Showing posts with label Engagement/Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engagement/Planning. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Tracy & Steve are getting married!

My good friend & co-worker is getting married this May! D got me a new camera for Christmas (Canon Rebel T5i), and she asked me to take a few "engagement" pictures for their invitations. In all honesty, she only wanted one photo for the invites, but I told her we were going to make an engagement session out of it to make it worthwhile. After all, they weren't planning on having any taken, so it worked out! It turned out to be a win-win situation for both of us, they got some engagement pictures, and I was able to practice with my new camera!

ecclesiastes 4:12, engagement ring, engagement photo, engagement bible verse
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken - Ecclesiastes 4:12
This bible verse goes beautifully with her ring!



Here are some of my favorites from that gorgeous sunny day we had last month (it was perfect weather for January)....





















Tracy & Steve, I wish you nothing but the best for your future together! I can't wait for your big day (as a guest, not a photographer)!










Today's Creative Blog


© [Kayla] and [Small Town Lift], [2010-2014]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Kayla] and [Small Town Life] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Perfect Engagement Gift

I've been waiting to give a special girlfriend of mine the perfect engagement gift that I pinned on Pinterest a long time ago, and I was finally able to do so!

bride to be basket, wedding planner basket, bridal gift



Yes...that's right, my brother FINALLY asked my bestie, Ashley, to marry him on NYE! He called me the night before, we had a very long in depth conversation about it all, and I was so excited that he was finally going to do it! The next day, NYE day, I headed over to meet Ashley for a quick manicure & a couple drinks before her big night...that she had no idea about. I knew she would need to have fabulous nails to go with that stunning ring she was about to receive. She never even acted suspicious the entire day, just a couple besties getting together on a wim. While I was over there, I snuck over to the bookstore, picked up a couple bridal magazines, and a planner. I knew my plan to put an engagement basket together for her was finally going to happen!

this ampersand is from Hobby Lobby

a couple of bridal magazines, and a wedding planner notebook

can't forget the hershey's "kisses", and a small pack of thank you cards
D & I weren't able to be there for the "popping of the question", because then she would of known something was up that we came last minute. So we waited for the phone call after he asked her in front of a few family members, and her close friends. She was extatic! I hadn't seen her since that day, and a few weekends ago I was finally able to give her the engagement gift basket that I put together for her. She loved it! I was afraid she already had purchased a planner, but she hadn't. They have already set the date for October 2014, and have a lot of things already set in stone. Go Ashley & Brett!! :)
all wrapped up and adorned with a purple hydrangea! 


The great thing about this gift is you can personalize it however you wish to. Add in a monogram of her future last name, wine glass, stamps for the thank you's, gift cards, more candy, etc. But I thought this would be perfect for Ashley!

A quick "engagement" photo of the happy couple! :)

They both asked me & D to be a part of their big day, we of course we were honored and said yes!







Today's Creative Blog




© [Kayla] and [Small Town Lift], [2010-2014]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Kayla] and [Small Town Life] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Our Wedding Details: DIY Unity Candle

Our next project that I created for our wedding was a DIY Unity Candle.  I searched everywhere trying to find the perfect Unity Candle that I could purchase, but nothing stood out to me.  They were all pretty basic, didn't have the look that we were going for, or way to expensive.  So I decided that I would make our own after purchasing a plain candle set from Hobby Lobby.  I can't remember how much it was, maybe like $20, plus I had a coupon for 40% off. 



I also looked around for the perfect Unity Candle holder, but I wasn't willing to pay an arm & a leg for it.  This particular one you can purchase at Hobby Lobby for $19.99, but we only paid $7 for it after spotting it on Craigslist.  My oldest brother was so kind to go pick it up for me, since it was located in his town.  I was so excited!!



Ok, back to making our own Unity Candle...I got some wide Navy ribbon, measured it out for what I would need to wrap around the candle and set it aside.  I took the lace roll used in the Memorial Candle Holder, also measured it out for what I would need and set it aside.  Then I took the same colored fuchsia colored ribbon that I used on the Bouquets, measured and set aside.  I wanted to wrap the lace around the Navy to give it a little dimension, and I glued those two together.  I carefully wrapped the Navy Lace around the Unity Candle, used a little hot glue to adhere it to the candle.  I then wrapped and glued the fuchsia ribbon around.  Next I took some thin Lime Green ribbon and criss-crossed it in the front, gluing in the back. Last I tied a small lime green bow, glued it in the center of the criss-cross, and added a little crystal jewel in the center.



For the 2 Taper Candles, I simply made a small criss-cross, followed by a small bow, and added in another little crystal jewel. 


We were so nervous lighting the candles, our hands were shaking.
I kept thinking we were going to light something on fire!
I thought it turned out perfect, and just the way I had envisioned!  I really love how the lace looks with the Navy ribbon, it really gives it some pizazz!



What do you think?  Did you make your own Unity Candle, or were you able to find one that suited your wedding?



Just in case you are curious, we played "God Gave Me You" by Blake Shelton as our Unity Candle Lighting Ceremonial Song.  It was perfect!! 

Please let me know if you have any questions on how I made it.  I hope it's not too confusing without actual step-by-step pictures.


Credits -
Unity Candle Set made by: Your Truly!
Photography: Crossroads Photography
Plain Candle: Hobby Lobby
Unity Candle Holder: Craigslist find
Navy & Lime Green Ribbon: Walmart
Fuchsia Ribbon: Hobby Lobby
Lace: Hobby Lobby
Crystal Jewels: Michael's (purchased years ago for other project)


Six Sisters Stuff
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Our Wedding Details: DIY Lace Memorial Candle Holder

The next thing I created, which you sort of saw a sneak peek before the wedding (yeah, it was awhile ago, I know!), is our Memorial Candle Holder.  I wanted to tie in the lace from my dress & veil, which also inspired our wedding cake (I will show you our cake in another post, even though it's not DIY).


I purchased a $4 dollar vase from Dollar General, got a roll of flat lace trim from Hobby Lobby (with a coupon of course), and purchased a white pillar candle from Wal-Mart.  I cut up large scraps of lace to wrap around the vase, and modge podged them on there.  I did that until the who thing was covered, and of course filling in any gaps that might have formed.  I wanted it to look like I purchased it like that, so I also covered the bottom, and went all the way to the lip of the vase.  Once it was dry, I cut off the extra on the lip.  I sat the candle in the vase and it was ready to go.  I loved how it turned out, and it was very easy & cheap to make!  It was so pretty when it was lit during our ceremony! 

Supplies needed:
Clear Glass Vase
Lace (I purchased a roll)
Modge Podge
Scissors
Unscented Candle

This will be something that I will display in our home, once we get our house squared away.  So pretty!  What do you think?


Sources:
Candle Holder made by: Yours Truly!
Photography: Crossroads Photography
Vase: Dollar General
Lace: Hobby Lobby
Candle: Wal-Mart


Six Sisters Stuff
Not So Homemade
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life

Monday, August 20, 2012

Our Wedding Details: DIY Bridal Bouquet

Sorry I haven't had much motivation to blog lately.  Do you ever get into that rut? 


Anyways, I finally decided that I would share some of our DIY wedding details with you, starting with our DIY Bouquet's that I made for our wedding.  I didn't take step by step pictures, because I was too focused getting things done for our wedding, I wasn't even thinking of the blog.


I took a floral design class back when I was in college, and I loved it...it was a really fun class!  I decided to go the silk route, because: 1.) you can keep your bouquet forever, 2.) you don't have to worry about keeping your flowers out of water too long and worry about it wilting, 3.) it actually was cheaper to make silk bouquets instead of dropping $50-100 for real flowers (no thanks.)! 


So I did some research on the types & colors of flowers I wanted, which led me to finding one of the cheapest places online to order good looking silks, AFloral.com.  No I am not being compensated for this, I am just passing along some info to you all! :) You can search by color, type, and they even have other floral supplies available for purchase.  They also now carry fresh flowers for purchase.



It took me awhile to decide exactly what I wanted to use/do, because I wanted to make sure everything was perfect!  I really liked the looks of peonies, ranunculas, and even some anemones.  Just something about those flowers, especially peonies & ranunculas, really make me giddy!  So I browsed their site by colors & types, and then I found this already made bouquet which had a mixture of all of those, plus tulips.  It was a little small on its own for my bouquet, but I knew I could take it apart and add in some personal touches.  So that's exactly what I did!


For my bouquet, I added in a couple white peonies, a couple of white peony buds, pink peonies (light & bright), a few green ranunculas, some green button poms, some sparkly crystal picks (from hobby lobby: pink, green, and clear), and wrapped it all up with some fuchsia colored ribbon (also from hobby lobby). Some of the exact flowers I used are no longer available, but I tried to link to some that were similar.  This might change over time.  Ashley's Maid of Honor bouquet was similar to mine, just a little smaller and not as many peonies.  The other 4 bridesmaids bouquets were the premade bouquet just like ours (taken apart of course), with a green ranunculas, and button poms. 





Sorry I don't have an actual tutorial for you, but you can google several ways on how to make a bouquet of your own. Two things to remember when making them is to keep the flowers tight and make sure it's not lopsided (I had to redo mine a couple of times after realizing it was lopsided!). 




Credits -
All bouquets made by: Yours Truly!
Photographs: Crossroads Photography
Flowers: AFloral.com
Ribbon & Sparkly Crystal Picks: Hobby Lobby


Six Sisters Stuff
Not So Homemade
Sugar Bee Crafts
BruCrew Life

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

DIY Monogrammed Cosmetic Bag


For my bridesmaids gifts, I wanted to give them something that was personalized and that they could use again.  So I started browsing at Hobby Lobby in the section that you can decorate bags, shirts, hair accessories, etc, and I found these waffle weave bags.  They were perfect for a small cosmetic bag.  The day I found them, they only had 3, and I needed 5.  I was afraid if I picked 3 up that day, I would forget to get more the next time, or even worse they wouldn't get anymore in.  So I took a picture, and decided I would browse around on the internet.  I ended up finding them over at Embroider This, and I ordered 5 Fuchsia colored bags.

I also found some "iron on" monogram letters in black at Hobby Lobby (these are the ones), and thought it would be a really cute way to personalize the cosmetic bags.  I picked up the letters that I needed: (3) A's, (1) M, and (1) D.  Instead of ironing them on, I picked up some "No Sew" fabric glue.  I figured that if it didn't work, I could always iron them on anyways.

These were really simple to make, but I will show you how I did them, just in case! ;) 


I first figured out where I wanted to put each letter, because each letter was different (well 3 of them were be different anyways), and made a little mark with a pen.  Then I took some "No Sew" and put some on the back of the letter.  After that I put the letter on the bag, hoping it was straight and even, and let it dry.  It didn't take long for the glue to dry, which was nice.





The finished product!! So cute!

I so wish I would've taken a picture of everything I put in it, but it was super close to the wedding, and I didn't even think about it.  I stuffed each of them with a necklace, earrings, stretchy bracelet, brooch, and their pink hair flower (purchased from gigglesnbowz etsy shop!) for them to wear at the wedding.  I then added a few fun/emergency things: a pack of tissues, travel sized pain reliever, travel pack of bandages, Pink Chiffon Body Spray, Pink Chiffon Lotion, a cute nail file, travel tin of Altoids, travel deodorant, package of peanut butter crackers, and a small bottle of Little Black Dress Blueberry Pomegranate Vodka (really good in sprite!)  Since Ashley was my Maid Of Honor, she got a little bit more: a 3wick Passion Flower candle, some Raspberry Hand soap, and her jewelry was a little bit different than the others.  I got a lot the gift ideas from Pinterest, imagine that!  Can you tell I love Bath & Body works stuff for gifts!?!?! 

The girls loved everything, and was really glad that I included in the emergency stuff.  You never know when you're gonna need some pain reliever, a band-aid, or better yet a shot of Vodka!! ;)

PS - sorry for the bad pictures...they were taken at night. :(


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bridal Showers & Bachelorette Parties (picture overload)

Forgive me...I'm just now posting about my 2 bridal showers and 2 bachelorette parties.  Mainly a lot of pictures with a little blurb about what we all did.  Oh and I was only planning on having 1 bachelorette party, but the 2nd was kind of just an excuse for us local girls to go out in the limo!!  But it was fun, and I'm so blessed with wonderful family & friends!!

1st Bridal Shower was held in our hometown by my Mother In-Law's friends/my friends, and 1 of my bridesmaids.  There was a great turn out of guests, lots of gifts (seriously blessed, people!), and yummy cake!!  My mom, both grandma's, and my maid of honor were able to attend.  My 3 other bridesmaids were back in the city, they weren't able to make it.  There weren't any games, which was my request, because it was a large shower.  I think most of the guests were pleased with that decision, because it allowed more time to chit chat.  It was a really fun time!!  Here are a few pictures (I won't bore you with pictures of me opening gifts)...

cutest.zebra cake.ever
don't you just love the red high heel?!

Tracy, Ashley S (bridesmaid), Me, Diane, and Lori
The fabulous girls who threw the shower!

My mom, Me, and Mother In-Law

Me & my MOH Ashley! {besties}

Gma Jo, Mom, Me, Mother In-Law, D's Gma Bonnie, and Gma Jean

My 2nd Bridal Shower was held in the big city, as I have several friends that I keep in touch with.  I lived there for about 7 years, so I just had to have one there.  My bridesmaids were all in charge of this one, and it turned out to be fabulous!!  They all know me so well...I love Pink and I love Zebra, so they combined the 2!!  Just like the 1st shower, I requested no games, because we were tight on space, also a large crowd, and I wanted to have a little more time to chat with friends that I hadn't seen in forever.  Here are some pictures...

Me with the sweets table.
If you look closely in the back there is a black frame with
pink & black zebra fabric, that was advice for couple.
I loved all of the advice that we received, such a cute idea instead of games!
 
Homemade Cupcakes, and they were all super yummy!!
Top to Bottom: Smores with topped with Marshmallow frosting and graham cracker crumbs,
Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting,
and Cherry Limeade (the green thing was supposed to be cotton candy, but it was a very hot day)
These were all made by my amazing sister in-law Kelli, and brother Jerrod!

another look at the cute sweets table
 
Pink Peanut Butter "Zebra" Cookies
You can find these babies on Pinterest!!
 
"Love is Sweet Take a Treat" - sweets table sign
 
Mel, Ashley, Me, Aimee, and Danielle
The amazing bridesmaids, minus Ashley S.

Me & my personal attendants: Jen (cousin), and Kelli (sister in-law)

me & the mom's!

Amber, Nicole, Me, Kelsi, and Rachel
My old small group ICCC friends, who have turned into great friends!!
After the bridal shower, we headed downtown where we reserved some rooms for the evening.  Me & the bridesmaids, plus Jen & Kelli, and another friend, split 2 King Suites which also were connected.  We had so much fun getting ready together, doing each others hair & makeup, and having some drinks!  We had supper down in the hotel restaurant, went back to the room to do some fun shots, and came back down just in time for the bachelorette party to start!  I had some friends come down and meet us, as well as some of our local friends made the trip up to the city as well.  We had some drinks in the hotel bar, and then headed to the downtown hot spot where there are several bars and a huge open area to hang out.  The theme was Pink & Black!! Whoever came had to wear something pink & black.  Here are a few fun group shots, but the rest of the pictures aren't blog friendly!! ;) 

Top Left to Right: Mel, Jen, Mom, Jess, Kelli, Ashley
Bottom Left to Right: Amanda, Me, Aimee

Me, Amanda, and Mel

I am sooo blessed!!! :)

Amazing Bridesmaids who put this whole thing on!

Taking a fun shot without the use of our hands!! ;)
 I was pretty tired that next day, I think I only had 7 hours of sleep total for the weekend (friday & saturday combined). It was the longest.trip.home.ever. No joke, 5 hours on the road, and it was windy & hot. Also, I ended up leaving my shower dress in the closet and the hotel never was able to find it. So to whoever took my dress, I hope you're enjoying it as much as I did!  It was brand new, only got to wear it the 1 time. :(  Other than that, the whole weekend was a blast, love my girls!!

On to the last bachelorette party...it was more of a last minute thing, but man it was a blast!  D was out of town at his bachelor party, so we decided we were going to go out.  Well a few of the girls decided it was going to be a #2, rented a limo, had supper at Boondocks, and then it brought us back to town to the local hole it the wall.  I've never laughed so hard in my life!!  My friend Jess even made me a special veil that I wore to supper, and then I took it off, because I kept sitting on it.  Here are a few pictures...

In the limo...Me, Jess, Janel, and Mom
 
Party People!!
Kaylee, Lauren, Buffey, Kristi, Janel, Penny, Diane, Mom, Jess, and I (in front)

a view of the condom veil!

Mom, Tracy, and I

Lauren, Me, and Jess

Mom and I
 There ya have it!! Sorry for the picture overload, but at least I only showed a few from each event. I loved all of them, and think we need to make it a point to have more girl nights!