We have a WINNER!

I would like to thank everyone for entering the May giveaway! I appreciate all your responses! The lucky winner was picked using random.org. As you can see, I also put all the names on a spreadsheet for those people who had extra entires!

Congrats to entry # 41 - Lady_tink_534! You are the winner! 

I will be emailing you tonight!

Stay tuned for the June giveaway!

May is coming to a close!

I can't believe we are at the end of the month already! May has flown by! We are almost fully into summer time and I can't wait! This month we have had a lot of parties - birthdays, graduations and just some good old fashioned fun with friends BBQ'ing! There are a lot of things happening to close out the month too so I thought I better make a quick post:

Our May giveaway ends tomorrow at 10pm PST! If you haven't entered, now is the time! Also, don't forget you get 5 bonus entries just for grabbing my new button!

The rebate Bonny was offering is ending tomorrow - purchase any Bonny wedding gown in the month of May and you get $50 back from the manufacturer! So, if you ordered one don't forget to print the official rebate form here!

All that glitters!

I found some beautiful bling to share! Remarkable Rhinestones has some great prices on their items! Check out these napkin rings - I think these would be perfect for a sweetheart table:

Napkin Rings

Victorian Diamond Napkin Ring - $11.00

Beautiful Diamond shape Ring with channel stones. Classic Victorian Beauty sure to show your guests they are in for a special evening. The Rhinestones are glittering.

 

PinWheel Napkin Ring - $10.00

A Pin wheeled shaped Ring Star in Silver and Clear Crystal. This Classic shape will be a beautiful accessory to your dinner.

 Then I found these beautiful brooches!

All Hearts Brooch - $8.98

Asymmetric Blouse Pin - $7.20

Navette Flower in Blues -$8.70

And then finally if you are looking for a cute gift to add for your bridesmaids or someone special in the wedding party I found this totally cute Heart Shaped Rhinestone Frame - $9.25

Only a few days left!!

Have you entered the May giveaway yet? Only a few short days left to get those entries in! I can't wait to see the delicious cookies the winner comes up with using the William Sonoma Cookie Cutter Set and how you will display your pretty cake box from Imeon Designs! Enter now...before you head out for a holiday weekend!!

My Dress of the Day

Found a new dress I love! There is something about a halter neckline that I love, but that wasn't what caught my eye about this dress. The color combination is what I really, really love! The cafe colored band is so warm! It would blend well with a Mocha color...the price isn't bad either! Price at under $400 - this dress, style 045 from the Bonny Collection, is my dress of the day!!!

A place for memories

You will have quite a few personal keepsakes after your wedding that you will want to keep! I am all about organization, so when I saw these adorable memory boxes from The Memory Keepers, I had to share! The prices are between $30.00 - $60.00 depending on the box. I love the personalized ones! Preserve. Remember. Cherish. Beautiful thoughts from The Memory Keepers!

Wedding Bride Keepsake Box


 
Wedding (Bride and Groom) Keepsake Box

Wedding Invitation Keepsake Box

Just Married Personalized Keepsake Box

Our Wedding Story Keepsake Book Box

Jumping On My SoapBox

It's been a rough couple of days for me - some flooding issues, trying to figure out where the heck the leak is coming from and why, tearing out drywall, drying out walls (trying to anyway), pulling every little item out of my toddlers room (washing ALL of her clothes, bleaching all of her toys...), sharing space with her 24/7 because she can not go in HER room...but at the end of the day I pop onto my little happy blog and try to forget about all that. I get to read your comments and I know that people actually like what we have going on here! I am so happy that we are getting a positive response to my giveaway this month! I love finding deals or things I think people will love and want to incorporate into their weddings, I love looking at bridal gowns, I love finding such nice people, like Noemi - who is creative and makes pretty things I only wish I could. I love William Sonoma...well just because they are William Sonoma (haha) and when I look at pretty cookies, it makes me smile too! So I just wanted to say THANK YOU! For reading, for posting, for entering the giveaway and simply...for making me smile!!

Wish Upon A Wedding

http://wishuponawedding.org/

I just found Wish Upon A Wedding - and was moved to tears. Wish Upon a Wedding is dedicated to granting weddings and/or civil union ceremonies at destinations across the U.S. to couples who are facing terminal illness. The foundation was created to celebrate the courage, determination and spirit of these couples by granting their dream wedding wishes. I would be totally remiss if I didn't try and do something - even if it's just passing the word along - for this organization. What an amazing gift to give...to family and friends but especially to couples who have more on their plate then choosing color schemes and invitations.

Officially launched in January of 2010, Wish Upon a Wedding currently has 15 chapters to serve Wish Applicants. They serve couples residing in or wishing to get married within 300 miles of any one of their chapter locations - and they have more chapters coming soon!

The following cities have chapters being formed and if you are in these areas and wish to get involved, I urge you to contact them!


Tennesee /Memphis
Tennessee / Nashville
Ohio /Cincinnati
Ohio / Cleavland
Boston {New England}

Paper Goodies

Our May giveaway features a lovely paper cake from Imeon Designs but she has so many cute paper goods I wanted to share!  When Noemi (notice her store name is her first name spelled backwards??) and I first started talking about paper goods I had mentioned doing a wedding cake - well she was already putting the finishing touches on a 2-layer cake! This is how it turned out:

Maybe you don't want a whole cake...because sometimes just a slice will do! Check out these adorable slices:

When I first came across Imeon Designs though it was because of her paper fortune cookies! They remain one of my favorite items to this day! What an adorable way to send a message!

Act Fast!

Just came across this deal for Expressionary.com - 60% off already reduced clearance prices! They have a couple of cute bridal notecards...I am pretty sure you could use them for something!

Use code DB2010 at check out to get the additional discount - this discount ends June 1st!

For The Love Of Shoes!

Sad Update: I just got word that Cutesy Shoes has closed their retail locations and their website is no longer in operation. Should anything change I will update - Kerrie. 

10/18/2011

I have been thinking of the perfect shoe (and in a perfect world I would be able to wear them). Guess what? I found them today! Yes, I admit I am a shoe lover...I have talked about it before (here and here) while looking for the shoe I had dreamed about finding I could never find one at a reasonable price! Guess what? I found them today, too! It's been a good day. Now, I think I need to explain why these shoes have been on my mind, before I show them to you because you are probably going to wonder (at least a little bit WHY I would be dreaming of these!).

I have seen 100's of images of brides in vintage dresses, tea length dresses and everything in between. My head started coming up with images of a bride in this cute little dress with these adorable shoes and props to match. So here is my first shoe...

Do you love them? I do! But the heel scares me - more then the print! I could never wear a shoe like this! The pattern is what I was most interested in. The peek-a-boo toe was an added bonus as well as the bit of red! So, I have been thinking of a bride wearing these shoes...and the price of these adorable Leopard shoes....$26.99! Love.

Right next to these Leopard lovelies was another pair...that I could only imagine in some amazing photos:

And you know these are the same price...$26.99. Unreal. And for me, they will always be a dream....I hope someone out there feels what I am putting out there and grabs a pair of these...and please remember to send me a photo!

I absolutely love the first two heels but I also found these, Off White shoes with a little ruffle, which I thought could be really cute with the right dress. The price...$19.99!!

For reasons I have mentioned in previous posts, I spent an ungodly amount of time on this website looking at shoes I could actually wear - and would wear for my wedding....FLATS. I scanned 54 pages from their site. It was pretty hard not to put a lot of them in my shopping cart because the prices are unbelievable!!! These lovelies were priced at $17.59

So where did I find these awesome deals? From a website called - appropriately - Cutesy Girl! And if you are lucky enough to live in Southern California (like me!) they have stores you can shop at! But, if you have to order online - don't worry! They have a TERRIFIC return policy on shoes! Love that.  Their store locations are:

Santa Ana - MainPlace
2800 N. Main St Unit 648
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Tel: 714 568 1542

Fox Hills Mall - Culver City
6000 Sepulveda Blvd Unit 2230
Culver City, CA 90230
Tel: 310 916 9906

Brea Mall
1065 Brea Mall Unit 2109
Brea, CA 92821
Tel: 714 990 2951

A little side note about comment posting

:::UPDATE:::

If you tried posting last night or today....and got a message stating you must be a TEAM MEMBER to post you will need to repost your comment! I have fixed that message! Sorry for any inconvenience! :(

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to apologize for the new obstacle in posting a comment. Because of a spammer, I have been forced to moderate all comments being left on the blog. I hope this person will move on to another blog (sorry to whoever she moves on to!) and leave our little happy blog alone! I will continue to moderate comments until she is gone, but until then please know your posts WILL make it to the blog!

Thanks for your understanding! :)

PS: I do not endorse purchasing your gowns direct from Chinese factories - like Light In The Box or the 100's of others who copycat manufacturers pictures tricking brides into thinking they are getting the genuine product, when actually it comes out as a cheap copy...thus forcing you to pay costly returns to China and also lose money in the name of a restocking fee!! Grrr. So frustrating! Thanks...jumping off my soap box now!

May Giveaway!

I was waiting for my revamped blog to be up and running before announcing my monthly giveaway and we are pretty much good to go! So...here it is:

I came across Noemi's Etsy Store - Imeon Design - back in February because I fell in love with her handmade Fortune Cookies. I started peeking around and saw a lot of cute paper goods - all that are handmade by her! The cutting, printing, pasting and stamping are all done by hand! I was impressed and became a follower of her blog. We started going over ideas and I mentioned to her that I for sure wanted to host one of her items as a giveaway on my blog! Now, it's finally time!

Our May giveaway is:

 

Have your cake without the calories!

This delicious chocolate cake has a cream filling and pretty blue flowers with a gold glitter on top each slice. This cake serves 12 and is perfect for a bridal/wedding shower! It makes for a wonderful and memorable favor for your guests to take with them after the party. Simply slip off the ribbon, open the slice, insert trinkets or candies and put the ribbon back on.

Each cake slice, ribbon and flower have been cut, pasted and tied by hand. Each slice measures 3.75x1.75x2". This giveaway is for 1 chocolate cake with blue flowers.

If you are thinking of something fun to put in this box...how about a homemade cookie and a few trinkets (like hugs and kisses from Hershey?). In order to have a cute cookie or two you will definitely need this:

Message-In-A-Cookie Cutter from William Sonoma

THREE WAYS TO ENTER:

• You must choose to follow my little blog PUBLICALLY 
• For a SECOND entry blog about this contest and leave an ADDITIONAL comment to let me know you did that with a link to the post (I will check!)
• For a THIRD entry twitter about this contest and leave an ADDITIONAL comment to let me know you did that with a link to the post! You can find my twitter page here
• For FIVE BONUS ENTRIES: Grab my new (and cute) Blog Button and add it to your page (leave an additional post with link to let me know you did this!) 

You have the opportunity to get 8 entries into this contest if you want to win! Yay! I am going to do one post where I leave all the nitty gritty giveaway rules (boring!) so check back for that later! In the meantime...enter away!

This giveaway will end on: May 31st at 10pm PST and the winner will be posted shortly there after!

Value of giveaway (including shipping to winner): $80

For the first time ever...this giveaway is open to EVERYONE no matter where you are located!!! My previous contests have been only available to winners in the US...but I am so happy to open this up worldwide!

Good luck to all!

Signature Cocktails

A very fun article I just had in my inbox was from Epicurious, a favorite recipe site I visit on a regular basis! They offered some unique Signature Cocktails I thought I would share today! At my wedding, we didn't do something like this - our bar menu was limited to beer and wine, but I know how popular having a Signature Cocktail can be so if you are lucky enough to incorporate this into your big day, here are some fun cocktails I wanted to share!

Royal Blush

Eben Freeman, bartender of Tailor restaurant in New York City, created this Champagne cocktail. As you add the sparkling wine, note how the drink changes color from green to pink. Freeman uses frozen cherries to make a cherry purée, but you can also use all-fruit spread

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon cherry purée (note: recipe below makes 3/4 cup)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) vodka
1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) simple syrup
5 fresh mint leaves
1 cup ice cubes
1/4 cup (2 ounces) dry sparkling wine, such as brut Champagne, chilled

Preparation:
To Make Cherry Purée:
In a bowl, purée frozen cherries or all-fruit spread with water. In general: 1 cup of frozen cherries (6 ounces) puréed with 2 tablespoons of water makes approximately 3/4 cup purée. To make purée using all-fruit spread, combine 3/4 cup spread with 3/4 cup water. Any extra can be used to make smoothies or sauce for ice cream.

To Make Cocktail:
Transfer purée to chilled martini glass. In chilled cocktail shaker, combine vodka, lime juice, and simple syrup. Tear mint leaves in half and add to shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Slowly strain into martini glass without disturbing purée, then top with sparkling wine and serve

Pisco Punch

A Caribbean spin on the 150-year-old classic, this version infuses pineapple into Pisco (a South American brandy) and uses fresh grapefruit and lime peels for added brightness

Ingredients:
1 4-pound pineapple, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 750-ml bottle Pisco (If you live in Washington State - try Guacamayo Pisco)
2 cups Simple Syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime peel
1 1/2 teaspoons grated white grapefruit peel
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Ice cubes
12 pineapple leaves (optional)

Preparation:
Place pineapple pieces in large jar. Pour Pisco over. Cover and refrigerate 3 days, shaking occasionally. Divide Simple Syrup between 2 bowls. Mix grated lime peel into 1 bowl and grated grapefruit peel into the other. Cover and refrigerate both syrups overnight.

Strain Pisco into pitcher; discard pineapple.

Strain both syrups into Pisco. Add lemon juice; stir to blend. Fill 12 small glasses with ice, then add punch. Garnish with pineapple leaves, if desired.

Aqua Pearl (my favorite!)

Gin is big in the British Virgin Islands, as you might imagine. Here, it's combined with local soursop juice and curaçao. The name is a reference to the shade of the Caribbean Sea (It's BEAUTIFUL!) 

 Ingredients:
3/4 cup soursop (guanabana) juice* or pineapple juice
6 tablespoons gin
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons Simple Syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons blue curaçao liqueur
4 dashes of angostura bitters
Ice cubes
2 unsprayed purple orchids (optional)

Preparation:
Mix first 6 ingredients in cocktail shaker. Fill with ice. Cover and shake well. Strain into 2 Daiquiri or Martini glasses. Garnish each with orchid, if desired, and serve.

*Soursop (guanabana) juice is similar to pineapple juice and is available at Latin markets nationwide. 

If you are already a Mrs. and had a Signature Cocktail at your wedding....please share with everyone in the comment section! Would love to hear about the different recipes and drinks!

How do you like the new blog design?

I have been working with Designer Blogs on this new design...and we have a few small items left to take care of until it is totally complete but I am THRILLED with how it turned out! I was so happy when they told me it was ready to go live because I was holding off on my May giveaway to debut the new blog....and my new button (which hopefully you will be adding to your blog!). So, a big thank you is being sent to Amy - thanks for making my blog everything I had hoped it would be!!!

Mad Love for Wedding Chicks - Free Templates

I am sending out mad love vibes right now to the people over at Wedding Chicks. Seriously, they have some super cute freebie items and you must check them out. I love the idea of having a photo booth and apparently I am not alone because they are super popular at weddings! Well, now you can print off your own sign! How easy is this?? And, it's super duper cute! I made up this one:

Here are all your color options:

When you get the image emailed to you it says that the graphic should be printed at a size of 5.5" x 4.25" or smaller. If you don't have a great quality printer at home, you could always take this over to Kinkos and have them print it. They might even be able to do it as a transparent so you could stick it on a piece of wood or other material! I like the idea of transferring it to card stock and hanging with thick twine though...! So many good ideas! You can check out all their freebie offers here!

I also saved this photo and opened it up in Paint. Trust me, when it comes to DIY projects I feel like I have to left hands (and yes, I am right handed!). But, I thought you could really use this freebie for so many other things and then it can all tie into your theme! So I used the "erase" tool and then added in a photo of us and used the text tool....now I have a Save The Date card to match my Photo Booth sign! Fun. Fun. Fun.

Soul Mates

We are heading into that time where a lot of weddings may be outside - in the grass, or sand or combination! Any soft place is not friendly if you are wearing high heel shoes. Then I stumble across Soul Mates!

I have to say....these could be a great little thing! I don't normally walk in heels - I have said it before: weak ankles, I am already to tall, blah blah....but if I DID walk in heels having something like this would probably be a life saver....or at the very least a neck saver! You can buy direct from their site ($9.95) or find a local retailer using their store search option!

Free Printable Vintage Labels

I love things free. I love vintage. I found both of these at Graphics Fairy! These labels (especially the last one) are so awesome! Check them out and if you use them - let me know!! I would love to see your handy work!

These labels can be downloaded here

Going French? Check out this beautiful label