Friday, January 30, 2015

Superbowl Snack Ideas : Top 5

I'll admit, I've never really been into the whole "Superbowl Game" thing, BUT I do enjoy all the food at Superbowl parties.  You can ask me what teams played in the Superbowl, and I most likely wouldn't have a clue, but if you ask what food was present, I'd name them all!
I've listed a few of my favorites as well as some I'm planning on making for my friends Superbowl party this coming weekend!

[ ONE


[ TWO ]


[ THREE ]  



[ FOUR ] 


[ FIVE ]   



*linking up for FIVE ON FRIDAY
 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Wedding Q+A with Everyday With Lisa






Today I have Lisa discussing her beautiful wedding story with us today for my Wedding Q + A! Take it away!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When did you get married?

Doug and I got married on August 29, 2009!

How did you meet? 
Doug and I met online; though we don't remember which site specifically. We actually talked online for about 5 years before we first met because he was seeing someone at the time. It wasn't until after he broke up with his girlfriend that we decided to officially meet; and we haven't looked back since.



What was the one thing you were most passionate about?

I put a lot of thought into our flowers, specifically because I wanted to use my bouquet as a way to remember my late Grandfather with a single red rose because those were his favourite flower.


What was your color scheme, and what made you choose it?

We kept it simple with blue and white.



Did you do any DIY projects/etc?

I did a TON a DIY projects! I did my own Save the Date cards, invitations and maps, programs, bathroom baskets, and seating chart. I am a huge DIY fanatic, so doing these things on my own was the best part!

What was your favorite thing about your wedding day?

The whole day was truly amazing and everything went the way it should!



If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?

The only thing I would change about our wedding is the cake. Our cake came included with our venue package, but in hindsight we should have went to a professional bakery of our choice.



What's your best piece of advice for future brides out there?
Make your wedding your own! Though I pinned a ton of idea's on Pinterest I ensured that our wedding was true to us. Pinterest makes things look easy, but it only shows the end results. Be careful when doing some high-end DIY projects. The last thing you want to do is give yourself added stress. You can read my blog post about the perks and perils of a DIY wedding here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The location of your wedding was so beautiful Lisa! Thanks so much for being a part of my Wedding Q+A Series!
http://www.showeredwithdesign.blogspot.com/search/label/bride

Are you interested in showcasing your wedding on my series?  Email me for more information. Also, if you are interested in being a part of the  Wedding Bloggers Connect database make sure to stop by and sign up!


Showered With Design



P.S. I'm taking over The Blog Life's Instagram today, follow along with me!


Monday, January 26, 2015

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! Sorry for being somewhat MIA, I've been struggling to type as I have broken my right hand. So I am trying my best!
I'm linking up with Bella for our weekly weekend recap!

This past weekend my husband and I traveled to his parents for a Cioppino Fest.  I had never had cioppino before, but I enjoyed it.   Although my sweet husband cracked all the crab for me since I wasn't able to!  It was a fun weekend but man did it fly by!  

I'm in the process of adding more items to my etsy shop, so if you haven't stopped by yet come check it out!  I also have a GIVEAWAY on my ETSY Instagram page @showeredwithdesign ! ( Make sure to follow me!)








Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Wedding Wednesday : Wedding Q + A With Lauren

Happy Wedding Wednesday friends! I hope this week brings you well! Today I have Lauren stopping by from Genuinely Lauren  to share her Wedding with you! 

-------------------------------------------------------


When did you get married ( Month, date, year)

March 14th, 2014


How did you meet?

We met at a 3-day country music festival in Arkansas on the very first night. Which is pretty funny because I'm from Illinois and Blake is from Missouri! Our engagement story is really something, too. I'll give you the shortened/cliff notes version, but here are the full details (http://genuinelylauren.blogspot.com/2013/11/surprise-im-engaged.html) for another read. We were in a long distance relationship and Blake was visiting me for a week before he went off to boot camp. I was going out to dinner at Chipotle with one of my friends where my roommate from the previous year, who also graduated and no longer lived on campus, showed up! Obviously I was surprised to see her and she pulled out a letter saying that I was about to go on a scavenger hunt that was going to change my life. So, we traveled around campus where at each set location was another one of my friends with another letter. The scavenger hunt ended at my sorority house where Blake proposed infront of all of my close friends and my sorority sisters that we're studying in the kitchen, haha. He definitely hit the ball out of the park on the whole process!


What was the one thing you were most passionate about?

I think the thing I was most passionate about was all of the decor. I'm very DIY and wanted to give all of my own personal touches to every inch of the ceremony. From the koozies, chalkboard program, our Mr & Mrs sign, the vases for the tables. That might've been the most fun of all the wedding planning!





What color bridesmaid dresses did you have?

I originally wanted to have a Tiffany blue for the dresses but since it was a little difficult to find that color in March and there we're different shades of it. So I went with navy blue since it was easier to find one singular color and I wanted all of the bridesmaids to choose their own dress.


How long did it take you to find your wedding dress?

It was actually the fourth dress I tried on! I found it at David's Bridal. I did research before I went and it was one of the dresses I picked out to try on but told the girl I was working with about it right before she wanted to go in a different direction of the other dresses I already tried on. What luck! I knew it was the one because I didn't want to take it off and had the biggest smile on my face :) 



Spill some deets that went on. We wanna hear drama:

Okay this one was my bad. I screwed up on not really asking two of my bridesmaids to be my bridesmaids. I talked to them about bridesmaids dresses before I even said I wanted them in the wedding. So I was a little insensitive on that end. And of course the day of the wedding our flowers weren't ready on time which more so stressed my mother out than it stressed me out. What's funny is that the same thing happened on my sister's wedding day two years before!


What was your color scheme, and what made you choose it?

Navy Blue and Tan. I really wanted to have a rustic feel. I originally wanted to do Tiffany Blue but Navy was more in season and matched well with Blake's Air Force dress uniform.


Did you do any DIY projects?

YES! Probably every inch of my wedding was DIY. Like I said, it was probably my favorite part of the whole wedding planning process and the wedding in general.


If you don't mind sharing what your budget was, and if you stayed on track or went over budget? 
Since we planned our wedding was in 6 weeks, due to Blake having to report to his duty station, I guess we didn't really have much of a budget. I was very grateful for my parents to contribute a lot to the wedding so I have no idea what the total of the whole thing was. I think it ended up being around $8,000-10,000. But I know the portion that Blake and I paid for (hotels for guests, vests for groomsmen, gifts for bridal party, decor, my accessories) was $3,000 and that was our own budget and stuck to!


What was your favorite thing about your wedding day?

All day! It started with breakfast with my family, got my "Bride Starbucks", mimosas and hair at my house, and of course got stuck in traffic on the way to the ceremony. But it was all absolutely perfect!


What was the most stressful thing about your wedding day?

My makeup took a little longer than I would've liked which made me stress about getting to the space on time and having enough time for pictures. Just the whole picture taking process stressed me out because there we're so many I wanted to do and the weather wasn't exactly accommodating for being outdoors.


If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?

I might have waited a month or so to do the wedding. Or to have our ceremony down here in Florida because it's absolutely dreamy. I really wanted to do an outdoor ceremony but March isn't exactly ideal timing a wedding in the North. But it still turned out to be everything I imagined even planning it in 6 weeks.

What's your best piece of advice for future brides out there?
My best piece of advice is to slow down. And I don't mean that in elongating the planning process or anything. I mean it in not rushing through the whole day. Take a minute, take a breath, and take the whole day in. It goes by way to fast and even my friends we're telling me to relax and not stress out about the little things. Because in the end, all you're going to remember is marrying your best friend and being with your friends and family. I was so blessed to have the support of everyone and come together in the short planning period we had and to make my dream wedding becoming a reality.
----------------------------------------------------------
Thanks so much Lauren! Your wedding was magical! I love the DIY projects and I think the color Navy ended up working really well! 
 -----------------------------------
Are you interested in showcasing your wedding on my series?  Email me for more information. Also, if you are interested in being a part of the Wedding Bloggers Connect database make sure to stop by and sign up!


Showered With Design

*Also linking with Meg and Macy!


Monday, January 19, 2015

Weekend Recap

(Will update later)




Thursday, January 15, 2015

We are featured on Weddingmix!

I'm featured on Weddingmix Media sharing our wedding highlight with you!
 Go check it out! (As well as the video)






Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Wedding Q+A With Jenn

Hey Friends! Happy Wedding Wednesday! Today I have another blogger for my Q+A Wedding SeriesI present to you, Jenn from Going the Distance! Her wedding turned out beautiful despite all the drama she had to face-- poor girl!  Luckily you were such a doll about it and didn't let it ruin the true meaning of what marriage is.    Take it away Jenn!

-----------------



When did you get married? 
April 12, 2014


How did you meet? / or Engagement Story?  
MG and I met on Match.com, and he was actually the first guy I met from there!  He wrote me first and then we wrote back and forth for a couple of weeks before we decided to meet in person. The first time we were supposed to meet, an earthquake happened in DC and I couldn't get home in time for our date, so we moved it to Sunday. And over the weekend there was a hurricane. We DID actually meet up, but we always joked that even a zombie apocalypse wasn't going to cancel our first date! :)

**Fun fact: MG's name on my blog came from originally being called Match Guy and then I shortened it to just MG.**
Our first date was at Cava Mezze in Arlington, VA and on our wedding day we went back there and took a picture where it all began:



What was the one thing you were most passionate about?
I wasn't terribly picky about things like flowers, the cake, etc. I had ideas about them all, but I just wanted everything to look nice, and not cost a fortune. The thing I wanted most at our wedding was a photo booth, and thanks to a Living Social deal we were able to get one and I'm SO glad that we did--it was a total hit and we have some amazing photos of everyone from it!

What was the most awkward thing about wedding planning? 

I guess the most awkward part was discussing prices with vendors and negotiating.I hate doing it and always feel bad asking for more things for less money, but it's part of the business and I got over it relatively quickly!

 How many bridesmaids did you have? How did you go about choosing them?

I had 5 bridesmaids and a junior bridesmaid. Two were MG's sisters, and the junior bridesmaid was his oldest niece. One of my bridesmaids has been my friend since 6th grade (Crystal), another was my roommate in college (hey Trish!), and my Maid of Honor was my coworker-turned roommate-turned best friend, Genna!

How long did it take you to find your wedding dress? 
I've talked about the dresses that didn't make the cut on my blog before, but it didn't take me long to find The One. I went to two stores and at the second one, I found my dress. I went to one other store after that to try on some more Casablanca dresses and really reassure myself that it was the one. I knew it was my dress because my face lit up when I saw myself in the mirror, I didn't want to take it off, and my friend Trish who is a self proclaimed sarcastic person was like "that even made me tear up a little!" lol

Spill some deets that went on. We wanna hear drama!:

Oh, the drama!! There's so much of it that I can't contain it in this one post, but I'll direct you here and here to read ALL about the major drama that surrounded our wedding. Other drama before our wedding included a friend talking badly about me the week of my wedding for not sending out thank you notes for my bachelorette party (I've never gotten a thank you note from a bachelorette party before, including from the girl who was talking about me--I just didn't think I needed to send a formal note to my closest friends when I expressed, in person, how much it meant to me and how thankful I was, repeatedly, that they were there), and then there was drama with one of MG's cousins asking for her boyfriend to come, then telling us that her boyfriend wasn't coming, then a few days later that he was again....all days before the wedding...
Bottom line is: sometimes people get crazy surrounding weddings. It happens. You just have to move forward and focus on what and who is important.


What was your color scheme, and what made you choose it?

Purple and silver were our colors. I've always loved purple since I was a kid, so that was a given, and since the guys were wearing gray suits, silver/grey was our other color.

Did you do any DIY projects/etc?
I DIY'ed my table numbers and escort cards, as well as the programs. My blog bestie Shay helped me design them, and then I printed, cut and folded them myself. 

If you don't mind sharing what your budget was, and if you stayed on track or went over budget?
I'll share with you that we had a budget and we stayed super on track! We even had some money left over at our venue that we used to get draping behind our head table with purple uplighting which made everything look extra pretty! It was the perfect way to use the extra $$$

What was your favorite thing about your wedding day?
I have to say two parts: 1) saying my vows with MG...I can still picture being on the altar and listening to MG say his vows, and then telling him mine and it makes me smile to this day.
2) My father-daughter dance with my dad. I had been really worried about his health and how he would make it through the day, but he was a trooper and our dance was everything I had hoped it would be and more.



What was the most stressful thing about your wedding day?

Honestly, the only thing that stressed me out was feeling not 100% and very tired on the morning of my wedding. The glasses of wine that kept getting refilled at our rehearsal dinner did not do me well the next morning. Luckily once I got a couple slices of pizza in me, I was good to go!

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
Honestly, I don't think I would do much differently, other than monitoring those glasses of wine from the night before a little better, but everything went so well that I really don't have many regrets.

What's your best piece of advice for future brides out there?
Try not to stress, especially over the little things (you will be the ONLY person who notices the tiny stuff). What can get done, will get done, and if it doesn't, it won't matter much in the grand scheme of things. Focus on the important part of the day (you're marrying the love of your life and best friend!). Don't let other people steal your joy. And if you can afford it, get a videographer--it wasn't in our original budget but we got one and I'm SO glad that we did! The memories that were captured are priceless :)

http://www.showeredwithdesign.blogspot.com/search/label/bride



Showered With Design



Thanks so much Jenn for being a part of my series!  Your wedding day was perfection!
Are you interested in showcasing your wedding on my series?  Email me for more information. Also, if you are interested in being a part of the Wedding Bloggers Connect database, you can do so below:
Showered With Design



I'm also being featured on ASHLEY'S blog today! Check it out!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday loves! I would like to start off by saying HAPPY 6 MONTHS of marriage to my wonderful husband!  That went by so fast already!

Now on to the weekend!  I had the BEST time taking over @thebloglife101 's Instagram account for a day to promote my blog and Etsy shop! You should check it out!  I am co-hosting today with Bella for our Weekend Recap!

Did ya'll have a good weekend?  Mine was very relaxing! I really didn't go out or do anything "fun" as I've done in my past weekend recap posts,  HOWEVER, I was able to organize my office as well as my vinyl machine and vinyl paper!  That's a win-win for me! I also added some new items to my etsy shop that you might be interested in :)



Custom personalized Engagement Ring dishes! Such a perfect gift for a bride-to-be or even splurge for yourself.  They are only $7.10 in my shop :)

Also stay tuned and make sure to follow me on Instagram! There is  a fun giveaway going on and I'm only posting it on my Instagram handle this week!

Make sure to write about your weekend and linkup with myself (Showered With Design) and Bella!  **Also linking with Biana







Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding Party

If you read my previous wedding post, then you would know a little information on how to go about choosing your wedding party.  As soon as we got engaged, I began thinking about what bridesmaids I would choose.  I knew I wasn't going to ask them right away, but I wanted to brainstorm and get an idea of what I was looking for.  I knew I wanted to ask them in a creative way too!

Here's a little background story.
I was in one of my best friends weddings as a bridesmaid, but I watched and listened as she complained that her maid of honor didn't exactly pull through and help out with tasks as she thought she would.  So I stepped up and helped with the duties that weren't getting done.  But she knew if she didn't ask her MOH to be her MOH, she would have another issue on her hands.

I knew I too would have a similar problem.  You see, my best best best friend of over 15 years moved to Oregon, and I knew she wouldn't be able to help with planning and crafting and getting everything prepared as she would have if she lived closer.  But I had to ask her as my MOH.  I knew she'd be my MOH since High School, and nothing was going to change that decision.  With that said, I knew my girlfriend whose wedding I was in the previous year would step up and help me just as I did with her wedding and planning process. (Which she did and I am so appreciative of her! Thanks J!)

So I had two Bridesmaids chosen without question. Easy.



Now I knew I wanted an even number of girls and I didn't just want two.  I had to really think about who was important to me and who was trustworthy enough to follow through.
I knew my third choice, and now it was on to find a fourth.  I had one in mind and luckily I never followed through because I don't think it would have worked out. I won't go into detail about that.  MY fourth option was actually in my other friends wedding.  Although I heard a lot of talk about how she would be difficult to work with, I felt like I could handle it.  I had two that were for sure going to help me and if the others didn't help, then whatever.  At least I knew ahead of time what I was in for.

I chose these beauties:


Aren't they all gorgeous?  It's like, not even fair.

My husband chose his best friend from over 15 years as his Best Man, talk about perfect.  We secretly wanted to set them up. (Even though she had a boyfriend.  Oops.)  
But seriously, wouldn't they be the cutest?

 They both could be models.  Anyways, probably not ever gonna happen. I love her current boyfriend so obviously I wish them the best. 


Next, my hubby chose his brother, followed by his cousin, followed by one of his really good friends, and then one of my best guy friends.

Don't they clean up nice?








 I feel like the decision is so much easier for guys.  They hardly have to do anything. I'm pretty sure my husband sent out a text to most of them.  So lame.

MY husbands best man lives in Vegas, his brother about 5 hours away, and his cousin lives in Nebraska so it was far enough away to where we don't see him as often as we would like, but when it came down to the wedding it was so much fun to have everyone together from all over to celebrate! -- and THAT we did!






How did you go about choosing your wedding party? Or are you having a difficult time deciding who to choose and who to leave out?



Showered With Design