The Bridal Shower {Evolved}

I honestly cannot believe how quickly time flies. I feel like I just got engaged and well now it's been over a year since that happened. This month starts all the really fun activities leading up to the wedding. First there's finalizing our menu (with tasting!), my first dress fitting, and my first shower. It's all starting to feel really real and I am anxious to get it all started. When my aunt called to tell me she wanted to host a shower for me, I was giddy with excitement. But then she asked, well what kind of shower do you want? Umm what?! I didn't even know there were different types of showers. Well little did I know..showers have totally evolved and there's so many fun options.

Brunch Shower

 Garden Party

 Bridal Soiree 

The Hardware: Rings

With only about 3 months left in our planning madness it has come the time to start looking at wedding bands. I think much of the hype about "the ring" happens around the engagement ring but there's a lot to consider, like style and significance, when choosing the perfect band. My fiance and I have stopped into a few jewelry stores to check out options for him and I have been absolutely blown away. Who knew that men's rings have a whole new selection of metals and textures to choose from?! I think we both have narrowed what I want in our rings so I thought I'd share a few of our favorites. I'm really leaning to adding some colored gemstones into mine but I do worry this is a phase I'll regret..What do you think?

I'd also love to know, how did you go about selecting you wedding bands?

Delicious Drinks: Stocking the Bar

What's a wedding without a fun and festive crowd there to celebrate with? One sure fire way to get people lively for the reception is making sure the bar is well stocked with delicious drinks. It's come that time on our wedding planning process to figure out our bar and most importantly speciality drinks. Our venue is completely BYOB with no corkage which has a ton of pluses to it but it also allows our imaginations to run wild. We've wrestled with the idea of an open bar during cocktail hour or just a few specialty cocktails. I think this post accurately describes the way I'm leaning. What are some of your favorite speciality cocktails at weddings?

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Going Back in Time {Vintage Rentals}

It's crazy to think just how much goes into wedding planning. From choosing a venue and a photographer, to the food, layout, guest list, music and more, you'd think it was crazy that brides would do even more than just the bare minimum. But let's be honest, those extras are where the details come in and a couple really has the opportunity to show their personality. So I am now at a crossroads, what extras do I want to include? What will add the perfect amount of personality and uniqueness to our wedding? What I'm finding is that it's a bit of a tricky balance. I love wedding details and some of my favorites extra include vintage rentals so for the past few days, I've been choosing what I'll include in my tablescapes.

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Adventures in Cake Tasting

Happy Valentine's Day! What better thing to blog about on Valentine's Day than cake. Yumm give me a slice of cake and a glass of champagne any day and I am one happy girl. Anyways, this past weekend we had a marathon of cake tasting. Our caterer strictly handles food so we needed to find another baker to make our cake. Of course, practicing my due diligence, I scheduled tastings with three different bakers in the same day. Blame being out-of-town bride for this kind of madness. (Way too much sweetness for one day).

After choosing the flavors and fillings, the next question bakers want answered is what the cake will look like. Luckily I brought my handy ipad mini to show them some of my favorite cakes out there:

Double Take: The Decision to Have Two Ceremonies

If you had asked me 6 years ago (after attending my first wedding) if I would have a church wedding, I would have without a doubt told you yes. You see, my fiance and I both attended parochial school for the majority of our schooling and so as a young girl I thought that's what most people did.

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Well fast forward a few years and my fiance and I actually started talking about what our wedding might look like and the word church rarely came up. We pictured an outdoor ceremony, just like the one were planning. So maybe it's Catholic guilt or maybe it's just our nature, but we knew having a religious ceremony was important to us too. Since we were unable to find a priest to agree to marry us outside, we've decided to hold two ceremonies. The first, in the church with only our immediate family and bridal party on the Thursday before our big day and the second, on a Saturday, outdoors, followed by a terrific reception. This is a sure fire way to confuse your wedding guests :)

Love the look of quaint little chapels but also think grand, eye catching churches are gorgeous.

If I was having a church ceremony only, I think I would have loved one of these numbers above. Definitely more formal than my dress for my outside wedding.

I can't help but be smitten over weddings under trees. This is comfortable and so natural for me.

The Details: Signage

It seems more now than ever before brides are using signs as part of their wedding decor. Of course, I could be wrong and this might be a long time practice but since I only went to my first wedding six years ago the trend really seems to have sprung in the last year or so. And I couldn't be happier this trend is "in" when I'm planning my wedding. I love signs. All signs, not just wedding signs. It's a known thing that I love signage and I'm really ok with that. Anyways....amazingly enough a friend from high school opened up a custom sign side business. Her work is absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait to incorporate it into my wedding details.

Some of the sign ideas I am loving.

Credits: Brides, Etsy, Lynnslens, Style Me Pretty, The Bridal Detective

What do you think of signs - too trendy or just right? Will you be using signs as part of your decor? Share in the comments, I'd love to hear!

Crafty Table Numbers

It's hard not to love wedding tablescapes. I love seeing the time and effort that goes into planning a perfect table and how couples decide on what goes where and how it'll look. One of the must-haves for any wedding tablescape is the table number. There's so many different ways differentiate tables that it's always fun to see what people choose. I love the idea of a crafty, diy table numbers since I think they would be a perfect addition to our tables. Here are a few that I love and even think you could make on your own!

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Have you decided what you are doing for tables? Are you using numbers or words to differentiate them?  

Dressing up the Aisle

One of my favorite things about our venue are the huge oak trees around the grounds. They add so much to the space and I can't imagine the place without them. There's one tree in particular that acts as the ceremony focus point. We will be getting married under the tree in June! Since the space around the tree is very plain and rustic, think dirt and leaves, I've been looking for ways to dress up the aisle without taking away from the beautiful tree. Here are a few ideas I keep getting drawn to.

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I love the idea of shepherds hooks with mason jars. They go perfectly with my venue and look beautiful down the aisle. Or the cultural idea of 1000 cranes. I absolutely love how these are displayed between two oak trees.  And drapping on beautiful linen between the branches, so gorgeous and romantic.

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These are the trees we'll be getting married under this summer. It's such a blank slate to work with, I can't wait to decide on the look. I'm in love with the rose petals down the aisle and the gorgeous dahlia tied to the chairs is soft and pretty.

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Other ideas might be petal designs down the aisle, a lace runner to walk down on, petals all the way down acting as a runner, or little tins holding flowers to add some pretty to the space.

Steps to Sample Sale Success

Ohh check that alliteration in the title. Snazzy, right?Gosh I think I'm clever. Ok, ok time to get down to business. You've probably heard it all before but one of the easiest places to save some money when wedding planning is on the dress. But how? If you're anything like me, you've watched just about every episode of Say Yes to the Dress and have drooled over all the beautiful, high priced gowns they showcase. I had heard a few success stories from girls who had chosen to go the Sample Sale route but honestly, I was very weary of that. My initial thoughts were the limited options, lots of people, and the thought of settling based on a good deal. But even with those negative thoughts running through my head I decided to give it a shot and I'm so glad did!

These 6 steps are why I think I was successful at finding my dream dress at a sample sale and I hope they'll help you too:

1. Attend sample sales that takes appointments

2. Go to stores that carry dresses you like and may normally be out of your budget

3. Make your appointment on the first day of the sale (if possible)

4. Go in with a clear budget in mind

5. Have a good idea of what you're looking for

6. Be ready to buy

Shopping for a wedding dress is such a fun and exciting time. Enjoy yourself and if you're looking to save a little money know that there are options out there for you to do just that!

Did you attend a sample sale? What was your experience?