Ombre' Bridal Shower

I threw one of best and oldest friends a bridal shower for her upcoming wedding. I'm not huge on "theme" parties, but I LOVED the look of a pink ombre' shower, so my planning and crafting began!

Invitation from etsy shop digibuddha Paperie

Both of those projects are very simple to make. The floral "R"just needs fake flowers cut at the stems, cardboard letter with the front cut out, green floral blocks, and hot glue as needed. The fabric garland was even easier, except I bought way to much fabric. I purchased 1/2 a yard of each color and cut 1 inch by 24 inch strips. I had a whole bag left over. So I suggest half that amount.

And everyone LOVES a Mimosa bar! This was a huge hit for obvious reasons. I also added a signature cocktail, Blushing Bride, which is just adding Peach Schnapps and grenadine to champagne. I'm glad I only bought one bottle of Schnapps because that went fast, and we may have had a few tipsy shower guests.

And my favorite new bridal shower game..FIND THE GROOM! I printed off a generic groom clip art and took scissors to my fabulous trash magazines!

Each guest gets an envelope with a "groom" in it and who ever finds the actual groom gets a prize. It's easy, doesn't put anyone on the spot, and it's just plan fun!

From Miss to Mrs.

Well, I am back. Just not quite there yet. A lot has happened since my last blog in mid May. First and most important...I got married! It was the most perfect day and I surprisingly had very little stress. All in all I could not have asked for a more beautiful wedding that is the start to our even more beautiful marriage. We were surrounded by our very best friends, family, partners in crime, and soul mates to share in our joy, and I think we threw a pretty good party too! Here are some pictures of our wonderful day, along with a little vendor love.

Bridesmaid dresses were from Love Lane in crinkle chiffon sage fabric. Purchased at Bella Bridesmaid
Suits were purchased from St. Louis Suit Company in dark charcoal. I highly recommend going the route of having your groomsmen/ushers purchase their suits. These boys got a three piece suit for only $170!

Vendor Love:

All photography done by Laurie Nowling Sneed at Bliss Eleven Studios

Ceremony at Graham Chapel

Reception at NEO on Locust

Flowers & Center pieces by Angela Lopez at Elegance in Bloom

Wedding Coordinator Tami Heroff at Perfect Day Weddings & Events, LLC

I can't say enough about our fantastic vendors. They all made my dream a reality and took all the stress off me!! Especially my wedding planner (she was the best money spent!)

 I'll do another post later on the details, my DIY additions, florals, and centerpieces of the wedding.

In other news, our first two months of marriage haven't exactly been normal as most couples. I am currently sleeping on an air mattress in our old apartment in Kansas City and Brandon is working 14 hour days in Orlando in his first month of residency. 

We made the big move the week after our honeymoon and I will join him in a little over two weeks! Please except some more blogging from me as I begin my journey to Florida and whatever new adventure is waiting there!

But for now, I will keep you posted on any activities happening in the last few weeks, including my best friends up coming bridal shower I'm hosting (I've going DIY crazy over here!)

Something Old

Today I created my very special something old.

I won't be sharing too much of my wedding DIYs till the wedding is over in order to keep some elements a surprise, but this one will be hidden under my dress and not be seen by many.

I decided early that I was going to make my own garter and I wanted it to have meaning and I knew it would be easy.

I will have lots of different something olds on at our wedding but my garter holds many something olds in one fabulously delicate piece.

My mom mailed me a few pieces from her wedding dress, her garter, and I had on a bracelet with three pearls that came from my Great Grandmother on my father's side. So this garter holds memories from both sides of my family. 

Bottom of the dress from 1983

I believe the pearls are from the 1920s

I found a tutorial HERE on how to make the fabric rosettes. I did a few practice rounds with some muslin and it was so easy. All you need is scraps of fabric in long strips (1-2 inches wide) and hot glue.

My mom sent me two different pieces from her dress, one from a ruffle that went around her shoulders and a strip off the bottom.

I used the eyelet ruffle to make two larger rosettes and the lace strip from the bottom to make a smaller one.

I hand sewed the three rosettes together.

I cut the blue bow off her garter, sewed on the three small pearls charm and then sewed that to the middle of the rosettes.

I found stretchy white lace at Hobby Lobby. I'm going to wait to attach the rosettes and measure the lace till closer to the wedding. As you know from my project wedding bod, I'm hoping to tone up my legs and hopefully shrink some inches off the thigh area.

This is my keep garter, I am making a second, more fun/playful, garter for Brandon to toss, but my idea is a surprise for Brandon, so it will be kept a secret.

Save the Date

I love our Save the Dates! Thanks to Pinterest I discovered this template from Minted.com.

As seen from our Paint War photo shoot, I like things a little out of the ordinary. Our wedding will be very traditional, with simple and clean colors, but I could have fun with our Save the Date.

So, are you in or what?

Photograph by Katie Day Photography

I was so impressed with the easiness and professionalism of Minted.

I was able to upload my photos into the template, change, edit, and adjust to my liking and 24 hours later I had a final pdf template. They also adjusted and edited it, changed the colors, and made it picture perfect.

It was ordered Monday night, shipped Wednesday, and at my doorstep on Friday.

Check them out for Weddings, babies, holidays, and stationary. They are fabulous!