Missing My Boy

My heart is broken as I lost my baby boy, Dilly Doo, yesterday. He was a beautiful Siamese cat who I've had for the last 12 years and he was the best son a girl could ever ask for. He was diagnosed with chest cancer on February 9th and we have been making weekly trips to the vet since he started showing signs of sickness in January. Yesterday morning was just different as he laid on the carpet and groaned, as if begging for help. We rushed him to the pet hospital, of course there was a ton of traffic, and Dilly Doo laid dying in my lap in the car. He literally was fighting for every breath he took. He still had a heartbeat when I ran him in to the hospital but it was too late as he was fading away quickly. Truly the most traumatic event of my life. I loved my boy with my entire heart and soul and he has been with me through everything, high school, college in Michigan, grad school in Florida, internship in Georgia, and engaged life in Alabama. I am so, so sad but trying to be strong and keeping my mind occupied.

Dilly Doo

{December 16, 1998 - February 26, 2011}

Something Romatic...and REGAL!

One month from today, my handsome fiance and I will be having our engagement shoot with Tina Rowden! I have been looking forward to this for a long, long time and my conversation with Tina today got me even more excited! When discussing possible venues, she asked me what my style was. I didn't have a particular style in mind so I just said "something romantic...and REGAL!" She laughed and stated "okay so basically we need to find you some grand European architecture in the middle of Atlanta?" Yes! :) Then she told me that she had done a shoot for a home design magazine at this beautiful house in Buckhead. She said it had a garden in the back with fountains and a pool and had the look that I was going for. Then she mentioned that this house just happens to be on the market and that no one is living there right now. She is going to try to pull a few strings and see if we'd be allowed to shoot on the property! I'm very hopeful about this prospect but nothing is set in stone just yet. Wouldn't this be a cool setting for pictures!?!?

 {Source}

Yes, that is a private residence. So now the question is, what does one wear when they are shooting at this type of location? Tina said, "oh, you definitely want it to look like you just came home from a formal affair" in her beautiful Australian accent. I seriously love her, but I'm not going to lie, Mr. CF is not a fancy schmancy type of guy and we do not attend formal evening affairs! I think we can have some fun with this though :)

So, I'm beginning my search for the perfect dress and the perfect shoes. Since it's still going to be light out at 5:30 pm, I want a very light color, maybe peach or pink. Something soft and floaty, but still dressy. I can't wait to update you when I find something!

I would love to hear about your engagement shoots! How did you select the venue? Were you comfortable in front of the camera? What did you wear?

One Year of SELF Magazine for $3.99!

 

{Source}

Don't you just love Giada? She is such a good cook (seriously, try her recipes), so pretty, and so down-to-earth. Oh, and so Italian :) If you didn't know, I'm Italian too!

I have a deal to share with you today! 1 year (12 issues) of SELF magazine for $3.99! Basically, you will get 12 magazines for the price of 1! If you're interested, head on over to Tanga and use the discount code SELF to take advantage of this great promotion!

**Note:  Add the magazine to your cart, enter in all of your shipping information, and then on the last page enter SELF under discount code. It will update your total to $3.99 instead of the regular price which was $12.

Showered With Love, and Tea, and Cupcakes!

Today, I want to talk about showers! Beautiful, beautiful showers. You know, the party where you get to spend time with all of the women you love and get to do girly things, like eat cupcakes and drink tea! How fun! Now, I know that the bride does not typically get to plan the decor of her own bridal shower but that's not the point of this post. The point is to share this incredible bridal tea party shoot with you and to hear about what your dream shower would look like!

I am in love with all of the details shown in the pictures below. Totally my style and and I'm just in awe of this design by Adrianne Smith and Erika Firm! The oversized pomanders, vintage tea cups, and romantic roses are just stunning and the whole chic Parisian theme was executed perfectly! I think it's safe to say that this is my dream.

{Source}

I'd love to hear about your shower (or your dream shower) and how it reflected you and your personality. What was the most creative detail? Did you play games (check out the quiz in the picture above)? Did it have a theme? Please share!

Freeee! Weeee!

Okay brides, has this ever happened to you? You come home at the end of the day and you are exhausted. You check the mail and the stack feels very thick. What could it be??? Then, you see this:

The new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine!? So what? Well first, this isn't any magazine...it's a wedding magazine. Even better, you didn't pay for it! That's right, Martha Stewart decided to send you a magazine for free! Wee!

This is what happened to me tonight, and I must say I'm very happy. Not sure how they got my name and address but I'll take it. I just spent the last hour relaxing on the couch with my love while flipping through each and every page of the new Spring 2011 issue. I saw some pretty good ideas, too! Usually, I don't find wedding magazines to be very helpful because the blog world is so ahead of the game. By the time the ideas get printed, I've already seen them! This issue, however, has some fresh material like cute bridesmaids' gift ideas, cute wedding favors, and examples of place and escort cards. 

Love these gift ideas! If I had a ton of cash my girls would totally be getting Michael Kors watches! 

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

So, has this ever happened to you? Have you received any wedding-related freebies?! 

**** UPDATE:  Turns out the magazine was not a gift from Martha Stewart, it was a gift from my friend Heidi! Thank you Heidi for being so thoughtful and I will definitely think of you each and every time I see this magazine in the mailbox! I'm such a happy (and lucky) girl! ****

Pre-Wedding Regrets?

Is it possible to have wedding day regrets before your wedding day? I would argue yes!

Last night, right before bed, I was on weddingbee.com and read this post, "After I Do:  Wedding Regrets". I read the whole thing and thought "how helpful...now I can see what other brides regretted after their wedding days and make sure those things don't happen to me." I really enjoyed reading it and find that community to be very helpful!

So last night, after reading that post, all I could think about was the wedding as I laid there for hours! This is not like me, I usually fall asleep immediately and have never been one of those people who lays in bed and worries all night. But last night I did as I got to thinking about all of those things that I haven't given much thought to...particularly the music. What are we doing about ceremony musicians? What are we doing about cocktail hour musicians? When am I going to talk to my DJ about the songs I want played? Even more scary, when am I going to think about and decide which songs I want played?!?! I haven't thought about any of this. Then came the negative thoughts about linen and chairs and videographers, and whether or not the Mansion on Peachtree is going to let me float candles in the reflection pond. AHHH!!! Could reading about brides' regrets really trigger all of these worries, especially when I didn't even know I was worried?! Maybe reading about regrets was just the little nudge that I needed to get to thinking about these things!

Since I am a therapist, I am going to follow my own advice which I've given so many of my clients in the past and get back to being solution-focused! So, my main goal this week is to tackle the music. Contact a harpist (remember that reflection pond with the floating candles I so desperately want? Yes, a harpist would complete the scene!), start compiling a song list and a "do not play" list, and relax and realize that all of the music stuff will come together just fine.

 {Source}

What is your wedding-related worry? If you're already married, do you regret anything about your day?

DIY {Ribbon Wands}

Remember the other day when I told you that I was in love with the idea of ribbon wands?! Well guess what? I decided to make them! If you are apprehensive about doing things yourself, not at all crafty, and are interested in ribbon wands, this would make the perfect first DIY project for you. They are SO easy! Follow these simple steps and you will be on your way to a great ceremony send-off for only 25 cents each!

Materials:
1. Wooden Dowels (Woodsies Brand, 5/16 x 12 in...I got mine at Michael's)
2. Eye Screws (Walmart sells them in the section where you buy nails and other tools)
3. Ribbon (any width, color, style you want)
4. Lit candle (optional)
5. Needle nose pliers (optional)
6. Push Pin (optional)

Step 1:  Cut ribbon to the length you want (I cut mine to 4 feet). Choose how many strands of ribbon you want per wand (I chose 4 strands).

Step 2:   Using your push pin, start a hole in one end of your dowel. This will make it easier to screw in your eye screw.

Step 3:  After your hole is started, screw your eye pin into the end of the dowel. Hint:  Using needle nose pliers makes this step much easier.

Step 4:  Stack your ribbon together and pull it through the eye pin, pulling it until both sides are an equal length (so for me I had 2 feet on each side).

Step 5:  Double knot your ribbon around the eye screw.

Step 6:  Hold the ends of your ribbon (one at a time) close to the flame from your candle. This will melt the end of the ribbon and will prevent fraying. This is my favorite part :)

Place your ribbon wands in a cute glass, mason jar, or whatever you want and you are done!

P.S. This will also make a great toy for your cat!

 {Personal Photos}

If you don't want to use your ribbon wands as a ceremony send-off, check out this cute idea!!!
 

{Source}

Today's Big Purchase

Although today has been a very lazy day, I did manage to get something wedding-related accomplished...I purchased Mr. CF's wedding band! It is a very traditional and timeless piece of jewelry (which he picked out) and it fits him and his personality perfectly. It was so surreal seeing him with a ring on his finger but I'm sure we'll both get used to it in August. Isn't it interesting how there are one or two cases of men's wedding bands at the jewelry stores and about 20-50 cases of women's engagement rings/bands? Hmm...what does that say about us girls?!

{Source}

Stylish Send-Off!

Oh ribbon wands, you are so whimsical and adorable. I want you to be involved in my wedding, some way, some how...

 {Source}

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

Wouldn't this be such a cute send-off from the church!? I think I feel a DIY project coming on and I can't wait to share! Is anyone else thinking about using these?!

Wordless Wednesday {Bridesmaids}

Bella Umbrella!

So you saw the picture on the BHLDN home page, right? Gorgeous! I have been wanting to do pagodas for so long and have searched Etsy, eBay, Hobby Lobby, etc. with no luck. I was like WHERE do people buy these things?!! Finally, I stumbled across Bella Umbrella, a cute little umbrella shop in Seattle (how fitting) that rents out pagodas! Perfect! After checking out every umbrella they had to offer and calling the shop to make sure those I picked out looked good together, I finally have them reserved. I am so excited for all my lovely maids to be photographed with these cool Victorianesque props! Love them!

 {Source}

 {Source}

 {Source}

 {Source}

A Little Update on the Bridesmaids Dresses!

Shopping for bridesmaids dresses in Atlanta yesterday was generally a success. I had three lovely models with me (thank you girls!) who looked good in just about every dress they tried on. I feel like we tried on a large selection and, in the end, found something that was comfortable, romantic, summery, and beautiful! Let me tell you a little about our experience at Bridals by Lori.

We met at 10 a.m. and sat in the front lobby for a few minutes. This was just enough time to see Monte from the show come in and say "Good Morning Ladies!" in his television-worthy voice. That man was dressed to the nines! Our consultant came by and brought us back to the bridesmaids fitting room area and basically told us that we could look through all of the dresses and pull the ones we liked. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit overwhelming! There were hundreds of dresses! We were a little hesitant about what we picked at first, but soon got more comfortable and started pulling more freely. My only directions were "long, chiffon, and if you see something you LOVE regardless of those two things, pull it!" After we pulled about 20 dresses, my girls went to work! They tried on some dresses by Dessy, Bill Levkoff, Bari Jay, LOVE by Enzoani, and Jim Hjelm Occasions. Here are some of the dresses we tried:

 {Photos by Bari Jay}

Most of them were cute on but not "the one". Then, we came across this dress: 

 {Personal Photos}

It was long, flowed easily, and fit in with the "look" of the wedding. We haven't purchased the dresses yet because I really want to get feedback from all the girls, but this one is definitely a front-runner. Overall, it was a nice experience and it was so good to spend some time with my best friends!