Wedding Shower Wears

My bridal shower is this weekend! I know that seems crazy because I'm not getting married until April. But in Seattle, when you really only get 2 months of solid sunshine, you want to take advantage of it. This will likely be my only outdoor wedding event, so we figured why not have it early and just prolong the celebrating. My girls have put together what I'm sure will be an amazing afternoon - I can't wait to share. Since they haven't let me lift a finger, the main thing I've been focused on is finding a cute dress to wear for the occasion. Originally I was leaning toward finding a pretty white or ivory dress, because I figure this is the one time in your life you can unabashedly wear white. After sifting through a few options, though, i just wasn't thrilled with anything. I went back to the drawing board and noticed that there are a ton of styles right now to choose from in our colors. So, instead of traditional bridal white I'm looking to pick up a summer frock that mimics the motifs in the pattern we had designed.

Here are a few of the favorite affordable options I've found and loved:

Sources (Clockwise from top left): One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Whats your shower style? Does it have to be formal bridal white, or can you get into the theme of the big day a bit?

Sweet Succulents

With four months to go until our big day, we have been focusing on locking in rest of our vendors (florist, cake and entertainment). This week flowers have been on my mind and I'm loving a mixture of local wild flowers and succulents. Below is my inspiration for bouquets. I love how the succulents add texture and compliment coral and white flowers.

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

For boutineers Derek is envisioning a simple succulent with a spring of lavender.

Sources: 1, 2, 3 & 4

For our tablescape we plan to fill mismatched vases and planters with local flowers and succulents. To keep our flower costs down we will be planting some of our own succulents to mix in with our florists' creations. We plan to replant these succulents in our garden after out wedding too!

Sources: 1, 2 & 3

Did you, or are you planning on using succulents for your wedding? Were you able to reuse them?

I have also been contemplating how to highlight our moms on our wedding day. Did you go with a corsage, wrislet, small bouquet or something else for yours? Would love to hear what other brides are doing!

Bachelorette Accessorizing

This week I have to admit I was slacking big time with my own wedding planning. This past weekend we celebrated my future in-laws Bachelor/Bachelorette party in Palm Springs. I decided to finally make one of those Pinterest DIY projects I have been contemplating. These t-shirts are super adorable and easy to make so I wanted to share my fun find with all of you!

Source: Something Turquoise

SUPPLIES NEEDED:  Clorox Bleach Pen, wax paper, piece of cardboard and your choice of t-shirt.

Source: Something Turquoise

For the full directions, click here.

Mine did not turn out quite as cute as these (so I'm not showing my finished product ). I left the bleach on for over 20 minutes, but for some reason my "Bride" was still a light pink color instead of a crisp white.

I will definitely try making these again with thinner material! What's your favorite bachelorette DIY project?

Let's hear it for the girls! {over-the-top flower girl dresses}

Warning: this blog post involves not one, but two humble-brags. 1) I have two ridiculously adorable flower girls: the daughters of our close friends. And they are at just that perfect age of ALL PRINCESS EVERYTHING, so no flower girl dress is too over-the-top. Sequins? Duh. Feathers? You betcha! Tulle? Obviously.

2) My previously mentioned crafty mother has graciously accepted the task of hand-making these flower girl dresses! So, we get to design them together!! My mom is an incredible seamstress, and while regular school play costumes were de rigueur around my house, my mom also tackled more substantial projects like my kick-ass prom dress. So, yeah...she's pretty legit.

Humble brags aside (fine...they were mostly just brags!), my mom and I are on the hunt for adorable and inspirational flower girl dresses that are unique, fantastical, and totally over-the-top. Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Put Her Best Foot Forward {flats for your bridesmaids}

My sister is my MOH and sole bridesmaid, and, while she is amazingly smart, gorgeous, and funny to boot, she is not a heels girl. Lucky for her, I am not a bridezilla (hate that word), and couldn't give two hoots about the shoes on her feet. That being said, her dress is short, so I'll take it upon myself as bride and the more shoe-obsessed sister to find her a lovely, wedding-friendly pair of flat sandals to wear with her dress. Her dress is similar to the below, from David's Bridal and J. Crew:

Source: 1, 2

Here are a couple of shoes I think would be fun and unique for a bridesmaid...who ever said all bridesmaids need to wear silver kitten heels from Chinese Laundry? Ugh.

And a few more sparkly options:

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

As for me, I'll be in these... ; )

Source: 7 

Etsy Favorites: Swanlake

This Etsy shop is a new found favorite of mine! I absolutely love the bold colors and fabulous design. Any of these are perfect holiday gifts or bridesmaid gifts for your girls. Check out Swanlake's Esty shop. You will not be disappointed!

Perfect Gifts

Whether I like it or not, the holidays are upon us! Here are just a few things I have found recently that I am totally dying over! Consider each of these loves on my wish list this year :)

1.  Polar Stones: Super awesome! I bought a pack as a Christmas gift and they sent me a sample pack to try out! I'm totally in love with the idea behind them. Freeze the stones and add them to your drink. As opposed to ice, it doesn't water the drink down (and being the uber slow drinker that I am, everything tends to get watered down) which I love. And how stylish are these?

2. Swanlake: My next obsession is this insanely awesome necklace! I really want one right about now! I'm such a fan of oversized chunky jewelry that this piece is a little subdued for me, but I'm sure I would actually wear it if I had it :)

3. Let's Go Anywhere: LOVE. That is all there is to it. This is insanely amazing, perfect for my office.

And you can present a gift without the perfect wrapping paper. Check out this DIY watercolor wrapping paper.

the meeting of the mom's

I'm a family person, I always have been & always will be; it means everything to me.  It's not the old days where the parents meet at the wedding & exchange pleasantries but nothing more.  I want more than that.  My dream is to one day be one of those couples who have both parents visit for the holidays.  I'm lucky that both of our families raised us this way & that hopefully this dream will come true.  But first, the families need to meet!  I decided mother's first.  And, I couldn't think of a better event for them to meet than to go wedding dress shopping with me!  It gives the perfect backdrop: excitement, smiles, laughs (ok, maybe also some happy tears), and of course champagne!

Source (from top left): Westside Wedding, Bijou Bride, Intimate Weddings, Wedding by Color, Intimate Weddings, Pronovias, What Anna Loves, themette

I had previously fallen in-love with this adorable vintage wedding dress stamp, so I decided to make invitations using it to send to my mom, future mother-in-law, and 3 of my local bridesmaids.

And this gave me the opportunity to try out this DIY faux calligraphy.

Source: Side by Side

 I've recently become obsessed with my embossing gun & this was the perfect time for me to add another project to the list!

Gray Bridesmaid Dresses from Asos

Who's ready to hang up those blush pink bridesmaid dresses and go for something a little more bold? This patterned dress is just killing me big time. I absolutely love it, and boy would it look so amazing on a group of gals! Head on over to Asos (my GO TO place for bridesmaids dresses BT-dubs) to pick up this one.

I do realize that all of you might not be ready to go so bold, so these gray bridesmaid options are perfect for a a subdued look.

Gray Bridesmaid Dress, Gray Bridesmaid Dress

Who is planning on having their girls rock gray on your wedding day?

the {bridesmaid} proposal

I wanted to ask my bridesmaids to be a part of our wedding in a very special way.  That was something I thought of for a very long time.  I didn't want to just ask them verbally or give them a simple card, I wanted something more, something special that they would remember.  Of course I scoured Etsy for different ideas, but nothing seemed just right.  I found a variety of ideas on how to word the question.  But how to ask?

Source (from top left):Trimmings Shop, The Inspired Note, PaperEtiquette,Caffeine Colour

Bubbly, to me, always signifies celebration and is exactly what I like to drink with my girls.

Source (from top left): Daily Cup of Couture, Classy & Style, Zoie loves, Classy in the City, Everything Fab, Global Good Group, The Glitter Guide, Riches for Rags    

So, I decided to make the bubbly the way to ask them to be a part of the wedding!  I found different ideas of how to include champagne or wine in an invitation.

Source (from left): maddiegdesigns, Southern Fried Paper, Letter Love Designs, Pepper Lindsey & Co.

As a do-it-yourself girl {and bride}, I wanted to design the tags myself rather than outsourcing the project.  I'm new to photoshop & illustrator, but it was fun learning when you have a thoughtful gift in mind.  I had to go with my go-to pattern {polka dots} and my main wedding color {yellow}.

Source: me!

They turned out great & I couldn't have been happier!  Best of all, it really screamed me!  cheers.