What's Your Theme?

This year is a very busy year as far as weddings: my baby sister and sorority sister in May, mine in September and a girlfriends in October.

Last Saturday, I attended my 2nd bridal shower this year. It was for my sorority sister and my name twin. And it was a Honeymoon themed shower. Normally themes help give you ideas for what to give as a gift, but this one turned out to be challenging for me. I like my gifts to be unique and something that I have obviously put my time and thought into.

I spent days mulling over what to give as a gift. There were many ways I could have taken the gift: something straight off the registry, something a little scandalous, or something unexpected. Yeah, I chose the 3rd. But struggled with what that was going to be.

I know that J2 ( that's her nickname in sorority ) and her hubby were planning a trip to Jamaica, but that it wouldnt be right after the wedding. So I kept that in mind as I tossed around gift ideas. At first, I thought about a gift certificate to a restaurant in the Outer Banks where they are getting married and spending a few days after the wedding. But then I worried that my taste in food wouldnt be the same as theirs. Next, I thought about a gift certificate for a couple's massage at one of the spa's down there. Again, I worried that it wouldnt be something they would use or feel comfortable doing. Then it hit me.

I hit 3 places and ended up with this....

an ice bucket, champagne toasting flutes, a bottle of champagne &
dark chocolate sauce to dip strawberries in

The finished product....

And I threw in a gift card to Victoria's Secret to finish the gift.

I figured it would be something they could use whenever they wanted. And who doesnt like champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries?

Our Song

... is the way you laugh, the first date "man I didnt kiss her and I should have"
Our Song --Taylor Swift

That's not our song, but it is cute. Justin & I dont have "a song" so we have to pick one to have our first dance to. When I have Pandora on at work, it's usually playing country music, which has proven to be very helpful when finding songs to choose from. A few of the songs that have caught my attention for a possible first dance song:









And because I love Rascal Flatts!!!




I dont know yet if one of these will be the one, but they are some of my favorites.

How did you pick the song for your first dance?

Our Secret Garden

Last Thursday we headed to Richmond to have tastings with our caterer and cake baker. What a great day! We spent the afternoon at the Valentine tasting yummy food and delicious cakes, but more on that in another post.

I havent come across many good pictures of our venue, so I decided to take some of my own.

Let me take you on a little tour...

This is the area where the ceremony will take place. Guests will be seated in the grass areas and we will be standing between the 2 center pillars at the end of the brick walkway.

This fountain can either be on and running or off and decorated with floating candles and flowers. It's pretty noisy, so we have decided that we are going to decorate it with candles and flowers. And at night with candles and flowers, it should be very romantic.

This is where the bar will be. In the summer, there are really pretty purple blooms -- which would be perfect -- but unfortunately they wont be around in September.

The Venus Sculpture will be the location for our cake. Some people choose to have their cake in the same area where the ceremony takes place, but we want something different. Plus we will have plenty pictures of that area as the background.

This is where the majority of the guest tables will be lined up around the fountain.

The white azaleas wont be in bloom in September, but I think there are some plants on the ground that might be in bloom. But its a garden, and green is the best color in that setting. The only area I didnt snap pictures of is where the food and dj will be set up. There were some people lingering around enjoying their lunch and the beautiful weather and I didnt want them to think I was taking pictures of them.

I swear every.single.time. I go back to the Valentine, it gets better and better. It's smack dab in the middle of downtown Richmond, but when you are inside the garden it's like you are in a different place. It's so peaceful and the perfect place for a wedding!!!

Is it September yet?!?!

Falling in Love All Over Again

... with my dress!!!

Ever since that Sunday when I brought it home, its been tucked away in its dress bag in our closet. I dont dare bring it out when Justin isnt home, because knowing my luck, he'd walk in just as I was oogling over it.

But as I was cleaning out my yahoo mail last night, I came across the pictures that my MOH had sent me of the night I got it.

And I fell in love all over again! To be honest, for a few days after I had gotten it, I worried that it wasnt the one. I didnt have those "feelings" and I definitely didn't cry, but I did love it and it was the one I kept on the longest. Looking at those pictures again confirmed that it was THE dress and I cant wait to wear it in September.

Save The Dates -- The Reveal

I think it's safe to finally share the finished project. So here it is:




And a close up...


These were definitely a labor of love. I spent most of Easter Sunday & Tuesday night cutting, taping, assembling, spray gluing, sealing and stamping them.


I wanted to do something a little different from postcards, magnets, etc. We still havent done our e-pics yet ( working on setting that up right now ) and after looking through all of the pictures we have of us, I just wasnt happy with what we had to work with. So the wheels started turning and I went straight to the web to get alternative ideas. And I came across this post by Miss Rainbow over at the 'Bee. It was something different, so I started playing around with the concept and at first I thought I liked it, but I continued to search for ideas.

And I found this post by Miss Cheeseburger -- another Bee. Definitely cute, similar to the other one I was using as my inspiration and easy to do. The only thing I didnt have was a graphic designer. No problem -- I can work around that. Time to get creative.

Then it happened... I was flipping through a wedding invitation/stationery magazine I had received in the mail and I saw it. My save the date. It was in magnet form, but it was something I could make myself.

So I opened up Powerpoint ( my tool of choice ) and created a mock up to show Justin. At first he didnt like it, but after I put one together, he was feeling ok about them.


I printed up the save the dates and started working. Next, I'll share the steps to creating them.

Sorry for the Delay...

Your Save the Date is on its way!!!

Finally! Finally! Finally! And it feels so good to have them done and mailed out -- I dropped them off at the post office on my lunch break today.

Since there are only about a handful going out of state, most people will get them tomorrow in the mail. So I'm only going to share a little somethin' somethin'.

I was pretty pleased with the final result. I definitely learned a few things along the way and I'll share that in the "reveal" post.

How did you feel when you put your save the dates in the USPS' hands?