946/my-favorite-dresses-notecards-set-of-8">"My Favorite Dresses" notecards</a> from <a href = "http://www.etsy.com/shop/alittlesweetness">alittlesweetness</a> on Etsy would be sooo cute as bridal shower invitations! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cPKvBRjtE9TujEjuhBX-oF1DPVhPfiA191EAV-SKaSZlL8t3WgLa9iCsDjLKPhNQ2DbG-wY_Xikvc59w1wb1A2Jd8CMZeUyeyMR-1pfYffHAchUH66aF0I05eyDqnekW60UQdQiIU2E/s1600/MyFavoriteDressesNotecardsSetOf8-alittlesweetness-etsy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cPKvBRjtE9TujEjuhBX-oF1DPVhPfiA191EAV-SKaSZlL8t3WgLa9iCsDjLKPhNQ2DbG-wY_Xikvc59w1wb1A2Jd8CMZeUyeyMR-1pfYffHAchUH66aF0I05eyDqnekW60UQdQiIU2E/s400/MyFavoriteDressesNotecardsSetOf8-alittlesweetness-etsy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613076676984096098" /></a><br /><br />P.P.S. If you liked this inspiration board, you might also like some of these other summery themes:<br /><br /><a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/08/light-blue-and-red-cute-and-crafty.html">Light Blue and Red Palette</a><br /><br /><a href ="http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/07/aqua-orange-and-yellow-wedding.html">Aqua, Orange and Yellow Palette</a><br /><br /><a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/07/aqua-and-orange-wedding.html">Aqua, Orange and Brown Palette</a><br /><br /><a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/05/melon-inspired-summer-reception-canary.html">Melon Inspired Summer Reception</a><br /><br /><a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/06/cherry-and-berry-reds.html">Cherry and Berry Reds</a><br /><br /><a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/08/citrus-punch-backyard-bbq-wedding-theme.html">Citrus Punch Backyard BBQ Wedding Theme</a><br /><br /><a href = "http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/06/hot-pink-and-green-watermelon.html">Hot Pink and Green Palette</a>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-73203266445209988712011-02-12T15:05:00.000-08:002011-02-12T17:08:19.532-08:00Valentine's Day!<div align="left">In honor of the holiday all about love and romance, I wanted to post some of the adorable Valentine's Day treat ideas I've seen online recently.<br /><br />Do you have your holiday all planned out, are you leaving that up to your significant other, or are you just skipping it all together this year?<br /><br />Maybe some of these ideas will inspire you!<br /><br />I love reds and pinks, and I have to admit that I am a fan of Valentine's Day being filled with over-the-top hearts and other sometimes kitschy decor. Don't get me wrong, I am also a fan of elegant and understated romance -- I just don't think Valentine's Day has to be formal to be fun! Oh, and it must include chocolate in one form or another!<br /><br />Since Valentine's Day is on Monday this year, we've decided to stretch it into a Valentine's long weekend. Dylan surprised me this morning by going to the grocery store before I woke up to stock up on some of our favorite treats. We've just been lounging around the house together, enjoying a day of leisure. Tonight I'm making us lobster tails with drawn butter and Meyer lemons, butternut squash risotto and roasted Brussels sprouts with truffle oil. I'm still working on what I want to make for dessert.<br /><br />In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my favorite treat ideas that I found on <a href="http://marthastewart.com/">Martha Stewart</a> this week!<br /><br />This has some of my must-have Valentine's Day elements: Chocolate and hearts!<br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8ryvaNaTCL3S1qoBKNbFpE5rZ6hG2s5qHzVSe_Dp0RuWCYPr5AhPCkuEJQsOTUQkmvPTt7fK_bdHcFxq46NOcXGVwRP-3uCcbRe3IfoSE4alHO4Fg4_QrdMrQUdH74G2vPMaFbDMjZM/s1600/hot-chocolate-heart-marshmallows-xl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572952136466642754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8ryvaNaTCL3S1qoBKNbFpE5rZ6hG2s5qHzVSe_Dp0RuWCYPr5AhPCkuEJQsOTUQkmvPTt7fK_bdHcFxq46NOcXGVwRP-3uCcbRe3IfoSE4alHO4Fg4_QrdMrQUdH74G2vPMaFbDMjZM/s400/hot-chocolate-heart-marshmallows-xl.jpg" /></a><br />To make the heart cut-out marshmallows, simply cut a marshmallow in half horizontally (so you have two circles), then grease a small aspic cutter with vegetable oil to punch out your shape! If you don't have any tiny cutters, here are some cute ones on Amazon:<br /><br /><p align="center"><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&nou=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=ketobesealswe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=B000I1ZYB6" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p><p><br />You could also use those for a smaller version of the beet hearts below!<br /><br />I wasn't planning a salad course, but one day I am going to do this because I love beets. They just thinly sliced cooked beets using a mandoline, then used a small cookie cutter to make the hearts! That Martha Stewart -- so clever! </p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjc_ZcSsRTy56fI3n0fxAFTG2Podu3uypHOkD2Nc8AcRo8BrZtMGDezj-iFzHHxk-BYro4HiMxAVYpZZOUF_IYNntfTkSdkdJ4b9WrIwWOU76K2xUrWhUGAa-ImYSp91YHkB25kVd3R6I/s1600/gt_sweetsal01_xl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572952243169098114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjc_ZcSsRTy56fI3n0fxAFTG2Podu3uypHOkD2Nc8AcRo8BrZtMGDezj-iFzHHxk-BYro4HiMxAVYpZZOUF_IYNntfTkSdkdJ4b9WrIwWOU76K2xUrWhUGAa-ImYSp91YHkB25kVd3R6I/s400/gt_sweetsal01_xl.jpg" /></a><br />Another clever and couldn't be more simple heart-shaped treat? Calimyrna figs look like hearts when you cut them in half!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFORwojAOmdLp4VbIkp-__oH4xVuwOBgbfLnqQqaBuxLqVtFBhxFIm4gi0QrRv1TqBpjeFabVXA4FROTYkUsYQ1Nqj2HcOHfOPtW_XNiksUrPZm6x7Ns2GyTqh0jU7fZh0eiKWRdI77gg/s1600/mld103886_0209_driedfigap01_xl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572951705362130882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFORwojAOmdLp4VbIkp-__oH4xVuwOBgbfLnqQqaBuxLqVtFBhxFIm4gi0QrRv1TqBpjeFabVXA4FROTYkUsYQ1Nqj2HcOHfOPtW_XNiksUrPZm6x7Ns2GyTqh0jU7fZh0eiKWRdI77gg/s400/mld103886_0209_driedfigap01_xl.jpg" /></a><br />Last, but not least, some delectable dessert ideas! I'll include a link to the recipes under each picture.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-TSRVM0RLW62G11wPqMDPdsU4A5-zNpwZTGkiqyvS6H43sctZTvlVFfphBdq628cZNr-2ASQ-kramGx5itqRxBb1lM7V7DTdqFXBmb1ehMjHvOkKOQSZUIWcF3o8sHUgUw53K1jJ8Ng/s1600/wedding_champgnep_choc234_xl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572951466936799138" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-TSRVM0RLW62G11wPqMDPdsU4A5-zNpwZTGkiqyvS6H43sctZTvlVFfphBdq628cZNr-2ASQ-kramGx5itqRxBb1lM7V7DTdqFXBmb1ehMjHvOkKOQSZUIWcF3o8sHUgUw53K1jJ8Ng/s400/wedding_champgnep_choc234_xl.jpg" /></p><p align="center"></a><a href="http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/recipe/chocolate-champagne-truffles-in-sparkling-sugar">Chocolate Champagne Truffles</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2LWr3Vft5HklMcbw_cqkR3jhvx1qUTR7Q8ijIQLdgHQbAaskw_EayeEj95__HwFhrYprNTA7h7gQSe0cFU7HlGtxuVZXS5sdOHQ3zHS3E-zta1DB3XEyOjWi4wEiC-6XJPXLF15qX1o/s1600/spicy-chocolate-sandwich-cookies-recipe-mslo0111-xl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572951593563447026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2LWr3Vft5HklMcbw_cqkR3jhvx1qUTR7Q8ijIQLdgHQbAaskw_EayeEj95__HwFhrYprNTA7h7gQSe0cFU7HlGtxuVZXS5sdOHQ3zHS3E-zta1DB3XEyOjWi4wEiC-6XJPXLF15qX1o/s400/spicy-chocolate-sandwich-cookies-recipe-mslo0111-xl.jpg" /> </p><p align="center"></a><a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/spicy-chocolate-sandwich-cookies">Spicy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies</a><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMOAbBtaWY8BXFU9SzwnE967djmI9aGJQXAWJK-Y7nkRWx3ZHV6Y-jQCco12ZcFnuIc6riEHieGF5bQxvxGyMfcRMpSiXicM-wk6QeL1bdrh5VaZPxpVDQ0ZMa0JVuuocw5I1Zu8qO2w/s1600/ft_feb04msl04_xl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572952364076870258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMOAbBtaWY8BXFU9SzwnE967djmI9aGJQXAWJK-Y7nkRWx3ZHV6Y-jQCco12ZcFnuIc6riEHieGF5bQxvxGyMfcRMpSiXicM-wk6QeL1bdrh5VaZPxpVDQ0ZMa0JVuuocw5I1Zu8qO2w/s400/ft_feb04msl04_xl.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/truffle-brownies">Truffle Brownies</a> </p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSoizE1-L9X3YgAyBBXOMxhlWEUuZviLFqKBRE48XT0oJLIqb-llMMoAlcz4JiT4nWvxqkmPIQU3RXzFfK5JShqTdPXeeo1XmR1aPCRiwIREHCTptwx7G0-O6-0kzero1tRbb3XLA67s/s1600/mla102784_0207_hearts_sxl.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572951883025726818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSoizE1-L9X3YgAyBBXOMxhlWEUuZviLFqKBRE48XT0oJLIqb-llMMoAlcz4JiT4nWvxqkmPIQU3RXzFfK5JShqTdPXeeo1XmR1aPCRiwIREHCTptwx7G0-O6-0kzero1tRbb3XLA67s/s400/mla102784_0207_hearts_sxl.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chocolate-eclair-hearts">Chocolate Eclair Hearts</a> </p><p align="center">I hope all you lovebirds have a wonderfully fun and romantic Valentine's Day! Let me know what you have planned! </p><p align="center"></p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-8783459959397278532010-12-04T13:40:00.001-08:002010-12-04T14:57:27.191-08:00Minted.com Discount Code + Our Christmas Cards!I'm sad to say that my laptop is toast. Merry Christmas to me, I'm getting a new laptop! :-P Not ideal timing, but I don't think there is ever a good time for your computer to go kaput. I'm waiting for my new laptop to arrive so I can transfer my files, so in the meantime, I'm using Dylan's laptop.<br /><br />I did want to share with you two things:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=minted%2Ecom">Minted.com</a> has a great sale going on right now, but you'd better jump on it ASAP, because it expires on December 6th! Use the code <strong>DEC20</strong> to get 20% off of all holiday cards plus FREE upgrade to 3-day shipping!<br /><br />2. <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=minted%2Ecom">Minted.com</a> has a cool feature called Find It Fast Holiday Photo Cards that allow you to preview their holiday cards with your picture! It makes it so much easier to find the perfect card for your picture!<br /><br />I was surprised by some of the cards that ended up being my favorites after I got to see them with our pictures. Here are some of our favorites:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VKjV1gAqBCNt7r5xsDN7dTjHCUVbse7xGZH_n5dh7C8iYFWcuaWvBf0d7-eTWiqEvew8QlQy8tBTmkpsem_9I3TbbhvCBbQ8gsstAwr16ofdXQpQvkl1MPD-sOA6oGjIn4DlyJIsV60/s1600/MIN-F18-HYC-McGuire.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 286px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546951087608437026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VKjV1gAqBCNt7r5xsDN7dTjHCUVbse7xGZH_n5dh7C8iYFWcuaWvBf0d7-eTWiqEvew8QlQy8tBTmkpsem_9I3TbbhvCBbQ8gsstAwr16ofdXQpQvkl1MPD-sOA6oGjIn4DlyJIsV60/s400/MIN-F18-HYC-McGuire.jpg" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW538R3XiIBGQbOIcYN5g7_d8aIGT7ymOTdlF1ynFLy9ZNHvOxug6rbYwPL6tkk7wW8hSWWo7IQVyDy4tHnarSoVhtqO9T9IuiokQbu8_rPB-lNLyfzFCLi8gINM7feItxEdKAKQp_27I/s1600/MIN-E85-HYC-McGuire.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 286px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546964494593786514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW538R3XiIBGQbOIcYN5g7_d8aIGT7ymOTdlF1ynFLy9ZNHvOxug6rbYwPL6tkk7wW8hSWWo7IQVyDy4tHnarSoVhtqO9T9IuiokQbu8_rPB-lNLyfzFCLi8gINM7feItxEdKAKQp_27I/s400/MIN-E85-HYC-McGuire.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbyu-c_lpkfJltBK13FtLabVZs6Sdep35FDD5mUwrfUOHoqsL5a0-_WQrannHw_t5NaLcdAgSvrrBjc0zdlUmEXjX_cNb3x9mtTIu_IIWeWoRNTJLsTwOG2-SZJcwfXpRpxo7PVDEUiM/s1600/MIN-E64-HYC-McGuire.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 286px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546951220953851266" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbyu-c_lpkfJltBK13FtLabVZs6Sdep35FDD5mUwrfUOHoqsL5a0-_WQrannHw_t5NaLcdAgSvrrBjc0zdlUmEXjX_cNb3x9mtTIu_IIWeWoRNTJLsTwOG2-SZJcwfXpRpxo7PVDEUiM/s400/MIN-E64-HYC-McGuire.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp5unOPQnkydRpqlRMbV83beIBM3-lLXqaBxLxVNP8s92tVQZnhaz59Ffmu5W6tiuYr4TcfvXql11v_f9Gm1TVOD0PVFOLX4wG7IF2eS14QOsyc79kIwnFOubfem5Jcrja3OeBZ9QcLE/s1600/MIN-F62-HYC-McGuire.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 286px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546964667300627778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp5unOPQnkydRpqlRMbV83beIBM3-lLXqaBxLxVNP8s92tVQZnhaz59Ffmu5W6tiuYr4TcfvXql11v_f9Gm1TVOD0PVFOLX4wG7IF2eS14QOsyc79kIwnFOubfem5Jcrja3OeBZ9QcLE/s400/MIN-F62-HYC-McGuire.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGgogNZBZuMpcTJLNLdDRSxJtD7f4YSHwH1I6KF4aIiWkZwRBWxnPUaBbkQiOhCJxJ83cp4BnTihTIbYPpjCtEmX7BiGbDOGgx7p_Xt8zvQ2fvOF8U86gNRUrvKsqrdelIRuGw7plJ8A/s1600/OhWhatFun2010.bmp"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 289px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546951509173190818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGgogNZBZuMpcTJLNLdDRSxJtD7f4YSHwH1I6KF4aIiWkZwRBWxnPUaBbkQiOhCJxJ83cp4BnTihTIbYPpjCtEmX7BiGbDOGgx7p_Xt8zvQ2fvOF8U86gNRUrvKsqrdelIRuGw7plJ8A/s400/OhWhatFun2010.bmp" /></a><br />So what do you think?Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-58185695379022114852010-10-25T07:35:00.000-07:002010-10-25T07:35:00.215-07:00My favorite wedding planning book.<center><br />I just went to the Amazon main page, and it recommended that I buy this book:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761139605?ie=UTF8&tag=ketobesealswe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761139605"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3262/2437817067_b573fda1d3.jpg" /></a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ketobesealswe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0761139605" width="1" height="1" /><br /><br />Apparently Amazon doesn't realize that I already own that book. If you don't already own this book, I would strongly recommend it. I have <strong>at least </strong>50 wedding planning books, but I think that this is the book that I found the most helpful. It's called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761139605?ie=UTF8&tag=ketobesealswe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761139605">The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ketobesealswe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0761139605" width="1" height="1" /> by Mindy Weiss. Mindy Weiss is an amazing wedding planner. You may have heard of her before, she was responsible for Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi's beautiful wedding. This book contains a wonderful collection of information. It is full of great details, ideas, examples, and recommendations. It also includes lists of questions* to ask each of your vendors, which I found especially helpful. I honestly took either a list of written questions, or this book with me to every meeting I ever had with a potential wedding vendor. I know that a few of them teased me about my organizational skills at the time, but every single vendor at the wedding ended up complimenting us on what a pleasure it was to work at such a well organized event, and how impressed they were that things went so smoothly, especially without the help of a wedding planner or a coordinator. I don't think things would've gone nearly as smoothly without some of the tips I picked up from this book. If you only buy one wedding planning book, this is the one that I would recommend. <br /><br />* Another book that had good lists of questions to ask your potential wedding vendors was this book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1889392391?ie=UTF8&tag=ketobesealswe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1889392391">Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing A Fantastic Wedding On A Realistic Budget</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ketobesealswe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1889392391" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />. This link is for the new 2010 edition that will be released on November 15th. I used the 2009 edition, but every edition of this book has always received great reviews. <br /></center>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-18176414357679998312010-10-22T06:15:00.000-07:002010-10-24T23:49:52.432-07:00I'm ordering our Christmas cards from Minted.com!<p align="left">Now that the wedding is over, I've started to look toward the future and I'm already getting excited about the upcoming holidays. I can't wait to send out <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fchristmas%2Dphoto%2Dcards">Christmas cards</a> with "our" last name -- preferably with a fun picture of Dylan and me together! Maybe we'll even use a picture of us with our dogs, since that's what we've come to think of as our little family.<br /><br />Some of you may have noticed that I have an ad for <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=minted%2Ecom">Minted</a> on the sidebar of my blog. I've been very choosy about putting any ads up, because I'm very big on only giving props to companies or products that I would actually use myself. The ladies at <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=minted%2Ecom">Minted</a> are exactly that kind of company. Recently they sent me an assortment of samples of their <a href="http://www.minted.com/holiday-photo-cards">holiday cards</a>, and I can't tell you how impressed I was with them. Their stationery is lovely online, but it's even more impressive in person. </p><p align="left">As anyone who has read my blog will know, I am a <strong>details girl</strong>. Minted does not disappoint. They have details that I <strong>love</strong>. Specifically, they have coordinated envelope liners and wrap-around labels available for most of their designs! Even the backs of most of the cards have coordinated patterns. They've thought of everything, and <strong>I love that</strong>. I also love that they give you different paper choices and color choices for so many of their designs, so you can customize them just to your liking. I'm personally a fan of the pearlescent paper for a lot of the holiday cards I've looked at, but it all depends on your style and preference.<br /><br />I've spent hours admiring the samples they sent me, and looking at all of the designs on their website to try to narrow it down to some of my favorites. I don't think there's a single one that I didn't like, so narrowing it down has been more difficult than I expected.<br /><br />These are just some of my favorites: <p align="center">{clicking on the pictures will take you right to that card on Minted}</p><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DE97%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530247222175792930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_nqLe5wDRiq9s_ELnPKhDK7Octsk9L6lTUkBy8tQlwKjYOF51c4nUqHW1DNeuODbEr-QqGnYKIfmWa2F4nFjhn4Eo8Kx-XeiXcB_TFTw0LvWN7pYhdHm36jBFcB92q6AEzvv3kCKeo-c/s400/LoveAndPeaceEternal-Set.jpg" /></a> <p></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DE97%2DHYC">Love and Peace Eternal</a> -- whimsical, folksy, eclectic and unique}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DAJO%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 229px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530047182636588898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCEEvTVYobfpw4mahZU6NBaqE6MZRUSmhCDSfliNIfa767nHbWAMzu7P6A52rU050PhrflqZsKntgakcWCzTSvMsQQLoQGGHTn_YtzUagP8GYRKEsgd39Uqq7qvSu-fncqGgci5UhVYU/s400/Celebration-Set2.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DAJO%2DHYC">Celebration</a> -- elegant, classic, and understated}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DAJG%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530052180438560370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdlDiO21L8JSRdowxAZQHouoWqJygNl5eDJ8mOKedr73r8zkpbaihLwyDUYCVKY-OvqAVTxy8p3kBuUSQSlgBzryOhuewBWUt9SlQRX9lgCV1IVxG4oPhxtkBFITBnlKVw-SAeyybhaI/s400/Mittens-Set.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DAJG%2DHYC">Mittens</a> -- festive, cute and cozy. I love both the font and the mittens!}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DAJF%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 166px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530216214835429650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IMLciXrSt9baHgGdYWZtDRr_t2ckcl1rOJqA9v89NxnMyGRl2reEysbRdrT7yBSBzr8JGvBn21S6hn_td4IcFx4aKpDI6pbEVm-CjMYMZ2GmFnIDCaeptxTsrg-ab-mo9dALrAOojbw/s400/HolidayStripes-Set2.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DAJF%2DHYC">Holiday Stripes</a> -- traditional with flair, preppy, a nice balance of masculine and feminine}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DD45%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 171px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530246081723564018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QChTKqxxK7ShBh4_tGxrzpbpGfKkjtg5QbK98ZRyKF1TVtVktRyG7lBGTdMNmNVFne3B657-WRtwUl9jubU4FqPpWJ5uRBGKpFoIv2QqWuCfEEoVRGC38E9sMGAdmSbimJ4w5sQnzPI/s400/Octavia-Set.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DD45%2DHYC">Octavia</a> -- rustic, kitschy, vintage, and charming}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DD91%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 166px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530244709704711554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQiHFruooNEeWBCl8FftCvrlIs8YwZHA7v6bGtHgVFtXZU3Z1dfT4dsAekHRq6-VU9allRdzserxzdx3Tja7iIbLClWPIC6liJAQFLmilMjSM65_991TLGLGv8f0wGwRLKFuh6DMbr28/s400/WoodlandWonderland-Set2.jpg" /></a>{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DD91%2DHYC">Woodland Wonderland</a> -- woodland critters with a faux bois birch bark monogram! Love it!}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DBAZ%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 238px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530049503353358194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-X1Y7fuIU-w3JtQla-V5L3uXgJWlpDLrWsbsDUcbuD2AlYIzc10onuLPAMO2ixAaZigfGDfDDpPYzceP2JO0nd1LTgnYxYpDw5DJf-Jk2SgYIv3yLAJOqJVJKMyL4AaBmktbeacU6Shs/s400/MistletoeWreath-Set.jpg" /></a>{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DBAZ%2DHYC">Mistletoe Wreath</a> -- artsy, warm, and sweet}</p><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DF35%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 229px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530242261253311474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdYdgTyHyPjuQlrdFKYZwPaGVkd19qjYfIbN-5HeTaq8orESJIqxhvildM2RWUyNQhVo1GL21nNKbv4QtcHrBxxjYygvDpoIx2J72Tx-f4uYwyvgV9VQ4IZGXKkvR6Q1ZwtPTuRjnVd4/s400/Reinpet-Set.jpg" /></a> <p></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DF35%2DHYC">Reinpet</a> -- what's not to love about your pets with reindeer antlers? And I love the liner!}</p><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DD96%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530216986298160786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9s5MaLn4uiaUWtwPNQ9GK2qz2Wna5LR4afp7X9ruOozwf450XQqSMJGin8B8z8-y-4-PxopXHnhar4hDUbC4G8v4ZMTlDbibaILov9D9e4Uy0uTBg3qz56iP0ixTF1SnBb0dLHmvubE8/s400/JoyeuxNoel+StNick-Gray-Set.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">{<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DD96%2DHYC">Joyeux Noel + St Nick</a> -- This is one of the samples I've seen in person, and it's a lovely charcoal gray. The liner and label that came with my sample are a pretty muted peach color. You know how I love <a href="http://keentobeseen.blogspot.com/2009/05/pale-peach-and-gray.html">gray and peach</a> together! I think this one is especially adorable if you've got a cute little munchkin to show off!} <p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DLIA%2DHYC"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 229px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530214671364255890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEUFJCCvw_ybPTYY4Ae26oGXLkq5Xtdjg0rYuZ_c9FGjgBbGR2ZgfGorZb1oSF3QAGMOmZ75vZJcvK8ch0ayxQ3BLuq0EKvFUyvV1P-2WcMfPcz9FlxdwyGdqxOs5AUwFaXuGnYlNUZr8/s400/DelicateFlourishes-Set.jpg" /></a> {<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DLIA%2DHYC">Delicate Flourishes</a> -- ornate and pretty without being bonk-you-over-the-head 'holiday'}<br /></p><br /><p>If you want to go all out, what about sending gorgeous mini-books as your <a href="http://www.minted.com/christmas-photo-cards">Christmas cards</a>?<br /><br />My favorites include:<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DI18%2DHMB">Airmail Holiday Minibook</a> would be perfect if you got to travel somewhere exotic this year. Maybe you could showcase some honeymoon pictures?<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DI21%2DHMB">Peppermint Ribbon Holiday Minibook</a> is a little kitschy, and a lot adorable.<br /><br />And this <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fcustomizer%2Fsku%2FMIN%2DBBR%2DHMB">Snowflake Window Holiday Minibook</a> is perfect if you want something rich and wintery, without being red and green.<br /><br />For those brides-to-be who are still in the thick of wedding planning and aren't even thinking about the holidays yet, <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2F">Minted</a> also has gorgeous <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fwedding">wedding stationery</a>, from <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fsave%2Dthe%2Ddate">save-the-dates</a> to <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fwedding%2Dinvitations">invitations</a> and <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fthank%2Dyou%2Dcards">thank you cards</a>. On November 1st, they're launching an exciting new addition of <a href="http://www.minted.com/photo-calendars">photo calendars</a> that would make perfect save-the-dates, or New Year's greetings for those of us who tend to get too busy during the actual holidays to get our <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=350813&b=175072&m=17025&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Eminted%2Ecom%2Fholiday%2Dphoto%2Dcards">holiday cards</a> in the mail! </p><p>So what do you think? Which holiday cards should we send out this year?<br /></p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-38242378709195940072010-10-16T14:15:00.000-07:002010-10-16T19:54:35.501-07:00Happy Sweetest Day!What better day to start catching up on my wedding blogging? If you've never heard of Sweetest Day, you aren't the only one. Google it. I think of it as an October version of Valentine's Day, but more simple. It's a day to celebrate the people who help to make your life sweet.<br /><br />Besides Dylan, most of the people who help to make my life sweeter were present at my lovely bridal shower, so that's what I wanted to share today.<br /><br />First, the bridal shower invitations:<br />(I blurred some of the personal details to protect privacy.)<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6w2bNqtNmgmcWqxnQlTvFqduV5WagW25l2F4XIIRH_ArsUAdFaICW3EX1kK4WnC4TwMEn7EmyfHyYJFrBK9-yGqSNxVrP88LvU7ASvoD_qXKvMYE4U2w_HIVKnNvIIXMq7aQfUY-WJPI/s1600/BridalShowerInvitation1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528686150885857602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6w2bNqtNmgmcWqxnQlTvFqduV5WagW25l2F4XIIRH_ArsUAdFaICW3EX1kK4WnC4TwMEn7EmyfHyYJFrBK9-yGqSNxVrP88LvU7ASvoD_qXKvMYE4U2w_HIVKnNvIIXMq7aQfUY-WJPI/s400/BridalShowerInvitation1.JPG" /></a><br />These invitations were the cutest! They're actually from Martha Stewart, and you customize them yourself. They include the adorable pop-up wedding cake invitations, the printable inserts, RSVP enclosures (which we used as direction cards instead), the eyelet lace belly bands, and envelopes. I added the little daisy embellishments, which were also from Martha Stewart. </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hyphenhyphenYslai_-HhX_T5oCrl58neWIlp35YBawT7X5UJ_uvvSfFarJ3BUgp_cF5qWHVsUT8I6ZhvuYIs36TFNBIPP4pCaMaXxz9iC8gWZhFQH6dwbjT7d_Wf8HGzZr1NKOMWRMI7MHmi794Y/s1600/BridalShowerInvitation8.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528687056439921650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hyphenhyphenYslai_-HhX_T5oCrl58neWIlp35YBawT7X5UJ_uvvSfFarJ3BUgp_cF5qWHVsUT8I6ZhvuYIs36TFNBIPP4pCaMaXxz9iC8gWZhFQH6dwbjT7d_Wf8HGzZr1NKOMWRMI7MHmi794Y/s400/BridalShowerInvitation8.JPG" /></a><br />The morning of my bridal shower, my maid of honor Melissa, my dear friend Samantha and I all went for mani-pedis at a local beauty school.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDV3fYuaNRB16_gsAJXyuN9w57MGdGjU2xC5RM_2vST4Dfufs4Uva0miESjobxp4VtO4qmepGAxTZeo5a_eVsrhZz-d622xH1SxNmWbTxsoHz9daN5Yb6A6xCEsbWdYu2U_u4pPXWLe-Q/s1600/BridalShower-ManiPedis1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528688415027053522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDV3fYuaNRB16_gsAJXyuN9w57MGdGjU2xC5RM_2vST4Dfufs4Uva0miESjobxp4VtO4qmepGAxTZeo5a_eVsrhZz-d622xH1SxNmWbTxsoHz9daN5Yb6A6xCEsbWdYu2U_u4pPXWLe-Q/s400/BridalShower-ManiPedis1.JPG" /></a><br />My mom and her best friend Amelia hosted my bridal shower at Amelia's beautiful home. They put on quite a spread! Samantha made devilled eggs, and my friend Joanna made the fun cupcakes!<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWt6-WbApm29no45OhbeXfLSEzy-SfBm6Mp2vOuysIDmWixb1651lGBJgTX5maqiKPjDH4e27rSc4dEeqGJ72xwYlHgZCgr2prudq64z-ThwzuMZ-cyxDy3lhhc3RO1DSCOv0kH6BmBc/s1600/BridalShowerFood4.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528689721351257362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWt6-WbApm29no45OhbeXfLSEzy-SfBm6Mp2vOuysIDmWixb1651lGBJgTX5maqiKPjDH4e27rSc4dEeqGJ72xwYlHgZCgr2prudq64z-ThwzuMZ-cyxDy3lhhc3RO1DSCOv0kH6BmBc/s400/BridalShowerFood4.JPG" /></a>My mom has always been quite the chocolatier, so she made tuxedo chocolate covered strawberries. She also played bartender, and made us huckleberry mojitos! </p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVZgRFrhzoJpB8Jmlue9BW0RigrG0KI7smrZOrgo9g9xKzECTWS51kpgP_a4ebL2EOelXh4e2dtH1Qh8ZZ5acN6bHNcfzeqPbFE8APBBKJWiboPLHEI2beEpoonPI0u904C5jWSMRIe0/s1600/BridalShowerFood2.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528691626534896082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVZgRFrhzoJpB8Jmlue9BW0RigrG0KI7smrZOrgo9g9xKzECTWS51kpgP_a4ebL2EOelXh4e2dtH1Qh8ZZ5acN6bHNcfzeqPbFE8APBBKJWiboPLHEI2beEpoonPI0u904C5jWSMRIe0/s400/BridalShowerFood2.JPG" /></a> My mom and Amelia both made different kinds of pasta salads.</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgknvEhCKj_jTq1vecy7uFzgQr2bIyrZzAhElGmCNpQTsv0wP7rtKTL72TgJYEA_C3R8fGpKIumRHPIYGucdcAC6xBDvhrdozAsa9gfdhluuqffaT3pSAsIrROssLr7em65VgxZekp80r8/s1600/BridalShowerFood7.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528692147457754130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgknvEhCKj_jTq1vecy7uFzgQr2bIyrZzAhElGmCNpQTsv0wP7rtKTL72TgJYEA_C3R8fGpKIumRHPIYGucdcAC6xBDvhrdozAsa9gfdhluuqffaT3pSAsIrROssLr7em65VgxZekp80r8/s400/BridalShowerFood7.JPG" /></a><br /><div align="center">We toasted with white peach puree and champagne from Ambrosia Bistro -- Yum! My mom gave a really beautiful toast that sent me right into the ugly cry. Thank you Mom! :-P <br><br></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8un5KW5njwzuZVhXAAG-4oHUydX86BUlBxnIXGXxgjXL1Cckt0AGoIfixNMX_4DZG9AXP9FDrvM_57qLgwdWxBDL06O-CbnjkEhyphenhyphenLcqt1jLiM5m37fDg0uOLX7VG_E2Ft0c6sbyGMwk/s1600/MomSpeech.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528837083689553458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8un5KW5njwzuZVhXAAG-4oHUydX86BUlBxnIXGXxgjXL1Cckt0AGoIfixNMX_4DZG9AXP9FDrvM_57qLgwdWxBDL06O-CbnjkEhyphenhyphenLcqt1jLiM5m37fDg0uOLX7VG_E2Ft0c6sbyGMwk/s400/MomSpeech.JPG" /></a> <p align="center">My favorite girls! From left to right: Bryne, Joanna, Melissa, me, Kristi and Samantha.<br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHco7oFu0YApZW_BQJfvGnyTk6hxFUtKRbMAwMPSD6Hg57QF4mAyhHMX1YEF6o377Bc-1s30dfAAIPR3aUpohrnlQolDietdkmi-3Ms26u5cxYwnSVitLgii7L_yzT9BouTfyY8vawn4/s1600/BridalShower1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 228px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528828200815046786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHco7oFu0YApZW_BQJfvGnyTk6hxFUtKRbMAwMPSD6Hg57QF4mAyhHMX1YEF6o377Bc-1s30dfAAIPR3aUpohrnlQolDietdkmi-3Ms26u5cxYwnSVitLgii7L_yzT9BouTfyY8vawn4/s400/BridalShower1.JPG" /></a><br />And now with our lovely <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00269YJCI?ie=UTF8&tag=ketobesealswe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00269YJCI">Pink Mustaches for Girls</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ketobesealswe-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00269YJCI" width="1" height="1" />! (I love this picture the most.)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wxHgPirhACMGPUfAuPK1yC5WULEfiNVyTRBspDe-c1xLQ6Cmh1sOuwnV6sJK56JGs8VI5EgB4_SYOp5lyn5a81B8_PbwzOzjNyP0ZXUVKIusEO1tkMA8PXF4TwYTmCPDe4nZ4o4517c/s1600/BridalShower-Mustaches1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528830213519009346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wxHgPirhACMGPUfAuPK1yC5WULEfiNVyTRBspDe-c1xLQ6Cmh1sOuwnV6sJK56JGs8VI5EgB4_SYOp5lyn5a81B8_PbwzOzjNyP0ZXUVKIusEO1tkMA8PXF4TwYTmCPDe4nZ4o4517c/s400/BridalShower-Mustaches1.JPG" /></a><br />It was the most beautiful bridal shower I ever could have hoped for! </p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CKkVBLr1gx5KqYDoLDzy7LS7Win5-UgBI_8lyDofGwcs22pRwh_Wap-Bzn6z0lS-qAr1zDgt-GYxg2psjouf0E6Ojj-nu9MlZYf58xrPrkGLeiOankjOsKBp2O9Wdea0Sk2DNlzXKI4/s1600/BridalShower22.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528840341458006434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CKkVBLr1gx5KqYDoLDzy7LS7Win5-UgBI_8lyDofGwcs22pRwh_Wap-Bzn6z0lS-qAr1zDgt-GYxg2psjouf0E6Ojj-nu9MlZYf58xrPrkGLeiOankjOsKBp2O9Wdea0Sk2DNlzXKI4/s400/BridalShower22.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /></p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-76677340843485117192010-10-04T22:29:00.000-07:002010-10-04T23:00:05.075-07:00Our engagement session with Matt Shumate!First off, I just want to let everyone know that I plan to post a TON of wedding stuff in the next couple of months. Our wedding is in just a few days, and wedding planning has just been far too insane for me to blog all about it. We have worked so hard to make things come together, and I am so excited to share all of our wedding details with everyone!<br><br>Now I want to share our <a href = "http://blog.mattshumate.com/2010/10/spokane-wedding-photographer-alyson-dylan-engagements/">engagement session photos</a> with <a href = "http://blog.mattshumate.com/">Matt Shumate</a>!<br><br>Our original plan was to have our engagement session done at the county fair. We thought it would be fun, and there would be built-in props and cool background lighting. Unfortunately, my beloved great-grandmother died a few days before the fair. Since the fair only comes once a year, we were going to try to struggle through it, but when Matt heard my voice he told me that I was way too stressed, and that we should wait until I was feeling more up to it. I'm glad that we did, because (as you can see in the photos), it was a lot easier to smile and laugh than it would have been.<br><br>Matt is a great guy, a very creative photographer, and about the furthest thing from a diva artiste as you can get. For those of you who know me, or who have been reading my blog long enough, you'll know that I tend to be very sassy. Matt lobbed it right back at me, and we all had a good time. (Except for the weather. It was gray, chilly, windy as all hell, and rained on us for the last little while.)<br><br>Please forgive my windblown hair and chubby laughing face, but I still think the pictures came out pretty cute. I especially like the ones of Dylan laughing, and these: <br><br><a href="http://blog.mattshumate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Alyson-Dylan-5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://blog.mattshumate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Alyson-Dylan-5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br><br><a href="http://blog.mattshumate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Alyson-Dylan-23.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://blog.mattshumate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Alyson-Dylan-23.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br><br><a href="http://blog.mattshumate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Alyson-Dylan-14.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://blog.mattshumate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Alyson-Dylan-14.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br><br>Please think good thoughts for us this week, and keep your fingers crossed for our big day! 10-9-10 here we come!<br><br>Many more wedding details to come soon!Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-77849494458748503912010-05-21T07:30:00.000-07:002010-05-21T07:30:01.026-07:00Color palettes are cruel.I am clearly a big fan of inspiration boards and color palettes for wedding or event planning. Or for home decorating. Or darn near anything.<br /><br />Months ago I did a post describing what I imagined for our wedding colors. As my ideas moved toward reality, I discovered something important. Color matching for an event is a <strong>bitch</strong>. Especially if you're trying to do it on a budget. You can have fourteen different things that are described as "chocolate brown" and no two will match. Not only will they not match, they'll clash. A lot.<br /><br />We wanted shades of brown, and moss green. I had chocolate brown tablecloths that I had purchased on eBay*. I had chair cover samples. I had napkin samples. I had paper samples, because I'm making our wedding invitations. <strong>Nothing matched</strong>. Not even a little bit. And I had a lot of things to choose from.<br /><br />I had shown Dylan the samples and swatches as they'd arrived. He'd nod and smile and say something like, "Those look really nice, babe!" Then one day he came home, and I was edging toward a melt down. I tried to explain that nothing was matching, and I was losing my mind. He shifted his weight nervously and cautiously admitted, "They all kind of looked the same to me." And I know that nearly every man on earth would have thought the same thing. It wasn't his fault. I did my best not to stomp my feet and start sputtering. I'm not entirely sure I succeeded, but at least I didn't yell at him. Instead, I rushed around the house and gathered every piece of fabric or paper or anything else wedding related and tossed it all into the center of our dining room table. I spread it all out, flipped the light on, and threw my arms open in a triumphant presentation. Dylan took it all in for a moment, and his brow furrowed. Finally he said, "Wow. It <strong><em>really</em></strong> doesn't match. None of it. It actually kinda... clashes." I take it as a small credit to my character that I didn't start laughing maniacally and yanking my hair out.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong -- I am not a "bridezilla". I have been pretty calm and collected about wedding planning. It's just that I had put well over a year into researching and planning, and my lofty ideas were suddenly being thrown out the window.<br /><br />When my color-clashing meltdown finally came, I decided it was time to re-think things. I took all of the things we already had, and all of the samples that we had, and decided to see what might work together instead of trying to make things work with the image I had in my head. As I started looking at everything, I also found myself favoring certain samples. For example, I had beautiful satin pillowcase style chair cover samples in ivory, pale silver, and chocolate brown. Even though it was the least obvious choice, the pale silver was our favorite. The fabric seems a little nicer, and in the soft lighting of our wedding venue, they give this sense of luxury and romance that the other two just didn't live up to.<br /><br />Early in the wedding planning stages, I was overzealous and purchased some metallic copper crinkle tablecloths. If you look at my first two inspiration boards, you'll see what I'm talking about. They're beautiful, but I was worried that the color would be hard to match things to. I had started leaning toward using brown instead copper, because I thought it would be easier to use as part of the color palette. (Ha ha! Silly me!) That led me to buy those chocolate brown tablecloths**.<br /><br />We decided to choose what parts we liked best, and then be more flexible on the rest so we could make it all work. We are going to use the copper tablecloths and the pale silver chair covers. We went to fabric shops and found a beautiful paisley fabric that ties the whole thing together. I waited until Joann Fabrics had a 50% off coupon and bought enough fabric to make runners for all of the tables.<br /><br />So this is a mish-mash of what we've got:<br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mOinv-iXiO2zXI3R5v4guNelQGGNZFkZoDVr52Oxuo9ZsKtSGqJmD3Go-rqUV0EM2wArwWRjGSO4dOWU6hGis_N8krhjMWfX3WTLa3h-dMTxghoUER8wW0uT817cD3SRKqqWOfNsf2c/s1600/Palette1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473474075008846610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mOinv-iXiO2zXI3R5v4guNelQGGNZFkZoDVr52Oxuo9ZsKtSGqJmD3Go-rqUV0EM2wArwWRjGSO4dOWU6hGis_N8krhjMWfX3WTLa3h-dMTxghoUER8wW0uT817cD3SRKqqWOfNsf2c/s400/Palette1.jpg" /></a>Oh, and Dylan's Ben Sherman suit did not fit him properly. In the picture above, you can see the sleeve of the suit we ended up finding for him. It's a really dark navy, or maybe midnight blue. The suit jacket is two button and looks great on him. Our favorite part is that it's actually a three piece suit! Dylan looks <strong>so good</strong> in a vest. Plus, he over-heats easily, so it'll be a bonus for him to able to take off his jacket during the reception and still look dressed up. </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">The bottom line is that color palettes and inspiration boards are wonderful, but don't let yourself get too caught up in forcing your wedding details to fit into a preconceived palette before you explore and experiment with what is actually available to you. </span><br /><br />* Budget Helper: I have discovered that for things like table linens and chair covers, I can usually buy them for less than I could rent them. Besides the fact that it's initially cheaper, I love the idea of being able to pass on the savings to another couple while recouping some of your expenses. eBay and Craigslist are both big money savers if you're a savvy shopper. Linentablecloth.com is also a good website if you're considering buying your own table-linens. You can also purchase napkin samples for $1, which is a nice way of getting a big fabric swatch to use for color comparisson. If there is one thing that I have learned from this experience, it is to buy the damn samples before you place a big order. It will save you time and money in the long run, and most of all, it will keep you from ripping your hair out when you discover that one company's idea of "sage green" is what you would have call olive green and another is almost blue.<br /><br />** Even if you're a savvy shopper, some people are not as forthcoming and honest as they should be. Those chocolate brown tablecloths are not nearly as nice as that lady described, and some of them have stains or wonky hems. I've been cranky about them ever since. So again, if you have the option of seeing stuff in person or ordering a sample first, do it.<br /><br /></p><p></p><p></p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-88556271328059288872010-05-03T07:15:00.000-07:002010-05-03T07:15:00.741-07:00Updates: Part 2 - Wedding registry complicationsAnother bit of excitement involved our wedding registry. Dylan and I have been together for five years. We've lived together for several of those. We're not 20 year olds just starting out, so we didn't have that much that we wanted to register for. We decided that the main thing we did want to register for were nice dishes. Nothing too formal, but something that we loved and that we'd be proud to use when we entertain. We found these gorgeous dishes.<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTcRS8MdFtQO5zmAjKIX_MbAWh2R4orBJVK4TfYuDASChcSXfzgML2ZjjfImL7lWnMMWCllaSjQBEH8KpobcofKQa4woPVMtA8W79Cr_a8lQiWbl5tGcpJtoParraz2eXURu3cU-2a3o/s1600/Trousseau+Dishes.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 327px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466576627123054882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTcRS8MdFtQO5zmAjKIX_MbAWh2R4orBJVK4TfYuDASChcSXfzgML2ZjjfImL7lWnMMWCllaSjQBEH8KpobcofKQa4woPVMtA8W79Cr_a8lQiWbl5tGcpJtoParraz2eXURu3cU-2a3o/s400/Trousseau+Dishes.jpg" /></a> </p><p>They're part of the Martha Stewart Collection with Wedgewood. Pictures don't do them justice. They have this beautiful texture, like eyelet lace. They come in slightly different patterns so you can mix and match. When I first saw them, I got that tingle that people say you will get when you find the perfect wedding dress. I like my wedding dress, but I <strong>love</strong> these dishes. Dylan probably doesn't care about dishes nearly as much as I do, but these were also his favorites of the many patterns we had seen. So, of course, they were discontinued. They were discontinued in February. Our wedding isn't until October. That meant that by the time people were starting to think about getting us a wedding gift, those dishes would no longer be available. We were so disappointed! </p><p>Thankfully, with the help of a couple of relatives, a good friend, and our rainy day fund, we got our dishes! It took a lot of time and work, and bless the local Macy's employees who went out of their way to help us. We ended up buying or ordering all of the dishes on clearance, during a One Day Sale, with a newly opened Macy's account, so we got an amazing deal at least. I don't think there's any way we could've gotten them otherwise. Every time I look at our china hutch, it makes me happy. </p><p><em>I made us whole-wheat spaghetti with browned butter and mizithra cheese served in our wedding china!</em><br /></p><a href="http://keentobeseen.net/PastaBowl1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://keentobeseen.net/PastaBowl1.JPG" /></a><br />Now that we've purchased a large part of our own wedding registry, we're having to re-think what to register for. We've decided besides the traditional registries, we'd also like to give the option of donating to the <a href="http://aspca.org/donate/">ASPCA</a> or the <a href="http://humanesociety.org/donate/">Humane Society</a> since we're both such animal lovers. <br /><br />What about the other brides-to-be out there? Are any of you registering for something extra special, or unique?Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-62563306989402235032010-05-02T08:30:00.000-07:002010-05-02T08:30:00.165-07:00Updates: Part 1 - Health scareI know that I haven't been a good blogger for months. Things got crazy and I decided that blogging had to take a backseat. There have been hundreds of hours of wedding research and planning. <em>So much planning</em>. There has been work, family, and even a little drama.<br /><br />I also had a bizarre health scare. I had a pink mark on my forehead that looked like I might have burned myself with a curling iron. It was there for quite a while, and I didn't think much of it. I didn't know where it came from, I just figured it was some little bit of skin irritation, maybe a spot of eczema or psoriasis, or some other skin condition I don't know much of anything about. I wasn't particularly concerned about it. While I was at a dentist appointment, my dentist noticed the spot and encouraged me to get it checked out by a dermatologist. I knew it was probably the smart thing to do, so I unenthusiastically agreed. The dermatologist took one look at it and said, "Yeah, I think that's probably skin cancer." I nearly choked. My exact response was to sputter, "What?! Why would I have that?!" She shrugged and said, "Usually from sun exposure." I continued to gawk at her and squeaked, "Have you <strong>seen</strong> me?! I'm practically an <em>albino</em>!" Plus, I've had bangs my whole life because I've always hated my big forehead. The doctor cut a little chunk out of my forehead, and about a week later it was confirmed. I had basal cell carcinoma.<br /><br />I hated my forehead, and it gave me skin cancer!<br /><br />Alright, probably not. But either way, I ended up with a patch of mutant cells that turned out to be cancer. I had to have surgery to remove the cancer. They basically took a melon-baller to my forehead, then stitched me back up. Now I have what I refer to as my Harry Potter scar. <br /><br />Hopefully the darn thing will fade more by October, but overall I'm just thankful that if I had to have an experience with cancer, I got the least scary option. Nothing like a little health scare to make you appreciate the good things in your life.Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-72600530942937242152010-04-15T19:45:00.000-07:002010-04-15T19:54:03.105-07:00Free Father / Daughter Wedding Song by Edwin McCain!Life has been crazy for the last couple of months. I know I'm well past-due for a blog update. I'll try to make some time for that soon, but for now I at least wanted to pass along a cool find. This is a really sweet song by Edwin McCain called "Walk With You" that was written specifically from a father to his daughter on her wedding day. I'm sure everyone would be happy to pay a buck to download this song for their wedding, but you can download it for FREE! Nothing beats free!<br /><br />Click <a href="http://edwinmccainwalkwithyou.bandcamp.com/">here</a> to listen to the song, read the lyrics, and to download the song as a 320k Mp3, FLAC or darn near any format you'd like.<br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://edwinmccainwalkwithyou.bandcamp.com/"><img src="http://bandcamp.com/files/25/73/2573465897-1.jpg" /></a></p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-28103900368673183062010-02-04T12:00:00.001-08:002010-02-04T13:45:07.576-08:00The groom's suit updateThe lovely brown Ben Sherman suit arrived. Dylan tried it on. It doesn't fit properly. Ben Sherman suits are made for more the skinny hipster types. Dylan is not built that way. The suit was very close to fitting, so we kind of held our breath until we went to speak to the seamstress / tailor. The tailor is a friendly, very pregnant Russian woman. As much as Dylan was disappointed by the suit not fitting, I think she at least helped to ease the blow. It was hard for me not to laugh, because she kept patting Dylan's arms and saying, "You have big muscles. That's why the suit won't fit. Your muscles are too big. You exercise?" She did the same thing on his chest, patting his pecs and commenting on his big muscles. I could tell Dylan's disappointment was at least slightly tempered by the pride of having someone compliment his physique. It was cute. Plus, I reassured him that if I had to choose between that one suit fitting or him being buff, I'm definitely voting for his physique. <br /><br />So we sadly had to return the suit. The suit search continues! Blah!<br /><br />I'm thinking we may end up heading over to Seattle to suit shop one of these days.<br /><br />Oooo, speaking of Seattle...! I officially got to ask my beautiful friend Melissa to be one of our honor attendants for the wedding. She lives in the Seattle area, but she was on this side of the state last weekend, so I got to ask her in person. <br /><br />Our other honor attendant is Jeffrey, whom I fondly refer to as our "dude of honor". I think he's going to basically be the best man, but since I've known him since I was about 14 and we joke that he's my "brother from another mother", we figure that kind of makes him my "dude of honor", too. <br /><br />We're thinking we're just going to keep it simple with the two of them, since they're the two friends who have been in my life the longest and the two who have been the most loving and supportive to us and our relationship. <br /><br />I am also very thankful for my lovely friend Samantha, who has volunteered to be the ring-leader for the day. She's going to keep an eye on things behind the scenes and try to help make sure that things go as smoothly as possible. Plus, with Melissa is in Seattle, and Jeffrey in NYC, Samantha is the only local friend who has been patiently looking through color samples and fabric swatches with me. It's so nice to have someone to humor me when I'm obsessing like a crazy person! Although she did make me promise to give it a break this weekend while we celebrate my birthday. <br /><br />Tonight we're going to meet up with a potential DJ and a potential videographer. After that, I'm looking forward to a weekend of good meals with friends and family, and hopefully sneaking out to a movie with Dylan.Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-24034942715820889962010-01-29T06:35:00.000-08:002010-01-29T06:35:00.399-08:00Fantastic album deal today!I haven't posted any music specials in a long time, but when I saw what the Amazon MP3 download of the day was, I had to spread the word!<br /><br />Adele's album 19 is on sale for only $2.99! This album is SO good! It's worth so much more than $3. If you haven't heard it yet, you owe it to yourself to spend the three bucks. "Make You Feel My Love" is a beautiful song, and could even be used as a wedding related song!<br /><br />This link will take you to the album right on Amazon:<br /><br /><p align="center"><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=ketobesealswe-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B001AKJ97O" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p><br />And you can just listen to samples of the tracks here:<br /><p align="center"><object id="Player_3f7666bc-ee75-4126-bcbc-a2721fe9f744" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="250" height="250"><param name="_cx" value="6614"><param name="_cy" value="6614"><param name="FlashVars" value=""><param name="Movie" value="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fketobesealswe-20%2F8014%2F3f7666bc-ee75-4126-bcbc-a2721fe9f744&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate"><param name="Src" value="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fketobesealswe-20%2F8014%2F3f7666bc-ee75-4126-bcbc-a2721fe9f744&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate"><param name="WMode" value="Window"><param name="Play" value="-1"><param name="Loop" value="-1"><param name="Quality" value="High"><param name="SAlign" value=""><param name="Menu" value="-1"><param name="Base" value=""><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="Scale" value="ShowAll"><param name="DeviceFont" value="0"><param name="EmbedMovie" value="0"><param name="BGColor" value="FFFFFF"><param name="SWRemote" value=""><param name="MovieData" value=""><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1"><param name="Profile" value="0"><param name="ProfileAddress" value=""><param name="ProfilePort" value="0"><param name="AllowNetworking" value="all"><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="false"><br /> <embed src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fketobesealswe-20%2F8014%2F3f7666bc-ee75-4126-bcbc-a2721fe9f744&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate" id="Player_3f7666bc-ee75-4126-bcbc-a2721fe9f744" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="Player_3f7666bc-ee75-4126-bcbc-a2721fe9f744" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="250px" width="250px"></embed></object></p><p align="left">I hope you all have a great weekend! </p><p align="center"> </p><noscript></noscript>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-86820874798926278792010-01-21T07:30:00.000-08:002010-01-21T07:30:00.334-08:00Who knew I'd ever be excited about postage?I don't know if anyone else has read all the stories about mailing out their wedding invitations (or save the dates), but I did. People are crazy. (Including me, because I read all that stuff.) I now feel paranoid about having things addressed properly, and hand-cancelling our invitations to prevent the post office from mangling or marring them. Then came the topic of postage. I've seen a lot of the old fashioned "Love" stamps, so I decided to do a search and see what was available now. I was tickled to find some stamps that I really like! They just came out last week. They're totally the kind of stamps you're supposed to collect rather than use, but what the heck. I'm using them. They're the Celebrating Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger commemorative stamps!<br /><br /><a href="https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10052&productId=10006571&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10000003&top_category=10000003&categoryId=10000068&top=&currentPage=0&sort=&viewAll=N&rn=CategoriesDisplay&WT.ac=10006571"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 284px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429114535544840642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIISawqAhf6q2Xl_0PCz2am1xKPmUij_NFrRhzspbfPA0eAxpZMoMPcqheZ7YoM5KFGViefrUcRrrGxkATYFeJELvVh7JqDvSduvMlNvyr4qtNSZy54jLQ7Z3qPz-oweZQSki4lxJik7o/s400/YearOfTheTigerStamp.jpg" /></a><br />We're planning to try to send out our save the dates on Valentine's Day, so I thought the dark red background with the narciccus flowers would be nice for that. When I read more about the stamps, it turns out that the Chinese New Year begins on February 14th this year. I'm taking it as a sign! (And my dad is making fun of me for it.)<br /><br />You can't tell from the picture, but the edges are actually a shimmery metallic gold. I love them extra in person. Maybe they'll help me to get my butt in gear to make a decision on which save the date design we should use. Fingers crossed!Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-71363614241290207232010-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:002010-01-20T07:00:04.108-08:00The wedding planning continues!I know, I know... I haven't posted in forever and a half. We basically took a break from wedding planning over the holidays. Holidays are stressful enough with the planning, preparation, cooking and entertaining. We were due for a break from the wedding obsessing. So now I'm back to obsessing, but I'm feeling refreshed and optimistic.<br /><br />I just wanted to give an update for some of the progress we've made.<br /><br />*drum roll please*<br /><br />We have officially hired <a href="http://photo.mattshumate.com/">Matt Shumate</a> as our wedding photographer. He's terrific, and we're really looking forward to working with him!<br /><br />We <em>think</em> we have selected a caterer. It's actually one of our favorite locally owned little restaurants here, and I don't think we've ever had anything there that we haven't liked. They're also the first place that gave us the answers we'd been dying to hear. They're flexible and happy to work with us on a menu, they're happy to supply a couple of vegan meals if we need them, and they're happy to do a tasting with us once we narrow down the menu! <strong>YES!</strong> I don't know why it had to be so ridiculously hard to find somewhere that was happy to do that, but we were thrilled to finally hear it. Plus, as a big added bonus, they also supply the serving staff and the dishes! DOUBLE YES! And YAY! That'll save us hundreds of dollars to not have to rent all of those dishes. We have to meet with them again soon, but at this point, we're feeling pretty good about things.<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago, we had a little adventure when we went looking for a wedding suit for Dylan. Our TV has been flooded with Men's Wearhouse commercials lately, and we kept seeing the commercial about "When all eyes are on her, she's going to be looking at you..." and how they're going to make you look your best for your wedding. We thought that seemed like a good place to start looking. As it turns out, not so much. We were excited when we arrived, and very disheartened and discouraged by the time we left. The woman who helped us was <strong>terrible</strong>. She directed us to a section of about a dozen suits on a rack and said that was where we could look. The choices were crap. When we told her we were hoping to find a dark brown suit, she just said they didn't have it. When we asked if there were any options, like maybe finding a suit in a different size and then ordering it in Dylan's size, she actually told us we should just go somewhere else! We couldn't believe it. I told her that there was a nice brown suit on their website, and she shrugged. When we saw a dark brown tuxedo, we asked her about that and she said it was a rental. We had to ask if they had something like that that he could try on, just so he could try on SOMETHING remotely like what we were looking for. We were shocked to find out that they don't have rentals for you to try on. They take your measurements, and you get what they give you. You don't get to try it on first! The woman literally told us we should shop elsewhere several times. Dylan was furious by the time we left. He was ready to write a letter to Mr. "I Guarantee It" in the commercials. It's not like we were being jerks, either. We were polite, and excited about buying his wedding suit. Blah! I don't ever want to go there again.<br /><br />We decided to make the most of it while we were on the other side of town. I really don't have a good sense of the best places to buy a suit for a man, but I was thinking that our next stops should be somewhere like Macy's and Nordstrom. Lo and behold, across the street from the Men's Wearhouse was the Nordstrom Rack store! We figured it was a longshot, but worth a try. JACKPOT! There was a wonderful girl named Nicole in the men's department at the Nordstrom Rack who went out of her way to help us find the perfect suit for Dylan. We found a gorgeous chocolate brown Ben Sherman suit that we both instantly loved. Unfortunately, they only had it one size too small for Dylan! Lovely Nicole made it her personal mission to help us find the suit in his size. I don't know how many other Nordstrom Rack stores she ended up calling, but today she called and announced that she had found the suit! HOORAY! She gave me the number to the San Jose store, and when I reached their men's department I got as far as, "Hi, I'm calling because someone from the Spokane Nord--" and he said, "Yeah! Is this Alyson?" Now that's service when a complete stranger from several states away knows your name. So now we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Dylan's gorgeous new Ben Sherman wedding suit! And if for some reason the suit isn't right or doesn't fit, we can return it locally, so it's pretty risk-free. We're so excited!<br /><br />This is a picture from the Nordstrom website of what I'm fairly certain is the same Ben Sherman suit that we bought him (except this one is navy, obviously):<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6OrussQMnfUbBXSYtvqlWxf0exsAUOetDS2x7tP2Pjatk-3orz2ybNHwoQ7_QqOjeme674XZcVuYLcY-xFhXFU6nPsbIMDD7x966WmIT62YTwgn2ihyphenhyphen-wYFMNwOEjq9uigc51RcAnzI/s1600-h/BenSherman2BtnSuit1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 261px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428708593977040226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6OrussQMnfUbBXSYtvqlWxf0exsAUOetDS2x7tP2Pjatk-3orz2ybNHwoQ7_QqOjeme674XZcVuYLcY-xFhXFU6nPsbIMDD7x966WmIT62YTwgn2ihyphenhyphen-wYFMNwOEjq9uigc51RcAnzI/s400/BenSherman2BtnSuit1.jpg" /></a><br />This is a picture I took of the suit we found, so hopefully the suit that's being shipped to us will look like this! My flash made the suit look a little brighter than it really is, it's a nice dark brown.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0JixaQON0VHSqAIKfaMxv4OgKuTQLFaINbnBl_XYw4soNz1n6CeQwPXi-YLayc8YhunxyYe6ADJ17vhtlHOGaX0-XVLGLeJZschlE-zzfkFRJoDuofF6sHQ9klmfDg3QBv_jtA_mabA/s1600-h/BrownSuit-NordstromRack2.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428709363125314786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0JixaQON0VHSqAIKfaMxv4OgKuTQLFaINbnBl_XYw4soNz1n6CeQwPXi-YLayc8YhunxyYe6ADJ17vhtlHOGaX0-XVLGLeJZschlE-zzfkFRJoDuofF6sHQ9klmfDg3QBv_jtA_mabA/s400/BrownSuit-NordstromRack2.JPG" /></a><br />Dylan's going to look so good! <br /><br />Oooh, and I also found a pair of wedding shoes at the Nordstrom Rack. They're very simple, but they're a pretty iridescent pearl and they're so soft they feel like slippers. And I got them on clearance for less than $20! I've heard too many horror stories about brides wearing hot shoes that killed their feet, so these will at least be my Plan B shoes, even if I find something fancier for pictures.Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-82006015689591349562009-11-26T06:15:00.000-08:002009-11-26T06:15:00.275-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKumMI4CW9hvRQYivNoFlijzkJgI7WQNT3MDru_b7FUu4ZMwJuvk2NDOo8eowxonsgpPnlxCwX0KNCZ3Dxda3WuT7a3tA8SJcHiF_m531y0s2IeSrfqzN64bVVUoUA_nFX0aPH91PAAIY/s1600/chihuahua-turkey.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 353px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 254px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408389409034609666" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKumMI4CW9hvRQYivNoFlijzkJgI7WQNT3MDru_b7FUu4ZMwJuvk2NDOo8eowxonsgpPnlxCwX0KNCZ3Dxda3WuT7a3tA8SJcHiF_m531y0s2IeSrfqzN64bVVUoUA_nFX0aPH91PAAIY/s400/chihuahua-turkey.jpg" /></a><br />We have been busting our butt getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'm not going to admit what time I'm posting this, but I will tell you that if I don't go to bed soon, I may as well just stay awake. :-P<br /><br />Here is my menu for the day:<br /><ul><li>Roasted turkey (I even made stock to use for the gravy this year!)</li><li>Classic mashed potatoes</li><li>Cornbread dressing with onions, fennel (because I'm allergic to celery), apples, water chestnuts and pecans</li><li>Smushed sweet potatoes and apples (we love these, we might even try to incorporate them into the wedding menu)</li><li>French green beans with roasted nuts and dried cranberries</li><li>Whole kernel corn (because I'm weird and I like to mix it with my mashed potatoes)</li><li>Cranberry sauce (I made it with orange juice, a little drizzle of molasses and a splash of honey cherry wine)</li><li>Oprah biscuits (I totally cheat on the biscuits and use the Southern style Grands. Thanks for the tip, Oprah!)</li><li>Black cherry gelatin with black cherries, pineapple and pecans (I feel a little dumb admitting to making Jello, but it's our weird family tradition. Although this year I'm putting my own spin on it and I'm making a mold with my Williams-Sonoma pumpkin patch mold. I know. I'm a dork.)</li><li>Pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce and whipped cream</li></ul>We'll be serving it with our favorite cranberry wine by <a href="http://www.pasekcellars.com/">Pasek Cellars</a>. We plan to serve it at our wedding, too!<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1CkgNGrMmVM1BTD1mCPwLTia9fDHB21JRzkry53RRrwwKapWszcxRQKIHvhdI-ABSrUl4UQK0vjbh8JrEomPpidzWY3p8mtl3ETS65TF-znOTrMzx9nWdA80AiBenvnSG-grrCuCLzSk/s1600/chihuahua-turkey2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 280px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 334px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408389520761167426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1CkgNGrMmVM1BTD1mCPwLTia9fDHB21JRzkry53RRrwwKapWszcxRQKIHvhdI-ABSrUl4UQK0vjbh8JrEomPpidzWY3p8mtl3ETS65TF-znOTrMzx9nWdA80AiBenvnSG-grrCuCLzSk/s400/chihuahua-turkey2.jpg" /></a><br />I don't know who took these pictures, because they were sent to me. We didn't dress our dogs up as turkeys. However, we did dress Gracie up like this for Halloween once, and Dylan pointed out that a Native American costume would be somewhat appropriate for the occasion:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYixKSUv5xMLk9AtC2SRWu48BkMrYR7ntm-1amtM-Jnr2NbqVkxV-0yeId5pb1kgDqTb7T0NQttAEKwdQDCSzOfk0oPbD4Iue5AbuXnoZkOL51VNiebzAm0Jn9zszFulkwe-lJh1dkho/s1600/Hocapontas2.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408390204200428338" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYixKSUv5xMLk9AtC2SRWu48BkMrYR7ntm-1amtM-Jnr2NbqVkxV-0yeId5pb1kgDqTb7T0NQttAEKwdQDCSzOfk0oPbD4Iue5AbuXnoZkOL51VNiebzAm0Jn9zszFulkwe-lJh1dkho/s400/Hocapontas2.JPG" /></a><br />Now if only we had a pilgrim outfit for Franklin. He went as Elvis.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1Pd8batr33VvUnbzjzWT3ovnT-hUlrtDw1tDvG-aAt7r9aJ2yD7WhBWjQgAlNmZZNHNlbqGd_ASrN_ZJtJw8z3mMPjKBeC_LGagff5GtUR2__Chz9aBe0idB2myvwKWBDasdGvEHgvY/s1600/Elvis1.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408391706492892066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1Pd8batr33VvUnbzjzWT3ovnT-hUlrtDw1tDvG-aAt7r9aJ2yD7WhBWjQgAlNmZZNHNlbqGd_ASrN_ZJtJw8z3mMPjKBeC_LGagff5GtUR2__Chz9aBe0idB2myvwKWBDasdGvEHgvY/s400/Elvis1.JPG" /></a><br />But I digress...<br /><br />HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Remember to think about what you're thankful for today! </p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-2004834223691487242009-11-19T07:20:00.000-08:002009-11-19T02:04:53.675-08:00Holiday and Wedding MenusHi everyone!<br /><br />I received an email the other night from our wedding photographer checking to make sure everything was alright because he noticed I hadn't posted here for a while. Thanks <a href="http://blog.mattshumate.com/">Matt</a>!<br /><br />In case anyone else was concerned, everything is alright. I haven't been feeling especially inspired (or inspirational) lately in the wedding department, because I've been a busy bee. Dylan's family (aka my future in-laws) are coming to our place for Thanksgiving this year, so I've been driving myself a little crazy in preparation. I may have mentioned this before, but my mom is very much the hostess-with-the-mostess type and she set the bar pretty high when I was growing up. This will be the fourth Thanksgiving I've cooked, but it's the first one with real guests. The last few were just us, usually with one of my parents. There will still only be 5 or 6 of us this year, but our entertaining space is woefully small, so it will feel like a full house. For whatever reason, I've chosen this year to second-guess some of my Thanksgiving recipes, which means I've been spending a lot of time reading magazines and online recipes trying to see if I can find a couple new dishes for this year's Thanksgiving menu. I've been talking to some friends and clients about traditional recipes, and it's funny the way we all have our own dishes that we associate with the holiday. One of my clients recently said that the first time she went to Thanksgiving at her in-laws, she couldn't believe they weren't serving sauerkraut alongside the turkey, because that was always a family tradition for her. I haven't heard any feedback from Dylan's family, so hopefully they aren't expecting something like sauerkraut this year! Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions? Leave me a comment and tell me about it!<br /><br />Speaking of planning menus, that has been one of the toughest parts of our wedding planning so far. We still haven't found a caterer that we've really clicked with yet. I have a question for all of you brides-to-be or newly-weds: Have the caterers you've met with offered tastings? Every wedding planning book I've read (and there have been many) talks about the importance of tasting the menu you've chosen. I think that makes complete sense, because if you're going to be spending thousands of dollars on food for your guests, you want to know what you're going to be serving them. Much to my (and Dylan's) chagrin, none of the caterers we've met with offer tastings. It seems bizarre to me. Dylan is especially disappointed, because as a food-lover, trying the food was the part of the wedding planning he was most looking forward to! I'd like to hear what others' experiences have been with hiring their caterers. If you know a fantastic caterer (especially one who will let us try some of the food) in the Spokane / Coeur d'Alene area, please send them my way!<br /><br />And because I always like to throw in a little eye candy, I wanted to show this crafty autumn decor idea:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0J8IAr852nRoxjYo8ea_wg8tuKOuJfGq7-ndsTpdi9eB4bov_XxY9BN0pI_-RtIGo4JkiOEVq2LeuV-b9SvMi_R8KoIk00SO7nXv35eWWyZIBy7t5zZNtHeL86-fJboFtsRz-isSTSU/s1600/CornHuskVotives-MS.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405749958465808322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH0J8IAr852nRoxjYo8ea_wg8tuKOuJfGq7-ndsTpdi9eB4bov_XxY9BN0pI_-RtIGo4JkiOEVq2LeuV-b9SvMi_R8KoIk00SO7nXv35eWWyZIBy7t5zZNtHeL86-fJboFtsRz-isSTSU/s400/CornHuskVotives-MS.jpg" /></a><br />You know I love the balance of elegant and rustic, and I think these corn husk wrapped votives from Martha Stewart are an interesting example -- perfect for an autumn themed wedding, or your Thanksgiving table!<br /><br />Hopefully things will slow down a little soon, because I'm excited to try to put together at least a couple of winter wedding posts!Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-50702001494135562472009-10-31T07:35:00.000-07:002009-10-31T13:56:35.027-07:00Happy Halloween! Halloween Wedding or Party Treats!<div align="left">Happy Halloween everyone!<br /><br />I have had no time lately -- this week has been a beast! I couldn't resist putting together a few pictures for Halloween, though. Getting married on Halloween isn't really my cup of tea, but some of these pictures are so cute, I can see the appeal! I figured that for most of us, these would just be inspiration to throw a fabulous Halloween party.<br /><br /></div><a href="http://keentobeseen.net/44-keentobeseen-halloween-theme-wedding-party-treats.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398701144543398386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCbqS1wa9Uzy8YYCagOJ9HPTqDDvBfGt3zsGgStRxL2sx1TSsMjuy8-Z02gRMHKT7_FB3vcFRRqmwwWTVA_3yZUla3ybrIQFrXwC2EQ-IrQHpqMm3mv2M96PhtHaJKZEkBUr_303osRk0/s400/44-keentobeseen-halloween-theme-wedding-party-treats.jpg" /></a><br />Genius event planner <a href="http://amyatlas.com/">Amy Atlas</a> is responsible for the majority of these pictures. The picture of the table settings is from Real Simple. The <a href="http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1534860">dark chocolate graveyard pots de crème</a> with <a href="http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1534861">tombstone cookies</a> are from Sunset. (I linked to the recipes, although I think those are both prime "fake-it" treats if you're not feeling gourmet. Make some instant chocolate pudding, crush some Oreos over the top, write RIP on some <a href="http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/">Pepperidge Farm</a> cookies and wedge one in the top of each dish.) They have some other really adorable Halloween party treat ideas, including these Spider Eggs:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicecvHalMtOEvJjgxWqcVn23bUc8ExlbpwGwBxTm6iwK-1ns4YuwfMxUBXgEYIu_uqDvnG89JmQhk2nHGQkqqsxucFhfGSQTPZToO7MyzQ8g_n07q9gmGyxMiERROAqqnBpXdmPkSijFk/s1600-h/SpiderEggs-Sunset.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398702315459763170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicecvHalMtOEvJjgxWqcVn23bUc8ExlbpwGwBxTm6iwK-1ns4YuwfMxUBXgEYIu_uqDvnG89JmQhk2nHGQkqqsxucFhfGSQTPZToO7MyzQ8g_n07q9gmGyxMiERROAqqnBpXdmPkSijFk/s400/SpiderEggs-Sunset.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a>(Mmm, deviled eggs and olives!)</p><p><br />And these cute little candy corn truffles:<br /><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9UgFsQZxEBfKRiSpEiubo7UKJR3gMjcD0LrGuGBg8RbhLETmIUw_WTV-fJJG4v-p1UA7sbtu72FhHgEx10mjcuVu4aUTo_D0nD3Mn2XJn7FPBow8a2GDAdfY7DwreLNHcyvhuFyAvg0/s1600-h/ChocolateCandyCornTruffles-Sunset.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398703795465764146" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM9UgFsQZxEBfKRiSpEiubo7UKJR3gMjcD0LrGuGBg8RbhLETmIUw_WTV-fJJG4v-p1UA7sbtu72FhHgEx10mjcuVu4aUTo_D0nD3Mn2XJn7FPBow8a2GDAdfY7DwreLNHcyvhuFyAvg0/s400/ChocolateCandyCornTruffles-Sunset.jpg" /></a><br />Make sure to check out the <a href="http://www.hostessblog.com/2009/10/halloween-cocktail-pina-ghoulada-with-creepy-speared-eyeball-garnish/">Pina Ghouladas</a> with these creepy "speared eyeball" garnishes from Hostess With the Mostess!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUdd5legMOf3RFUAwc7Zf8eBQowkxDOCbR2em3JmUjgc3RRMfDQXZYYdOPAQj7OQCSjyIk0GgatkqZbmxm13-V7V32fQjCbaKwUwlo_dxiEtfJ-jgG51Jldbf7DSiXnSeBw6Ih1zpPMs/s1600-h/creepyeyeballgarnish-hostessblog.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 312px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398704124506757250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUdd5legMOf3RFUAwc7Zf8eBQowkxDOCbR2em3JmUjgc3RRMfDQXZYYdOPAQj7OQCSjyIk0GgatkqZbmxm13-V7V32fQjCbaKwUwlo_dxiEtfJ-jgG51Jldbf7DSiXnSeBw6Ih1zpPMs/s400/creepyeyeballgarnish-hostessblog.jpg" /></a>(Gross, yet delicious! I love lychees a whole lot and blueberries are one of Dylan's favorites. I just never would've thought to turn them into creepy eyeballs.) </p><p>If you're interested in trying one of the many pumpkin beers out right now, we'd recommend the <a href = "http://www.buffalobillsbrewery.com/beers_bottled.asp">Buffalo Bill's</a> Pumpkin Ale. We got excited and tried darn near every brand we could find of pumpkin beers and ales, and that was our favorite.<br><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxG771rGImut6-IAy-X5XlJQwNvONRcnLpKznjmblZaMoVFcHbciL5CdFt1bq-N8Qx4_ooUtL1VGxXO0J43RkaXtZfv9N9D9_GI8iBrKM5ZRXxZHf2Fq1AqtypeE32cQIq2IHLFuVtGrc/s1600-h/buffalo-bill-pumpkin-label.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxG771rGImut6-IAy-X5XlJQwNvONRcnLpKznjmblZaMoVFcHbciL5CdFt1bq-N8Qx4_ooUtL1VGxXO0J43RkaXtZfv9N9D9_GI8iBrKM5ZRXxZHf2Fq1AqtypeE32cQIq2IHLFuVtGrc/s400/buffalo-bill-pumpkin-label.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398708739145027714" /></a><br />Okay, that's all for now. I just wanted to share a few of my favorite Halloween finds this week and hope that it provides some inspiration for your Halloween festivities!<br /><br />Have a fun Halloween and a great weekend!Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-69937258785830861472009-10-23T07:00:00.000-07:002009-10-23T07:00:06.864-07:00FREE Wedding Music!I have another great wedding find to share! It's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G095LW?ie=UTF8&tag=ketobesealswe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002G095LW">The O'Neill Brothers Wedding Music: Amazon Sampler</a>.<br /><br />It's really quite lovely. It's a wonderful collection of classic wedding songs, and to top it all off, it's FREE to download! There's nothing more budget-friendly than free. For those brides who are planning to have an iPod instead of a band or DJ, you may have just found your processional or recessional songs!<br /><br />You can listen to samples right here, and either download just your favorite tracks, or download the whole album for free. <br /><p align="center"><object id="Player_31b22062-bdcf-41da-8bfb-9b09ceb697b1" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="250" height="250"><param name="_cx" value="6614"><param name="_cy" value="6614"><param name="FlashVars" value=""><param name="Movie" value="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fketobesealswe-20%2F8014%2F31b22062-bdcf-41da-8bfb-9b09ceb697b1&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate"><param name="Src" value="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fketobesealswe-20%2F8014%2F31b22062-bdcf-41da-8bfb-9b09ceb697b1&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate"><param name="WMode" value="Window"><param name="Play" value="-1"><param name="Loop" value="-1"><param name="Quality" value="High"><param name="SAlign" value=""><param name="Menu" value="-1"><param name="Base" value=""><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="Scale" value="ShowAll"><param name="DeviceFont" value="0"><param name="EmbedMovie" value="0"><param name="BGColor" value="FFFFFF"><param name="SWRemote" value=""><param name="MovieData" value=""><param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="1"><param name="Profile" value="0"><param name="ProfileAddress" value=""><param name="ProfilePort" value="0"><param name="AllowNetworking" value="all"><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="false"><br /> <embed src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fketobesealswe-20%2F8014%2F31b22062-bdcf-41da-8bfb-9b09ceb697b1&Operation=GetDisplayTemplate" id="Player_31b22062-bdcf-41da-8bfb-9b09ceb697b1" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="Player_31b22062-bdcf-41da-8bfb-9b09ceb697b1" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="250px" width="250px"></embed></object></p><noscript></noscript>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-4158495127371991132009-10-21T07:15:00.000-07:002009-10-21T07:15:00.330-07:00Pretty, pretty water!<div align="left">I like to pass on great deals when I find them, and I've found something I think is really cool!<br /><br />Dylan and I were wandering around at Big Lots yesterday. They always have an assortment of weird stuff, and every so often I find something great. We turned a corner and I saw a stack of boxes labelled Evian with a fun pattern on them. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that they were limited edition wine bottle sized glass bottles of Evian with a beautiful lace pattern design by Christian Lacroix.<br /></div><div align="center"><br />(I found this picture on <a href="http://greenweddingshoes.blogspot.com/2008/12/christian-lacroix-evian-snowflake.html">Green Wedding Shoes</a>.)<br /></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOSZDzJX9m5I01I-G3FCbb4lOjvcrtBQrJ_h4KUQKeDnlEQ2kxsRGn8FHi4NogHo1i0tmI6WmW6pzvjhvb1E9GDTxob2Z5FTUrbQcS4NoVWDVrKwN2xX0VZbeX4MkLd8TNj1GZfv_g-iY/s1600-h/cl_evian.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 306px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394953066900299074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOSZDzJX9m5I01I-G3FCbb4lOjvcrtBQrJ_h4KUQKeDnlEQ2kxsRGn8FHi4NogHo1i0tmI6WmW6pzvjhvb1E9GDTxob2Z5FTUrbQcS4NoVWDVrKwN2xX0VZbeX4MkLd8TNj1GZfv_g-iY/s400/cl_evian.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwaSftwXcv1Bc-IlPpq4DVJNS3AlKq0aFPiMi42BocdgVUEy2HBXan84ZzObVXJD9pN49h1svIXlhgThncQd6NB6gX3h71MW7LCUvUrHNOFFVpgI9_0EHeLZWHEVzSBMyVQFsw1CghwY/s1600-h/ChristianLacroix-Evian.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394952987810741074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwaSftwXcv1Bc-IlPpq4DVJNS3AlKq0aFPiMi42BocdgVUEy2HBXan84ZzObVXJD9pN49h1svIXlhgThncQd6NB6gX3h71MW7LCUvUrHNOFFVpgI9_0EHeLZWHEVzSBMyVQFsw1CghwY/s400/ChristianLacroix-Evian.jpg" /></a><br />I love them.</p><p>Once I saw what they were, I got excited and thought, "Ooo, glass bottles instead of plastic! Festive instead of utilitarian! Elegant! Oo la la! These would be a classy upgrade for the wedding!" Dylan looked at me skeptically and said, "I don't know. A dollar?" and I looked at him funny right back. I explained that they were multi-serving size glass bottles, they were Evian, and they were Christian Lacroix. When none of those things meant anything to him, I also pointed out that to buy a plastic bottle of Dasani at a gas station would cost a buck, so it really wasn't weird to spend $1 on these. To that he said, "Oh, yeah. That's true. And they are pretty cool looking..." I offered a compromise: Let's just buy enough for holiday entertaining for now. Our tap water tastes like crap, and these are a much more classy option to offer guests. We came home with a case and I decided to get online and Google them to investigate my find.</p><p>Check them out here on the <a href="http://www.shopevian.com/c-8-christian-lacroix.aspx">Evian website</a>. $13.95 per bottle! HOLY MOLY! </p><p>Dylan gets a huge kick out of a great deal -- almost as much as I do. He gawked at the website and went, "Wow, you're good. Who knew?! Well... you did! You were right, let's go get more!" Bless his heart. So today after work, he went and bought a few more cases. (Actually, my mom ended up going because when I told her about them, she wanted some and she was kind enough to buy them for us! Thanks Mom!) We now have plenty of fancy schmancy beautifully decorated Evian water for our wedding guests. I also plan to use them as part of a welcome basket / bag for our out of town guests. Hotel tap water always tastes like chemicals, and to buy a bottle of water out of the mini-fridge is ridiculously expensive. I thought this would be a cool addition to greet the people who have travelled to join our celebration. </p><p>One of my best friends is a super stylish dreamboat (he's going to laugh that I called him that) with a definite eye for detail. What's the guy version of fashionista? We've been friends for over half of our lives now. I miss him terribly because he now lives in NYC. If these bottles didn't weigh so much, I'd send him a case for his holiday entertaining because when I saw them, I thought of him. Even if most people don't notice them, I know Jeffrey will appreciate them. Between him and my mother (whom I fondly refer to as Martha Stewart on crack), at least I know I'll always have someone to appreciate the little details!</p><p>Before I get carried away in sentimentality, the point is: if you think these are cool and you have a Big Lots near you, rush your butt down there and get some! I think the lace pattern would be perfect for any wedding, but I think they'd be especially gorgeous for a winter wedding. </p>Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834789993817645125.post-80479933240527592442009-10-17T08:00:00.000-07:002009-10-17T08:00:01.046-07:00Cute wood-grain faux bois save the date cards!I was just looking on the <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=120126&u=350813&m=17025&urllink=&afftrack=">minted.</a> website and found thesed adorable save the date cards that I wanted to share. I've been obsessed with faux bois (wood-grain) patterns, so of course I was happy to find these!<br /><br />They're called Fall Carving Save the Date Cards by Amanda O'Rourke, if you want to find them on their page.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJQeHXhKg3teFS4-8ExxvQPqMpztwdJ2Coe9HiVOXBM8yZRHEx12ulX1bbRzr661Z4C_s3pAylWEUlD4qALTNZLIWWrJLtr1l1uNyF1yYOir-fTrUHClB3gqmKIDOSYweHDb1obHFJZA/s1600-h/Fall-Carving-SaveTheDates-AmandaORourke-Minted.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393493480118017026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJQeHXhKg3teFS4-8ExxvQPqMpztwdJ2Coe9HiVOXBM8yZRHEx12ulX1bbRzr661Z4C_s3pAylWEUlD4qALTNZLIWWrJLtr1l1uNyF1yYOir-fTrUHClB3gqmKIDOSYweHDb1obHFJZA/s400/Fall-Carving-SaveTheDates-AmandaORourke-Minted.jpg" /></a>I couldn't link right to those cards, but I did find this banner that shows the cards, and a code to get 5% off your purchase! Yay for saving a little money!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=196619&u=350813&m=17025&urllink=&afftrack=" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="5% Off Seasonal Save The Date Cards" src="http://www.shareasale.com/image/17025/minted_savethedate_affiliate_seasonal_of.gif" /></a></p>I hadn't looked at <a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=120126&u=350813&m=17025&urllink=&afftrack=">minted.</a> before. I was impressed by their variety. They do everything from save the dates, invitations, menus, bridal shower invites, and thank you cards to custom calligraphy and custom letterpress designs. They even have an eco-friendly line. Some of their stuff is way out of my league price-wise, but they do have cute stuff that is within my budget. For example, those save the dates are $163 for 100 of them. Not bad at all! (Plus, a lot of their save-the-date examples have the name Aly on them. Maybe it's a <em>sign</em>!)<br /><br />Since it's getting closer to the holiday season, I'll also mention that they do a lot more than wedding stationery. I was oogling some of their holiday menu designs and thinking that if I were more well-to-do / fabulous, I would like to have those for every party I ever hosted.<br /><br />Here is a really sweet wedding menu option:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLoqiq0WXE4wajj7Y4qcPK4Zo8DukgrIl0NmKH1r1rLD63Vc9b6LIT9bgys8EEGPx6QC_v94iUMTVqCWg42-w9JB3l3kq5ul6OlubfVLw5TrInIzz5bv09W8jVjGYGR2UV4vetjJu3TU/s1600-h/CharmedMenuCards-Oscar+EmmaDesign-Minted.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393505582718482898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLoqiq0WXE4wajj7Y4qcPK4Zo8DukgrIl0NmKH1r1rLD63Vc9b6LIT9bgys8EEGPx6QC_v94iUMTVqCWg42-w9JB3l3kq5ul6OlubfVLw5TrInIzz5bv09W8jVjGYGR2UV4vetjJu3TU/s400/CharmedMenuCards-Oscar+EmmaDesign-Minted.jpg" /></a><br />Those are called Charmed Menu Cards by Oscar+Emma Design. I love the initials dangling like charms with the little thank you note tag at the top. Plus, I've always liked dogwood flowers. <br /><br />I just wanted to share a cool new find, but I ended up liking their stuff enough that I decided to sign up so I could link to them. If you click on one of the links and end up ordering something, I guess they'll send me like a quarter. Yeehaw! If I get kick-back for spreading the word about stuff I think is cool, that will make my day. <br /><br />One last thing: <br />If you're in the market for holiday photo cards, they have a 15% off holiday card discount for early shoppers. <a href = "http://realsimple.com/">Real Simple</a> even calls them their favorite resource for personalized holiday cards. The code is EARLYSITE09 and it expires on 10/18, so hurry! <br /><br />Have a great weekend everyone! We plan to live it up for Dylan's last weekend of funemployment. By live it up, I actually mean sit together on the couch a lot. We've rented a bunch of movies, we're stocked up on popcorn and Halloween candy, and almost everyone we know is out of town or stuck working this weekend. It's feeling like a hermit weekend. I'm kind of looking forward to it!Alysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15146032153612599092noreply@blogger.com2