Slap Some Candles Down and Call it a Day

First off, sorry for not posting in the past week. I'm a financial advisor, and the market has decided it wants to turn all my hair gray before I hit 30.

Anywho, lets talk centerpieces again. My thoughts on this have run the gamut from, "I'll do all these gorgeous, extravagant decorations by myself, how hard can it be?" to "Forget this nonsense, I'll just hire someone", which led to "You want HOW much?!?", which has now led me to "People sell sacks of flowers right? What if I just dump a sack of stuff on the table, slap some candles down, and call it a day".

It turns out that this last idea of mine can actually turn out looking quite pretty:



Super easy and it actually has a beach vibe too. Here is a night shot:



The only change I think I'll make is to have light blue petals instead of white.

Unsurprisingly, I got this idea (and photos) from the lovely Mrs. Lemon over at Weddingbee. The photos were inspiration for her own centerpieces:



She used plumeria blooms instead of petals, which I imagine must have smelled amazing. Does anyone know of light blue flowers that smell fantastic?

Hey Crafty Lady

The crafting bug has not just bitten me, it's clamped down with steely jaws and I'm afraid there is no escape. In one of my more and more frequent periods of wedding insanity I decided to make our wedding invitations. Yup, by myself. By hand.

Thankfully there is a lovely site called Weddingbee. More to the point, an awe inspiring blogger named Mrs. Lemon (all their bloggers are named after foods). Mrs. Lemon is a crafting goddess. Seriously, I'm convinced she has crafted her way to deity status. She has also convinced me I need an embosser. That's one of these babies:



She got hers from Wilshire Graphic Press. You can submit your personal monogram (easy to do, just see my previous post) and they will turn it into an embossing plate. Here is Mrs. Lemon's:



Here is the result:



The embossers are $49.95 each, which includes both the embosser itself and the plate that you design. The custom embossing plate is only $10 more ($59.95 total). Additional plates (I'm thinking our return address) are an additional $29.95.

Monogram Goodness

Well. Well, well, well. I'm feeling rather smug at the moment because I finally learned how to work Photoshop. I found some awesome monogram tutorials on the web, so I gave it a whirl and this is what I came up with:

I really can't take any credit since I just followed the tutorial, but I can give credit to an awesome blogger who showed me how to do this. Go check out Brianna Nichole's blog for amazingly easy instructions on how to make your own. Here are some other sites that offer monogram tutorials:

Weddingbells
myJanee

I'm going to print my monogram on blank labels and use them on the backs of my invitation envelopes.

Mood Board Mania

Weehoo I made my first mood board! I know I'm a huge dork. I had to ask for a quick photoshop tutorial from the lovely fiance, but it was surprisingly easy. So without further ado, my personal wedding day mood board:



It brings a goofy smile to my face every time I see it.

Our Wedding Spot

Here's some of the nitty-gritty regarding the inn where we will be getting married, rooms, and amenities.





The first and second floors have decking around the entire perimeter, so there is a possibility of someone walking around outside your room.





However, Matt and I stayed in room 17 when we visited and we didn't hear a peep, so noise shouldn't be a problem. The third floor has no decking and is therefore more private. Rooms 26 and 19 have their own private balconies. Matt and I call dibs on room 27, but all else is generally up for grabs.

Please do NOT call the inn to book rooms yet. We'll post when it's ok to do so (we still have to sign a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo).

Please click here to go to First Colony Inn's website. They have photos of all the rooms, lists of amenities, and things to do in the area.

The Inn Is In

Well, we just returned from our first visit to the First Colony Inn. It had a quaint, homey, colonial style and the staff were all very pleasant. The inn was built in 1932, and there are a lot of fun nods to that all over the property. There is a common library on the second floor with the guest book and ledger from the 1930s that Matt and I got a kick out of reading.





I have to mention how windy it was there. The winds were a pretty steady 25 mph and the ocean surf looked like a cappuccino. So of course Matt and I decided to throw on our suits and go play in the water. On Saturday we went down to the beach where I was attacked by a shark and Matt got a new pair of shoes.

Ok, so I thought I was attacked by a shark but it turned out to be this:



It's funny now, but that sucker could have taken someone out so we decided to admire the ocean from a distance; which is how Matt got a new pair of shoes. We were just standing on the beach trying not to get blown away while I nursed my shin, and this washed up on shore:



Now normally we're anti-croc (admit it- they're ugly) so we were going to just fish it out and throw it away, but not more than 30 seconds later the other shoe washed up on the shore. With a full set in hand, Matt tried them on and they were a perfect fit.

Yes, he kept them. Yes, this concerns me a bit. But as long as he doesn't start coming home with those random socks you always see on the side of the road, I think we'll be ok... I'll keep you posted.