october is here! hooray!

anyone else love october? we were out of town for the past couple of weeks celebrating my sister's wedding in sun valley, idaho and when we got back to our neighborhood everyone had started decorating for halloween and the temperature had dropped to a super pleasant 75 degrees. ahhhhh.

october is pretty much the earliest anything 'fall' like happens in florida which makes this girl happy!  plus it brings halloween, which is one of my favorite holidays. fun decorations and candy galore...yes!!

before beckett we threw some pretty fun halloween parties, but the past couple years have been a little more tame. i've been concentrating more on great group costumes for the three of us to dress up in.  I know this has little to do with my business but i'm drawing a blank this year and could use some help.

to recap:

::2011::

mary, joseph & baby jesus.  

(for those of you who do not know, my real name is mary and my husbands name is joseph, so...)

::2012:

Run DMC. best ever.

it all stemmed from buying beckett his first adidas tracksuit. 

 he and his friends lily and brady are the cutest!! can't wait to get an updated photo of these three this year.

so anyone have a suggestion for what the three of us can dress up as this year? i've found lots of group costumes that could be fun but require at least 1-2 more people. thanks loves!!

mommy guilt

don't really post a whole lot of 'mom' stuff over here but this article really hit home today. thanks to FB for the share and so glad I stumbled across this blog.

love yourself and love your kids. at the end of the day that's all that really matters. 

:: no one is super mom :: 

you said it, michelle.

jenny & matt, the barns at wesleyan hills wedding

ok! fall is quickly approaching and one of my goals is to bring back my weekly bride features.  luckily I have a few waiting in the wings (patiently) and am finally getting my act together and getting them up!

first off is jenny! she and her husband matt were married in middleton, connecticut at a beautiful old barn.  you guys should know by now how I love all things rustic. if pinterest had been around when I got engaged I'm pretty sure my boards would've been filled to the brim with venue pictures of rustic old barn buildings. :)

jenny was gracious enough to share some of the details so hope you enjoy!

It all started 8 years ago when my now husband and I met at the insistence of our young matchmakers (his younger brother and my younger sister).  After a perfect proposal on June 26, 2012, the meticulous planning began (literally, I booked the venue 24 hours later!).  The vision I had for my wedding was a rustic old barn.  After a full day of phone calls I had booked July 26, 2013 at The Barns at Wesleyan Hills in Middleton, CT.  It was not only beautiful but had air conditioning!  A huge plus considering my midsummer date.

I loved the idea of using neutrals and burlap to make for a rustic but romantic feel. I knew from the start I wanted a simple lace dress with a keyhole. After searching through all the dresses in my price range, a keyhole was nowhere to be found. So I bought a strapless lace dress that fit perfectly right off the rack and had my AMAZING seamstress cut off the train and use the lace from the train to construct a keyhole. The result was more than I could have imagined.  

I went a little untraditional and chose to carry a colorful bouquet and to have my bridesmaids carry cream. I wanted the flowers to stand out and with their dresses being coral I thought a more neutral bouquet would be best. 

The ceremony took place outside after day full of rain but luckily turned into the most beautiful 75 degree day I could have imagined moments before the ceremony was about to start. We wrote our own vows and had a family friend perform the ceremony.

For the centerpieces, I bought a ton of old antique vases of varying heights and sizes and colors and my florist put an eclectic mix of neutral flowers in them, each a little different than the next. I found an old 18 pane window at an antique shop and wrote everyone’s names and table numbers on the different panes. 

love when brides get a picture of their clutches in use on the big day. thanks so much for the photo, jenny!! :)

My husband works for Pepsi so our favors were an old glass Pepsi bottle with a homemade chocolate chip cookie- a great midnight snack! 

 your day looked amazing, jenny! thanks so much for sharing it with us and congratulations to you both!

xx

{all photos courtesy of jeffrey barnes photography}

happy birthday, america!!

love this country and love all of you! 20% off orders placed in the shop today through the weekend.  use code 'merica' when checking out. now i'm off to eat a hotdog and drink an ice cold coca-cola. :)

spring giveaway!!!

so we haven't done a blog post in awhile (or a giveaway this entire year!!!) so hooray! we've partnered up with lovely little details to offer up an amazing bridal party gift of 4 (FOUR!!!) custom clutches to one lucky lady.  please go check out jacin's blog (I want to get remarried every time I visit and see the phenomenal things she does for her brides) and swoon over all the loveliness while finding out how to enter the giveaway!!!

march madness.

and no, my post title is not referring to the college basketball tournament.  :)

through the end of the month I'm offering free monogramming services on any purchase made in the shop over $30.  choose from the styles below, or if you want a single letter or name that works too!

so take advantage and personalize fun gifts for your friends, family or yourself, for free!

xx

the photo that started it all...

so fridays are dedicated to real weddings and/or tutorials or some sort.  I didn't have a new submission for weddings this week (SEND SOME IN, LADIES!!!) and I didn't finish my tutorial, so thought I'd share a bit from my own wedding.  the photo that started this whole business (above) was taken that day and it was the best day of my life outside of the day beckett joined our family. hope you enjoy! 

my dad found all the wood and handmade the signs that were placed throughout the grounds.

I loved my bouquet. my florist rocked.

they didn't realize their hands and feet would become almost famous. :)

we incorporated a wine/letter ritual during the ceremony.  changing it up a bit from traditional wine ceremonies (that I researched ad nauseum), we each placed a letter in and then as our parents came up the aisle, they placed one in as well.  I hope we make it to our 25th anniversary before opening the box. the wine may be spoiled by then, but the letters; they're priceless.

if you were wondering about my choice of shoes : I went with rainbows. it was a good decision.

our friend kevin's signature wedding move. he goes backwards too!

our wedding was a lot of fun. hence all the dancing photos (and I'm not even a dancer!!!)

matt & reagan were awesome enough to follow us over to FSU (where I went to college) after the reception ended and take a photo of us all in front of westcott fountain. it's one of my favorites from the day and I have it blown up on a canvas in our house. makes me smile every time I walk by. :)

and one last thing just for fun. if you're on the fence about getting a photobooth/smilebooth. DO IT! :)

{all photos by the amazingly talented matt miller of our labor of love & his rad assistant, reagan powell of west destiny drive photography}