Original Wedding: Stacey & Eric

One thing I absolutely love about weddings is detail. Whether the details be fun, creative, romantic, artsy, it doesn't matter. I love them all. In my opinion it's really the small things that pull together wedding decor and carry through a theme.

Stacey & Eric were one of those couples that did a wonderful job incorporating their theme into both the ceremony and reception. So, needless to say, I was SO excited when their wedding came on May 18th. They are such a fun couple and their "great catch" theme was perfect for them! The ceremony was absolutely stunning and the reception was both elegant and entertaining with a candy bar, dessert buffet, freshly baked cookies and a photo booth. The best part about the reception was that Eric had surprised Stacey with the photo booth and candy bar ice sculpture, when their budget allowed it at the last minute. The look on her face when she found out about the photo booth was priceless!

Stacey & Eric-- Thank you so much for allowing NoLo to be a part of your big day. We wish you nothing but the best in your new lives together!

Venue: Martin's Valley Mansion

Coordinator: NoLo Weddings & Events

Catering: Martin's Valley Mansion

Bug Spray Alternative

Raise your hand if you hate being covered in bug bites. Now raise your other hand if you hate the smell of traditional bug spray. Ditto!

Now that we are headed into warmer weather, couples and their guests are bound to be battling with bugs at outdoor weddings. That's the bad news. The good news is that Victoria's Secret's "Amber Romance" scent works as a bug repellent!

There seems to be mixed reviews (if you Google) on how well the scent really works but having just gotten married myself, I'm a fan! Josh and I had an outdoor ceremony, followed by a rustic, barn reception and I didn't have one bug bite when everything was said and done. I also included one of the body sprays in each of my bridesmaids' gift bags and not a single one of them complained of bugs either. So although I can't say it's 100% guaranteed to work for everyone, it definitely worked for us!

I know one thing is for sure, I was much happier to smell like "Amber Romance" on my wedding day than bug spray!

I also brought it along on our honeymoon, to the very humid Dominican Republic, and didn't have any problems with bugs!

Rainbow Birthday Cake

Ok! So I'm not always the best at creative food-related projects. I tried those piñata cookies from Pinterest once-- Didn't quite work out. It might have had something to do with the fact that I tried to turn a cookie made with a sheep cookie-cutter into a donkey. But that's besides the point.

This little creative endeavor I am SO proud of! Back in March it was Eryn's (You know Eryn, she's the fabulous designer that I've mentioned before! Feel free to check her stuff out here!) birthday and I wanted to make her something fabulous to celebrate. I saw a picture of a crazy colorful birthday cake and about fainted-- It was perfect!

Now I'm not going to lie, this takes a lot of time and a lot of patience for someone who is not a skilled cake decorator (me), but it was so worth it! Here's my step-by-step instructions if you want to make your own :)

You'll need:

• 2 boxes of cake mix
• 4 containers of icing (3 have to be vanilla)
• Food coloring
• 6 sandwich-sized plastic bags or icing bags
• Star decorating tip (any size, depends on how large you wants the stars)

1. Bake 2 (2-layer) cakes, any cakes, per the instructions. You'll want to have 4 layers total when you are finished. Of course you can use less to make a smaller cake but 4 (8 inch) layers will give you the size above. I chose to mix it up and used both chocolate and funfetti!
   
   
   
   
   
2. After the cakes are done cooling, level them. You can do this using a knife (which never works out well for me) or this fun leveling tool. This will make them sit flat when you stack them and you will have cake pieces to snack on!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Stack the 4 layers, putting icing in between each as you go. Do your best to make sure the cake edges are even with each other. If you have any small holes from the cake sticking to the pan, don't worry-- Just patch them up with icing!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Use the vanilla icing and food coloring to mix whichever colors you want for the stars. You will need about 1/2 of a standard sized icing container for each color. I used the neon food coloring that you can find in the baking isle to get the 6 bright colors!
   
   
   
   
   
5. When finished mixing, put your icing into the icing bags with the star tip. You will probably need to refrigerate the bags for about 20 minutes to stiffen the icing a little.
   
   
6. Start icing with the first 2 colors! I chose to do 2 colors at a time, to prevent having to rotate between all 6 bags at once (and I only had 2 star tips of the same size). I simply started with one star of each color next to one another and left an adequate space to fill in the other 4 colors between each of the sets.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Repeat with all colors.
   
   
   
   
   
8. After using all of the colors, go back and fill in any spaces with a random color. You'll especially need to do this on top. I way underestimated how many of each color to put on the top of the cake the first time around. Filling in spaces will also make the cake color look random, as opposed to a pattern.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Cut & enjoy!

Happy Friday :)

Original Wedding: Erica & Nick

I've known Erica since high school. If I remember correctly, it was the first day of sophomore year that we really became friends, after getting lost together in the confusing science hallway trying to make our way to class. Fast forward a few weeks and we found ourselves as lab partners... lab partners who couldn't even boil water without turning it blue and making a scene. To this day I can STILL picture our teacher sternly telling us to "back away" as he disposed of the water!

Throughout getting to know Erica, I also got to know Nick and their relationship. Erica and I rode the same bus, my high school boyfriend and I went on numerous double dates with the two of them and we would all get together on occasion to go bowling or attend football games. From the first time seeing them together, their chemistry was evident. While most high school relationships were on and off, theirs was consistently strong. Erica & Nick were that couple-- The couple everyone knew would get married one day. So of course when the day came that Nick proposed and Erica asked for some wedding planning help, I was THRILLED for NoLo to be a part of their big day!

April 13th couldn't have been better-- It was a gorgeous, partly sunny, 68 degree day in Gaithersburg, MD and Erica and Nick both looked stunning. The emotions were the same all around, everyone overjoyed to see such an amazing couple tying the knot. From silly pictures at the photo booth and the groomsmen sporting horse-head accessories to a BBQ menu and one of the sweetest first dances I've ever seen (maybe I'm a little biased), everything was perfectly Erica & Nick. It was such a joy to not only see everything come together, but to see the love that the two of them share.

Erica & Nick-- Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for including me in your wedding day. Not only as a friend, but for trusting me as a wedding professional. The two of you are rock stars and I know you'll have one of the happiest marriages that a couple could ask for!

*This imagine provided by Gobrail Photograhy

*This imagine provided by Gobrail Photograhy

*This imagine provided by Gobrail Photograhy

Love the silliness!

*This imagine provided by Gobrail Photograhy

*This imagine provided by Gobrail Photograhy

*This imagine provided by Gobrail Photograhy

Venue & Catering: Smokey Glen

Coordinator: NoLo Weddings & Events

Photographer: Gobrail Photography *

DJ: Mixing Maryland

Photobooth: Prop Stop

I'm Baaaaaaack!

What a whirlwind April was for me! My blog took a spot on the back burner with everything else going on but, man was it a great month! Josh and I were married on April 20th (more on that later) and spent a relaxing 8 nights in the Caribbean, but the weekend right before I had a wedding and an open house to do for NoLo so I spent the majority of April planning for all 4 events!

Erica & Nick's wedding will be up on the blog tomorrow, but in the meantime I just felt it necessary to do a quick post so that you all know I'll be picking things back up :)

And here's a preview of what's to come tomorrow!

Truckin 4 Troops - An Amazing Organization

First of all, I apologize for my lack of blog posts the last couple of weeks. We're getting down to the wire with wedding finalizing, and the ladies trip to Florida this weekend, and the little free time I've had has been devoted to spending time with my friends and family. However, I have been collecting stockpiling great blogging material so there will be some excellent upcoming blog posts once I get back on track. Everything from wedding invitations and projects to a STELLAR birthday cake that I'm incredibly proud of. Let that be your teaser!

Anywho-- Before I leave for a sun-filled weekend in Daytona, I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you all about an AWESOME organization that was brought to my attention this past week.

As many of you may know, I have a part-time job at an event venue, mainly handling their websites, social media, fundraising and event marketing. This past week, Scott Mallary, the founder of Truckin 4 Troops, came in to set up a bull & shrimp feast to raise money for one of their projects and my heart has been so warmed by this foundation. 

Truckin 4 Troops has been helping our military's veterans since 2010. What started as an effort to raise money for veterans turned into working with wounded warriors from Walter Reed and took on a life of it's own. Currently, Truckin 4 Troops provides transportation to wounded veterans, including quad and triple amputees. Their latest project (and what their bull & shrimp feast is raising money for) is the Land 4 Heroes Project. They are working towards purchasing property in Maryland for 4 of the wounded warriors and their families, who would like to remain close to Walter Reed. When the project is complete, each family will have a house on their own private lot in a small community.

Seriously, what an amazing organization! Scott and his family have spent so much time with these guys and their families and his dedication shines through every time he speaks about his foundation. If you'd like, you can visit their website here or "like" their Facebook page here to learn more about what they do. 

And here's the flyer for their bull & shrimp feast if you are interested in attending. 100% of Truckin 4 Troops' proceeds go towards the Land 4 Heroes Project!

I'm so thankful that there are people in this world so passionate about helping others :)