Party Paper Goods

Paper goods can add so much to a party.  They bring a theme together and add color to the party decor. It's such an easy way to dress up the food table.

Circles dressed in the party theme can be added anywhere.  Here I hole punched the top and bottom then slipped these cute paper straws through and now the cocktails have names on them.

Or you can tape a toothpick to the back of the circle and they decorate your sweets table, or label the dish.

Of course you can find it here to purchase!

All About that Bass

I had too much fun making these invitations, yet now I have a certain song stuck in my head!

As the lovely Meghan Trainor said, "I'm all about that bass, no treble.  I'm gonna shake it, shake it, like I'm supposed to do."  

I realize that I'm stating the obvious when I say this is the latest girl anthem.  What a fun theme for any girl-centric party.  I just so happen to know where you can order your own personalized invitations, at my etsy shop!

Now please excuse me, while I conduct my own dance party...

Bridal Invite Washi Tape

Here is another fun bridal invitation with Valentine colors and washi tape details!

Valentine bridal invite

Here is an example of a Valentine's themed shower invite!

Shower Invite Design

When I hear the good news of two people deciding to take that leap and get married, I get really excited for them.  Marriage is awesome and completely worth it.  During all of the excitement of another upcoming family wedding, I got the bug to design a couple of mock invitations like this one...

3 Years

Sometimes you have to just grab on and hold tight.

If you want to relive the day with me check out my adorable guestbook video and highlight video.

The Wedding - Video Booth Fun from Brian Moncey on Vimeo.

The Wedding - Hi-Light Video from Brian Moncey on Vimeo.

The Willing Bachelorette

When I look back at my wedding, most things I wouldn't change and am still SO glad that I stuck to my guns and did things my way.  For example, I skipped the bouquet toss.  Who actually likes the bouquet toss?  I know there are a few of you out there, that's why I made this sign.

Through out the ceremony and reception site I had these cute little signs everywhere.  Some said Wedding ->, bocce ball, croquet, etc.  There was one very special sign that was hidden on top of a grassy knoll to the side of the reception festivities.  In the middle of the reception I snuck away and put my bouquet in this wooden sign.  I then happened to wander to a group of my single girl friends that would have been very disappointed with no bouquet toss and told them I had something hidden on that small hill.

I don't remember who won, but that lucky lady on the right was married within the year.  (just sayin') 

Pictures by Stephen Seward

Flowers by Erika Kirkland

DIY sign, by me!

Postal Service introduced me to my husband...

Our anniversary is approaching.  It will be 3 years.  I sure love that guy.

We had only one song sung during our ceremony.  That song was Brand New Colony, the acoustic Ben Gibbard version.  We chose this song because, 1. It's sweet and the lyrics are perfect for a wedding and 2. it meant something to us.  

Brian and I had been friends through out high school and we lost touch when he went away to college and left me to finish my last year of high school.  Lucky for us Facebook was invented that year that kept us apart.  On his profile he had those above exact words quoted.  After we rekindled a friendship through a website made to keep people connected; I became a little bold.  I had an inkling that our friendship could grow to be something really great.

Yep, those are real posts between my husband and me.  Believe me, those two 18 and 19 year-olds did not know that five years later they would be husband and wife.  But I'm so glad that they are!

Wedding Attire for the Guests Part 2

If you are anything like me, you probably have more than one wedding to go to this summer.  There are bound to be some crossover on the guest lists.  That means I get to buy 2 new dresses!

Again I already have the shoes and this dress!  I bought this dress at a sale this winter that I just couldn't pass up and have been saving it for a wedding this summer!  I can't wait to dance the night away in this twirly Yumi Kim beauty.

PS. Yes I actually did join one of those shoe club sites, justfab.com and got these gold beauties for a STEAL!

Find it all here:

Dress | Shoes | Clutch | Necklace

Wedding Video Booth

The Wedding - Video Booth Fun from Brian Moncey on Vimeo.

From my husband....

Something Blue Bridal Shower

I had the most amazing Bridal Shower last summer.  I thought I would share some of it here.  For all of the pictures check out my sister Laura's Flickr.

I got to keep those blue shoes!  How lucky am I?

For the activity we had these 'design a wedding dress' kits.  All of the guests got one and made wedding dresses for the paper dolls!

We had such creative guests and some great looking paper dolls!

All the guests were invited to wear blue to the party!  It was so festive to have everyone participate.

The girls also decorated with pictures from our engagement.

Here is a picture of me with my three bridesmaids Laura, Emily and Ashley who threw me this awesome shower!  They are amazing.  All the food was homemade, the kits were DIY, the invitations were made by them.  They are such pros!  I've never been to a more beautiful party.  Thanks again!  I love you girls.

Dresses for the Rain

It's early summer and I have a few bridal showers on my horizon.  I personally want to spend my money on the dress that I wear to the wedding, so I like affordable cute options for the shower.  I was browsing this website that is known for their affordability and found the above dresses.

1. here 2. here 3. here 4. here 5. here 6. here 7. here 8. here

Number 6 is my favorite.

Wedding Flowers

One of my favorite things to do is look at flowers when I'm at Trader Joe's.  They are always reasonably priced and usually there is a great selection.  It reminds me of the flowers I had at my wedding.

My sister-in-law Erika put together all of the flowers, had the vision, and ordered the flowers for me.  She was a Godsend!  She did an amazing job and even was a bridesmaid.  She was one the MVPs of the day for sure!

Here is what she ordered at a local wholesale florist...

3 Buplereum

2 Queen Annes Lace

2 Ranunculus [red]

1 Dahlia [red or burgundy]

2 Cosmos [chocolate]

1 Calcynia [white]

1 Lysmachia [white]

3 Poms [red or burgundy]

2 Daisy [white]

1 Agganis [brown]

Total Price...$143.22!

SCORE!

It was beautiful!

it's here

I'm looking forward to wedding season this year... Check out the new collaboration with anthropologie and  BHLDN.

Music Love

Brian and I are trying to choose a song to go with our wedding video.

Here are the contenders.

The last song was the only song that was acutally sung in the wedding, by my very talented cousin Jeremy Kirkland.  What do you choose?

Wedding Wednesday

I made all of the boutonnières for my wedding.  This is what my husband wore on the big day.

Supplies:
Twine
Button
Feathers
Dried Grass

I tied it all together with the twine and it was perfect for my fall wedding!

More Wedding Photos

My Photographer has now put up some great photos of the wedding.  Find them HERE!

I have absolutely loved reliving the wedding day while I looked through these pictures.  I had so much help to make a perfect day.
Thanks again everyone!

I'm BACK!

It's true I got married on October 10, 2010.  I thought I would be an emotional mess during the wedding and probably the reception as well.  When the day finally came, I was too happy to have any other kind of emotion enter my body.  I've never been filled with so much joy in my entire life.  It was a truly holy experience and I relished in every moment that I could.

We don't have all of our official pics from the photographer, but he did put up a few on his blog.  It was such a pleasure to work with Stephen.  His relaxing personality made taking pictures easy.  I never felt rushed.

More is coming....

***

As Brian likes to say, "We are kicking this wedding's a**!"
Brian and I are spending every spare moment we have checking off things on our list and I feel good about it.  I just focus on the moment and the fact that I'm not wasting time anymore.

Shoe's are still a bit of a dilemma  for me.  I have bought two pairs from zappos. com and I'm not satisfied with either yet....

what to do?

This is the perfect color and they are VERY cute and would probably look great with my dress...BUT...they are so stinkin high!  I can't make it in those!

These were perfect.  The right height, sophisticated.  They came in a stark white.  My mom said they looked blue; and they did.  They were expensive anyways and I didn't want to have to pay to get them dyed!

Okay.  I'm going to sleep on it.

Hand-Made Sunday

Brian, if you are reading this stop.  This isn't for you.  But I'm posting it because Brian rarely reads my blog and I think I'm safe.

and even if Brian did see it, it's not a big deal to me.

So I made a garter tonight in about 5 minutes.

I had originally been drooling over these garters by Florrie Mitton.  But I just can't spend that much money on something I don't really care about.  I didn't think I would wear one at all and I'm sure not doing the garter toss, so what's the point.  But I've been thinking it over and I think the tradition of wearing one is really sweet and I don't want to miss out.

so I decided to make my own.  It is not as elegant as the one's above but it's cute and simple and took a total of 5 min.  which means it's awesome in my book.
First I bought this headband from Forever21 for less than $5. (score)

I love the applique and I think it will look good with the dress.  I cut open the headband leaving 1inch on one side and the rest on the other side.

I grabbed some grosgrain that we had laying around the basement and measured around my leg, subtracted the length of the applique and added a few inches. I cut two pieces this length and melted the edges with a match so that there would be no fraying.

I sewed about an 1/8 of an inch from the edges the two pieces of grosgrain together.

I trimmed any excess of the elastic from the headband.  I just wrapped it around my leg to find the excess and gave myself about an inch extra. Then I put a safety pin on the end of the elastic and fed it through the grosgrain.

Now the ribbon is covering all of the elastic.  I sewed the two open ends of the elastic with about an inch allowance.  I just did a straight stitch back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.  It looked pretty stable.

Here is a blurry picture of it over my legging!

and another.  It looks pretty good on.  I'm sorry the picture didn't turn out well.

The final product!  It may have looked better with white grosgrain, but my dress is ivory so this works for me.  I'm really excited to wear it!  28 days....