Sneak Peak: Baby Shower Invitation.

Coming soon! Sneak peak at a baby shower invitation this May.

Sneak Peak: Wedding Invites.

Coming soon! These are soooooo amazing - can't wait to show the rest to you.

Around the House Shower Pics.

This turned out to be a great party - perfect weather, perfect food, perfect couple. The food was AMAZING. My parent's friends are great cooks! We had ham and Sirloin Tip Roast with Horseradish Sauce for little sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw, 7-layer dip, fruit, chicken ball, relish plate and a Marinated Cheese Platter - which I am working on getting the recipe for - it was delish! All the food was inside, while the party was outside. Dad brings his Jimmy Buffet Margarita Machine everywhere.

The completed dessert table...

We had vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream. The strawberry went first, surprisingly. M&M's, Heath bar, Reese's Pieces, sprinkles, Oreo, nuts, cherries, chocolate and caramel were our toppings. We did Twix and Cupcakes as well - the bride's favorite. The cupcakes turned out so great. I got the black and white mini cupcake liners from Cupcake Social online through Artfire.com. I had leftover white cake mix and bought pink sprinkles. Mom and I iced the cupcakes just before the shower.

After socializing, dinner and dessert, we opened gifts. this I thought was hysterical!

They walked away with some great stuff! Including an ice cream maker, ice cream bowls...you see the trend? It is a well know fact that my brother loves the stuff.

Dessert Table Set Up and Design.

Over the weekend, my brother had an "Around the House" shower. He loves - I mean, LOVES - ice cream. Being in charge of the dessert table, I decided to go with an ice cream sundae bar theme. It turned out so cute! After finding out which the favorite desserts of his fiance, I started planning the set up. Using things that I already had - which is why I love white ware, it goes with anything - I only spent about $40 on ice cream, toppings and cupcakes.

I started with a plan, sketching out what I thought it would look like, made a list of toppings and practiced my set up before the day of the shower.

Like my mom told me - go big or go home. I love this stuff. More great pictures from the shower to come, but the dessert table was a hit!

Reality TV in Nashvegas.

 I've never really been one to want to be on TV, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to help out a friend. I hinted at the fun in Monday's post. My dear friends at The Bride Room were asked by TLC's What Not to Wear to provide their AMAZING gowns & models for an ambush they put together for local wedding florist, Brocade Designs. The idea was that there would be a fake bride, fake wedding party, fake groom and fake wedding. All to surprise their victim, who thinks this Monday wedding is for a bride and groom who will be separated days later by the groom leaving for Iraq - hence the Monday wedding at the Hermitage Hotel.


The modeling segment was not done, so who knows if I will make the edited version. Let's just say there is opportunity cost in everything! (and I could really go off on that - TLC didn't have much respect for the models who took off work, got baby sitters and sat around all day without having the couth tell us we wouldn't be a part of it - instead they avoided our questions.) I needed to leave before they filmed the final segment, so I may not get my 15 minutes of reality tv fame. But, I digress...

As the bridal party takes their places, the bridal march started and no one walks down the isle - it gets REALLY awkward. THEN, Stacy enters as the bride, {She was a hoot} to make the surprise. I kept thinking, what if the joke is on me? I would have died. Really. If it were me. not that I think I need a makeover.

Some pictures of the beautiful mock bridal party and the Hermitage Hotel. What a great day for a makeover.

Gown: Monique Lhuillier

Maids: Lela Rose

Tuxedo's: Street Tuxedo 

Photo credit: From Street Tuxedo

The Fake Wedding!!!

Photo credit: Street Tuxedo

Isn't the Hermitage Hotel Beautiful?!?

Photo credit: Street Tuxedo

The four episodes they filmed in Nashville will air sometime in September. I can't say enough how much The girl's at The Bride Room and the crew at Street Tuxedo are an asset to Nashville's bridal community. They are, indeed, the cream de la cream of bridal fashion in the music city.

Choosing Your Wedding Invitations.

If you are thinking about your wedding invitations, you probably already had an appointment to find the gown of your dreams. It's a similar experience with similar questions you need to answer. Think about the time of day you are getting married. Formal or causal? Church or beach? Your invitations should tell the story of what guests will experience.

Color is an obvious detail. The invitations you used to get - white and black engraved formal script - are now colorful and personalized. Use your colors, a specific flower or a monogram to personalize your paper details.

Layers, ribbon and embellishment can set off your invitations in a big way. Consider your budget since these can also set off your budget in a big way. Beautiful stationary can be simple.

Some other things to consider when it comes to your invitation budget: postage and components of your invites. The more layers and embellishment you add, you could also be adding more postage. It's hard to get away with an invitation that costs less than $.61 to mail. Square invitations are very popular but usually need to be hand sorted and therefore are more of an investment to mail.

The components of your invitation can be very informative for your guests.  Obviously there is the invitation part. The next more important component is the response card. These can be pre-stamped postcards or cards slide into pre-stamped envelopes. Accommodation cards and directions are helpful if you are having a destination wedding or many guests traveling from out of town. Destination weddings are also starting to have welcome receptions for their guests instead of rehearsal dinners. It's important to include this information and find out who will be attending. Maps of the area or the resort are nice to have for your guests. This can be helpful for out-of-towner's to know where the closest grocery store or coffee shop is to make their stay more enjoyable.

Picking your invitations tells your guests a lot about your wedding and your personality. Hand made, layered and embellished invitations will make your guests excited to see you and your groom walk down the isle on the big day!

Around the House Couples Shower.

So, my brother is getting married this June. My parents friends are throwing him a shower and asked me to design the invites, which I was uber excited about. I got to thinking - it's hard to design a wedding shower invite for a dude. Their wedding colors are black, white and hot pink. So, using that as a starting point, I used black and white but accented with yellow.

 I absolutely love how they turned out! I also designed a map for the back with written directions for the family of the bride who aren't familiar with the area. Should be a fun little party. I'm in charge of the dessert table - some very Martha inspired dessert display's are coming you way soon.

Happy Anniversary to Me.

Two years ago, I married my best friend. Not sure if he knew what he got himself into because over the weekend, I heard him telling the dog, "Coco, mommy's crazy!"

I got to do something REALLY REALLY fun today. More to come...but a hint: It involves a national TV show, a fake wedding and lots of pretty girls in white.

Spring Door Decor.

Around this time last year, I had a beautiful spring pastel Easter wreath on my front door. Two little baby finches called it home for about a month. It was cute. Mom and dad got mad every time we opened the door, stood on our railing and screamed at us until we closed it. When I went to switch out wreaths, they had left quite a mess on the door with all their nest glue and poop. So, this year, I took my Easter wreath down - pronto - after waking up one night and remembering having to power wash my door last year. 

This year, I decided, I was not going to have a nest on my door. Especially since our house was on the market. From Fall and Christmas, I had painted a metal "F" to accent my holiday wreaths. You can see the Fall one here and the Christmas one here.

I got a little too crafty and decided to paint red glitter polka dots on the Christmas wreath. Word to the wise - it makes it hard to spray paint it again. So, I grabbed some paint remover. I went with a water based gel stripper. It was pretty easy. I was able to do a little paint job on my toes in the back yard while waiting on it to work.

Once, I scrapped off all of the paint with a putty knife, we were good to go again. I went with a super bright shade of green and a teal bow.  Super cute for the spring and no room for the little birdies.

I'll be putting my yellow wreath back up once the birds and the bees stop messing around.

Little Girls and Their Curls. Birth Annoucement.

This sweet little girl was born in February. Her mom and I created special, hand-crafted invitations to match her room.

Sneak Peak: Around the House Shower.

Coming Soon! Here's a sneak peak at an invitation for an Around the House Shower this April.

Amazing Idea Courtesy of Oh So Beautiful Paper.

I couldn't help but re-post this from Oh So Beautiful Paper who also re-posted it from FPO (for Print only). A fresh idea on save the dates! I think they speak for themselves, but check out more on FPO.