Saturday, May 18, 2013

On the Hunt

Joe and I spent the morning doing something new together (actually something new for both of us individually too), and although it was way more exciting for me, he was a good sport and very supportive.  We woke up early and went yard sale-ing. 

We left the house with a very specific goal in mind- glass bowls and vases for the wedding center pieces, and headed to two "community yard sales" that I'd seen advertised on my drive to work all week. 
With $30 cash in hand I didn't want to pay more than $2 per piece and hoped to find some decorative "crystal" in addition to traditional "vases".   The plan is to apply a DIY mercury glass finish to the glass pieces and fill them with greenery and white flowers. Therefore the shapes we need are somewhat specific and less common. 

Luckily we had lots of success- we spent $22 and got 13 bowls/vases AND 10 small glass votives. Major budget-wedding-planing score!!  I did splurge and spend $3 on a pedestal bowl, but most were $1 and some only 50 cents! We are adding these to 8 vases we've already been given by friends and family and I think we're almost set.
Although I don't think I'll be yard sale-ing on a regular basis it was an awesome way for us to find what we needed on the cheap, and as a bonus we got to spend the morning doing this wedding related activity together :)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Lotus Jewelry Studio


I have an amazing job.   A creative, comfortable, ever changing, home-away-from-home job.  A job in my field, with friends who are now family, with a company I really feel like I am a part of.  For almost 4 years I haven been the Operations Manager for Lotus Jewelry Studio.  Although we have stressful seasons, and sometime we literally work our fingers into calluses I wouldn't dream of working anywhere else. 

Three seasons ago (we work in "seasons" in the accessories industry) I introduced my first jewelry line under the Lotus Jewelry Studio design house-  called The Lily Collection.  And since I've never shared that news with you,  I thought it was time I tooted my own horn and showed a few photos...




And now, we're getting ready to launch our new products. Due out in July. They are made, photographed  and being put into catalog format now- not a quick step, and certainly not the most fun!  I promise to post more photo's once I'm able to reveal the new products!


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Wedding Plans

We are 8 months and 3 days away from our wedding. Which means we have been engaged for over 6 months! Time is going by so quickly and I know December 8th will be here before we know it!! :)

Since I've been MIA since my engagement I wanted to document all of the details we have checked off of the wedding "to-do" list and a few of the other details we've sorted out.

Date- December 8th, 2013.
It's a sunday= save big $$$$$$

The venue- Riverdale Manor
This insanely cute reception venue is located in Lancaster PA, and while is't at least an our drive for anyone coming to the wedding, I knew it was the place for us the minute we visited. I held my breath until we crunched all the number and then completely fell in love with the whole venue once we determined we could actually afford it. 

The Attire-
Check!! I went dress shopping 4 times.  Once alone with my mom, once alone with my step-mom and twice with my entourage. Finally, I said "YES TO THE DRESS".   It was so much fun! Seriously, I could do that forever. But I put my dress on and felt myself happy from the inside out, and my face hurt from smiling so much and I knew the search was over. See photo below :)  I showed Joe photos the as soon as we got home. I know it's not traditional, but neither is my dress (hint hint) and neither are we.  I just wanted to share the excitement with him.  He won't see me in the actual dress until the wedding day. 
Men will wear black suites.
Bridesmaids attire is TBD.


Flowers and Decor-
Luckily, by getting married in December Riverdale Manor will already be decorated with beautiful greenery, wreaths and white lights.  Very classy :)   We will be making all of the centerpieces and decor ourselves. There is no way I'm paying for that stuff- I'm crafty with lots of crafty family and friends and I know we can pull something together that looks fabulous.  It was a great way to trim our budget. The plan for centerpieces right now is: find vintage glass vases while antiquing (super cheep! In fact, maybe I should start yard sale-ing now??) and doing a mercury glass finish on them. Then filling them with live greenery and flowers I've made by hand- all white/cream. Some will be tissue paper and some will be felt. I'm considering throwing in a feather or two...we'll see.  


Photographer-
Photography is the one place I really wanted to splurge.  At the end of this whole thing I want to have beautiful pictures that document the day wonderfully so we can look back at them and smile, and remember our beautiful wedding forever.  PS- photography is freaking expensive. 

Food- 
Conveniently, our venue is first and foremost a catering company.  We choose our menu and had our tasting already. It was heavenly! We are having a station-style meal, which means people will be up and mingling more than they would with a traditional served meal.  We are serving: pork lion and beef with sides, chicken and shrimp skewers with sides, and a variety of pastas and sauces. Mmmmm....

Guest List-
One of the most challenging parts of this whole process. We are capped off (thank goodness!) at 150 due to the venue. 

DJ, officiant, hotels, transportation, registries-
All done. Pretty boring, but done! :)

A few things we still need to tackle:
Wedding Rings- Joe's will be easy (I think), and mine will be custom. 
Honeymoon- We're going to Italy! Sicily and Venice. But not until spring.
ceremony- short and sweet. We'll write our own vowels. 
rehearsal dinner- ???
stationary- I'm impatiently waiting for our engagement photos to arrive so I can get save the dates out. 

If you'd like anymore info you can check out our wedding website here.  

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday. I'm so happy to share this info with you all :)





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