Changes for the New Year!

I've moved to:

http://www.masonjararts.com/

Go Green!

You can choose an eco-friendly approach to your weddings or events. There are so many fun and unique ideas out there for designing a wonderful wedding or event, while still being organic and beautiful. It can be a little or a lot, because every aspect of your event can be greener. A green event doesn't have to mean compromising your dream or having no style!! Look for the little green leaves on the {Real Wedding} posts to see how each couple was "green".
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I love to reuse, recycle, and repurpose items, so when a client is Eco-friendly too we can come up with beautiful crafty ideas that create less waste. For instance creating guest favors out of recycled  tin cans and wrapping them with extra invitations then filling them  with ivy plants, or maybe used the recycled tin cans for vases to put  flowers in, I also love the look of recycling glass jars filled with water and floating candles, or using old  Scrabble pieces from your childhood game. There are many eco-chic, DIY ideas out there, you just have to figure out which is best for you and your style.
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Does my event need to be 100% green? That is up to you! It can be a little or a lot, because every aspect of your event can be greener. Each one of the 2.5 million weddings this year in the United States will produce an average of 62 tons of carbon dioxide and 400-600 lbs of garbage. That's a lot of waste! If every engaged couple made just one small green choice, which would be 2.5 million greener choices a year and that is an amazing impact. According to the Green Bride Guide's research.

GREEN IDEAS:
☛ Support local companies for your guest favors or welcome baskets

☛ Support Etsy vendors, the world's most vibrant handmade marketplace – ask me about my list of unique wedding artists including: refurbished ties and bow ties, cake toppers, banners, accessories, and more

☛ Donate your flowers

☛ Hire local recycling company

☛ Don’t give guests favors, instead donate the money to your charity of choice:https://www.idofoundation.org
https://www.justgive.org
http://www.globalgiving.org
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG
http://www.redcross.org
Susan G. Komen for the Cure®

☛ Green favors – small plants if they live locally or infused seed favors that can be planted, biodegradable confetti, 100% latex balloons that are biodegradable vs. plastic balloons (bad for the ocean & ocean animals), canvas totes, bamboo, organic chocolate, and I have more!

☛ Have your ceremony and reception at the same location to cut on transportation

☛ Choose a Green Certified Reception or Botanical Garden

☛ Use Eco-friendly invitations, or just have the save-the-dates be a post card to cut on postage and paper

☛ Choose an organic caterer

☛ Choose an Eco-friendly florist

☛ Have Eco-friendly gift registry items: even Target has great Eco-friendly options now or shop these online stores: http://www.plateswithpurpose.com or http://www.dwellsmart.comor http://www.branchhome.com

☛ Use horse drawn carriages or pedi cabs to move your bridal party from one location to the next, if near by.


So what GREEN choices will you make for your wedding? Check out these great green companies to support
(If you know of other great eco-friendly companies let me know!)

http://www.noimpactbride.com/
No Impact Bride is dedicated to promoting ethical and Eco-friendly weddings.

http://eco-beautifulweddings.com/blog/
Eco-Beautiful Weddings is the first and only quarterly online magazine and daily blog dedicated to eco-friendly weddings.

http://www.ecofabulous.com
Being ecofabulous means celebrating high style with low impact. It’s about beautiful items and experiences that don’t compromise. They’re obsessed with well-designed products. Yet their definition of beauty doesn’t leave room for things that make you – or the planet – sick.

http://www.ecoandelsie.com
Eco and Elsie focusing on pretty things, wedding things, healthy things, fashion-y things, etc... that all bring a bit of eco-friendly joy to the earth and those who live here.

http://www.greenamerica.org
Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982. (We went by the name “Co-op America” until January 1, 2009.) Their mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

http://practicallygreen.com/
Practically Green provides simple and useful tools for healthy and green living.

http://www.greenbrideguide.com
The Green Bride Guide has everything you need to plan a green wedding! Here you can find pictures from real green weddings, articles and advice on eco-chic decor, and a wide range of including: organic bedding, Recycled Glass Dishes, and eco-friendly appliances.

{Inspiration Board} Kelly Clarkson Inspired Wedding

**** UPDATE ****

YAY! So happy for Kelly! She ended up doing an intimate elopement and here is their wedding video. I totally called the bohemian style and wildflower style bouquet with a little bling bling somewhere, check out her gorgeous hair piece!

Brandon and Kelly Blackstock from Weiss Eubanks Films on Vimeo. 

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I'm very excited and pretty much spent my whole morning creating this inspiration board!! Kelly Clarkson got engaged to talent manager Brandon Blackstock in December and the couple is now planning their wedding, which Kelly said will be an "earthy" outdoor event in the fall. Sounds like a wedding I would love to help plan!! Call me Kelly, I LOVE YOU! She gave a few little details describing what she wants for her wedding including walking barefoot down the aisle, having no bridesmaids, and her dress will be rock and roll. Kelly Clarkson was the winner of the first season of American Idol in 2002, born in Texas and one of the best singer songwriter out there!

Here is my inspiration board, enjoy!

One of Kelly's charities she lists on her page that she supports is HOUSES OF HOPE which exists to build, staff, equip, and support orphan homes in order that they can become self-sustainable environments. Houses of Hope provides what we agree should be available to every child: a loving home, clothing, food and someone to care for them. Instead of giving away wedding favors you can give that money to your charity of choice and let your guests know with these fun ideas:

sources: yahoo news, guitar case, pews, etsy artist record cupcake stand, in lieu of favors, donation, moo charity cards, bridal gown, Dannijo Ismene Bib Necklace, flowers, fall wedding bouquet, fall leaves, barefoot bride, feet, backyard boho wedding

I'm pretty obsessed with Kelly's new songs!! Have a listen.

If you missed my Jennifer Aniston & Natalie Portman wedding posts make sure you check them out too!  I love making these boards :)

Happy Anniversary

Happy 4 Year Anniversary to my husband, Christopher and I! I have created a nice post to share what we've been through together for the past four years. These pictures go from current to past. We recently moved up to the North Country of New York pretty much in Canada to where Chris is from and his family is. I grew up in Massachusetts but we've been living in Savannah, GA for about 5 years so going back to the cold was a huge shock for me. In this first picture you'll see the -3 degree weather in my car thermometer and that was normal for winter!! It was -25 for a few days - OMG! COLD!! We live in farm country and the fields look so pretty with the snow, fog and clouds. There are a lot of barns here and I'm determined to start taking more pictures of them since I have a new Nikon D3200! It's now summer, the fields have hay and corn growing, and it's much warmer. 

In order to get up to New York where we live we rented a Uhaul and packed up our house, then I drove behind Chris and his father (who took turns driving the truck) in our car with our 2 cats, dog and my mother since she lives with us. When I needed to sleep Chris would drive the car and we did this INSANE driving rotation and drove straight thru! 

We used walkie-talkies - I had too much fun using them :)

For our 3rd anniversary we went to eat at Garibaldi's one of the best Savannah restaurants in my opinion!

For our 2nd Anniversary we ate at The Olde Pink House also a super restaurant in Savannah, GA.

Below is the picture of us when Chris came home from his 12 month deployment and they arrived sometime around 3:30am or something crazy like that. I didn't care or sleep cuz I was SOOOOOOOO HAPPY TO HAVE HIM BACK!!

For our R.&R. we chose to go to Asheville, NC and stayed in an adorable cabin in Brevard, NC. Since we didn't have a honeymoon after our wedding this served as our much waited for honeymoon. So amazing! This picture below is us at the Biltmore.

Can you tell Chris was a little tired in the picture below after his long journey to get home for our R.&.R. which was 9 months into his 12 month deployment. 

 This is one of my favorite pictures of us from our wedding! July 2nd, 2009 

To read more about our wedding see my post here.

The last 2 photos are from our weekend at Amelia Island, FL where Chris proposed! We stayed at a really nice Bed and Breakfast Elizabeth Pointe Lodge then had a gourmet dinner at a French Restaurant that I would highly recommend called Le Clos. Can you tell we like to EAT FANCY FOOD for special events!!?

My ring is an antique that belonged to my mother's grandmother, so my Great Grandmother, who fled Germany during WWII and it was passed down to me. 

And there you have it!! Did you make it all the way down to the end of my looooong post about our love story? Chris is a wonderful person. He has such a huge heart, he cooks amazing, and his family has welcomed me into their lovely arms. Here's hoping for 40 more years of marriage!

A Military Story

Hello followers, all 10 of you, ok maybe there are more of you out there...... ever since I moved up North and putting my efforts in finding a part-time job and keeping up my other blog, A Military Story, I have not had time to put the amount of effort I used to do for this blog. I will try to add posts when I am really inspired with something to share, but there are TONS AND TONS of fabulous posts on here for you to look back on.....sigh, this is so hard, but I really want to put all my energy online to A Military Story. A Military Story is a fully focused military blog that shares photos from military couple engagements, weddings, deployments, homecomings, and more. This blog not only shares beautiful military photos and the stories behind these photos, but it also inspires, educates and informs. You will find military customs and resources on the INFO page.

I’m really excited and honored when military clients want to be published on my blog. In fact I've received many kind words of how they love the vision of A Military Story they relate to the stories, or they get great inspiration from the photography. It’s important to me to support the military community as I too married into the military and experience the emotional heartache of a 12 month deployment. I had so much support during that long separation and feel connected to those who may be going through a long distance relationship. That’s why I started this blog in part to give back to the military community, as well as, provide stories and support to bring us together.

I’m so thrilled by the continuous support I have received since starting this blog. What surprised me the most is how enthusiastic my supporters are including my friends, family, and strangers from across the country! Whether you are a military girlfriend, wife, mom, aunt, sister, husband, cousin or a soldier yourself, I want you to find inspiration & community here on A Military Story. I want to thank y'all for following along and make sure you share A Military Story with your friends and family. http://www.amilitarystory.com

{Pin it Friday} Ceremony in the Round

Source: www.creativeaffairsinc.com via www.creativeaffairsinc.com on Pinterest

Yah, I know it's Thurday but I'm going to New Hampshire to visit with my high school girl friends!! YAY!! Since I'll be away all weekend so I posted this early. Also check out this other Ceremony in the Round that was in the woods that I shared before here: http://www.allthelittledetailsdesigns.com/2011/09/pin-it-friday-ceremony-in-round.html

Happy Earth Day!

http://www.linziehunter.co.uk/

Grey

Updated Re-post - Grey is my new color obsession and I want to buy paper straws, cupcakes flags, washi tape and everything GREY! I love lime green too, and brown and of course pink, but today this post is all about grey. So you may have noticed my new blog look, I've been super jealous of all the blogs that I follow that have gone thru rebrands and I needed something fun and fresh, so when I saw the template on Wonder Forest design site and it was affordable, I took the leap and bought it. Have a look at her nice blogger templates here www.envye.com .  The logo font is modern with a fun girly twist to get this font check out Only You and crown that comes with the Only You ornaments is so adorable! I tried to illustrate my personality into this logo since I am modern, girly and didn't feel like the other look really personified my creative love for painting, watercolor, and feminine flair. Plus the title describes me since I am obsessed with the little details. I have always noticed details, but usually not the details that other people see. What do you think of my new look??? I'm also doing some secret stuff over on my other blog A Military Story, but more on that later!! Well enough about me, here is my wish list of everything grey. 

Awwwwww when I searched the word grey these elephants came up in the image feed, so I HAD to include them. 

Elephants are so loving and majestic! 

sources: lemonade and grey straws, pink lemonade with grey straws, washi tape, cupcake flags, escort cards, Potter and Butler etsy store, elephant love, grey striped diy painting, grey stripe straws photography, kids room stripes, grey striped table linens for wedding, west elm shower curtain, twinery twine, grey pennants, white on grey, weddings unveiled magazine cover, elefante

Dream House

Ever since my husband and I moved up north to our little cottage, we have been daydreaming about our dream house which we hope to eventually have. At this moment and for a little while we will be living here in our rental until we are able to build a new home and first to have enough money to buy the perfect plot of land. 

So it's no surprise to those who know me that I love interior decorating, architecture, and barns. I usually post about wedding things here, but I had to do a post about dream homes since my friend Lisa just shared this AMAZING LowCountry house that is for sale!! Oh my gosh I watched the entire video and just love love love this house:   http://www.lowcountryonvideo.com//web/tour/show/video/branded/2214 Lisa is a good friend of mine from down south and she works for this company LowCountry On Video and helps to photograph these gorgeous homes that are for sale. She also has a fun blog that you should check out here: Best Kept Secrets of the LowCountry.

I really miss Savannah, it's architecture, history and of course the warm weather!! So when I saw this post on Style Me Pretty - Living it allowed me to daydream a little more and remember this great city. Here are 4 of my favorite photos from that post, but you should read the whole post too. 

Harwell Photography

Now onto our dream house!! I hate having such a small sink and would love a big farmhouse deep sink like these two. We have 6 black painted wooden chairs and I thought it would be different if our dining room had black crown molding and black painted trim. We also have a lot of photos and I would like to create a few photo walls within our dream house. I love these ideas on how to create collages with your photos in various arrangements. Then there is my office space, which currently is way over crowded right now and I so wish our new house had a larger space for all my stuff!! My hubby wants to have a really really big garage for working on cars so we have agreed that I get to have a big studio office space in this BIG separate garage. Below are a few ideas of how I would set up my space with lots of storage space and a giant wall to pin my ideas on. Lastly, I am obsessed with post and beam style inside house architecture and really wish we would have this look. That's all for now, but make sure you watch that video, the house is beautiful!

 sources: copper sink, black crown molding, picture wall, metal basket organizers, hanging garland and metal bookcases, karson butler events studio with metal shelves, wood shelves with chevron wall, ladder bookshelves, giant pin board wall, post and beam kitchen, yankee barn homes post beam kitchens, post and beam houses,  custom-post-and-beam, vermont timber works post beam home styles, post and beam, post and beam inspiration

Why hire a wedding planner?

Planning a wedding is a HUGE undertaking. It requires countless hours of research, emails and meetings plus a good amount of money! A planner looks out for your needs and is constantly making sure that everyone is where they should be and things are running according to schedule. Here are 6 reasons you should hire a wedding planner, if you want to read the full post please click on the link at the bottom of the this post since I paraphrased it. Very well written by Nicole of Green Ribbon Party Planning Co 

Alexis Sweet Photography

1.) You want your family and friends to enjoy the day with you

Often your friends and family will volunteer to help you with the planning process and with the day of duties. However when their excitement wears off, sometimes they are nowhere to be found. Even if they are very well-meaning, they often don’t have the experience to know what they are looking at when reviewing contracts and they don’t have vendor relationships. A planner gets paid to make sure your day is perfect and handle any hiccups so you can remain happy and stress-free. 

2.) Venue site managers work for the site and not for you

Some couples think they don’t need a planner because the venue has a site manager. That could not be farther from the truth. The site manager is employed by the venue and that is their main priority. They do not know all of the details of your design and often don’t even stay for the whole night. They tend to stay through the ceremony and then leave the banquet captain in charge. You need someone who is acting on your behalf, grabbing your gifts, making decisions for you and coordinating your vendors so you don't have to. 

3.) You care about your budget no matter what it is

No matter if you have a modest budget or an unlimited one, a planner will help you find vendors, within that budget, who can best suit your vision. 

4.) You have a design vision or you don’t

Whether you know exactly what you want or you have no idea, a planner can help you either bring your dream to life or cull all of your ideas into one singular design theme. In the age of pinterest and countless wedding blogs, brides can often be overwhelmed by all of the choices before them. Sometimes there is almost too much to look at and decisive brides suddenly can't make a decision. A planner can act as a reassuring voice, validating decisions and suggesting new ideas. 

  

5.) You need a mediator

Sometimes, families don’t all see eye-to-eye on what should happen on the wedding day. There are lots of opinions, especially where money and tradition are involved. It is good to have someone who can provide an expert opinion on wedding-related issues and serve as a neutral third party. 

6.) You would like a happy and stress-free wedding day

Things go wrong on wedding days, people get lost or show up late, things don’t get set-up where they are supposed to, food service can be slow and with no one to regulate these mistakes and stay on top of things, you might have an unhappy experience. Many times a couple will never even know anything was amiss on their day and that’s because a planner has solved the problem before anyone even realized something had gone wrong. 

Read the full post please click here: http://www.ohlovelyday.com/2012/10/planning-tips-6-reasons-why-you-need-a-wedding-planner.html

Taken Photography

The two photos I chose were both from weddings that were examples of #6 Things go wrong on wedding days and without a wedding planner to help, brides may loose their minds. Granted it's stressful and something will happen on your wedding day, so having family, friends, and your wedding planner to help deal with whatever goes wrong is so worth it! You just have to allow everyone to help you make your day as happy as can be, remember why you're marrying this wonderful man and don't sweat the small stuff...... let the wedding planner sweat, and boy oh boy, I'm always a sweaty mess and emotionally exhausted after weddings, but its soooooo worth it -- Layla

Adirondack Inspired Weddings

I'm super excited to be visiting my family this weekend for my cousin's baby's 1st birthday!!! Even though it's a 6 hour drive (see map) it's a lot better then driving from Savannah, GA to Boston, MA. Well, it's still snowy and cold here in the Adirondacks so I've put together another one of my Adirondack Inspired Weddings post and if you missed my other ones click here and here and here. But believe me, I'm so ready to start doing spring inspiration boards!

sources: wooden ring box, white deer cake, into the woods, guest seating chart, nebraska barn, barn wedding 1st dance, barn with wreaths, barn reception, green door barn, winter wedding, winter castle