WWW - Honeymoon BOOKED!

It's official and all booked! The new Mr. & Mrs. Wade will be heading to Mexico's Riviera Maya! Five nights at the Aventura Spa Palace, and I couldn't be more excited!! 

Check this place out! Ahhhhh-mazing!! 

The resort is all-inclusive, so we won't have to worry about anything once we arrive. And we got the Concierge Level so we would have a private lounge area at the beach with waiter service. There are liquor dispenser in the rooms, 24-hour room service, nightly petit fours with turndown service, a candlelight dinner, a couple's massage by the ocean and SO many more amenities!! 

I'm already dreaming of  afternoons at the spa, cocktails by the pool, and breakfast in bed with my new husband!

I don't know what I'm more excited for! The wedding or the honeymoon! 

Wedding detail - chinese sky lanterns on the cheap

I fell in love with images of couples releasing chinese sky lanterns at their wedding receptions long ago. There is something so magical about the flickering candlelight floating up and away, carrying wishes for the newly married couple. The pictures are always amazing, and it is a special, unique detail. I also think it is a pretty fun "activity" to do at the reception!

Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Groupon today that featured chinese lanterns for half off as our local deal! Sweet! I snatched that right up and plan to order 20 lanterns. I figure multiple guests can write on each lantern. I'm SO pumped about this! I'll probably try to fit this in at the end of the night, before Ben and I head out.

Heads up! Be sure to check with your venue to see if they allow the use of these lantern. Luckily, ours does! These claim to be 100% biodegradable...I'm hoping this is true. I'd feel bad if not. :)

I doubt there is anyone left on the face of the planet who hasn't yet signed up for Groupon, but if by some chance you haven't, you can do so HERE!

Lately

Lately I think I've got the SAD :( As per usual this time of year. Kentucky can be so gloomy in January and February. Thank goodness I have a fabulous bachelorette trip with all my favorite ladies planned for early March. We will be headed to Charleston, and I'm praying for some sunshine and warm temps! Speaking of bachelorette party, how adorable are these little invites I discovered on Etsy?!

I'm SO over wedding planning. Like seriously. Done. Can June 1 just hurry its sweet a** on up and get here already!?! I can't believe I am admitting that I'm tired of the planning, but truly, over a year of it has really given me my full. However it is getting down to crunch time, so unfortunately I can't just put it off until this moment passes. How hysterical is this pillow I saw on Pinterest?! Love it!

Ben is still away for work, so my evenings consist of me sitting on my laptop and watching TV. Exciting stuff. I had lunch with a girlfriend today and she was asking where I had been, not having heard from me. You know where I've been? Sitting at my house having the SADs. I despise the tanning bed, but maybe that would be effective until I can get some real sun. I live for Sunday nights,  sadly, they are the highlight of my week.

In other news the baby shower I'm co-hosting at the end of February is going to be Pink Gator themed. The mamma-to-be is a FL Gators fan, and we thought her sweet little girl will likely be forced into being a fan as well ;) (we will be sure she gets some UK in her life too!!). I don't really like over the top themed-out showers, so I think we are aiming for girly pinks and greens, with some accents of pink gator.

What's new in your world?! Is this time of year as slow for you as it is for me?! 

Decisions, decisions

I'm having a very hard time deciding on the flowers for the wedding. These are some of my favorite options....

1. Harvey Prince Skinny Chic - I'm pretty particular about perfume, and I don't wear it everyday. I typically like musky or rosey scents, but I have to say, I LOVE this. It smells so fresh and light. I think they are full of BS saying it makes you feel "slim" but it does make you feel springy! 
2. amika Color pHerfection Shampoo - I haven't tried, but Lord knows I could use some shampoo that makes my deep brown last longer. I don't like being a wanna be ginger!
3. My™ Multi-Purpose Mattifying Moisturizer - I'm sold on this stuff! I absolutely hate it when a moisturizer leaves my face feeling greasy and slimy. This lives up to its name. I only wish it had SPF. 
4. theBalm® cosmetics Hot Mama Shadow & Blush All-in-One - Pretty. Nothing too spectacular. I think it would be more appropriate for summer because it is very bronzy. 
5. Deborah Lippmann the Stripper to go - I can see these being handy to have in your travel bag or your purse for unexpected nail emergencies...but at $12 for 6, they are not very practical for regular, everyday use. 

Get your 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions to Birchbox HERE! 

And let me know what you discover each month!

Sweet baby gift

I came across this silly little horse on Etsy and just had to share. I think this would be such a sweet baby gift. Unique and timeless...especially for a Kentucky baby!!

Wedding Planners

I debated hiring a wedding planner for a long time. Obviously, I love planning and I am also a wee bit of a control freak. But when it came down to the actual wedding day, I did not want to stressed over the table settings or making sure everyone is where they need to be at the correct times and those kind of details. I hired a wedding planner/sorority sister of mine to be our day-of coordinator. Just knowing she will be there the day of the wedding (and leading up to the wedding somewhat), makes me feel so much better! I know I will be able to relax and really enjoy the day an all my hard work.

With that said, if you are like me and want to do the majority of the planning on your own, I think it is important that you go into it with lots of resources. We will have been engaged for 17 months when our wedding rolls around, so I've had tons of planning time. I cannot imagine doing it in less than 12 months time. I've had lots of time to stew and really think about what I want and bring it to life (well, hopefully anyways!).

Everyone on Instagram was talking about Maybooks so I went over to their website to check them out, and lo and behold they have a wedding journal! From what I can tell it has planning tools built in. For $20, I think it would make an adorable gift for the just engaged bride-to-be or something for yourself to jazz up your planning! They are adorable!

{my fave design}

Of course, if you want to make an extensive planner you can use my previously posted notebook how-to. The nice folks over at Samsill sent me a couple of their binders to review and I used one to make a friend her own wedding planning notebook upon her engagement. They seemed to be sturdy and a good deal! Hint hint...you could create a design like the one above, print it out and use it in one of Samsill's binders that have the clear front pocket?! Just an idea!

I'd like...

this adorable bag for Valentine's Day....Just in case you are reading, Woobie ;)

WWW - Our Save The Dates - revealed!

I can finally share with you all our Save The Dates! I ordered them from Minted.com months ago, and have been waiting until after the holidays to send them out. After several hours of assembling and addressing, they are all out in the mail, so now it is safe to post! I ended up having Minted do a custom order for me. There was a holiday card that I wanted to use as the template because it allowed me to do the photo grid on the background as well as add rounded coroners (shapes weren't yet available on the wedding products).

Customer service was so helpful and got me all set up! I basically just contacted them, told them I wanted to use the "Be Joyful" photo card (because I liked the old-time photo feel that the white border added) and wanted to use it as a save the date. They added the order to my cart and from there I could customize it how I wanted. They also removed the logo from the back, because you don't want a logo on your STDs.

{photos by Charlotte Elizabeth Photographer}

{website has been removed because it contains personal info}

I absolutely LOVE how they turned out!! Any of Minted's designs are customizable, don't hesitate to ask if they can do something and don't feel like you have to use a design within a certain category. I will note that I uploaded the front picture with the font already on there. I downloaded a font from the internet and added it to the picture in photoshop. But, Minted has 100s of fonts to choose from, so this really wasn't necessary.

In order to add a bit of our main wedding color (pale blue) to the Save the Dates, I decided to add the "modern swag" slip-in envelope liner to the envelopes. These are DIY, and kind of time consuming, but I love the end result. It definitely adds a little something extra to the overall feel.

Rather than having the return address printed on the back, I ordered this embossing stamp from Neiman Marcus. I figured I could use it on the wedding invitations as well. I chose to leave the name off and only include the 2 lines of the address (I read somewhere this was proper?!). For $24, I'm really happy with that purchase...plus it will get use all the time, not just wedding related things.

And finally, I am no calligrapher, but I addressed the envelopes by hand. This took a very long time. They didn't turn out perfect, and some were better than others. I free handed them, but used a scripty font as inspiration. I downloaded "Pea NJH Script" (love all their hand writing fonts!) and copied all the names from our invitation list to a word doc in that font and used it as a guide. I'd suggest writing it in pencil or thin black ink and then going over that with a sharpie marker to give you a more defined line.

That's it! I sent them off into the world...they are either in the hands of their recipients or on their way there. Mark that off the list!

Hosting a baby shower?!

Our friends Brittany and Pat are expecting their first baby this spring, so I'm seizing the opportunity to help host a baby shower. The other hosts and myself have come up with the cutest theme that is just so Brittany! I won't share that one for now, as it is a surprise...but, one of the other contenders was a Beatrix Potter/ Peter Rabbit themed shower. I found some darling things and ideas for this theme, and wanted to share in case any of you all have a shower to throw. I think it can be made appropriate for both a boy and girl shower, just mix up the accent colors you use (think linens, paper goods, balloons etc).

{links can be found on my Pinterest}

Wedding Wishlist {from Etsy}

1. Hand painted banner with our custom monogram (see #4)
2. Monogrammed napkins to go on the bridal party table. I'd like some to have at home anyways, so I might as well go ahead and order a few extra and use them at the wedding!
3. Birdhouse card box. I didn't know what to do for a card box, and while a birdhouse doesn't really go with the feel of the wedding, I love that we could use this after the wedding! Isn't the little plaque with the couple's name sweet?!
4. Custom monogram. 
5. Custom illustration of our church. I'd love to have one of these to use on the programs and to hang in our home.
6. Dotted tulle garter...so pretty and delicate! A lovely keepsake.
7. 14" cake stand. This sucker is pricey, so I'm searching for an alternative and it needs to be ivory.