Are you following me on Pinterest? If not click on the picture above to head over there and follow me. I love Pinterest, it is a gorgeous representation of what could be for your wedding or party. But Ladies (and Gents), you have to make these things happen. You can click and pin all day long, but your belly won't be full and your table won't have a gorgeous set up unless someone steps in. You, or you and me together can make your own party worthy of a Pin.
I love weddings and want to help as many of you with yours as I possibly can, but you know what, I love parties of all kinds and I want to help with those too. Next month I'm having a Tupperware Party at my place and while that wouldn't usually constitute a theme other than exceptional kitchen goods, I also know that my friends and I don't get together nearly often enough. So I'm going to go overboard. I'm telling you that right now. Vince will roll his eyes I'm sure and think I'm crazy. But I want to spoil us. Because only every so often do we get to be in the same room and we should have delicious food and beautiful napkins. And fresh flowers, yo. I just said yo, and I'm keeping it there, because that's how much I believe in this.
So Pinterest. I've been on it and using it to tuck away some recipes and ideas. October in Michigan is basically synonymous with Apples. Apple Orchard trips, cider, donughts. All kinds of delicous stuff. And I love a good Pumpkin Latte or pumpkin bars. So we're going with a fall theme. Here's what MIGHT be there (click on image to link to their website):
Mini Caramel Apples from Domesticali
Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts from Flourish
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Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls from Crazy for Crust
Pumpkin Hot Chocolate from Food Doodles
| And those are just some sweets ideas! What are you pinning? Are you having a girls night this month?
No there isn't a typo up there, I intentionally made it DIT because this is about "Do It Todero" which is cheesy, I'll give you that, but so true. My husband and I both love a good project, have you seen his costumes? No? Here's Boba Fett: The man is good, I can't wait to have kids because they will have the best costumes on the block. He can make pretty much anything that I've ever asked him to make. And I've asked a lot. Like for our wedding I wanted to DIY some aspects and the main one was a marquee backdrop for our ceremony and also for behind the head table at our reception. I gave him the idea, had the letters printed out at FedEx in the size and wanted and cut them out and he took the reigns on the rest of it. I loved it as the backdrop for our ceremony at the Farmington Civic Theater (which, by the way, was just awarded Best in Detroit) and also loved that it was movable to our reception and now it lives in our living room on the wall behind our couch. We also made a lot of other elements for the ceremony and reception:
Vince's idea to incorporate concession candy into the theme and put directions to the reception on the backs. (Thanks Michelle!)
Double DIY here: my good friends Kelly & Hilary helped with the flowers for the ladies and my sister sewed my sash onto my gown on the morning of the wedding.
I didn't want plain white tables, but also couldn't afford rental runners, so my friends Kelly & Lia helped me make these grey beauties. Vince spray painted all of the table number frames and my Aunt Theresa set all of this up for us on our day.
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I created all of the guys' boutonnieres, I used silk here so they could be made way in advance.
Our guest book aka Wedding Certificate was part of the ceremony and DIT'd by another branch of the Todero clan, Trevor & Michelle Todero. (And that's my lovely mother signing it!)
I found a rusted old mailbox at Salvation Army and we spruced it up!
| If you didn't notice the common theme through the caption I'll point it out for you: We did all of this, but with lots and lots of help. We are blessed by tons of crafty friends and family who were enthusiastic helpers in our pursuits.
What I want you to know is that DIY is possible, if you plan it out. What you don't see here are DIY flower girl dresses and that's because I was still sewing them two days before our wedding and on an early morning run to Walmart I found a grey and black dress for 19 bucks and bought two of them and my vision of grey tutu skirts over black leotards were thrown into a pile of failed attempts.
You have to know what you are capable of, and tutu skirts weren't going to be my gold star of the wedding. I also want you to know that I am very willing to help you figure out how to make what you see on Pinterest, or to tell you if buying it may actually be the cheaper, easier method. And Vince is available to help me with your projects too if you want something large and awesome like that marquee sign!
What do you want to DIT for your wedding? Any DIY disaster stories to share? Thanks again to all of my friends and family for their patience and help with our wedding projects!!
Today I have two introductions for you! The first is my new series What Your ________ Wants You to Know. This series is meant to introduce you to some of my favorite wedding professionals in the area as well as give you some tips as you prepare to meet with people you want to work with. In the future I'm looking into inviting florists, caterers, party rental companies, etc. to spend a little time getting to know them and you getting to know what they know and want you to as well.
So without further ado, let me introduce my first wonderful pro to you!
This is Julie O'Morrow, she is a freelance Makeup Artist and a super talented one at that! Julie and I met up for coffee last week and talked shop for a bit. Here's what she had to say about working with brides and their gals on their wedding day (plus some images mixed in of her beautiful work!): Julie started getting into makeup in High School when she struggled with acne. She says, "I was always trying to figure out ways to cover it up, then eventually it became natural, so I started to work on girls makeup for prom and homecoming." This has become her creative outlet now that she's married and has the cutest of little ones. She loves that she is able to see a start to finish product everyday in her work and how noticeably a woman's confidence changes when she gets her make up done.
So what do you need to know when you are hiring a Makeup Artist?- Get references. You need to know that they are a great Makeup Artist but you also want to know that they will be on time and have enough help with them to get all of the faces done that need to be done.
- You get what you pay for. Julie put this best saying you spend tons of money on your dress, on your nails, on your hair, but a lot of brides don't budget for quality makeup application and you can tell. It's like something was unfinished.
- Book early, but do your trial close to your date. You're getting married in November so you don't want to do your trial in July when you've been basking in the summer sun for weeks, your skin will be different. Do your trial a couple of months prior maximum. But you do want to make sure you get your preferred Makeup Artist, so get your date in their calendar now.
- Let your Makeup Artist know what you normally wear. Lots of brides come to Julie bare faced but want to look like they normally do just with a little more glamour. This is hard to do if Julie doesn't know what you look like usually so bring a picture with you.
- Allow plenty of time for hair and makeup. Each application can take up to an hour and you don't want to be rushed. Also Julie recommends that the bride not go last, she wants to have all the time in the world to do make you look your absolute best.
- Have all of your girls get their makeup done. Though sometimes bridesmaids are overwhelmed with all of the wedding expenses they have, Julie says she has had too many bridesmaids see the rest of their group get their makeup done and regret that they didn't. You can also tell in pictures. So figure out a way to make it work, for you and your bridesmaids, everyone wants to feel and look their best on your wedding day. Don't forget about your Mom too!
Julie's been in this business for a while so I asked her what advice she had for brides. These are simple but great: Don't over-tan. Sleep and drink water, it's good for your skin and your soul. Stop during your day and take a mental snapshot of everything going on around you--she did and is glad she did because it's hard to remember all of the details of the busy day.I love that last one, I think it should be added to Maid of Honor duties to have the bride stop for a couple of minutes throughout different points in the day. So here's how you get a hold of Julie and check out more of her work: Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/julie.omorrowFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakeupByJulieOMorrowInstagram: julieomorrow14 Are you having your makeup done for your wedding? How great are those before & after shots? What other types wedding professionals do you want to hear from?
The last couple of weeks I have been reaching out to other wedding professionals to connect so I can learn about their services and what they offer to you as brides, I'll be featuring many of them here in my new "What Your _____ Wants You to Know" series. I contacted Robyn of Designs by Robyn Love who I know from when we lived across the hall from each other because I remembered that she did some awesome calligraphy and I wanted to see how everything was going for her. Turns out her business is AMAZING and she offered me the awesome opportunity to go with her toe the Fall Bridal show at the Palace to help her out at her booth but also to see the behind the scenes of a bridal show. You guys, I had so much fun! The other vendors were awesome to meet and chat with, I especially have two favorites (other than Robyn of course :) ) that I will be sharing with you later this week. But today it's about Robyn because you have to check her out, you'll be sorry if you don't.
Designs by Robyn Love
Designs by Robyn Love
Designs by Robyn Love
It's totally what you see on Pinterest, love but don't know how to find someone to do it right? She does calligraphy and watercolor stationary. And the best thing is that since she does everything by hand she can completely customize your invitations to your preferences and it will be perfect for your event. The top photo is a invitation around a train theme and looks just like a train ticket and it is gorgeous.
Designs by Robyn Love
She also has some DIY options on her Etsy shop for those that want to take a hands on approach. She will create a calligraphy design of your choice and have it made into a stamp for you. I love this return address option, can you imagine how much time this will save you when addressing wedding invitations? Now I know you are thinking "where do I find more of Robyn's work?" Well here you go: Designs by Robyn Love Website, Etsy, and Facebook. Go say Hello to Robyn, and then book your designs with her because she fills up fast! Thanks so much Robyn for letting me tag along!
So normally I post on Tuesday and Thursday, but obviously today is Friday so that didn't happen yesterday. That's because I've been busy meeting with vendors, sending off loved ones to Alaska, creating new content for this here blog, and also creating marketing materials for the business. It has been BUSY. But next week, I promise I'll be back to my regular twice a week routine.
But for today I'll leave you with a couple of images from around the web that I've been drooling over! I can't be the only person that thinks this table runner is to DIE for, right? From Style Me Pretty. Love this aisle lined with giant red balloons! From Offbeat Bride. What have you seen online this week that you loved? Have a good weekend!
One of the most important things of planning any type of event is staying organized during the process. There is Pinterest to keep your inspiration images organized, binders to keep track of contracts, and you could use a Word program to keep all of your computer documents organized. But what happens when you are gone on a long weekend adventure and you just want to tweak that guest list or time line a little bit but it is on your desktop at home? You don't have access to it. Not the case with Google Drive. I have been a long time lover of Google Drive (formerly Google Docs), and as I move into event planning it is still a very powerful and useful tool. Whether you use it or not I will most likely be creating your timeline, budget, guest list, seating chart, whatever I dream up with Google Drive and then sharing it with you. If you are using it too I will share the document with you so that we can edit it together, if you aren't using it I will email it to you either in PDF form or as a Word Document. Here are my top 5 reasons you should look into Google Drive as a method to keep yourself organized: - Instant access across all devices. There are apps for Apple and Android products and they work wonderfully.
- Live team edits. I've used Google Drive with brides to create a to-do list and as we complete things we cross them off the list. This way we don't both do the same task, plus it holds both me as the planner and you as the bride accountable by knowing the other can see if it's done or not. There's also a chat box feature.
- Shared documents. Your mom wants to know who's made the cut on the guest list? Send her a copy of the document that she can VIEW but not EDIT. You have the option when you share with others what they can do to the document.
- Forms. In previous jobs I used the forms option a ton. When it came time to send a rehearsal dinner invitation my time and budget were pretty much maxed out. So I sent an e-vite that I created in my Gmail with a link to a Google Form that served as the RSVP. Not perfect for grandparents who don't use email, but great for everyone else. You could also use it for collecting all of those groomsmen measurements.
- It is FREE. If you have Gmail, you have Google Drive. Simply click on the table "Drive" and you'll be taken to it and they have a spiffy little tutorial to teach you how to use it.
And best of all, if you hire me, I have already created a ton of documents that will make your wedding planning easier and I will either send them to you blank or get started filling them in for you! How are you staying organized?
Pink & Gold Sweetheart Table
Last April I co-hosted a wedding shower for Arianna & Zack. As soon as I started thinking about this shower I knew that a Pink, Glitter & Gold theme would be super girly and fun for Arianna, and well, Zack loves Arianna, so he'd love that she'd love it. We had a pretty tight budget (who doesn't?) and a lot of ladies that we were inviting. We ended up having about 80 ladies attend in the end. So we came up with the idea of serving soup, salad, and bread sticks and then having a decadent dessert table. Here's what I came up with!
Salad bar with pink heart bowls and gold silverware wrapped in pink napkins with gold bows.
Chocolate fountain with all kinds of goodies to dip and strawberry shortcake shooters.
Gold glitter table runners, pink and gold tin can vases and candle holders, kraft paper favor boxes.
I have to say that I had a ton of help with the shower. Vince helped me cut down rolls of glitter wrapping paper to be skinny enough for table runners. My sister-in-laws Miranda and Michelle came over and helped bake and package all of the cookies (no pictures of them, but we did white chocolate filled snickerdoodles and strawberry frosting filled sugar cookies both in a whoopie pie pan so they were big and soft and yummy). Michelle also came over and crafted the centerpieces with me--who knew a tin can could look so cute.
Since we had a large crowd we had to adjust the games so that people could be engaged and not bored. The game we played took place during gift opening and was as easy as setting a timer for random intervals and when it went off the person who gave the gift that the couple was currently opening got a door prize. We also had a mad lib for wedding advice at each seat which I just finished crafting into a scrapbook for Arianna and Zack along with photos from the shower and from the DIY photo booth we set up.
This picture of the bride to be, her twin sister, and their grandma is a perfect example of why I love photo booths!
And that's who you throw a girly pink bridal shower! I offer shower planning as part of my services. Need some help figuring out where to start or just want to have your brainstormed ideas come together without too much effort on your part? Besides, as a host, you still need to be able to enjoy the shower you are throwing! Contact me and we can set up a meeting to discus how I can help with your next bridal shower.
Two truths for you this morning. First, growing up I hated gold, had to have all of my jewelry silver and just generally didn't love anything gold. Second, a few weeks after purchasing my wedding gown, or rather my mom purchasing it, I saw a beautiful gold beaded gown in a department store and had a punch in the stomach of regret that I wasn't wearing that to my wedding. I of course LOVED my dress, and when I told Vince that I had this thought his response was "umm..yea, I really liked your dress." But here we are today and I love gold even more than before. And I still like the thought of a shimmery, golden wedding dress--who said you had to wear white anyway.
This whole inspiration board came from the lovely bouquet you see above (#3) that I stumbled onto on Pinterest. I just kept pinning and pinning lovely things with the combo of white and gold. I think it would make a goregous, elegant affair but could also easily be taken to a playful vibe as well.
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