Busy, Busy & Balloons

Hello lovelies and happy Friday!

Oops. It's Thursday, but I'm off tomorrow so it's MY Friday! Woot woot!

I am sorry I have been M.I.A. lately.

There are SLEW of things going on at work and also with the wedding.

I will update all of you as soon as possible. Just know that even though I'm not blogging, I am working hard to make big wedding-related decisions this weekend. Tonight we're going to a tasting (we've narrowed our search down to three caterers), and tomorrow and Saturday I'll be wedding dress shopping!

I have a lot to share, but unfortunately there has been a "situation" with my job that has required my full attention. Can I ask that you please keep me in your prayers? I'm making a BIG transition. 

Oh... and I know a lot of people think balloons at weddings are lame, but personally, I love the idea.

What are your thoughts? 

These are our colors!

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Thank you!

I just want to take a second to thank everyone for such loving words of encouragement...

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Today was one of those days. I woke up in a funk with a lot of crap on my mind, both wedding (well, marriage) related and other. I didn't feel like working, but I didn't have a choice. And I didn't feel like blogging, but luckily I posted a few things last night, including "Insecurities."

My mood didn't much improve when I got to work, but as the day went on and I recieved your comments, my spirits were lifted! It was one of those things I couldn't ignore -- you know when you're in a bad mood and you refuse to acknowledge anything good? Well, despite wanting to feel bad, I couldn't help but feel good about the love and support you showed.

It was so refreshing to hear such positive feedback and knowing it was from awesome women (I know you're awesome because I read your blogs, and your blogs are awesome), really made me feel better! When you've got so much going on in terms of planning a wedding and a marriage, it's really nice to know you're not alone. It's nice to know others have been there, want to share their experiences, and lend a shoulder.

So without making this way too sappy, I just want to thank you all for your kiind words of encouragement. I was truly encouraged. Thanks to you, I had a lot of confidence today. I thought of our wedding the way it should be thought of - as something that is for us, not for anyone else, and there is no right or wrong. Even though that should be obvious, it gets down played, like many of you pointed out, when you're looking at pictures of seriously fabulous weddings everyday.

Anywho, thank you again for all your comments about our venue, style, and ideas. You all are truly a blessing and I cannot image how a bride that doesn't blog gets through it.

Much love!!

XOXO

Insecurities

I've been feeling very insecure about things lately.

As soon as I hear about another wedding, venue, or DIY project, I start to feel unprepared for our big day. I start to question whether Oxon Hill is really a nice venue and whether I've chosen the right DIY projects to tackle...

I know. I know. What's my problem? This is our day to create any kind of party we want, anywhere we want (considering our budget of course), so why should it matter what others think and what others do? Well, it just does. You don't want to do a crap job. Come on, we all care. Probably a little too much.

I just get cold feet about the decisions we've made and it sucks. Miss Sloth mentioned this earlier in the week. Having a long engagement gives you more of an opportunity to second guess yourself, and third, and fourth second guess yourself. Ugh. I honestly wish I wasn't like that, but I feel like I can't help myself. I wish I felt more assured in our decisions. I can't stand being such a fickle bride.

Here's the thing:  a friend tells me her friend picked their venue and it's a resort. Immediately, I start to wonder if our venue is as nice. This is before I even know what the name of this resort is! Nevertheless, I start to wonder why we didn't pick a resort. Should we have picked a resort?

I run and look up the resort, just to find it's rated 4.5 stars on Wedding Wire. What do I do next? In a complete panic (unforeseen to others of course), I promptly check the ratings for Oxon Hill.

Please, please God!

Let it be 4.5 stars or more!

Whew.

We're 4.5 stars...

I think it goes without saying we all feel insecure sometimes, so our wedding is not going to be any different. We're going to see and hear about other brides and weddings, and sometimes feel a little envy or doubt. It's normal. I know it is, but it still sucks.

Do you feel insecure about your wedding?

What makes you feel that way?

How do you get past it?

Onto more happier notes soon!

Beautiful Garden-Inspired Cakes

I've been really focused on my diet the past week and a half, but today I had a nagging sweet tooth. What started out as one piece of chocolate turned into three! So in honor of sweets, I thought I'd throw together a quick post of wedding cakes, garden-inspired of course!  

Favorite. Cake. Ever.

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Traditional cakes with flowers on top make me happy too:

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We can't forget about my butterfly obsession, either:

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Simple, small cakes can be gorgeous too:

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And, of course, more butterflies:

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And, another one with a design painted on it. I love this style and sure hope Mr. B does too.

I'll probably be carrying a picture of this one and the first one to our baker with hopes of a similiar design.

 

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We haven't started shopping for a cake yet, but believe me, I'm anxious to begin. I think we have plenty of time to pick something. Hopefully I can keep my diet in check until then, so that I can enjoy the tastings guilt-free!

When did you start cake shopping?

Did or will your cake have a theme?

Shades of Peach and Stripes

Gorgeousness...

Absolutely love these two-toned dresses...

Looking sharp. I love this look. The groom wears all white, and the guys are in stripe ties...

Other details I'm loving...

{Laurel McConnell Photography via Style Me Pretty}

Garden-Inspired-Butterfly-Theme Wedding, That's Us!

It took me awhile to commit to a theme.

Remember I mentioned we spent the first few weeks going over various ideas, but never came up with anything concrete that we could really use as a wedding theme? We thought about using our faith as a focus and realized that was a bit too broad. We thought about doing the cherry blossoms since our wedding is in April and we live near Washington, DC, but we know other people with this theme and it's not something we're passionate about.

We looked into having a candy theme, but it didn't seem appropriate with our historic manor venue. We really like the love birds theme, but both of us feel it's a little played out (no offense to other love bird couples out there)! And well, the list goes on and on.

I actually started to think we weren't going to have a theme.
I was pretty discouraged that we hadn't come up with anything concrete and couldn't come up with new ideas, no matter how hard I tried. Then it dawned on me to look at what we had decided on and what we already knew for sure was going to be a part of our big day. Advice: if you can't think of a theme, draw inspiration from other parts of your wedding that have been decided.

Our venue was the biggest thing. It was the one decision we had made and moved forward on... So we asked ourselves what's special about our venue? The garden ceremony. Definitely the garden.

Volia! We're having a Garden Wedding!! We've had this theme all along and we just never knew it! We picked the spring time of year, when gardens are in full bloom, and we picked a venue with a garden ceremony site! Not only that, but the one and only consistent thing (as in cherry blossoms, candy, love birds) I can stand is butterflies...

I kept running into butterfly inspiration, too.


I mentioned in my intro that I don't have a butterfly tattoo, but I do have a butterfly shower curtain, pillow case, and a huge collection of butterfly broaches. I've always loved butterflies and everyone who knows me, knows this. During our vacation when Mr. B proposed, we stayed in the "Butterfly Cottage." He knew that place would make my heart stop ... and it did!

So whether we knew it or not, we've been building up to a garden-inspired wedding. It's the only thing that makes sense with where we are right now and I must say I'm relieved to finally have a theme.

In honor of this new revelation, here is some garden/butterfly inspiration:

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What's your theme?

How was your theme inspired?

A Vibrant Vintage Chic Wedding

I absolutely love this wedding I spotted over at Wedding Chicks a few weeks ago. The bride is stun.n.ing! The colors are vibrant and the feel is totally chic and vintage, what more could a bride ask for?

I'm inspired, needless to say that our wedding will look as fabulous! Check out the bridesmaids attire, I think their look is my favorite thus far!!! I heart the junior bridesmaid in a different color! It pops! She must have special so special too! I never would have thought of that, but it's worth considering, seeing how awesome the bridal party pictures look.

I'm definitely loving, let me emphasis... LOVING this color scheme too. How would of thought turqoise and pink? Only a bold bride with an eye for style, right?

Wait, wait! I lied. My favorite detail is definitely the escort card display! Those green apples are after my heart! Favorite color alert! Green anything is beautiful in my eyes... 

{Anika London via Wedding Chicks}

Cordless Mic and Cake Toppers

I created a must-have file for our wedding...

I look at so much wonderful inspirtation and read about a lot of ideas, and needed a way to sort through the stuff we like and we stuff we absolutely must have. I'm proud to say the must-have file is fairly small, as I feel it should be. We can't have everything and we really can't bother ourselves with a long, long list of important details - that would drive us mad.

One of the things in my file, although it may sound silly, is a cordless microphone.

As many of you know, we're having a garden ceremony outside and I can't stand the thought of a microphone cord obstructing the view of us and our backdrop. I hate to use pictures of a real wedding to show something I don't like, but in this case I felt it was fine since I truly love this wedding (especially the couple's cake), and since they will probably never read this blog.

Check out the officiant in the third picture down.

While I can totally appreciate her excitement, that cord has got to go!! Maybe the couple was able to photoshop her (or the mic) out of these pictures. That is what I would have wanted to do!! Am I being crazy guyz? I don't want to be a snobby bride! Maybe I'm being a little picky here.

Did you request a cordless mic?

So onto what I love about this wedding.

The couple's cake toppers.

I adore the simple elegance of these love birds. Gor.ge.ous! I haven't even begun to think about what we want for our cake toppers, but this is going into the inspirtation file nevertheless. I hope we can find something as timeless and unique. Something like this would really compliment our garden theme too. I wonder if anyone has ever had butterfly toppers!  More on this later...

What's in your must-have file?

Have you thought about cake toppers yet?

Celebrity Wedding: Bethenny Frankel

Real Housewives Get Married too...

I know I'm totally late on this, but I was never a big fan of the Real Housewives of New York (I loved the Atlanta crew), which is why I had not watched the show Bethenny Getting Married?. However, recently, I caught a few re-runs and (I know she's been married for awhile now and had ber baby) finally saw the episode of her actual wedding!

I must admit, Bethenny was a good looking for a prego bride! I could not wear the dress she did now, let alone if I was pregnant! Overall, I thought this couple, Jason and Bethenny had a beautiful wedding. The ceremony was absolutely lovely and heart-felt, and the reception looked like a blast!

Some of the things about the wedding that really caught my attention were:  1. The cocktail hour before the ceremony. I know guests loved that. 2. Her reveal. When they pulled the curtain back and Bethenny appeared, she looked gorgeous! The look on Jason's face said it all! 3. The cake. Bethenny's cake was gigantic and beautiful! Apparently, it tasted pretty good too.

Here's a few photos I found of the couple and their wedding day details:

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