Wedding Planning Wednesday - Crepe paper rosette tutorial!

I'm so excited to finally share this DIY pomander tutorial with you all! I just love how it came out and I'm happy to show you all how I did it! I really, really wanted to do something fun and different for our flower girl because I'm not crazy about the whole basket thing. I was toying with the idea of a paper cone or a handmade pomander of some kind when I stumbled upon this tutorial on Pinterest for crepe paper rosettes. She used them to make a centerpiece (which is a lovely idea, by the way) but I decided to turn it into a handmade flower girl pomander! (The original idea came from Danielle Flanders and you can see a helpful video tutorial here.) These are pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it and you can use them to make a pomander like me, centerpieces, or even hang them from the ceiling at your next get-together! I am already planning to make more for a bridal shower and I think they'd be lovely in different pastel colors for spring!

Materials needed:

1 4-inch Styrofoam ball

2 80 foot rolls of crepe paper in your choice of color

Piece of wide, satin ribbon for the handle

Low temp hot glue gun + several sticks of glue

Glue stick

2 pushpins (optional)

The first thing you want to do is cut both rolls of crepe paper into strips at your desired length. You can play around with different lengths to see what you like best, but the longer the strip is the bigger the rosette will be. For the size rosettes shown, I did 24 inch strips. Once they are all cut, take the first one and crumple it up into a ball and then carefully un-crumple it. This gives it that 'shabby-chic' look. Then, fold the crumpled strip in half, length-wise. This is another thing you can play around with to see what you like better. You can leave them as-is, fold 1/3 of the way down, or fold them in half like I did. The wider the strip, the taller the rosette. I wanted these to lay pretty flat on the Styrofoam balls, but if you want more dimension you can leave the strips wider. 

When they are folded in half, start rolling them until you get a nice center piece. Once you have the center, keep rolling (not very tightly) and then start twisting the tissue paper every now and then to get the look of petals. If you are confused by this part (like I was) go watch the video tutorial to get a better look at how she twists them. The more twists you have the more textured the rose so just play with it until it looks right to you!

Keep rolling and twisting around using the whole strip until you end up with good sized rosette. Then, using the glue stick, dab some glue on the end and gently press together.

Repeat until you have used all of your strips and you should have a great big pile of rosettes. It will look like way too many, but trust me, it isn't!

Now it's time to glue! Cut a piece of wide satin ribbon to your desired length. This will act as the handle of your pomander (if making centerpieces, you can skip this step!). Then, using the hot glue gun, glue down each side of the ribbon to the Styrofoam ball. Be careful not to burn yourself pressing down! If you have 2 pushpins, pin the ribbon down over the glue for extra security. Once the flowers are on you won't be able to see the pins. 

Now start attaching the rosettes! This is where you use A LOT of glue... put a big glob on the ball, stick the rosette on, and press down gently to secure. Be careful not to put the tip of the glue gun directly onto the Styrofoam for long because it will melt! Continue gluing the rosettes until the whole thing is covered. Start with any larger or wider flowers and save the smaller ones to fill in at the end.  

When you're done, you should end up with something like this! Be sure to let it dry for a few hours before letting anyone play with it because it is delicate! There are so many different ways to decorate with these and customize them with any color... I am obsessed! Rosette balls for everyone! You can also use the rosettes to decorate other things like picture frames or scrapbook pages. The possibilities are endless!

My sister just finished making the flower girl dress so I got to see our adorable little flowers girl all dressed up holding this sweet pomander! I. Almost. Died. She looked like such a little fairy princess and everything is exactly what I pictured in my head! My sister is talented, people! I'm signing her up for the next season of Project Runway! 

I hope you all enjoy your Wednesday! Less than 2 months left until the big day and it's so surreal! Ahhh! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Invitations

Hello everyone! I'm so excited I finally get to show you our wedding invitations! I have inexplicably had the worst luck with these invites which explains why it took so long to post about them! First the color was showing up wrong when I tried to get them printed, then the post office lost them, and then they were re-sent with some outdated information on them (which I didn't realized until AFTER I cut and assembled most of them of course!) and they had to be re-printed and cut and assembled! Needless to say, I am THRILLED to be able to check these off our list!

We asked Diana, one of my favorite designers on the planet, to design the invitations for us. I have used her services in the past for my Etsy shop, gifts, and personal prints for my home and I absolutely love working with her. She's such a doll, SO FAST, and of course oh so talented. And you cannot beat her prices! SO reasonable! I can't recommend her enough. You can find her Etsy shop Livy Love Designs here.

I showed Diana a photo of an invite we liked and she made some changes and created a custom design for us! We are so happy with how they turned out; they were exactly what we were looking for! Because we are getting married at a nature center we decided to keep the oak tree theme going and I am obsessed with our initials carved into the tree! So cute! Our venue involves a bit of walking in a forest (long dirt path!) so I also wanted to include an extra insert to let the guests know not to wear a ball gown and stilettos! We tied these 3 together with some pink and white bakers twine and stuck them inside a kraft envelope. They are perfect and perfectly us and I couldn't be happier! (Also, I realized when I uploaded these that I totally used the wrong lens so I apologize for the blurriness of the photos. I know my photographer will get an amazing photo of them on the day of though!)

So happy that these are done and we'll be sending them off in the mail soon! I'm also really excited to share another fun DIY project AND tutorial next week... it's something I've never done before and I'm so thrilled with how it turned out! Happy Wednesday everyone! XOXO 

Wedding Planning Wednesday - DIY mason jar centerpieces

 This last weekend Mando and I met up with our wedding coordinator at the LA flower market to pick out flowers for our centerpieces. I knew I wanted baby's breath and peonies but I was still looking for a 3rd option. I kind of have a love affair with florals after working in a flower shop so I was happy to browse around all morning. Peonies sadly were not in season yet, but I found some gorgeous spider mums to play around with in the meantime! I also found the perfect 3rd type of flower which are those white pom pom flowers you see in the ivory centerpiece. I'm all about texture so my main goal was to try and get the perfect balance and I really lucked out finding those at the last minute! I'm super excited to do my own flowers for the wedding. It's been a long time since I've worked with flowers at all, but it isn't something you really forget! I spent the rest of the weekend experimenting with different boutineer styles and bouquet wraps which was really fun! The floral arrangements aren't the only DIY project I have going on either.... I'm also making my own centerpieces. I knew I wanted to incorporate my love of mason jars (which goes perfectly with the rustic theme) so I came up with 3 different designs for each table.

1. Burlap & lace mason jars: Burlap and lace has been a continuing theme throughout the wedding so I knew I had to use them for the centerpieces! This is just a quart size mason jar with a wide strip of burlap around it and hot glued in the back. I then wrapped it with a piece of wide ivory lace ribbon and hot glued that as well. Super easy once you have all the strips cut out! The good news is that the strips don't have to be perfectly straight or even because the frayed edges just add to the rustic charm!

Ivory painted centerpieces: I wanted one centerpiece that was different than the others so I chose to do these ivory painted cans to mix it up. This is beyond simple and super inexpensive to make! I just started collecting large cans after we used them at home and then peeled the labels off. You may have to scrub them afterwards to get any glue redisdue off as well. Then, once they were completely dry, I spray painted them in this ivory color. They aren't super fancy, but that's okay... the more rustic looking the better!

Twine wrapped mason jars: Last but not least are these pint sized mason jars! I bought some thick twine at a craft store and wrapped them around the middle adding a dab of hot glue here and there to hold it together. Again, easy and inexpensive to make!

I really love how all of these turned out. They are exactly the look I was going for and I think they'll look amazing on the tables! You can't beat pretty centerpieces on a budget! Now I just have to finish the rest of them, haha!

Next week I'll (hopefully) talk about our invitations and even share a sneek peak! Almost time to mail them out, can you believe it?! Ahh! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Favors, check!

I told you guys a looooong time ago that I was planning on doing vintage skeleton keys as wedding favors and since then I've been on the prowl! It has not easy finding 100+ vintage keys all around the same size! I've been to different vintage flea markets probably 5 or 6 times in the past fews months trying to find the perfect keys. I knew I could slowly collect some here and there until it added up to the amount I needed, but I also knew that it would be a lot cheaper if I was able to buy them in a large lot. Some of these people wanted $8 per key! I finally found this rad guy at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market who promised he could get over 100 keys for me and he actually came through! So, this last weekend Mando and I drove out there and I got to hand pick 100 of his best keys for just over $2 a piece! I was beyond stoked, people! These keys are just beautiful, in great condition, and exactly what I was looking for. I will be sad to give them away! He also gave us this awesome vintage Corona cigar box to put them in which was like FATE because Corona is my future last name! I'm so happy I got to check 'favors' off of our to-do list! Also, I had WAY too much photographing these keys! So pretty!

We also purchased all of the alcohol for the wedding over the weekend! I literally bought every single bottle of Barefoot wine and champagne at Bevmo... even their extra stock in the back. I currently have over 50 bottles of my favorite wine chilling in the house. Do you know how hard it will be to not touch it for the next 3 months?! OMG. This weekend we are off to the LA flower market to price out some flowers... another thing to check off the list! It's gotten to the point that we are buying stuff or meeting someone every single day. The list never ends! I just can't wait to see everything come together and to marry my best friend! So close! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Dessert Menu

photo credit

I know I have posted about our wedding cake design in the past, but it has changed since then. You will find this happening a lot in wedding planning, especially when it comes to me! New ideas come up all the time and I'm switching things up! When we found out that our wedding planner has a friend who is trying to start his own baking business (He was featured on the Food Network show Cupcake Wars! How fun is that?) we knew we wanted to meet with him to see what flavor combinations and ideas he had. As soon as we met him and his business partner (our wedding planner's brother) we instantly loved them and I knew they would have a fresh perspective for my non-traditional ideas. His presentation was beautiful and we loved all 3 cupcakes he brought for us to taste!

Mando and I weren't sure if an entire dessert table would be in our budget but after talking to Isaac we determined that we could make it work! Instead of doing a gigantic wedding cake, we will be doing a smaller cake for Mando and I to cut into and then individual cupcakes of the same flavor for the guests. This was an easy way to bring the cost down and make more room for the dessert table budget.

I knew I wanted to do a theme for the dessert table, because honey, I'm all about the themes! I almost NEED one when it comes to planning! We thought about our absolute favorite desserts and I came up with the idea of rustic, country fair themed desserts. So, here's what's on the menu... most are being made by Isaac but some things we will be bringing ourselves!

• S'mores cake and cupcakes - these cupcakes are freaking amazing! I totally copied my wedding planner on the flavor, because she had it for her wedding and I fell in love with the idea. It's very different and I think the guests are going to love it.
• Mini cherry and apple pies - I knew if I was going to do a dessert table there would be pie. Because, obviously. Pie is amazing and everything is better in mini form, am I right?!
• Donut holes - A big ol' platter of them. Yum. Enough said.
• Gourmet mini caramel apples - Caramel apples always remind me of my mom because it's one of her favorite desserts. These are kind of dedicated to her and a silly thank you for all the help she's given us while planning the wedding. I think they are going to be so pretty once decorated, I can't wait to see what he comes up with!
• Cotton candy - you can't have a country fair dessert table without cotton candy! I think this will be something all of the kids at the wedding will specially enjoy. And trust me, there will be A LOT of kids there!
• Kettle corn - Mando and I are obsessed with kettle corn and we always get a huge bag when we go to the fair so this was a must on our table! We have a local popcorn shop that we love so we'll be picking it up from there and packaging it into individual bags for the guests!

I'm ridiculously excited about this menu. Like, I can't stop thinking about it. Wedding dress be damned, I will be stuffing my face with a little bit of everything! As for the design, I rented a covered wagon from a local prop house and we'll be using that (without the cover) as the dessert table. Fun stuff! Right now is crunch time, so we are busy working out all the tiny details that go along with planning a wedding. Less than 3 months to go! XOXO

Friday Favorites: Party themes & ideas!

I love me a good party. I'm always thinking of unique ways to celebrate any and every occasion. One of my favorite things to do is read party planning blogs and search for inspiration on Pinterest for all of my imaginary future parties. I have a board dedicated to all of my favorite themes, and I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites with you for Friday Favorites! I broke this down into three catagories: adult, special occasion, and children's parties. Of course any of them could be adapted to fit whatever occasion you need though!

Adult

Outdoor movie night: I remember the day I saw this party online and my mouth literally dropped. Not only is this party styled to PERFECTION, but the outdoor, picnic style is so up my alley! I love the idea of renting a projector, throwing some quilts on the ground, and having a gourmet popcorn bar for you and some close friends. We were actually going to do something like this for our rehearsal dinner, but went with something else last minute.

Gourmet pizza party: I love parties that have anything to do with cooking or baking or you know, eating. This adult DIY pizza party is such a fun way to get all of your friends together and do something different! Just put butcher paper over your table, make piles of gourmet toppings, and write descriptions right on the paper next to each pile. This is perfect for people who have picky guests too, because everyone gets so make their own mini pizza with the sauce/toppings of their choosing!

Special Occasion

Gender reveal party: In my family, someone is ALWAYS having a baby or getting married. I capital L-O-V-E the idea of a gender reveal party instead of a baby shower. One of my Twitter friends showed me this amazing mustache or bows party theme and I AM doing it for my next baby! Each guest chooses a mustache pin if they think it's a boy, or a bow pin if they think it's a girl and they wear it around the party until the big reveal! Adorbs! You know I'm a sucker for anything with a mustache!

Breakfast party: I have been obsessing over the idea a breakfast party for months and months now. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and an entire party dedicated to it? Hello, perfection! This coffee and donut tasting party would be perfect for a bridal shower theme, don't you think? After all, who doesn't like donuts??

Children

Farm party: This theme has been done so many times and in so many different ways, but for some reason it never gets old. I love that it's wholesome and kind of old school! Pony rides, bobbing for apples, tractors, petting zoos... I also love that it works for a boy or a girl easily. How gorgeous is that table, by the way? I die for that cake and the haystacks being used to hold the cake pops? Genius!

Camping party: I'm DYING to do a camping themed party for Cayden but I want to wait until he's older so he can enjoy it more. This particular party uses a ton of vintage which of course I love. There are so many activities that go with this theme too... scavenger hunts, s'mores, 'camping out' in the backyard. It seems like so much fun for little ones! After all, who doesn't love to go camping?!

What party themes are you loving these days? You can see the rest of my favorite ideas on my Pinterest party board here. Immediately after this wedding I have to get started on Cayden's 2nd birthday party and although it won't be huge this year, I'm still really excited! Happy Friday everyone! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Help me choose!

Right now, I'm working on all of the decor details for the ceremony site and it's proving to be challenging. With all of the beautiful (and huge!) trees surrounding the place you are limited to how you can decorate. You definitely don't want to over-do it and take the away from all of the natural beauty but you don't want it looking too plain either! So I'm just trying to find that perfect balance between decorated and overdone!

One of the things I just can't decide about is the backdrop. The bottom right picture below is our actual ceremony location and as you can see there is a wooden structure, almost like an arch. This is the focal point of the stage and I really want to draw the eye to that area. The problem is, there are so many possible ways to decorate I just cannot choose which one I like the best! This is where you come in... I would love, love, LOVE if you all gave YOUR opinions and helped me choose which one you like the best!

(1, 2, 3, 4)

1. Pom pom string garland. This would be similar to the one in the picture, but the pom poms would be in all ivory and they would hang in vertical strips from the structure (like the raw cotton balls hanging down in #4). I like that this would look really delicate and whimsical, but I'm not sure if it is ENOUGH, know what I mean?

2. Strands of ribbon. I love this picture, and it reminds me SO much of our location. I think the ribbons look really effortless and beautiful. The only thing I'm worried about is the cost of so much ribbon and finding some that are long enough! I would love to mix it up with different kinds of lace, though! 

3. Fabric pom poms. My sister made tissue paper pom poms for Cayden's birthday last year and I loved them, but the fabric just takes it to a whole new level. I love the texture they provide and you can mix it up with all different kinds of fabric. I would hang these vertically as well, at all different levels. I would probably do various kinds of burlap, cotton, and lace fabrics.  

4. Fabric swag. This is what most people do who get married here. They just drape one long piece of fabric over the structure. I like how this looks, but I'm worried it's too simple and I have no idea how much it would cost for that long of a piece of fabric.

Clearly, I need help! Which option is your favorite? Any new ideas or suggestions I haven't thought of? I'm honestly stuck here and need your help deciding! Any and all responses are appreciated! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - New DIY project!

With only a little over 3 months left until the big day, I've been up to my elbows in DIY wedding projects! Right now I'm working on the tables and the centerpieces and I thought I'd share the yarn wrapped table numbers I just made! This was such an easy way to make cute table numbers on a budget and although they are time consuming and a little imperfect, I love the rustic, handmade feel they have. I won't bore you all with a tutorial, because 1) I think it's pretty self explanatory and 2) there's probably about 100 of them already out there if you need them, but I will tell you that I bought the numbers, letters, and yarn at JoAnns and one jumbo roll of ivory yarn got me through all 13 table numbers!

Inspired by this photo on Pinterest, I also wanted to make yarn wrapped signs for our table, the dessert table, guestbook table, and the bar. I really wanted one letter to pop so I used a shimmery, champagne colored yarn to contrast with the ivory letters and I love how it turned out. I also used the champagne to make the '1' for our table stand out!

Next time I'll show you guys how I'm sprucing up those mason jars to use as vases for our flowers! Everything is slowly but surely coming together! Yay! Happy Wednesday everyone! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Vintage Love

If there's one re-occuring theme in our wedding, it's the use of vintage. I've always been interested in the items of previous decades and the idea that every antique has a story. I've been vintage shopping for years and I knew when I started planning the wedding that I wanted to incorporate some vintage pieces throughout the day. In the past few weeks I've really started my search and I want to share some of my recent finds with you all!

My amazing wedding coordinator Emily told me about a vintage sale hosted by a local blogger. I was lucky enough to score this adorable vintage wire basket for dirt cheap! I'm thinking of filling it with some pretty flowers and displaying it on the guest book table. Thoughts?

Last weekend we went to the Rose Bowl flea market in Pasadena. I've been to a few local flea markets, but nothing like this one.. it's huge! If you're in the area and love antiques you have to check it out. I scored this amazing vintage tin for $8 and I'm kind of obsessed with it. I did some googling and I believe it was a box used for dressings (aka bandages) during WWII. I think I'm going to leave this one open and stuff it with flowers as well. You can never have too many flowers!

I've been on the hunt for a vintage suitcase for AGES. I saw this idea on Pinterest and I really want to replicate it. This suitcase actually wasn't for sale (it was being used as a display piece), but it was the size and color I was looking for so I asked the vendor and she sold it to me for $15! The inside needs some love and work, but I'm still pretty stoked about it. Can't wait to dress it up!

Another way we're going to incorporate vintage into the wedding is renting some pieces from Found Rentals in Fullerton. This company is like the hidden gem for wedding planning. I heard about them on a wedding blog and then Emily arranged a meeting for us. I got to check out their warehouse and browse through her AMAZING collection of vintage furniture and other accessories and let me tell you, it was heaven! They have so many great pieces and I can't wait to display a few of these beauties on our big day!

I still have a lot of shopping to do and I have a list of local shops and markets I want to hit up in the next few months. I can't believe there are only 5 months left until the big day! It's starting to feel so close! Happy Wednesday everyone! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Flower Girl Inspiration

(1, 2, 3)

As I mentioned before, I have all of the bridal party's looks chosen except the flower girls. I have seen some dresses here and there that I like, but none that I absolutely love. I am very lucky to have a talented sister who not only made her own wedding dress, but made the flower girl dresses for my other sister's wedding a few years back so I was thrilled when she offered to either "dress up" a plain dress or create a new one entirely from scratch for the wedding. I'm leaving it completely up to her and what she thinks would be better, and now my job is coming up with some inspiration photos of the styles I love!

As you can tell from the photos above, I really like the whimsical type dresses and I think it's perfect for our wedding in the woods. I love the tulle tu-tu style skirt and I just think it would be so fun for a little girl to wear! The colors you see above are the colors that our dresses will be in, which is an ivory/champagne combination. The dress in the middle is definitely different from the others, but I had to include it because I just love the ruffles! Which dress is your favorite?

I am so thankful to have such helpful family and friends who are willing to help make my vision come to life! Thanks sister, I love you!! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - My Favorite Pins!

We're back for another edition of my favorite wedding pins! I actually had an entirely different post planned for today, but I didn't quite finish it on time so I'm saving it for next week! Instead, I'm going to show my favorite Pinterest finds of the week!

 You know by now that I've been planning on doing my own florals for the wedding, but when I saw this fabric flower bouquet on Etsy my jaw dropped. She mixes all different fabrics and textures based on your wedding colors and adds in these amazing vintage brooches. Isn't is just stunning? I may or may not be re-thinking my bouquet right now. I mean, how could I not??

I've been looking for cost and eco-friendly ways to display my floral centerpieces on our tables, and I L-O-V-E the idea of painting coffee cans. I am obsessed with the copper metallic colors, they look so pretty in the sunlight. Perfect for an outdoor wedding in the woods!

I still don't know if a dessert table will be in our budget (crossing my fingers!!!) but if so, I have my heart set on mini pies. How sweet is this little display? I just love pie, it may be my favorite dessert ever!

We've been going back and forth on how we want to display our seating chart, and after Mando rejected about 10 of my ideas we decided on a chalkboard sign. I think this one is really cute and would definitely go with our vintage/rustic theme.

Right now, I have all of the bridal party's outfits chosen except the flower girls. I fell in love with a dress that was WAY too pricey, so my very talented sister may be making them instead. (By the way, we really need to get started on all these sewing projects, Jess!). I love this fluffy champagne dress and it's definitely one of my inspiration photos!

Another sewing project in the works are my table runners that my sister is also making for me. (I know, I owe her big time!)  I'm doing an ivory table cloth and the table runners will be a strip of burlap and a strip of ivory lace like the one above. I also love her flower arrangements, how cute are those vintage glasses?!

I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving tomorrow! We are actually having 2 Thanksgivings, one with Mando's family tomorrow, and my family on Saturday. Double the pie, sweet! I'll be back Friday with some awesome Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals for Mama Matryoshka! You don't want to miss it! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Found the Dress!

Last week and the week before were all about the dress! Truth be told, I've been putting off dress shopping for quite some time. I don't know why I wasn't more excited about it... I think I'm just trying to deal with the fact that since having Cayden, I just don't have the body that I thought I should have on my wedding day. I was definitely feeling insecure and scared that the dresses wouldn't look right on my body. I'm so glad I had my mom, sister, and best friend there with me to support me. I knew they'd be honest with me and I respect their opinions so much! Just having them there calmed down some of my anxiety and made the whole process so much fun!

I had an idea in mind of the type of dress I wanted. I knew that I wanted a simple dress in ivory and as much lace as possible. I'm not into puffy or blingy or even super fancy... I just want to be comfortable and elegant! As for the silhouette, I went in knowing that an A-line would probably look best on my body type, but to be honest, most of the dresses I liked had a more fitted/mermaid style.

The first shop I tried was Alfred Angelo. The customer service at that shop was amazing. Everyone was really sweet and I adored my bridal consultant. She gave me a lot of options to try and made me feel really comfortable. I really wish I found my dress there, but unfortunately they only had a few lace options and I didn't LOVE any of them. I was however surprised to learn that the fit and flare style dress did look good on me, and it accentuated my curves. I wasn't a huge fan of the A-line shape and I thought it made me look wider than I am. I also ended up purchasing my veil there! I originally wasn't sure if I would even wear a veil... I just didn't think they were my style. You can imagine my surprise when I tried on a cathedral veil and fell in love with it. It's huge and long but oh so pretty! I just know Mando, being so traditional, will love it. They had an ivory one on sale and I couldn't resist the price, so I bought the veil without having a dress! Crazy, I know.

Next week we went to try on dresses at David's Bridal. Now, let me just say that I HATE David's Bridal. I've been there a million times with my sisters and friends to try on dresses and I just think they have the worst customer service ever. I really didn't want to buy my dress there, but I decided to give it a try. When we got there, nobody greeted us or said anything for at least 30 minutes and when they assigned me some 20 year old girl to help us I knew it was going to be less than pleasant. We ended up just ignoring the employees as much as possible and made the best of the situation. The first dress I tried on was a lace A-line with a ton of fancy beading on it that we had seen in the front of the store and liked. My mom and sister both fell in love. I did like it, but I thought it was too much for my outdoor wedding in the woods. I tried on a few more options with no luck, and then I tried on THE DRESS. I immediately liked this dress because of how light and comfortable it was. All of the other dresses thus far had been so heavy and tight and uncomfortable, but I could actually move and sit down in this one. I loved the all over lace, sweetheart neckline and ivory color... it was exactly what I had in mind. She called the silhouette sheath, but to me it looked like a fit and flare gown. It hugged my curves in all the right places and when I looked in the mirror I just thought "THIS is what I should look like on my wedding day". I knew I wouldn't cry or get emotional, but I did get the overwhelming feeling that this was the one. When I showed my mom, sister, and maid of honor I was so happy they they loved it as much as I did. And what made me even happier? The price! It was even on sale. I snatched that pretty thing up right away and now... I have a dress people! I love it!

After my dress was chosen, it was time to choose my bridesmaids dresses. I really wanted them to like it and want to wear it so I let them choose a few different options. Since this is an outdoor Spring wedding I just knew I wanted it to be a short dress and more casual. When they tried on the cotton strapless dress I fell in love. It was short and cute and it had pockets! I was thrilled that they both loved it as well. We decided to go with a champagne color which looks horrible in the picture below, but I swear its not so awkward and shiny in real life.

I debated on whether or not I wanted to show you guys the dress beforehand. I do want some elements of the wedding to be a surprise. In the end I decided to show the dress from the website and keep the pictures of me wearing it private. You guys can see what it looks like, but you won't see me in it until the big day! These photos from the David's Bridal shop are pretty bad, but you get the general idea!

My dress. Mine is ivory of course, and looks a lot different on me. It gives me an hourglass shape and really shows off my curves which I love. You can't really see the lace details in this photo, but it's gorgeous! I love the long train too... even if it will get absolutely filthy at the wedding!

The bridesmaids dresses. I have no idea why this dress looks so weird online but it is not shiny like this in person and the color is a lot more neutral and subtle. This dress is so adorable and flattering on all body types. I want one too!

Next on the list is getting Mando's suit figured out. He is going to get fitted tonight and has an appointment with all his groomsmen on Dec. 3rd! I can't wait to see my man all dressed up and fancy! Have a great week everyone! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Mini-Moon

(source)

As the wedding gets closer, Mando and I have started talking about a honeymoon. Now obviously, the fact that we have a small child complicates things, and we went back and forth on whether or not we'd even bother taking one. In the end we decided we needed to do something, even if it is just small and local. The idea of taking a "mini-moon" was born!

I'm going to be honest, the idea of leaving Cayden really freaks me out. I've never been away from him longer than a few hours, much less an entire night or a few days. I just feel like he's still too young to understand why his mama is gone and I don't want him for even a fraction of a second to feel scared or abandoned. I know it might sound ridiculous to some, but this is how I think. I know that by the time the wedding rolls around I will have spent a night away from him (bachlorette party, night of the wedding, etc.) but I'll still be able to put him to sleep and see him the next morning so he won't really have any idea that I'm gone. Leaving on a mini-moon is going to be a HUGE deal for all of us, and I don't know how it's going to go.

With that being said, we haven't quite decided on whether we'll be bringing him with us or not. Obviously it would be ideal to go somewhere just the two of us... I feel like we both NEED that time and we haven't done anything like that in so long. As of right now the idea is to leave him home with my mom, but we'll see how I'm doing emotionally when the time comes.

Right now, we're just brainstorming on where we'd like to go. We are trying to find somewhere local enough to drive yet far away enough to feel like a vacation and we'll probably go away for 3 or 4 days. Since our wedding is on a Saturday, and Sunday is Mother's Day, we won't be leaving until Monday. San Francisco is out because we were just there, and we've been to San Diego way too many times. Some ideas we've come up with are Santa Barbara, Lake Tahoe, and Vegas. If any locals have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them! I just want something quiet, romantic, but still fun for a young couple who never gets out! ;)

Tonight I'm going wedding dress shopping again, and hopefully it'll be the last time! If I'm lucky enough to find the dress I'll tell you all about it next week! Happy Wednesday everyone! XOXO                      

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Wedding bands

So, I lied. I won't be able to share our engagement photos quite yet because I ordered the disk from my photographer too late and I haven't gotten it yet! It should be here any day now and I promise I will post them as soon as possible! Today will just be a quickie post to show you pictures of our wedding bands that we purchased last weekend!

I love them all! I really like the band Mando picked out and I think it suits him perfectly! I went back and forth on a plain band or the one with diamonds and ended up choosing this one. I'm glad I did because I love how it looks next to my engagement ring! Sparkly, yay!

That's all for now! I'll be back soon to post the engagement photos! Oh, and 10 gold stars if you can guess what book I'm using for the background... I bet my sister knows! It's my all time favorite! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - My Favorite Pins!

I cannot even begin to explain how valuable Pinterest has been to me for my wedding planning... To have all of your inspiration pictures in one place that can be added to any time? It's every planners dream! I can easily say that over half of my great ideas for my ceremony and reception have come from Pinterest. It's such a great source of inspiration! Today for Wedding Planning Wednesday, I wanted to share my favorite wedding pins. I am so happy that this amazing new site popped up... The timing couldn't be better!

I am obsessed with these favor bags. I love the burlap + lace combination and the clothespins on top! I will definitely be creating something similar to put our skeleton key favors inside. The only thing I would change is to have the little tag say Thank You instead of LOVE. So cute!

Lately I have been trying to figure out what I want our flowers girls to wear and carry. There are so many options these days from traditional basket to big, fluffy flower poms. I saw this picture and I'm now in love with the idea of doing little paper cones. I think it adds the perfect rustic touch!

You guys may remember that I'm doing my own florals for the wedding, so I've been looking for inspiration pictures for the bouquet wraps. I really love this burlap wrap with the lace coming from the top. It's so pretty! I would do a skeleton key instead of that little round pendant though!

Mando and I are trying to find a way to creatively display the seating arrangements. I love the idea of finding an old window frame and writing the names for each table in the squares. It's the perfect vintage touch, don't you think?

Are you sensing a theme here? I'm obsessed with burlap and lace and this ring bearer pillow is beyond perfect. How pretty are those fabric flowers? It's both rustic and elegant! I'm going to see if my amazingly talented sister can help me make something similar!

I've been obsessed with these burlap banners long before I even got engaged and now I can't wait to use them! I love the idea of Mr and Mrs banners to hang on the back of our chairs for the reception. It's little details like these that make me happy!

Have you used Pinterest to plan your events? If you're not on there yet you really need to sign up! And if you need an invite, just leave me a comment with your email address and I'll make sure to get you one!

Tonight we are off to meet with our amazing wedding planner (I just hired her this week!) to go over some of my ideas and to-do lists. It's getting to be crunch time! Oh, and I promise that next Wednesday you will get to finally see our engagement pictures. So excited! Have a great week everyone! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Invitation Inspiration

It has been a busy, busy week in the wedding planning world! Mando and I have a wedding planning timeline and according to that we are actually way behind! A few of the things we are supposed to already have booked are the food, wedding planner, and invites. I've been extremely busy looking up Mexican food caterers because we aren't having much luck with the food truck idea. Now we are thinking of a taco cart and I'm pretty sure I have it narrowed to 3 places, so tasting will happen next week! We also may have found a bakery for our wedding cake so we're hoping to do cake tasting this weekend.

One thing I've been obsessing over this week is the invitations. Although it's a fun part of the planning process, it can also be really overwhelming. So many options! My biggest struggle so far has been narrowing down the 'theme' of our invites. I've been going back and forth between what part of our wedding theme we want to incorporate into them and I've narrowed it down to 4 options: lace, fun/kitschy, trees, or floral! 

(Allie Ruth)

Lace is a huge theme of our wedding. It will pretty much be incorporated into everything from our cake to my dress to the decor. I really love the idea of lace invites but it can be tricky! Do we add lace ribbon or do we print a lace pattern? I really love the two options above and I think they are very elegant. I just don't know if it's TOO formal for our casual outdoor wedding! These are definitely the more standard wedding invitation of the bunch! 

(Andimans)

If there's one thing you guys should know about me by now, it's that I'm not traditional in any way. To me, traditional = boring and I will go out of my way to make sure that the things we chose aren't what you normally see at a wedding. Enter these invitations, completely opposite of the first ones. I absolutely love this kitschy style invitation and I think they'd be really fun with our casual wedding. The mustaches! I die! My only problem will be getting my extremely traditional fiance to agree with me on this one!

(Mink Letterpress) (Blackberry Graphics)

Another theme we are considering is a tree theme. After all, we are getting married at a nature center covered in 200 year old oak trees! This theme is definitely Mando's favorite. I do like it, but I'm not sure if I'm completely in love with the idea. I think the above ones are very beautiful though, and I know we could come up with something that works for us!

(Rifle Paper Co)

I am a little obsessed with these invitations from Rifle Paper Co. This company is 100% NOT in our budget, but I really love the idea of doing a unique floral style invitation. I like the vintage feel and soft colors and I think these go with our theme really well! My only challenge will be finding something equally pretty as the ones above!

No matter what theme we decide to go with, our invitations will be 100% custom. I've already been discussing ideas with my favorite graphic designer and I know she'll be able to come up with something we absolutely love. Now Mando and I need to sit down and really narrow down our options! Which theme do you love best? I'd love to hear!

We have another busy weekend ahead of us! This Sunday we are taking our engagement photos and I cannot be more excited! I can't believe it's finally here! Hopefully I'll have a sneak peak for you all by next Wednesday! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday: THE CAKE

I love, love, love lace. It is so delicate, feminine, and just plain pretty! I'm incorporating it into so many different aspects of our wedding from our table runners and bouquets to hopefully even my dress! When looking for wedding cake designs I of course to turned to Pinterest to find lace inspired wedding cakes. I stumbled upon this one by Martha Stewart and fell in love. (Does Martha ever disappoint?! I die for her!) And surprisingly, when I showed Mando several pictures of different cakes, this one was his favorite too!  I love the neutral color palette of white and ivory. It's classic yet the lace applique gives it a pop of texture that I really love. This cake will definitely be the inspiration for our wedding cake.

As far as bakeries go, we haven't started seriously looking at our options yet. I don't have a favorite one, because I normally do my own baking which means we're pretty much starting from scratch! (pun intended) I do want to visit Sweet & Saucy shop in Long Beach. I discovered that they coincidentally designed not one, but TWO of the cakes I had in my inspiration folder... what are the chances of that?! Hopefully sometime in the near future we'll be able to stop by for a consultation and taste testing to see if they are a good fit for us!

So what do you think? Love it or hate it? Have any of you locals ever been to Sweet & Saucy or do you have another great bakery to suggest? I'd love to hear! XOXO

Wedding Planning Wednesday - Recap

I've been doing Wedding Planning Wednesdays for a few months now and have shared a ton of ideas. This week I wanted to do a bit of a recap for those who are new readers or for those who have missed a post here and there!

Our wedding will take place on Saturday, May 12th, 2012. We actually decided to take pink out of our colors and stick with lace, cream, and burlap colors.

I plan to use a big bunch of baby's breath for the bridesmaids bouquets and for a lot of the floral decor. And I'll be making the bouquets myself!

We chose a venue, the Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim Hills. It's a beautiful nature center filled with 200 year old oak trees, creeks, and beautiful bridges. The ceremony site is on the left and the reception site is on the right.

We're giving antique skeleton keys as wedding favors. I also plan to incorporate them into Mando's boutonniere and my bouquet.

For lighting, we want string (or cafe) lights covering the reception area. We may also incorporate lights on trees or hanging from trees.

I asked for your ideas and suggestions for the big exit, but in the end we decided not to do anything. We got some amazing suggestions such as releasing butterflies and ribbon wands, but we realized it'll be late at night and no one will see any of that anyway ;)

We are really into having a food truck cater our wedding since there is no kitchen at the venue and open flames aren't allowed. (We did go tasting last night. The food was amazing, but we still haven't found the perfect truck!)

And that's where we left off! Now that so many of the basic ideas and concepts are done, we're finally ready to book some more vendors! September is shaping up to be a busy month! XOXO