time to accessorize {2 month mark}

Whenever I find myself wondering where should I be in the planning process I refer to Brides magazine. In every issue they have a countdown, and so far it hasn't failed me. At the 2 month mark it suggests:

• discuss ceremony readings and songs with officiant... check! We'll be doing that next week
• Check your state's requirement for a marriage license... need to do this.
• Mail the invitations.... they're arriving THIS WEEK! woohoo!
• Do a hair and make-up trial.... need to schedule, and at least I know who I'm using ;-)
• Order or make the favors... oye, this will be a task.... stay tuned for a future post on this one.
• Accessorize your look!

The last bullet point is what I'm doing today- accessorize your look! Check out some of my inspiration!

A little clutch to hold gloss & other make-up:

Diamonds vs. crystals.... who can tell the difference? Either way, both of these chandelier earrings are fabulous:

Since I'm not wearing a statement necklace, I think a statement cuff will do.... especially one like this!

Belts and sashes are very in this season. Although I'm not wearing one, I really love these:

So brides-to-be.... how do you plan on accessorizing your look??

not wed yet {the bachelorette party}

I cannot believe my bachelorette party is this weekend!!! My maid of honor, Monica, has been planning for months to coordinate what she affectionately calls, "the best bachelorette party EVER." Here's what I know about the weekend: we rented a house with a swimming pool and outdoor bbq in beautiful Santa Barbara, we are going wine tasting; hiring a driver of course, and we are going out for a night of dinner, drinks and dancing on state street (I think). Regardless of what we end up doing, I know I'm going to have the time of my life because I'll be surrounded by over a dozen of my favorite girlfriends. This post is dedicated to what I'll be wearing this weekend. I already have both dresses picked out, but figured I'd throw some inspiration your way for those of you brides-to-be out there who still need to shop for your last "fling before the ring" attire. ;-)

Since we'll be spending one of the days out in the sun wine-tasting, it's important to have a casual, but fun and flirty sun dress. Here's some inspiration below.... BTW I found/bought that turquoise necklace online for only $40!! In person it looks like it is worth hundreds! What a find!

photo credits: left, top-right, bottom-right

And for the night we hit the town I envision myself in a white & sexy little number. FYI, I bought the BCBG dress on the left. LOVE it!

photo credits: left, middle, right

Here's some inspiration from my last bachelorette party fashion post:

And finally, here's a sneak peek at my party invitation (Monica knows me so well).... and a shot of me wearing the fabulous dress I recently bought- that one will be for the wine-tasting extravaganza. OOOOH, I'm so excited!!!!!

photo credits: invitation &  Taya's Dress

What do you have planned for your bachelorette weekend? Are you doing something local or traveling somewhere new? Would love to hear your fun stories!

{Wedding Planning} : What I Leaned From Planning My Dream Wedding

Did you like the sneak peek I shared with you? A big thanks to Cassi Claire for those beautiful images. Also for this incredible graphic she made for my facebook page.

Amazing, right?

After planning our wedding for the past 17 months, I'd like to think I learned a thing or two. Overall I am happy with the result but there are definitely a few things I would have done differently.

{Wedding Day Advice}

Be Prepared for the Unexpected...

Everyone always tells you that things will go wrong. Deep down I knew this, but truly didn't believe that much could possibly go wrong after all of my meticulous planning. Well- let me tell you...I felt like a million things went wrong! Starting with the day of the rehearsal, I left an important bag at my florist, an hour away from my house! She called me and left a voicemail which I received shortly after driving the hour home from our initial meeting. I for the life of me could not understand why this was happening on a day when I had so much to do, but, of course, it ended up working out. My dad offered to drive me there to pick up the bag, and then we went to lunch. It was a perfect little father-daughter afternoon on my last day as a single lady and one of my most treasured moments from the weekend : )

Other things went wrong too. During the ceremony, our reader read the wrong passage first and then abruptly stopped in the middle of the second reading and just sat down, I forgot props I made and pictures I wanted to get, and we had about 10 minutes to take bride/groom photos but the funny thing is that everyone kept commenting how flawlessly the entire day went. Nobody knew the difference when it came to the readings and thanks to our awesome photographer, we only needed 10 minutes to nail the shot. So I guess the take away here is that nobody even noticed all the little things I thought went wrong.

*A Word About Contracts Be careful what you agree to in your contracts. Agree to the minimum you think you will need. Vendors will always let you add more services, but not all vendors will be flexible in removing services from an agreed upon contract. For example, the minimum number of people to reserve the room we got married in was 50, which we knew we would have. So when the hotel asked us for an estimated number of guests we told them 125-150. They went ahead and listed 125 on our contract as our minimum number of guests and held us to that number when it came time to pay the final balance. Luckily, we were only 3 people short, and they allowed us to use those 3 people to count as vendor meals, but then the night of the wedding, an additional 4 people (who we already paid for) just didn't show up. Live and learn.

On the other hand, when I originally met with our florist, I ordered church altar pieces. After meeting with our church, they expressed a preference for a different florist, one they usually work with. I called my wedding florist and asked to remove the altar pieces from the contract and they did it no problem. Just something to be aware of.

*People Will Surprise You People will disappoint you. People who I thought wouldn't miss our wedding for the world weren't there, people who told us they were coming, just didn't show up and people came to our wedding, stayed over in the hotel and didn't give us a gift. It happens. There were also those people were amazingly supportive, and sometimes its the last people you expect it to be.  Your true friends and family will support you no matter what and those are the people you want to celebrate with.

Thank you for reading, following and encouraging me during this process. I will miss blogging here each week!  I hope you will keep up with me over at The East Coast Bride or on Pinterest.

{hiip} bridesmaids' gifts

August is half way over, which means I am getting that much closer to my wedding day! 2 1/2 months to go, people!! It feels good to look back and see how much I've accomplished during my many months of planning... and blogging.  And since the big ticket items are pretty much taken care of, it's now time to hammer out the details... not just make Pinterest boards about them ;-) I have 8 lovely bridesmaids, all of whom are very important women in my life. I want to show them my gratitude by giving them gifts that are unique, practical, sentimental, and have a handmade-loving touch. I imagine giving my maids a bag of some sort filled with goodies... perhaps even a piece of jewelry that they can wear that day.

As I was scouring the internet I noticed on facebook that many of my girlfriends back home in San Francisco were talking about how much they love their new "Hiip" bags. As I did some more research I discovered that these awesome bags were created by an old friend whom I went to high school with, Nicole Flowers. I went to her web site to see the bag styles and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only are these bags fashionably chic, they are also for a great cause!! Read more about the Hiip story and how Nicole is giving back to the community with every bag she sells. VISIT:  http://www.hiipsf.com/home/

Here's what Nicole had to say about how Hiip bags can be a fun and resourceful gift for brides & their maids, " It's ideal because it's the perfect kit for your day of planning: you can stock it with bra tape, lipgloss/stick, bobby pins, even touch-up cream; wear it around (hands-free for all the bridal stuff you'll be carrying!) to various appointments; and then use it as a clutch for the party. With so many colors and patterns to choose from, there will definitely be one that fits with the color scheme of the wedding.  All this while giving back to another in need making it an automatic karmic bonus on your special day."

I can't wait to surprise my girls with one of these bags and fill it with goodies for getting ready on my big day.... I may even customize them by having their initials embroidered. It feels SO good to give a gift that keeps on giving :) Thank you Nicole, for the contribution that you are to the San Francisco community.... and beyond!

What are you giving to your maids on your wedding? Have any creative and thoughtful gift ideas? Please do share!

xo, Taya

::invitation wording:: & a sneak preview

The most difficult task in planning a wedding was finding a venue. The second most difficult task (for me) was researching proper wedding invitation verbiage. Why was this so difficult you may ask? Well, who knew there were so many different ways to skin a cat! If you come from a divorced family (which 50% of us do these days) it changes the traditional format. Of course, there are no strict rules to this. If you're having a casual wedding you can write whatever you'd like. However, if you're having a more formal affair (which I am), then I think it's safe to safe people have expectations that the wording will reflect that. Here's one tid-bit I learned from my research: I learned that if your parents are divorced, their names should each go on their own line (mother's name first). If both sets of parents are contributing to the wedding you'd say "together with." I was surprised by how many questions came up for me while planning out my invites. Here are just a few:

1. When do invitations go out to guests?
2. When should the RSVP be due?
3. If everyone is contributing to the wedding, how do we phrase that on the invitation?
4. How much detailed info should be on the invite? Do we need an insert or should we just direct them to the website?
5. Should we include an insert RSVP for the rehearsal dinner?
6. How do we make the wording formal and important without sounding too stuffy?
7. We haven't had our food tasting yet, but we need to get the invites out.... should we include meal (type) options? i.e. meat or fish?

Here are some sites I found useful for answering all of my questions and helped with guidelines in creating the ideal wedding invitation wording for us:

• Invitation Consultants
• Martha Stewart
• Emily Post
• Beau-Coup

And now for a sneak peek at our wedding invites created by LIZELLY at LizzyBLoves, an invitation and stationary design studio.

We have not gone to print yet, so these are just PDF designs.... but you'll get the idea for what we're going for. And you'll get to see the wedding wording we came up with that made all of the moms happy ;-)

Looking forward to sharing the final product with you soon! Lizelly has been amazing in creating a custom wedding invitation that fits the vibe and theme of what we're going for. I can't wait to get them soon!!!

How was your invitation experience? Did you go the custom route? What challenges did you have (if any)? Please share!

Garden Wedding Sneak Peek

Hello E & I readers! I am back from a glorious 2 weeks of honeymooning in Hawaii and thought I would stop by to share a few wedding pictures with you. If you followed along throughout my planning process, you already  know that finding the perfect photographer was extremely important to me. In fact, I spent the most time researching and interviewing photographers than any other vendor we hired. 10 months into our engagement and I still had no photographer. I started to question my standards and began to wonder if my perfect photographer exsisted. Then one day, I saw a facebook ad for a photographer I never heard of before, Cassi Claire. I clicked on her website and was immediately hooked. After seeing these perfect images from my dream wedding, I'm sure you'll agree she was worth the wait.

 

If you, like me, can't wait to see more, like Cassi on facebook for more updates. And keep an eye out for our wedding, as we plan on submitting it for publication. I'll be back next week with some tips and lessons learned. Leave any questions you want answered in the comments!

making your mark {the guest book}

In just over 3 months our BIG day will finally be here! I was just thinking yesterday how amazing it's been to write for E&I every week. Blogging has definitely helped me stay on track with planning this monumental event and has kept me calm too. Like I've said recently, the big things on my list are taken care of.  Now I've moved on to the details....like, the guest book. I have to admit, when it comes to the "gust book," I'm not really keen on tradition... i.e. Having an actually bound book that says "Guests" where people just sign their names- BORING! I'd like to do something more creative; something we will actually look at and admire in years to come. I got the idea today to blog about thumbprint family tree "guest books" because I recently saw a gorgeous one at the new home of our friends, Michael and Megan Conway. The family tree had every guest's thumbprint in the colors of their wedding, and the print was framed for them to hang in their homes as a memento. What an adorable idea!

Well, here's some inspiration:

 Source: Left & Right

There are so many great DIY ideas out there for creative guest books. Do you have any suggestions or perhaps any tips on how to take on this project?

linens {more than just tablecloths}

Last week I met with my wedding planner to visit a florist and a linen store. Thanks to my preparation and research on flowers, the meeting with the florist went very well!! He was thrilled to have a bride who knew what she wanted! I even brought my iPad to show him photos from my recent E&I posts  ;-) The visit to the linen store was.... overwhelming to say the least. In hindsight, I should have done more research on my vision for table settings to at least have an idea of what I wanted.  To be honest, I didn't even know what to expect from visiting a linen store. I seriously thought, "Linens? I don't care about linens. Just throw on a white table cloth and napkins and we should be good." After the fact, I still don't care that much about linens, but I do know what I want now... something simple and elegant.  I am blogging about this today so all of you brides out there can feel more at ease when you check this off your list.

Here are some things to consider before you shop:

1. What color do you want the table cloths to be?
2. Will the napkins match?
3. Have you considered a table runner? If, so what pattern and/or texture?
4. Do you want your linens to have texture or shine? i.e. satin, cotton, lace, embroidery, etc.
5. What kind of chairs do you want? i.e. plain chairs covered in fabric with a bow, Chiavari chairs, folding chairs, etc.
6. Have you thought about a sweetheart table, or do you want the entire bridal party to be at the same table? This can get complicated if you have 8 bridesmaids and 8 groomsmen like we do.
7. If you have a dessert table and cake table, do you want the linens to match the other tables, or do you want them to stand out differently?
8. What items do you want to place on the table to add a personal touch? i.e. vases, birdcages, picture frames, etc. (stuff besides flowers)
9. Have you envisioned your cake table?

Here are some photos of tables, chairs, linens and decor to give you an idea of what to look for when collecting your inspiration:

Photo Credits: Green Wedding Shoes

Photo Credit: Style Me Pretty

As you can see, there's a lot to think about when it comes to linens. Are you a bride who has a passionate vision for your tables? Or, do you just let your planner run with it based on your colors and other inspiration. Please feel free to share your thoughts!

Final Post!

I cannot believe this is my final pre-wedding post. {Almost} all of the final details have been finalized, although I am still pulling my hair out over a few things. I tackled a lot in the past few weeks, DIY-ing like crazy and, according to my fiance, taking on way too many projects, but I do think my hard work paid off and I cannot wait for you to see what we have come up with! Burlap played a bigger role than I originally imagined but I love how it added a bit of rustic charm to my otherwise romantic affair. I am proud to say I have stuck very closely to my original inspiration, which I have included here.

I enjoyed blogging here every week and will miss preparing my posts. I so enjoyed writing about my wedding planning progress that this journey inspired me to start a new wedding blog- The East Coast Bride. Check it out and be sure to check in with me if you do! Wish me luck and thank you for reading!

Sunshine Inspiration {Shopping for Flowers}

I will become Mrs. DiCarlo in just 117 days from now..... oh. em. gee. People have continued to ask me, "how's the planning going?" and I simply reply, "great!" That's the truth folks. Maybe I'm in denial about how fast time seems to be flying by, but I honestly don't feel stressed at all. All of the big stuff on my list has been taken care of. These next 117 days will be all about the details. This Thursday I'm going to visit a floral shop and linen store with Linda, my wedding planner, so I'm using today's post to do a little homework in preparation for our visit.

If you've followed along with my past posts about florals, you know that I love succulents. The difference between then and now is that I have confirmed that my colors are grey and yellow.  Here is some of my inspiration...

Source: W-WeddingFlowers.com

Source: one, two, three

Source: one, two, three

 

Source: left, right

Source: one, two, three

Source: Styleblueprint.com

One thing I learned from researching flowers is that they have some funny names, like: "Billy Balls" and "China mums." I have a feeling this is going to be a very educational experience for one who does not have a green thumb, like me....I'll keep you posted on how the trip went!

In the meantime, do you have any pointers or tips to help me prepare for my trip to the florist? Anything you wish you knew or did before you went? I am hoping that I can save some dough by getting some of the containers for the flowers on my own and giving them to the florist. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!