Texas Things!

So I'm back from Texas, and I greatly apologize for the lack of blog posts during my vacation! I was pretty pre-occupied with the touristy activities, wedding attending and getting engaged. That's right- getting engaged :) You know what that means, I now get to blog about wedding in general, but also the awesome and exciting journey of planning my own!

In the meantime, here are a few things about Texas that I greatly enjoyed:

Getting to witness a traveling "something". In this case, a Mr. Potato Head. It's hard to see, but the guy laying on the ground is definitely taking a picture of him with the Alamo!

The fact that my lovely fiancé was convinced these were "missile silos" when he was a kid.

There are baby horses everywhere!

That I got the chance to meet Katie and attend Stormy and Katie's wedding (of course). It was absolutely gorgeous and she is a doll!

Texas Dreamin'

After a hectic and crazy last few days, tomorrow finally starts my 2 week vacation in Texas! Although I'll miss my lovely family and friends here in Maryland, these are the things I'm excited for:

#1- Exploring all of the shops and restaurants on the San Antonio River Walk. And the Alamo! I absolutely love everything historic!

#2- Good ole' southern relaxation. These 2 weeks will surely do my hectic schedule some good.

#3- Attending an evening wedding on a lake. (Obviously) It's no secret that I love weddings and this one happens to be the best friend of my significant other :)

#4- The surprise dinner that Josh has planned for us. I love surprises more than anything, but I'm terribly hard to surprise and always seem so find things out on accident. So, I'm thrilled because I have absolutely no idea where we are headed!

That said, you can look forward to another "original wedding" blog post when I return (and probably some fun posts in between!)

Jasmine Inspired Cupcakes

I can often be a perfectionist. As great as a trait as this can be, it can also be really frustrating when I'm doing something that I'm not great at- like decorating cakes. Although I love doing it, I always have a picture in my mind of how the end result should look, and it never quite looks that way. This weekend however, I made cupcakes for a friend's daughter's Jasmine themed birthday party and they couldn't have turned out better! I'm so proud and just wanted to share :)

Not to mention, Brooke did an excellent job with the party decor. Just check out the table set-up! There was also a "forbidden cave" and "candy market". Children's birthday parties are always so much fun to plan!

Even the cupcakes themselves turned out perfect!

Edible Glitter by Wilton = Brilliant

Awesome table set-up for the kids! Imagine it with only the twinkle lights lit up- it looked amazing!!

Carol Ruth Photography

One of the things I love about the wedding industry is meeting other wedding professionals. From my experience, we all (yes, I'm including myself, I can do that right?!) have a certain charm about us. Something that just lights up when talking about work and projects. It's so great to see a group of people passionate about what they do.

That said...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with Carol of Carol Ruth Photography. Now I already knew Carol, from WPOC's first dream wedding contest. She was the first bride to win and I, as a sales representative at Michael's, worked with her on her reception. However, that was almost 2 years ago and yesterday evening's get-together was for a different purpose. Carol now does wedding photography, and is very talented! This is evident in the numerous pictures posted on her website and Facebook page, as well as the sheer passion that shines through when talking with her. Her most recent projects have been local weddings and some sporting events, but this month she has the opportunity to shoot a destination wedding in Jamaica! How fun?! I absolutely cannot wait to see those pictures posted online because I know they will be fabulous!

If you are looking for a photographer, definitely check out Carol Ruth Photography. She offers very affordable pricing and will be happy to work with you on any event. Carol also does maternity, baby, family and lifestyle photography.

P.S. Check out her "What to Wear" page. So clever!

Rehearsal Dinner Resource

Just a short & sweet tip for today...

I recently discovered on Open Table that you can search for restaurants, specifically with private rooms, for a rehearsal dinner. What a great resource! You pick a city, click "Rehearsal Dinner Restaurants" and voila. The site provides you with a list of restaurants in the city of your choosing, complete with capacity information for each or their rooms, price ranges, reviews and more. It's an easy way to browse through a bunch of restaurants in your area that can accommodate rehearsal dinners without all of the extra Googling. You can even reserve the room right there on Open Table!

Etsy Wedding Bliss

It's official. Etsy has a wedding-specific section. Nothing could have made my Monday more exciting after a weekend of spending next to no time on the World Wide Web.

I already loved Etsy. Something about a website that enables you to purchase virtually anything hand-made just puts me in awe. I love the creative ideas and unique designs. It's a great site to purchase both personalized items and gifts. It was even a great site to purchase wedding items. But now, it's extra fabulous.

From wedding invitations and menu cards to favors and signs, Etsy has all of your wedding needs. You can even find helpful stories from past couples. There is such a diverse array of selections, it's hard to choose. If you are having a theme wedding, they have you covered. A DIY wedding? Etsy's the perfect site. It's even a great resource for your bridesmaids' gifts.

The best part- If you love Etsy as much as I do and have an ongoing wish list, they now have a wedding registry. That's right, you can have your wedding registry right on Etsy, complete with all of the handmade items you have been dreaming of for your new home!

Some of my favorites:

Gorgeous Detailed Gown

Rustic Vintage. You can't go wrong.

Love these photo booth props!

P.F. Changs & Wedding Cake Shooters

Ideas always come to me in the most random places. In the shower, walking down the street, on the metro, at P.F. Changs. That's right, P.F.Changs. You know, the China bistro with the huge horses out front. One of my bucket list items is to sit on one of those horses, but that's besides the point.

Anyways, after eating my dinner last night I ordered one of the dessert shooters, triple chocolate mousse to be exact, and it was fantastic. I have never had a dessert shooter let me down. It's the perfect amount of dessert if you've just eaten dinner and they taste phenomenal. This got me thinking- some brides are already opting to do cupcakes instead of a wedding cake, but what about wedding cake shooters?! I prefer them over cupcakes, you could have a bunch of different flavors, they could be made too go along with the colors or theme of your wedding and you can put them on a cute stand just like you would the cupcakes!

Much to my surprise, someone has come up with this before me. I discovered this on Pinterest (yup, still addicted). Check them out!

Image Source

Image Source

Original Wedding: Kadira & Chin

In the midst of the rainy April weekend, Kadira & Chin tied the knot at the Grand Atrium in Vienna, VA. Their ceremony and reception were unlike any other I've ever worked at or attended and I was honored that they chose NoLo Weddings & Events to be a part of their special day.

It was very important to them from the start to tie numerous multi-cultural elements, including a Kola Nut ceremony and an African ceremony, into their reception. Among these cultural traditions were the simple details they used to really make the wedding their own. The place cards and tables were named after the numerous fish the couple has caught together. They even used fish in their centerpieces and guest book, which was an underwater scene that guests places fingerprints on.

One of my favorite elements was Kadira & Chin's "receiving reception". As opposed to a receiving line after the ceremony, the couple opted to use their church's multi-purpose room for a mini reception. It was there that the couple greeted and thanked their guests. The mini reception was complete with a photo booth, caricature artist and cake for those that would not be attending the reception later in the evening. The receiving reception worked out perfectly not only as a receiving line alternative, but also because it started pouring rain right after the ceremony.

But hey, rain on your wedding day is good luck right?! Best wishes to the happy couple!

Room Blocking for Out of Town Guests

After calling hotel upon hotel about group rates for one of my brides, I just wanted to do a quick post on hotel room blocking for out of town guests.

In my opinion, it's an absolute must if you are expecting a good number of out of town guests. After all, they are spending the money to come see you get married, the least you can do is provide a block at a local hotel so they get a bit of a discount! This won't cost you any money if you do it right.

So, here's my advice- If you plan on blocking a large number of rooms, you typically have to sign an agreement and provide a credit card. You are then responsible for paying a certain percentage of the rooms if they don't get booked. Now, if you go in telling the hotel right away how many rooms you need (and it's a large number), they may not tell you about their courtesy block. Ask about this! Typically, a hotel will courtesy block (you won't need to sign anything) a certain amount of rooms. It's a good idea to start with this amount. Then, if all of the rooms get booked, talk to them about adding on some additional ones. Since your guests are showing a great response, they may add more rooms to your block without asking you to sign a thing.

Bottom line- If you can block rooms without signing a contract, do it. You never know what your guests will end up doing. Some may have hotel points, some might stay with family. You don't want to be locked in to paying for 20 hotel rooms!

Combine Favors and Place Cards

The last few weeks I've noticed that some brides are combining the favors and place cards into one item. What a great idea for the budget savvy bride! If you are looking to save money, you could definitely work with this idea. Instead of purchasing both favor boxes and place cards, for example, you could write the guests' names directly on to the favor boxes.

Now, of course it won't always save you money. If you do something elaborate, the cost might end up being the same, but it's still a unique way to do your place cards. If you are doing frames for favors, you could place their names in the frame. Or in some type of photo holder that could double as the favor. Using shot glasses as favors? Have them engraved with the person's name and already set on the table where they are to be seated. 

Aside from saving money or being creative, this is also a wonderful idea simply because many guests forget to pick up a favor before they leave. Hopefully your guests will remember to take their favors home since they have already had to pick them up for their place card (just make sure they know it's for them to take)!