Announcing --> The Lab iPhone App

It is time to let the cat out of the bag! The Lab is a bridal experience taking place in Sonoma, Ca on January 12. As one of the founders of the event, we have been working day and night creating the perfect event for brides! While we ramp up for our event, we have been secretly working on a little something special. I am so very excited to finally let you in on a little something I have been working very hard on for the last few months. The Lab iPhone App!

We are serious when we say that it is our top priority to connect brides with the right type of vendors. We want to showcase some of the best talent for you so you don't have to go and do all the research yourself. At The Lab we will have 6 spaces decked out to give you endless amounts of inspiration along with bites, great music and of course, our fashion show! We also offer a library of vendor portfolios to look through at your leisure. All this is good and all, but we wanted to take it a step further and give you a place to search through our extensive library of vendors before, during or after the event. See something you love while walking The Lab? With the app you can save to favorites or just go ahead and shoot them an email right then and there!

Download it now!

Strengthen Your Brand With Film - A Workshop

Super excited to announce our very first strengthen your brand day! That's right vendors, this post is for you! Find out how this workshop can help you broaden your online presence and in turn give potential clients insight into your brand! Films are an increasingly popular way to give potential clients insight into you and your company. Telling your story and showcasing your personality does wonders for the brides who is judging who to book based off a website and portfolio. Let them get to know you! We feel that it is incredibly important to help vendors obtain a well-crafted film to showcase on their website without paying the big bucks! (On average a video of this length is quoted at over $2,000!).

Strengthen your brand, tell your story and show off your skills in a 90 second video. All in a few hours!

Interested? Apply at: allison@engagedandinspired.com.

How it works: You'll be given a color palette and mood board (although we are totally happy to hear your ideas in terms of style and colors!) and will prepared your portion of a styled photoshoot (if you are a florist, you'll do the flowers, photographers will shoot a vignette that is already set up, etc). We will capture you working your magic as well as hosting a small interview telling us a bit about you!

You will receive a film that you can add to your website giving brides a glimpse into your personality, brand and style of work! From there, let the bookings begin!

Weekend Recap

What a week it has been. August was an insane rush with 10 weddings in 4 weeks. Not that I need to say it, but talk about exhausting! So I was happy to float into September with only 6 weddings. This feels like a breeze :) This weekend's wedding consisted of designing and crafting favors for a Holman Ranch wedding planned perfectly by the fabulous Soiree By Simone. Suffice it to say, these scone + jam favors were among my favorite favor ideas of the year. Can't wait to see the photography magic Delbarr Moradi did with this wedding. It was gorgeous!

In between all the crafting (after a while your hands and eyes need a break) I decided to start cleaning out my office as well as the garage. Before I knew it, my room look like a tornado hit it while I cleaned out every drawer, every shelf and organized it all. Sort of a weird thing to do while it is crunch time for a wedding, but hey, I got it all done and my office looks incred, win-win!

Sunday morning consisted of wrapping mini baguettes with twine for each place setting at the wedding. I decided to leave for Carmel a bit early and hit up Bernardus Lodge on the way for a cup of coffee and a little time to answer emails with some amazing views.

I'm so lucky to get to spend so much time at my wedding venue, Holman Ranch along with the fabulous Simone as the planner of this wedding. Just check out this fabulous shot of the table place settings!

Now onto finalizing everything for a Big Sur wedding next weekend!

Stationery Etiquette with Wedding Paper Divas

I had never looked at the Wedding Paper Divas site until recently. Boy do I wish I had looked into it during my wedding, especially for my Thank You cards! Today we are going to talk a little bit about wedding stationery and when you should plan to send out all your goodies. SAVE THE DATES. The rule of thumb for sending out Save The Date invitations is 6-8 months before the wedding date. At that time you may not have your guest list secure(I didn't!), but not to worry, send these to the guests you know will be invited for sure. Don't fret the rest.

Save-The-Dates-Wedding-Paper-Divas

Credit: Save The Date 1, 2, 3, 4

INVITATIONS: The world of wedding invitations can be uber overwhelming! Finding the right design, choosing paper and choosing your extras is one huge task. Rule of thumb for sending invitations is about 6 weeks in advance, but being the avid planner I am, I like to send them out 8 weeks in advance and ask that RSVP responses be in 4 weeks in advance. This helps with the inevitable followup with guests that just forgot to send them in.

wedding-invites-wedding-paper-divas

Credit: Wedding Paper Divas: 1, 2

THANK YOU CARDS: Thank you's are a huge must-do! Unfortunately a lot of couples don't ever get around to sending thank you cards. Big no no. Make sure to send thank you cards to your guests, even those that didn't send you gifts. I actually had a lot of people that skipped the whole gift-giving aspect, but I still made a point to send them a thank you for coming to our big day and celebrating with us.

thank-you-cards

Credit: Wedding Paper Divas 1, 2, 3

There you have it! Sources like Wedding Paper Divas can make your life so much easier. It is definitely worth getting lost in their website offering endless inspiration for all sorts of stationery!

{E&I Work} Haute Bride Grand Opening Celebration

The brand new Haute Bride salon opened in downtown Los Gatos a while back, and I was lucky enough to help plan the Grand Opening celebration. I have never been as excited for anything to happen in this industry as I was when Haute Bride opened in Los Gatos. Why? Because down here there just isn't as much going on, and I am happy that we now have one of the most amazing bridal salons in the area, right here where I live! SO EXCITED. In fact, one of my brides already went and picked out her dress there, and she just loved the whole experience.

Back to the Grand Opening! The space Lindsie has created is to-die-for gorgeous, that it really didn't need too many extra details, so I created a dessert table, takeaway bags for guests and one killer photobooth backdrop. The evening commenced with yummy drinks featuring Devotion Vodka, plenty of wine and a great time. Hayley Paige, a new bridal designer, came and we had a runway show featuring her first and current collections. Seriously, she has created so many gorgeous dresses, it is way too hard to choose a favorite.

Check out these fabulous photos (shot by U + ME + US Studios & Gavin Farrington Photography) documenting the entire night, and see if you can spot some of my crafty goodness in the mix!

All photos above taken by U + ME + US Studios :: All photos below taken by Gavin Farrington Photography

Love this photo of dress designer Hayley Paige and Haute Bride owner, Lindsie Jones! They look pretty awesome against that backdrop, right?

Check out the Grand Opening film shot by Frame 44 with a glimpse into the event as well as the fabulous Hayley Paige Runway Show!

Overall, the event was so much fun. If you are in need of a dress or some killer accessories, make sure to make an appointment with Haute Bride for your fashion needs. They are located right in downtown Los Gatos across from the movie theater in a fabulous shop. 40 N. Santa Cruz Ave. Los Gatos.

{E&I Work} Crafty Library Inspired Baby Shower

After tossing around a few ideas for this shower, Yasmin of Floral Theory and I landed on what you can see here. The amazing invitations were done by Aerialist Press, truly a talented duo.

From there I began crafting like crazy on the details to make sure the details were fabulous and fitting for such a fun event celebrating Erin's amazing little man. I'll try to post some DIY tutorials soon! The crowns were the most fun little DIY I did for this. There are so so many people to thank for contributing to this. From the food, to desserts and even the venue were a labor of love. We are lucky to know so many great and talented individuals up here.

Super excited that this baby shower was featured on Onto Baby!

Videography & Coordination Deal + Dipped Kitchenware

I've got an awesome offer to present to you fabulous brides today! If you are looking for someone to coordinate your wedding the month-of, and you are still on the hunt for a videographer, this is DEFINITELY for you :)

The Details:

Month-Of Coordination: From the timeline to the floor plan and set-up to clean-up I'm there to ensure your day goes off perfectly from beginning to end.

Videography: Matt of Frame 44 will come shoot your big day and edit a 5-9 minute highlights film. And if you are anything like me, you will be watching that film ALL the time throughout the years to come.

By booking the two of us together you are able to save $1,000. E-mail for details & pricing: allison@engagedandinspired.com

I recently found this Etsy shop Wind & Willow, and I just love all the pieces! Everything is wood dipped in paint (with some awesome colors). Seriously, how awesome would it be to eat a salad out of this bowl!? Perfect wedding gift :)

This week has been all around nuts. I thought when I finished planning my wedding that I would be good to go, but all I ever do now is design weddings! I'm not sure how I got here, but I love it.

I do this weird thing the day before a huge wedding where I start cleaning out my house. I'm not sure why, but I guess I have so much energy that I need to direct it somewhere :) So in the past week I have cleaned out my garage as well as my crafting closet. Two huge projects if I do say so. I'm actually really excited to take and post photos of my newly decorated office, but until then I wanted to do a little iPhone dump! Here is my week in 9 photos apparently. It might just be easier to follow me on Instagram!

Not sure if you have seen it yet, but I am the new DIY Blogger for The Knotty Bride! You can see my first DIY accomplishment over on her blog right now :) A Neon Chevron (ish) Table Runner. I'll be showing up each week to do something new, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

I'm loving this logo! Seeing as I am embarking upon a site redesign, I have been looking for inspiration everywhere. This is so pretty and funky. Love it. Design by Breanna Rose Design.

In way of the blog:

Kalista talks about how he proposed this week! (Super awesome story)

Ashley talks about decor and asks the age old question, to or to not have a coordinator.

Heather chats about wedding favors. I JUST LOVE wedding favors :)

Taya is getting to the details. We are talking table settings, that's right!

Kim posts a bachlorette photo shoot. Just you and your girls, how about that!

And Rachel, well Rachel is playing dress up! With some fun WHITE dresses. See her pics.

And there you have it! Our girls are busy busy planning their weddings and posting about all the awesome things they come across along the way! So spill it, what are you loving right now? Anything awesome that you have come across that you are definitely using for your wedding? let's spill the beans!

{Sponsored Post} Truth About Diamonds

Truth About Diamonds exists to educate the consumer on diamonds in just about every way. When I was getting married I was also changing up my ring quite a bit. Through that process I actually learned a ton about diamonds from clarity to which flaws are better than others. Every single diamond had a different price because there were SO many variables. Finding the best one for the best price was definitely something that took me several visits and a lot of comparison.

Truth About Diamonds takes on some of the basic and more challenging questions when it comes to buying a diamond. They offer so much information on the site that you can definitely get enveloped in all of the information up for grabs.

Aside from the education aspect of the site, they also offer a good place online to buy your diamond. They feature top picks, options in each price range, and dissect the diamond available with all the pros and cons. This also means that you can easily compare everything right there and see which diamond fits you best.

If you are in the market for getting a new rock, Truth About Diamonds is a resource that is sure to offer you the information you need to make the most informed decision possible.

Check out their website for more details and click around on their menu to see all the information they provide.

Engaged & Inspired Weekly + Inspired Links

It has been quite the week over here! And I am excited to share about the week and what is going on at E&I every Friday in my "Inspired Links" post each Friday. I had my first wedding of the season last weekend. It was a beautiful Holman Ranch wedding with soft and romantic details. I was so happy to have the opportunity to work with Simone of Soiree by Simone as well as Delbarr Moradi Photography. Two truly awesome people. Here is a shot of the dessert table I designed. I posted a few other photos on my Instagram.

iPhone Shot. I don't want to give too much away!

We are going to change things around a little bit with our lovely E&I Brides. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be all about our fabulous ladies planning their big affairs! Which means that you will see me around here more often as I will be covering Monday & Friday with real wedding, insprational links, and more advice from the other side (of planning that is).

Meet our fabulous E&I Brides and check out all of their pretty inspiration boards!

I'm sure you guys know good and well by now that I highly enjoy crafting, DIYs and the like. What you might not know is that I am doing these for weddings as well. AKA, if you want some crafty awesome, one-of-a-kind details, I'm definitely your gal!

I am very excited about some of the projects on my crafting to-do list! Kraft books, an amazing antler inspiration for the nursery (not pregnant, just a crazy planner) some fun programs, and if I can extra awesome, I might try my hand at a lighting installation. Oh and you will be able to see some of my fun creations on The Knotty Bride as I take on being the DIY blogger for her! (Excited much? YEP)

These and so many of my other favorite DIYs to try can be found on my Pinterest board!

How has your week been? What planning goods and bads are you running into? Would love to hear about your week and what you are up to!

Engagement Story

Hello Lovelies, I am very excited to be a part of the Engaged and Inspired Crew of Brides. Since you will be following me weekly on Monday's, I felt that a little intro to myself and the Mr (aka Steve) is in order.

Steve and I have been dating over 2 years now and met through working in the same industry. I feel very lucky to have met the most amazing man who makes me happy everyday that we are together. Steve popped the question last year while we were on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. To say that he gave me a good engagement story would be a huge understatement. Every girl dreams of the romantic proposals like you see in the movies and that is just what my man delivered.

Source: 1,2

The first full day of our vacation is where this story starts. Steve and I had spent a great day at the beach enjoying the sun and getting settled into full vacation mode.  Steve seemed very adamant that he wanted to go to the marina at sunset to watch all the fishing boats come in with their catch of the day. I was game and figured, margaritas at sunset, let's go! We changed our clothes and headed to the marina. I thought it was odd that Steve had an opinion of what dress I wore, and promptly made a selection for me. Once at the marina Steve was acting odd and quickly ditched our traveling companies (his parents) and started making a brisk walk down the marina. I started scolding him that it was rude to leave his parents behind as they were in for the "margaritas and boat watching" as well. That's when he sprung it on me that he planned a surprise and to just go with it. Before I knew it we were on a sailboat enjoying the sunset views and beaches. 

Little did I know.....

My love had planned an amazing proposal complete with the crew taking photos for us, roses and champagne at sunset. I hope you enjoyed our story; now I want to hear how your Mr popped the question!