Fairytale Romance

I thought these wedding gowns were very pretty so I wanted to share with you. They are not my style, but I still think they are beautiful.

"Your wedding dress is the most important dress you’ll ever wear. Period. Needless to say expectations are high. But when we saw the newest collection from Claire Pettibone, Spirit of the Night, we knew it would not disappoint. Filled with whimsy and delight, these beauties will make you feel like you’re in your very own fairytale romance." ~ Style Me Pretty

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Last night I watched the new episode of David Tutera's My Fair Wedding on WE TV. I just loooove that show! It is fun to see the horrific plans these brides have for their weddings get changed into something magnificent once the fabulous David Tutera takes over.

I think last night's episode was one of my favorites because of the theme... The Wizard of Oz! I love that movie, although it kind of creeped me out when I was little.

At first the bride had some pretty ridiculous ideas... she wanted her bridesmaids to walk down the isle in these tiny yellow sparkly munchkin dresses holding baskets of apples and some other items from the theme of the movie. Hideous! She was also planning on walking down the isle on top of a yellow brick road made out of construction paper. With all this said, I must say that she was such a sweet bride to watch, she took everything with a "glass is half full" attitude.

Although my wedding is not going to be themed, I kind of like the idea of having a themed wedding because you can do so much with it and have fun! Never in a million years would I have a Wizard of Oz themed wedding, but that doesn't stop me from admiring the artistry of this one.

Amazing wedding cake! Look closely and you will see a little something from each of the characters in the movie.

Designed by Tasteful Cakes

Photo via Press-Enterprise

This was the bridal bouquet. It was so unique! Even Emerald City is even represented in the middle.

via http://www.flowersfirstthenfood.com/?p=15

Here are some pictures I took from my TV so the quality isn't that great.

These were the tables at the reception. I liked how they mixed rectangular tables with round ones and how the centerpieces were combination of candle opras, pillar candles, and flowers in various vases which were different heights making it look very whimsical and fun.

The bridesmaid jewelry was beautiful and bold. I loved how they were a sparkly ruby color. I might have to do something like this with turquoise stone jewelry for my bridesmaids.

This is a shot of the ceremony. If I had an unlimited budget for flowers I would want something like this. The whole isle way was covered with yellow roses that looked like they were actually growing out of the ground. The large pillars with balls of flowers on top added some great height and dimension. I'm not a fan of the yellow brick road walk way, but I thought it was very clever since her theme was Wizard of Oz.

I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon so I absolutely loved this idea too! They served as a colorful backdrop to the wedding reception.

This was such a fun and creative wedding so I had to share with you all! Hopefully you got a chance to watch the episode. If not, I think it's online.

Ok, I'm off to see the wizard! haha... not really, that would be weird. Bye!

I'm back, with much to share!!!

Hi everyone! I would like to first of all say I am back to the blogging world! I cannot believe how much time flies. It has been almost 2 months since my last post.

Heres an update in my life since then:

My friend Erika got married on December 19th at her in-laws backyard in a large white tent. Despite the major downpour of rain we got all that week and the flooding in the yard, it was such a beautiful wedding. I loved her style- a kind of woodsy romantic feel to it. I was so honored to be a part of her special day. She was my roommate about a year ago and have missed her dearly since she moved back home to Visalia to go to nursing school. I will miss her even more when she moves to Texas with her husband where he is stationed in the navy. Below are a couple pictures I took from the wedding.

Jon and I about to get our boogie on at the reception :)

The adorable signs at the entrance to the tent

An overview of the tent as it was getting set up

A close up of the tables - I loved how the centerpieces were pretty cupcakes sitting on top of a slab of wood & I also loved the burlap runners

Their guest sign in tree- every guest dipped their finger in green paint and pressed it to the picture to make leaves- loved this too! They now has something personal & beautiful to hang in their house.

Me and the beautiful bride Erika :)

Sorry its a little blurry, but heres a pic of the bride and groom about to cut the cake

Moving on now to Christmas. As usual Christmas came and went so fast. I had a blast spending time with family and friends.

Here was our family Christmas photo this year. :)

My friend Katy is getting married February 12th- soon! We threw her a bridal shower a couple weeks ago and here are a few pics from that.

Dominique, Katy- bride-to-be, and I

I helped organize a few games- this one is the toilet paper bride

Voila! The finished toilet paper wedding gowns!

I think I may share with you all the games we played in a later blog post.

And finally... Jon and I went to Michigan to visit his family and to attend two of our bridal showers. We just got back a couple days ago actually. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from the showers, but they were lots of fun! We got some great gifts! Having bridal showers of my own made me realize how soon we will be getting married. Can't wait!

I did however get some pictures of the snow- it was pretty chilly over there.

Hope you all enjoyed this extra long blog post! Check back again soon, I will be trying to update more regularly now especially since I am kicking it into high gear now with wedding planning!

Personalized Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Ok, so I am going to show you a recent craft project I made for Christmas. No, it is not related to our wedding at all, but I thought what the hay, I will show it to you anyway. :)

Right now at my work we are having a contest for who can decorate their plain red Christmas stocking the best. I love crafting so I got really excited!

The cute kitty in the picture is my roommates cat, Burrito.

I just love the little guy. :)

Below is a picture of the plain red stocking they gave us to start off with and they told us to decorate it however we pleased.

I was in Hancock Fabrics the other day looking for fabric for my wedding and took the opportunity to pic out a really cute fabric for my stocking as well.

My sister learned how to make fabric flowers a few months ago and I was intrigued so I decided to make one to put on my stocking.

First you cut out a long strip of fabric and then fold it in half. Take a needle and thread and start threading it through both layers of the fabric along the edge. As you pull the thread tight the fabric naturally starts to gather and spiral into the shape of a flower. For more detailed instructions on how to make these go to the Creation Corner.

Next I wanted to make a center for my flower so I took some Aleene's Fabric Fusion and glued it down onto the center of the flower.

Next I cut up squares from the fabric and glued them down flat onto the stocking with Aleene's Fabric Fusion as well. I had a red and white flannel ribbon that was left over from a wrapped gift that I tied and glued onto the top of the stocking. I used some of the extra pieces to cut out little hearts too. I had some left over letters from the project I did to ask my bridesmaids to be in our wedding. I used these to put my name on my stocking.

And it was finished!

There's Burrito again, checking out the stocking hanging from the fireplace in my room. :)

And here is a close up of my new fabulous Christmas stocking!

Sneak Peak!

Today I have decided to give you all a sneak peak of the fabrics that we will be using for decoration at our wedding reception. I haven't decided yet whether or not to tell you what they will be used for because I think I might want to make it a surprise. :) During the last couple of weeks my mom and I have gone to a few fabric stores to find the perfect fabric. All of these were found at Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts. I am so excited because I feel like my look is finally coming together!

200 days to go!!!

It is officially 200 days until our wedding!! So excited! Yes, 200 days is still quite a while but I think it will be here before we know it. With the holidays coming up and a few of my friends weddings and showers to go to, it will fly by (or at least I hope so!). I think when we hit 100 days, that is when the real count down will begin. :)

Cake Inspiration

Next week we are meeting with Sweet Dreams Bakery located in Oakhurst, CA for a cake tasting/meeting. We have heard many great things about this bakery so we thought we would meet with them first.

Jon is especially excited about meeting with the bakers because of the cake tastings, of course. I think this may be the most exciting part of wedding planning for him. lol. And... my dad wants to come to the cake tasting too! Figures! So next week on Thursday the four of us, my mom, dad, Jon, and I will be tasting cake. :)

The fun part for me is picking out the design of the cake. Don't get me wrong, I love cake, but since I found out that I have an intolerance to gluten there haven't been as many flavor options for me. Although I have heard that pretty much any wedding bakeries make gluten free cakes now that taste as good, almost as good, or better than the real thing. I do love that Betty Crocker has a line of gluten free baking mixes (I think the gluten free chocolate cake is better than the regular kind) and I discovered the other day that they have Bisquick gluten free pancake mix and it tastes just the same as the regular stuff.

Soooo, I am thinking we will make the whole cake regular and then just have one of the tiers (probably the small top one) gluten free for Jon and me. I don't want to make all our guests eat gluten free cake just because of me! Although, no one would probably know the difference. I bet it is more expensive though.

Anyway, to the fun part (at least for me).... the cake design! I have been looking on various websites for cakes I like the look of lately. I found some inspiration at Martha Stewart Weddings and The Knot. Since my dress has lace on it, I'm thinking of incorporating a "lace-look" to our cake. I love how bakers can do just about anything anymore these days. They can make frosting look like lace! Check out these cakes I like below. Aren't they beautiful?!

Ps. It's Jon's birthday today!!!! If you know him make sure you wish him the very best! :-)