I absolutely LOVE when bridal showers or bachelorette parties have a project, craft or activity.  This love does not extend to games, because, lets face it-bridal shower games are pretty horrific for the most part.  

A dear friend of mine has started a business called Wine and Designs.  I went to her house for lunch last week, and she had painted a glass for me with my married initials on it, and I LOVED it!  I think it’s such a cute thing to do with your bridesmaids or just some close friends.  Here are some ideas I came up with in a google image search:

I found it’s important to keep it simple if you’re not super artistic like me.  I love this one:

How cute would it be to make these for each of your girls, and have it look like them!?

Ok, so here’s my attempt.  The lighting is terrible, so the colors look wrong, but it’s kinda cute.  The letters are SO hard to do-so when I do another one, I’m probably going to stay away from writing anything…

Have any of you done this before?  It seems to me like the grown up version of paint your own pottery places.  Plus, you can do them at your house-and as soon as you’re finished painting you just bake them in the oven.  They are even dishwasher safe!  You can find all of the supplies here!

I have one of those countdowns on my Facebook profile that tells me how many days are left until the wedding. I used to think it was a fun, quirky thing to have, but as the number gets smaller and smaller, I find myself getting more and more freaked out about how little time we have left. There’s just so much to do!

Our wedding planner keeps telling me to delete that countdown (I won’t, just because it comes in handy at times), but I am looking at it less and less.

Still, we’re sending out our invitations on Monday, so it’s impossible to ignore that we officially have (breathe) eight weeks until the wedding.

Breathe, Shelley.

Eight weeks. No problem, right? We pretty much have everything done, right? Okay, so hair and makeup isn’t nailed down yet but we have trials scheduled. And we haven’t totally nailed down the cake either but we have a tasting on the books.

And the rest is just little stuff. Like our vows and some little DIY projects like our programs, menus, table “numbers,” etc. I can do this. I know I can.

And yet… I just get myself stressed out. (So stressed in fact that I wound up with shingles, but that’s another story you can read more about here.)

One thing I’ve been thinking on for weeks now without getting anywhere is what do get my bridesmaids for their gifts. I’m totally stumped on this point. I want the gifts to be fun and special but I don’t have the biggest budget in the world for them.

For awhile I thought I’d put together a gift bag for each of them. I read about these super comfortable and flattering undies called Hanky Panky (have you tried them? They’re awesome.), that I thought could be a fun part of a gift bag but at $18 a pop, we’re almost at half my per bridesmaid budget.

Now I’m leaning toward getting each gal one nice thing. I thought about iPods or silver Tiffany necklaces but both are out of my budget for sure. And that’s really all the progress I’ve made on the attendant’s gifs.

So fellow brides-to-be out there, do you have some ideas to share for the bridesmaids gifts? I’m all ears!

(And p.s. I’m fresh out of ideas on my gift for the groom as well!)

One of the most inspirational blog posts for me so far has been How to Design Vintage Monograms by Vintage Glam Weddings. So, my official first day that I was absolutely 100% completely and totally done with grad school, what do I do? Oh, you know…went back to Lehigh and checked out a book on monograms. Guess I just can’t stay away from the place.

But oh.em.gee. I found the coolest book I have ever seen.

The Alphabet of Monograms by Henry Lillie. Oh, can’t find it on Amazon? Hmm, maybe that’s because ISBN numbers weren’t around in 1865. How cool was it to pull that book out of the stacks and open up the front cover to find:

Yup, 1885. Pretty neat I think. Anyway, on to the fun stuff.

While it would have been way too nice of Mr. Lillie to think of us back in the 1800’s and make us an awesome monogram, no such luck. There were, however, CK and CKJ (would work beautifully if he would take my last name :) ).

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Before I start my post today, I just wanted to tell you sweet readers thank you for your excitement about our house, and we are happy to announce that they have accepted our offer!  We are doing inspections this week, and we close on August 10th!!  It is so surreal and exciting.  I told Vince the thing I’m the most excited about is putting our new KitchenAid Mixer right here on the counter:

So, on to today’s post:

My mom and I were browsing Etsy for ideas (naturally) for bridesmaid gifts and we came across this pattern that we love from seller Keyka Lou:

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe. According to The Knot, “something old represents continuity; something new offers optimism for the future; something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness; something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity; and a sixpence in your shoe is a wish for good fortune and prosperity, although this remains largely a British custom.”

I mean, do I even have a sixpence? Doubtful! I hadn’t thought too much about this tradition until this week, when my sister mentioned taping money to the inside of my peep toes. The easiest to fulfill is obviously your something new: new shoes, new headpiece, new dress…. for me, my new Rickard Shah shoes! =

The others, I hadn’t thought too much about.  After my mother stopped joking around about my something old being “a really old pair of underwear!”, my dad presented me with this to pin into my dress:

It’s the compass my late grandfather used to carry with him. When he gave it to me, my dad told me that if I wore it, my grandparents would always be there to show me the way.

::Insert sob here::

I’m getting very weepy as this week goes along! Next up: my something blue. My mom reminded me of this beautiful necklace made for me by her father, who also has passed away. So although I’d had something else in mind…it’s going by the wayside. This necklace is way too close to my heart to pass on.

Something borrowed: My sister’s pearl earrings.

What were your something olds, news, borroweds, and blues?

-B

While planning our wedding-etsy is one of the first sites I would visit when looking for a particular item.  I searched etsy for someone to make my dress before I found the ONE.  I spent hours on etsy looking for just the right birdcage veil and fascinator-before I found Kasia Fink.  

Here are some of my favorite etsy finds for our wedding, and some for gifts for my maids!

These awesome custom ties from etsy seller, Toybreaker

This adorable clutch from seller, Angee W.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I cannot tell you how pleased I am that Garrett and I finally have silhouettes after the months I’d seen them all over every wedding blog. While I don’t think we’ll be fully on board with a silhouette themed wedding, I think I would like to display them at our reception.

How we obtained such wonders of modern science:

Garrett and I went with his family (including cute little cousins) to Disney World where they have stands set up with artists that hand scissor silhouettes! The cost? $8 per person, $8 for a frame (optional) and you automatically get 2 copies of the print (they cut two sheets at a time so that the other copy is opposite.

Worth it? Yes! I love it! I asked our artist, Anthony, how he was trained and Disney takes them in as artists and trains them in different skills, so he can do caricatures and other mediums but prefers the quickness of the silhouette. And it is quick, something like 3 minutes for each of us. If I thought we could afford it I would hire a silhouette artist for our reception. But I suppose our fabric “photobooth” will be just as fun.

Are you incorporating the ever-popular silhouette into your event?

Darci from With This Ring is one of my favorite bloggers (and people)!  I’ve been so excited for her DIY series, and these fabric covered buttons are already a favorite.

{Tutorial found here}

If there is one thing we love here at EAD, it’s pretty things. What we love even more? Pretty things that do something good for the world! So, naturally I was completely excited when I learned about the Amazon Conservation Association’s new partnership with Smock, designed to encourage brides to make a donation to the ACA in lieu of traditional wedding favors. For a $5 donation per guest, couples are gifted with gorgeous letterpress favor cards to share with their guests in celebration of their donation. And those favor cards? Incredibly pretty letterpress creations printed on Smock’s exclusive eco-friendly bamboo paper, printed pro bono in support of the ACA.

Believe it or not, it gets even better. Smock is offering free personalization of the favor cards for those couples who have chosen Smock for their wedding invitations. I love it! And seriously, how beautiful are these cards?

For more information on the benefits of donating to the ACA visit Smock’s blog or email Gena to arrange your donation at info@amazonconservation.org.

Anything Anthropologie! They have some beautiful, unique pieces for your bridal accessory search. I just picked up a couple of their floral hair clips, which are just too adorable for words. Not to mention, Anthropologies are so beautifully laid out that it can be a great stress reliever just to cruise through their stores, if you need some wedding planning distraction. Check out these other headbands and clips they have right now:

Their pieces are lovely and unique, and would suit a bride or bridal party perfectly. They also have some great jewelry:

The bib necklace in the bottom left would be perfect with a simple satin strapless dress…so perfect for a vintage, rustic event!

Did you find your jewelry from an uncommon source?

-B

Jessica from How About Orange always has the craftiest and most genius ideas. This time, she’s shown us how to made these adorable gift bags from envelopes — and she’s even given us a download for the pretty labels!

{Tutorial found at How About Orange}

Quite by accident I stumbled upon the Etsy shop of Titanium Knights recently and found myself rather intrigued. Somewhat ironically, M and I were just out pricing wedding bands that same day, a special consideration because the shape of my engagement ring setting is going to require a custom band. During the course of our travels he set his sights on the lightweight and simple modern appeal of titanium. His favorite pick of the day rings in at a very affordable $195, which thrilled me to no end considering my band will be a bit more expensive as it will be custom. M is very much a no frills kind of guy. He is most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, he’s a former athlete turned teacher and coach, and his idea of a perfect weekend is a great dinner and a day of watching football. At any rate, an expensive gold or platinum band kind of guy he is not so the titanium route seems really perfect for his tastes.

Well, let me just say…$195 is now seeming expensive in comparison to the bands offered by Titanium Knights! They offer a really wide selection of styles, finishes and widths and no single ring in their shop is over $70. Yes, you read that correctly. Wedding bands for under $100 including shipping? Now this I must investigate further. I mean check out these gorgeous rings!

So while I love Etsy, I hadn’t really considered going the Etsy route for something as important and symbolic as a wedding band. However, I am definitely giving this option serious consideration as of right now. My only real hesitation is that the shop we’re planning to get our bands from is that of a local, independent jeweler who happens to be the uncle of one of my bridesmaids. I really love supporting local businesses whenever possible, especially when I know the owner personally and know them to be someone I would love to support with our business. No matter what he will be the guy for the job of creating my custom band, but I’d really like to give him the extra business of M’s ring because he’s just a great person. I will keep you posted on what option we decide to go with, but in the meantime I’m curious to know what everyone thinks. Is anyone else considering Etsy for the purchase of wedding band(s)?