Will you be my....?

After setting our date for May 3rd, 2014, I knew I needed to take care of one of the most important wedding details... asking my bridal party!

I was beyond excited to ask these girls to share this special day with Matt and I, but I knew I had to come up with a crafty and unique way to ask them.

Of course my go-to for ideas was to browse through Pinterest. What a great tool! I couldn't imagine the wedding world without it.

I found some great ideas:

         

 

I also took into account that four of the girls I was going to ask had just asked me to be in their wedding! They had really cute ideas:

• Message in a bottle
• Mini champagne bottle
• Hidden poster message
• Small cardboard box with a pullout message

After multiple Michael's trips and constant brainstorming, I came up with my idea and put it all together!

 

I started out with a white board, camera and my wonderful mother to take some pictures of me. I printed the pictures out in wallet size and attached them to a strand of ribbon.

 

I decided to add the cork on the bottom with the date to add a little detail that tied into our wedding theme. The top was tied with a big purple bow and the pictures were laid inside a little black box. 

 

As these were sent to the girls, they pulled on the bow and the chain of pictures displayed the message! I was so excited for everyone to receive these boxes. It felt like forever for my out of town girls to get them!! 

 

It was great to get this project completed and mark it off my checklist. More importantly, I am so elated to have these girls by my side on the big day!

 

More festivities to come!

 

XO,

Brittney

 

Lets Get Weird! : Ashleigh's Bachelorette Party

I can't believe I waited this long to post about the amazing bachelorette weekend we threw for one of my best friends a few weeks ago in Sacramento!

Ashleigh asked me to be her maid of honor in February and from that day on the wheels were turning on where we were going for the bachelorette party. She has eight bridesmaids in total, so it was decided to just have the bridal party in attendance. Coordinating nine girls' schedules was going to be hard enough!

I had to factor in budgets, work schedules, their locations, etc. I thought about many different places, but Sacramento seemed to be the best fit! It was an easy drive for everyone, there was plenty to do, and it still felt like we were getting out of town!

As a planner, my goal was to keep everyone as informed as possible. I'm sure the girls started getting tired of my emails, but I didn't want to spring any extra costs on anyone. I think that is really important for the maid or matron of honor to consider in this process. While we all want to plan the picturesque Las Vegas trip, for most, its just not realistic.

So I literally planned for months, thinking about all the things we could do, reading endless Yelp reviews, finding the best bang for our buck and wanting to make sure that Ashleigh and the girls had a great time!

We managed to keep the destination of the bachelorette party a secret from Ashleigh! My friend Jen and I were driving down with her, letting her know that we were picking up one of the girl's who lives in Sacramento. As soon are we arrive downtown at the Grand Sheraton Hotel, Rachel runs to the car and we all yell, "we're here!" We walk up to our amazing suite and a weekend full of celebration begins!

An afternoon of wine tasting at Downtown & Vine!

Dinner at Zocolo with a mariachi band!

We all wore shirts that said 'Let's get weird' on the front!

On the back they said bridesmaid (or for Ashleigh: bride)

One night we all wore black, while the bride to be stood out in white!

Ashleigh gave us our bridesmaids gifts this weekend! She had sweatshirts made with years we've known her on the back and hangover care kits for the weekend! 

One of the bridesmaids, Amy also made hangover kits for us, as we didn't know Ashleigh was making them too! Needless to say, we were stocked up on amenities to get us through the weekend!

Take a look at some of the great places we visited!

Hotel 

Sheraton Grand Sacramento

 Food

Capital Garage

Paesanos

Zocolo

Lucca

Bars 

Downtown & Vine

The Pour House

 District 30

Dive Bar

Faces

What a FUN weekend it was! We all had a great time getting together to celebrate the wonderful bride to be!

XO,
Brittney

28 days until Britnee's Wedding day!

One of my very good friends and former roommate is getting married in July. I am so honored to have been asked to be a bridesmaid in her wedding!
 
 Her twin sister Aubree (Maid of Honor) and I recently put on a bridal shower for her in beautiful wine country, Temecula California.

 

We held the shower at her parents amazing Tuscan inspired villa!



I think special creative touches and details are a great way to set the shower apart from any other shower.  After all it is all about the bride!

Here are some things that we crafted for the shower: 

 

 Wood letter monogram & Tissue paper pom-poms

 

Painted wooden Signs from Michael's

 

Notecards for 'Recipe for Love for Britnee and Joel' : guests would write advice for the couple.
Popsicle sticks for 'Can of Dates' : fun date ideas for them to do in sunny San Diego area!

 

Fun heart clips for labeling food and drinks...yummm

 

 The beautiful food table!

  

Some pictures of the bride to be!

We couldn't believe there were only 28 days to go! 

 

 

Thank you to Aubree Bond for capturing amazing pictures of the shower! xoxo

 

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Putting on a shower can be a lot of work! Not to mention a lot of time and money. Proper planning and organization will give you time to add special touches, and can even help your pocket book!

 

 Don't rush to buy the first thing you see, there is a lot of mark up on bridal supplies! Some details can easily be achieved with a little paint and some scissors!

 

The bride is going to be so elated that day, it won't matter if you forgot the stickers for name tags or meant to have that game you played at the last shower you went to.

 

 Focus on things that will make it a special day for the bride; have things she can look back on and truly appreciate! After all, you're putting in a ton of effort, be proud to show off your work!

 

 

XO,

Brittney