Opening Up The Doors

It is time to finally announce some big news. But stay-tuned because though this is totally awesome, this isn't all of it! More will be coming in just a few weeks :)

Engaged & Inspired is opening up the doors and taking the plunge into the awesomeness that is opening a store front! The location: Downtown Campbell, CA in the South Bay. Oh, and please don't think this is some luxurious space bigger than my house...because it isn't. I'm stocked to start out small and watch the whole process unfold in front of my very eyes. Right now, I am just happy to decorate 400 square feet of awesomeness in a quaint downtown building!

I couldn't be more excited because I have been dreaming about this day for years and years. Finally, I can say that I own a little shop that of course I plan to deck out like crazy and continue to help brides like never ever before!

Of course I am crazy as can be about creating the most perfect and most comfortable working space possible. Gone are the days working from my bed (although it is rather comfy!) or from a coffee shop. Aside from that, I will have a space set up for brides to sit down and peruse the blog, The Inspired List, other vendor portfolios, and shop it up with some bad ass wedding day accessories!

Here is a tour through the inspiration of the shop I plan to create:

Desk space is going to be absolutely-freakin-lutely vital for me! I am creating a space I will never ever want to leave.

As far as paint colors I am thinking of wallpapering two walls, having one cream wall and having a statement wall featuring a robin's egg blue kind of color! Thoughts?

Currently we have some brilliant collections we will be displaying in the shop such as Wedding Chicks Totes, Garter Girl Garters, Lo Boheme Hair Accessories, and many many more that will be announced shortly!

Lots of eye candy from the vendors and shop items will make the walls drool-worthy.  You can also expect lots of brilliant retail displays to get all those must-have wedding accessories for yourself!

Brides will need a place to sit and have vendor meetings, or to sit and create inspiration boards, DIY projects and the like. The most inspiring seating is, of course, totally necessary.

I'll end off this big fat announcement and sneak peak at the office awesomeness that I plan to create with the idea for a massive ceiling installment taking up far too much of the ceiling space.

Brides wouldn't feel comfortable without yummy eats, sweet treats, and yum yum drinks! And of course no purchase is complete without wonderful branding to take away with you. Those little additions are being designed as we speak for our amazing grand opening!

Door will be opening in the second week of September!

INTERESTED IN TAKING PART? In the meantime we are still totally interested in filling up the vendor roster with great Bay Area vendors who need a space to display work, hold meetings, etc. E-mail me for more info!

And if you have a collection you think would fit perfectly in our little downtown wedding spot, e-mail me.

Some Exciting News + A Look Back On The Past Year

I have been waiting a very long time to write this post, and today I actually get to do it. I am posting this as an inspiration and accomplishment of mine, something I am very proud of. In March 2010 I received an e-mail from an online lifestyle magazine asking if I would be interested in writing for their wedding section. I had never ever been paid to write before, so this was kind of a big deal to me. I didn't think I was good enough to get paid for writing of all things.

They paid me a tiny sum of $8 an article and I did 3 a week. (Which by the way, I slaved over for hours making sure they were perfect!) The day I received my first pay check was an exciting day because this was my own thing, not some 9-5 job paycheck. I started a bank account at that time and put my $8 per article in there and since I didn't think this would ever be a full-time job for me, I decided that one day I would buy something that I really wanted with it that I could be proud of because every dollar paid for it was from this little hobby of mine. Every single paycheck made from writing went into this account very diligently every week since the beginning.

I was lucky enough to continue to get job after job to the point where I was actually busy full-time with this little thing called writing. Obviously plans changed a little bit in October 2010 when I started freelancing full-time. But  aside from the fact that freelance writing was now my full-time job (which was an accomplishment on its own seeing as I got to say good bye to the good old 9-5) I still wanted my "writing savings account" so continued to add to it every week.

About a year and a half after that first $8 job, the idea behind it is still pushing me day after day. It was never about the money, but the fact that someone believed in me enough to pay me to add content to their site. This was such a new concept to me. And look at me now!

The thing I decided to spend my money on a while back was a new car. But not just any car, I wanted a sorta fancy awesome car that I totally loved. I wanted to drive around my car thinking, "my little hobby of blogging, got me this car". Well, on Friday, that dream finally came true! After months of researching tons of cars, going through a million senerios in my mind, and so on, I finally found a car that I wanted to call my own. It was sort of fancy and sort of awesome, and something that I could eventually give to Ian (he doesn't like flashy stuff, so white was out of the question) when I had babies and wanted to upgrade to an SUV. Everything about it was perfect and exactly what I wanted in all shapes and forms. And late Friday night, with Ian out of town and no one home at all, I bought this new car.

So, say hello to my brand new car!

I can't tell you how amazing it is to think that something I used to do for fun has actually been the only thing I can count on in my life (work-wise) and has always come through for me. I absolutely love the idea of working for myself because it puts my life 100% in my hands, and I know what I can do. I have come so far in a pretty short amount of time and it only excites me more and more for the next year and the massive plans I have!

Blogging Around The World :: Vintage Safari Shoot #19

I am so excited to be participating in another round of Blogging Around The World! Not only do I get to work with some of my favorite bloggers, but I get to feature this shoot that is far too incredible for words.

Make sure you click around the blogging world to catch the whole shoot in all its glory. I'm telling you, there are some to-die-for photos in this shoot.

Bubble Rock Studios :: Cap Classique :: The Unreal Bride :: Brancoprata :: Bijoux Bride :: Bridal Musings :: The Oceanside Bride :: Hey Gorgeous :: Sparkle and Hay :: Wedding Pickle :: The Perfect Palette :: Oh Lovely Day :: La Petite Coquin :: Brenda’s Wedding Blog :: Fab You Bliss :: Landlocked Bride ::  Bow Ties and Bliss :: A Paper Proposal :: Engaged & Inspired :: The Charity Wedding

I chose this photo because of the luscious details involved in this one shot alone. The florals are to die for, and the accessories create the perfect set of details for such a gorgeous color palette.

I couldn't help but ask to choose more than one photo, and since there were some extras, I was able to pick from some of the photos that were not being used! Every detail from the vintage keys, to the paper products to the table is just incredible. I love the scene that was created and I am especially loving this color palette of fall tones perfect for those getting hitched in the next few months!

I figured that since I was basically last on the Blogging Around the World line-up that I would post my faves....which obviously was really hard to narrow down!

Location: Out of Africa Wildlife Park and Along the Verde River, Camp Verde, Az | Coordination & Concept: Alicia French of The Charity Wedding | Event Design: KD Event Designs | Photography:  Fancy Fin Photography | Bouquet: Glamorous Occasions | Cake & pastries: Kick Ass Kakes | Invitations, Menu, Dessert Toppers and Hang Tags: Wedding Girl | Model: Dahlee | Makeup Artist: Sabrina Sweet Makeup | Hair Artist: Erin McDonald of Aveda Red 115 Salon | Gown: La Belle Reve | Jewelry: Genevieve | Cupcakes: Handmade by Alicia

Things Are A Changin'

I'm super excited about the post I have for you all a little bit later but due to the lull I thought this would be a perfect time to talk about all the new changes that will be coming very soon!

There are plenty of juicy secrets about our new site including new services and new endeavors. Those I am keeping to myself but in the mean time let's talk about our vendor guide, The Inspired List.

Currently, The Inspired List is an entirely separate site from Engaged & Inspired but that will no longer do! The plan is to make TIL (The Inspired List) a full-fledged part of the Engaged & Inspired site. Now you can click around to find vendors, inspiration, DIYs and much more all in the same place. Along with all of this, we are embarking upon a massive re-design, not only of the blog, but of The Inspired List to create the most user-friendly and pretty site out there.

And that is not all...we have one more announcement up our sleeve. Introducing:

Currently, there are two vendor options for the site, Premium listings and Free listings. These are great and allow any vendor the ability to add their portfolio to the site giving brides choices. But since we know how much brides LOVE recommendations (and for a very good reason!) we are also creating a "hand-crafted" vendor section. This application/approval-based section will feature those that go through the ringer to become one of Engaged & Inspired's top picks. And don't think this is for vendors that pay more, because actually they get a discount for joining this section, but I have worked with enough vendors to know the good from the bad, and every bride deserves to know who the phenom vendors are in every price range.

Vendors: Interested in becoming part of the Hand-Crafted section of The Inspired List? E-mail for an application. Brides: Have a wedding vendor that you could rant and rave about for hours? E-mail your suggestion.

{The Lab} Vendors

This past week has been a little crazy. First I headed off to Vegas for a bachlorette party followed by a week long trip to Chicago to visit my husband. (He is only in Chicago for 2 weeks.) Vegas was ridiculously fun, but it has taken a few days to get back into the groove of things. I am now sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Chicago hoping to finally get some work done.

I thought this would be a good time to update you about The Lab happening January 14, 2012 at Cline Cellars in Sonoma. We are lucky to have such wonderful vendors share our passion for this event and jump on board giving us the opportunity to work with the best of the best to make this event beyond a success.

And this is only the beginning! There are so many more that have yet to be announced. If you haven't had the chance yet, poke around The Lab website and even buy your tickets!

Creative Marriage Proposal {Vid}

You know what I love? How freaking creative these boys are getting about their proposals. I have seen so many recently and each seems to be even more creative than the last. I'm loving all these sweet boys and the amazing ways they are confessing their love. Here is another one that I quite enjoyed.

The Lab {Coming Soon}

The Lab :: {Not your ordinary bridal fair} coming to the wine country.

It is about time we get some incredible events in the Bay Area, so get ready and get set because this is definitely it! :: Check out our new pretty website :: We will be announcing the date and venue shortly (and might I just say, I am dying over the venue!) so stay with us as we start exposing all the goodies that are going into this event. It's gunna get juicy up in here!

Brides: Stay in the Loop Connect: Twitter Vendors: Interested? e-mail us

Brought to you by Bustle Events :: Engaged & Inspired :: Floral Theory.

Inspiring Finds

This shoot is absolutely amazing in so many ways. The concept of black swan/white swan was done perfectly here and all with some very high fashion wedding accents. I'm loving every image of this story. I only picked a few favorites, but check out the rest on Jessica Claire's blog.

I'm really really loving chevron and other bold patterns. I know I am probably late on the chain, but I really don't care. People have told me that since I apparently know how to throw a really good party, I need to have an annual wedding of sorts to reunite everyone.  Obvious not a whole wedding, but a really big party was be lots of fun. If I do that, these are in the running for the best napkins to date. But who knows, I may be preoccupied preparing for ....... a baby. So, we will see.

Lastly, these little cd sleeves gave me a really fun idea for an invitation. I may or may not be preparing an event in which invitations are in order. :) I love the idea of creating a video (I really wanted to do that for the wedding actually, but time was not on our side) and wrapping the CD in twine with some other paper goodies would be just awesome.

Our Little Sidebar & Lots of Goodies

We have lots of fun goodies on our sidebar these days. We will be going through our super amazing and ridiculously incredible blog design but in the mean time I wanted to show you what is going on with the current E&I. So check out all the goodies and I will continue to have more always coming at you.

Honeymoon Bags

Here is a little tip about honeymooning: let everyone know that you are on your honeymoon! I thought that by now people would be so blah to hearing that, but we actually got quite a few perks. First we walked off the plane with several bottles of champagne and all the first class amenities. In each hotel we scored upgrade after upgrade just because when I booked I wrote "we are on our honeymoon" in the comment box. Then once we were there we would ask for a second upgrade :) It doesn't always work, but it did enough to make it awesome. I was sent this little bag to try out on my Honeymoon and while it is not particularly my style, I will say that having a big bag handy for everything from your personal belongings, to sunglasses, changes of clothes, and all that other random stuff you must have while you are out is great. The Honeymoon Bag is the perfect way to carry everything in style during your fabulous trip. The best thing is that people at hotels or on airlines can easily spot it and hopefully give you some great perks during your trip. We got so many awesome perks for being on our honeymoon, it was incred!

Aside from a great big bag I found it incredibly convenient to carry around a small over the shoulder bag for basics. I put my passport, money and phone in this small bag that I basically had around me at all times. Seeing as I am used to carrying massive bags, I didn't even notice this one. This made it easy for quick dinner runs or hanging out around the hotel.

And because I am known for having far far too many bags on me, I also brought along my bag I received from Wedding Chicks. I realized a week before the wedding that I forgot to order my Wedding Chicks bag! Luckily the guy in charge of the shop was ridiculously nice and rushed it out to me the day I ordered it giving me plenty of time to fall in love with it before the wedding. And that I did. I got the bunting one, but now that I look at their shop again, they have way too many amazing options!