{Pin It Friday} Boston Red Sox Engagement Session

Source: apaperproposal.com via Layla on Pinterest

One of my latest pins onto Pinterest came from A Paper Proposal's blog and the photo was taken by Deborah Zoe Photo.  Many of you know I'm originally from Massachusetts, but you may not know that I went to school in Downtown Boston for my Masters Degree. I lived in walking distance to Fenway Park and went to 3 games that year!! When I saw this picture, as I was blog surfing, it made me a little nostalgic and really miss Boston. My favorite Red Sox player is #34 David Ortiz aka Big Papi!! If you have time click on the link to see more of this cute engagement session. What a great keepsake! Go Sox!!

Cultivate Workshop

We are so excited to head down to Jacksonville, Florida tomorrow for the Cultivate Workshop!!! The Cultivate Workshop is designed to educate wedding professionals who are looking to grow their companies. Really looking forward to meeting other wedding professionals ESPECIALLY A FELLOW TWIP, Lauren Grove owner of  http://everylastdetailblog.com she is teaching about Blogging, Social Media, and Editorial Coverage!

The very first Cultivate Workshop will be held in sunny Jacksonville, Florida.

Venue: The Aloft Jacksonville Tapestry Park

Dates: January 21st and 22nd, 2012

{Pin it Friday} Free PDF Coloring Book for Kids

Source: emmalinebride.com via Layla on Pinterest

Coloring book for the kids at your wedding! So cute!
Grab your free pdf print out here: http://www.lovelyindeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/weddingbook.pdf

Simply Savannah Events: Guest Post on A Love Thing

Drums please! I was featured on a mid-west blog today! A Love Thing is a very new blog that is filled with amazing images and inspiration! Whitney Furst is the Editor and Owner of A Love Thing and describes herself as country girl from Wisconsin who wanted to create a blog that has more of a visual approach with images from vendors to inspire brides who are looking to brand their wedding day and who are looking for their top vendors. Come on over to her blog!! My featured post:
http://alovethingblog.com/blog/2012/1/18/wedding-plannersimply-savannah-events.html

Happy Birthday To Me - My Wish List

"If I had a million dollars" and could buy everything I wanted on my wish list for a birthday shopping spree this is what I would buy-AND MORE! I'm such a girl and of course have purses, jewelry, and shoes! Plus I would go to World Market, Anthropologie, Nadeau furniture store in Savannah, Savannah Bee Company, Ella's in Richmond Hill, oh my gosh all my favorite stores!! But in reality I'm turning 33 years old today and happy to be healthy, surrounded by people who support me, love me and encourage me, happily married to my wonderful husband, and have a house over our heads. <3

Wish List Source: 
{keep-calm-and-carry-on-canvas-tote} {crosstown-bag-in-yellow-chevron} {reversible-tote-bag}
 {papillon-white-braid-necklace} {lime-green-tape} {stella & dot jewelry}

{more TOMS shoes}

{marimekko shoes}

The Book List:

~A Practical Wedding: Creative Ideas for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration

~The Seven Levels of Communication: Go From Relationships to Referrals

~The Book of Awesome

~Painted Pages: Fueling Creativity with Sketchbooks and Mixed Media

~Sarah's Key

~How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Wedding Consultant & Planning Business: With ~Companion CD-ROM

~Design*Sponge at Home

~51 Ways to Save Money and Still Have a Chic and Fabulous Wedding!

Our table at the Southern Girls Bridal Show

Here is our vintage chic table at the Southern Girls Bridal Show. Thanks to Nicole, my assistant, for making the chevron placemats and adding to the pretty decor. You can see many of our items that we will let our clients rent on our table. There are so many fun ways to use them. See our inventory page for more details of which items are rentable. Also thanks to Carrie of Two Cakes for letting us borrow her cake demo, everyone thought it was so pretty. We had a great turn out at the expo and loved talking with everyone!! By the way, The Embassy Suites is a gorgeous hotel! Nicole also has a great post on her personal blog with some more pictures of the table. While I was running around finishing up she was able to capture some nice close up compositions with her iphone! Her blog post is here:
http://nicolerenedesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/southern-girls-bridal-expo.html

Southern Girls Bridal Expo

Getting geared up for the Southern Girls Bridal Expo January 15,2012 from 1:30pm-5pm at the Embassy Suites in Pooler. (behind Home Depot in Pooler) Savannah Airport Exit 104 from I-95 Door prize to one lucky winner of $50 off any package, plus great SIGN-ON-THE-SPOT deals!! tickets are $5 Wanna know who's going to be there: 
http://www.southerngirlsshows.com/Preferred-Vendors.html

Sneak Peek of Nicki's Baby Shower

Nicki's Baby Shower was a huge success after many weeks of planning and being rescheduled. Baby Zoey decided to arrive 10 days early which happened to be on the day of the baby shower - September 10th, 2011!! So all the desserts ended up going into my fridge and freezer for 6 days until the rescheduled date. All the desserts were made by local vendors, we also had a selection of organic cheese from a local caterer, Thrive A Carry Out Cafe, delicious food spread by Allison who hosted the event at her beautiful home, and the printable party designs were created by an Etsy vendor. The great thing about having a baby shower for a professional photographer is that there will be AMAZING pictures to come, maybe, sometime, hopefully, when she has time to actually edit and do work in between feeding, changing, and keeping up with laundry for the baby, but here is a sneak peek!

The vendors that contributed to making this baby shower gorgeous:

Concept Design & Styling: me, Layla
Paperie: Paula of Frog Prince Paperie www.frogprincepaperie.com
Cake pops: Michelle of Delectable Designs www.savannahcakes.net
Mini cakes: Adrienne of Addy B’s Cakes www.chefaddy.com
Mini marshmallows, Chocolate peanut butter cookies with white chocolate frosting, and Mini cupcakes: Donna and Amanda of Grace's Flour Garden www.facebook.com/pages/Graces-Flour-Garden
Favors: Salt water taffy of River Street Sweets www.riverstreetsweets.com

{Pin it Friday} Apple Cufflinks

Source: geekware.ca via Layla on Pinterest

http://www.geekware.ca
Apple cufflinks - made from recycled Apple keys!!

{Bright Idea Thursday} Place Settings

One of my favorite parts of events is setting the table and making it look pretty!! There are a plethora of options out there and thanks to pinterest and blogs you can find amazing ideas. Let me help you decide on your wedding’s style plus give you some wicked awesome setting layouts (yep, I sneaked in some Boston slang). Are you more of a bright color, rustic, luxurious, modern, earthy, country, or Victorian style person? Are you going to have red or white wine glasses? Do you want the wine glasses right side up or upside down? Is it buffet style, so no plates at the tables? Would you like the napkins set on top of the plates or next to the plates? Maybe have the napkins folded in an interesting way - learn how to fold napkins here: http://www.napkinfoldingguide.com/ or http://www.delish.com/recipes/napkin-folding/ Make sure you ask the venue, cateror, or linen rental companies if they will fold the napkins for you, otherwise, your wedding planner (me) will be doing it for you! 

Classically, the groom sits to the bride's right and the best man sits to her left. The maid of honor sits to the groom's right. Depending on how large the table is, the other attendants can also be seated near the bride and groom.

(So that when you are looking at their faces it will be Mr & Mrs)

If you are at the table looking at the back of their chairs this could be the order:

Bride’s Mom, Bride’s Dad, Bride, Groom, Groom’s Mom, Groom’s Dad

Family Tables: Often, the parents of the bride and groom sit opposite each other at a large family table, with grandparents, the officiant (only if they are friends with them), and other close friends. An alternative is to have the bride and groom's parents "host" their own tables, consisting of their family members and close friends. In the case of divorced parents, each parent may also host his or her own table, smoothly diffusing any awkwardness or discomfort.

You're Engaged Now WHAT!?

Welcome to 2012!! So many people got engaged over the holidays including one of my best friends! He proposed to her on top of the Empire State Building in NYC - how romantic!! Congratulations on your engagement, take a moment and enjoy it, then get ready and prepare yourself for sooooo many questions and things to figure out!

You're Engaged Now WHAT!? I've been compiling a lot of resources on my blog since it saves on me printing it out or emailing it or for you to buy books, etc. If you go to the tag cloud on the right hand side of this blog and click on "etiquette" or just click on this link you'll be brought to ALL my posts about wedding planning and TONS AND TONS of information. 

This post is about the FIRST STEPS on what you need to do asap! I've borrowed some great resources from a few fabulous blogs to help you get started. 

THE QUESTIONS:

What kind of wedding do you want?

Church Ceremony or Civil Ceremony?

Small and Intimate Party or Bigger is Better Reception?

What is your budget for the wedding?

Who do you want to invite?

What’s your ideal venue?

When would you like to get married?

Is there a key theme, colour or inspiration in your head?

read more...http://onefabday.com

TOP 5 THINGS TO DO FIRST:
1. Set a budget

2. Choose 2-3 possible dates

3. Start your guest list

4. Decide on your wedding’s style

5. Decide on your venue

read more...http://everylastdetailblog.com

{Organic Wednesday} Eco-friendly Flowers

I love to learn more about Eco-friendly businesses and share their information to my readers. Maybe you'll support some of them and buy from them or maybe you'll pass along their information to other people. Either way this post today is to inform you about 2 companies that are Made In America and family focused! Many people buy flowers throughout the year and not just for weddings, so maybe next time you or someone you know orders flowers, you'll consider these companies.

Reasons to Purchase Local

☛ Purchasing fresh cut flowers (and vegetables) from local growers helps to support local agriculture, good land stewardship, and the preservation of diminishing farmland and open spaces.

☛ The floral industry is currently a global trade. The vast majority {80%} of fresh cut flowers are produced in Latin America using harsh chemicals and poor wages/working conditions. These flowers are then shipped thousands of miles to reach consumers, burning fossil fuels all along the way.

☛ Locally grown flowers are produced more sustainably, provide good jobs, and bring the consumer in direct contact with the grower, allowing for a higher level of appreciation/inspiration. Buying your flowers locally supports a “fair trade” approach similar to coffee, chocolate, spices, etc.

☛ Research shows that flowers are indeed “food for the soul”. A study by Rutgers University found that fresh flowers trigger happy emotions, heighten feelings of life satisfaction and affect social behavior in a positive manner. If one bouquet can do that, imagine what a whole field of flowers can do!

☛ Getting to know a local flower farmer builds a sense of community and understanding of how these beautiful blooms are grown, ultimately reconnecting  {Love ‘n Fresh’s urban} buyers to nature in some small way.  It also builds a unique relationship where the flower farmer knows many customers birthdays, anniversaries and other special commemorations that deserve dashing floral designs to celebrate.

☛ Every dollar spent on locally grown flowers puts the purchasing power back in the hands of the consumers, demonstrating that there is concern for the environment, small farms, the local economy, and quality standards.  It may seem like just a bunch of daisies to most people, but it means a great deal in terms of long term sustainability on every front.

Dried Flowers Direct

"For three generations our family has been involved in commercial flower production. We moved into the Finger Lakes region of Western New York in 1990, thus 2005 is our fifteenth flower growing season on our scenic Keuka Lake dried flower farm". 

Straw

"We raise our dried flowers from seeds or cuttings and either sow directly into the fields or transplant by hand (using a converted old horse-drawn cabbage setter). The flowers grown (more than fifteen acres) are supplied fresh at local markets or air dried in our circa 1860 barns. The barns, containing over two miles of drying lines, offer ideal drying conditions: warm temperatures with cool updrafts; large, dry, open airy room; and darkness. Presently, we are offering over 40 varieties of wholesale and retail dried flowers and are continuously expanding with new and exciting selections".

Baby's Breath

Cat-tails Pencil

Dried Flowers Direct™ 
from Keuka Flower Farm
Penn Yan, NY
(315) 694-9021      
www.driedflowersdirect.com

California Organic Flowers

"Our main reason for starting our online organic flower store was because the only flowers we could find online were the same old tired flowers shipped all the way from South America. Here we were living on our beautiful flower farm brimming with a huge variety of locally grown organic flowers and all we could find online was hybrid roses! Well we just couldn't sit back and and let the demand for real field grown, fresh organic flowers go unfilled. The next thing you know we launched our website and were up to our necks in online orders and  had to expand our farm to meet the demand". 

wedding party pack mixed variety

"A seed is planted. Carefully placed in the soil, lovingly watered and weeded, pruned and supported, a flower grows. Flowers are sent to people we love, because we wish to express joy for their new job, house, or baby. They are sent to show we care about their sickness, injury or loss of loved one. Flowers are sent to encourage a friend to carry on in times of turmoil and they are sent just because we remember how important that person is to us and we just want them to know that we think of them from time to time. When we choose individual flowers on our farm, we tell them (yes, we really talk to your flowers!), ‘this is an important mission you have, travel proudly and be your best upon arrival.” That is why it is important to us that our flowers we grown organically and they be grown on our farm where we can see every single bloom before it is packed for shipment. We are a small farm, we plant every seed ourselves, harvest every bloom by hand. We understand that personal messages of love and grief deserve personal attention". 

White Anemone Bouquet

Remember! Flowers are perishable. Please make sure someone is available to receive the delivery. For residential deliveries, Fed Ex will leave your flowers at the door if no one is present.

Our freshly harvested flowers arrive at their destination in our custom gift box. Our flowers are always shipped with a water receptacle to ensure freshness. In most cases, vases are not included, but can be added during the ordering process.

Next Day Shipping Costs:

All of our products are shipped Fed Ex Priority Overnight

Tuesday-Friday $14.95 (anywhere in continental USA)
Saturday: $22.95   (Sat. delivery may not be available in rural locations)

info@californiaorganicflowers.com

California Organic Flowers

Chico, CA 

(530) 891-6265

https://californiaorganicflowers.com