Be My Maid? How I Asked My Ladies

If y'all know me (I'm currently writing this from Georgia, so I felt like the 'y'all' was appropriate), I love finding clever and cute ways to take something mundane, and make it magical.  That's why I knew that asking my ladies to stand by my side on the big day could not fall anywhere short of oh-so-cute. 

Plus, each of my girls lives on completely opposite sides of the country...oh, and world. My ladies live in places ranging from Denver, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Australia, so finding a cohesive way to ask them (instead of a Facebook message filled with a lot of emojis) was important to me. I decided to make these cute lil' thangs:

I went to JoAnn Fabrics and found these cute jewelry boxes.  They even included a little foam cushion (you know, to protect the jewelry?).  In my case, I used it to add some height and volume to the box. I wrapped the cushion in pretty fabric and lace.

The outside of the box got this cute and glittery heart, that I simply cut out of gold glitter paper.  Voila! Super simple, and made the presentation of the box way cuter.  Plus, Brent and I are getting married on Valentine's Day, so the 'heart thing' was inevitable. Which is why I also had to include these heart shaped sunnies! I mean really... be still my heart.

Next, I hand-lettered a little 'Be My Maid' action to the inside cover, and attached it with (of course) some cute blush pink and gold washi tape. 

Since each of my ladies gets to pick out their own long chiffon dress, depending on their style and what makes them feel prettiest, I included this image and color samples (free from Menards! Win!) to serve as inspiration.  I had some ribbon and these cute little clothes pins to match too, and since I love details, I couldn't resist adding those in there to tie it all together.

Since all of my ladies are spread all over the world, I knew that including some information about our day would be a great way to explain everything at one time...win-win for all. Click on the image if you would like to see the details a bit closer!

Overall, I love how I was able to get crafty and ask my girls in a way that also made them feel loved.  After all, Brent and I are so excited to get married, and we want to reflect our love for one another to others...and to think this is only the beginning!

Click here to see our pre-engagement pictures ;)

Engagement pics pre-engagement...yes, this happened

My sweet blogettes :)

A couple weeks before the East Coast Main Squeeze and I jetted off to Italy (and got engaged!), we had a super fun shoot with my dear friends over at Booth Photographics.  Stephanie and Stephen are the cutest married couple like...ever...and their love for one another is reflected in their art.  With this shoot, they captured Brent and I perfectly.  They know how to bring out the giggles, the sweet smiles, and the overall lovey-dovey-ness in all of us.  Brent and I felt so natural around them, and they guided our shoot with natural poses, not those artificial "put your hands here...look this way..." type of direction.

You can probably see for yourself, Brent and I are head-over-heels for this wedding photography duo! To Stephanie and Stephen, thank you.  Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world.  You are an amazing blessing...not only with friendship, but also as fellow wedding industry peeps (yes, peeps).

And yes, this shoot was absolutely my excuse to wear a pretty floral headpiece, tulle, and red lipstick. What more can a girl ask for? (plus that sweet hunk of eye candy next to me? Not too shabby of a day...)

Also, for the record: These were not intended to be pre-engagement pictures, but as you can imagine, they led to a lot of questions and suspicions... ;)

Less Technology, More Time

Less is More Series | Week 6

Need I say more? Can I get an amen? 

I was out to lunch the other day with a friend, and I saw a family of 5 all out to eat together.  It was super nice until I noticed this:

-Dad: on his cell phone

-Mom: on her cell phone

-Kid #1: playing with the Ipad

-Kid #2: playing his leap-frog game

-Kid #3: crying because he wanted to play with the Ipad

You guys, my heart hurt. It made me stop and think.  Have we lost the ability to realize what matters most? Are we going to look back and wonder what we could have learned about our family over that precious lunch time together? Time is such a treasure that we take for granted, and sometimes, technology is the bag of chocolate chips that we need ‘just one more handful’ of (confession: I just wanted to mention chocolate, because I’m craving it).  Anyways, you get the idea.  We think, “just 5 more minutes of facebook...” and then all of the sudden, your entire night is gone, and you haven’t said a word to your family, friends, roommate, or dog (for those of you that this applies to).

Don’t get me wrong, technology isn’t all bad (I mean, hello! Long distance relationship here! Preach! Thank GOD for Skype!), but there is a time and place where technology does more harm than good. Yea?

Let’s make a commitment to spend time with one another...like, real, time. Face-to-face time.  Laugh until you cry time.  Genuine, loving, and tech-free time.  

Like what you see? Read my last post here.