Wedding Advice from a Newlywed!

Today, my semi-newlywed cousin, Terra, is here to share some tips and advice with us engaged girls!

Seriously, how pretty is she?!

1. Create a budget (unless you are rich and have all the money in the world)

2. Research and get ideas for center pieces, invites, flowers (be creative and crafty and try and do them yourself to save money)

3. Get engagement photos - you can use them for date savers if you send them (we didn't to save money). However I did use the engagement photos to hang on the wooden frame that we made ourselves and had at the bridal shower and at the church.

4. This a big time big time tip, make sure that when you meet with someone, like the person making the cake for instance: Know what you want and have samples/printouts of what you would like the cake to look like. It saves you and the other person time if you are organized and have made your decisions before hand.

5. BE ORGANIZED. Get boxes or plastic totes to start putting your wedding stuff in. Designate an area to have everything in one place. Label the boxes so you know what you have in them.

6. Make lists of things you need or need to get done. I know from my experience I felt very overwhelmed and felt like I was forgetting things.

7. Take pictures of random things so you can put them in your wedding album or scrap book. I took a screen shot of Brent sending me a text that I thought was cute about seeing me at the alter. Another picture was of me putting the invites in the mailbox.

The one moment of my wedding day WAS when my father and I were standing alone waiting for the song to start and us to walk around the corner and down the isle. At that moment I got butterfly's in my stomach and looked at my dad and he said, "are you ready" and as we started to walk and when I looked up and saw Brent, this overwhelming feeling came over me. My Husband-to-be looked so handsome and I couldn't get over how lucky I felt to be marrying him. It truly was a magical day and one I will never forget.

REMEMBER:

The process of getting everything together for the wedding goes so fast. The day of the wedding goes even faster. I had a friend tell me something that I thought was very informative. She said "Stop and enjoy the day, try and remember things because before you know it, its over," Oh, she was totally right.

Here's a little inspiration from her wedding!

Christmas Eve Engagement!

Hi everyone! Tonight, I have a very special guest blogger who is here to talk about her engagement and wedding planning so far! Please feel free to comment/message me and I will have her answer any questions you have for her! So, welcome Taylor!

Hi Girls!

I am very new to the whole blogging thing but Diana has asked me to kind of give a background on what my fiance and I have been up to and how the wedding planning is going!

My fiance, Daniel, is from North Carolina. He is an Exercise Science major and I am a Communications major. Him and I met each other at Liberty University. We have been together for a little bit over a year now. We are planning on living in North Carolina after we are married. We are both graduating a year early just so we can start working right after the wedding!The engagement happened on Christmas Eve! Daniel and I had planned for him to come up to PA to spend Christmas Eve with my family and I and the day before Christmas Eve he told me he would be working all day Christmas Eve and would not be able to make it. During dinner that night with my family, my dad got a call from someone and he told us that he had to leave the house. Well, my dad came back to the house about twenty minutes after and asked us if we were ready to open our Christmas presents. Of course, we got excited, and my dad asked me if I wanted to open my gift from Daniel because he told me Dan had my gift shipped up to PA. I sat down and opened my gift and to my surprise it was an Ipad Mini!!! My dad told me there was instructions that came with it so when I opened the Ipad there was a video on the screen. I pushed play and it went through this whole story of how I was the treasure and the engagement ring was the key to the treasure. In the video Daniel gets the ring stolen by his friends which in the movie were zombies, because we love love love The Walking Dead! At the end of the movie he finally gets the ring back and he walks to his car and the video said 5 hours later... which is the amount of time it takes to get from Liberty University to my house in PA. Then a picture of my front door appeared on the video and as the door opened in the video Daniel walked through my front door! I was so surprised and crying and he came over to me and got down on one knee and said, "Taylor I love you so much, I want to grow old with you, I want to have a family with you, and I want to serve the Lord with you!" Then he asked me to marry him! I was so excited. I love the ring so much. He did a great job! ;).

Wedding planning is going great so far. The wedding will be May 31st, 2014 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The resort we are having the wedding at is The Breakers Resort.
So far we have our venue picked out, our menu, the DJ, I picked my dress out, and we have our centerpieces and colors figured out. Daniel and I are starting to think of ideas for our save the date picture, and we have the guest list pretty much done. The only thing I am really worried about is the photographer. I have a couple of people in mind but I have yet to pick one. Our wedding will only have about 125-150 guests. Most of the wedding guests are our family or friends from school. The wedding party is 8 bridesmaids and 8 groomsmen. We are having one ring bearer and two flower girls.

That is most of the planning we have done for now! 

If any of you girls have questions about planning feel free to message me or contact me! 

Thank You Taylor!

Something Old, Yet, Something New!

Wedding binder update time, lovelies! 

It has been about 5 months since I first revealed my planning binder, May I just add that this has been a serious life saver when it comes to talking wedding? It is so simple to just be able to pull out my binder with all the things that inspire me and all the ideas I would like to try and just show anyone who is interested, or, maybe not interested in the slightest bit, (I feel like I should hashtag this SorryNotSorry.) 

Willing or not, this binder sure is a conversation starter and a wonderful example of how organization can make the planning experience so much easier. 

Since October, I have added many more categories and items that are actually extremely important to this process, for me. But this honestly depends on who you are and what you find to be the most important aspects of your wedding. 

So, now for some inspiration for you brides-to-be!

Wedding Overview

○ Overly creative & over-decorated title page consisting of wedding colors and theme

○ Example of invitations

○Countdown Calendar 

○Marriage License requirements and how to announce your engagement/wedding in local newspapers

For The Bride

○Bridal store locators, by state. 

○Wedding Gown inspiration

○ Accessories, Veils,  Bouquets

○ Hair Style and Make-up ideas

○Contact information for hairdressers, bridal shops, florists, etc. 

For The Groom

○ Tuxes & Boutonnieres

○Wedding Bands

Wedding Party

○Bridesmaid/Groomsmen Attire

○Flower Girl/Ring Bearer Attire

○Various Bouquets & Boutonnieres

○Potential Vendors contact information 

Ceremony & Reception

○Venue information

○List of questions to ask about venue (there will be more about this soon.)

○Favorite readings, vows, and ring exchange passages

○All potential vendor and venue contact, pricing, and regulations

○Cake & Catering information 

○Photos of inspiration for the cake

○Inspiration photos for the ceremony and the reception 

○Potential music lists 

○Favors and gifts 

Photographer

○This isn't necessary but pictures are VERY important to me

○Photos of pictures you would like to have taken

○Inspiration for the photographer

○Potential props 

○Photographer contact information

Registry

○Places you would like to create your registry at

○List of items for your registry

Pre-Wedding

○ Budgeting Tips

○ Ways to save

Post Wedding To-Do

○ Change your name

○Thank you notes

○Go through photos 

○Complete your registry

○Preserve your gown!

Fall Food!

One of the things that I love the most about Fall is all of the baking and cooking. Not even just Thanksgiving. My favorite things to make are the sweet or salty stuff. Definitely not the stuff that's good for you!

This year, we did something completely new at home and then I did something completely new. 

We decided to make Caramel and Candied Apples. Sticky, messy, and yet oh so delicious! 

They were a lot easier to make then I thought they were going to be. 

We just needed to get: Apples, Caramel Squares, Candy Mix, Wax Paper and Popsicle Sticks.
Obviously, we had to wash the apples first and break off the stem!

 

 I did the classic elementary school trick: 

Each twist shows how many kids I'm going to have. Six? I don't think so.

I shoved the Popsicle sticks in the center and heated up the caramel and candy mix in their own pans.

Until they melted, I crushed some peanuts for on top. Once the caramel and candy were all melted, we just dipped the apples in, covered them, and laid them on the wax paper to dry!

YUM! 

Then, after we finished carving pumpkins, I decided it was time for me to learn how to make my own pumpkin seeds. I've only ever eaten my mom's pumpkin seeds and I knew I would need to learn how to make them myself someday. Super easy!

You can find my favorite recipe here!

Planner Printables!

After a very long time figuring out design concepts, colors, and layouts, I have finally finished my planner!
I can not wait to walk into my first day of Penn with something I created myself instead of having the same planners/calendars that everyone else has! There's so much more satisfaction in that! 

Here's a little preview!

Cover: 

I used my monogram to title mine, however, left this blank for your customization!

Class Schedule and Calendars:

 Note Pages, I began using two different designs for more fun!

 Area for blog notes as well as other projects!

Each month has its own specific color for every section as well as the chevron and semi-quatrefoil design!

Because I'm so thrilled with how this is turning out, 

I would like to share this planner with you and link you to all the items that I created!

Personal Planner: Free Printable!

ENJOY!

<3.

Halloween House Party!

I know, I know, Halloween is long passed now but I've been slow on the blogging lately!

I finally got to go to a Halloween party, but not the kind you would think,
it was a Rice Krispies House Party by one of my favorite bloggers!
This was so much more than a typical party, plus, it was loaded with food, friends, and little kids!
It was probably one of the cutest little parties she has ever thrown!
She made parmesan bread sticks, mummy hot dogs, mini pizzas, and tons of Halloween themed Rice Krispies treats that guests made as well! The punch even had a hand in it!
Obviously not a real one, but one made of ice. (See what I did there? Ha.) I love that glove trick!
What I loved even more though, were the amazing crock-pot pumpkin spice lattes!

There were so many activities, like cookie making and a home-made pinata to break!

All to the tune of Halloween music!
 Best night!
<3.

Fall Photoshoot Fun!

About two weeks ago, Jason and I got some pictures done by our friend Missy.

They were so much fun to take and turned out so well!

Here are some of our favorites!

Thank you so much, Missy!

<3.